New, narrativist games without PbtA influence?

Aik's picture
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Recently it feels a bit like all the cool technology from pre-2010 has been swept away and now it's all back to task resolution, traditional GM/player roles, and classes that are called playbooks now. Some of that can be cool, but after playing two lacklustre games I'm feeling a bit over it. Other new games I've played that don't draw from PbtA seem to lack the ... I dunno - intensity of focus that a lot of Forgey games had and don't scratch the same itch at all. I miss the intense, conflict-driven, narrow-focus games doing non-trad mechanical things and haven't seen anything much like that get discussed recently (and no longer know where to look for it, really). Any ideas?

Aik's picture

Interesting! Though it still looks like a lot of sifting to find the good stuff. Any idea where the designers for these games hang out, or where people talk about them?

James Mullen's picture

As far as I can see, most designers have their own individual twitter feeds where they tease & update projects; other than that, you can find several on Discord servers, either their own branded ones or more general ones like Indie RPG and Powered by the Apocalypse.

BeePeeGee's picture

I have exactly the same question!
If you want to stick to PbtA, there are endless games for every genre now and this is great.
But I'm yearning for bold, fresh, innovative game designs. I remember the excitement I felt when I first played Dread, Sea Dracula, Jeepform or Ten Candles.
And I also wonder: where can I get such new games?
Before, indie games or at least drafts were shared freely on story-games and G+. Now they are offered on itch.io for a few bucks. I'm sure there are great games out there. But since most are not offered as PWYW and I won't spent money without at least a reliable recommendation, I end up not playing any of these new games...

webtech's picture

I'm doing my best to encourage designers to post their stuff here. Y'all are welcome to help by posting invites to your social media thingies!
Here's a graphic you are welcome to use...
Fictioneers is