Is there a limit on how much desperate XP you can mark in a session? I don’t remember ever having seen this anywhere but one of my fellow players says they remember it from an old version and that it’s something like you can only mark up to 2 xp for the same action(or maybe attribute).
I’ve always played it as if you’re willing to risk the desperate consequences XP is your reward no matter what.
I’ve always done it with no limit. Every Desperate roll is 1 xp to that attribute’s track. Desperate consequences are pretty bad, so it seems fair to me. 😛
There’s no limit on desperate XP. I seem to recall earlier versions had a desperate action box and you allocated that XP at the end of the session, but now it just goes straight into the attribute as soon as you take the action.
If there’s a limit, my players are gonna be real disappointed because their last two scores have been nothing but desperate.
Having no limit seems to me to fit better with the idea that ‘there are already enough odds stacked against the crew, don’t make it harder on them’. I say give them as many XP as they make desperate rolls.
There’s​ no limit.
There is no limit, but you also don’t need to go overboard with desperate rolls. Use Risky as your standard, and only go to desperate in situations that are exceptional. Your PCs are very capable even when the odds are against them. You can often let effect inform the players when they’re outmatched (using limited or 0 effect) instead of just making every roll desperate.
I want to roll desperate rolls as a player, nice juicy XP.
Jakob Oesinghaus Yeah same, also fictionally I like scoundrels who are a little unhinged and prone to pushing themselves into unnecessarily dangerous positions for overkill or their own greed.
Chris McDonald Yes! One of the things which makes Blades so great, it pushes the characters into unreasonably dangerous, interesting situations.
Jakob Oesinghaus​ I agree, I’m running into issue currently where a player in my group thinks it’s an “exploit” to farm xp and doesn’t like me doing it (we’ve played 2 full scores and I’ve done it twice another player did it once). They’ve even prompted a discussion of enforcing a limit or taking away xp as an incentive all together and I’ve had to express my feelings that not only is it a valid play style it’s also casually encouraged by the book and is an important mechanic for incentiving players to take more risks.
That said not every roll needs to be desperate but disincentivizing it as a valid play style doesn’t feel right at all.
As a GM I’m perfectly fine with a player decreasing their position for increased effect as long as they say how they’re being desperate. What I caution against is always telling players they’re rolling Desperate/Limited in order to show them how outmatched they are. Tell them they’re Risky/Limited, and give them the opportunity to go to Desperate/Standard. Or say Risky/0 effect and they can decide to go to desperate/limited, or just push for risky/limited.
Let players do what they want, but if every single roll in the game starts out desperate is gets a little samey.
Mark Griffin Yeah but it’s also reliant on the fiction. If everyone is continually rolling horribly and taking devils bargains then they’re probably dug deep into a desperate hole they can’t get out of. That’s just being true to the fiction. But yeah as a GM it’s important to honestly portray the variance of position I think and provide the players with choice and agency, I think that’s a good shout.