I was thinking about using Blades in the Dark (I’m aware it’s not PBTA) or an Urban Shadows adaptation, but I found I would have to make a lot of changes for it to capture the right vibe. Honestly, I feel like the setting does most of the work for a campaign like this, but I would really enjoy a system that helps support the story.

Kickstared over 4 years ago, Nov 2020! I'd sorta forgotten about it until my neighbor dropped off a heavy package. Excited for it, but a lot has changed in that time. It's a large heavy hardback, and I sort of don't have the storage space for it. Plus I've resigned myself to the fact in the unlikely event I actually get to play a niche game, it's going to be online with pdfs.

Don't want to refund as I like magpie games and happy to support them. But don't want it to go to waste either.

If I do break the seal on it and browse it for a few days/weeks, does that make it less valuable? Don't care about recouping money, would donate/give away, but don't want to spend too much effort finding a home for it, just would rater see it go to use than a recycling centre.

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

I'm starting a Chasing Adventure campaign in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to running this low prep, and following the players hooks from session zero.

However one of the players won't know if he can make session zero until the last minute. If he doesn't show I will run a one shot instead to get the players (and me) a bit of practice with the system. This won't tie into the campaign so that the full group can influence that.

I've never had a planned one shot finish is one session, I need to keep this to 3 hours.

Please give tips on *Running pbta as a one shot *Whether this should be improvised and include character creation, or pre planned, which feels less authentic *How to keep to 3 hours!

I've typically seen pretty negative reactions from any threads suggesting not explicitly laying out moves to inform the players of what kind of roleplay to engage in, but I stumbled on FIST and searched the threads here and have only seen it mentioned in passing.

Has anyone played it? Any consensus on it? Do you feel like the lack of moves is good/bad?

I feel like the setting laid out in the book sets a pretty good tone of what the gameplay should be about, but am really curious what others think about the game.

I have a great player in my Urban Shadows game, but I'm having trouble giving him satisfactory challenges. If it's a problem he can shoot, he immediately obliterates it, and most of his connections are dead or missing (partially due to him). I'm afraid if I give him a delicate situation, it's going to escalate to obliterating anyone at the top. Any advice for how to approach this?

Hi, I'm have some friends who are fans of Romantacy and am looking for games to suggest. I'm only familiar with PBtA playing a session of Avatar Legends. Monster hearts sprang to my mind but we all have teen kids so would be a bit odd to play games emulating the emotional rollercoasters they are struggling with. So looking for more vampire, mafia themed RPGs with a focus on the romantasy, enemies to lovers, intrigue. Would Urban Shadows work? Or TSL? Or something else?

Hi everyone,

I have decided to run a PBtA game for the first time. We play Apocalpyse World 2e. However, after reading the rulebook and having a first session, I am not sure I really understand how combat works.

So, the first encounter was very simple. The group sits in a car and encounters a wild enemy, which attacked the group. I gave the animal an attack move (2-harm). The game doesn't tell me how much harm NPCs can suffer, so I gave the animal 5 hp as a start. The group shoots the animal. They roll 8, they choose inflict terrible harm and suffer little harm. The weapon deals 3 harm, so total 4. Now I have to exchange harm, meaning that the animal attacks the group and deals 2 harm minus 1 from the player's choice minus 1 from vehicle armor. The animal is still alive, so it's next players turn. They roll 4, but that means they still inflict harm (?) and kill the animal. However, the animal can still exchange harm, so it attacks the car with 1 harm (2 minus armor) - now what? Roll v-harm? How much hp does the car have? Also, since it was a miss I can decide that the gun is out of ammo (take stuff away)?

Alltogether, the fight felt very confusing. Did I play it wrong? Should I just make the enemies stronger? What are you tips on balancing?

Our group is debating on if Forward means +1 on all rolls for the full scene. And what does Hold mean? Is it like, holding an action?

We are all very confused. I also couldn't find the relevant reddit group for this game as well. I am open to better descriptions or somewhere to get more information.

Thanks!

