I was wondering. Has anyone actually played any of these? If so, any thoughts?

6 thoughts on “I was wondering. Has anyone actually played any of these? If so, any thoughts?”

1. Not yet, will read today and give feedback from a the perspective of someone choosing. (As these are cool, but I don’t think I’ll get to play them soon…)

2. Okay, I don’t know if a text box 100 px wide is the best place for a stream-of-consciousness critique, but here goes:

   One mechanical thing I’m not a big fan of is the idea that the creatures can lose stress. I would think that operating in Duskwall as one of the beasts (at least) would be very stressful. (The outcomes of it would be different, as would the downtime actions, as I’ll get to later.)

   My harshest, most vague criticism: In general, I find the playbooks a bit too prescriptive/explicit. This is somewhat a function of them being for older draft editions of the game. It’s also possible that the powers get a bit wordy because you have to cover lore that isn’t yet in the ‘book’.

   An example of a bit of over-prescriptiveness: For the infernalist’s slain familiar: “Lose 1 Trauma upon gaining the familiar, gain 2 Trauma if it is slain.” This is something the GM/player should decide on the fly, I think.

   Slightly odd use of time/stress: Exorcist: “Spending 8-12 hours in prayer, meditation, and fasting can clear 1 stress per day.” It feels a bit too D&D. I think of time in Blades as being much more fluid. Also, this seems to usurp the power of indulging in vices.

   As to the idea of not losing stress for the more supernatural playbooks:

   I’d much prefer that they can ignore the injury penalties in various ways or speed up their healing clocks (which you do discuss). I also think that their downtime actions will be much (MUCH) more nefarious. Also, they should be getting a lot of attention from the Blue-coat authorities. (Thieves and murderers are bad, but demons are much worse…)

   I’m scared that the Demon is too other-worldly, and therefore, wouldn’t fit well with a gang. The hull seems very cool, and would probably fit. The vampire is also a possibility for fitting with a group. I could see playing these two characters, if the GM allowed it.

   The infernalist and exorcist feel like prestige classes/multi-classes of the whisper/hound. Therefore, they tempt me only a little bit…

   In short, overall, I’d go for a vampire.

3. Thank you for your thoughtful comments!

   One habit I have formed is to see classes as both toys for the player to use, and toys for the GM to use. That informs a lot of how I design, and in a way, these templates are guidance for GMs for how they can use these character types and monsters.

   Showing ways for them to purge stress means the creatures are motivated to act in those ways. If you are looking for a hull, you know it’s going to be shedding dissonance into machines. You know a vampire has to feed, and why, and how to MAKE it feed more often. Demons have a reason to need sacrifices and worship. By making these stress reducers, you provoke that behavior.

   Consider it a way of pulling Vice out of the abstract and inserting it as rewarded behavior in the game.

   On a similar note, someone who has to safeguard a powerful spirit and stay concentrated and focused should not thematically dissipate internal energies on frivolity, which led to a way of managing the exorcist’s stress without requiring debauchery or esoteric work-arounds. Not all exorcists can do it, but those who really want to focus in ways besides getting drunk or otherwise indulging their weaknesses have a method to do so.

   There is no room in the core of the rules to manage expectations for these supernatural elements, so the playbooks try to help the player and GM manage mutual expectations. That’s true. I feel you can be really flexible in descriptions when you’re dealing with humans, as we all have a fair sense of what humans are like. I do focus harder on alien experiences, to help provide a skeleton that works that the players can then flesh out and skin.

   Thank you for taking a look! I know there are lots of rough patches, I did them quickly, but I feel they are certainly playable.

4. Yes, they certainly are playable. And don’t worry about the rough patches, these are gifts to the community!

   I fully agree that one needs to be more explicit when there are more alien experiences to manage. But I fear that some of these go against the grain of BitD’s stress/trauma/harm/vice-indulgence system. The way I’d ‘encourage’ the vampires to feed is to have it be the sole method to reduce stress or physical harm (“Why would you go to a healer? How could they help?!” “Okay, then I go feed, and try not to let anyone see it…”). That said, going against the grain might make sense, as these are very unusual beasts.

5. Thanks again for taking a look and sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it.

6. Sure! Brutal as I might seem, I really think these characters are useful, rich, and fun. I’ll probably use this info to come up with NPCs should I run a game in the near future.

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