Since we have more hacks in the works than anyone could ever play, here’s more fuel for the everburning forge.
This War of Mine, if you’re familiar with the video game, seems like it has tremendous potential for translation.
Almost every location that has something you need has dangers/moral choices associated with it. Sure you can get enough food for the next few days, but you have to steal it from an old defenseless couple. Sure you can get a weapon to defend yourself, but you’d have to ambush a young man defending his parents and their belongings. You’re sick and you need meds? The hospital’s got ’em, but it’s locked up tighter than the blockade itself, and you’re taking them from patients who are even worse off than you.
Crew types as follows: Bandits, Scavengers, Good Samaritans, and Local Law.
Character playbooks as follows: Bruiser, Thief, Face, Organizer, and Lookout.
Claims could instead be necessary staples of survival, like heaters, stoves, toys (for children), music, a gun storage locker, vests and helmets for protection, reliable and helpful neighbors, a radio to keep up on current events, etc.
Entanglements could be good or bad, and your chances of something good or bad happening could depend on how you’ve been interacting with you’re community. Did you trade the soldiers the bandages they asked for? You’ve now got an increased chance of rolling the “Safe & Sound” entanglement, where someone protects your home for you. Did you kill a man and take all the potable water he was hoarding for the coming days? You’ve got an increased chance of rolling the “Wasn’t Yours” entanglement, where a wronged party demands back more than what you took.
This is just a recent brainworm that I wanted to share.
Some great ideas here for any hack! I’m looking into trying “Glow in the Dark” as a solitairy game. I’ll be taking some of these ideas.
Hey! I’ve been looking at the same source, so I definitely have some thoughts on this:
Blades doesn’t really support having needs well. Blades is a game of ambition, and fierce desires, which is a big change from the feeling of This War. This War is about needs. About finding food for tomorrow, about finding wood to build a heater, about getting parts to make a garden. It’s a unique feeling that I’m not sure how to move into blades (or even if blades is the game to move into).
To add to this fire: There’s a larp that’s based on This War of Mine. It’s called The Forgotten, by Andrew Medeirnos.
And it’s great! Definitely worth checking out but that (again) is approaching from another angle. Oh so many options
Sidney Icarus That’s a fair point, but I feel as if that’s the only thing that doesn’t translate super easily to the Blades system as-is. Considering everything else slots in so well, it seems far from impossible to hack in a way to make the game about needs instead of ambition. Just a lazy solution from the top of my head is clocks. Clocks to represent food, warmth, safety, contentment, rest, etc. Every downtime these things drain to various degrees, and scores are about trying to keep them from emptying out. This way the game isn’t about getting bigger and badder, it’s about managing to stay alive, and if you’re lucky, maybe even finding a way to make that a bit easier.
“Glow in the Dark” does handles some of these ideas, like wasting ammo/water/food/etc… with the stress/heat system.
I just read a little about “This War of Mine”! Seems like a great fit into my solo ideas about civilians during WW1.
Blaze Azelski Sorry, mate, I absolutely didn’t want to imply it was a) impossible, or b) a bad fit! Please, go ahead and do this awesome design, I totally believe in it and I want you to keep me in the loop as you go! My post was more “these are the problems I found at a very high level when I thought about doing this as Blades” not “this is an unworkable design”. I’m sorry, I hate people that kill design vibes like that, and I do not want to be that guy.
Sidney Icarus No problem! I may run into these issues if I decide to build on this idea. I may not have realized how deeply rooted the issue is. I’ll keep you in the loop if I proceed.