I pontificate about how we don’t need an Art skill in Blades in the Dark, prompted by (I believe) Andrew Shields asking for one, and vague memories of listening to people play Apocalypse World, another universe in which there’s no skill for art.
I pontificate about how we don’t need an Art skill in Blades in the Dark, prompted by (I believe) Andrew…
I pontificate about how we don’t need an Art skill in Blades in the Dark, prompted by (I believe) Andrew…
Classic painters Tinker, Vanguardist Sway, PostMo Deceive.
All art is forgery.
I totally forgot about Tinker. Not sure how that happened.
I feel like Dickens was probably using Tinker back in the day.
Deceive: fake it ’till you make it. Then keep faking it.
Jokes aside, I get what you’re saying and agree (specially about using Invoke, Pickman’s Model someone?).
If art is something important for your character, though, that’s something cool to introduce in your Background, you can always say “Noble: obsessive portrait artist under Lady Minerva’s patronage” , “Academic: failed theater script writer” or “Underworld: talented guitarist, playing in seedy taverns” . Or even Heritage! “Dagger Islands: from a traveling vaudeville theater family” .
I don’t think you can make a point that AW doesn’t have a skill for art because it doesn’t have skills. The moves are set to narrative triggers and desired effects, but the specific method and skills are not mechanically handled. If you want to paint a picture, paint a picture. If you want to trade that painting for something then roll manipulate to see if their interested. Even then manipulate isn’t really a skill, just a thing characters do.
Damn, I got rolling:
Academic: Second violin in the “Imperial Academy of Theater Performance and Music” Orchestra.
Labor: Playing the bandoneon aboard Leviathan Hunting vessels.
Law: Heraldic designer on demand during the “new blue blood” wave of akorosian factory owners.
Trade: Penny dreadful and pulp novels ghost writer.
Military: Flute boy during the Unity War.
Noble: Dancer of the Akorosian Grand Imperial Ballet and lover to Lady Minerva.
Underworld: Deadbeat, downtrodden painter. Forger.
Basically, we agree. Here’s the post you’re referring to.
https://plus.google.com/113881370051836623777/posts/LRtT65xwzon
I said:
I do not think this needs a mechanical change, but I hope in the full version of the game there is a treatment of how to do art. If doing a painting, you may mix discern and finesse to fill a clock, and to get a masterpiece there must be at least one critical success. Playing music could be finesse, or sway. Sight reading music may be cipher.
I do think there is room to make a whole set of special abilities for applying actions to art to gain certain effects; forgery, shifting the mood of the audience, distraction, applications for dance for seduction or movement, composing or virtuoso playing for fame and fortune, and that sort of thing.
I would not make a playbook of it, but I would make it available so any playbook could take the special abilities to make art and performance part of their characters in a way that could be useful to downtime or heists.
(Basically I am pointing out that there is a good reason to have special abilities related to using actions to make art and achieve certain effects, and guidance for how to use existing mechanics to make art. That’s basically what you’re saying, only I’m offering more thought to guidance for how to do it so players and GMs start on the same page.)
Bah, so what I thought was your idea wasn’t the case… And what I say is my idea was actually… your idea the whole time.
Clearly I rolled Deceive to write this blog post. Sorry for the plagiarism / misrepresenting!
No worries. The underlying point is sound; use the actions to express what you’re trying to do with art.
Where I take it a step further is thinking that it is useful to have some special abilities and possibly generic guidelines for excellent art and special effects (like making a forgery good enough to pass for the real thing.) Not just anyone can do that, but with a special ability becoming a forger could be a very cool part of a character concept.
Eventually I’ll make up some special abilities that show what I’m thinking. =)