Some Band of Blades previews!
So while we’re working on the edits to S&V 1.6 (it’s coming, I promise – we get through a few more page-edits each weekday) John LeBoeuf-Little and I have been working on Band of Blades (our next release).
I’ve been working to level up my design chops, and try to get that gritty dark-fantasy feel to the sheets and the text. It’s coming along I think! The printer I was using ran out of color (so you can’t see the sweet, red bookmark looking band for personal advancement on the inside of the sheet). But here’s some pics I snapped yesterday.
Let me know what you think!
Yaas.
Sexy! But for reals everyone, look at the Scrounge special ability, and the Heritage benefits. Those are so freaking cool. One of them lets you START WITH TRAUMA. Mind. Blown.
I love the inclusion of Heritage benefits. It’s fun to see what directions people are going in their hacks. Excited to learn more about Specialist actions
This is incredibly cool.
Three Pavel Berlin. Three games. Atlas Reckoning is going to blow your mind.
It’s more than that Sean ^_~ Somewhere in the distant future of later this year, after S&V 1.7 is done (ship it!) and BoB is out in some format, John LL and I still need to tackle Throne of the Void which is the last hack I signed on for for the KS.
Also thanks for your kind words Jeremy, Thomas and Pavel ^_^
Jacob Spafford there’s a few broad nations in the BoB we’re defining. The traits you see are sort of broad traits that are common among those people (not everyone has every trait, but some of them are common enough that you see them in the stories). One of my hopes with my hacks is to also provide/demo some mechanics knobs that folks can use in their own hacks moving forward.
That’s exactly what I was hoping for, Stras Acimovic. Always looking for new knobs to turn
I Love the naming / language conventions Stras Acimovic! The whole layout is so Inspiring. The XP Clocks are a great idea, Wicked stuff. I especially dig the little empty margin to doodle in 🙂
Can’t wait to play this!
Do you think it might be possible to get the regular Blades Playbooks laid out similarly to this? I am planning to run Blades as a LARP this coming year, and sheets laid out like this would be super helpful.
EDIT: Super, not supper. I hate eating paper for dinner.
Since core blades no longer hands you dice related to you heritage, something like this is super cool. I know that you still get the same amount of dice, but some kind of benefit would be nice.
I have been thinking of using clocks for progression in a hack that eliminated XP all together, and this kinda gels with that idea.
Because I’m curious from a design standpoint, why remove the resistance roll drawback from Daredevil? That makes it a really powerful ability.
Awesome!! The special abilities are really cool, and I like the change with hardened, elite and survivor. I also have a design question regarding the purview of various actions…In core Blades Prowl covered ambushing someone with close violence and Finesse covered a one-on-one duel. Where would those actions fit into the current actions paradigm for Band of Blades?
Stras Acimovic, this looks amazing! Great layout and feel of the playbook (oh, and I LOVE that it is a little book!).
I’m not sold on beginning the game with a level of Trauma though. One of my player’s wanted to begin with a level of Trauma and after some thought I asked them, “So, what you are saying is you want to be one step closer than everyone else to losing your character?”. Because, really, mechanically, that is what Trauma is. The XP trigger is relatively small by comparison (and is only 1 of 2 triggers, so struggle with your vice and you get the XP). Also, a Player can have their character BE cold, or obsessed, or vicious, or whatever, and not have a level of Trauma. Thus, really, Trauma is a measure of character viability. So, while the idea of it is cool, I’m not sold on it to start.
If one wanted to devour touchstones for BoB in other media, what might one read or watch? I mean, I’m getting some vibes from Joe Abercrombie’s “The Heroes” and Ninefingers’ crew from the First Law trilogy, and Jorg’s raiders from Mark Lawrence’s “Prince of Thorns” – is that fairly accurate?
I love this!
todd estabrook I would argue that the ‘first Trauma’ threshold (in BitD) is actually a very strong boost to character development since it unlocks an entire category of session XP gain that is somewhat tricky to get at until then. If I remember right John Harper has commented in some of his streamed games that long-time playtesters will often look for opportunities to take a ‘voluntary’ Trauma fairly early in campaigns for this reason. However I think that you’re right and the point stands stronger in what we’ve seen of BoB because 1.) without advances to toughen you up your second Trauma is apparently character death???? and 2.) it appears that you can only get 1 xp per session from the pared-down XP triggers, which literally halves the usefulness of that Trauma.
Epic trolling on the spelling of Manoevre.
