Post AlAH6e8KOGYDYrf1Oa by starhawk@dice.camp
 (DIR) More posts by starhawk@dice.camp
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6dKhMmqt4wRO2S by starhawk@dice.camp
       2024-08-20T14:02:32Z
       
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       I think I've finally put my finger on where I differ from my usual #ttrpg in-person groups.I crave INTENSITY.  I hunger for dramatic moments and hard decisions.  All the emotional highs and lows that my daily life doesn't have.They, I think, mostly are happy to sit down and crunch through builds and roll dice, and want to be ensured of winning at everything and always feeling cool.I think this is why PbtA and other rules-light games have fallen flat when I try to run them.
       
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6e8KOGYDYrf1Oa by starhawk@dice.camp
       2024-08-20T14:03:24Z
       
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       I cringe at the thought of abandoning multi-decade friends to go and find a group that will make me *feel things* ... but I think at my core, that's what I want the most.How do you even find that?  How do you ask for it?
       
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6eyRGWEcAU2dcW by MikeFerdinando@dice.camp
       2024-08-20T14:22:14Z
       
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       @starhawk Interesting... I've found PbtA and other rules-light games to provide far higher emotional highs and lows, and much more intense scenes than more traditional games. For example... I've played hundreds of hours of Call of Cthulhu, but I've never actually felt _fear_ at the table until the first time I played Bluebeard's Bride.
       
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6fcUraHGAimd3g by MikeFerdinando@dice.camp
       2024-08-20T14:22:53Z
       
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       @starhawk Honestly, this is probably much more due to the table culture of the people you're playing with than the game itself.
       
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6gPluNh0dXpyrY by starhawk@dice.camp
       2024-08-20T14:32:27Z
       
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       @MikeFerdinando That was my entire point.  My current groups shy away from games without crunchy bits to lean on and builds to pursue and reroll mechanics to ensure they never fail.  So they turn up their nose at PbtA and Blades in the Dark and FATE, etc etc.The games aren't bad and neither are my buddies, I think I just finally put my finger on what I wanted all these years, that they have no interest in.
       
 (DIR) Post #AlAH6gzZlGKgQaaZfc by lextenebris@social.vivaldi.net
       2024-08-20T17:10:13Z
       
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       @starhawk @MikeFerdinando At a certain point, it's incumbent on you to say, "Let's turn up the intensity; let's play one of these mechanically lighter games." You will probably have to be the GM, but that puts you in a situation where you can literally create the most intense situations that they have to figure their way through. Particularly for Blades in the Dark and its immediate derivatives. The fact that you can simply make hard moves as a GM and force them to start whittling away at their limited amount of Stress in order to buy it off gives you a really big stick for achieving intensity. Once they figure out that managing stress and distributing the inevitable fallout of partial successes around the table literally is the crunchy bit of the mechanics, they'll start getting into it. But you have to lean hard on it.Hell, there's plenty of opportunity to pull out Alien: the RPG or Mothership. If you want some more crunchy, high-intensity action, these things exist. Use them#TTRPG #AlienRPG #BitD #Mothership