Spine of Eternity: Everybody Wants to be a Star is a game about adventurers in a modern fantasy setting where fame is power. The game balances rules and fiction with several arcs to focus on what characters want or what they struggle with and classes that focus how they solve conflict in a moderately number crunchy way.

Itch link: https://worstgirleva.itch.io/everybody-wants-to-be-a-star

Drivethru rpg link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/pt/product/452570/spine-of-eternity-everybody-wants-to-be-a-star

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

There isn't a kickstarter, and I'm not asking for your money. This is just a little thing I'm working on to run a campaign or two for my friends, that I thought you all might be interested in.

I'm a lover of tabletop RPGs (and Powered by the Apocalypse in particular), and a lover of god simulator games (think the Black & White series). For a while now I've been working on a little passion project that combines the two, and the project is far enough along that I've reached the point where it's ready for playtesting.

Diem Diu Dios aims to emulate the struggles of godhood. Keeping your worshipers alive, staving off events that threaten to prematurely end the world, wielding your divine might, accumulating treasures, spreading your teachings, smiting your foes, and navigating the dangerous social waters that are other divine beings.

Players take the role of gods who once were mortals. They did not create the world and the messes therein – they inherited from their predecessor, who uplifted a mortal to their station, then left to await the pantheon at “the end of the world”. The players are gods of the same pantheon. There are non-player gods in the same pantheon as the players, and there are other pantheons elsewhere in the world who have their own ideas of how the world should end.

Some of the moves in the book are performed god-to-god, but many of the moves affect the mortal world. For those moves, the players are limited in that they can only affect the mortal world in places in the presence of their worshipers.

Diem Diu Dios utilizes labels and a conditions system similar to Masks. There's also a shared resource called "FAITH" that players can spend for bonuses and to shift their labels, but also acts as a shared harm pool for the entire pantheon.

The playtest document is only 19 pages long. Ten of those pages belong to the five sample playbooks included. The document does not yet include a section explaining the concept of DM moves or listing them, and it barely glosses over concepts that a finished project would need to explain more thoroughly - knowledge experienced PbtA players and DMs take for granted (that gameplay is a conversation, that this game is more collaborative than cooperative, etc).

If you're interested in giving feedback, or have any questions about the game (mechanics or otherwise), feel free to leave a comment here. Like I mentioned above, this is a passion project I'm working on for myself and my personal group of friends. If the r/PBtA community is enthusiastic about the project, I'll be more than willing to share new versions with this subreddit when I make major revisions.

Diem Diu Dios - Open Playtest

On the discord I asked for some W40k-themed PbtA games, and someone gave me a link to this post by /u/tentrynos about their game, Heresy of the Week.

I'd love to give it a try, unfortunately the Gdrive linked to in the post contains only the Inquisitor playbook and two empty folders (Heresy of the Week v2 and Playbooks v3).
Are the folders actually empty or is it just an issue with the permissions? Is the game available somewhere?

So I've run three sessions of Brindlewood Bay so far, and I still feel like I'm not quite getting it (this is my first PBtA game btw). I'm not giving up yet, but I've struggled with letting the mavens gather too many clues too quickly. Part of this is due to the wording of the meddling move which says "when you search for a clue, conduct research, or otherwise gather information, describe how you're doing so and roll with an appropriate ability." This feels like almost every second of play to me, and so the clues come fast. The players pretty much never fail their meddling roll, even when I'm handing out conditions like candy and having them roll with disadvantage (although maybe that's just bad luck). That said, I can tell part of the problem is because I'm not complicating the situation enough and putting more obstacles in the way. I find this especially difficult in situations where all the suspects are present and the mystery is confined to a small space. I've been trying to put my foot on the gas more with each session, but increasingly I'm getting the feeling that I really need to ratchet up the stakes to very pulpy, bombastic levels.

And that's where my problem is. I think to make the game work with the default mystery complexities and all the tools the mavens have, that I have to really throw the kitchen sink at the players. But I kind of don't want to. I wanted to play a game that's a little more sedate, slower paced, and with an escalating sense of horror. Looking at the examples for "Charging the Environment" and complications in the keeper chapters I can see that the pulp has always been there, so maybe I just picked the wrong game and had the wrong expectations. So what do you all do? Have any of you had more luck running lower key, calmer mysteries? What do your complications and keeper moves look like when you do?