This is awesome Stras! How soon can I get this on the table?
todd estabrook The way I see it, starting out with Trauma is the purview of the player and none of the GM’s business, really. I don’t see why they’d need your permission. If they want to play a more burned-out charatcer, that’s their choice.
In BoB it makes even more sense as a strong thematic element and is a great idea for a formal mechanic.
Interesting sneak peak, can’t wait to see the whole thing and read more about these specialty actions, and the other permutations at work
todd estabrook It’s worth noting as well that starting with trauma is encouraged in Runners in the Shadows with XP and starting trauma (I called the option Damaged Goods). I had my reservations, too- mainly because of how trauma are gained, fictionally, but beyond that they are pretty much just a difficulty adjustment. In my experience, some actually prefer the increased challenge of starting with meaningful attachment to their vice (pain freaks, I’d say – but more power to them!). Sometimes 🙂 you just wanna be fucked up from the start
Correct me if I am wrong, but the wording seems to grant the trauma condition WITHOUT a level of trauma. Seems like one gets the XP potential of a trauma condition without being one step closer to character demise
Cool cool cool
So when can we get our grubby mitts on the toys and play with them?
John Harper Right, I agree, the character is the purview of the player. We were at session 0, and they were creating their characters, and the table was discussing ideas. Being the most familiar with the rules, I gave my opinion on what Trauma represents mechanically. The xp trigger as a trade off for being one step closer to a retired character. Ultimately the player decided that they would take on the Trauma trait they had their eye on as a personality aspect and when the first trauma was acquired they’d be in a good spot conceptually.
That said, I’m interested in what other’s think about it. Mark Cleveland Massengale, I’m not sure I understand what you mean about Trauma being a difficulty adjustment? Can you elaborate, please?
Charles Simon An interesting point, that initial trade off. I can see where having that additional xp trigger early on would be advantageous, but at the rate Stress is acquired during our games, it seems a dangerous prospect. (For example, that same player tried his hand at running a game and my character maxed their stress and got a trauma towards the end of the first score, and the other player’s character was one stress away by the time the score was over).
Of course, this only matters if being one step closer to retirement is a concern. If that is a fair trade off for having access to an additional xp trigger, then it is a moot point. Again, these are just my thoughts. If there is something about Trauma that I am misunderstanding, or an aspect that I am not taking into consideration, then please let me know.
todd estabrook
I’m going to guess that Campaign tone has a great deal to do with this. If you’re running Blades on the ‘gritty’ side by only reducing Harm with Resistance (instead of cancelling it), doling out multiple Consequence options on some failed rolls, etc. then yeah. 1 Trauma at the start could be playing with serious fire.
But if you’re running Blades on the more ‘daring’ side of the road, for example the way John Harper runs the Rollplay crew (often canceling out Harm completely with Resistance, keeping a light touch on harsh consequences, etc.), you’re more likely to only have Traumas occurring when Players choose it to occur. Big difference, equally valid campaign styles.
Charles Simon The group I game with is definitely in the former style! Gritty and dangerous. =) But yes, you make a great point.
As noted before, the intention is to start with a trauma condition, not an actual trauma. This is for the XP trigger option. We’ll be playtesting it to see how the balance looks, but Band of Blades characters have far fewer trauma boxes than typical, and you should not expect to make it all the way through the game on the same character – though that may happen.
We’re working diligently on getting everyone stuff to play with as soon as we can! We are on a huge editing pass with Scum and Villainy, and will be creating new playbooks for Band of Blades soon. Throne of the Void is also lingering in our minds. I’m always super psyched to hear people are eagerly awaiting our stuff!
Charles Simon We’ll be tweaking the powers you see here after we playtest some. Everything here should be considered draft. In S&V, I believe the power reads ‘If you do so, you do not gain xp for that action.’
Adam Schwaninger Some touchstones might also include Black Company or any of the Warhammer Fantasy stuff. (Basically, dark military fantasy.)
Johnstone Metzger Manoeuvre won’t fit. 😛
Brandon Perkins Mikael Tysvær Give us a few months to get it to beta quality. I can’t give a firm deadline, but we’re pushing as fast as we can!
Nathan Roberts thanks for the kind words ^_^ We’re hoping to build up the nations of the West as part of the game, and the names and traits are a part of that. Sort of fiction meets mechanics stuff. Glad you like em. Can’t wait to get it in people’s hands!
Charles Simon We do Daredevil differently in S&V btw, but here it’s just me being sloppy. I was focusing on layout/design, the powers and wording will probably get an update pass before we do our first official playtest.
Richard McNutt this is a military game, not a thief-ninja game. The violence distinctions are divided by what tool you use (IE what type of soldier/loadout you are).
