Special abilities of #CopperheadCounty
I have done a ton of reworking of these since my playtest game started, but while that game has been very valuable, its very limited for feedback, so I would love thoughts from the community. I finished a significant overhaul yesterday, after stealing the Scum & Villainy idea of giving each playbook a starting ability- this really, really helped me, and I gave each of them an additional ability and feel they’re all stronger now.
Sorry these are a lil ugly. I build everything in Google Sheets. The Veteran advances are still there, but I cut them off to fit.
Cleaner – Mostly the Hound, with some Lurk. A stealthy assassin and overwatcher.
Hazard – A remixed Leech. A tech expert and drug wiz with a volatile side.
Heavy – The Cutter equivalent. A big, tough asskicker and intimidator.
Marker – The Spider, remixed somewhat. The planner and shot caller who understands the angles.
Wheeler – A remixed Slide. A hustler and politician, adept at conning marks and making deals.
Hazard is love.
I like Weasel from the Wheeler a lot. That’s a neat way to resist stuff.
I am looking askance at Marker->Detached, though. I wonder if putting the ability to reduce stress on an at-will trigger is properly counteracted by the die penalty? Have you seen this one in play? I like the interaction with reducing your chances now for getting resources back to spend later, though.
Adam Schwaninger I’m glad you like Weasel! I specifically hoped someone would comment on it. It’s counter-intuitive, but I think it’s cool. I do wonder if it’s too wonky for a PC to want.
Detached is actually stolen from I think like QS2, so maybe John abandoned it for good reason… I think it’s a cool concept, but I haven’t seen it in play yet.
Losing Stress at-will is huge, but the die penalty is also pretty big… and if you screw up the roll, there’s always the potential for taking more stress from a consequence. Losing a die is also big psychologically because players love dice.
But that might be the best argument against Detached: would anyone actually take it? Does it appeal to a PC looking at a big list of abilities?
If I have my main action at 3d, yeah, I’d look real hard at taking Detached.
Adam Schwaninger Well, I can always replace it with something less problematic. Maybe Connected (which I took off Marker.. I thought about giving it to Wheeler but I think the Wheeler is ok without it), or something that gives a bonus to LTPs.
The thing is, maybe it’s okay. I’d say keep it in and see if it’s actually a problem.
Detached is fine in principle, it just wasn’t right for the playbook in Blades. We used it a bit in our Razors game where it originated. Give it a try and see how it goes.
Any chance we can get the actions for this? Really intriguing stuff so far, and I’d love to see more.
https://plus.google.com/+JasonEley/posts/2k4YtzdY6Cs was where I saw them last. Jason may have updated them however.
Its mostly the same. Assault->Fight and some of the descriptions are updated. I was working on expanding them out like John posted a while ago, but haven’t finished.
Changelog for this post is that I updated Marker’s Director of Operations to just give +1d when leading group actions… I’ve had a little trouble making that playbook harmonize with my Marker player.
We had a discussion about the ability after our game Tuesday, and he was of the mind that an ability that could soak stress from failed rolls (ala Expertise, which I gave to the Cleaner) would fit best. I thought, though, that a simple, affirmative bonus would be better, and would incentivize the Marker to do their core behavior (coordinate the group). I want to encourage Markers to get up in the action and not just hang back, which is what I’ve been seeing in play. I want them to interface with all of the teamwork manuevers and be active leaders.
We had a great game this week though- I’m two sessions behind on recaps, so I should catch up on that…
How about that, I was just pitching Copperhead County to some people last night 🙂
re: “I want to encourage Markers to get up in the action and not just hang back, which is what I’ve been seeing in play”
I think Director of Operations being the first ability might be why they hang back. That ability can affect any teamwork action such that they don’t have to be there. Maybe make Knock Em Down first, and put DoO lower on the list (and consider revision)
I’ve since changed DoO to On Your Marks, and it gives +1d to leading group actions, and you suffer 1 less stress from bad rolls. It’s a combination of what I and my Marker player wanted after a discussion of the ability. I think it’s strong and accomplishes both what I wanted (incentivize leading) and what he wanted (be insulated from stress).
But he hasn’t used it yet! We were on hiatus for a while and then he missed a game, and in our last game I don’t think he felt in a position to use it well (he used Knock Em Down brilliantly, though). We’re playing tonight so maybe I can spur him to use it.
I should probably repost these. I feel like, after some revisions, they’re all in a good place and I haven’t messed with them in a while. Hazard is a little different now too. I’ve been mostly iterating on crew stuff as they prepare to reach tier 1.