Having played Blades in player mode for the second time, now, I’m astounded by the amount of difficult strategy this game will let your brain ponder about.
I presumed spreading out the action dots would be good so I could grab an action dot in several different places and have my vice roll always be 2d6, along with having fabulous resistance rolls, right? Sure… but having fewer action dots means consequences happen all the time (should’ve taken another dot in Command).
Also, is the appeal of XP so sweet that I should make desperate rolls? Is my Vicious trauma worth playing up? That’s an instant shot of 2 heat, but that’s giving me 2 XP as a Cutter!
Having to practice the foresight to navigate seemingly equal decisions = Strategy. Only other game I can think of that does that similar mesh of mechanical and fictional strategy is Burning Wheel. Do I break the tie in their favor for the extra fate point? Do I sacrifice my character for deeds points?
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I’ve probably run/played more Blades than anything in the last year, and you’ve put a finger on why. It’s deep. There’s mechanical and strategic weight. The fiction and the mechanics have a bunch of connections and you can go down a bunch of bridges.
Would you say BitD has a higher buy in than some indie rpgs? I’m curious if its better to try to explain everything, or reveal the game piece by piece. My worry is things like the vice roll being an unpleasant surprise for some players who maybe stacked their dots.
I think next winter long campaign i’ll def be pushing for BitD.
Definitely don’t try to explain everything up front. If the 0d Vice roll is an unpleasant surprise, they can just re-allocate their dots then. No harm done.
Piece by piece is definitely the way to go when it comes to unfurling the rules. I start with how the dice work, and the position, and the factors.
When group actions might matter, I touch on them. When people want more dice, I tell them about spending stress to get more, or helping each other.
The first down time action is where I do an overview of how down time works.
I want to get them hooked first, so they have a reason to want to know more, then share out possibilities in small enough doses it minimizes glazing over.
A 0d anything roll is an unpleasant surprise.
Ben Morgan That’s where the devil’s bargain or stress pushing comes in.
Aaron Berger Here’s the thing. You can start simple. A player doesn’t need to understand the Blades rules to play. Just give them the setting and ask them what their character does. They’ll be fine. I’m trying to optimize my strategy to perfection, not learn how to play effectively.
Stras Acimovic Yeah I heard you mention in the Blades game with Adam and Sean how much you’ve run the game, and that was MONTHS ago.
Adam Sexton I’ve played a lot of Burning Wheel, so the similarity you see isn’t an accident. That game taught me a lot.
Also, when you pull out your badarse IRONDIE and offer it up as a Devil’s bargain? Priceless prop porn.
Oh and I know I keep harping on about it (ho ho), but the Flashback Mechanic’s evolution from Vx’s initial vision in AW to the Blades Iteration is the killer app of the game.
Its like Circles in Burning Wheel: a mechanic that ties all the other bits of the system – action and effect, team actions, stress, trauma and consequences – all into a lovely player authorial powerplay of storytelling goodness.
It makes GMing a Heist game so easy and fun.
What I think I’m trying to say is that the mechanical combinations in Blades encourage, nay push the players (GM inclusive) into jazzing offa each other and having the most surprising, revealing and FUN group author experience in a RPG. Its super cool.