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Lemon-Lime posted:In my experience, the BitD system is so simple that a lot of whether or not the game ends up being fun and memorable rests with how good everyone at the table is at describing their actions and adding narrative colour to the world. Harrow posted:Yeah, it's really all about being a conversation. That's something that's described explicitly in PbtA games usually, but it applies anywhere. You'll probably pick up on what the players are giving you, and they'll do the same for you. Serf posted:to expand on this a bit: when players enter a new scene i try to give a good description of what the environment is like, how the NPCs look, the general situation etc, and answer any questions they might have. but after that, i really try to spend most of my time asking the players questions, not just because i want us all the have a good understanding of the fiction but also because i want them to contribute their own stuff to the scene. after a while you can go beyond just having them describe what their characters are doing and ask them to describe stuff in the scene I guess I should clarify - I don't mean to limit the description and prose that arises out of gameplay, but to let the details and progression be a function of what the players explore, observe, dig into, and interact with. Being descriptive rather than prescriptive, basically, and letting players come to their own conclusions about the world and affect it on their own. I'm looking to avoid this: GM posted:You're in a dank cave littered with scary skeletons and abandoned equipment. The cave is dark, but from in front of you comes a heavy, feral breathing. You squint your eyes, and you can just barely see a massive figure further down the cave. It is a large ogre, and you see the trinket you want tied onto a simple necklace around its neck. The powerful ogre sniffs the air, catches your scent, and roars. It comes barreling down on you, quickly, but you dodge out of the way. Now you've got to fight it off. Player posted:Uh, I attack. <insert rolls and deliberation here> GM posted:As the ogre slams a meaty hand into you, you're knocked off your feet and you slam into the ground, and your sword goes flying. You take 5 damage. In return, you kick back up into a fighting position, rush towards where your weapon landed, pick it back up, and ready it against the ogre in a menacing fashion. The ogre tries once again to tackle you, but you dodge it, climb up onto its back, and thrust your sword into its neck. The ogre cries out, falls to the ground, and you celebrate for a bit before grabbing the trinket from its necklace and riding off into the sun with your prize. Cause at that point it might as well just be a video game. I would prefer this: GM posted:<Player>, you are in a dank cave. Due to the lack of light, you can see very little in front of your face, but you do hear a strange, wind-like sound. You also feel something at your feet. What do you do? Player posted:I bend over and bring my face closer to the object at my feet, hoping to get a better look at it. GM posted:As you lean down and examine the object, you realize that you're standing right next to a human skull with a miner's helmet on it. Player posted:Holy poo poo. I scream "jesus christ jesus gently caress jesus christ gently caress!" and kick it away, further down the cave. GM posted:Okay, so you punt the skull out of sheer terror further into the dark. You hear it hit something soft and fleshy-sounding. Suddenly, the strange wind-like sound you hear earlier is replaced with a loud, guttural groan of indignation. Player posted:What the hell? I cast Magelight. GM posted:The light illuminates the cave, and you see a big, craggy ogre right in front of you. What do you do? Player posted:poo poo. Has it noticed me? GM posted:Uhh, hmm. Let's say it's kinda standing still with a blank look on its face, but it's looking right at you, so it's noticed you but is still kinda processing the situation. Player posted:I start a staring contest! Oh, and I take the opportunity to look it over. GM posted:The two of you lock eyes as the ogre stares you down. You notice that it's idly rubbing a red welt on its forehead. You also notice something shiny hanging on a leather necklace around its neck. Player posted:What's on the necklace? GM posted:The object on the ogre's necklace is a shiny yellow disc with a stylized imprint of the sun on it. Player posted:Wait a minute, that's the Slicer of T'pire Weir Isles! I've been looking for it for ages! I break eye contact, draw my sword, and rush the ogre! GM posted:Alright, let's roll to see how well that goes. <insert battle here cuz im too lazy to write it all out> GM posted:The ogre heaves a death rattle as it falls to the ground. Player posted:Lol eat poo poo mofo. I'm going to cut the ogre's necklace with my knife and free the Slicer. GM posted:The leather necklace takes a bit of hacking, but you manage to cut through it. The treasure is yours! Player posted:Awesome! I destroy it. GM posted:You what? Player posted:According to my backstory, the Slicer has the soul of a powerful demon bound to it, the same one that killed my entire family. I have been hunting it down for years, and now I can exorcise the foul beast from existence and end my quest for revenge. I destroy the Slicer. I mean, like, if I can. GM posted:...Roll to see if you succeed. Player posted:Nat 20! GM posted:How do you want to do this? Player posted:I pick up the Slicer and say "this is for Marina, you fucker". Then I throw it into the air and blast it with Prismatic Spray, and as it dissolves there's an angry roar of rage as the demon fades out of existence. In the shimmering dust of the now-destroyed Slicer, the Force ghosts of my family appear and give me a warm smile, but I've already got my back to the explosion like a badass. I give them a thumbs up and walk into the light. GM posted:Nice. The way I see it, the GM is the engine that provides the players with the ability to interact with a living, dynamic world that's exactly as detailed as they want it to be. The GM is in service to the players in that sense, while the players are required to prove themselves and their capabilities via roleplaying and dice rolling when necessary. 
Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Apr 25, 2018 |
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Apr 25, 2018 16:59
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How did Scum and Villany turn out, by the by?
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Apr 25, 2018 17:55
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grassy gnoll posted:How did Scum and Villany turn out, by the by? quite good. its not very far from base Blades, but the full book isn't out yet
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Apr 25, 2018 18:02
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Leraika posted:How did the elves figure into it? The prince turned out to have gone with the elves voluntarily so he wouldn't have to deal with his mom's evil plan to take back the kingdom using the undead. Then the party sold him to a dragon who collected princes. But that was only because centuries ago, that dragon had sired the seven royal bloodlines posing as a god of laws, and now he was going to unlock the princes' magic power to have them rule the seven kingdoms as immortal sorcerer-kings in his name. This plan partly failed because while rescuing the prince, the party had gone into his dreamworld via the spirit realm and helped the chaotic side of his personality overcome the lawful one, eventually leading to the prince rebelling against dragon dad.
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Apr 25, 2018 18:40
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I should check out Scum and Villainy after hearing so much that was good about Blades in the Dark, but running into the issue that BitD's setting was a non-starter for me as far as interest went.
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Apr 25, 2018 18:46
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I should check out Scum and Villainy after hearing so much that was good about Blades in the Dark, but running into the issue that BitD's setting was a non-starter for me as far as interest went. Why non-starter?
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Apr 25, 2018 18:59
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https://twitter.com/EvilHatOfficial/status/989200251494907904 the physical Scum & Villainy book is looking pretty good
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Apr 25, 2018 19:31
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My Lovely Horse posted:I love having players define not only scenes, but settings as well. For my last game we worked out it would take place in a kingdom where no one had been before, and I asked everyone to come up with one thing they'd heard about the place, and their reason to go there. Mostly those were one and the same but putting them all together was a lot of fun. These things, by the way, wouldn't necessarily become truth but would definitely always have some truth to them. I really like that kind of thing, too, though I find my players have a hard time coming up with things like that on the fly. I've made it work a couple of times by having one player come up with a really basic premise or a little seed of an idea, then jump to other players and have each one fill in a new detail about the place we're going. It's how my space-faring Strike! game ended up with a completely water-covered planet that a few terrestrial species colonized by building a bunch of floating cities that are sort of like Fantasy Venice, and doing that pissed off the sapient crab people who were native to the planet, leading to strained relations that persist to this day.
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Apr 25, 2018 19:42
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drrockso20 posted:I despise when card games use screenshots instead of using proper art, it just looks cheap and lazy Do not, under any circumstance, look up Cyberpunk 2020 3rd edition art. Or please do and prepare for horror. 