Regardless, I'm going to start ramping up the horror aspects now that we're deeper into the dark conspiracy, and I think that will help some.

Hello everyone!

I recently finished my new PbtA game and want to share it with you. It is 100% free. You can download it and check it and share you thoughts.

Last Wish - you play as robots in a post-apocalyptic world, fulfilling the final command of humanity’s last survivor. With simple, narrative-driven mechanics, you'll explore survival, identity, and purpose in a chaotic new era.

Drivethru https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/502944/last-wish

Itch https://rpgupolaka.itch.io/last-wish

What is Powered by the Apocalypse?

Powered by the Apocalypse (or PbtA) is a family of game systems spun off the originating name Apocalypse World.

Forged in the Dark, Belonging Outside Belonging, and Carved from Brindlewood games are all welcomed here.

Subreddit rules

PBTA Discord, our related community

Big List of Apocalypse World Hacks

Other PbtA subreddits:

• r/apocalypseworld
• r/DungeonWorld
• r/Monsterhearts
• [r/MonsterOfTheWeek](https://old.reddit.com/r/monsteroftheweek /)

Other RPG subreddits:

• r/rpg

Hi! I'm playing Apocalypse World 2ed as the MC, and I have a terrible case of blank page problem. I played as a PC a few years ago and loved it, I've GMed other games and especially loved Dogs in the Vineyard, I was looking forward to finally be able to MC AW2! We made the characters, played one scene or two before running out of time, and now I'm preparing the threats for the next session.

And now I don't know what to do! Not as in, what I have to do, but how to create the threats.

I'd be glad for any help, even if it's just for inspiration or support :)

(note that I have the Italian edition of the game and I'm translating terms, hope I'm not botching anything too much)

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic jungle landscape, the player characters have a village on top of a small flat mountain that rises above the trees.

The characters are a gunlugger, a maestro'd and a brainer. The only one who has NPCs associated with them is the maestro'd (because the character creation requires that they name their customers and give me a bit of information about them).

Now, the game says that I have to create a threat with the place the campaign is set in. I made the jungle a Breeding pit (need: to generate badness)...I guess? I imagine every kind of strange mutated beast to be spawned by it, but I also kinda leaned towards Maze (need: to trap, to frustrate passage). Not sure which, I guess I could use it as both?

So, after the landscape, since there are no gangs, I have to "For any PC’s other NPCs, create as brutes, plus a grotesque and/or a wannabe warlord.". I made one customer (described as creepy and clingy) a cannibal. Disease vector was my first option because she's described to hit on everyone, but I didn't really like the idea of a disease spreading? But then again, I have to also create an affliction threat, and the disease would be a no-brainer to link to the grotesque.

I also created three warlords, one is the sceriff of the village (a dictator), who wants to close the maestro'd's establishment (a food stand with music and lots of (dubious) food and booze). He has his own gang (brute:enforcers). Another customer is a Collector, yet another is an ex associate of the maestro'd and wants the food stand for himself (dictator). Three other customers are part of a family (brute). The brainer has a vehicle, so I made that also a threat. Which leaves only the affliction to be designed, and I don't know what to pick.

Now, I have a bunch of threats, and a lot of questions: Are these too many threats? too few? There are still NPCs that I haven't made into a threat, am I supposed to? Also, all NPCs and threats are linked only to the maestro'd, should I make some specifically linked to the other two PCs? Should I just link some of these NPCs to the other PCs, without asking? I feel I mismanaged the first session not asking enough about the characters around the PCs and concentrating maybe too much on the PCs and their environment. I guess I will explore this in the first session, but then again, I'd like to get there with at least an idea of a few NPCs with wants and plans, to set things in motion (that's what I liked about the prep of DitV).

I also struggle with coming up with stakes for the threats, not to mention custom moves or clocks, since I don't even know these NPCs yet.

Sorry for the ramble, but I have so many questions!

