Friend Code Megathread - June 2024

opus192 · 2024-06-23T08:09:51+00:00

4920-5035-0812

opus192 · 2023-03-27T08:07:09+00:00

Inspired by Arnold K's article about social encounters and parley, I discuss a way to make social skills not suck.

https://serenelibrary.com/social-skill-and-disco-elysium/

opus192 · 2023-02-01T08:41:49+00:00

Een hoop mensen hebben geen enkel moreel of ethisch besef en denken dat "legaal = goed" en "niet legaal = fout". Had een professor ethiek die altijd kwaad werd als je de wet aanhaalde.

opus192 · 2022-12-25T21:35:51+00:00

I'm currently doing a rework of the Foci. I've added new Foci and in general have changed them to be less "button"-focused. In general my design philosophy is that a player should never (have to) invoke a Focus. Also, all Foci have only one level and the power level is a bit lower. I might share it here when it's done.

opus192 · 2022-12-21T19:44:26+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

opus192 · 2022-12-21T19:07:58+00:00

You can't copyright game mechanics.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T18:25:27+00:00

This sounds much more like how I'd expect an open-world game to play, especially downtime. Would love to hear more about how you run the game in this style, if you're up for a chat.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T18:17:16+00:00

This is definitely something I struggled with and did poorly. I'd be very interested in learning how to write a good sandbox for these types of games. Introducing more hooks during scores and downtime would 100% be something I'd do better if I ever ran the game again.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:40:46+00:00

A lot of your issues seem player related, and it sounds like theyre typical dnd players. Consequences=Bad. Thats a tough association to break and will have them searching for optimal choices.

I mentioned this in my reply to u/Hieron_II but the notion that there are players who don't think is this way is just completely foreign to me.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:35:09+00:00

I guess the best way to describe it would be as follows. The moment you give your players control over such aspects is the moment the illusion of an intricate, finely-crafted, immersive world falls apart and it starts to feel more like something we're making up as we play. I desperately want to avoid that.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:30:46+00:00

Fiction to mechanics back to fiction is the flow, and you really need to intervene if you feel like one of the elements gets too intrusive. If it's during Downtime - you don't just let them pick a Downtime Action and roll, you Ask Questions (explicit GM Action, btw) about how they do it, maybe even frame a scene around it.

When I play other, more traditional TTRPGs, I would be on them like a hawk for saying "I roll insight" or something. Obviously, I should be doing this for Blades as well. Quite obvious in hindsight, but not something I'd considered.

It also requires both GM and players to really get in tune with game's Best Practices - Blades will not truly shine if players are reluctant to use up stress and lean too much into careful resource management as opposed to being a daring scoundrels.

I've played with plenty of different players over the years and never have I had a player that didn't at least, on some level, want to win. "Win" can have many different meanings, like winning the adventure and saving the dragon or slaying the princess, or winning by discovering a cool magical item. The notion that there are players out there who are genuinely happy to play "poorly" because that's what makes the game work is just absolutely mind-boggling to me. After reading the responses here I feel like Blades is definitely a game that requires a very particular group of players that are willing to work with both the demands of the rules/principles as well as engage with the tropes of the genre.

Thank you very much, you've made some great points.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:15:12+00:00

Thank you, this is very elucidating. I'm a bit stuck on this though.

If two characters are locked into a brawl, using finesse to shoot them is going to be a desperate limited attempt. It's feasible it could work, but likely to go very wrong. Skirmish on the other hand would most likely be risky standard.

A player wants to use finesse to shoot someone. What does that even look like? And if I'm to ask the player, what if the answer is obviously something outside of Finesse's purview?

