We played with the new rules last night, and our band of thieves broke into Lord Scurlock’s manor house to steal an antique and sorcerous orb from before the cataclysm. Due to some lucky rolling they pulled it off without an alarm or much heat. But they did all leave with almost full stress tracks, a guardian demon bound to a spirit anchor, and a few bits of evidence that a vary pissed off possible vampire may use to track them down latter for some retribution.
I really like the new QS effect rules, they work so much smoother than the old ones which, there was a lot less handling time and a lot more thieving. We did not miss the crew effects at al which was something I was wondering about.
New harm rules are neat too, the players all spent stress to avoid them so no one took any actual harm but knowing that it was 1-3 levels of harm told the players how severe it was and that the stress was worth it to avoid (our Cutter spent stress twice to avoid serious harm). So the lack of abstract levels really helped anchor the mechanics to the fiction here.
From the player side they really liked the new playbook moves, and had a few hard choices as to what ones to take. The assorted ghost and supernatural effects on the none whisper ones intrigued them especially. They also loved the new vice options. So our Cutter is a collector, the Lurk has obligations and the Whisper has his studies (turns out he is still in the academy
and tuition is insane for an immigrant).
For Entanglement the players rolled a 6, which results in no problems. It was suggested at the table that maybe a success or crit gives the players some momentum like a +1 forward in AW. So maybe like a bonus die or effect to the first action they take on the job to represent that. The nothing happens felt a little weak.
There was some question about what tier the crew now starts at. We had assumed 0 like before until we got to development which requires you to roll your tier. Is the crew now supposed to be tier 1 or have one dot in tier? Or do they start with no dots and have to roll 2 dice and keep lowest for development?
All in all one of the smoothest most fun Blades game yet. So nicely done John Harper
Oh and one more thing, don’t know if this was a change or just an omission but we really missed the reputation descriptor on the crew sheet. Before that was a nice anchor to what type of operation the players had what there style was.
I really dig the new effect rules as well, sounds like an awesome game.
Also, to your players, don’t fuck with Scurlock!
I agree with Sean – you MUST have some awesome NPC faction clocks ticking down…
Seriously, I started a clock for him “track down the fuckers who robbed me”
Plus it was an inside job… Bogie the Whisper has Scurlock as a friend who thought him a thing or too which he used in a flashback to case the mansion. I am sure that won’t come back to haunt them or anything…
Yes!!!
Also while Overindulging in his Study vice, Bogie the Whisper may have bragged and shown off the guardian demon he trapped in the anchor. Which of course gained the attention of a visiting teacher…. Who may be a Spirit Warden that is now looking to relieve him off it.
Plus I need a countdown clock for who ever is moving against Scurlock and bank rolled the heist in the first place. But I am going to wait on that until things heat up more or I need to make it
Sounds like an AWESOME game Colin 🙂
For the love of God, don’t encourage him!!! You’ve got him thinking about clocks!
Lord Scurlock was my friend…
Cool game! And great to hear about v3 in action. Thanks Colin J