Thanks for anyone who will take the time to write a reply, or even just bother to read this wall of text :)

I'm still very excited to be able to play AW again!

Hi! I've recently started a masks campaign as a Bull character and found myself with high savior (+3), however, I was looking at The Soldier playbook and noticed the "I can do this all day" move. (which allows you to stay in a fight while taking a -1 to Savior for each time you stay in the fight).

So, my question is, doesn't locking Savior while having that move basically make your character invincible? Since (unless I'm reading it incorrectly), I believe locking your labels means they can no longer be moved once they're locked?

Loving the vibe in the Skeleton Crew trailer (think Goonies plus Firefly plus Star Wars). https://youtu.be/f19gfOMZTtg?si=nXCS8YwFuaVDMec6

Any recommendations for a game to run it?

Might be as easy as a light reskin of a star wars hack. Feeling like the relationships between the crew members and more emotional based consequences might fit, as well as mechanics for owning a starship.

I’m trying to iron out a character; not necessarily pinning things down until we have a session and I get to know other players’ characters and a proper Apocalypse, but I want to make a Maestro D who is a book collector, but I’m looking for ideas for what their establishment could be. Does anyone have ideas?

That time of year is upon us, and although still a little early yet (the Americans haven't even had Thanksgiving), it is true that Christmas and then New Year are soon to be upon us. To that end, it's never too early to start thinking about what kind of seasonal one-shot / short campaign you're going to run, and this year I'm stumped.

I know I'd like to run something, I know I want it to be PbtA or one of it's descendant families (Forged in the Dark, Belonging Outside Belonging, Carved from Brindlewood, etc), and ideally I'd like it to be something that's specifically tied to the season, either in a lighthearted silly way (We're all going to the north pole to help / steal from Santa) or more dark and sinister (Strange Eldritch monsters only venture forth on the solstice).

But I don't have any specific requirements beyond it being seasonal and PbtA or related family. So please, I ask of you lovely people, to help suggest interesting things to run for a group of four players plus one MC in person over the festive period, and why you think they're great games.

Thank you in advance.

I've been playing Glitter Hearts for a while now, only as a DM, and I was wondering this.

Is there a way to enhance the max HP of a character? In Glitter Hearts, the way to know the characters max HP is doing 10+physical, and since a skill can be maxed out only to +2, the maximum life a character can have is 12, which isn't a lot at all...

Is it really the max HP a character can look forward, or maybe thers some other ways to increment it (official or not)?

Hey All!

Once again, welcome to the weekly thread where you can link products, kickstarters, podcasts, videos, really anything you like, as much as you like.

As usual, rules 4 (1 advertising post) and 5 (no LFG) are suspended in this post.

New stretch goal? Post here!

Need two players for Night Witches? Post here!

Designer dropped a dev diary? Post here!

Handy dandy loaded dice on amazon? Post here? Please don't on that one actually.

Have fun, and lets see some interesting stuff.

Given how important is the mistery structure (locations, people, clues), is there any tool to create the misteries? Maybe a random table or a procedure

I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with stonetop and more with the village building/support play. Can the village play be separated from the pbta gameplay loop or are they tied together.

The kickstarter lists "we make roll20 sheets" as an unlocked stretch goal - any idea on when those would be created? My table is itching to try it but we'd prefer not to have to use a google sheet.

I'm working on a custom Pokemon ttrpg for my friends and I to play, and I'm basing it off of the PBtA games I've played so far, which are Monster of the Week, MASKS, and Avatar: Legends. I really like the Avatar: Legends exchange system to represent pokemon battles, but I feel like the Balance mechanic doesn't fit in thematically as well as it does in the A:L system.

The problem is that two out of the three Evade and Observe techniques are focused on the balance mechanic, so I need something to replace those techniques. As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if I could replace Balance with some kind of simplified Focus mechanic, so you could shift your focus between, like, Passion and Calm or something like that, and high passion would help you attack while high calm would help you defend? But if you go over either edge, you would burn out or fade out.

Okay, I actually like that idea, but I already started writing this post, so if anyone else has ideas, I would love to hear them!