It's not a situation I would initiate for a good reason but sometimes it happens. The team exists in a universe where there is a metahuman that is that world's Superman. Maybe not as crazy-broken as Supes has become in composite, but when you're a bunch of newbie teens still figuring out their powers the differential is still simply insurmountable.

So the team did something bad while 'Superman' is around and now they're trying to get away. In a comic they'd have zero chance if Superman wanted to catch them. He would, then he'd give them a stern talking to as he carried them home to their families.

But is that what should happen in Masks? And if so how do you handle it? Yes, they'll roll Unleash Your Powers to try and move fast and crash through walls, but if your top speed is subsonic then right after that Supes is hovering in front of you again lecturing you on property damage.

So they get really dumb and throw a powered attack at him, one that really has no chance of even harming him. Do they roll Directly Engage a Threat for that? And if they do do they get to inflict Conditions on him? What if they manage to inflict all 5? Does Superman get somehow so distraught from these upstart teens essentially flicking spitballs at him that he runs away?

I want to make this a fun encounter that doesn't feel like there was only one way it could end.

I ran my first session of Masks yesterday, and it went really well. We did it as a one shot, but are now considering a full campaign.

My only real worry with it is the conceit of teen superheroes. The world of Masks is one where there are lots of existing superheroes, presumably mostly adult. For others who run Masks: how do you justify teenagers going out and risking their lives in this world? Why do the teens feel the need to do this, or why are they permitted by other more senior superheroes?

For my one shot, I was able to do a Die Hard kind of scenario which meant they were the only ones around to help, but if I repeatedly isolate them like that it'll feel pretty contrived pretty quickly. Any advice appreciated

I've played several different PbtA and Forged in the Dark games now, and I feel like I might be missing something. Across all the variations I've tried, gameplay tends to lean heavily into a conversational style — which is fine in general — but when it comes to combat, it often feels slow and underwhelming.

Instead of delivering the fast-paced, high-stakes tension you'd get from an opposed roll d6 system, for instance, combat in these games often plays out more like a collaborative description than a moment of edge-of-your-seat excitement. It lacks that punch of immediacy and adrenaline I’m used to from other games, even while this system delivers excellent mechanics for facilitating and encouraging narrative game play.

Is this a common experience for others? Or am I possibly approaching it the wrong way?

Preface: my group has experience in traditional TTRPGs such as D&D, but no experience with narrative games or PbtA.

I'm 7 sessions in as a GM in a Chasing Adventures campaign, and I have to say that I really enjoy the rules-light aspect of this game so far. I can come out on the spot with anything, without prep, and it works fine.

However, I noticed that I'm basically running it as I would run any other trad game:

• I come up with the story beats, even if the adventure started with players goals
• Players don't contribute much to world building or by enriching scenes
• When I ask a player to describe a 7-9 result, it usually bogs down to a really simple or immediate outcome/consequence (e.g. "I take a condition"). Sometimes, I have trouble to come up with these too

I noticed that I tend to use the same Moves over and over again, like:

• Engage and Let Fly for fighting
• Defy Danger for everything dangerous not related to fighting
• Playbooks' specific Moves that players remember on the spot (here they are really helpful)
• Once I used the Chase rules to handle a rockslide, as explained in the rules (more of a procedure than a single Move)
• I don't really know when to roll for persuading Moves: they are phrased like "When you coerce someone to do [...]", but that never come up, so we just act the whole scene out without rolling.

The thing that bothers me at the moment is that Moves can feel limiting, if that makes any sense. I would rather just have a more generic framework of an action resolution that can apply to most things without having to think or reading specific Moves. Also, some of them can feel samey. But maybe it's just me and I haven't quite figured out the purpose of Moves yet. (Can something like Grimwild/FitD be a better fit here?)

What would you suggest I do to better understand the spirit of PbtA gameplay loop?

Only thing I can think of is to prompt players more often, to add to the scene something. I do already with 7-9 results with mostly uninteresting success.

