|
Wrestlepig posted:Downtime would just be Human drama stuff right? Have a clark Kent phase. That's exactly right. I'm stealing from Spectaculars and trying to make time between the adventures be pursuing your human wants and needs. The stressful thing isn't just defeating the Rhino, it's also finding time for Mary Jane and Aunt May, and the only way to really do that is be late to your responsibilities at the Daily Bugle.
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2019 05:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:05 |
|
|
I might have accidentally made the game attractive to a table of 5 players (+ me as GM). It's above the recommended amount of players - so anything I should particularly adjust for that? I can tell it will make the stress economy easier, which means I should strive to (occasionally) split up the party and if that doesn't happen, make consequences more brutal so they burn through resisting them. Have I got it right?
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2019 19:04
|
|
|
I've run and played 5P. I don't know that it makes the stress economy easier - you just hit them with +N stuff. It allows for more synergy, but that's hard to quantify. I'd just play it by ear. Blades is a great game for on the fly adjustments. Are they having an easy time? More trouble. Too hard a time? Less trouble. I'd worry less about mechanical balance and more about just keeping the table focused. The bar as a Blades GM goes up a lot with 4 or 5 players, so you've got to really be on top of it. Never let anybody rest or get on their phone.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 15:28
|
|
|
Cool, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 16:53
|
|
|
Yeah, to echo that, I ran a year long blades game with three "seasons" and five players. My biggest mistake was not kicking the crap out of them with extreme prejudice early. Blades PC's are basically indestructible superheroes to anything below Level 5 harm, so don't pull your punches. The extra player means that there's more meat to soak up hits / stress, so you need to hit harder to make sure that the healing-downtime stays a common thing and reward the moves / playbooks that use it frequently. tokenbrownguy fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Aug 12, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 18:03
|
|
|
tokenbrownguy posted:Yeah, to echo that, I ran a year long blades game with three "seasons" and five. My biggest mistake was not kicking the crap out of them with extreme prejudice early. Blades PC's are basically indestructible superheroes to anything below Level 5 harm, so don't pull your punches. this is absolutely the case. the game starts off with the PCs being a little on the fragile side, but once they figure out how the resistance system works they can really cut loose. never pull your punches, always trust the fiction and give things meaningful consequences because the Blades system means the PCs can handle it
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 18:19
|
|
|
I'll be sure to do that! I'm mostly worried about handling the paradigm shift to how conflict resolutions works while also slowly introducing mechanics to my players, to be honest. Funnily enough my style always was towards rewarding daring players and interesting ideas and being light on specific prep but heavy on the world feeling real, so you'd think I would feel right at home, but I'm still nervous! dex_sda fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Aug 12, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 18:57
|
|
|
I've always felt like pbta-based games are really easy to get the challenge right: I just make up more or less bullshit depending on how the encounter is going.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2019 19:25
|
|
|
My copy of Hack the Planet showed up. Pros - Real pretty - Seems a solid remake of Blades - The Haunt is a rad replacement for the Whisper - Acts of God are cool as hell and the game has its' personality down pat. Cons - Pretty derivative of Blades. Other than the Haunt, pretty much every playbook is the same as its Blade's. Crews are a little better off, but over half are still straight from Blades. Looking forward to running it! Think I'm going to use HtP as an off-session game when one of my core group can't make it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 22:41
|
|
|
So, I ran my first whole session. This game is so loving good. I've never seen my table like this. At one point, I got basically shushed as the GM while players were roleplaying between themselves.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2019 02:37
|
|
|
dex_sda posted:So, I ran my first whole session. That's peak roleplaying right there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2019 02:53
|
|
|
The latest group I introduced it to are like the total reverse, only one guy actually embraces the Big Crime style and uses flashbacks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2019 03:27
|
|
|
Gorefiend posted:The latest group I introduced it to are like the total reverse, only one guy actually embraces the Big Crime style and uses flashbacks. My players instantly decided to flashback to summoning a ghost to gently caress over Bazso and then for the score, they tried to bribe Bluecoats to do something for them and obviously the Bluecoats hosed them over, so they attacked an outpost and killed the Bluecoat that hosed them over. Now they've got the law coming big time, are at war with Lampblacks and they fiddled with Roric's ghost so The Crows are not gonna be very happy with them to say the least. Session 1.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2019 09:10
|
|
|
dex_sda posted:My players instantly decided to flashback to summoning a ghost to gently caress over Bazso Peak blades right there. gently caress Bazso Baz
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2019 09:13
|
|
|
