#BladesAgainstDarkness
The Warden:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4bjxjnr2p_IbzBvcTlneFZqZE0/view?usp=sharing
Of all the playbooks this one has gone through the most changes and is probably my favorite. It nails something about the Western and Swords and Sorcery that I’ve always known intuitively, but was unable to pin down until I agreed to try and do this thing.
The Warden is someone who has been outside the boundary of civilization. They’ve developed such a taste for the wild that they no longer fit in with “normal” people. They are a Barbarian.
The Warden has spent so much time in nature that their senses have sharpened to animal sensitivity. They’ve developed an affinity for the tiny fragile spirits of nature. They are a Druid.
The Warden is a legend in their own time. They were the first to penetrate the frontier and map it. They brought back the stories that drove others onward into the West. Everyone has heard of them and they know everything about the frontier. They are a Bard.
As for Blades Against Darkness in general I’m still struggling with bending Blades as an engine to my will. Recently though I had a bit of an insight that I hope will make the coming weeks easier.
I’ll keep you posted.
I think he’s missing some music instrument, you know, a withering guitar or a flute.
He probably carries a harmonica in his pouch.
Not the drawing (the drawing is perfect) – the equipment list
I really like this book a lot. I recall thinking the first pass of the warden was one of my least favorite of your books, but this looks like something I’d be really excited about picking (although Chimera is still my fave). It seems like you’re got abilities that make it easier to clear harm and stress while on scores, which makes sense for adventurers who could go long stretches between downtime. I’m curious to see if the tension still remains high with those hard limits removed.
Roe Portal Actually I really like that idea. I think I’ll add it!
Mark Griffin Yeah, The Warden definitely has an advantage in resisting The Grind. I’m considering something that lets them ignore stress relief when making camp to help the team (Darkest Dungeon style camping ability). This way they would have to trigger their stress relief fictionally which incurs it’s own price (hopefully).
thanks for posting. I am working abilities for a game of my own, and I really like what you did with the choices you gave vs what I did with them. Reminds me where I could open things up a little for more player input (like Feral; since closest thing I have to that not even close, and picking a sense you’ve honed sounds like far more fun than what I did), and when I read Druid I realized I could say a lot more about my setting by talking about which “things” will trigger communing with nature. So great stuff there!
One thing I don’t like is OtHaFA or Immigrant Song as abilities :/ nono I love Led Zeppelin + the references! but I don’t like the things those abilities Do. To explain my objection a bit, of course the playbook being traveled or well-known makes sense and all that: I just disagree with the way it’s implemented. imho: anything that tells me “make something up” (aren’t we already??) better have a good reason (see Ritual) or else we can just fall back on the tools already in place to do that (like ask the players, disclaim decision making with a roll based on established fiction, or the answer is clear because fiction). And the way I am reading this in light of how Blades tends to work withOut abilities, just appears to remove some options I would normally allow anyways, rather than improve the character’s ability to do things in a game where fiction is king.
I’m going to disagree with Mark Cleveland Massengale here.
For Over the Hills, if a player asked an important question about an interesting person (What is Baszo’s secret desire), place (what secret entrance exists into Ironhook Prison) or thing (what does the Orb of Erebus do) I would make them roll a gather info check at the very least (possibly via a flashback). This ability gives the Warden one free question per interesting entity, but doesn’t preclude other characters from knowing things.
Similarly for Immgrant Song, if a player said they wanted Baszo to have heard a rumor that their PC once killed a hundred men in the fighting pits (thereby giving them +effect on a threat or something), that would involve a flashback and roll. Other players can still do it, but the warden gets a single freebie per person (potentially with a cost, because Baszo also heard you have a weakness for gambling).
He’s just borrowing these abilities from Dungeon World playbooks, another game where fiction is king. They were some of my favorites there, and I think they fit here just as well.
Mark Cleveland Massengale It’s true these are just stolen lock, stock, and barrel from DW. And even there I’m not super happy with them . Do you have a another approach?
A quick change that happened last time on Imigrant Song was what the player says has to be true . This came up when a player said “He heard I tortured this one guy to death.” If you say a thing like that, and its true, it has teeth.
Well, Mark Griffin I may have been unclear. I like the idea of what those abilities could do, I just don’t like that they duplicate what is already a given, and don’t actually seem to benefit the player at an ideal Blades table that much. Of course, what might actually be happening here is that your and my Dungeon World experiences are very different (and similarly, Blades); since I feel Blades only vaguely resembles Dungeon World at this point. but I digress
Dylan Green that example sounds like a perfect DB; fitting, but also something we are already encouraged and empowered to do by the Blades core. Which, I am also saying the specific way you did it is fine and great, but just.. not something for which we need an ability. Instead, I would suggest writing ways the GM might know to do what your player did with the rumor – and say it plainly in the “Best Practices” section because yes; please do encourage players to tie in existing abilities and fiction to DBs! That would be good stuff.
However, the Abilities themselves should expand on the basics in some meaningful way and not be “drawback for bonus kind of things”. Since they already get +1d for doing that sort of thing via acceptance of a DB, think about how and when to improve the existing process?? That is where you can say something with mechanics and a particular type of fiction to trigger it
Like for Immigrant Song, perhaps: When you take a Devil’s Bargain to reveal a valuable secret about your prior travels for an extra die, you also get potency. (“potency” because the stories are legendary; and during a “DB” because there’s a lot of prequalification there to ensure it doesn’t get used until it makes sense that the secret is actually beneficial)
As for Over the Hills, though, what I think might be better is something like: Flashbacks to gather info about a new location or person cost 1 fewer stress. How or why did you move around so much?
edit: I wrote them using interpretation of what I saw there. I cant say I nailed what you want, but hopefully this helps to communicate my point.
edit: also, I didnt actually know these came from Dungeon World
Mark Cleveland Massengale I’m not sure how a free 6 on a roll doesn’t benefit a player at the ideal blades table. Very different experiences indeed.
