And whenever someone names something they dislike about PbtA it's 99% of the time something that not all PbtA games do
October 31, 2026 at 5:54 PM
And whenever someone names something they dislike about PbtA it's 99% of the time something that not all PbtA games do
There's PbtA as Baker and the PbtA community discuss it (PbtA is a design philosophy not a system) and then PbtA as the wider community discuss it (PbtA is what DTRPG calls "the apocalypse engine"), so many arguments about PbtA end up skipping the "what are we actually talking about" phase.
October 31, 2026 at 7:02 PM
There's PbtA as Baker and the PbtA community discuss it (PbtA is a design philosophy not a system) and then PbtA as the wider community discuss it (PbtA is what DTRPG calls "the apocalypse engine"), so many arguments about PbtA end up skipping the "what are we actually talking about" phase.
The point of this whole thing is that generalizations aren't helpful and PbtA can't be generalized, so "I dislike pbta" isn't a helpful statement because what someone means when they say 'pbta' is not the same as it's actual definition or how another person (me for example) might use it.
November 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
The point of this whole thing is that generalizations aren't helpful and PbtA can't be generalized, so "I dislike pbta" isn't a helpful statement because what someone means when they say 'pbta' is not the same as it's actual definition or how another person (me for example) might use it.
I'm advocating for more nuance bc currently people who say they dislike PbtA don't even seem to actually know what PbtA is because they assume it's moves and 2d6 and playbooks
November 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
I'm advocating for more nuance bc currently people who say they dislike PbtA don't even seem to actually know what PbtA is because they assume it's moves and 2d6 and playbooks
Blades and Dream Askew ARE actually pbta, according to their creators and to the Baker’s definition of PbtA
October 31, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Blades and Dream Askew ARE actually pbta, according to their creators and to the Baker’s definition of PbtA
Sure! But not every pbta game has basic moves, or playbooks, or moves at all. So you’re not talking about pbta, you’re talking about a subset of pbta
October 31, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Sure! But not every pbta game has basic moves, or playbooks, or moves at all. So you’re not talking about pbta, you’re talking about a subset of pbta
I ran into this in a conversation of PbtA enjoyers unable to agree on what PbtA was
November 2, 2026 at 12:35 AM
I ran into this in a conversation of PbtA enjoyers unable to agree on what PbtA was
A fundamental problem with Bakers successful* branding of PbtA as a design philosophy rather than a narrow system is that there is no good and generally accepted term for the core system elements of AW and its descendants.
*Successful amongst PbtA tragics (i.e. designers & community; hi, it's me!)
*Successful amongst PbtA tragics (i.e. designers & community; hi, it's me!)
There's PbtA as Baker and the PbtA community discuss it (PbtA is a design philosophy not a system) and then PbtA as the wider community discuss it (PbtA is what DTRPG calls "the apocalypse engine"), so many arguments about PbtA end up skipping the "what are we actually talking about" phase.
October 31, 2026 at 7:31 PM
A fundamental problem with Bakers successful* branding of PbtA as a design philosophy rather than a narrow system is that there is no good and generally accepted term for the core system elements of AW and its descendants.
*Successful amongst PbtA tragics (i.e. designers & community; hi, it's me!)
*Successful amongst PbtA tragics (i.e. designers & community; hi, it's me!)
It doesn't work all the way for me, but I really do appreciate that Daggerheart is at least aiming at the problem of "my players want to play D&D and I want to GM PbtA"
November 2, 2026 at 7:19 PM
It doesn't work all the way for me, but I really do appreciate that Daggerheart is at least aiming at the problem of "my players want to play D&D and I want to GM PbtA"
Apologies for not defining my terms and posting before morning coffee. I approached the post thinking of the loosely shared mechanics system that many folks outside of the pbta community mean when they casually say "pbta" and would expect if they rocked up to a random game advertised as being pbta.
October 31, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Apologies for not defining my terms and posting before morning coffee. I approached the post thinking of the loosely shared mechanics system that many folks outside of the pbta community mean when they casually say "pbta" and would expect if they rocked up to a random game advertised as being pbta.
And to be fair, not all moves in all PbtA games are exceptionally well-written - and it's harder to play around that in PbtA games compared to some games from other design families.
October 31, 2026 at 8:16 PM
And to be fair, not all moves in all PbtA games are exceptionally well-written - and it's harder to play around that in PbtA games compared to some games from other design families.
I don't think I understand what people mean when they say they don't like PbtA. That's to me like saying "I don't like romance novels" and what you actually mean is "I read fifty shades of grey and a court of thorns and roses and I didn't like those"
October 31, 2026 at 5:54 PM
I don't think I understand what people mean when they say they don't like PbtA. That's to me like saying "I don't like romance novels" and what you actually mean is "I read fifty shades of grey and a court of thorns and roses and I didn't like those"
I think PbtA DOES have a major issue that people assume a very obvious underlying structure makes it easy to do good pbta, which is very not true
October 31, 2026 at 8:33 PM
I think PbtA DOES have a major issue that people assume a very obvious underlying structure makes it easy to do good pbta, which is very not true
I understand what you mean, but I actually like hitting the narrative beats a PbtA game offers because I specifically chose to play this game for the narrative beats it offers (which is what I think PbtA does particularly well). Different people prefer different playstyles, though!
