Hello!
- he/him
- shannonmcmaster.com/
Lefty-wingy. Public service. Spiritual connection. Books. TTRPG game writing stuff at https://shannonmcmaster.itch.io. Also https://dice.camp/web/@shannonmcmaster.
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in reply to @smm's post:
Dungeon World does alright in my opinion, with the biggest focus on it is reminding you of how big the world is, and the transition from D&D to PBTA, but personally I do not think it is a good intro game if you want to teach folks the system for the first time.
Monster of the Week by Michael Sands would be my choice for a good intro game to go to. It's supernatural/mystery based, easy to set up, and you can make character playbooks fairly quickly as a PBTA game. (https://evilhat.com/product/monster-of-the-week/) If you want a intro game to run as a strict one shot- then Escape From Dino Island by Sam Roberts is another example you could lean into especially since it has a set end game. (https://samnite.itch.io/escapefromdinoisland)
There's a few others but honestly I like the settings behind them more, such as Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh, Armor Astir Advent by Briar Sovereign, and Urban Shadows by Andrew Medeiros and Mark Diaz Truman.
Thanks. I finished a first read-through of DW & thought “there’s a lot to keep track of here.” Especially considering how often the text has some variation of “follow all the rules.”
For sure! And for extra info if you would like- The Dungeon Newb’s Guide can be a great way to help the videos is a bit long at just under 30 minutes but provides a lot of insight. https://youtu.be/_oDqlUWaJrg
Personally- PBTA games got easier for me to understand and track narratively once I started looking at it like stage directions on a script, or a plot outline. Plus throw in some clocks like it’s Blades in the Dark, and the story became a bit easier to track
“stage directions on a script” is a very useful angle, I think. Yeah, I can see that.
My memory is that a lot of Dungeon World's design choices explicitly exist to introduce players familiar with DnD to the Pbta playstyle (to varying degrees of success). If they're new to tabletop rpgs in general it might be an imperfect fit.
Thanks. Two of the things I’m struggling to wrap my brains around is a perceived tension between play to find out & the ref’s agenda, and the perceived tension between the (perceived) constraints on choice embodied in Moves vs asking for descriptions of what characters do. (Always my perceptions.)