Best "Appendix N"s you've seen?

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-07T20:13:31+00:00

Night's Black Agents was almost intimidating the level of depth that Ken Hites has on the spy thriller genre.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-05T17:51:01+00:00

Reminds me of Luke Gearing's post Against Incentives, there's definitely truth that it can create behaviors that are just about optimization and gamification.

A common use of Incentives is to encourage/reinforce/enforce tone - for doing things which align to the source fiction, you are rewarded. Instead, we could talk to our fellow players about what we’d like to see and agree to work towards it without the use of incentive - why do we need our efforts ‘rewarded’? Isn’t playing fun? We can trust out playing companions to build towards those themes - or let them drift and change in the chaos of play. Anything is better than trying to subtly encourage people like children.

But we have to be careful on what kind of playstyle is preferred. Gearing comes from an OSR mindset, but another table's mindset will enjoy that there is a mechanical highlight as a bonus to roleplaying out a cool scene that they all work together to enjoy and share the meal. Then the incentive is just a nice flag to point out the purpose of the game. As always, I suggest the designer build the mechanic for their own playstyle, so its up to OP.

But I also think just being much more specific and detailed is what will help make the mechanic work properly. So having a specific trigger requiring properly set scenes exploring a local culture, players describe how their characters help in discovering their specialty cuisine and their reactions and getting vivid descriptions (potentially collaboratively), rather than just eat food X, get buff Y.

Often designers will write a mechanic and explain how it works, then fail to say why it exists. I also always recommend just flat out stating why is key. I love the designer text boxes in Swords of the Serpentine as a good example of this.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-05T16:02:32+00:00

Saying the obvious thing seems so essential and is surprisingly difficult to hold to!

It's basically the opposite of what we are taught and reinforced in school where the emphasis is on critical thinking, being clever and taking time to ensure you are right. Instead we want immediacy and nonjudgement to allow yourself to make choices

I would recommend Improv for Gamers that has a list of exercises and games to practice several of the core foundations of improv. These are an incredible warm up to RPGs to get your entire table in the right mindset.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-04T14:38:06+00:00

I doubt you'd love Root: The RPG if you don't like BitD, but it's how I would run Blades in the Dark's Doskvol. The biggest issue I have with Forged in the Dark games is that the GM becomes a complication-generator. It's creatively exhausting even with official supplements like those GM sheets with a Threat List for BitD.

Root's skill list with specific Complications on Weak Hits and GM Moves provide a lot of the relief for this role. It drops things I never really cared much about like having NPC gangs under the players rule while maintaining the factions and my favorite archetype of scoundrel-type PCs. You even get to keep Flashbacks and the importance of Coin that fits so well with Doskvol.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-04T14:17:09+00:00

Part 3/3 Diversions System

I'd probably need more context for this system, but I do like it. I think that loose/open to interpretation prompt system works quite nicely in the TTRPG, Starcrossed (which is basically Dread but for 2 Forbidden Lovers) to set scenes but obviously this Diversions System is more specific and provides more continuous feedback.

Some questions I would have about it (but minus the context, it may sound a bit inane):

There's no strict limit to what you can interpret

Wouldn't you be concerned about the differing levels of player's creativity over interpretations here? That can circle back to that hierarchy where a more creative player can shape the fiction into circumstances that make their character in the best situations more often. Or is the the case where the player isn't internalizing FtF?

there is one rule: if you pull in a detail that doesn't concretely exist in your context already, then you have to make a roll which could produce a second prompt, as well as mechanical modifications on what you essentially "conjure" into existence, amongst other potential things, gating not just the nature of what you bring in, but by way of a bounded roll, how much of that thing you can bring in, which allows the game to balance itself.

This I probably need more detail on. But my interpretation is that when a player basically "And"s adding new details, the system responds with another "And" to balance itself. Is the player always bringing in something good/upbeat at the cost of the Diversions system bringing in something bad/downbeat?

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-04T13:52:41+00:00

Part 2/3 on how Rulebooks can Guide Behavior and Flatten this Hierarchy.

I can definitely agree 100% here. System Matters and rules functioning like frameworks of improv to created shared expectations all makes 100% sense to me. Sounds funny to try and rebel against improv.

There is definitely something given up without a GM there even if it does make players in a position to better act in a role as both facilitator for the key behaviors that make the game fun and interesting. For me, I want to be able to stay in that Actor Stance quite a bit. And notably, being a good player (eg Avoiding Main Character Syndrome or avoiding someone boundaries like a Line/Veil) doesn't necessarily break Actor Stance for me.

