Hello Dream Realm. I wanted to inquire if you guys know any PbtA or 2d6 based systems you could recommend. I have been keen to get into game design, and I want to learn from multiple examples, so suggestions are welcome!
#Powered by the Apocalypse, and other 2d6 Systems.
frank dagger
prime agate
dense yew
World of Darkness, Monster of the Week, Blades in the Dark
shrewd atlas
Well I've been using my system of 2d6 and my players have played my own personal system for a few years until we took a break from it for V20 and WOD stuff in general. I'll send you the rule set we use and see if you like it or not.
2d6 slice of life rules
Whatever is being described by the player on what they want to do use the following as a base line.
1-6 player dosen't get what they want they fail.
7-9 something happens with a twist. Usually a 50/50 chance. Player doesn't necessarily fail or succeed.
10+ player gets what they want they succeed.
Modifiers
+4 very easy
+3 easy
+2 normal
+1 hard
+0 very hard
-1 near impossible
-2 very unlikely very likely impossible
Extended rules
4 pvp purposes ask the players what they want to do in secret and justify modifiers based on actions etc... roll in secret as well.
I've had my friends put their on spin on this system of mine and I enjoyed all the stuff they did different. Assuming you use my system or whatever variant you wanna take from this I'll be interested in seeing your progress on what you come up with.
knotty crest
Oh man you activated my trap card.
Probably the easiest one to pick up and read thru is going to be Monster of the Week. PbtA stuff is all about genre emulation, and MotW has a very easy to pick up genre - literal "monster of the week" sci-fi/supernatural/spoopy shows (re: X-Files, Buffy, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, Fringe, and many others). It's pretty run-of-the-mill as far as PbtA game sets go; it's got a decent list of moves, character playbooks are pretty well put together, some narrative currency with luck, and pretty traditional "hit points" style health tracking.
I would actually stray away from Dungeon World, simply because it tries too hard to make PbtA into D&D. It's recieved a lot of (well meaning and not malicious) criticism because of this, and it tends to be an earlier generation of PbtA games that weren't hammered out super well. (That said the GMing advice is absolutely top notch and I think it's something every GM should read thru and think about).
Blades in the Dark isn't really a 2d6 system, and follows a totally different core mechanic than standard PbtA. I usually categorize it as "PbtA-adjacent" as a lot of the ways the game is played pulls directly from PbtA stuff. All that said, I found BitD as a great "gateway drug" into PbtA and narrative-centric games. It holds your hand just enough with narrative positioning and effect and what serves as the "moves list" looks and feels more like a skill list (but actually works quite differently). It also shows a lot of how to do things that traditional games do totally differently, with status effects instead of health, trauma from being knocked out of a heist, and use of "hit points" as much more of a narrative currency than a physical manifestation of health.
Similar in the vein of "does things wildly different than traditional games" is gonna be Avatar Legends. While a lot of the moves are what you'd expect, the playbooks aren't - at least for me. All the playbooks are centric around story roles and the dynamic that a character is going to play in the broader story. The use of emotional states as hit points and the way the game tip-toes around violence despite focusing on it is really top-tier.
Last suggestion for now is gonna be Brindlewood Bay. Very, very lightweight, and with just enough character customization to matter as growth happens. The way the game solves mysteries is absolutely polarizing, but definitely worth learning about just to understand it as a mechanism. Also you play very non-traditional characters in a non-traditional setting and do things in a very non-traditonal way making it a hilariously unique experience.
Of course, any of these that you want to know more about I'd be more than happen to expound upon.
frank dagger
Oh man you activated my trap card.
Did I? Or did my lure draw you in, as I had hoped it would? 😈
Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions. I want to go on a ttrpg reading binge to get some ideas for any future game I run
frank dagger
Say @knotty crest, would you happen to have the Avatar Legends materials or a notion of where I can find them? I have the quick play guide that came out in beta, but not the full release
knotty crest
Hmm. Care if I DM you?