I think the problem is that I was playing cinematic-feeling games beginning in the '80s. (Late '80s, to be fair.) A game being “cinematic” isn’t new to me. And the parts of PbtA that are actually new … I just don’t grok the appeal of. As in I don’t like it and I don’t understand what it is people who like it see in it.

I don’t like Savage Worlds, as an example, but I see what some people enjoy in it. It’s just not for me. I can see what they were going for. I can see how someone might enjoy the outcome of it. I just happen to not like the system. Ditto for GURPS or even D&D: I don’t like it, but I see what the appeal could be.

With PbtA I don’t understand it enough to even see what it is people like about it. And I can’t find an “explain like I’m five” overview that closes that comprehension gap. All of the intros seem to presume I know what’s appealing and are intent on showing me how to do it. None of them explain the actual appeal, leaving me lost.

I’m not a super experienced pbta player, mainly have only run dungeon world, but I love it because how rules light it is and I can just run the game mainly like having a fun conversation with the players. Once players kind of grock how the system works, it can be very freeing in what they can do. Like they don’t have to think too much about specific abilities in their character sheet and can just say/act what makes sense in the situation. “Since I’m behind the baddie,I grab him by his tail and try to pull him away from…” And then there’s a very simple move. “Okay cool, roll+str.”

Then there’s a quick resolution after the quick die roll. It’s fast paced and keeps the scene moving. There’s no rolling on my part. I don’t have to just tick off some hp when players attack or get attacked but can throw in all sorts of fun, random stuff, and players can do the same. I also then don’t have to track whose turn it is with initiative or whatever, I just turn to whoever it makes logical sense to do something or whoever speaks up with another thing they want to do.

I would say the game is definitely not for those that enjoy the tactical combat of games like dnd, but personally I hate that.

Again you’re talking as if rules-light, narrative-focused games are new and unusual. They’ve been around since the (late) '80s. What you are calling “freeing” and new and exciting to you is Tuesday to me. Or any day that ends in ‘y’ really.

That isn’t the part I don’t grok.

What I don’t grok you touched upon, however: the “moves” (and all the other related paraphernalia like the “playbooks”). That whole bass-ackward game mechanism is something that I look at and fail to understand at any level, beginning with “what problem is this trying to solve?” and ending with “how is this intended to be fun?”. I also keep hearing the claim that the game is “hackable” but when I look at “hacks” they seem like “jack up the paint job, insert a whole new game, lower the paint job”. About the only thing constant across the PbtA that I can see is that 2d6 system of bass-ackwards rolling.

I don’t understand why you think the moves and playbooks are bass-ackwards? Do you not like that the GM never rolls? Mechanically, pbta is a class-based system with stats. The main rolling mechanic is 2d6+stat where the moves provide advice for which stat to roll. The playbooks are character sheets customized to each class, saving some time on the player in filling out a generic character sheet.

The results of the 2d6 roll are:

10+: player does what they want (yes)

7-10: player does what they want, but there’s a catch (yes, but)

<7: GM gets to do something (no)

I’m sure other games have done something similar before, but this was my first exposure to this resolution table, and I really liked it. It changed how I GM games. This was also my first experience with a system without some sort of initiative roll, or 1 action per round, or whatever. Play the game by having a fun conversation and players roll dice when there is a conflict. Certainly other folks have been doing this for years, but dungeon world allowed it to click for me.

I’m certainly not going to defend pbta as a perfect system, some moves are too specifically designed that a player focuses on only that move, but overall pbta strikes a good balance between a rules-light and a structured, class-based system.