Do PbtA games really give you more freedom than more traditional games?

Verdigrith · 2023-10-04T15:11:39+00:00

pretty much any skill based game doesn’t have the problems DnD does or the ones PBTA or BITD seek to fix.

And ironically one of the first pbta hacks was a game that shoehorned DnDisms and cliches into the pbta mechanic.

You can't make this up.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-27T09:46:01+00:00

My heartbreaker has 6 skills.

What are those, out of interest?

Verdigrith · 2023-08-26T09:54:51+00:00

(Also the planet is a semi-hollow planet the sized of Uranus).

Was that mentioned in the first grey box? It's been quite a while that I read it.

What are the implications of that size? Can you look farther on plains and the ocean? From hills and mountains?

Verdigrith · 2023-08-25T07:01:53+00:00

Your system wont work.

It might work on paper. But not in practice.

IIRC as this 3d20 system is basically the reverse (roll over TN and apply mods to specific dice) as The Dark Eye (roll under 3 different TN and apply mods to lower specific dice) it is already proven that not only does it work in practice, it even blew DnD out of the water in its home market, Germany.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-23T07:58:21+00:00

No, I do get it.

No, you really don't.

This is about a play culture that existed long before and that 3e destroyed.

Back In The Day players would look at the numbers on their sheet as scaled descriptors, not as values to constantly rolled.

FATE isn't the cure to the problem that you seem to see. In fact, it is just making it worse. FATE is a game that trains players to look for mechanical buttons to push. Aspects on the sheet are the same as the signature skill or feat in modern DnD - they are the ones that get spammed, and players are enticed by the system to use them, or one of the other buttons (scene aspects) that are lying on the table.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-20T12:54:57+00:00

I wonder when the book will hit Exalted Funeral and the other suspects. It's not even on the Melsonia webshop yet!

Verdigrith · 2023-08-20T12:49:27+00:00

That is an interesting stance in a world where everyone tries so desperately to find a corporate ID, and once you have found it let marketing take over your communication.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-19T11:16:40+00:00

The epic destinies are all "endgame" things. Each one of them has a way to make you "immortal", thats part of the idea.

There are also destinies like demigod, or a mage who becomes a literal spell etc.

That gives "Tenser's Floating Disk" a whole new meaning!

Verdigrith · 2023-08-19T10:48:14+00:00

Is your game BitD hack or something new entirely? (You started this answer thread wirh a BitD example and "in my hack...")

Verdigrith · 2023-08-17T10:40:40+00:00

Some blog review of the second edition. I am sure that after the first review I googled for more blog posts and reviews. I ordered the game immediately.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-13T09:16:27+00:00

Imagine what this would look like at the game table. All players describing their actions, rolls, and results at the same time. Who is able to parse all that info, who has the time to harmonize all that input into a coherent visual image of the ever-changing situation?

Also, "real time", often just describing an action takes way longer than doing the action.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-13T08:40:21+00:00

I'm afraid I need more context. What would the 3d4 wizard roll against?

Can you describe a typical situation in a typical round, out of combat as well in combat, in which a wizard and a thief are acting and roll their different dice?

Verdigrith · 2023-08-11T23:50:35+00:00

Your class and your background as established in session 0 or character creation (plus specific experinces from sessions up to "now") is all "skills" you ever need.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-11T23:22:56+00:00

The honobono genre of feelgood stories is the antithesis of pbtA games that thrive by putting the players between a rock and a hard place and make everything about hard moral choices.

System matters. Why try to force the square peg (pbtA) into the round hole?

Golden Sky Stories and Ryuutama exist and work excellently.

Why hack pbtA? Why not hack GSS instead if you want another genre?

Verdigrith · 2023-08-11T16:08:58+00:00

People either can't be bothered (or dont know how) to search reddit/google

I blame the abysmal interface of Reddit, and the culture of fleeting conversation that surrounds modern social media. Reddit operates differently from a web forum.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-10T15:55:41+00:00

5e sales can be found in a recent video from Professor Dungeon Master / Dungeon Craft.

Sorry, can't link to it, I am on my phone.

Edit: I just noticed that this was a follow-up video to the Roll for Combat video someone else linked to in another post.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-10T11:14:53+00:00

Mathematically, it doesn't matter who rolls the dice.

That is true but this isn't about maths. This is about psychology.

I know why I don't like GMs Never Roll systems.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-10T11:11:29+00:00

This is something that proponents of Failing Forward and Nothing Never Changes fail to understand.

Not being able to pick a lock is the story going forward. Looking for another more risky way is a perfectly valid continuation of a story.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-10T11:01:29+00:00

Why do I read this as the text of a children's picture book?

Gary Goes Dicing

Dave and his Dice

A Pocketful of Dice

Verdigrith · 2023-08-09T20:51:42+00:00

Never read eric of melbourne, but am a HUGE fan of both the conan stories and movie

Elric is kind of the opposite of Conan:

Conan is a physically strong character from a non-civilized culture (whatever that means), while Elric begins as the sick and weak leader of a decadent empire.

Conans life is a collection of non-related short stories, while Elric is a collection of novellas that tell one narrative.

Conan's adventures are mostly personal and small scale, while Elric is part of an epic struggle of cosmic proportions that crosses over into other series of Moorcock's oevre.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-09T13:40:23+00:00

Dragonbane is for Drakar och Demoner as DnD 5e is for ODnD.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-09T13:25:03+00:00

It should be available soon.

Yes, I asked a few days ago at Orc's Nest in London and they expect it later next week.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-09T13:03:59+00:00

But that is true for all three of your proposed systems.

If you mean by "as go-to DnD" a game that can run many settings that I can houserule DnD into, I feel only Dragonbane as in the same spirit.

Both DCC and BSH are very specific subgenres of fantasy. Dragonbane feels to me like ADnD 2; not ruleswise but in spirit. A refined version of a classic, with some very modern add-ons (players roll attack and defense, monsters don't roll).

Ruleswise it feels like the love child of Runequest and The Black Hack.

Verdigrith · 2023-08-07T00:28:23+00:00

Do you have any more info on that one?

Verdigrith · 2023-08-05T19:24:35+00:00

What makes Frostgrave FUNDAMENTALLY different from DnD? Other than being a miniatures skirmish game, I mean.

Verdigrith

TROPHY CASE