So I'm running a game for the first time. It's going okay so far, and some of my players are really diving into being able to build out portions of the world - there's a thriving Iruvian immigrant community now, and contrasting it with the Red Sashes and the Iruvian Embassy is great. The Whisper from the Dagger Isles is also going nuts with ghost stuff and demon stuff and nautical stuff. And that's all good. I stress about them having a good time and this game actually being, like, good? But that's normal for me. BUT LAST GAME HOLY poo poo. Okay so they were trying to expand out and tick off their first little square of turf. Their Very Good Friend Bazso (who absolutely wasn't doing this for his own reasons, no) suggested that they go after these four Bluecoats who were operating out of a small little night patrol station. They were basically becoming straight-up extortionists hiding behind a badge, and were more or less a crew trying to hold down a couple blocks of ground. The players thought this was a grand idea (gently caress the police!) and were off. In the middle of the beatdown, our Cutter had busted out Not To Be Trifled With and was wading in with her Fine Heavy Weapon and rolled a success with a consequence. She dropped three of the goons but for a consequence I rolled with that she unintentionally caught one of them in the throat with the wooden haft of her weapon and outright killed him. She declined to resist the consequence. Some weirdness happened re: ghosts and a lack of death bell, but it basically came down to the six of them standing around in their new little patch of turf looking at a body which was stunningly intact. And that all was okay for me, I'm thinking "okay, this is an alright place to wrap" and then their Slide looks up and says, "We're gonna Burke and Hare this" and their Lurk says "can I have a flashback to have stashed a small handcart in the alley we already established was behind their building" and their Hunter says "I have this physicker as a favored contact, can I say that he's a medical student or something at the University" and they instantly decided that they wanted to roll immediately into a score where they want to sell/trade/something this shiny fresh cadaver to their doctor friend. While the theme to Smokey and the Bandit plays. ...I love this game so much. This is so loving awesome. I have no idea what I'm going to plan for the next session but it needs to be so over the top and this is the best.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 16:57
|
|
|
How would you go about explaining the setting to a group?
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 18:24
|
|
|
Peaky Blinders but there's no sun.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 18:26
|
|
|
Dunwall, but the whales are demons and instead of the Outsider you just have a bunch of sad gothic ghosts bumming around.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 19:48
|
|
|
Cool crimes in bad times
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 21:29
|
|
|
“Doskvol is an industrial fantasy city haunted by ghosts made of lightning” Stolen from Blades at the Con
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 22:39
|
|
|
An even shittier Victorian London. Oh and there is no sun and death is a bit hosed up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 22:46
|
|
|
From the rulebook: “You’re in a haunted Victorian-era city trapped inside a wall of lightning powered by demon blood.” Now go do crime.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2019 07:25
|
|
|
Started playing Control. A X-Files / SCP / Control style Blades hack would be pretty good.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2019 20:50
|
|
|
Fallen Danzig
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2019 17:08
|
|
|
The second session resulted in: my players trying to fix their kill of a cop by... doing nothing except killing a second cop (still no idea what they were attempting); allying with an inspector against the bluecoats and in the resulting flurry completely outmaneuvring the leader of the Sashes... and then killing a child in a sacrifice to a demon after a nasty Devil's Bargain by the team's whisper. I kinda like this game.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2019 11:29
|
|
|
We're new to BitD and started off with the Copperhead County hack. I think it went quite well but have a few questions. 1. At crew creation you have to chose which faction controls the area where you have set up shop. Can this be any faction or just criminal factions? 2. During payoff, you get negative status with the faction you raided in the score. Is this automatic? What if the heist was quiet and the players got away without being seen? I can always make up an unknown witness or left-behind clue to justify the loss of status, but need to understand if the inevitable status loss is an integral part of balancing mechanics.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2019 11:00
|
|
|
Freudian slippers posted:We're new to BitD and started off with the Copperhead County hack. I think it went quite well but have a few questions. I believe any faction you want. Depends on how strict with the rules you want to be. I think that there is no heat or rep gain for quiet scores, so it would make sense that there would be no status change. I'd say go with whatever the fiction supports. Evidence left behind doesn't need to explictly point to the player crew either. Thats how they get heat even if no one can prove a murdered person was killed by them. The bell tolls and the cops are just on higher alert in general, thus heat goes up. So if there is any evidence left behind of someone, anyone, doing a score against a gang, maybe their relationship with everyone gets worse. Or you just do a fortune roll and see who they blame. I'd say 'gently caress It, Fiction First'. Also depends on the tone of the game you want to set.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2019 14:28
|
|
|
OK, thanks! The hack is set in current day Tennessee. The players set up shop in the backyard of the local, evil mining corporation and made a tentative alliance with the miners union. They then robbed a gas station for beer and 250$, before the miners informed them that the mining company planned to bribe an official and would be keeping a nice lump of cash around the office. They made a stealthy approach and knocked out one guard outside. One player then called a flashback and lifted an identity card from a senior company employee at the HQ TGIF drinks and beer bash. Sadly, he had to use his lambada skills (que music) to get close to her and was spotted by his on/off GF. This caused minor headlines in the local paper, as "Lascivious Lambada Leads To Beer Hall Brawl". Armed with the identity card, the party's smooth talker rounded up the interior guards under the guise of a surprise Health & Safety inspection, while the rest broke into the head office and opened the safe. No bodies, but not exactly a complete stealth success either. I'm guessing the mining company isn't sure if it was them, but they're certainly on the Ones-to-watch list. This game is rather fun!
