Newb interested in PbtA or other narrative style

Hey all!

5e or Pathfinder seem to be all you can find in the real world. That's great but it's not for me. I want to focus more on the narrative and less on the crunch, so PbtA has captured my interest.

I lean more toward gritty than lofty -- realistic characters I can identify with, put in fucked up situations, rather than heroic God-like characters saving the world. But I'm otherwise pretty flexible in terms of setting and style.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing with some of you. Cheers!

Love the username, btw, and welcome to GamersPlane!

There's a big swath of games run & played here that are narrative based and more starting all the time! Keep an eye on the Games Tavern forum or on the GamersPlane DISCORD for upcoming or recruiting games.

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome!

Welcome, Panic!

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Happy gaming!

Welcome!

Welcome aboard SP, and not to worry, there will be some games to your tastes here! Narrative, gritty, fucked-up, yepper!

Welcome to the community, SatanicPanic. If you're still looking for a profile picture, I suggest Tom Hanks crying on the bridge in the climactic scene of Mazes and Monsters 🤣

I think the ending needs a little rewrite where he jumps and casts Feather Fall...

Welcome :)

Welcome to GP!

PbtA games pop up reasonably frequently, you'll have some options for sure!

Hi! Don't limit yourself just to things labeled PbtA, some other games have similar narrative focus: FitD (Blades-in-the-Dark-based) and 2400/24XX games also lean heavily toward story flow and maintaining a plausible narrative as key principles.

Thanks for the welcome, all!

I certainly will not limit myself to only PbtA. I'd be happy with anything that is narrative-first and runs smoothly (not requiring tons of back-and-forth to resolve encounters).

Regarding Blades-type games, I've heard those actually do require a good amount of back-and-forth. But I don't have any experience and haven't read the rules yet.

Welcome!

What sort of thing are you looking for, though? DnD and Pathfinder are their own particular genre, but PbtA covers everything. Are you wanting DnDesque fantasy games?
Aside from looking side-eye at 'realistic', I tend to agree.
I can't help you with that. Not my style.
That is true. They work well enough in live-play formats, and the back and forth tends to be small if the players have embraced the fiction first emphasis of Blades. It is when they leap to mechanics and then have to engage in back and forth to work out the fiction that it gets messy. Properly established fiction means the mechanics are simple need no discussion beyond the GM confirming the player is wanting to roll dice and saying what might happen (which should not surprise anyone since the fiction was clear).

Sure, but I also would like to try horror, futuristic, noir, etc.
I probably expressed that poorly. I mean common folk put in extreme situations. So I'd like to RP as Bilbo rather than Gandalf.

So something like Dungeon World would probably be fun, but I *think* my sweet spot is something where you're *not* a hero character from the outset, and where you're not a peacock accumulating treasures and magic items to adorn yourself with.

I've heard most horror RPGs have this quality where you're "regular folk". But I don't have any experience to back it up yet.

The older I get the more my tastes lean that way, too. And I never was much into super-powered characters.
Dungeon World starts with the basic assumption that you are a hero and above average in terms of abilities, but it can work on the grass-roots level if everyone embraces that premise. Fellowship is much more big-damn-heroes in The Lord of the Rings style (as opposed to The Hobbit style) and is the other large DnDesque fantasy PbtA.

A more grounded game might come from something like World of Dungeons. The characters are 'weaker' and magic is generally less prevalent.
Yeah, it is the one feature of horror I like, but I don't do horror. There are plenty of horror games around, so you should not have a hard time finding a game if you are patient.

Superheroes are very fun though. And you can still be a small fish as a super 😉

Sure, and I have been a Beacon and a Star in Masks games.

Welcome, SatanicPanic!