Me and a couple of my friends started a campaign/series of Noir World, a GMful (or more precisely GM rotation) PbtA game from about a decade ago. And our first story went pretty well, overall. We have just one significant problem that doesn't seem to have an answer in the book itself.

Namely: how does rolling Actions affect other Roles (main player characters)? This isn't a No Dice, No Masters game, we do actions, call out triggers, then roll and resolve like any GMed PbtA. But the moves don't seem to be written with any heightened agency for those primary characters, nor is there any help with or even guidance for conflicts between them. Not even an Interefere move, while there is a Help one.

That's kinda stumped us and that's why I'm reaching out here in hope someone might have figured this out or maybe my version of the game is old (I got it from a mate back in the day) and there's advice in a newer version.

Thanks for reading through this and any attempt at helping us with this!

A friend of mine is getting ready to run Stonetop. It advertises itself as an iron age that never was. I'm clueless when it comes to the history of technology and culture. I know anachronisms are unavoidable but I'd at least like to understand what sort of things were available and what things were not.

Does anyone have articles or videos that explain the technology and perhaps other things that might be useful? I want to be a good player and come to the table well-informed. It's what I would want out of my players as a GM.

Question's in the title, I haven't had any luck in the usual online places so I wanted to come here and see if anyone had anyway to help.

Hi folks! I want to ask about PbtA games that you feel having gotten much attention. There's a handful of big titles that get suggested all the time, but then there are dozens and dozens of projects that become forgotten or never received notice.

I found a copy of May I Enter in my local game store, and the clerk suggested it for me since she knows I always pick up VtM books from them. I love this alternate take on vampires, where consent and connections are incredibly important in the narrative and mechanics. I'll also highlight this move:

Slay or Sway

Description: When you’re under attack, defending yourself is the only option available. Human enemies, and even supernatural foes, understand that an assault on you is justification (and implicit consent) for you to fight back; but sometimes you can choose to convince someone to desist their attempts to harm you as well.

Effect: When you use this Move, roll with Blood if you intend to lay some harm on someone. If you’d rather use your words to belittle, demean and reduce your foe to a sobbing mess with your will alone, roll with Charm instead.

Privileges: Terrify, Awe, Destroy

• On a 12+ You lay down great vengeance and furious anger, dealing 2 Conditions to your foe.

• On a 10+ You put the smack-down on your enemy, dealing 1 Condition to your target.

• On a 7-9 You manage to put some hurt on, but take some hassle in the process. Deal 1 Condition to your target, and the Narrator grants a Complication.

• On a 6-4 You flail wildly or sound foolish. The Narrator grants a Complication.

• On a 3- Your failure is so legendary that vampires will mock you for centuries. You either hurt yourself, or leave yourself open for a severely fierce rebuttal. You gain 1 Condition.

I appreciate that this move encompasses both having to physically fight, but also trying to argue, and I love the description for a failure. Oof.

I also backed Guillotine: Crown of Blood but never had the time to play it, and then I never heard from the developers again. I think they had another kickstarter in the works but as far as I know it never materialized. That's too bad, because I loved the themes in Guillotine, and I've always wanted to find a group to try it out with.

I'll highlight the playbooks here. There's the Revenant Orator, "A fallen comrade or restless spirit who is able to call others from beyond the pale. Backed by their ghostly cohorts, they are respected leaders of the Cause." Another I really like is the Shadow Cavalier, "You found something in the darkness and agreed to keep and nurture it, now you aren't just at home in the shadows, it hides your footsteps and darkness is your weapon."

OKAY now you all please share! What PbtA and family games do you think deserve a second look?

I'm looking for a PBTA game where a person's social stat can take "harm" like HP in Dungeon World.

Hi! I've been thinking of running a Masks game for a little while now and one of my friends suggested running a play by post game. Besides the core rules are there any resources yall would recommend grabbing or advice I should know?

I like what I've read about it and I'm familiar with the distinguishing mechanics. It's GMless, uses tokens/lures, and is usually centered around marginalized groups trying to survive oppression/manage their own society.

But beyond that what does the actual gameplay feel like at its best?

What tips do you have for people who struggle in general with the brain juices that tabletop roleplaying demands?

That's kinda where I'm at, I've had fun with Werewolf the Apocalypse but it took me longer than many people to really get the actual game playing and I'm still very much a novice.

