Em linguagem comum, um jogo 'Powered by the Apocalypse' é um jogo que usa o mesmo mecanismo de resolução do Apocalypse World, de Vincent D. Baker, ou é de alguma forma reconhecidamente inspirado ou similar a ele.
Em outras palavras, é uma forma de as pessoas categorizarem os hacks do Apocalypse World.
Apesar de ser a definição percebida, comumente usada em grande parte da Internet, incluindo a descrição da tag neste site e na Wikipédia, o PbtA é, na realidade, algo diferente.
Vincent e Meguey Baker afirmaram que:
"Powered by the Apocalypse" isn't the name of a category of games, a set of games' features, or the thrust of any games' design. It's the name of Meg's and my policy concerning others' use of our intellectual property and creative work.
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Here's the policy:
If you've created a game inspired by Apocalypse World, and would like to publish it, please do. If you're using our words, you need our permission, per copyright law. If you aren't using our words, you don't need our permission, although of course we'd love to hear from you. Instead, we consider it appropriate and sufficient for you to mention Apocalypse World in your thanks, notes, or credits section.
It's completely up to you whether you call your game "Powered by the Apocalypse." If you'd like to use our PbtA logo in your game's book design or trade dress, ask us, and we'll grant permission for you to do so. This isn't a requirement of any sort.
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Again, "Powered by the Apocalypse" isn't the name of a kind of game, set of game elements, or even the core design thrust of a coherent movement. (Ha! This last, the least so.) Its use in a game's trade dress signifies ONLY that the game was inspired by Apocalypse World in a way that the designer considers significant, and that it follows our policy wrt others' use of our creative work.