I’ve been working on a modern-day, down-to-earth crime hack set in the US South, basically ala the TV series Justified (with a heavy dollop of Breaking Bad). Its called Copperhead County, after the Steve Earle song “Copperhead Road.” After a lot of tinkering, I feel solid about this action list, so I thought I would post it for thoughts. It is a mix of renamed Blades actions and new ones, with reworked attributes. I wanted to keep the three-attribute, twelve-action setup, but needed to replace the supernatural actions, which led to some pulling apart and rethinking which will hopefully make sense outside of my head.
I welcome any comments or questions anyone may have (about the actions or the rest of the project, if you’re interested). Some of these words I’m not married to, but there is a combination of action-appropriate language and setting-appropriate language I’m aiming for, which is hard to get perfect.
GRIT (resist consequences with strength and determination)
Assault an opponent or position in close quarters, with your fists or with a weapon; grapple and wrestle.
Growl a threat or display dominance; showcase your hardness; bark out orders.
Handle heavy machinery and vehicles; perform manual labor; husband animals.
Tread across land and road, by foot, bike, or car; scale obstacles; swim and romp.
GUMPTION (resist consequences with brainpower and insight)
Deal with others to reach mutual agreement; negotiate terms; talk turkey.
Direct matters with thought and care; manage organizations, people, and resources.
Reckon information and problems with scrutiny; put two and two together; do research.
Watch out for activity; read a person or situation; sense trouble before it happens.
GRACE (resist consequences with subtlety and careful moves)
Coax someone with charm or guile; manipulate attitudes, perceptions, and behavior.
Creep up on someone or steal around unseen; pick a pocket; attack with hidden violence.
Fix up objects to repair, modify, or break them; mix up chemicals and ingredients.
Hunt a target and track their movements; attack with precision shooting from a distance.
Very evocative names! I think Reckon might be my favorite.
Also wanted to add that I like how you’ve moved the talky actions across all three attributes. I’m struggling with “too many social things under one roof” myself.
Adam Schwaninger Thanks! That’s very helpful about Reckon. I like it, but I’ve been a little on the fence because I don’t want to go too old-timey.
It’s olde-tyme for sure, but it also screams Justified. It says “don’t play this hack anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line”.
Do you read Southern Bastards, by any chance? It is right in that sweet spot you’re making with these action choices.
Adam Schwaninger Yes! Southern Bastards is definitely on the touchstones list. I think me and the Jasons Aaron and Latour have a lot of the same favorite things, and feelings about our homeland.
I’m also writing a particular setting, and have a lot of it worked out, which I might post soon too. The name of it is Copperhead County, after Steve Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’, from which the entire idea came.
My curse is that I seem to love low-down blue-collar crime more than my group does. Put some superpowers or Star Wars aliens in your game and they’d be all over it, though. 🙂
I’m definitely interested in your progress!
Some really cool and evocative language choices here.
I might consider separating handle and tread a little bit more. Maybe take cars out of tread? Just seems weird that there are two stats for driving that aren’t differentiated at least by how you’re driving them.
I guess the nature of the setting means you’ll do more talking since you aren’t slinging spells, so it makes sense to have more social abilities. However it seems weird to me in a present day setting I have 4 overlapping actions to talk to somebody but no way to use a computer (I guess I’d use reckon). In a game where investigation is a key mechanic (I assume, never seen the show), maybe you want more granularity in the ways to investigate.
Fascinating stuff, Jason!
Mark Griffin Yeah, I’m not 100% on Handle. My intention is that it doesn’t cover normal driving. Handle is supposed to be about handling big, heavy things, like a jackhammer or a bulldozer or a big rig. It’s kind of a combination of BitD Finesse and Wreck. Does that make sense?
Tread is more for regular movement, from walking to climbing to operating a standard car or motorcycle. The athletic parts of Prowl, plus driving.
I’m glad you noticed and brought up computers. My feeling is that, since this is a more blue-collar crime game set in rural Appalachia, a sort of ‘Hack’ action, or a ‘Hacker’ playbook, would feel out of place. Depending on the interaction with the computer, a PC could Reckon with it, or Fix it (or Assault it into little pieces). My Leech-equivalent playbook does have a special ability which unlocks more advanced computer interaction. Does that make sense?
Investigation is an interesting note and I’m going to mull on it. I could probably rewrite Reckon to incorporate more aspects of that. I would really like to have a Crew type that’s law enforcement, but the basic game is still about doing crimes, not investigating them.
I’m thinking your Hack could readily ease back its darker edges and re-skin as a Dukes of Hazzard ruleset! 😉
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My point was that maybe you shouldn’t overload Reckon. If everyone is law enforcement, perhaps you should have two different investigative actions. Maybe drop one of the 4 social actions and add something like Investigate. What action do I use to search a crime scene for clues?
Aha. I think there is a confusion though- nobody is in law enforcement. These are for criminals. I’m interested in, someday, trying to incorporate a law enforcement angle, but it would require some extra attention, as you’ve noted.
Fair enough. You put the granularity where it’s most important for the style of your game. For me, 4 different social actions has a little too much overlap, and I’m just trying to see if there are some actions in this set that are too overloaded, or things characters would want to do that don’t have a great action choice yet.
Mark Griffin I really appreciate your input! This is the first time I’m getting really any detailed feedback outside of my own head. I’m super glad anyone’s willing to bat this around today.
What do you see as the overlap for the social actions? I don’t necessarily see Direct as a social action as much as a ‘leader’ action. My intention is that Direct is about organizational leadership and management- the Stringer Bell action. It has a social component, but its not intended to be as interactive as Growl (which shares some ‘leader’ overlap), Deal, or Coax. Deal and Coax definitely overlap somewhat, but what I intend as the difference is that Coax is manipulative, while Deal is more mutual and honest. Coaxing someone to where you want them is different than making an agreed-upon Deal.
It’s really important that get this kind of feedback, even if you don’t end up using any of it. The toughest thing about making these hacks is most of us can’t solicit feedback from other designers or large communities like John can.
I see Growl, Deal and Coax as Command, Consort and Sway respectively. I think direct as a little superfluous because there are lots of ways to manage or lead, and they’re mostly all covered by your first three actions.
Really good job with the language. The only comment I would make is this leaves no way to use violence in a ranged or remote manner that isn’t hidden (ex. The quick draws of Justified). If this is intentional, that’s fine. It just doesn’t seem to quite fit to not be able to do so.
Logan Shoup Thanks! You can Hunt that way, the same as in Blades. I left Hunt as-is.
I really appreciate the comments. I spent some time tonight writing out descriptions in the manner of John’s new actions pages. It was a good exercise and helped me clarify some language and intentions. I will post some more as I make progress.