Mark Griffin I’m not sure we are talking about the same thing anymore: what “free 6”?
I want to second Mark C here – both of the bard abilities and the super sense power seem like they need some mechanical love. I think “when you act on those answers, gain potency” might suffice for the bard moves, and maybe “gain +1d to actions that benefit from your beastial senses”. Or… Something. Right now it seem more like an aspect then a stunt, if you forgive my Fate jargon.
Let me paraphrase what I’m hearing here and you guys can let me know how far off the mark I am.
Mark Cleveland Massengale’s objection seems to be that these are things that anyone could do with flashbacks or gather information rolls or, even, just by the GM declaiming decision making.
Mark Griffin’s argument is that these two special abilities give a player a free “full success” under very limited scope.
Is that about right? If this is accurate then I want to say that I agree with both of you, and this highlights why I’m not super happy with these moves and I’d like to highlight how these are things The Warden can do that are unique to them and mechanically enforced.
Roe Portal regarding animal senses, I would argue that being able to see in the dark, track an enemy by scent, or taste who’s hands have been on an object is a pretty strong fictional position and one that is unique. The mechanics of an action roll should drive this ability and reward clever play. I bring this up because that move is one that highlights how I’d like the other two moves in question to work.
This doesn’t preclude granting potency or anything (in fact I think that’s a really good idea) but if the strengths of Feral aren’t immediately apparent I need to reconsider how it’s written.
For me: Yup.
Also I didn’t catch what Mark Griffin was talking about because I would call that more of a “circumvention of fiction and mechanics, but with likely complication” than “free 6”.
Yeah, that was my point. I prefer the way they work here rather than something that gives potency or +1d. If I’m in the minority then that’s okay too.
I wouldn’t put potency on feral because I’d leave it to the gm and players if the heightened senses increase effect, increase position or something else. I agree that the fictional positioning on that move is pretty clear.
Mark Cleveland Massengale I don’t think any fiction needs to be circumvented. Player tells the GM that Baszo heard that he beat 5 men to death with his bare hands in the fighting pits. Then the GM asks how Bazso heard that. The player could say he bribed one of Baszo’s guards to lie to him, he could say that Baszo knows this because one of the men was a lampblack lieutenant, or he could say literally anything else. The fiction stays intact, and mechanics aren’t so much circumvented as they are replaced with a different mechanic (as special abilities, like Tempest, sometimes do)
Roe Portal FATE jargon made me realize something.
Feral is similar an aspect. A unique fictional position associated with that character. It is leverage by both the player and the GM. I like this and want more moves of this style.
Over the Hills and Far Away is a free full success on a gather information roll with a particular fictional flavor. It’s more like a Stunt (though not exactly). This one is okay in my mind, but I feel what’s not working is the players unique relationship with lore due to their history on the frontier.
Immigrant Song is a particular flavored version of a flashback roll. It too is sort of a pseudo-stunt. This one is my least favorite as it doesn’t seem to allow specialized privilege to fiction or better results. It implies a unique relationship with every single NPC, but a flashback would allow any PC to use the same trick. Debatably, this allows an extremely strong version (legendary status) for 0 stress cost, but its not a super strong ability.
Both of these last two moves point towards a unique fictional position, but it’s a position that isn’t super clear . That ambiguity has pros (it allows the players to leverage it in interesting ways) and cons (its boundaries are squishy and in need of constant definition).
One way or another, I’d like to strengthen and clarify this Jim Bridger/Davey Crocket … thing.
Glad my feedback was helpful 🙂
I think your vision for the game and the warden in particular is deep and interesting, but the unclearness you speak about is very problematic in a playbook. Yes, the feral sense of eagle eyes or dog’s smell or hearing the echoes of the dead of a raven or whatnot is strong and important, but I think you need to either enforce this important with some bonus (potency, dice, armour, ext’) or give the player some concrete examples like with the hound’s “improve hunting pet with supernatural shenanigans” ability.
same for the bard moves – they are cool, but it’s unclear to me what they do that, say, a devil’s bargain can’t (“he heard about the time I’ve torched this dude alive and so he respect me, but he will always hate me for my crimes”, “cool, take the extra die and roll command”)
Purposed fix to Immigrant Song
When you use a flashback leveraging to your distant past and legendary status on the frontier you do so at -1 stress cost. Regardless of the flashback plays out you say how everyone remembers the event.
Example:
I want to impress the head of the Trau Embassy with the fact that I killed ten men in the fighting pits. So, we flashback to years ago where I fought as a gladiator. We make some rolls and, regardless of how those play out, even if I only killed one man by the skin of my teeth, I say everyone tells the story that I killed ten men.
I’m super late to this party, but I’ll throw in my two cents: Rather then ask that the mechanical effects or utility of the abilities be reworked I would like to argue that Over the Hills and Immigrant Song be smashed together to make them more enticing. They both come from the same place in terms of character archetype and both offer nebulous utility to the player that doesn’t make the character any more likely to survive in the Dungeon, but they’re cool and deserve to remain. If it opens up another Playbook option that lets you expand the range of archetypes you can have in the Warden class (something for the player who wants to go more Barbarian, perhaps?) then all the better.