October 31, 2026 at 8:16 PM
I understand what you mean, but I actually like hitting the narrative beats a PbtA game offers because I specifically chose to play this game for the narrative beats it offers (which is what I think PbtA does particularly well). Different people prefer different playstyles, though!
Torture your friends for Halloween. In the Pines is PBtA, so you can get your horror on tonight.
www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/In-the...
www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/In-the...
www.indiepressrevolution.com
October 31, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Torture your friends for Halloween. In the Pines is PBtA, so you can get your horror on tonight.
www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/In-the...
www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/In-the...
PbtA, I think, actually gets closer, with less intent to do so.
October 31, 2026 at 2:37 AM
PbtA, I think, actually gets closer, with less intent to do so.
I don't think anybody really hates EVERY PBTA game, even if they say they do, that's kind of a silly position if taken in the absolute. I think what people actually object to outside some very prominent tropes is the culture of play that commonly gets associated with PBTA.
November 1, 2026 at 10:37 AM
I don't think anybody really hates EVERY PBTA game, even if they say they do, that's kind of a silly position if taken in the absolute. I think what people actually object to outside some very prominent tropes is the culture of play that commonly gets associated with PBTA.
And tbf from what I recalled that was kind of what the OP was getting at - PBTA has such a wide range of offshoots and interpretations that it becomes kind of ridiculous to just outright say "I don't like PBTA games because of x"
November 1, 2026 at 7:30 PM
And tbf from what I recalled that was kind of what the OP was getting at - PBTA has such a wide range of offshoots and interpretations that it becomes kind of ridiculous to just outright say "I don't like PBTA games because of x"
Una charla reciente de Vincent Baker construyendo una cronología conceptual de Apocalypse World y PbtA
youtu.be/Z8DmKH8FSnY?...
youtu.be/Z8DmKH8FSnY?...
AW & PbtA pt 1
YouTube video by Vincent Baker
youtu.be
October 29, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Una charla reciente de Vincent Baker construyendo una cronología conceptual de Apocalypse World y PbtA
youtu.be/Z8DmKH8FSnY?...
youtu.be/Z8DmKH8FSnY?...
For example, I like PbtA games (shocking, I know!) and seek them out to play them at conventions. But I generally like them in the sense that they are 2d6 games with three ranges, have coherent playbooks and fun moves. With my tragic hat on, that's a subset of PbtA...
October 31, 2026 at 7:37 PM
For example, I like PbtA games (shocking, I know!) and seek them out to play them at conventions. But I generally like them in the sense that they are 2d6 games with three ranges, have coherent playbooks and fun moves. With my tragic hat on, that's a subset of PbtA...
-that encompasses games from dream askew to masks to blades in the dark.
If someone is saying "I dislike pbta games from the era of design that led to poorly-considered apocalypse world clones" that's getting somewhere. "I dislike PbtA" as a general statement isn't useful to discussion (for me)
If someone is saying "I dislike pbta games from the era of design that led to poorly-considered apocalypse world clones" that's getting somewhere. "I dislike PbtA" as a general statement isn't useful to discussion (for me)
November 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
-that encompasses games from dream askew to masks to blades in the dark.
If someone is saying "I dislike pbta games from the era of design that led to poorly-considered apocalypse world clones" that's getting somewhere. "I dislike PbtA" as a general statement isn't useful to discussion (for me)
If someone is saying "I dislike pbta games from the era of design that led to poorly-considered apocalypse world clones" that's getting somewhere. "I dislike PbtA" as a general statement isn't useful to discussion (for me)
Yeah 100%. A lot of the time when people say they dislike pbta they mean “I don’t like moves as a core resolution mechanic” or “I don’t like playbooks”
I personally disagree with ppl who have the feeling that pbta is constraining bc like. I just don’t find it constraining, but whatever lol
I personally disagree with ppl who have the feeling that pbta is constraining bc like. I just don’t find it constraining, but whatever lol
October 31, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Yeah 100%. A lot of the time when people say they dislike pbta they mean “I don’t like moves as a core resolution mechanic” or “I don’t like playbooks”
I personally disagree with ppl who have the feeling that pbta is constraining bc like. I just don’t find it constraining, but whatever lol
I personally disagree with ppl who have the feeling that pbta is constraining bc like. I just don’t find it constraining, but whatever lol
The definitions are mercurial, but personally I consider them to be old school D&D flavored PBTA games for people who have open beef with PBTA. 😂
October 31, 2026 at 5:56 PM
The definitions are mercurial, but personally I consider them to be old school D&D flavored PBTA games for people who have open beef with PBTA. 😂
The point of my post is that people who say "I don't like PbtA" aren't talking about PbtA because that's too broad! They're usually talking about moves, or playbooks, or something, but if we're going to have conversations about that people should be specific rather than saying they dislike a genre-
November 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
The point of my post is that people who say "I don't like PbtA" aren't talking about PbtA because that's too broad! They're usually talking about moves, or playbooks, or something, but if we're going to have conversations about that people should be specific rather than saying they dislike a genre-