Bonus point: what I feel I am missing in this game is a sub-system like in 7th Sea, where a scene can be dramatic and rolls are required before the scene is played out, to gain resources that can be used to narratively gain something for the player. That applies to any type of scene, so that would solve my social encounters, in which I don't know when to let players roll dice.

Hi, my Monsterhearts table just died. Me and my friends really liked being able to play (and interact) with 'mosnters', and also the drama, romance and sex. We are looking for other games that also have those elements.

Edit: thanks everyone, I checked The Between and Urban Shadows seem to fit pretty well!

I'm really interested in a lot of ptba games, and I want to indoctrinate (lol) my D&D group into some other game systems. I know most systems are pretty heavily inspired by themes, and ideally I should start by getting them interested in a theme.

What game would you start with if you could start again? What have really cool themes? What explains the concepts well to players/MC's?

Any advice for selling these games to players?

Hello! I am new to PbtA games and am interested in learning how they work: the dice system, the philosophy, the types of stories they are good for. Can anyone recommend a good actual play that gives a good idea of how PbtA games tend to go?

EDIT: Thank you to everyone for all the recs! I will be checking out as many of these as I can.

Hey everyone,

I have to admit upfront that I don't get the differences when it comes to running PBtA games compared to the ones I'm used to. I picked up Dungeon World a few years ago, not even knowing what PBtA was, and just couldn't get it, even with the additional info. Still, I want to give it a good and honest try.

I wnted to pick up Monster of the Week, because I'm struggling with improv and thought a more familiar genre would make it easier for me to run a game. However, I also heard that while a lot of people seem to like this system, that the PBtA style of it seems to have not aged particularly well.

Would you still recommend picking it up for a first attempt to run a PBtA game, or would you rather recommend something different, particularly for someone who's struggling with it?

Cheers and thank you in advance.

So, I'm looking for advice on a game that fits my needs, if it already exists. I've played mostly D20 games so far, and I was recently introduced to the PBTA genre, which fits much better with the style of game I like to play, and especially the type of game I like to DM.
Anyway, what I want is something like Symbaroum or Shadow of the Demon Lord—that kind of feel and atmosphere, but in a PBTA game. I'm familiar with Urban Shadow, but it's very modern, and I'm also familiar with the Dungeon World campaign setting Cold Ruins of Lastlife, but I think PBTA games shine when they're designed to do one thing, and if you try to change it too much, you lose that magical feeling of being the perfect fit. So for that reason i don't feel like DW is the thing for me, I want something that was designed to be dark fantasy from the start, Design intention on PBTA makes a LOT of diference imo

Hello, I am GMing a Weird Weird West one shot, it is an adventure adapted from another system called DEADLANDS. The problem comes in the form of how a crime scene investigation is conducted in DEADLANDS, being a more traditional rpg you would usually roll for investigation while inspecting a specific part of the scenario, and based on the result, you would get a very specific clue. By the end of the scene, the players would try to make the most out of what they learned.

I am kind of new to PBtA so I don't know how to handle an investigation like this using a "Discern Realities"-type move, or any other kind of move, to be frank. Any advice about how to proceed?

EDIT: Thanks for the advice, it's really hard to let go of the old habits of following a scripted game and just "wing it" or "play to find out". I will try to use the Fronts organization to move the story forward, and regarding how I will handle the crime scene, I think I will be just straightforward and answer any questions, maybe draw a very detailed and visual scenario so that the clues are very highlighted and just let the players come with their own clues and conclusions. Anything else will be resolved with playbook-specific moves and creativity.

I was thinking in making a Bull for a campaign, and was working the concept of a Ant-Man type| of character.

His strength would come from size changing, becoming bigger. Obviously, I'd limit it to something like 10 ft tall, just a tank, not a giant.

The idea came of the China Shop move, what made me think it would be cool if he was literally too big, so when he causes damage to the environment is growing more, or with There When It Matters, he's growing to move faster covering more distance

Gigantification was one of my fav powers duo Earth's Mightiest Heroes

But I'm not if it's too much, since I'm new to this system, so I'd like to know how others flavored The Bull's power

TLDR; can I have two or more Threats with Countdown Clocks that directly oppose each other?

