A few thoughts from tonight’s game:
Are there rules for changing a PC’s vice?
Is there any way to somehow convert Heat into Rep?
It strikes me that Blades is a bit like a Euro boardgame, with a lot of moving parts and resources to manage. I’d love to see a flowchart of diagram as to how it all fits together.
Long term project.
Long term project.
Run away screaming from that line of thought.
🙂
I’m kidding somewhat. I probably will make a flowchart showing the phases of play with the costs and resources.
But I want to be careful to squash Eurogame thinking, which is mechanics-first.
A flowchart would be super handy. I keep feeling like something is lost in the shuffle.
Not every Euro is mechanics-first, but I understand your caution. Nonetheless, there’s an economy to the resources here (Vice/Stress is what got me thinking about this), so you’ve got to know how it’s spent and where it comes back.
Thanks for the answers on the other two! Maybe drop in a line or three addressing that in the final manuscript?
The important distinction I see is that roleplaying games do not require balance. Why? Because every game that has a GM automatically has an arbiter and balancer with more knowledge of the players and their characters than the writer of the rules will ever have.
Which basically means any calculation of factors needs an error margin of 100% to cover on the spot decisions made.
Off topic but: There’s a fiction-first Eurogame?! What is it? I can’t imagine such a thing.
Re: heat into rep: One of the crews (Breakers I think) has a move that lets you treat wanted levels as turf levels. That’s conceptually very similar, and any crew can take it as a Veteran special ability.
I have also thought about a series of flowcharts to help explain the rules. I’ll see if I can come up with something.
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Robin Hood was kind of the king of turning Heat into Rep. It’s definitely a cool angle and it comes with its own challenges.
I had a character change his vice, and it just sort of happened organically. His character got interested in a different thing and it slowly became his character’s obsession. It made sense to switch it so we did.
John Harper I meant that some eurogames are designed with theme first, and the mechanics follow, rather than mechanics first and then they paste on a theme.
Peter Cobcroft I respectfully disagree- the mechanics of an RPG must be balanced somehow- Let’s say you’re expected to burn 6-8 stress in a session but could only ever get back one per session. That’s a death spiral that leads to different kinds of play and probably lots of failure and frustration. Or if Whispers got +1 die to every roll and nobody else got a similar benefit. Mechanics don’t need to be in perfect balance, but they need to hang together.
Feel free to disagree. I’ve played many a mechanics light game and heavy games and have run games with players that were gods and mortals in the same party going through a dungeon owned secretly by another PC. YMMV, but I have never used balance over what makes an interesting and fun game. 
Mind you, I’m still not sure how balance is applied when I run our pay in either Amber, Baron Munchausen or the Doctor Who RPGs .
Mischa Krilov Ah, I see. That’s not how I use that term, so I was confused.
Also, I’m with Peter on the issue of “game balance.” Death spirals and asymetrical abilities are useful tools that can achieve goals in game design. There’s no rule that says balance is automatically superior to imbalance in design. It depends on the needs of the game.
John Harper​Peter Cobcroft​ I’m afraid I’m not articulating myself clearly. Let me get my thoughts together and clarify where I’m coming from.
I’m keener that a game encourages setting relevant common sense and intuitive mechanics rather than glass ceiling starting characters or balance that contravenes fiction.