Tell Me About Your Favorite Mechanics

[Umbran]

minus the woke stuff

Mod Note:
How about we minus the use of the word "woke" to dismiss stuff, as outlined in the site inclusivity policy. Thanks.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I like play books in theory, though they get repetitive.

Maybe I only like them in theory, too. I love reading them, but I don't actually play any PbtA games.

 

[James Gasik]

Seriously, though, advantage/disadvantage from 5E and playbooks from PbtA/Beyond the Wall, the stress dice mechanic from Alien.

That's a very good mechanic!

I'm going to go with Karma, as used in the old FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes and Earthdawn. So you this resource (in Marvel it was your xp, in Earthdawn it cost xp) that you could use to add more oomph to rolls when you really needed to succeed, but since using it cost xp that you could use to progress, players have a vested interest in being stingy about it, as opposed to using Karma willy nilly. There are times when a campaign can really hinge on whether or not a key roll succeeds or not, and I've always liked giving players a resource to use in case of such emergencies, but usually, they either never use it, because they have no direct way to get more of it, or they spam it like it's going out of style.

By tying it to progression, you have a very simple "you win but not without a cost" mechanic.

 

[Bedrockgames]

For me the Ravenloft Powers check remains my favorite. If fit the genre, it was fun and added an unexpected and surprising element to play plus it really forced you to be creative as a Gm when it came up. I liked the double edged sword nature of it

 

[payn]

Maybe I only like them in theory, too. I love reading them, but I don't actually play any PbtA games.

In play I just found it to be a bit formulaic. Like episodic TV. This is the part where Sam's dark past reveals a piece of what's going on, and then we have Melissa's resourceful bit where she constructs a makeshift device to save the day. Finally, Phil does...

I like my game play a little more serial, and I haven't really come to terms with making playbooks work with that. I know you can gain additional moves, even moves from other playbooks, but I just don't know how to make it work for me just yet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe I only like them in theory, too. I love reading them, but I don't actually play any PbtA games.

Try Beyond the Wall. It's a d20/OSR hybrid game, designed to run with zero prep.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In play I just found it to be a bit formulaic. Like episodic TV. This is the part where Sam's dark past reveals a piece of what's going on, and then we have Melissa's resourceful bit where she constructs a makeshift device to save the day. Finally, Phil does...

I like my game play a little more serial, and I haven't really come to terms with making playbooks work with that. I know you can gain additional moves, even moves from other playbooks, but I just don't know how to make it work for me just yet.

You're describing Monster of the Week which is designed to model episodic TV!

If you look at playbooks in other games, they can be more flexible than that. There's nothing in Beyond the Wall, for instance, that ties plot revelations to mechanics, as happens in Monster of the Week.

 

[Tonguez]

I really love Playbooks and think that any number of games, trad and otherwise, can benefit from them.

Personally I find playbooks are overly prescriptive and too complicated for my liking, I prefer things more freeform (like Fate aspects)

 

[Reynard]

Personally I find playbooks are overly prescriptive and too complicated for my liking, I prefer things more freeform (like Fate aspects)

I don't think playbooks have to be particularly prescriptive, at least no moreso than most standard classed RPGs. You could "playbook" most 5E classes, for example. Having all the rules and options in front of the player, with a clear advancement track, has benefits. My favorite implementation isn't even really from an RPG (although I have always wanted to try and use the rules for one): Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

That's a very good mechanic!

I'm going to go with Karma, as used in the old FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes and Earthdawn.

Oh yeah! I loved the karma system in FASERIP (never played Earthdawn.) It was a brand new concept to little me back in... I think I bought a copy of Advanced Marvel in 1989. I will say neither myself nor any of the people I played with had a problem spending our karma. Wanna make sure that Spidey web goos up the macguffin before it can do the bad thing? Spend the karma baby!

One minor gripe: I did feel that karma was very hard to come by, especially for villains. I can be quite "by the book" (even more so back then) and I wanted a fair(sic) and transparent way for Dr. Doom to have all that karma he needs to (nearly) pull off his schemes.


I bought my first PbtA game the other day. Nightwitches. You play a member of the 588th Soviet bomber squadron, the famed Nightwitches. I've only had a quick flick through and it's been lovingly researched. I doubt I'll ever play it, it's not the sort of game that will appeal to my players who have a distinct preference for silliness. Also, like @Tonguez, I find the concept of playbooks a bit restrictive. But I will enjoy reading it when I get a spare arvo.