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 […]

Powered by the Apocalypse, Part 9: That’s What’s Happening

Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 9, I lay some groundwork for the idea of underlying models by pointing out a crucial feature of Apocalypse World. This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Normal RPGs A normal […]

Apocalypse World: Custom Advancement

This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. The Question & My Answer Is there any solution that let players play the same playbook potentially forever? Andrea Ricciardi on Discord There absolutely 100% is, yes! It’ll take a little bit of work on your part, […]

A Theory Point: RPG Essentialism & RPG Exceptionalism

This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. There are, I think, two twin ideas that underpin a lot of rpg theory, to its detriment. Let’s call them rpg essentialism and rpg exceptionalism. RPG essentialism is the idea that deep down, all rpgs are the […]

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