I would like to see more PBTA games go the direction of
Pasion de las Pasiones.
Here is my
7th Sea hack of it, (link, its free) simply to demonstrate how the system works very very well in other genres and game styles.
Basically, it comes down to this =
- the [
tags] system of CoM, and LitM is fine, its a way to make FATE actually work. The up side is that it makes for narratively flavorful character action description. The downside is that anyone can do anything as well as anyone else (since getting up to 3 [tags] for use is not too hard for most moves). But this is ok, right? We are getting better player narration and agency so its a trade off by no being special at anything (mechanically speaking)
- The
Stats system of ApocWorld, is ok because we all know and are used to stats. Be they str, dex, con, etc etc... or be they hot, cool, sexy, etc etc... And this kinda solves the issue that [tags] system has, where some characters have a -1 to a set of moves and well, that may just not get better. So characters in a Stats based PBTA game feel more special. The downside.. this does lock out characters from some moves. Well, not lock out, but who wants to roll on a -1 to do a given task? nobody, so we just avoid that task or make the +3 character do it. (i know I know the players are just supposed to play and the MC is supposed to goad, but no, this is what happens often enough)
- the "
Questions" system of Passion de Las pasiones, is a great example of solving for both with none of the downsides. You see, in Passion, everyone gets their own "question" and if you can answer that with 'yes', having roleplayed it out to earn its activation, then great, you get a +1. And then each move gets its own two bespoke questions that potentially anyone can answer 'yes' to. So you can go into any action with the hopes of at least a likely +1, and maybe +2...and a +3 if your own Question applies. This means that characters who own Question plays better with certain specific moves than others (easier to activate) - gives a sensation they are "better" or "specialized" in a way that makes them feel , we... special. And we get amazing roleplay because players can't just fall back to good Stats, but also they don't have to dither or weasel to get a awkward [tag] to fit either.
I am not saying there is one-pbta to rule them all. But iterative enhancement is a thing, and I think Passion de las Pasiones moved the ball down the fields, while AW Burned Over and Deep Cuts lost ground and lost sight of the system.
...
Again, will back AW3e, will play it... hope it innovates. And for the love of f*ckery and barfing forth things, give us our sex moves back
...
oh yeah, and
here is my Star Wars pbta rpg, that uses [tags] + bespoke moves, which i feel fixes issues with City of Mist and Legend in the Mist.