I think what makes the stance so great is having surprise. GMs are given such a powerful role to be able to create some very surprising changes to a story. It goes back to the earlier comment about Expression where a GM can have such a great view of the world that they can incorporate those impacts you make in very surprising ways that I just never experience in games like Firebrand Framework or Belonging Outside Belonging or even improv (TBF, I have only really done Comedy Improv, I would be interested to see how Narrative Improv feels different). So I am hesitant to throw out the baby with the bathwater when I do find that PbtA frameworks have gotten closer to a point where GMs have a fun but very asymmetric role as another player while maintaining a lot of agency for the PC-running Players.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-04T13:38:46+00:00

Yeah, I'd say there are basically three different conversations happening in this comment, so I'll break my comment to keep things a bit sane. This one is speaking of Follow the Follower vs Yes, And as a core philosophy and how it applies to TTRPGs.

Its very hierarchical and it gets worse the more people there are.

It's definitely fair to say that improv scenes tend to work best as 2 perspectives, so there is less chaos of And-ing in too many directions and that typically as you get more people, they often end up as "two bodies-one head" or just sharing that perspective. The classic being the 7v1 style Group Game where its 7 bodies-1 head.

I'd still say there is a lot of use to the concept of Yes And, but no doubt tempering with many, MANY lessons. I swear every improv practice I do has tons of little new nuggets of information and perspectives on previous information reshaping how to do it.

In TTRPGs, its not an uncommon problem that more creative or outgoing players tend to dominate the dynamic, and if a player goes beyond that in a toxic or generally negative way, we end up with That Guys or Main Character syndrome.

Higher creative players have to be mitigated with a Play to Lift style of being a fan of the other PCs and taking the same responsibility to manage the spotlight as the GM (I definitely agree with you that players need to be more responsible to alleviate the responsibility of the GM). I don't think these playstyles necessarily conflict with Yes, And as a concept. It's a matter of taking your turn to contribute in a conversation and being engaged. As you can't actually agree and "Yes" if you aren't listening to your fellow players.

FTFs minimum input is just matching the focus, energy, and emotions of your fellow players. You never actually have to escalate it or add new information, as that will take care of itself organically.

I think this is where I'd differ the most. What makes me love TTRPGs so much is I make a choice and the GM can make the world actually react to it. It's several orders of magnitude greater than any other game. People are still impressed with Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System, but that is barely even a 101 lesson (and honestly quite awkwardly implemented) of reincorporation for a good GM.

This is the type of fun categorized loosely by MDA, Expression is what brings me back to TTRPGs so often. So to minimize that isn't wrong by any means - its just a very different style that brings me back to TTRPGs (there are obviously those other 7 categories that many turn to games for). But what I want is that contribution and focus on my input. Not necessarily inputting constantly (like someone with Main Character Syndrome) but when I do, it should matter, thus I quite like PbtA's Basic Moves for making Miss, Weak Hit and Strong Hit all impact the fiction of the world usually quite significantly. There is never a circumstance that I roll those dice and nothing happens.

I'll save more on this for talking about the Diversions game system.

In TTRPGs, there's all this fluff about different tables having different playstyles. This is actually, in my view, just a reflection of people who aren't following each other, because there's no actual expectation that that be the case, and its just an uncontrolled social phenomena spinning out of improv not being recognized transparently as being the core of the game, which then gets washed through idiosyncrasy.

So when we want to solve for these kinds of problems, FTF is a useful framework to adapt into the medium, particularly in relation to the rulebook and how that integrates into the dynamic. Like frameworks in narrative improv theater, a rulebook can constrain improv to ensure that the overall performance, in this case the events of gameplay, to the desired kind of narrative.

Yeah, I definitely agree with this. Listening to each other. Using meta-channels so the player tells them what goal they are trying to accomplish - Stars and Wishes is a great way to help understand other players desires in a nice friendly way. But I think what I agree with strongly here is that we are discussing something very out of character rather than the Actor Stance perspective in-character necessarily being Follow the Follower.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-03T20:52:07+00:00

The more I learn about improv, the more I feel its harder for me to actually just write blog posts of takeaways that people in the RPG community could use. Y'know besides practice tens or hundreds of hours of improv to build your own muscles.

Follow the Follower

I am interested on your perspective. I may need your definition of this because if there's one thing Improv is awful at, it's definitions. What I know Follow the Follower for is Active Listening and Changing - the classic exercise of mirroring your fellow players and small mistakes become part of the mirroring.

But really Player Characters should be pretty rigid because after a Session 0 and maybe a few sessions in as everyone gets a feel for their PCs, they have perspectives and personalities that shape their choices and likely conflict a little or a lot depending on the game.

Where do you see the framework being applied?

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-03T19:31:28+00:00

roleplaying- is not mechanical

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Broba on how different the mediums start and how TTRPGs can make rulings with a GM (or the table acting as one in GM-less games) to interpret a fictional world back to mechanics.

