Thread (10) about my #EndJam2019 submission Sense of an Ending #PbtA #FitD

There is a misconception I've seen again and again about how this or that PbtA game is great for a one shot, few shots, limited series... but most of them aren't?

Playbooks are great tech for making a game more pick up and play. No need to do arduous character creation or even much need to understanding mechanics on a deep level before play. With things like background questions/Hx/Bonds/etc. you also don't need elaborate backstories.

But that doesn't mean the game you are playing is designed to be satisfying as a one shot or a short series. Most of them need some hacking or collective fiat to work that way.

Apocalypse World even spells this out on page 8:

Have you heard people bemoan how everything just gets worse and worse for their character in this or that PbtA game?

They might have had an expectations at odds about the tone of a game—yet, even when not: there also is a mechanical downward spiral inherent in many PbtA games.

A "move as hard as the MC likes" combined with specific Principles that guide what the MC's is to do can lead to a perceived imbalance in agency. A 6- can easily be of a whole other scale than what you might get on a 10+, especially as the latter is more prescriptive in nature.

Misaligned expectations aside, what often gets overlooked is also why the text above calls out the 6-session mark: these games eventually offer levers to the players for breaking out of that downward spiral and empower them to push for a resolution for their arc they want to see.

Yet, in so few APs do these really come into play. And it's understandable, we all have busy lives and we still want to play. And they are so easy to get off the ground...

So, we go for a limited run and 8 sessions sounds like a pretty decent arc, especially for a stream, right?

But with single digit number of sessions, a little bit of meandering rp here or there (often key breathing room!), or a lack of experience or willingness to constantly play into a games' xp breadcrumb trail, and these games end up facing an unresolvable end other than by fiat.

And that's a thing we've all been conditioned to find way too acceptable, I feel.

Instead, wouldn't it be awesome to keep 'playing to find out what happens' until and including the end of our story?

And get to access those neat endgame mechanics that are there to be used?

That was the key motivation for writing...

Sense of an Ending: a supplement for ending PbtA and FitD games

So, go check it out, grab a free copy as long as ones are available and get your drama on:
https://sweevie.itch.io/sense-of-an-ending
#ttrpg #PbtA #FitD #EndJam2019