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2019 08:04
|
|
|
Ya there is plenty of evidence there to fictionally justify the lose of rep. A senior company employee loses his ID at the same place as a dude starts a giant brawl? There you go.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2019 22:30
|
|
|
Has anybody gotten Band of Blades yet and have opinions on it? I love The Black Company but don't have any experience with the Blades in the dark system.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2019 22:39
|
|
|
LongDarkNight posted:Has anybody gotten Band of Blades yet and have opinions on it? I love The Black Company but don't have any experience with the Blades in the dark system. I think band of blades is a triumph. I had the pleasure of playing it with one of the writers at Gencon two years ago and got myself a copy as soon as I could. I also love BitD, so I'm not sure how you would fare just jumping in to BoB without knowledge of the system, but the book is totally self contained with regards to rules. The world building is top notch, and if I never get to play it again, it was worth it just for the read. In typical evil hat fashion, the physical book is of much higher quality then the typical print on demand hardcovers most new releases use. If you like black company and have even a passing interest in more narrative driven roleplaying then you should check it out.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 09:01
|
|
|
Wrr posted:Ya there is plenty of evidence there to fictionally justify the lose of rep. A senior company employee loses his ID at the same place as a dude starts a giant brawl? There you go. Well to be fair, he didn't start the fight. His on/off GF did, when she found him trying to relieve Karen from HQ of her card through dirty dancing. A natural complication is of course that Karen now has fallen head over heels with this mysterious Lothario of the lambada and will stalk him relentlessly. Such is life.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 10:26
|
|
|
ZachAttack posted:I think band of blades is a triumph. I had the pleasure of playing it with one of the writers at Gencon two years ago and got myself a copy as soon as I could. It's also, from what I have seen, absolutely hard as balls to win with. Like seriously, holy gently caress.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 17:26
|
|
|
ZachAttack posted:I think band of blades is a triumph. I had the pleasure of playing it with one of the writers at Gencon two years ago and got myself a copy as soon as I could. I skimmed thru the beta rules a while back. Is the entire book the campaign to Skydagger Keep or is there more after that?
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 17:33
|
|
|
LongDarkNight posted:I skimmed thru the beta rules a while back. Is the entire book the campaign to Skydagger Keep or is there more after that? That's the whole game, I believe the plan is to release at least 3 total campaigns that lead up to the final confrontation with the cinder King. There is a pretty great FAQ thread in the forged in the dark forums with Stras discussing more of the backstory and the sequel plans. Josef bugman posted:It's also, from what I have seen, absolutely hard as balls to win with. Like seriously, holy gently caress. Yeah, this is a game that the players can absolutely lose. But as the GM I am absolutely going to put my finger on the scale of it's clear that group wants the victory, if that's the story they want to be a part of. I'll just make it cost a lot. ZachAttack fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Sep 11, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 19:04
|
|
|
ZachAttack posted:There is a pretty great FAQ thread in the forged in the dark forums with Stras discussing more of the backstory and the sequel plans. Got a link?
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 19:21
|
|
|
LongDarkNight posted:Got a link? I think it was this one: https://community.bladesinthedark.com/t/band-of-blades-ama/60 The whole BoB sub-forum there has great info. Stras is in it all the time answering questions and talking about the game.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 22:00
|
|
|
Third session, getting into the swing of things. My players staged two operations to murder Bazso and pin the blame on one of their rivals. This game is so motherfucking good. I played Bazso a bit like Rawls from the Wire, which made it very easy to enjoy the murder. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2019 12:50
|
|
|
Question: How do you guys handle a limited success on a yes/no roll? Example. A crew member is picking a lock. Let's assume the roll is risky/limited due to the lock's quality. The player does nothing to improve the effect and rolls 4/5. Obviously, there will be some consequences ( a guard walks in, equipment breaks), but what about the lock? Is a limited effect enough to open it or not? I tried to solve this with an "open the safe" clock, which kind of worked, but it meant the player had to roll several times to complete one action, which seems against the spirit of the rules.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2019 13:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:05 |
|
|
Freudian slippers posted:Question: How do you guys handle a limited success on a yes/no roll? I think a clock can work just fine in that situation. A very complicated lock might require an extremely fine amount of precision or it could be a multi-stage affair with getting through multiple sections of one lock. Or if you don't want to use a clock for the lock, you could throw in 3 ticks in the general alert/danger clock in lieu of having an immediate consequence. This could represent the lockpicking process taking a lot of time, or being noisy, or even tripping some sort of warning system somewhere else. The lock opens, but the general tension of the heist escalates.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2019 13:40
|
|