Hello scoundrel types, here’s the early playtest sheet for the Pilot for my cyberpunk EMT hack.
As you might have notices, there’s a few details that this community could help with, if you find yourselves willing:
Names: My terms for a lot of these things are subpar, and could use a boost. Any cyberpunk or medical drama fans have any good suggestions for:
1.)A slot where you store the cards you claimed as successes There’s a spot for crits, which you can spend as a fuel for abilities, and regular successes, which are just gone. Currently they are “the sleeve” and “the hole.”
They are kinda punk, not very cyber.
2.)The actions. I’m not sure how well the three social ones are working. It seemed like there should be a trinity for leadership, haggling, and social bonds, but the names (commanding, dealing, chumming) don’t quite line up.
3.) Finally, characters. The original plan was to provide the players with character portraits to pin down near the bottom left, and they would mix and match with their playbooks. How does that sound? Would you like to see more predeveloped characters? Would portraits be a distraction?
Either way, I’ll drop the other character playbooks here as soon as I’m able. Currently they are The Orderly (rough, tough and deals with stuff) and the Tech (lean, mean, tends the machine) but a fifth playtester is having us consider others, (the suit, the local guide, the corporate merc)
Enojoy! -G
In a cyberpunk context, “sleeve”, to me, means your current body, Alerted Carbon-style.
I think the Android Netrunner card game used terms like Grip and Heap for similar mechanics. Always been a fan of those.
Benjamin Davis Yeah there’s the trouble. I’m trying to also mix in poker terminology. e.g. “Card up your sleeve”
Michael Elliott, I love those. (Ken “Express” Tenma FTW!) but aren’t they proprietary?
Galen Pejeau Good point. Usually in these cases I just spend a lot of time on thesaurus.com to find something appropriate. “Trash” might be a good alternative for The Hole. Evokes both punk and digital feelings.
I like the straight-forward names you have for the playbooks so far.
In my cyberpunk hack I’m using Command/Spin/Connect for the social abilities. Deal and Chum feel a bit close, it’s hard to cut a fine line between a character’s charisma and their shared history or background.
The idea of character portraits is an intriguing one. I often find it hard to remember the style and look of each character during play. I would worry about whether the portraits would offer the kind of diversity of representations players would like, especially in a cyberpunk setting. But could be a cool optional thing if someone sees something they think evokes their character.
thesauras.com – thesauras.com
Galen Pejeau I can’t imagine that FFG or Wizards hold trademarks for the words Grip and Heap. If you like them, use them.
Looks cool. I’m finding the font of the A and O to be hard to read.
Looking good! How about “Cache” and “Trash” for Sleeve and Hole?
For your other questions…
Directing (or Dispatching for a more EMT feel?)
Hustling
Socializing (or Fraternizing?)
And, personally, I’m not a big fan of pre-cooked character portraits, but that’s just me.
This is good feedback, thank you!
Michael Elliott, those are spot on, may I use them as well?
Galen Pejeau Absolutely!
This looks really cool! I wouldnt normally think to play such a game but your page design/aesthetic drew me in. There is a good community on the Blades Discord, including a lot of Hack talk, you should post this over there! discordapp.com – Discord – Free voice and text chat for gamers
Cass Rea is that where they’re all going? I wondered.
Galen Pejeau As per J Harp’s recent announcement it sounds like they are creating a more official Blades forum in the near future but for now I like the community on Discord. I met and am helping someone test their FitD Hack where you play as monsters building a dungeon currently. It’d be a great place to get feedback and pickup playtesters for Roll20 etc.
I’ve previously hacked Burning Games card rpg system into a Western and my players LOVE it. Poker decks are something everyone “gets” and building mechanics off it translated well. I’d love to playtest your game with my group when it gets to that stage!
Im particularly interested in how you generate patients and what sort of non-medical complications can arise, mostly to give the non-surgeon playbooks things to do. And this card system within FitD. Do they draw cards equal to their action rating, take the highest?
Cass Rea Currently we’re working up random table for the patient, their emergency and the circumstances they’re found in. A nice mix of near future classic cyberpunk problems mixed with good old cardiac arrests.
The deck is a shared mix of classic playing cards.
What’s the monster game called?
Galen Pejeau Ben Nielson is writing it and about release a fresh version. Final name is TBD but working title has been “Demesne”. Latest release on Discord, where there is a Changlog channel just for hackers.
So for example you might get a call, pickup a client whose been injured and there is a rival faction still after him, chasing your vehicle around the city? So while the Surgeon is stabilizing the client, the Pilot is evading and trying to lose the tail?
I guess I meant how are “rolls” handled with the cards? How do you interpret them to determine success?
Cass Rea got it in one! I’m out of town right now but will be on the discord asap to have a look at that and get my thing up. Thank you!
Cass Rea oh right. The deck is slimmed down to have proportions so that face cards are 6’s. Black numbers are 4-5’s and red cards are 1-3. You draw cards equal to action rating, but keep the success you claim out. Claimed face cards are used to fuel some abilities. Drawing a joker introduces a complication and reshuffles the discard, but now their are fewer potential successes. The crew of your bus gets more and more worn out over the night. How much of themselves are they willing to sacrifice for their patients?
Galen Pejeau Ah ok, thanks for clarifying. Thats about what I was imagining, except for the red/black element. So the number of the card doesn’t actually matter – Drawing a 3 of Clubs is the same as drawing a 9 of clubs? Its a little counter intuitive just because we’re used to higher numbers being “better” but also I like the blood red cards being “failure”. Do the suits have any other function? Sorry to blast you with so many questions 😅
Really loving all this. Really ambitious project. Good luck with it! How do these sheets look printed? I’ve been a bit gunshy about adding background texture and such, just assumed they wouldn’t work well. But these look so great. Inspiring me to push a bit.
Mikey Hamm They look pretty good so far! I’ve had to tone down the background a bit, as it’s more visible in RL. Certainly I’ve come to appreciate using b&w or fewer colors as a “Blades Look.”
Cass Rea, apologies, but is there a link for that discord? I’d like to migrate over to that soonish.
Galen Pejeau Here’s a discord invite! discordapp.com – Join the Blades In The Dark Discord Server!
Galen Pejeau sometimes they expire, so here’s another one: discordapp.com – Join the Blades In The Dark Discord Server!
I’m Nevyn87 on Discord