A couple of months ago I posted some questions here about BitD rules. Combat stuff mostly. Due to life I haven’t been back until now and since I’m due to run our game tomorrow I hoped to come back here and re-read that thread.
But I can’t find it. I’m not hip to google tricks to relocate,, etc, so if anyone can help track that down I’d sure appreciate it.
In the meantime I’ll ask some new questions, or at least try to get clarity on the stuff I’m struggling with.
My main issue seems to be clocks. I’ve gone over it and over it and I’m beginning to feel like I’m back in 9th grade having algebra explained to me for the 20th time and still not getting it. It’s very frustrating. It’s frustrating to the point where I’m having a difficult time even coming up with examples, but I’ll give it a go.
Say my Tier 1 group gets into a fight with a group of red sashes. Let’s say it’s 5 bad guys vs my four PC’s. One of the Sashes is a leader, say, Tier 2.
How do I clock this? Would I use one clock for the minions and another for the leader? And how does a single clock reflect damage done to a group of bad guys? For the 4 minions, how complex a clock am I looking at? What if the clock fills before all the minions are dead, or what if they all die before the clock fills? Is that even possible?
I know this has to be well trodden ground and I apologize for dragging it back out again, but it’s so frustrating to know that everybody else seems able to grasp this except me! I’m not a dumb guy! But good grief, I’m to the point where I don’t really want to run this game until I have a handle on this, so any help will be so appreciated.
I’ll leave it at that for now and hope for the best as I continue to look for that old thread.
Remember: clocks are descriptive — which is to say, clocks track things, they don’t determine things. The book uses a car speedometer as an example… your speedometer doesn’t make you go fast, it tells you you’re already going fast.
If a clock fills up, the thing is done. It can’t fill up before the thing is done — the thing isn’t done without it filling up. If you defeat a gang that is tracked with a clock, then de facto that clock is now filled.
If you don’t want to use clocks, don’t use them. Just follow where the fiction leads and narrate accordingly.
If you want some kind of tracker for “how close to defeat are the Red Sashes?”, that’s a clock. If the Red Sashes get closer to being defeated, fill in sectors; if they can recover, erase a few. How many sectors depends on what happens in the fiction. (The “standard potency is two sectors” idea is a suggestion, not a rigid rule.)
If it were me, I’d couch the overall conflict in terms of “defeat” rather than “kill.” That allows you to include Red Sashes being incapacitated, trapped, scared off, or even turning on the boss!
Yeah, I think it pays to think of clocks more abstractly. One of the examples in the book in sneaking into the Lampblack HQ, with a “perimeter security” clock. This could be any of number of things! It could be a locked door, it could be a rabid dog on a chain, it could be patrolling guards, it could be all of the above. Follow the fiction and use the clock for pacing; when they get successes at whatever obstacle has presented itself in the fiction, they get ticks on the clock. When the clock is filled, you’ve probably spent enough screen-time on perimeter security and you should let the PCs move on.
I agree with Neil above – I would put down a “the Red Sashes are defeated” clock, but also keep track of individual harm in the fiction. The fictional positioning is very important; which Red Sashes are still standing, how hurt are they, where are they hurt? It’s quite possible that the fictional positioning overtakes the clock; say one of the PCs sets off a bomb and kills them all at once. In that case, throw out the clock and move on. On the other hand, maybe the clock fills up before the Red Sashes have been defeated in the fiction; in that case, maybe it represents their morale breaking and they simply break off and flee. Find a justification in the fiction and move on.
Clocks are like a metronome; they help you with pacing and rhythm, but they’re not as cut-and-dry as, say, HP in D&D.
Interesting. I hadn’t considered just not using clocks. They seem so integral to the game. But maybe that’s not a bad option until I get the hang of them.
Question though: How then would you determine how tough a bad guy is (assuming the PC does want to kill him)? Tier?
In the game I ran tonight I actually used a security clock when the PC were attempting to sneak into the house of their intended assassination victim. But I marked segments when they FAILED, figuring that the household would wake up and be on full alert when it was full. I seem to remember the book example working that way.
Which reminds me of another question: When leading a group action, does the leader take stress for every 1-3 rolled, INCLUDING himself? Or just for the rest of the group? My players tonight attempted a group action to Prowl across a courtyard and all three of them promptly rolled 1-3. The loss of three stress just about knocked out our action leader so I ruled that he only took stress for the other two PC’s. Wrong or right?
Another question: Does the PC’s wealth have any bearing on their being able to indulge their vice? My party tonight failed their score and had to retreat, and one of them had wracked up six or seven stress. His vice is Luxury and right now the crew has zero coin. I assume that he is somehow still able to indulge his vice, so I let him. Right or wrong?
Thank you all very much for the replies. They really are very helpful!
david xabth Question though: How then would you determine how tough a bad guy is (assuming the PC does want to kill him)? Tier?
If the PCs are up against street urchins with shivs, bravado, but no skill, the narration should reflect that. Success by the PCs mean urchins are wounded, disarmed, or just cowed into running away; consequences for the PCs are things like witnesses, loss of position or time, or minor wounds. When up against a Red Sash duelling instructor, it’s the other way around: success will delay the instructor or get them out of position; consequences will be serious wounds. If the PCs want to take out the duelling instructor quickly, they can always trade to a Risky position for more Potency!
Yes a clock of “the alarm is raised” is a standard one and a good call.
In group efforts, I’ve always done it as the leader taking stress for each person who fails, including themselves. I’d have had the leader taken out then.
Wealth doesn’t have a direct bearing on Vice, but it’s an easy way to narrate overindulging: “That velvet suit in Purbreve & Sons was just too good to pass up. You had to have it and Purbreve was glad to extend credit. Now Mack the Knife is here to collect, plus interest. You need to find 3 Coin real fast.” (Or perhaps they had to pawn their Signature Item and its unavailable for the next Job.)
The rulebook has some good examples of representing enemy skill level (NPC threat levels, page 167).
As to how tough an enemy should be without a clock, just go with your gut and the fiction. You want to portray the Red Sash leader as a tough opponent, so just make a mental note that it’s going to take a couple of good hits to take her down, then follow the fiction. If they take a longshot and succeed, don’t weasel out – if the Hound accepts desperate position to take a shot at the leader’s head and rolls a 6, I would just have the leader die. She got a bullet in the head. The Hound earned it. Otherwise, on a 4-5, it could be reduced effect – the bullet hits her in the shoulder and she retaliates.
The factors I would weigh as to when the leader is taken out:
– Fictional positioning; is she the kind of tough person who can keep going after a bullet wound in the shoulder and a knife in the leg and someone throwing a table at her? Just make a call, there are no wrong answers, follow the fiction.
– Narrative pacing; do I feel like this fight has gone on long enough already, and this successful roll feels a natural place to end it? Or is this the big climax of the session and I want it to stretch it out a bit longer? Consider in films how easily mooks are dispatched in the first act versus how often the big bad gets back up from defeat for one last effort in the third act.
More good advice. Thank you.
For what it’s worth, in regard to my question about group actions, I’ve been re watching Roll Play Blades on youtube, and in (I think) the third episode the crew preforms a group action and Harper tells them that the group leader takes stress for everyone NOT himself who rolls a 1-3.
Annnnnd update. Watching further into Roll Play Blades, in episode 9 Harper updates the rule for the final version of the game. So now the leader of a group action DOES take stress from everyone, including himself.
The more you know…