If it is even possible to pick one!

I think if I had to pick one, it would be Escape From Dino Island - a Jurassic Park inspired game where you are dealing with dinosaurs on an island! It has some great world and adventure building mechanics to kick off the game, and I think one of its best features is a mechanic called “Tell a Story”. When you take an action when you’re not in danger, you pick from a list of story prompts your character would tell, and tell a story as you complete the action. It’s a really nice cinematic action/downtime split built directly into the mechanics, and really gives you a helping hand with structure. It’s probably my favourite PbtA game to introduce new players to the system!

Next would be:

Girl Underground - inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and Labyrinth. You collectively play a girl and her fantastic companions, figuring out how you interpret or reject the expectations and rules imposed on young girls. A beautiful and thought-provoking game!

Monster of the Week - think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, X-Files, Fringe etc. Modern monster hunting and mystery solving!

  • trouser_mouse@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    Ha, weirdly enough I also found Under Hollow Hills to be a bit of a slog although it looks like an awesome game - I don’t really know why I find that with either, I don’t have problems with a lot of TTRPG books. And these are cornerstones of design!

    Definitely agree the style of writing in a lot of books helps with the tone, and Apocalypse World is amazing for that - you know exactly what you are aiming for.