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Apr 25, 2018 20:50
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LuiCypher posted:Do not, under any circumstance, look up Cyberpunk 2020 3rd edition art. That rules
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Apr 25, 2018 21:06
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LuiCypher posted:Do not, under any circumstance, look up Cyberpunk 2020 3rd edition art. The execution of that is awful, but I think the concept behind it is one that could work
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Apr 25, 2018 21:35
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Pollyanna posted:I feel like my GM style would be fairly terse and based mostly in describing the world and running the NPCs, and reacting to the input of players. In contrast to other GMs’ tendencies to monologue, derail or go off on tangents, I mean. I don’t know if saying more with less is an advantage or a disadvantage in games like Blades or other Apocalypse-likes. The deal is that when a PC goes "I attack" you go "cool, how?" because there is no way to resolve a PC saying "I attack". There's a way to resolve a PC, say, helping a buddy, or protecting someone or something, or doing a flying stealth takedown, or wading into melee to hit and get hit. By barfing forth dungeonpunk, you leave a lot of things just lying around that a PC can incorporate into their explanations and/or demonstrate what they're interested in as they elaborate to your satisfaction on "I attack". And, similarly, they're inevitably going to roll a 3, at which point you get to come in and go crazy, and it would be nice if you could point it in a direction relevant to their interests.
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Apr 25, 2018 21:50
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drrockso20 posted:The execution of that is awful, but I think the concept behind it is one that could work yeah it would look a lot better if they got the actual muppets license rather than using weird knockoffs
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Apr 25, 2018 21:52
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Glazius posted:The deal is that when a PC goes "I attack" you go "cool, how?" because there is no way to resolve a PC saying "I attack". There's a way to resolve a PC, say, helping a buddy, or protecting someone or something, or doing a flying stealth takedown, or wading into melee to hit and get hit. By barfing forth dungeonpunk, you leave a lot of things just lying around that a PC can incorporate into their explanations and/or demonstrate what they're interested in as they elaborate to your satisfaction on "I attack". This is really more me venting than anything, but I'm starting to get annoyed with my DW players as two of them are full of this "I attack" "Okay, what are you doing?" "Well, I'm just gonna step up and hit them. I rolled an 11 on dice, he doesn't get to hit me back". Then I get flack for doing things like "You beheaded the troll! It topples over and falls, starting to roll down the steep edge of the mountain straight toward the fighter!" (It was resolved with "I jump over the troll. 14 on Defy Danger Dex.") The players are having a blast, I just sometimes wish I had a bit more feedback from them.
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Apr 25, 2018 23:37
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Serf posted:https://twitter.com/EvilHatOfficial/status/989200251494907904 This is whats going to get me to play Blades in the Dark so I'm extremely excited.
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Apr 26, 2018 01:01
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Is there a way to play a Ranma-like character with the sex-change curse without being seen as weird? While it was never intended as such, I attached to that kind of thing as a teen because of my own confusion with my own gender identity. But, I can see it not playing out well.
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Apr 26, 2018 01:27
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I don't know that's a good way to tackle that subject in that way in a tabletop game, Covok.
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Apr 26, 2018 01:36
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Plutonis posted:I don't know that's a good way to tackle that subject in that way in a tabletop game, Covok. That's fair. It was just a thought I was having. But that's fair.
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Apr 26, 2018 01:37
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Covok posted:Is there a way to play a Ranma-like character with the sex-change curse without being seen as weird? While it was never intended as such, I attached to that kind of thing as a teen because of my own confusion with my own gender identity. But, I can see it not playing out well. I would say yeah, as long as you are playing with good friends who are supportive of you and who don't mind dealing with stuff like that in game. In a pick up game with random people on the other hand...
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Apr 26, 2018 01:54
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Covok posted:Is there a way to play a Ranma-like character with the sex-change curse without being seen as weird? While it was never intended as such, I attached to that kind of thing as a teen because of my own confusion with my own gender identity. But, I can see it not playing out well. Teenagers from Outer Space (which was kind of already the unofficial Takahashi RPG) had the "Boy-Girl Gun". Paizo's been iffy on representation and inclusivity, but at one point they made an effort to show several different ways trans characters could transition with Pathfinder mechanics. Really, it comes down to the game you're playing and the group you're playing with. If you play with mostly queer folks, they'll likely be cool with you experimenting with gender stuff. Likewise, it's a more obvious fit for Monsterhearts or Blue Rose, compared to Torchbearer or 3.5e. (Not to say you can't have a genderfluid person in Torchbearer; just that that game is much more interested in if you're going to starve to death in the dungeon.)
