Soft Trauma: Has anyone ever picked this? It’s really intriguing to me, but seems like it would have definite pitfalls. I’ve never seen anyone pick it in any actual plays. Of all the traumas, it’s the least romanticized or admired in the movies. But I remember how it effected Arthur Shelby (a.k.a. the Platonic Ideal of Blades in the Dark character, a.k.a. trauma magnet) and how gripping it was.
I think there’s an idea/fear that the player has to constantly pull out the pacifist/paladin lawful good card, basically being absent during fight scenes, or throwing a monkey wrench into every combat scenario. The way i’d play it, is to more often push myself to rack up stress, and take relevant devil’s bargains constantly. Show that the violence takes a toll, and that the character has to often stop lest they get drawn into more trauma.
Jadvyga in the Doskvol Specitral Society took soft. She winces from violence, is sometimes cowed by her academic superiors, and generally doesn’t go in for the crimes the others casually commit. She okay with stealing and poisoning though, she just doesn’t want to be the one to deliver it.
She great and gets all kinds of fun XP for it!
One of the characters in Friends at the Table’s Blades interstitial took Soft. It was very appropriate.
There was a Breakers (Bravos now) BitD game I was in – and I was playing the Leech. There was this moment when our Cutter got lip from one of our gang members (he took Vicious) and he went to break her, and I resisted and took my first Trauma as he laid into me instead – took Soft. Definitely ended up taking way more stress saving people than anything else that game ^_~ Ended up retiring in the end and becoming a full time Physician with my savings and marrying Malista. Probably my only Blades character that had a good ending.