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I want to talk briefly about how character specific moves are acquired in #PbtA games. It& #39;s nothing particularly deep, but it& #39;s been a little thing poking at the inside of my head for a while, so I want to explore.
Broadly, I& #39;m interested in "Pick a Move from another Playbook."
Broadly, I& #39;m interested in "Pick a Move from another Playbook."
When a game is new or in design, that& #39;s a pretty closed system. PasiĂłn de las Pasiones has 6 available playbooks. You can easily look at every playbook move in existence. If you restrict to playbooks nobody else at your table is using, it may be fewer than a dozen moves.
As a game gets more popular and begins to have more playbooks (either "official" or otherwise) this number obviously increases. Monsterhearts, Masks and Dungeon World are good examples, they have broad playbook libraries.
This is imprecise, but looking up Dungeon World Playbook on Drive thru found 315 results. I have NO idea if that& #39;s accurate or not, but even if 1/10th of those are playbooks, suddenly we are parsing at least 300 moves.
There& #39;s definitely some D&D style min-maxing to be done, even from official Masks playbooks I& #39;ve seen some combos that are devastatingly effective. But more importantly, it becomes really difficult to pull playbooks and find the moves you want.
I think there& #39;s benefit and drawback to that, you can as a GM (or player) go rooting around for EXACTLY what you want. Especially if you pull sources ahead of time, you can make your theme more specific: We want our stuff to be faerie tale inspired, so we pull stuff like that.
Now, if we can pull playbooks in a mindful way to hit a certain advancement theme (which I think is cool, you may not!), I think this begs the question of why our advancements need to come from playbooks. Yes, that& #39;s the default, but why is the only way?
Here& #39;s what I& #39;m proposing interest in: Playsets for Themes.
When your group decides they like their game to feel a certain way, wouldn& #39;t it be great if they could pull a resource with new moves and options to hit that? The Newly Famous Add-On that& #39;s all about managing media?
When your group decides they like their game to feel a certain way, wouldn& #39;t it be great if they could pull a resource with new moves and options to hit that? The Newly Famous Add-On that& #39;s all about managing media?
For that matter, it could get MORE specific. when you introduce an NPC that people like or find a location or thing that players are interested in, you can offer them a move! If you& #39;re worried about just giving moves, make it an option they can add.
Broaden out the pathways at YOUR table with things that tie in with YOUR world.
Alternately, go the other way. Replace "Take a move from another playbook" with "Take a new move." Work with the player to make something new by figuring out what they want to do and doing it.
Booklets of moves could be really useful for this, but part of it is just writing!
Booklets of moves could be really useful for this, but part of it is just writing!
It may seem weird to do this, but when a game reaches a content critical mass, there& #39;s nothing wrong with leaning in. Nobody is gonna come to your table and tell you that you can& #39;t do a cool thing and as a fan of your players, why should You?
If a player is "above the line" on advances, but wants something from below the line... Why stop them?
What if we replaced EVERY Advancement related to new moves/features with "Take a move"? Would it break? Would it work?
What if we replaced EVERY Advancement related to new moves/features with "Take a move"? Would it break? Would it work?
I want to see what it plays like to just GIVE players moves when they want them.
"Dang, that conversation with my dad really meant something... Can I have a move related to sharing wisdom?"
HECK. YES.
"Dang, that conversation with my dad really meant something... Can I have a move related to sharing wisdom?"
HECK. YES.
And I don& #39;t think this invalidates having tightly built playbooks. Your first time playing Masks or PasiĂłn or whatever, play with what& #39;s presented. Then you can get the secret heart of the game and from THERE open up.
By your third advance, you know what an advance looks like.
By your third advance, you know what an advance looks like.
Anyway, I& #39;m interested in doing this stuff. If you are interested in it too or have done this, let me know! I wanna see it!
Also, P.S. I think playing a structured core game is TOTALLY valid and lets you get a certain experience. I just think once you void the warranty once, you may as well go for it fully!
