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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.
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Sep 9, 2019 11:00
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 16:25 |
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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!
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Sep 10, 2019 08:04
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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.
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Sep 11, 2019 10:26
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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.
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Sep 20, 2019 13:22
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Serf posted: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. dex_sda posted:If the action didn't have a clock in the first place, and was a yes/no action, to me that shows any success should open it (except for a 'no effect' roll). Since a consequence shouldn't completely diminish the success of an action, you shouldn't lower the effect. Instead, pick a different consequence - ticks on alarm clocks are good. Great advice, thanks guys. I think the bolded part especially hits the nail on the head. You're also completely right in that the clock should be an obstacle with an open solution.
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Sep 20, 2019 17:28
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I'm running a CC campaign myself (when the lazy players deign to show up.) What is your crew up to?
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Jan 27, 2020 12:18
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Golden Bee posted:The Abernathys are putting in work! Cool! The Dogs of War MC started their career (after being kicked out of the Heathens MC), by robbing a liquor store. They've now set up shop in Slayton, where they've teamed up with Local 77 against O&G Resources. The Crew was just "recruited" by Buck Pettimore to find out who killed his father, but may end up playing both sides against the middle here... Edit: I have a question about the regular Blades setting. As I understand it, moving beyond the city walls is quite dangerous (ghosts, etc). There are some exceptions, like trains and Leviathan hunters, which probably have some sort of anti-ghost technology. What I don't understand, is how the Imperium managed to wage war on Skovland (extremely portable anti-ghost fields?) and how refugees from Skovland made it to Doskvol. Can anyone explain this to me? Freudian slippers fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jan 28, 2020 |
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Jan 28, 2020 19:30
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Thanks. The reason I ask, is that I'm envisioning a character who fled from Skovland during the war and spent some time in refugee camps on the way to Doskvol. I'd like to find a way to make that work with the setting. Maybe Skovland itself wasn't that plagued with ghosts and setting foot outside the city wasn't that dangerous?
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Jan 29, 2020 15:00
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Thanks for the input, guys. I'm sure I'll be able to cook up something!
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Jan 29, 2020 20:04
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Stupid newbie question coming up: My crew (tier 0 assassins) decided to have one expert cohort. He's kind of a doctor/leech kind of guy. I suppose his niche would be better defined if we had a better grasp on the Expert mechanics. Exactly what can they use him for and how would they use him? For instance: Can he make poison (better than what they could acquire in downtime)? How would they go about to have him heal them? Can he make equipment for them/just how broad is his area of expertise? Could they send him on a non-leech like mission (i.e. convince Bazo to like us more) with a reasonable chance of success? I realize that you could probably answer this with "It's up to you and your players" but I'd really like some input on how you'd play it.
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Feb 7, 2020 20:40
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Thanks for the suggestions, guys. We'll see what they come up with next session.
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Feb 8, 2020 08:39
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Cassa posted:Alright so looking at doing a shortish Copperhead County campaign. Anything i should keep in mind? A little late to the party, but my advice is to open each session with this song.
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Apr 26, 2020 14:02
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Dumb question: Are all new claims supposed to already belong to another faction, or can the crew start something from scratch without pissing off other factions? E: To clarify, can you gain a claim with a score that doesn't target another faction? Freudian slippers fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Apr 27, 2020 |
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Apr 27, 2020 08:43
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Thanks. I guess I worded myself a bit poorly. It's not so much that I worry about the relationship modifier, it's that players sometimes come up with something really creative and it cheapens it a bit to say that someone else already thought of it and now you have to steal it from them.
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Apr 27, 2020 10:20
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Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks!
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Apr 27, 2020 13:30
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dex_sda posted:a cool idea in this circumstance is for the player to act solely through flashbacks and actions he can do from a bed. But you probably need to be the Spider for that. When daydreaming I thought it'd be pretty cool to be a Spider in an Assassins crew, go to jail to drop down the heat, then frame your target for a crime (using flashback actions and assists while the rest of the crew does the needful) and kill him when he's in Ironhook. That's a goddamn brilliant idea!
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May 8, 2020 16:04
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grobbo posted:If anyone's interested, I've recklessly started a Blades in the Dark-roughly-adapted CYOA in the Game Room! Yeah, you should all come and join in the misfortunes of Fair Winds Trading Company. Grobbo is doing a killer job with the write-ups!
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Jul 28, 2020 14:05
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I've got a couple of stupid questions and would appreciate your input! Question 1, A dumb question regarding consequences: Would you guys agree that generally, as a rule of thumb, harm, heat, ticks on a clock should be: Controlled=1, Risky=2, Desperate=3? You're in a risky position, roll a 4/5, the complication is 2 heat? The fiction can of course affect this, but I'm thinking rule of thumb here. Question 2, A perhaps slightly less dumb question regarding group actions: How would you handle a group action Prowl against a higher tier opponent, if the leader of the action had the Infiltrator skill? This might effect position/effect in several ways, i.e.: Does the leader's skill mean that everyone now is on equal footing, regardless of tier? That seems very overpowered. A lurk sneaking a group of cutters past +2/3 security and have them fresh for the boss fight. Or does the leader ignore the difference in tier, but everyone else has to push to desperate in order to have some effect? Then you'd have to keep track on whose dice were risky/standard and whose were desperate/limited?
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Jan 20, 2021 20:44
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Thanks! Yeah, I agree. Personally, I think Infiltrator is close to overpowered as is, and extending it to group actions would be too much.
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Jan 20, 2021 21:40
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Thanks! So much of this game is "use whatever fits your group", but it's always good to check with others anyway. I think my main issue with BitD is that it's sometimes unclear which rules are meant to be vague and which are just vaguely written.WhiskeyWhiskers posted:Remember too that it only affects quality and tier. If they're infiltrating a cult or the spirit wardens etc. there's plenty of opportunity for arcane reasons to create a harder prowl check. Even gangs might have their own hound with ghost mind patrolling their turf with an eagle. A very valid point indeed!
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Jan 21, 2021 07:38
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I have another question: If a leech knows an alchemical recipe (either due to having the Alchemy special ability or completing a long-term project), does this then become a part of their bandolier and automatically refills during downtime? Or will they have to spend downtime actions on making a new batch each time one dose is spent? The latter option seems overly restrictive to me. An item created by an Artificer would have no such restrictions after all.
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Jan 24, 2021 09:28
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WhiskeyWhiskers posted:That's something you come up with on a per alchemical basis. It's one of the drawbacks they suggest iirc. Yeah, all alchemicals have the drawback "Consumable" and that's fine. I read that as that the character has a limited supply on every mission and has to keep checking bandolier slots if they want to use more. If the character is not a leech, they only have what they acquired beforehand or through a flashback. No problems so far. The question arises when you have a character with a bandolier. Now this bandolier automatically refills every downtime, as long as you have a reasonable access to a workshop or supplier. Some of these items can go up to quality level 4. If I spend time inventing a quality level 2 alchemical agent, it would to me make sense that this too automatically refills. Downtime actions are very valuable and it does not make sense to me that you'd have to both spend down time actions to invent and to refill when you have the bandolier ability. A closer reading of the rules on page 71 seems to support this: "When you employ an alchemical or bomb from a bandolier, choose one from the list at right (or one of your custom-made formulas). (...) During downtime, you automatically refill your bandoliers, so long as you have reasonable access to a supplier or workshop." To me, this means that custom-made formulas go in the bandolier and bandoliers automatically refill during downtime.
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Jan 24, 2021 14:53
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Coolness Averted posted:Yeah, but keep in mind if you let your players invent something dramatically different in scope or power you don't have to follow that. Like in a game I'm in the leech invented the street drug the sale and distribution of which formed a key season plot for us. It made sense narratively to say we occasionally had to dedicate downtime or heists to securing our supply lines vs "sorry, the rules say the leech auto refills their bandolier every session, and the GM said a dose was worth a coin, so now the leech is passively making us cash every time they choose their loadout" Good point, thanks!
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Jan 24, 2021 21:47
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DarkAvenger211 posted:That brings be to another question though. When do you guys call for group action rolls vs just one person leading? For a big group skirmish it seems like a no brainer to have them all roll so they can get scale on the enemy as well as just a straight up better chance to roll a 6. But say the group is trying to maneuver to a new position fast, do we group action roll this or have someone take the lead and do it themselves? I lean more into making it a group action but as I said earlier we kind of end up doing a lot of those by default and it doesn't let individuals shine in their areas of expertise as much. I suppose it could depend on how much time and focus you want to devote to that particular obstacle. For me, it makes sense to let the players contribute individually to a huge and dramatic fight, while say Climbing The Tower can be solved pretty quickly.
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Apr 16, 2021 06:21
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Yeah, the author himself has clarified that Trauma is only supposed to take you out of the current conflict. That doesn't have to mean that you instantly spring back up, but you can absolutely return before the score is over. E: This also makes complete sense. Forcing a player to not interact with the game goes very much against the BitD approach
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Apr 19, 2021 14:30
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DarkAvenger211 posted:How does blades play in a play-by-post format? It's been years since I've done pbp but when I compare it to DnD back in the day (or even 5e today) it must work so much better right? The only thing that I think might make it a bit finnicky is the whole conversation around position/effect. Assuming you lay down some ground rules / conditions around an action roll then maybe it would work fine. I've played in a fair bit of Blades PbP-games and think it works very well. One of the main things (as you've pointed out), is to keep the fiction flowing by reducing the back and forth concerning mechanical effects. By this, I mean including as much information about things that will have a mechanical effect in as few posts as possible. If the GM has just described an obstacle, you can make one post where you include your character's thoughts and "non-mechanical" actions, as well as your plans on how your character would overcome the obstacle (which action rating you think is suitable, whether or not it's a group action, if you'll push for an extra die etc), and ask the GM for Position and Effect. If the GMs answer indicates that you want to continue, you simply roll and move on. Since Blades is fiction first, cool descriptions of setting, dialogue, characters and the results of actions really adds to the experience. These may often be a bit easier to write, than to improvise in the heat of the moment. PbP also gives you a bit more time for thinking about flashbacks and how you reasonably set them up.
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Apr 17, 2022 10:38
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Josef bugman posted:Are there any recent BitD hacks that folks would recommend? Heliotrope posted:I think the idea of being able to lay low in another part of the galaxy to get rid of Heat could work, I just feel there needs to be a cost there. Like, you can’t manage whatever you got going and NPC factions in that area can act completely unopposed by you because you are far away and unable to do anything if you don’t want attention brought to you. Yeah, CC is rather good! Y'all should check it out: https://zzzwizard.itch.io/copperhead
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Sep 28, 2023 08:44
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admanb posted:The one time I’ve actually been able to play Blades I deliberately pushed myself to trauma on our first job because my plan was to be reckless and if I was gonna play that way anyways I should get XP for it. Every game, bro. Every game.
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Jan 10, 2024 06:47
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Kestral posted:Words I haven't got much to contribute, other than to add that these two concepts are really cool and interesting!
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Mar 18, 2024 07:26
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