{"id":387,"date":"2014-07-06T20:31:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2014\/07\/06\/new-games-for-new-hacks\/"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:41:56","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:41:56","slug":"new-games-for-new-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2014\/07\/new-games-for-new-hacks\/","title":{"rendered":"New Games for New Hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently I had a discussion with +Stras Acimovic<\/a> and +John Sheldon<\/a> during our camping\/gaming weekend about the prevalence of Powered by the Apocalypse games and similar hacks.<\/p>\n

First thing: I don’t think hacking is bad, nor do I think it’s lesser than making new, original games, nor do I think that hacks lack innovation.<\/p>\n

Here’s the second thing, though.<\/p>\n

I worry about stagnation. I see tons of games being made, but so many are from the same core. I want to see more games being made that are original, or that come from different things. While Powered by Apocalypse games are great, and it’s awesome that +Vincent Baker<\/a> made the system available to people to make more games, there are a few games that have come out recently that are simply flavor laid over the original system without new mechanics or innovation, and I worry we’ll see that more and more. I also see games being created that use Powered by the Apocalypse, but lack the issue of scarcity. This is something Stras could talk about more than me, but if there is no real scarcity in a game, then the Apocalypse doesn’t work as well. This is a case where system really does matter. I’m not saying that no one should make games Powered by the Apocalypse, I’m saying that not everyone needs to use it if they have the capacity to do otherwise.<\/p>\n

What I’d like to see: designers who have the capacity (which is technically everyone, but potentially moreso experienced designers) creating new, original games and making them open source\/Creative Commons. Not just because new games are awesome, but because new games enable future innovation. When we have more games that are original, we have more games to hack, so new designers who are trying to figure out the way games work can hack those original games, and it creates a cycle of creation and innovation, because people will add on mechanics of their own to those original games, or tweak them, and make new things once they know what they’re doing.<\/p>\n

I’m sure someone will see a flaw in this, but I admit I don’t care much. That doesn’t change the fact that we’re seeing tons of games Powered by the Apocalypse, some of which don’t make sense to be powered that way, and not seeing as many new and original things as I personally would like to see.<\/p>\n

So, make new games. Hack those new games. Then make more new games. This is a fun cycle. It’s exciting.<\/p>\n

Let’s do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I had a discussion with +Stras Acimovic and +John Sheldon during our camping\/gaming weekend about the prevalence of Powered by the Apocalypse games and similar hacks. First thing: I don’t think hacking is bad, nor do I think it’s lesser than making new, original games, nor do I think that hacks lack innovation. Here’s the second thing, though. … Continue reading “New Games for New Hacks”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390],"tags":[28,37,10,12,18],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-briecs-on-design","tag-feels","tag-game-design","tag-rpgs","tag-tabletop-rpgs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-6f","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":327,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2016\/02\/five-or-so-questions-with-vincent-and-meguey-baker-on-apocalypse-world-second-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":0},"title":"Five or So Questions with Vincent and Meguey Baker on Apocalypse World Second Edition!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"February 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the pleasure of interviewing Vincent and Meguey Baker about their new release and Kickstarter, Apocalypse World Second Edition. Apocalypse World itself came out in 2010, and has been used as the baseline for a ridiculous number of hacks over the past years since then, including Monsterhearts, Dungeon World,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/05\/just-say-no\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":1},"title":"Just Say No","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"May 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Content note: brief mentions of rape and sexual assault, violations of consent.French translation:\u00a0http:\/\/ptgptb.fr\/apprenez-a-dire-nonCards from Archipelago, a game written by Mattijs Holter\u201cYes, and...\u201dThis is the statement I see encouraged endlessly in game introduction texts, at game events, at game tables. This is what is supposed to be the key of play\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-VRxD5IrehZk\/WSX451LvTEI\/AAAAAAABNNc\/3l_gZdHvBwQp48FdF0PVYDHhTydBDrgqgCLcB\/s320\/Archipelago%2BNo.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2018\/10\/five-or-so-questions-on-impulse-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":2},"title":"Five or So Questions on Impulse Drive","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"October 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I've got an interview with Adrian Thoen, who is excited to tell us about Impulse Drive, a Powered by the Apocalypse space opera hack about misfits and spaceships that's currently on Kickstarter. I hope you enjoy the interview below!--Tell me a little about Impulse Drive. What excites you about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Impulse Drive banner with silver text on a blue and purple starry background, reading Impulse Drive: A roleplaying game about misfits and spaceships, Powered by the Apocalypse","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-R4xLploKpKk\/W7N5TPBkUXI\/AAAAAAAAAfA\/A6hrqC8Y-fYhs8R-RLasPjB24We8laQ4wCLcBGAs\/s640\/ID_KS_BANNER.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-R4xLploKpKk\/W7N5TPBkUXI\/AAAAAAAAAfA\/A6hrqC8Y-fYhs8R-RLasPjB24We8laQ4wCLcBGAs\/s640\/ID_KS_BANNER.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-R4xLploKpKk\/W7N5TPBkUXI\/AAAAAAAAAfA\/A6hrqC8Y-fYhs8R-RLasPjB24We8laQ4wCLcBGAs\/s640\/ID_KS_BANNER.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1650,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/11\/five-or-so-questions-on-moonpunk\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":3},"title":"Five or So Questions on MoonPunk","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"November 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey all, today I have an interview with Alex Sprague on MoonPunk, which is currently on Kickstarter! It's got a lot of awesome stretch goals to hit, so check out what Alex had to say below! -- Tell me a little about MoonPunk. What excites you about it? MoonPunk is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The MoonPunk logo and the moon with an anarchist A painted over it in space.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/moonpunk.jpg?fit=1024%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/moonpunk.jpg?fit=1024%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/moonpunk.jpg?fit=1024%2C575&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/moonpunk.jpg?fit=1024%2C575&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":206,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/02\/five-or-so-questions-with-storybrewers-games-on-alas-for-the-awful-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":4},"title":"Five or So Questions with Storybrewers Games on Alas for the Awful Sea","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"February 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I have an interview with the creators of Alas for the Awful Sea, a PbtA game currently on Kickstarter noted as being about \"why people hate, and what they fear.\" I imagine you can see why I was excited to interview them! Hayley Gordon and Veronica Hendro (Vee) from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":242,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2016\/11\/what-makes-a-good-player-with-kirt-dankmyer\/","url_meta":{"origin":387,"position":5},"title":"What Makes a Good Player? with Kirt Dankmyer","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"November 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In today's What Makes a Good Player?\u00a0feature, we have an interview with Kirt Dankmyer! Check out his interview below.Note: Content warning for discussion of negative player behavior including the topic of rape in game.--What do you try to do most often while playing games to enhance your experience and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Em9wO1iOCPQ\/V8sVFHrtOEI\/AAAAAAAArQc\/BHfdAVnnlk8hDxozJR7-ZhFX-Ep29RA4ACPcB\/s320\/john%2Bcompleted%2Blogo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}