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Apr 26, 2018 02:00
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Yeah, while system matters, that's more a question on your group then anything else. Mechanically, you could find a way to do that in probably any system; just talk to your GM. But...first make sure you can just talk to your GM. You get the idea.
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Apr 26, 2018 03:00
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Adding to the chorus of "only with a group you trust, and talk to them first; make sure they're comfortable with the concept and how you want to explore it." To be honest, if I had a character like that submitted blind, I'd assume the submitter wanted to play up the fetish. To be honest, even if you're coming from a good place, not every group or game might be comfortable with every issue being explored at the table. Even when playing with people I really trust, using gaming to help people process heavy personal issues can be dangerous and delicate ground, and sometimes I just want to be a dumb elf, you know?
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Apr 26, 2018 03:08
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I mentioned the setting of Blades in the Dark to two of six players in my group and it was like serving someone their favourite treat entirely by accident. I may have something here. Does it accomodate groups of that size?
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Apr 26, 2018 08:45
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My Lovely Horse posted:I mentioned the setting of Blades in the Dark to two of six players in my group and it was like serving someone their favourite treat entirely by accident. I may have something here. Does it accomodate groups of that size? Sure! Blades is a lot more fast and loose about things like "Initiative", and six isn't an unreasonable number for shenanigans.
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Apr 26, 2018 10:36
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My Lovely Horse posted:I mentioned the setting of Blades in the Dark to two of six players in my group and it was like serving someone their favourite treat entirely by accident. I may have something here. Does it accomodate groups of that size? two players is perfectly reasonable. i haven't run it for groups that small, but i read reports from people who do it all the time. at that size it will move along pretty fast, too.
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Apr 26, 2018 11:13
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The book says 2-4 players + GM is the supported size. There's nothing that would obviously break with 6 players, just be prepared for play to take a bit longer since you'll have to keep track of more players. You'll also have to adjust clock size accordingly to make sure things aren't too easy.
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Apr 26, 2018 11:53
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I've run Blades for six, and it still works despite the usual large group problems.
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Apr 26, 2018 11:59
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Covok posted:Is there a way to play a Ranma-like character with the sex-change curse without being seen as weird? While it was never intended as such, I attached to that kind of thing as a teen because of my own confusion with my own gender identity. But, I can see it not playing out well. i mean i feel like my biggest weirdness with it is the curse part. Like "i wanna play a character who can change their gender at will." isn't odd to me but when you throw in the curse part i find it odd
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Apr 26, 2018 12:01
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Evil Mastermind posted:I've run Blades for six, and it still works despite the usual large group problems. I've run it for five myself but yeah, exactly.
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Apr 26, 2018 12:12
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Elfgames posted:i mean i feel like my biggest weirdness with it is the curse part. Like "i wanna play a character who can change their gender at will." isn't odd to me but when you throw in the curse part i find it odd I think the series mentions that the Jusenkyo “curse” is definitely a double edged sword, and there’s occasions of people deliberately jumping in springs to get transformation powers. Including someone who deliberately pushed a bunch of powerful animals into a spring to drown, turn jumped in so that their “cursed” form would be a badass hybrid animal. I do like settings which allow for the munchkins people would actually be in those situations 
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Apr 26, 2018 12:37
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Serf posted:two players is perfectly reasonable. i haven't run it for groups that small, but i read reports from people who do it all the time. at that size it will move along pretty fast, too. Made a suggestion to the group, am expecting the wailing and gnashing of teeth to start post haste.
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Apr 26, 2018 12:42
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Lemon-Lime posted:The book says 2-4 players + GM is the supported size. There's nothing that would obviously break with 6 players, just be prepared for play to take a bit longer since you'll have to keep track of more players. You'll also have to adjust clock size accordingly to make sure things aren't too easy. Teamwork actions would be a little harder on the leader.
