Help me like/appreciate PbtA systems better
Our long time Call of Cthulhu group regularly has breaks where we play other systems and one-shots to give our Keeper time to prep for upcoming story arcs. One of my friends is really into Powered by the Apocalypse games, like really into them. Me, not so much. I've been in the hobby since the 80s and have played a wide variety of systems and mechanics and I used to say "I've never met a system I didn't like" but I don't say that anymore 😬
Now, I've have limited experience with a couple of the PbtA systems, and they've all been one-shot stories. My friend who really loves the system has only started GM'ing recently, but since they are my friend I really try to lean into the sessions with earnest but always find myself frustrated by the outcomes. We've played Monsterhearts, Kult, City of Mist and Monster of the Week. Kult frustrated me the most, which is odd because that would be the setting that would most interest me as a player. MotW was my favorite, but by this time I knew I didn't like the game play very much so I just went with it, and my character resonated with me and my friend so just playing them was fun and humorous.
Why don't I enjoy the systems? I find them 'vague' rule-wise, I find the cooperative story building tedious at times, and I find the success mechanic unsatisfying (in which I mean most rolls are failures of some sort and requires constant 'gaming the system' to give you a better chance for success). I see how the coop storytelling could be amazing, but IMO it requires both GM and all players to always be 'on' and in their most creative states which just doesn't happen in my experience.
What nuances am I missing? What mindset am I not adopting that would make these systems click for me? How do you have a good session if say two players just aren't 'feeling it' that day and you've got limited coop storytelling building?