Hello everyone,
Would you consider BitD a good system (fast pace and all) to roll a Dark Souls campaign… Of course with some small changes in class and all.
Let me know your thoughts, I am adjusting the lore and history of the game to tabletop and still in search for the right system.
Kindest regards,
No. Blades at its core is daring scoundrels that are always prepared and can survive anything… at a cost. Dark Souls is Not That.
You could start with the core of Blades and turn it into something that would work (Band of Blades might be a place to start) but at that point you’re looking at a full hack.
I have never played Blades, just read it and every hack I could get my hands on, so take this with a grain of salt…. But I have spent a LOT of time thinking about what I want to use to run Soulsborne games.
I see enough divergence from Blades in its various hacks that I could see using it for Dark Souls, very much depending on (a) what parts of Dark Souls you most want to capture and (b) how much hacking you are willing to do.
I could see it working if the parts of DS that matter to you are the lore and tension and calculation potentially behind every move you make. There’s almost always a trade off in DS games: are you willing to risk taking some damage to wind up and hit as hard as you can? Can you afford to wear yourself out by leaping out of the way of attacks? Is it worth breaking your weapon if it means surprising some jerk with your laser sword? Blades is really good at positioning and cost, so it would excel for that kind of game. You would have to hack the wound system a bit to account for, you know, dying repeatedly, but I don’t think it would be too onerous. “Gaining stress” is the new “losing stamina,” and no reason that “hollowing” couldn’t be modeled as trauma.
All of that said, if you care about the mechanics of Dark Souls, the room for classless play, and/or upgrades focusing more on access to better equipment than on personal or group upgrades, this game would require a heck of a lot more hacking. In that case, I might suggest taking maybe only the bits you really want from this system, and seeing what you might apply elsewhere. The rules for establishing position and effect, devil’s bargains, or pushing could be applied to many, many resolution systems with a little creativity, if any of that is what drew you here.
Curious to hear what you end up doing!
Well that were some good points. I will try to take most in consideration and yes… I am thinking in how stamina would work, like it or not is one of the biggest barrier on DS games. Also regarding the character leveling up I want to do something different, for example evolve skills by using it, so a mage that doesn’t use STR at any rate will not level it up, but at the same time for a warrior when have some good rolls that would stack for the next opportunity to get some point in it. (If that does make any sense) I already played a home brewed game that works quite well in this matter.
I’ve seen a number of games that work off the “advancement through use” model and it can work (and can really only work well in the kind of environment where you only roll if it actually matters).
How are you thinking it might work here?
I’m thinking on “less is more” simple system and more options to custom chars the way the Souls game have. Hard is trying to put purpose on chat and avoid too many rolls for a game that is so complex in lore and has so little (coherent) NPCs Laughs in evil way without clear purpose
I’m working on an outline for a hack that is meant to invoke Souls/Bloodborne gameplay, lore, and mechanics. So far I’m mostly playing with the Stress system and trying to supplement it into Stamina, and that’s more or less the foundation right now. I also had a really enlightening conversation with Dylan Green about his hack Blades Against Darkness, which you should totally look at. It covers a lot of the tone of Dark Souls.
plus.google.com – Are there any hacks or playsets out there or in the works that tackles a dung…