Playbook vs. Advanced Ability “School”
Part of the reason I refactored the dreamlands abilities out of the Artist Playbook was because I felt like the Whisper should remain the core arcane playbook, but I love the idea of manipulating the barrier between our worlds (I think John Harper referred to it as the Black Mirror?)
So I’m working on a set of Abilities inspired by Porté from 7th Sea and Elizabeth DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite, with smatterings of Event Horizon, the Dream Cycle and fairy tales.
What I can’t decide is whether it should be an arcane playbook or a set of advanced arcane abilities.
Thoughts?
#ArtistPlaybook
Do you imagine these features spreading to a wider breadth of characters? Then I’d see it as a set of advanced arcane abilities. Do you want to imply a whole aesthetic/context that goes with it (like tailored items, certain friends, common base action proficiency, specific ways to gain xp), then go with a playbook.
For some reason I always loved Porté best of the (original) 7th Sea sorceries.
Adam Minnie same here! Although I always felt like the fiction of Porté was far more interesting than its actual mechanics.
I do think the general idea would fit quite well into the world of Blades in the Dark, it ties in nicely with the destruction of the Gates of Death and the barrier between the Ghost Field and our reality.
I think it could easily form the basis of a playbook: an occultist who manipulates the fabric of the veil rather than the Ghost Field.
On the other hand, I quite like the idea of specialized “schools” for the arcane arts.
For my Cult group last year, I made sets of abilities available for each of the patron’s descriptors. Then, after players did things fitting one of the descriptors enough times to fill a favor clock, they could earn one of the themed abilities. So basically it worked like a secondary faith-like xp track tracking their embodiment of or transgression from the patron’s agenda, persona, and style.
I don’t necessarily see similarity with your desire in terms of how abilities would be earned or lost.
Adam Minnie me neither, but what an awesome way of reflecting deitic (?) favour! Makes me think of some of the cooler aspects of Planescape: Torment actually.
How did that go?
Quite well. It definitely drove the PCs into actions that were either alluring or sinister, whichever a player preferred. That also meant they became right nasty folk pretty quick, which was unsettling but compelling.
In the fiction there is an established precedent for mystical powers that are based neither on ghosts nor demons. Supposedly Doskvol itself was once protected by magical ruins and such. I could see a series of advanced moves exploring a rediscovery of this sort of magic being highly relevant.
mystical geometry