Tag Archives: PbtA Design

I’ve been looking for some high-crunch PbtA games for my players.  Crunch is derived from number crunching and, in the context of tabletop RPGs, refers to the added steps required by more extensive mechanics. Some examples specific to PbtA systems: Crunch can take many different dimensions. PeterJ, on the PbtA Discord, says: “I think a lot will depend on [what crunch means to your players]. Does it refer to tactical combat? Character customization? A lot of progression? Etc.” (By coincidence, today Murkdice looks at six types of crunch.) Crunch is a way for […]

Stonetop was first released as a village playbook for Dungeon World 10 years ago yesterday. It’s come a long way since then, and I keep discovering new things I love about it. Stonetop has the best system of magic items I’ve used in a tabletop roleplaying game, with unique items, shared with players as cards or inserts, which require taking action to unlock custom powers. Minor and Major Arcana Here are examples of a card for a minor arcanum (front and back) and a major arcanum. Note some major arcana […]

While different playbooks have unique moves in Apocalypse World for PCs, the GM doesn’t have different moves depending on which playbooks are being used. Masks was one of the first PbtA games, if not the first, to give the Game Master playbook-specific moves. For instance, for the playbook The Outsider, the GM gets the moves: For The Protégé: Many of these moves are tied into the character arc and challenges faced by the corresponding playbooks. Thirsty Sword Lesbians offers three GM moves per playbook: Chasing Adventure does this as well, and I think any GM of […]

Stonetop consists of two books, the second of which is unique in RPGs, to my knowledge. As I wrote in my review of Stonetop: Book I, Stonetop, has the rules, including probably the best fantasy PbtA GMing advice out there…. Book II, The Wider World and Other Wonders, is an almanac of locales and creatures, full of unique beasts and places, but presented in a way so as to be immediately useful to the GM. I just recently read an RPG that spent pages discussing a race, their culture and outlook, reading like an […]

The Battle of Five Armies. The Battle of the Hornburg (Helm’s Deep). The Battle of Pelennor Fields (the Raising of the Siege of Minas Tirith). These were epic, even before they were ever animated or filmed. Such battles bring a new element of drama to a fantasy PbtA campaign, but the challenge is how to handle them cinematically and at a high level, without getting bogged down in mechanics. You’re not going to manage every individual soldier as you might in a wargame. Here are three frameworks for accomplishing this: […]

This post is an excerpt from The Best-Delayed Plans: The Game Master’s Guide to Adventure Prep. Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games—games in the school of design of Apocalypse World—often outline moves and principles for Game Masters. While these are typically intended for use during play, they can also be useful in prep, no matter which RPG system you use. Principles Here are some principles to keep in mind during prep— Moves While principles guide overall play, in PbtA games “GM moves” are the types of responses that GMs make […]

You can now back Chasing Adventure on Kickstarter, to get a hardcover copy of the book or to pre-order the PDF. And the game, which used traditional copyright during its development, is now part of the PbtA Commons! So you can integrate its text into your own PbtA hacks, as desired. The author, Spencer Moore, describes Chasing Adventure as “built to facilitate fast cinematic fantasy action-adventure.” I’ve typically pitched it as “DW-D&D,” that is as Dungeon World minus some elements of Dungeons & Dragons, removing ability scores, hit points, encumbrance, […]

During its beta, I ran Stonetop pretty much Rules As Being Written, though we didn’t always update to the latest version.  As I wrote in my review of Stonetop, “My hacks to the system were minimal: integrating a Flashback move to keep things advancing, and experimenting with different forms of prep (threat maps, Monster of the Week countdowns).” More often I brought in material that Jeremy Strandberg, Stonetop’s author, and Jason Lutes, his publisher, had created elsewhere. Flashback For my Dungeon World campaign, I had hacked together this move: Flashback When you propose that you took some previously undeclared action in the […]

While I latched onto warm-up questions as a starting move for Stonetop, some other systems have their own starting moves. Urban/Modern/Fantasy, in which PCs embrace or discover the supernatural, was the first system I encountered with a Start of Session move— Start of Session When you start a new session after your character has significant downtime, say if you primarily focused on your mortal life and obligations or if you furthered your supernatural interests. If you chose mortal, the GM will tell you how one of your Entanglements, Desires, or Dread […]

When preparing to run a PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) TTRPG, keep in mind how experience is gained. Many PbtA games have an End of Session move that awards experience points. Make sure you’re giving players chances during the session that align with this move! Here is the End of Session move in Dungeon World: When you reach the end of a session, choose one of your bonds that you feel is resolved (completely explored, no longer relevant, or otherwise). Ask the player of the character you have the bond […]

How some RPGs get coins wrong: they matter a lot until they matter not at all. It’s fun to play until your PCs are rich, but it’s even more fun to be able to buy things with those riches. Absorbing Excess Wealth At early levels, PCs lack coin and equipment, and they spend whatever coin they get on gearing up. Then eventually the coin no longer matters. There aren’t enough weapons, gear, luxury items or magic items to buy. You’ll know you’ve hit that point in 5e when PCs are […]

In Dungeon World and many other PbtA games, “When a player describes their character doing something that triggers a move, that move happens and its rules apply.” That sounds simple enough. Except that the triggerspace (all the actions that trigger moves) changes over time and play— Since the inventory of available moves is variable and changes over time, Dungeon World in particular encourages everyone to look for moves: “Everyone at the table should listen for when moves apply. If it’s ever unclear if a move has been triggered, everyone should work together to clarify […]

Vincent Baker in his blog series on drafting PbtA games says— A crucial feature of Apocalypse World’s design is that [its concentric] layers are designed to collapse gracefully inward:• Forget the peripheral harm moves? That’s cool. You’re missing out, but the rules for harm have got you covered.• Forget the rules for harm? That’s cool. You’re missing out, but the basic moves have got you covered. Just describe the splattering blood and let the moves handle the rest.• Forget the basic moves? That’s cool. You’re missing out, but just remember […]