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2 year campaign down the drain?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7977595" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>PbtA is called that because it is modelled on Vincent Baker's game Apocalypse World. AW has its 8 basic moves, then the more-than-50 class-specific moves. Many of these allow using an atypical stat for a basic move, or enhance a particular stat or ability, or otherwise tweak the core mechanics. Some give new, specialised abilities (eg being able to use a particular piece of technical equipment, or having a special psychic ability). It doesn't have player "narrrative abilities" with the exception of a handful of specialised class options:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Visions of death:</strong> when you go into battle, roll+weird. On a 10+, name one person who’ll die and one who’ll live. On a 7–9, name one person who’ll die OR one person who’ll live. Don’t name a player’s character; name NPCs only. The MC will make your vision come true, if it’s even remotely possible. On a miss, you foresee your own death, and accordingly take -1 throughout the battle.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Reputation</strong>: when you meet someone important (your call), roll+cool. On a hit, they’ve heard of you, and you say what they’ve heard; the MC will have them respond accordingly. On a 10+, you take +1 forward for dealing with them as well. On a miss, they’ve heard of you, but the MC will decide what they’ve heard.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Bonefeel:</strong> at the beginning of the session, roll+weird. On a 10+, hold 1+1. On a 7–9, hold 1. At any time, either you or the MC can spend your hold to have you already be there, with the proper tools and knowledge, with or without any clear explanation why. If your hold was 1+1, take +1 forward now. On a miss, the MC holds 1, and can spend it to have you already be there, but somehow pinned, caught or trapped.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Oftener right:</strong> when a character comes to you for advice, tell them what you honestly think the best course is. If they do it, they take +1 to any rolls they make in the doing, and you mark an experience circle.</p><p></p><p>That's fewer than 10% of the moves in the game.</p><p></p><p>My reason for making this point is what I posted upthread:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But AW certainly does involve player authority over the narrative in the sense that player action declaratios can generate results that are binding on the GM. In this way it resembles D&D combat or 4e skill challenges.</p><p></p><p>In the AW rulebook, Vincent Baker gives the following example of a GM narrating a failure by a PC to <em>read the situation in order to find an escape route </em>when a gaing of thugs come knocking at her door:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">"You’re looking out your (barred, 4th-story) window as though it were an escape route,” I say, “and they don’t chop your door all the way down, just through the top hinge, and then they lean on it to make a 6-inch space. The door’s creaking and snapping at the bottom hinge. And they put a grenade through like this—” I hold up my fist for the grenade and slap it with my other hand, like whacking a croquet ball.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">“I dive for—”</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Sorry, I’m still making my hard move. This is is all misdirection [jargon for establishing framing fiction in the course of narrating a consequence[. “Nope. They cooked it off and it goes off practically at your feet. Let’s see … 4-harm area messy, a grenade. You have armor?”</p><p></p><p>I think that barely counts a GM exrcise of authority over the character. But maybe there are some RPGers for whom it would be objectionable.</p><p></p><p>In <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/middle-earth-lotr-rpging-using-cortex-heroic.670013" target="_blank">the Cortex+ Heroic LotR/MERP game I'm running</a>, I framed an Action Scene using a Scene Distinction <em>Uncertain As To The Best Course</em>. (I had in mind Aragorn's uncertainty when the Fellowship camps at Parth Galen, towards the end of Book II.)</p><p></p><p>The scene couldn't be resolved the players' way until that Scene Distinction had been elminated, by the players declaring actions that would help remove the doubt. It was the player of the Ranger who succeeded in this respect, which meant that he was able to decide what it was that the party did next (namely, pursue the Orcs carrying a palantir south towards Eregion). If the scene had enede dwith the uncertainty still there, I would have started the Action Scene by giving each player some Mental Stress, or perhaps a Doubt complication, at the start of that Scene.</p><p></p><p>I've never played or GMed Fate, but I would have thought that it could support a similar sort of idea, where a scene-based (rather than character-based) Aspect is used to convey some appropriate emotional or thematic feature of the situation, rather than a purely practical feature. (In my LotR game some Scene Distinctions are practical - eg <em>In the Deeps of Moria</em>.)