I have potentially 5 players at my next session, including one new person and so far we have a Whisper, a Lurk, a Leech and a Hound. The Cutter won’t be there this week, the only unoccupied space is The Slide and I don’t really want to just give them the Slide sheet nor offer them a choice between the two.
What are my options? Is having multiple players with the same playbook alright? Can you point me in the direction of any fan-created ones that I could borrow?
I see no reason why you can’t double up on playbooks. It would be cool if the new character tried to differentiate him/herself from the other character with the same playbook either with action ratings or abilities, but even that isn’t necessary. Just focus on what makes them different people that would react to situations differently and you can make them unique.
That said, I love the slide, why doesn’t anyone ever want to play the slide? If there is ever a day when I get to be a player of Blades (not likely), I’m all over that. When I read the first version of the QS guide, I really wanted to play a slide with all his points in consort, sway and supply who knew everybody and could get his hands on anything. Sadly supply is no longer an action 🙁
Yep, it’s alright. Even says so right there on the character creation sheet. 🙂
One of the things I like about Blades in the Dark is that it does NOT require a “balanced party.” The composition of crew strengths and weaknesses affects their tactics and their choice of jobs. I see no problem with a crew of all one type.
Just have a friendly Whisper, ideally at least one character’s BFF (Best Friend Forever!) on call in case you need some backup to come along or send some special pre-charged tools.
Thanks for the info!
I know what you mean Mark Griffin I played The Slide first time I played and haven’t been able to play since. I’d definitely play the Slide when I get the opportunity again. The Slide’s abilities really capture my imagination the most out of all the playbooks. For example, Adaptation. What your best action is speaks volumes about your character. Is it Attune? Are they using the Ghost Field in so many different ways? Is it Skirmish? Are they resolving all their problems with a martial display?
I think its unpopularity has a lot to do with the fact that The Slide is the Face. Playing the Face is very different than playing every other role in an RPG and many people just feel they can’t do it.
Mark Griffin You can still play your supply-oriented Slide. Just use Adaptation to roll Sway (or Consort or whatever) instead of Tier when you acquire an asset. 🙂
John Harper Huh. I never considered using adaption for downtime actions as well. Cool. Does that mean I could spend to stress to roll my Sway (or whatever) for my Vice action as well?
Huh. To use Adaptation that way suggests a down time action is interchangeable with a regular action for purposes of that special ability, right? I would not have thought of that.
Anyway, it’s still a cost of 2 Stress to make the swap, and “supply” action (not counting the special ability) requires the entire crew to “level” so the Slide cannot independently get better at improving “supply” style rolls.
Since I just heard you plan to have a few on-the-side special abilities available in a pool, I hold out hope one of them may be a less costly way to improve “supply” style actions independently of the crew’s tier. =)
(Aargh! Comment lag!)
If character subs like that can work for Leverage, I see no reason why not here. 🙂
Yeah, you can use Adaptation for anything that you have the fictional positioning to do. “Say how you adapt your skill to this use” is the limiting factor. You won’t be Swaying those bullets out of your chest. 🙂
John Harper That’s what you think! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx9O6q0pDAU
ha!