The Sprawl by Hamish Cameron​ is a pleasure to read.

The Sprawl by Hamish Cameron​ is a pleasure to read.

The Sprawl by Hamish Cameron​ is a pleasure to read. Like, it’s easy to read. Simple but cool layout, flavour but not so much that the text is opaque, and you never have any doubt about how the game is meant to run.

I think that’s massively underrated in games design. Recently purchased a very successful game, and I just can’t get through the text, which is a shame because I hear it’s fantastic in play.

Anyone else have examples of great game texts?

26 thoughts on “The Sprawl by Hamish Cameron​ is a pleasure to read.”

  1. Urban Shadows by Mark Diaz Truman and Andrew Medeiros has to be my favorite PbtA text.

    The Clay That Woke by Paul Czege isn’t immediately helpful as a rulebook, but it’s one of my very favorite game texts. It teaches the game and setting through fiction, which is tough at first, but worth it once you finish.

    My absolute favorite game text of all time, though, is Dogs in the Vineyard by Vincent Baker.

  2. Urban Shadows by Mark Diaz Truman and Andrew Medeiros has to be my favorite PbtA text.

    The Clay That Woke by Paul Czege isn’t immediately helpful as a rulebook, but it’s one of my very favorite game texts. It teaches the game and setting through fiction, which is tough at first, but worth it once you finish.

    My absolute favorite game text of all time, though, is Dogs in the Vineyard by Vincent Baker.

  5. I haven’t read or played Urban Shadows yet but I’ve heard lots of good things about it, especially how good it is at teaching you how to play PBTA.

    For setting stuff, I love Benjamin Baugh​’s books. Candlewick Manor is great in a Miss Peregrine, Series of Unfortunate Events way, and I would have happily read the alt history section of Kerberos Club as a standalone novel.

  6. I haven’t read or played Urban Shadows yet but I’ve heard lots of good things about it, especially how good it is at teaching you how to play PBTA.

    For setting stuff, I love Benjamin Baugh​’s books. Candlewick Manor is great in a Miss Peregrine, Series of Unfortunate Events way, and I would have happily read the alt history section of Kerberos Club as a standalone novel.

  7. Oli Jeffery Yeah, for me, the old “Dungeon World Beginner’s Guide” was my go-to “How do you play PbtA?” text. But now I recommend Urban Shadows for that.

  8. Oli Jeffery Yeah, for me, the old “Dungeon World Beginner’s Guide” was my go-to “How do you play PbtA?” text. But now I recommend Urban Shadows for that.

  9. Jason Cordova Yeah, DW wasn’t the first pbta game I read, but it was the first I understood! I went back and knew how to play the others because of it.

  10. Jason Cordova Yeah, DW wasn’t the first pbta game I read, but it was the first I understood! I went back and knew how to play the others because of it.

  11. Honestly, an old 2nd ed D&D supliment called The Factols Manifesto I read that thing so many times I wore the binding to bits, and I still look it over at points. The belief / faction system from Planescape was always a huge hit with me.

  12. Honestly, an old 2nd ed D&D supliment called The Factols Manifesto I read that thing so many times I wore the binding to bits, and I still look it over at points. The belief / faction system from Planescape was always a huge hit with me.

  15. I used Urban Shadows as the template for The Veil as I considered it the best pbta text I’d read. With explanations as well as just candid text describing the system that integrates most of the discussions over the years I’ve seen about running Pbta effectively. Plus, how it exemplifies a genre! Included paragraphs on inclusivity and avoiding defaultism was the first time I read something like that as well, and it blew me away.

  16. I used Urban Shadows as the template for The Veil as I considered it the best pbta text I’d read. With explanations as well as just candid text describing the system that integrates most of the discussions over the years I’ve seen about running Pbta effectively. Plus, how it exemplifies a genre! Included paragraphs on inclusivity and avoiding defaultism was the first time I read something like that as well, and it blew me away.

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