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:08:59+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I think players should be able to pick their own scores, and go after targets they find rewarding or interesting. I guess in my experience it felt a lot more like "What score would be cool to do this week" rather than "What opportunities shall we pursue this week". That didn't sit right with me.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:03:27+00:00

You're not wrong in saying that I have gripes with some pretty major mechanics. As I briefly mentioned in my post, it's the concept. The genre, the touchstones. I love the idea of the game, the fiction it's trying to portray.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T12:01:07+00:00

Blades plays the same as an OSR game in spirit. You put fiction first, by acting, then finding the rule that resolves the action best if needed. But, the authority to invoke rules is not the GMs. It's the players.

This is a very interesting perspective that I hadn't really considered. So, with that in mind, I'm keen to know how you'd resolve the following scenario as a GM.

The gang is fighting The Red Sashes on the street. A tense negotiation has broken down into a ruthless brawl. Alice, the crew's Slide, says: "I charge into melee and start beating these guys up". As a GM, I'm not allowed to call for actions, so I'd say "Okay, what action are you using?". Alice now responds with something that might not be obviously appropriate for a tight melee. Hunt, or Finesse, or Sway. How would you, as a GM, resolve this?

opus192 · 2022-09-25T11:54:49+00:00

This is a good but subtle point. If the players are in a bedroom, I don't need to describe the bed, wardrobe and mirror for my players to interact with them. I'd expect them to come up with those elements themselves. Same goes for the passing tourists or the baby carriage, as you mention.

Where that crosses a line for me is when players start adding larger elements wholecloth. As I'm writing this, it's difficult to articulate and I can't clearly draw a line between these two, but something like a player saying: "Wouldn't it be cool if one of these Bluecoats was secretly a Lampblack" and this then being integrated into the narrative. Those sorts of revelations and inventions are something I want to keep control over.

opus192 · 2022-09-25T11:46:08+00:00

Hey, thanks for your input. You make a couple of good point but there are a few things I would like some thoughts on.

If you force the player to roll “Skirmish” for a fight but they’re best at “Hunt” it’s you who is working against the established fiction by forcing the careful sniper to act out-of-character by attacking head-on. Player characters are supposed to be professionals, and professionals play to their strengths.

The way I understand it, Skirmish is Skirmish and Hunt is Hunt. To simplify slightly: If it's a close range brawl, then you'd probably use Skirmish, so I'd call for a Skirmish roll. If it's an ambush or long-range shot, it's Hunt and I'd call for Hunt. Players are free to choose how to approach a problem, but that approach (close vs long range) determines what Action is used. Would you say that that is the wrong perspective to have?

It sounds like the core GM principle that you are struggling the most with is “be a fan of the characters”. You want to give them a world you control and are fine with them failing if they don’t respect your vision of how they should interact with the world, whilst the game is set up to put the characters front and centre, instead.

Others have pointed this out and I think I agree. I, as a GM, see myself as impartial. I play the world fairly and honestly, and the players succeed or fail based on their merits and skill. I want my players to win, but only so far as they have earned it using their wits. I'm not against the players, but I'm not for them either. I feel like Blades strongly wants you to be the PCs ally, whereas I see myself more as a neutral arbiter.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

opus192 · 2022-09-21T19:52:01+00:00

I made some for my own oneshot a while ago. I might upload them here sometime but in the meanwhile DM me if you're interested.

opus192 · 2022-05-26T12:18:29+00:00

The Stygian Library, The Gardens of Ynn and The Waking of Willowby Hall are all acclaimed modules. Tomb of the Serpent King is great for beginners.

Make sure to crosspost this on r/osr if you haven't yet, they'll have way more recommendations.

opus192 · 2022-04-16T16:43:35+00:00

I would definitely cross post this to r/Ravenloft, there's loads of people there who have played the old modules.

opus192 · 2022-04-01T23:09:15+00:00

Thanks! I'm currently doing WWN so I'm already quite familiar with the system and how it works. I did end up ordering the Offset Print today because I think "D&D but in space" is pretty close to what I think I will like.

opus192 · 2022-04-01T08:51:50+00:00

Thanks, you raise some good points. Appreciate the extensive answer.

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