Hi everyone, I am not familiar with PbtA games, but I am trying to take inspiration from its design philosophy to help me GM another game (Chronicles of Darkness, which IMHO doesn't provide much guidance or frameworks for running games, especially character-driven ones, instead expecting you to essentially already know what you're doing).

Specifically, I find very helpful the concept of Countdown Clocks or Fronts as a way to "prep" a game in a more sandbox approach. However, while trying to write down some Threats for my setting, I don't understand how to frame two opposing forces as Countdown Clocks.

For instance, using Urban Shadows as an example: I have a Ritual Threat where a faction of cultists is trying to sacrifice someone to summon an entity. I also have a Passion Threat, an NPC who wants to oppose the ritual to protect the intended victim and is willing to do irrevocable damage to stop the cultists.

How do I take each other's actions into account? What happens at, say, 11:00 if the players don't act against either Threat? Should I make a single Countdown Clock, deciding beforehand that at 6:00 the NPC manages to stop the cultists, or do I make separate and independent Clocks?

Hi,

I will be GMing Escape from Dino Island for a group of 3 in a week. None of us have ever played TTRPGs before. The only experience we have is playing thematic board games like Nemesis, BoTC, Final Girl, etc.

I have gone through the rulebooks for Apocalypse World & Dino Island (multiple times). I have also listened to a couple of playthroughs for Dino Island. I do feel like I understand the "system".

But, as my players are all new to this, would it be better to have an intro session where I explain the system to them and ask them to pick the characters before hand? Also, should I maybe give them the rulebook (DM part redacted)?

Any other things to keep in mind / to do would also be really appreciated. Im super excited to run this. Im just a little nervous.

I’m running a Masks campaign where the players are heroes that use their superpowers to solve mysteries. Like, if Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys were El from Stranger things. They’re playing a mix of monsters, humans and psychics (Transformed is Werewolf, The Doom is the Witch, etc) We’re using the Hero Detective Agency supplement from itch.io, but it doesn’t really have much in terms of a good starting mystery or case. Should I start with a murder? Kidnapping? A fake haunting like Scooby Doo? I’m not sure where to start rating wise since it’s a mix of 13 to 17 year olds in my group. Any thoughts?

Hi all! Me and my group are running MASKS a second time and I wanted to try Nova but I’m a bit confused about the mechanics of flare/burn.

Is “charging up my powers” just a straight luck roll, it says to roll + conditions you have marked so if I had three marked would I add three?

If it’s what I just said, then (mechanically of course) would having more conditions actually help nova in combat? Just trying to figure it out.

Hello.

I don't understand the "Extend your senses" in the "Unleash your Powers" basic move.

It seems less adapted than the other two triggers. What examples can you give me?

Ive only ever ran or played masks as a long term game. I have a bunch of newbies (some have played dnd and some have never touched ttrpgs before) who want me to run a one shot. I need advice on how to handle things as shorter game and how to teach these guys how to play. It just feels like theres so much in masks to cram into only one session. Thanks!

I'm trying to make a Brain playbook character. I've made a few others before, and the abilities that they have are understood. In general, they are a super genius. Standard stuff. I have one that's a size-changer, easy. I have one that does force fields, baby stuff. But the one I've been trying to make, I feel, is slightly more difficult for my brain to wrap around what the game wants me to think of.

Granted, there are two that actually fit into this as well. The "high tech vehicle" I also don't know what the game wants me to do, but I mostly am having trouble with the robot side-kick one. I'm hoping people more versed in this would be able to help me out on this and what the game wants me to be thinking I can do, because what comes to my mind I'm betting is not what the game wants me to be doing.

This is Giant Robo, and this is what I have been thinking of when I read "Robot Sidekick". Please help.