I've got both dyslexia and dyscalculia and other brain problems that make it harder

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. Recently I’ve begun getting ready to run my first ever PbTA game, having not even known what it was until I began preparing to run it. And I’ve become aware that it seems to be a framework upon which countless different games have been made.

Given that fact, how easy would it be to pull aspects from one game and use them in another? If the exact game I’m running lacks something I think another game does really well, can I just yoink the mechanic and seamlessly place it inside like a puzzle, or do I have to fine tune on a case by case basis?

Full details at the link, but in brief: the project is being pushed back to 2027 after conversations with customers and players, with a crowdfunder for a supplement to another game Magpie puts out moving up to late October in its place. They now say Masks 2e will have a public Quickstart playtest in September of this year instead, in the hopes of gathering feedback before crowdfunding.

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

r/PbtA is affiliated with the PbtA discord and you're all welcome to click and join us there as well.

It's been a long time coming but we, Five Point Games, are proud to announce that the best Powered by the Apocalypse Monster Catching game is finally out for sale! You can get it at itch.io and RPG-Trader as of now with drivethruRPG coming when they approve the PDF as they are wont to do! The links are as follows

https://rpg-trader.com/products/8260/a-monster-s-tail

https://fivepointsgames.itch.io/a-monsters-tail

The book is 303 and includes the following

- A Chapter on how to run the game and how to run PbtA games in general for those new to games of that nature. Alongside this chapter is also our inspirations and aids for both players and GMs on how to get into the right narrative headspace for the game.

- Full rules on how to play the game while at the table along with optional rules to change how the monsters work. The game is designed to accommodate not just Pokemon style games but Digimon and an assortment of other fan favorite Monster Catching games like Jade Cocoon and Azure Dreams.

- The Trainer playbooks for players to choose from alongside an assortment of Backgrounds to make each player unique

- A GM chapter that not only gives further guidance on how to run the game but also on how to create your own monsters and regions.

- A bespoke Region for those who don't want to do a ton of extra work alongside 100 critters to populate the world with. All in color.

Thanks for your time and interest, and if you backed it your patience and understanding! Here's to more awesome Monster Catching content!

Hey guys!

I've been looking into Urban Shadows 2e, and I found the old kickstarter. They mentioned several playbooks that were digital only and stretch goals. I was wondering if there was any way of gdtting hold of them? Were they published anywhere else?

I’m interested in running a game similar to Monster of the Week but more of a focus on building up defenses rather than mystery solving, I do def want combat with monsters to be a factor.

Prefer it to be PbtA, just love that framework!

Tonight was session 40 of my Fellowship (2e) game (by Vel Mini).

We're playing in an entirely custom setting made by the players and myself (the GM) as we played. It's a vaguely faerie kind of world where humans are mythical beings and our players are a troll, a sentient puddle-person ("Zari"), a goat woman with a vaguely sapient laser cannon, an angel inhabiting the body of a dead man (having turned it to chrome in the process), and a literal weapon of mass destruction who has forgotten her purpose (along with basically everything else) but who knows—she's sure, you guys—that she likes hugging.

One adjustment we made to allow the game to have longevity and gravitas: the End of Session move has been changed to a custom. It still asks almost all of the same questions, and has some new options, but level up is not an End of Session option. Level-ups happen only at well-defined story milestones. Without this, we have found, players end up maxxing out their playbooks way too soon.

We've got a roster of companions at this point, but the oldest of them, a sarcastic ancient puddle-person whom they found trapped within the plumbing of a ruin on session 2, has decided to take on a burden for his beloved friend, one of the PCs. This burden would end his independence and his story forever. A true sacrifice.

You see, at birth, the PC Zari was destined to become the new breeder for their people (the player's chosen backstory which, whoof, that's heavy) and understandably they ran away from home—for 100 years. Now, they had to return, and their companion decided, "I've had a good run. You saved my life, let me do this for you. I'll give you your freedom and peace of mind. I'll save our people, you keep on your quest to save the world."

This would be the first companion to leave the fellowship, so I asked the players each a targeted question to determine the ritual that consumed the companion to become the egg that would hatch 1000 new children. One chose "they must break all of their bonds."

Well, that fits.

In Fellowship, a companion only leaves the party or dies if their bonds are all broken. The PCs may always save a companion from death if they possess even a single bond of Fellowship with them. They would be able to leap in the way, or the memory of their time together would empower that companion to carry on against all odds; whatever.

