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Favorite Moves

A topic by Zargo Games created Apr 17, 2019 Views: 1,926 Replies: 7
Viewing posts 1 to 8
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What are your favorite moves in PbtA games? These could be general moves or playbook moves.

There's a few I really adore. In Masks, the Reformed playbook has a move What the hell, hero, where you call out a superhero for committing injustice, and potentially gain influence over them. It's thematically appropriate since the Reformed is a former supervillain and seeing a hero do bad things and get away with it would rightfully piss them off.

The Wizard in Dungeon World has Know-it-all, which allows them to be a source of advice for the party, for good or ill, and gives the wizard experience for calling the shots.

Finally, in The Sprawl, the Soldier has I love it when a plan comes together, which, first off, incredible name, but secondly it allows them to retroactively plan ahead to pull off the most unlikely things like have the exact item you need at the exact time, or to show up at a place you're needed at just the right time. It's a really fun move that lets you feel like you're part of the A Team.

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As a player, the Faceless move "Oh Yeah!" which allows you to bust through obstacles is one of my favorite terrifying cans to open.

As an MC, across settings, any move that lets them collect more information about the world, the factions, the threats, whatever - an informed party is an engaged and well-prepared party.

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I like making links in Interstitial. Roll to make links is a great way to initially form and also color player reactions.I also like anything that lets you ipck a bunch of of weird questions to show player priorities. Like "how can i do x" and suddenly that is an important part of the story even if ti wasn't before.

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From The Sprawl:

  • Driver playbook: Hot Shit Driver, generates hold you can spend to outrun pursuers, avoid explosions, or keep your ride safe. What a move, I love when the crew hits the getaway and everyone looks at the driver and just starts praying that they get a good roll on this. 
  • Hacker playbook: Console Cowboy, generates hold when you start hacking. Much like Hot Shit Driver, the results of this move pretty much sums up how a run is gong to go. The one-two punch of this move when you Compromise Security or Manipulate Systems feels so good when you roll well, and makes everything get real tense real fast if you don't. 

From Dungeon World:

  • Barbarian: Outsider, a racial ability that lets you define where your character came from as you play. This move is why the Barbarian is one of my favourite DW playbooks. That slow trickle of information about what they left behind is a great way to start each session.

From both Dungeon World & The Sprawl:

  • Fighter/Killer: Signature Weaponyou get a cool weapon that is better than everyone else's. I love that this move creates space at the table for everyone to listen as the player describes their awesome sword/gun/whatever. Also as a GM I love this move because it draws attention to something that I can threaten to take away.
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Legacy: Life Among the Ruins has a really neat move for The Serene Choir Family playbook, called Divine Grace, which lets you essentially write your faction's holy texts commandment by commandment over the course of the game, based on the actions you take, the actions taken by other characters, and the emerging fiction. It's a neat way to guide your own idea of what your faction values, as well as providing an emerging set of rules that might dictate how your characters are likely to act - and what they might be tempted to go against.

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Turn Someone On from Monsterhearts 2 will always have a soft spot in my heart. Less because of its mechanical implications (which are still great), but because the you can trigger it without meaning to, and it changes the context of the scene in a heartbeat. I remember a game I ran where the characters were just friends, and one was tending to the other's wounds. Then from the healing move, you could heal +1 harm with romantic subtext, so I told them to roll to turn someone on, and boom they became the star couple of the game from then on (there was more drama than that but you get it). No one planned for it and it became the thing all my players still talk about even after the game ended.

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would you happen to know where I could find the Serene Choir family playbook? that sounds super cool and I can't seem to find it.

my answer would def be play hardball in The Sprawl, which specifies that you aren't just threatening your target, you intend to carry out the violence you are threatening if they don't comply. I love the idea that the move relies on player intention, giving a separate different move for empty threats

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"Play Hardball" is a fantastic move that finally made me understand the intent of "go aggro" in vanilla PBTA.