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Apr 26, 2018 15:23
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Pollyanna posted:The way I see it, the GM is the engine that provides the players with the ability to interact with a living, dynamic world that's exactly as detailed as they want it to be. The GM is in service to the players in that sense, while the players are required to prove themselves and their capabilities via roleplaying and dice rolling when necessary. I think the thing to remember is that the GM is a player, too. I'm a fan of the PbtA axiom "be a fan of the player characters." That means a lot of things, but mostly it's about letting good and cool things happen when the players initiate them. That doesn't mean everything needs to go perfectly for the players--you can hurt their characters, take things away, let them fail, and all of that while still being a fan of them--but that ultimately, you're playing to find out what they do. You should be excited to see what they do next. But I think that needs to go both ways. As the GM, you're not just representing an objective world--you're not the computer in a video game, in other words. You're a narrator, cinematographer, and director, too. Sometimes, you'll be the one who drives things. You'll shift focus from player to player as necessary, or elide over details or scenes that aren't engaging (or do a montage!). Sometimes you'll all break character and talk about what's going on in-game and make sure everyone's still on board and having fun. It can be really hard to GM if your players aren't giving you much to play against. You mention that the players need to "prove themselves and their capabilities" but I don't think that's necessarily it--I think it's more that they need to give you something to work with. The more they roleplay, think about their characters' actions and motivations, and have fun narrating their actions, the more material you can use for your own narration and the better everything flows. The relationship shouldn't be adversarial--you're not playing the opposition and, at least in Blades in the Dark, you're not really testing the players' tactical or gameplay skills. You're all just using your storytelling skills together and using the dice to introduce narrative turns when the opportunity arises.
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Apr 26, 2018 15:42
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Thank you for all the replies! I have a bit of an odd follow up question however, which was is there any good Streams of BiTD which shows it off in action? I am quite curious to how it actually plays in game, beyond the examples set out in the book!
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Apr 26, 2018 18:19
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SkySteak posted:Thank you for all the replies! I have a bit of an odd follow up question however, which was is there any good Streams of BiTD which shows it off in action? I am quite curious to how it actually plays in game, beyond the examples set out in the book! there is the old Bloodletters game, which is good but reflects the game as it was being developed and changed. nowadays Butchers of Brightstone is going on and its very entertaining and they have a good grasp of how the system works.
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Apr 26, 2018 18:21
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Covok posted:Why non-starter? It just felt relentlessly grim from every summary I've heard of it. Just a world that didn't feel worth living in. But it turns out there's an SRD! I guess I can just read that in isolation. Elfgames posted:i mean i feel like my biggest weirdness with it is the curse part. Like "i wanna play a character who can change their gender at will." isn't odd to me but when you throw in the curse part i find it odd In general Ranma 1/2's treatment of gender was odd and, to be overly kind, very much of its time. That's not to say it wasn't important to people exploring their sexuality, or to the history of anime in general, but... well, it didn't exactly have enlightened views on sexuality.
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Apr 26, 2018 18:41
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SkySteak posted:Thank you for all the replies! I have a bit of an odd follow up question however, which was is there any good Streams of BiTD which shows it off in action? I am quite curious to how it actually plays in game, beyond the examples set out in the book! Friends at the Table did an extended arc of it that was great. It was called Marielda.
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Apr 26, 2018 19:01
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Harrow posted:I think the thing to remember is that the GM is a player, too. I'm a fan of the PbtA axiom "be a fan of the player characters." That means a lot of things, but mostly it's about letting good and cool things happen when the players initiate them. That doesn't mean everything needs to go perfectly for the players--you can hurt their characters, take things away, let them fail, and all of that while still being a fan of them--but that ultimately, you're playing to find out what they do. You should be excited to see what they do next. I think I worded that wrong - I don’t mean that I am an adversary of the players, but that they’re looking to overcome the challenges and obstacles I provide them. Which sounds kinda bad...maybe I should actually play before running my mouth 
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Apr 26, 2018 22:41
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Pollyanna posted:I think I worded that wrong - I don’t mean that I am an adversary of the players, but that they’re looking to overcome the challenges and obstacles I provide them. Which sounds kinda bad...maybe I should actually play before running my mouth I ran my mouth for literal years before I had any significant playing experience. As far as I'm concerned it's a proud tradition
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Apr 26, 2018 22:47
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So, I'm listening to a podcast called "372 Pages we'll never get back" that talks about books. They're talking about Armada from the creator of Ready Player One. And I think it has the dumbest line I've ever read: "So, you're telling me the government spent millions of dollars making Star Wars as anti-alien propaganda."
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Apr 27, 2018 05:56
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