Here’s how we’re laying out troupe-style play in the Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven’s Ars Magica playtest document. Part I: Troupe-Style Play If you haven’t played role-playing games troupe-style before, this should be a pretty good place to start. Let me lay it out for you. Main characters & Supporting Cast: You can think of your wizard as […]
AW:Burned Over 2024 Playtest Errata
Right now, live on our patreon, are the 2024 playtest packets for Apocalypse World: Burned Over. It’s substantially different from even the 2021 version. It’s the final playtest before the full stand-alone release. If you’re interested, check it out! Meanwhile, bookmark this page for errata: Outstanding Errata Player Refsheets Standard Moves, p5 Research:On a miss, the MC can […]
In Brief, the Problem of RPG Design
This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. For today’s purposes, let’s say that I care about one thing: the creative energy that a group feels while they’re playing my game. Let’s say that they start at a receptive neutral, content to start the game […]
Revisiting Task & Conflict Resolution
This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. 1. History The Art of Dramatic Writing is a book by Lajos Egri, published 1946. It’s a how-to book for playwrights, and according to our friend Wikipedia, it’s “widely regarded as one of the best works” in […]
Traffic Lights Are Communication Tools
This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. The Traffic Light The Traffic Light communication tool is a piece of paper that has three large dots on it: one red, one amber and one green. It is placed in the center of the table within […]
Apocalypse World, PbtA, Projects, RPG Design & Development, RPG Theory, The Demon Tree, The King Is Dead, Under Hollow Hills
Powered by the Apocalypse, part 11: Dice
Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 11, I explore a few of the dice systems we’ve used in our games. This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. Dice: an Accident of the System Back in Part 1, […]
A PbtA Thought Experiment
This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Prelim 1. Otherkind Dice & Assigning “Say” You may recall that a dice system called Otherkind Dice was the mechanical precursor to Apocalypse World’s moves. I’ve written a whole piece about Otherkind Dice, laying them out in […]
Powered by the Apocalypse, part 10: 3 Underlying Models
Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 10, I develop the idea of underlying models further, with 2 solid examples and 1 tentative one. This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Model #1: Apocalypse World’s Conflict Model Apocalypse […]
What is PbtA?
PbtA stands for “Powered by the Apocalypse.” It means games inspired by our original game Apocalypse World, and now games inspired by other PbtA games more generally. It’s a self-applied label: because it depends on a game’s inspirations, only the game’s creator can really tell you whether their game’s PbtA or not. History of PbtA We began writing […]
Playing With Mortality
By Meguey Baker This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon Playing With MortalityI had the privilege of speaking at Wesleyan University on Friday, October 13th. What a lovely thing! I love talking about game design and play and language, and the students correctly anticipated […]