I’m very excited to start running this with my play group, but since Duskwall isn’t fully fleshed out quite yet I’ve been thinking about creating my own re-skin to fit a world my players are already very comfortable with (which will also hopefully create a smooth transition).
I was wondering, though I know they are a long ways off, what exactly will the official reskins change? Currently I’m working on creating my own set of Playbooks & Crew Types and creating a new list of backgrounds, vices, and other factions. Is there anything else that seems like it needs to be changed for an effective reskin?
Pretty sure that Duskwall will never be “fully fleshed out” the way places are in other games. Like Apocalypse World my assumption is that it’s supposed to be fleshed out by players. Though the factions will get some love and description to their abilities but a lot of the narrative description will remain open to be filled.
I have to agree with Colin. What we’ll end up with is multiple instances of Duskwall, much like the alternate campaigns of TORG, of oh so long ago. Each valid, each separate yet distinct.
Even my maps are really just MY impressions of what Duskwall might be like, along with my series of Locations. If people use them, that’s good by me; if they’re simply used as inspiration, I consider that a fine thing as well.
Wow Torg. Been a while since I heard that game. Used to play (mostly GM) a lot of that back in the 90s. Torg did have a more fleshed out meta narrative if you cared about the campaign modules, which I didn’t. And the supplements did flesh out several “important” NPCs with rich backstory, which I doubt Blades in the Dark will do.
Perhaps my comment could have been worded better. In my experience with my playgroup specifically, I’ve discovered that they generally have a tough time trying to improvise in an unfamiliar world. I expect that the full rules book will contain much more setting information than the quick sheet we currently have (I mean, we’re getting a novel right?), but until then I would like to set things in familiar waters since this game puts far more creative responsibility on the players than most (which is great! but something my players tend to struggle with).
Really the base of my question though is still: what parts of the game should/will be re-skinned?
Yeah I’m curious how the hacks and reskins will work too. It’ll likely be a range from simple reskin with renamed but similar playbooks and renamed factions to complete hacks that looks very little like BitD, all depending on the designer.
I think you should challenge your players with a more improvised narrative game. Maybe make it a different game then BitD — something more prone to one-shot games. Like try John Harper’s other games like Ghost Lines (same world as BitD or his game Lady Blackbird or his Patreon game Star Force. Or try a completely different co-narrative game like Fiasco. As a one shot they hopefully won’t feel like they have to “know the world” to play and hopefully feel more free to just make shit up. Also who knows they might surprise you and really become great improvisers. Plus the experience will be good in that if they grok the co-narrative skills it will make BitD better once you do play it.
The thing is Chris, even though your players are uncomfortable with creative responsibility, the system supports your group in establishing your own Duskwall. Its designed that way on purpose. Its great! Give it a try before you re-skin and you might be pleasantly surprised. Plus we’d love to hear about all the setting content you develop at the table during actual play! (all that stuff I post? Developed by the gang as we play).
But about re-skinning Setting? Its nearly all colour. You could keep the faction names for instance and transpose them to another setting. The playbooks are scoundrel specific, and heists are the default ‘missions’ of the game. So long as your re-skin involves scoundrels performing heists, indulging vice and wrangling their way to the top of the faction ladder, it should all work out without much change at all.
Stras, John and Jonathan talk quite extensively on one of the one-seven design hangouts about re-skinning using a different conceit. The mechanic that acts as a strong driver is heat. Its the pressure that creates tension about what score to choose and why as the PCs balance their aspirations against the likelihood of even deeper complications.