What do you think about Powered by the Apocalypse games?

[ART!]

Whoa!?

IKR? There were other factors that contributed to that, so I don't blame Masks, but learning, running, and trying to teach it (a system that required very different approaches/paradigms than what I'm used to) all at the same time was definitely a major factor.

 

[payn]

IKR? There were other factors that contributed to that, so I don't blame Masks, but learning, running, and trying to teach it (a system that required very different approaches/paradigms than what I'm used to) all at the same time was definitely a major factor.

A new game can be a lot to handle. Especially, if its different then what you are used to.

 

[ART!]

A new game can be a lot to handle. Especially, if its different then what you are used to.

Yarp.

I want to emphasize that I'm really impressed by Masks, and if you even just think you'd like it you should give it a shot. Kudos to all the designers, writers, and illustrators involved.

 

[payn]

Yarp.

I want to emphasize that I'm really impressed by Masks, and if you even just think you'd like it you should give it a shot. Kudos to all the designers, writers, and illustrators involved.

Seconded. I dont even really like the Supers genre, but PbtA is right for it.

 

[Manbearcat]

What is your secret to scheduling? I think I manage about 4-5 gaming hours a month...

Well, consider being riddled with utterly brutal insomnia for all of your life and learning to live with it! That helps!

Honestly, I am the type of person who needs an enormous amount of physical stimulation and creative/intellectual stimulation because of a lot of nature and environmental inputs. As a consequence, I run a lot of games and have been since the age of 7. As soon as I discovered D&D at 7, I knew this was going to be an important part of the way forward.

So, as far as pastimes go, I saturate my life with both extremely physical things and mentally challenging things like running a hell of a lot of games (this is both passion and therapy to me). I have a life partner who sometimes plays but mostly is a very understanding person who has interests of her own (so we have discrete aspects of our lives). I made a very conscious, very considered decision to not have children (though that doesn't address my extremely involved "uncle-ing").

So there is your "secret sauce!"

 

[Grendel_Khan]

IKR? There were other factors that contributed to that, so I don't blame Masks, but learning, running, and trying to teach it (a system that required very different approaches/paradigms than what I'm used to) all at the same time was definitely a major factor.

I totally get it, and as much as I like the PbtA/FitD approach, I don't think it's for everyone, no shade or judgement or anything else intended, the same way 5e or Traveller aren't for everyone. It can feel like a frantic four-hour-long sprint to GM, when maybe want you want is more of a walk-jog with room to chat. To me it's sometimes worth it, because I'm increasingly bored by how combat works in trad games, and especially how damn slow it is (which has all sorts of bad knock-on effects, like discouraging combat-ineffective characters or actions in combat that aren't hitting someone in the face). Plus, when I come up with a campaign framework and realize it might take 100 sessions or more in a trad game to really get through it, that bums me out a little. No one in my group is getting any younger! Meanwhile, 12 sessions of FitD could wind up being a tighter, more consequential narrative (and also a more surprising one, because of all the improv) that we all have way more intense memories of.

Still, the panic can definitely be real.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Seconded. I dont even really like the Supers genre, but PbtA is right for it.

Sometimes I'll see people debating the best systems for supers, and it's nearly always about different approaches to modeling this power or that in detail, fine-tuning complex builds to make sure your energy blast simulates a laser vs. water jet, and never forget the armor or force field, because this is an RPG, and you are gonna need to take multiple hits per combat (never mind that defensive powers are really rare in cape comics and movies). Also are the powers all perfectly balanced, and have we made sure that Green Arrow and Daredevil and all these other losers with few or no powers are properly kicked out of the system, because of the way everything is quantified and leveled out?

And then Masks, because its PbtA and because of how cool the Playbooks are, just dispenses with all of that fussy nonsense, and absolutely nails the genre by focusing on character and consequences. And you can play Kate Bishop in the same game as Phoenix, and it totally works.

I think Avatar does a great job elegantly integrating powers into the game too, also by mostly just not sweating it (and being PbtA).

 

[payn]

Sometimes I'll see people debating the best systems for supers, and it's nearly always about different approaches to modeling this power or that in detail, fine-tuning complex builds to make sure your energy blast simulates a laser vs. water jet, and never forget the armor or force field, because this is an RPG, and you are gonna get need to take multiple hits per combat (never mind that defensive powers are really rare in cape comics and movies). Also are the powers all perfectly balanced, and have we made sure that Green Arrow and Daredevil and all these other losers with few or no powers are properly kicked out of the system, because of the way everything is quantified and leveled out?

And then Masks, because its PbtA and because of how cool the Playbooks are, just dispenses with all of that fussy nonsense, and absolutely nails the genre by focusing on character and consequences. And you can play Kate Bishop in the same game as Phoenix, and it totally works.

I think Avatar does a great job elegantly integrating powers into the game too, also by mostly just not sweating it (and being PbtA).

That might just be exactly why I liked Masks and have disliked Supers RPGs since forever.

 

[Manbearcat]

@Hex08

Here is a quick formulation of a conceptual moment of play and what the GM is doing in a Powered By the Apocalypse game of the Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Stonetop variety:

Player: I'm thinking about this thing. Given my history of <stuff>, I've definitely come across <stuff> more than a time or two. I'm pretty sure I remember <proceeds to make up some stuff or assert some stuff about something>. <This triggers a move to see what you know about stuff>"

Result: 10+ = interesting and useful

GM: "Oh yeah, that is true. <Proceeds to make it interesting and intimate/topical if what the player proposed isn't inherently interesting or is needs some firming up> Also, <proceeds to make the newly established stuff actionable if the players proposition wasn't clearly actionable - 10+ = must be useful>."

Result: 7-9 = interesting but its on the player to make it useful

GM: "When you came across this in the past, was it while/related to x, y, or z? <GM asks questions then player answers saying 'it was z' and then elaborates then GM uses those answers> Ok, well when you and <relevant NPC> were hip deep in z, there was a moment of pause. <Relevant NPC> said the strangest thing to you out of nowhere <this is the interesting and topical thing...meaty enough to pique curiosity/provoke action, but vague enough that it requires the player to do more work to map the relevance/importance onto play either through action or further interogation of the issue through other means>."

Result: 6- = some threat emerges/some bad thing is true about this subject that you wish wasn't true...but also (and this overwhelmingly best practices IMO) combined with the 7-9 "something interesting" result.

GM: <Take all of that 7-9 stuff above and use that> "HOWEVER, <stuff that sucks and will have to be navigated/is ominous and foreboding/is outright threatening> is also true. <So now you have a new threat in play that will set its will against the dramatic needs/goals/relationships of this PC or another PC or the troupe/group/gang et al>

 

[MarkB]

I've played one game of Dungeon World where I had great fun as a druid, but it felt like there were a lot of mismatches of balance between the different playbooks. It also requires players to be able to think on their feet in order to bring their moves into play in unusual ways. I had a great time using at-will-transformation to be the Swiss Army Knife of problem-solving (become a fly for stealth, a basset hound for tracking, an owl for surveillance or an elephant for distraction, etc.) but other players struggled to bring their characters' talents to bear at times.

I much prefer the Forged in the Dark games, having run a couple of Scum and Villainy campaigns and played a couple of Blades in the Dark campaigns, one of which (during lockdown) ran a very long time, and still held up well as we advanced our characters and organisation pretty much to max level.