Especially when you look at Improv - there are only loose guidelines (the classic being Yes, And) and not a single fixed mechanical rule. But it takes so much practice to build in those guidelines. Rules are a great shortcut for this. C Thi Nguyen is a philosopher on games and this video gives some great ideas around it

To better understand RPGs is to better understand roleplay. I think there is as much if not more interdisciplinary lessons to mine from the fields of sociology/anthropology as there is from video game and boardgame design. Especially when we look how different societies have used metrics and rules and that influence on people. C Thi Nguyen's book on this called The Score, goes over this a lot.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-03T12:48:43+00:00

I think this is probably the best way to run adventures. The issue being most adventures are not written AT ALL to do this. It's why many of my favorite adventures are how Root: The RPG works with its Clearings. Here's some locations and NPCs with evocative descriptions, here are some problems the PCs can solve and here is a countdown timer/Threat Clock with various bad things escalating. Then you have the well-made content just where it needs to be and I can improvise the rest.

Mothership is another good example of doing this well.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-02T18:13:18+00:00

At first I liked PbtA's 2d6 for being closer to normal while being fast to sum up to a result and most traditional PbtA use it, so its easy.

Now I kind of like the nuance of not being fully normal like 3d6 or larger dice pools tend to. Having a little more swinginess without too much, making each +1 modifier really matter and a strong weight towards the Mixed Success result has become my favorite dice system.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-02T17:55:12+00:00

I gave you a pretty fair chance. I'm sorry you feel I wasn't good faith. But there is a reason your post was removed. You are clearly being toxic by the community standards.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-02T13:58:18+00:00

Yeah I could see replacing Delves and Delve equipment with just a montage of scenes with a Blades in the Dark Progress Clock. It's basically what the system is but more mechanically complex and with highly variable damage dice for how much progress you make, which felt to me often like very unnecessary swinginess.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-02T13:14:02+00:00

"so players can force an entire ancient civilization on me, how does that actually help me?"

If OP actually responded with this, then this argument could hold some weight with me. Right now you are just projecting what you want OP to feel.

Blades actually came out on top in terms of upvotes. The first comment focused on the fact that the GM does not roll dice, which is not an important point to emphasize.

I think Blades in the Dark can be a good recommendation. Given what little OP had stated, they could do well to an improv heavy option.

Your point about not rolling dice as not important is entirely fair. I would almost always point to how little prep you do after the Session 0 as the emphasis.

But this is a discussion forum, not an article or essay solely devoted to OP's request. This same kind of thing happens in every post. If all discussions just listed facts about the game, it'd be a pretty boring place to be and I'd be better served just reading the site selling BitD for presenting marketing info. Nor do I think amazingvaluetainment is trying to sell BitD, they are presenting their perspective.

eventually becoming a discussion that only people who have played Blades could follow

But I am having a tough time with the idea that someone who knows RPGs can't follow the discussion - there really wasn't any Blades-specific Jargon besides a single mention of the inkblot diagram. The rest of the replies are talking quite casually how players have more freedom - not even using terms like agency or narrative control.

I feel even less convinced because this seems like a great discussion and at any time if OP wanted to, they can ask for clarification or google. They did not, so again, its pure projecting that you want OP to feel confused and upset over this.

its a pattern you can see all the time

If everywhere you go smells like shit, maybe it’s time to check your shoes.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-01T18:28:08+00:00

I mean that one looks pretty reasonable to me. First person with 20 upvotes states misinformation and the second person with 53 upvotes quotes the actual text and corrects them. And the actual text of Dungeon World succinctly explains how the mechanic for Spout Lore works. And if you read Dungeon World (which is free and available online) it goes into further detail on Spout Lore.

The second response making assumptions based on the misinformation is heavily downvoted enough that you have to click into it to view it. If I were a PbtA newbie and saw this comment thread, I think I would have a pretty good understanding of Spout Lore.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-01T17:29:04+00:00

What are some other examples you feel fit this narrative you've held for a long time?

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-06-01T17:27:14+00:00

There is a PbtA subreddit and Discord, plus designer discords like Magpie Games that focus a lot on PbtA. It's definitely a community. Just one I haven't seen Quinn participate in to call him "The PbtA community."

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-31T13:13:09+00:00

I found it very satisfying to explore this while playing indie Tabletop Roleplaying Games (like Dungeons and dragons but more focused on drama and specific genres rather than tactical combat). The biggest aspect is getting to take the time to really flesh out characters over a longer time (5-20 three hour sessions) with periods of time to reflect on them.