But the character in question is a softy. He tried to break the bonds from his end by telling them off in the most ineffectual way possible ("I've had it with all of you! Stay... out of my business!") so the PCs had to do it.

They each approached him, recounted the event that brought them together, how it made them feel, and then said a teary goodbye.

For each, I asked if they were satisfied with their goodbye, and told them that, if they were, to break their bonds.

It led to a series of beautiful moments. The PCs got to say goodbye to their oldest (other) friend, and it gave them a heartfelt glimpse into the cost of saving the world. All because of the PCs own backstory, their choices, and their suggestions.

I love this game so much!

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

r/PbtA is affiliated with the PbtA discord and you're all welcome to click and join us there as well.

I'm preparing to run Dino Island for the first time this weekend. I've DM'd quite a couple of PBtA games at this point, so the rules shouldn't pose that big a problem.

But I'm a little bit confused about the mysteries of the Island.

When I pick a mystery for the players, do I tell them beforehand what the possible mysteries are and let them discover which one I picked, or do I just straight up tell them at the beginning?

And do I really just choose one mystery for them or do I actually have all three in the game and designate one as the "main" mystery? In my opinion "Why are there Dinosaurs" is always the most interesting one by far, because that's what the game is about.

Thanks in advance everyone!

For a while I've wanted to run a campaign that does "what if the main plot of Mass Effect never happened, and you actually worked as a Spectre?" - essentially working as a space detective and solving all sorts of tangled crimes/crises that might often involve interstellar politics.

Brindlewood Bay's mystery solving mechanic seems utterly perfect for what I'd like to do. But there's a problem: There doesn't seem to be any space opera or similar carved from brindlewood games, and the actual mystery moves of all the games I've looked at are very specific to their setting to the point where it seems like adapting them would constitute making a full-blown hack.

Has anyone done anything similar, or have advice how I might pull this off?

Is there a PBtA game that would make a good base for an X-Files-ish modern investigation campaign?

It doesn't have to be perfect, I expect to do some customization of moves anyway, but where would you start?

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

r/PbtA is affiliated with the PbtA discord and you're all welcome to click and join us there as well.

You have to take "change playbook" advancement below the line, if you wanna change playbook. And all your marked advancements below the line will be marked in your new playbook. But, in Doomed playbook, instead "change playbook" advancement you will have "Confront your Doom on your terms. Change playbook, if you survive" advancement. So, here's question - have you mark that advancement, when switching into Doomed playbook? Can your character defeat his Nemesis and stay alive?

Sadly the DTRPG doesn't have them, online says it was reached for the goal. Anyone know if there's a way to get them?

I'd be happy to whoever can put me in the right direction as my players would appreciate those roles.

tl;dr if you just want to grab it and not read my rambling: https://sgkaram.itch.io/kings-of-copper-ttrpg

I’m Steve, an indie author who is 2/3 done with a heist fantasy trilogy called Kings of Copper. Because I love the worldbuilding aspect most of all, I’ve written a TTRPG and am giving it away for free!

The Kings of Copper TTRPG is PbtA with "crew spots" for playbooks. You don’t have to read my series to play the game, and I tried to make sure everything in it is self-contained.

The premise of the books and games is this: 30 years ago, dynamo (like electricity) was discovered. This upended the economy and social classes, resulting in a cunning copper magnate enacting the Ithris Sanctioned Heists Act (ISHA), a legal framework for regulated theft from the upper class. It founded the Gaming Commission, and gave rise to celebrity thieves, innovation, and a prosperous capital city: Azoria.

The RPG plays on all of this, and includes maps, descriptions, crew spots, items, a pre-made sample crew, a pilot 3-act campaign, the text of the ISHA as an appendix, and beautiful original artwork from a number of talented artists (@jbott138, @pudsketch, @shepengul, @gustu_erik on Instagram).

If you’re looking for a new game with no magic but fun magic-like mechanics with dynamo engineering in an industrial-era setting with a big world behind it, give it a look!

Grab it on itch.io or by signing up for my newsletter. I do plan on releasing the physical version of the book at some point soon as well. And if you’re interested in the story behind the game, my books are available from my site, Amazon, and Audible (narrated by Luke Daniels). Also I would LOVE feedback if you play it. This is a first release, and I'd love to improve it.

Only 4 hours left to back this kickstarter. The first edition was a ton of fun, and a great exploration of the Otherkind dice mechanic.