Thread by @rpgnatalie, "what might advancement look like in a belonging outside belonging game, natalie?" [...]

"what might advancement look like in a belonging outside belonging game, natalie?" I hear you say

well,

one of the problems with advancement in games pbta generally, I think, is that the scope of the game changes but the scope of the moves doesn't follow it

I'm going to get really big picture here please hang with me I promise I'm going somewhere

pbta moves are like machines that take fictional inputs and produce fictional outputs

the problem is that the scope of those inputs and outputs doesn't change to match the scope of the character as they change

so if a move takes a fictional input like "when you pick someone's pocket" and provides a fictional outcome like "say which item you've taken is the most valuable, and which is the most sentimental"

if the character changes, the move can't change with her

if she gets away from a life of street crime and gets into the organized crime business, the move doesn't follow her into this new life

in some ways this might be good for matching her experiences - we see that she carries them with her - but in terms of play it feels bad!

if the meat of our interactions with the mechanisms of the game is through the little list of fictional machines on our character sheet, and the machines no longer match who this character is, then they're not functioning well

"natalie you should just change playbook" but she's still a thief! she's still in the business of crime, she's just changed where she works. it's not the archetype that has changed, but the scope

and the moves are too small to fit her now

when you gain an advancement in a pbta game, often what that means is:
1) you get a +1 to a stat
2) you get to choose a new move
3) maybe some other fiddly stuff

you usually get to pick one

but if the moves of the playbook you're playing don't match the scope of the game you're playing it in, then picking another one isn't going to help you at all!

picking one from another playbook probably won't help you much either! what is this poor, enterprising thief to do? more so, what is her player to do if she wants to find something fulfilling from the machines the game has presented her with

there is a really easy answer here and it's kind of strange how little it has been engaged with as a mechanic in these games

you can just change the wording of the move

like. it's simple as that!

instead of taking the fictional input of "when you pick someone's pocket," maybe the move says "when you con someone"

or maybe the move says "when you break in to steal something"

or maybe the move says "when you gamble and win"

and the fictional outputs might have changed too!! maybe it doesn't make sense to think of what is most valuable and what is most treasured. maybe it's "say what will be most useful to your boss, and what makes you guilty for taking it"

the scope of the game changes and so should the fiddly bits of the machines that make up the characters in it!

okay so back to belonging outside belonging

what does this kind of advancement look like in those games?

maybe it looks like:
- when you advance, pick a move and change it's category (strong, regular, weak).
- when you advance, write in a new move
- when you advance, change the wording on a move you have to better fit your circumstances

as an example:

I'm playing the torch in a game of dream askew. she organizes rituals of augury, and I've just got an advance. I decide to change the wording of my "open your brain to the psychic maelstrom" move

I decide the move's text will say "open the brains of everyone nearby to the psychic maelstrom"

hell yeah!! say my friends at the table

but one of them is concerned. "isn't this too powerful? should it be a strong move now instead of a regular move?"

and maybe another says "but we've been doing some really cool stuff with the psychic maelstrom, it'd be nice to be able to bring all the characters into the mix"

and maybe as a compromise I suggest that instead of everyone nearby, it's everyone who can hear

that way people who don't want to be drawn in and close their ears and avoid it

this has dramatically changed the scope of the move! I am interacting with the psychic maelstrom in a way that I was not previously. what implications might this have? how can I use this to tell more interesting and compelling stories?

but also, perhaps of similar importance to me, how does this change the strategic decisions I am making as a player

now I don't have a move to just open my brain. if I want to do it, at least as a move, I have to open everyone's brain. maybe I kind of like that danger!

most likely, this is something my character was basically already doing, but didn't have the words for. I was doing rituals of augury, by which we the players understand I was fucking with the psychic maelstrom, and now I have words for what that does in the fiction

it's like in the case of the thief. she was already in a new line of business, I was just updating the fiddly bits of the machines that are my moves in order to fit the new scope better

for designers, this can (maybe should) look like opening up the creative field of editing moves to the people playing your game. great!

but it doesn't /have/ to.

I could write an advance for the thief playbook that says "replace the words 'pick someone's pocket' with 'break in to steal something'"

dungeon world (cursed be it's name) already does this to one degree or another!

change the fiddly bits. give players multiple fiddly bits they can interchange when they please. link the fiddly bits together.

there is truly no stopping you

a continuation of these thoughts https://twitter.com/rpgnatalie/status/1194131623337435136

https://twitter.com/rpgnatalie/status/1194131623337435136

Latest Threads Unrolled: