The Devil’s Bargain sounds a bit misleading to me as it seems more like an option to preemptively compromise, like if you were adding a 4/5 to the result, one that does not involve danger manifesting or effect reduction.
It’s not like you’re necessarily making a deal with the devil or giving in to temptation. I mean, it sounds cool, but I see myself simply explaining it as “you can get + 1d if you concede some way in which your success may not be perfect”. This is good because it works with the fiction as a way to generate more interesting details about an action. It’s a way to customize the action roll beyond position and desired effect.
On the other hand, we could have an actual + 1d if the desired effect involves your vice, much like the one for background.
Usually in my experience it is trading a higher chance of success now for trouble later. We frequently use it to raise heat, break gear, or leave evidence behind.
I personally love devil’s bargains that toy with NPC relationships. “While tinkering together a bauble to impress Mylera, I’m going to use the last scraps of lovely valuables from my former lover Grace, the extortionist (my Cutter’s favorite dangerous friend) even though I know she will be more than miffed when she hears about it or asks for them back).”
Or “You’ll have better luck now bypassing this security, but you’ll be leaving your poor gang-member Knick to the approaching bluecoats. Selling him out like that may stir dissent or distrust among your gang members.”
Jogador Sonhador That’s only one way to use a Devil’s Bargain. If you treat it only as a compromise, then it’s “just” a compromise, sure. But you decided to do that.
If you want them to be otherwise… then treat them otherwise. Seems simple enough to me.
John Harper Yeah, I feel like it’s more of a “marked by the Devil” kind of thing where the scoundrels would like to think that they’re the heroes, “the good guys” of their own story, but they must admit that there are situations when being not so nice after all makes their lives just a little bit easier.
I think that it’s the word “vices” in page 11 that may be leading my mind down a different path and into a “tempted by your vice” kind of thing.