If you’re shooting them, use Shoot. If you’re using a Ballista – Tinker. If you’re using bombs Wreck. If you’re fighting in melee Skirmish. If you want to sneak on someone and ace them – Manoeuvre into position (and if there’s still an obstacle and the outcome isn’t obvious – use one of the other skills).
If you’re dueling in the middle of a retreat with the end of the world on your coattails and undead breathing down your neck and need a special action just for that… you may be playing the wrong game.
Johnstone Metzger it’s literally because it’s 1 letter longer >_> And the other is a legit spelling (if eye-rolly for me) and fit better in the layout 😛 Some of the specialist skills were named other things till they turned out to be too long too.
Stras Acimovic Thanks for the reply. That makes total sense.
John LeBoeuf-Little I must have missed where it was noted. I saw it was speculated, but nothing definitive. Thanks for the clarification. I’d be very interested to hear about how that balances out in playtest.
Really looking forward to the update on S&V and looking forward to BoB as well. This sneak peek is so good.
But the American spelling would fit, so I feel like you guys are still messing with me.
As much as I am excited to see more playbooks, I am almost more excited to see how the game’s structure differs from core blades. In particular, I’m curious if the game is structured to be winnable…i.e. is the Cinder King’s victory inevitable, or can he be defeated?
Richard McNutt That’s a complicated question, and we’re still pretty early into the design process. We do intend to make it possible to defeat the Cinder King – at some point. However, the frame we’ve been working towards actually is about escaping from a harrying force chasing you from the front lines of a failing war. There’s still a lot in flux!
One Note: Campaign tone is going to be a bit rougher than base blades (special mention to Charles Simon since he brought it up). Depending on how unlucky you get for missions there’s a number of enemies that can swing Death (harm 4) on 4-5 as consequences (there’s also rules for using squadmates for armor, and Legion moralle). Where I’m going with this is that taking some xp-boosts early on and banking that your specialist is going to make it through their first couple missions (to get some stuff leveled up) is a solid play at least in our crunch/test.
Hey Stras Acimovic, I really like the idea of a more grimdark tone! Maybe you could add one of those cool clock icons to the ‘needs help’ or ‘death’ consequence Bar? That would most certainly escalate the consequence / harm track. I know I’d use it as GM too.
Charles Simon It’s funny how perceptions work. The vast majority of resistance rolls on the RollPlay show have reduced the consequence, not negated it. Sure, negation has happened a few times, but there’s some kind of idea in the ether that I’m “going easy on them” on the RollPlay show, so that’s what people say.
I reduce or negate consequences based on the fiction, not on a campaign-level difficulty slider.
This keeps sounding better and better. Stras Acimovic if am I reading you correctly, it almost sounds like enemies will have “stats,” or, at least more explicit specifics about the kinds of consequences they can inflict than in core Blades?
John Harper I believe you! I am only on episode 9 or so anyway so I have a very small window into the full backlog of sessions, but it’s been a blast to watch and very inspiring.
Stras Acimovic Pretty cool stuff, great work.
Can’t wait for this!
I’d love to hear what the names of the other playbooks are, even if we can’t see their rules!
Richard McNutt enemies don’t have “stats” per se. In terms of hack design the two hardest questions I find are what to do with Heat (if you don’t have crime) and what to do with Tier/Factions.
Since the enemy is an army Tier actually determines threat. So if you fight some minor zombies – they’re probably on-level for you, and fine weapons and the like will give you the edge. A good, well organized squad should cut through them with minimal injuries (it’s their numbers that are a problem). But if you see a Weeper, be afraid. That’s a different story. So yeah in a way there are specific fictional components, but not “stats” exactly.
Does that scan?
Alexander Permann the playbooks are currently named some very mundane things (they’ll probably end up with thematic names, akin to how Hounds and Cutters are not Shooter/Brawler), but the Specialist skills should give you a hint as to what they are ^_~
The only book type that doesn’t have a specialist skill is the Rookie right now. Oh and there’s a few special playbooks you might get only for/from certain missions 😛
Stras Acimovic You’ve piqued my interest! Can’t wait to see more.
Stras Acimovic yes, definitely. Can’t wait!!
corruption/blight?? yes!
I just ran a game of The Watch last week, Magpie’s PbtA fantasy military drama game, and now I’m doubly curious to see how Band of Blades fares against it. Looks to be some very similar ideas executed wildly differently, and I hope I don’t hurt any feelings when I say this looks like the stronger contender.
Counting down the days til a preview!