</p><p></p><p>I don't think I'm disagreeing with you here, so much as maybe being a bit more optimistic about the prospects for this sort of thing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7977595, member: 42582"] PbtA is called that because it is modelled on Vincent Baker's game Apocalypse World. AW has its 8 basic moves, then the more-than-50 class-specific moves. Many of these allow using an atypical stat for a basic move, or enhance a particular stat or ability, or otherwise tweak the core mechanics. Some give new, specialised abilities (eg being able to use a particular piece of technical equipment, or having a special psychic ability). It doesn't have player "narrrative abilities" with the exception of a handful of specialised class options: [indent][B]Visions of death:[/B] when you go into battle, roll+weird. On a 10+, name one person who’ll die and one who’ll live. On a 7–9, name one person who’ll die OR one person who’ll live. Don’t name a player’s character; name NPCs only. The MC will make your vision come true, if it’s even remotely possible. On a miss, you foresee your own death, and accordingly take -1 throughout the battle. [B]Reputation[/B]: when you meet someone important (your call), roll+cool. On a hit, they’ve heard of you, and you say what they’ve heard; the MC will have them respond accordingly. On a 10+, you take +1 forward for dealing with them as well. On a miss, they’ve heard of you, but the MC will decide what they’ve heard. [B]Bonefeel:[/B] at the beginning of the session, roll+weird. On a 10+, hold 1+1. On a 7–9, hold 1. At any time, either you or the MC can spend your hold to have you already be there, with the proper tools and knowledge, with or without any clear explanation why. If your hold was 1+1, take +1 forward now. On a miss, the MC holds 1, and can spend it to have you already be there, but somehow pinned, caught or trapped. [B]Oftener right:[/B] when a character comes to you for advice, tell them what you honestly think the best course is. If they do it, they take +1 to any rolls they make in the doing, and you mark an experience circle.[/indent] That's fewer than 10% of the moves in the game. My reason for making this point is what I posted upthread: But AW certainly does involve player authority over the narrative in the sense that player action declaratios can generate results that are binding on the GM. In this way it resembles D&D combat or 4e skill challenges. In the AW rulebook, Vincent Baker gives the following example of a GM narrating a failure by a PC to [I]read the situation in order to find an escape route [/I]when a gaing of thugs come knocking at her door: [indent]"You’re looking out your (barred, 4th-story) window as though it were an escape route,” I say, “and they don’t chop your door all the way down, just through the top hinge, and then they lean on it to make a 6-inch space. The door’s creaking and snapping at the bottom hinge. And they put a grenade through like this—” I hold up my fist for the grenade and slap it with my other hand, like whacking a croquet ball. “I dive for—” Sorry, I’m still making my hard move. This is is all misdirection [jargon for establishing framing fiction in the course of narrating a consequence[. “Nope. They cooked it off and it goes off practically at your feet. Let’s see … 4-harm area messy, a grenade. You have armor?”[/indent] I think that barely counts a GM exrcise of authority over the character. But maybe there are some RPGers for whom it would be objectionable. In [url=https://www.enworld.org/threads/middle-earth-lotr-rpging-using-cortex-heroic.670013]the Cortex+ Heroic LotR/MERP game I'm running[/url], I framed an Action Scene using a Scene Distinction [I]Uncertain As To The Best Course[/I]. (I had in mind Aragorn's uncertainty when the Fellowship camps at Parth Galen, towards the end of Book II.) The scene couldn't be resolved the players' way until that Scene Distinction had been elminated, by the players declaring actions that would help remove the doubt. It was the player of the Ranger who succeeded in this respect, which meant that he was able to decide what it was that the party did next (namely, pursue the Orcs carrying a palantir south towards Eregion). If the scene had enede dwith the uncertainty still there, I would have started the Action Scene by giving each player some Mental Stress, or perhaps a Doubt complication, at the start of that Scene. I've never played or GMed Fate, but I would have thought that it could support a similar sort of idea, where a scene-based (rather than character-based) Aspect is used to convey some appropriate emotional or thematic feature of the situation, rather than a purely practical feature. (In my LotR game some Scene Distinctions are practical - eg [I]In the Deeps of Moria[/I].) I don't think I'm disagreeing with you here, so much as maybe being a bit more optimistic about the prospects for this sort of thing. [/QUOTE]
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