Second session of running Rebel Ops, using a new (PtbA) game system for everything.
Very enjoyable stuff – good fight, and some fun RP scenes. I'm quite happy with how things are playing out in the new system, and also how it fits with my GMing style.
Also happy with the fact that game seems to be encouraging more player contributions. Weird, because it's not like Fate discourages that sort of thing, but it seemed more prevalent this time. Yay. 🙂
The PbtA stuff seems to provide plenty of flexibility to do interesting stuff, but also some structure / direction / inspiration to do it with. It seems, so far, to hit the sweet spot of providing some guidance without feeling unduly constrained, and some freedom without feeling rudderless.
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+Dave Hill Yes to all of that. The bonds and XP-earning "Keys" (for lack of a better word) combine to give folks things to aim at in play, which is all to the good. And the dice system does something I really like: kicking back "yes, and…" and "no, but…" and "no, and furthermore…" kinds of results that ask us for more invention, but in very specific avenues; it's not 'make up something completely out of nowhere', it's 'come up with something that suits what's going on, in this general vein', and that leaves people considerably less at sea and often more inspired. Creativity within constraint and all that.
For example: the scene with Hesmit and Akana was off to a slightly slow start, or hadn't really gone anywhere, so I took at peak at Hesmit's sheet and saw he got xp for sharing a moment of camaraderie. This inspired me to turn back to him and say "hey, someone used to patch you up in the same way Akana is doing – reminisce about that with her. Go!" and boom: we got some good backstory and a good scene with them. Good stuff.
More on Keys here, because I think they're a fantastic mechanic: http://files.crngames.com/cc/tsoy/book1–rulebook.html#keys
I've been playing with a lot of different advancement models, and something like this ("pursue your own story at your own pace") is what I always come back to.
I didn't get a chance to play a lot of Shadow of Yesterday (there's a one-shot involving pregens and pirates that's pretty fun), but I loved the Keys mechanic right down to the ground. The xp-earning in this hack feels a lot like that, which is good; I just want to think about how to refresh/renew/replace the existing ones if they lose their oomph over time. Good stuff.
If or when you get time, I'd like to talk to you about Grand Adventure's Threads and see if something like it is something you want to adapt.
Definitely.