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I think there's actually a pretty good mix in the zeitgeist. Daggerheart and Draw Steel go one way while Fabula Ultima and Plotweaver (Stormlight Archive) are going the other way (using classes as mix and match paths to let you build the specific character you envision).

It's a medium, at least as I mean it. When I talk about tabletop roleplaying games, I am speaking to games played within a negotiated imagination where what we imagine impacts how things are resolved. It's also why I prefer "table talk roleplaying game" to "tabletop roleplaying game" as the...

The broader issue is people assuming all roleplaying games should fit a specific mold. I don't see why roleplaying game as a label should be more specific than video game, board game or card game.

So, one of the big issues from my perspective is that the narrative consequence for resting feel fuzzy. One way to deal with this is to have player facing clocks with explicit consequences like this is when reinforcements arrive. That way it becomes a part of the game experience rather than a GM...

Legend of the Five Rings (Fifth Edition) @RenleyRenfield 's Vampire Hack Apocalypse Keys Hoping Fabula Ultima adds itself to contention.

Not really related to any other point, but the games most people think of as storygames do not give you more control over the narrative. More often than not they snowball out of anyone's control (and that's part of the point).

How is a fiction where a wizard has more or less resources than the other more believable? How does having 4-6 spell slots versus 2 or 3 result in a more coherent world? I think there are gameplay reasons to prefer one or the other and aesthetic reasons, but not believability ones.

Either that or real people, playing real games who deserve to be treated with the same respect as anyone else regardless of if meeting their needs is something Wizards deems worthwhile from an economic standpoint. There is certainly nothing theoretical about my gaming preferences - they born out...

It's looking like Fabula is shaping up to be the next game I run. We've talked about having our game be a follow up to Final Fantasy Tactics (with some alterations to better suit Fabula). I have to say that I think Ema might actually be the game's biggest strength. They are the most engaged...

The layout really sings when you see it in print. Lots of great spreads. Almost no runover. As a graphic design geek, I really appreciate these books on an aesthetic level.

I would not call it a design flaw as much as the point of the design. Pathfinder Second Edition is trying to model the sort of fiction where you go from collectively struggling to take down a single basilisk to being able to confront several at once. It's pretty much its reason for existence. A...

Sorry. I was speaking to Warhammer - The Old World which uses a relatively flat dice-pool based system with escalating advancement costs. Granted it is not billed as a new edition.

That's all without even getting into New School Renaissance games like Into The Odd, Black Hack, The Nightmares Underneath and Worlds Without Number which are deliberately questioning the value of number go up and do we even need checks.

Flat math is here to stay. When you look at how designs are trending, games designed after 5e have even flatter math. Draw Steel, Fabula Ultima, The Stormlight Archive Roleplaying Game, the explosion of Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark games, Year Zero Engine game, newer 2d20...

All I will say is that any game that does not provide me with a different starting point when it comes to encounter design gets thrown in the bin of never going to run. I like to run and play multiple games. If I have to spend a year or two developing intuitions about what appropriate encounters...

I want to highlight a few passages which I think will be important later (it will be important when we get to checks). I think we're starting to see a view of heroic fantasy that centers overcoming adversity (and differs from the sort of big damn heroes aesthetic predominant in say Draw Steel...

I don't really view Fabula Ultima as neotrad in the slightest. It's pretty much just a straight up modern Narrativist design. Its rules tech (outside of its Persona inspired combat system) is basically a fusion of Burning Wheel and Blades in the Dark (down to "say yes or roll the dice" and "let...

Then why are you getting involved in a side discussion about the finer points of Apocalypse World?

It is very true that current trends in design have historical antecedents. What makes it a trend is its pervasiveness. Many of things we're seeing in more mainstream designs have their roots in games that were outside the mainstream 30+ years ago. There are also many techniques that fell out of...

I personally like some attrition, but I'd like it to be meaningful sooner rather than later. While there are other features that I don't like about 3e I think it's ~3-4 fights in an adventure day represented a better balance between attrition and making the current fight feel more meaningful...