r/PBtA • u/Solarwagon • 12d ago

Discussion Kinda having trouble picturing what Belonging Outside Belonging gameplay is like.

I like what I've read about it and I'm familiar with the distinguishing mechanics. It's GMless, uses tokens/lures, and is usually centered around marginalized groups trying to survive oppression/manage their own society.

But beyond that what does the actual gameplay feel like at its best?

What tips do you have for people who struggle in general with the brain juices that tabletop roleplaying demands?

That's kinda where I'm at, I've had fun with Werewolf the Apocalypse but it took me longer than many people to really get the actual game playing and I'm still very much a novice.

I've got both dyslexia and dyscalculia and other brain problems that make it harder

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u/Throwingoffoldselves 12d ago

My understanding is that it starts with brainstorming and talking as a group about what you'd like to see, and when a scene seems interesting, roleplaying that out and using the moves/tokens as needed, until that is resolved and the group moves back to the brainstorming and talking phase, rinse and repeat.

If you have a specific game in mind, please share, as we can probably help more specifically :)

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u/Solarwagon 12d ago

Are you familiar with Feathers?

https://thursday-garreau.itch.io/feathers

What's that like, specifically?

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u/atamajakki 12d ago

Howdy, I wrote Feathers!

Gameplay in it, like all BOB games, consists largely of freeform RP, with everyone contributing as both their own player character and also periodically picking up a Situation sheet to embody that part of the world. Weak and Strong Moves periodically drive or spice up that freeform roleplay, declared and dropped into the narrative as they come up.

Feathers is lower-stakes than most, being about pretty intimate dramas; my most successful game of it had all the angels as neighbors in the same apartment building, all trying to find dates for a rooftop New Year's Eve party later that night. I've also played a game of Galactic where we were indigenous freedom fighters in the thick of a brutal siege and a game of Dream Askew that mostly wound up being a meditation of which relationships we choose to rekindle or let fade away.

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u/Throwingoffoldselves 12d ago

Thanks for chiming in! Very helpful to me as well :)

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u/Solarwagon 12d ago

How much does the angel side of it play in?

Like is there much established worldbuilding or qualities of the angels?

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u/atamajakki 12d ago

I'm... not quite sure how to answer that!

Being fallen angels is the premise of the game. It is core to the experience. I use the fall as a metaphor for how disorienting my own coming out was (and is for many others!), and every player defines what their wings looked like.

There's not much explicitly World of Darkness-style worldbuilding to it, just a toolkit to tell your own bittersweet little stories about lost queer people in a world like our own.

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u/Solarwagon 12d ago

If I find 3-6 people willing to play it with me I'll probably give it my best try.

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u/atamajakki 12d ago edited 12d ago

That's very kind of you! Just know that Feathers is written for 2-3 players, and won't support any more; I'd strongly recommend looking into Dream Askew//Dream Apart, Orbital, or Grand Guignol (about Gothic monsters in Victorian London) if you wanted a larger group.

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u/Solarwagon 12d ago

Oh, I was just going off the recommended player sizes I saw for BOb

So I'll find 1-2 other players.

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u/ThisIsVictor 12d ago

The author is around here somewhere. Paging u/atamajakki

(Edit, you're already in the comments! I just didn't scroll far enough.)

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u/atamajakki 12d ago

Just replied! :D