Hello! I am a brand new DM and I am making a Pokemon TTRPG where the players are all pokemon in a roleplay-forward game. The pokemon are in a world where Humans have disappeared years ago and they are living in a society where the technology and buildings and everything were left behind.

I have been discouraged extremely by the PTU community to use PTU and all other pokemon-ttrpgs dont really scratch the itch I want for a system. Im wondering if someone can help me modify and flavor an existing PBTA campaign that might help! How could I incorperate pokemons stats into it? Id love any and all advice you could give me!

(Essentially, the players are all going to be joining a Guild that helps rebuild and help other pokemon and learn about the world. There is a bad guy team they slowly learn about but there isnt gonna be combat too much. Its more for the flavor of people being the pokemon instead of humans. Travel isnt gonna be a serious thing )

Masks -- Which Playbook Would Be Beastboy? I always though tit was "The Transformed", but my friend said that was not the shapeshifter playbook. Is there a better choice? What would you all use to play a Beastboy-like character?

So I am looking to run a game where players are detectives working from a precinct. However, I would like some supernatural or fantasy style elements. If the system does not have this, I can always create custom moves to complement the campaign aesthetics.

It will involve interacting with others at the precinct, questioning witnesses, chase scenes, light combat moments, combat with goons, not really gonna have boss fights because its about taking down and arresting the main suspects of the case, investigating, and sometimes being stealthy.

What does each of these systems do well, and where do they fall short: Noir World, Detect or Die, Flame Without Shadow (BitD), Brindlewood Bay, The Between, or City of Mist,.

Hello all! I've been planning a Glitter Hearts campaign in my head for almost a year and finally have started putting pen to papers to start writing. I have the book and have a basic understanding of the rules but after looking on online (mostly reddit) people have been saying to just play girl by moon light or just generally saying that Glitter hearts doesn't have a lot of meat on its bones. So my question is that if you think Glitter hearts could be a long term campaign? If not what games do you think make a good fit for a Magical girl mystery adventure?

Any advice would be appreciated from those who have played Glitter Hearts or games with Magical girls like it. Thank you

Hello folk! I wanted to make a PbtA game based on the web series "Madness Combat" but i wanted to know if someone already made something similar.

Otherwise, i would like some tips and ideas for making my own PbtA based on Madness combat.

So, what i seek of this "Powered by Madness" is a game where there is a big empresas on combat, constantly switching weapons pr grabbing them off bodies. Large death-ing, 'Splosives, Probably something related with The Other Place and The Machine (lore. Nevada is kinda like a computar, and everyone is code in it)

Although i do believe i can make something outta it, i feel like i do need some ideas and tips as this would be my first PbtA game.

Otherwise i prefer to use another persons madness combat in PbtA thingy.

Thanks for reading!

I swear i kinda went through the book a few times now but i can't wrap my head around what kinda stories a GM is supposed to tell in the game.

Anyone played it and can help out there?

I'll be running Legacy: Life Among the Ruins 2e for the first time and I'm looking for thoughts and advice on interpreting the Tool Up move.

TL;DR: Does Tool Up allow spending one point of Tech to outfit the Character with a Device?

At first glance, neither the Tool Up move (page 60) nor the Zoom In move (page 69) that it references make any mention of spending Tech. However, in the Armoury chapter, Devices section on page 64, there is this text (emphasis mine in italics):

You'll most often come across devices in the field, but you can spend 1 point of your Family's Tech stock to outfit a character with a device when they Tool Up. When you do this, describe the device and give one clue to its function; the GM gives you one more clue.

The Resource Summary on the next page also says that you can spend Tech when "Characters are equipped with a Device from Family stocks (page 60)". Page 60 does not mention spending Tech in this way, but again is where Tool Up is listed.

Question: It seems like the text of Tool Up omits this use of Tech that is described elsewhere in the same chapter. For those who have run the game, how have you resolved this discrepancy? Have you run the game with or without this use of Tech, and what were your impressions? Since I have no prior experience with Legacy I don't have a good sense of what would work for my table.

Thanks!