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Any writing on hacking Firebrands?

A topic by Dana Callista Lexa created Mar 03, 2020 Views: 164 Replies: 2
Viewing posts 1 to 3

Apocalypse World and Dream Askew/Dream Apart both have chapters on hacking them in their text, and over the years there's been many articles and podcasts about hacking PbtA, what principles to keep in mind and what core loops to establish, etc. Is there any similar literature for Firebrands hacks? Any of the existing games that the author has talked about the process for?

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I haven't heard of anything like that existing. All I really know is that a Firebrands can be thought of as a collection of 200 Word RPGs put into a thematic framework.

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I've uh actually been working on an article/blog post about this. My main quick tips:

1. Players should start in a system of conflict. Like, one of the big things that set Firebrands games apart are that the characters are trying to/forced to/want to be together when they might otherwise not be doing that.

2. Every character is a protagonist. They are all interesting and should be encouraged to cary stories for themselves. The entire game should treat them as an ensemble, but the individual ones should treat them as stars.

3. Don't worry about time or linear storytelling. Embrace the vignettes. Let the games be narrow in scope.

4. Also, each game does not need to tell a complete story. The game itself does not need to tell a complete story. Heavily suggest at stories with your prompts and game titles, but the players should be filling in the gaps themselves.

5. You need to have a broad mix of conflict and intimacy to create messy entanglements, but generally keep the individual games to one tone. Let the players create those entanglements through play at their own pace.