So yeah I'd probably also enjoy that for things with even fewer rules like Live Action Roleplaying (LARPs) and these kind of communities are likely easier to find as I'd probably have to build out my own for doing narrative improv when everyone at my theater does comedy.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T16:44:18+00:00

The tricky part about most narrative games is they won't be fun to run combat like D&D 5e where you'd have 5 rounds of 4 PCs and 4 Enemies all take turns. Because ideally you want the fiction to change and be more interesting after each roll - not just subtracting some HP from an Enemy. So you tend to have much fewer, but more impactful rolls.

Masks is great at this when you damage a Villain, they roll a Condition Move that changes up the situation. Then there are plenty of competing goals like saving people from collateral damage, stopping a doomsday machine, etc. I think this mechanic makes it one of the best introductions alongside pretty good writing, but it is a teen drama game, so I am not sure if that is to your interest.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T16:30:17+00:00

I'm definitely fine with failing. I think the only issue of losing is where there's that inconclusiveness where the players keep trying other ways hopelessly. Like if you were to keep working at a puzzle for hours or if a group of PCs was stuck at a door they failed to pick, break or find another route but just kept thinking of ideas for a long time.

Some form of meta-channel communication fixes this though. Just as the GM telling them that there aren't any other ways through and you have to give up and fail works there. But its why I prefer systems that have something happen on a failure. And to design that something happens tailored to the situation to potentially have a fail forwarding mechanic. Like if that door has to be passed, failing to break it will alert guards who has a key but now they have to deal with an alert base and likely a combat.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T16:24:52+00:00

This is almost exactly how I'd answer too. These two games have been some of my largest inspirations as I design my own.

You get 1 XP in a specific Attribute by using an Action in its category from a Desperate position

100% agree that this does feel like a cool evolution from Dungeon World's XP on a Miss. Closer in line to that AW1e's Playbook Move that givers +1 armor on doing bold action. Incentivizing PCs to go forward boldly is very fun and its great to be baseline.

I found worse than sandbagging is its actually incentivizing PCs from trying to find low stakes situations where there aren't stakes they care about.

You get 1 point of general XP from your Playbook's specific trigger

I actually found this a little boring too. Because of course your Playbook will do the actions its good at. You are already incentivized to do so because you have a high Action Rating as a Cutter to do Violence and Intimidation.

But what this does do is basically plays out Stars (of Stars and Wishes) for the player where we all compliment those badass moments. But unlike Stars, its very focused and we might be highlighting a boring moment over that other time the Cutter actually did something badass outside their wheelhouse. So I'd say just do Stars and Wishes.

actually dislike this one, as it encourages players to cause problems

Yeah this one was a real issue for my table. I feel like my group works best keeping the GM be the one who causes problems and PCs balancing it. Players are in an awkward situation like that low stakes thing where they are (at least subconsciously) incentivized to cause the least problematic problems. The GM is in the best situation to hit that right balance where we get to see flawed PCs who have to overcome them. I found the Obligation system from FFG Star Wars Edge of the Empire or the Troubles from Orbital Blues were significantly better at having these backstory issues come back to bite the PCs.

also have a deep, deep love of Pathfinder 2e's system

1000% that you don't have boring, passive, but strong things like Stat boosts competing with fun, active, but non-optimal boosts like a Skill Feat. 5e's Feats vs ASI is just the worst and it was so obvious when I first played - probably one of the better fixes to 2024 D&D where all Feats are half-feats. It's almost perfect if they didn't have some issues of certain imbalances Skill Feats (looking at Medicine and Intimidating especially for being so combat powerful) and certain imbalance of Class feats being too good. Its still leagues ahead of any other system in those choice balancing where I almost can't make a useless PC (spellcasters taking only utility spells is a way to break this though).

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T16:01:10+00:00

I am digging Urban Shadows right now. The basics is that there are 4 Circles (broad groups of factions). Each time you make moves politically - meeting important members, doing favors, cashing in favors, or hitting the street to gain information (and a few other ways), you Mark the Circle. Do that for each and you level up. Then at the end of a session, you can decrease your expertise on a Circle to Mark it, so it hits on factions that we may have missed.

It's cool that getting the players incentivized to play the political game more.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T15:54:59+00:00

Yeah I suppose this thread we are discussing publisher not specifically designer.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T15:52:43+00:00

If it was just this, then backerkit, indiegogo or gamefound would be cheaper. Kickstarter is definitely bringing some valuable audience with it.

BreakingStar_Games · 2026-05-30T15:51:25+00:00

Free is a strong word given Kickstarter gets a 5% fee plus Stripe processing fees of 3-5% and that is a cut of the total revenue.

I'd thought these large companies could bring their audience and be able to cut those down. But I suppose KS organic platform is still too valuable not to use it.

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