Three different player's strategies in PbtA games (and other ttrpg, but it is more obvious with PbTA games) I’ve met :
1. They play like there are no move triggers, their characters as though they were real people, letting the game’s fiction decide, applying the moves when the triggers present themselves.
2. They flee from move triggers, bending the fiction and their character’s behavior to keep the fiction flowing in a player-MC conversation, trying to avoid to set off move which would steal decisions from the people at the table.
3. They seek out move triggers, following the XP trail, bending the fiction and their character’s behavior to target the highlighted stats’ moves.
They don’t mix so well at the table.
Isn't that why the moves within a game need to be written to encourage one of these behaviours, more so than the other ones?
RépondreSupprimerFor 3, it's "following the xp trail" ... or just the behaviour encouraged by the rules to get a certain kind of story.
RépondreSupprimerIf there is no perception move, maybe it's because we wan't the character to be clueless.
If there is no bargaining/convincing move between PCs, players should understand quickly that they must solve this kind of situation differently (violence, seduction, fleeing,.. = existing moves) because this situation won't be solved by a move, meaning this is not a behaviour encouraged by the game, because it's not important to get the kind of story promoted by the game.
I see moves as a funnel for this story's thematic consistency. You don't want to go in the proposed funnel (your number 2) ? Why do you play this game ?
For 1 and 2, and this is something I want to work on these days (virtual tabletop meaning I'm not behind my GM screen with my MC moves permanently in sight), a question can be "Does the MC systematically answer with a MC move ?"
If the MC constantly tell things people don't want to hear, or jump to the worst conclusions, or put them with someone they don't want to see, etc... how is it possible that the moves don't trigger ?
Eric Nieudan or at least make the players aware of the issue. In this case, I find explicit better than implicit or trying to hoodwink players to a given behavior. Would you have any example of games that do moves that encourage one of there orientation well ?
RépondreSupprimerEg, personally, I find that:
- AW's text and explanations read like 1. let the fiction lead and forget about triggers until you set them off, but has rules that incite a bit more 3. _follow the xp trail with stats highlights and the Hx-to-XP rule.
- DW is a bit more 3. follow the xp trail, giving "playing to fail" a whole new meaning.
- And Monsterhearts (but my memory is more fuzzy here) tells me with its words 3. follow the xp trail, but its body language is shouting 1. avoid the triggers. (Highly personal, I know.)
Kalysto de la vacuité I indeed skipped a strategy that is 4. Aim for moves' trigger, that is noticeably different from 3. follow the XP trail, only because it cohabits nicely with 1. and 3.
Now, most games seems built with 1, 3 or 4 in mind, but I bet 2 would be interesting also.
For moves as funnels: yes. But sometimes the places with no moves is where the most interesting things happens.