I’m going to pause my 5e game for the month of July and try something else. I’m thinking about a PbtA game. I ran a few sessions of Masks years ago and it went okay. I’d never played anything that wasn’t a d20 system and I remember feeling Masks was bending my brain a bit.
Do you guys have any suggestions for a quality actual play I could watch to try to get a handle on the system? Is there anyone out there that talks about PbtA the way a thousand people on YouTube do about D&D?
I was considering Avatar or Glitterhearts if it makes a difference, but I think that anything PbtA would help me.
D&D has such a huge presence in media, so I cannot see nearly the same amount of people talk about D&D in the same way.
Spout Lore or Monster Hour. Two podcasts podcasts that plays Dungeon World and the other Monster of the Week. The thing both do really well, is show how the game should a conversation between the group. Talk to each other to make sure everyone is onboard with what is happening. And more importantly, encourage each other to be PART of the conversation. Which is incredibly important in a PbtA game (could argue that it is in any game really).
Otherwise, there is also a ton of other resources to help explain how to run a PbtA game. But an important thing to note: many PbtA have similarities, but usually, each with feel completely different because they will often do their own thing. Because “being PbtA”, usually means following a set of principles. Not rules.
As for Avatar and Glitter Hearts (these are my own takes):
I was sorely disappointed in Avatar. The combat is very unsatisfying because a lot of the game flows rather well, following the fiction and being part of the conversation. But then that flow suddenly comes to a screeching halt when combat comes up. And everyone now has to “switch gears”, playing a different way. But the premise and the book in general, is solid and good.
Glitter Hearts is a neat game that tries to cover a genre I really like playing in. But it feels like the creator didn’t understand the system nor the genre. So it lead to a game with a good deal of holes, a feeling of being incomplete and half-hearted. This makes it a very bad starter game for someone new to PbtA. Not beginner friendly at all.
I have tried to create a hack, Hearts of Harmony to fix some of these holes and cover some of the things the book missed.
I have two Let’s Play recommendations for you, however neither is for your preferred systems. They do however showcase well how fiction and mechanics interact.
First recommendation is one of the many solo plays of Ironsworn, or some other solo RPG. Since there is only the player and the game they have to rely on mechanics much more than if it was played in a group. Also since there is just one player, who also GMs, we tend to get insight into how they work with the rules. The Let’s Play I’m going to recommend is one from Me, Myself and Die. It is also one of the more recommended ones with good production values. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLDvunq75UfH_Z92nrYPUsTO_fTHnLTNaT
Second is for the Dungeon World gack Stonetop. At this point calling it a hack is making it a disservice as it have evolved into its own thing. The DW ancestry is clear though. This Let’s Play is from the creator of the system with his core playtester group. What makes it stand out it that it is really well edited cutting out plenty of non-play filler. In addition to that the editor have annotated the videos with comments about the mechanical choices the GM makes. Good for following along. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDdTGJVXI31C08Kem-oLzXqRgImtLzXKC
Hopefully this will be of some help.
*Edit: Updated second link. *
