itch.io

Hey hey! I think I answered these after you brought them up in the discord, but just in case anyone else has the same q's:

Ban Slots: The character sheet having two slots for Level 1 and Level 2 Bans and one slot for a Level 3 ban is by design. A brigand may have up to two Level 1 bans, two Level 2 bans, and one Level 3 ban for a total of five bans. Note that this excludes the Level 4 - Final Ban, only one of which may be taken per brigand. 

Flipping a Roll: Flipping a failure into a success by taking a ban results in a success, as if the player had rolled a 6. The “cost” is the ban taken, there are no further consequences from flipping a roll. 

When Flipping a roll using a ban, the GM should not reduce the effect of the action below limited effect for any other consideration such as scale or threat. Using a ban to flip a roll should be a narratively potent act, and should therefore not have it’s effect diminished so that it becomes pointless or that the ban feels wasted.

Likewise, when using a ban without rolling, the effect of the action should not be reduced below the level the ban provides. For example, a Light Ban action should not have it’s effectiveness reduced below limited effect and a Dangerous Ban action should not have it’s effectiveness reduced below great effect.

Scarring with No Bans: If a brigand fills their stress track and has no bans to scar, they are simply taken out of the scene and empty their stress track.  

Noting Scars: It is suggested that players note the effects of scars directly next to the relevant ratings or equipment on their background sheet. For example, if a brigand scars a ban that prevents them from touching iron, they should cross off any equipment that contains iron from their background sheet.

Hyped for this!

Yup yup, same sort of mapping. I guess my thing is tying the attributes towards the pilot rather than the exo, which you kind of hint at  with "leverage the X of the exo" format, but I worry people will confuse the attribute with some innate property of the suit, rather than a skill of the pilot, if that makes sense?

Hey all! So, I'm bad with names. Like, utterly terrible. I'm wracking my name trying to come up with some names for the three attributes in my Anthem-inspired LUMEN game, and I'm coming up empty. I've moved on to working on other stuff like classes and enemy types in the meantime, but I figured I'd put up my hand and ask for help on these Attributes.

Some (not very good) ideas I've brainstormed thus far:

Pilot

Brake

Thrust

Vector

Target

Frag

Weave

Fly

Thank you so much for the thorough review! It's greatly appreciated.

Obrigado pela sua avaliação! Eu agradeço.

Thank you for your review! I appreciate it.

I would say three to five, including GM.

Thank you so much! I appreciate the comment :)

Submitting both:

https://erikthebearik.itch.io/smash-the-system

https://erikthebearik.itch.io/brinkwood

Clever tables, great chicken puns. I think my favorite is "Fowl play is involved!"

I also like how the "things the chickens find" table works to build out a story about the Rooster you're overthrowing, including conspiracies with foxes and biological warfare.

"Vixens" is a very cool read, keyed closely to it's theming and background. There's a lot of cool stories that can be told in the world the author has created, and I for one look forward to the daring heists and "taels" that come from it.

The lack of this feature (along with a lack of print-on-demand) is holding a lot of indie physical game creators back from switching wholly over from DriveThruRPG to itch.io. 

A powerful, excellent game.

Thank you! Something led me to check out your rules before I wrote these, and I took some inspiration, namely in the idea of discreet "actions" for the faction and special abilities tied into them.

These rules are intended to represent the directed antagonism against the PCs, rather than a vampire-on-vampire conflict, as to keep it "scoped down" a bit.

Recently, writing up rules / guidelines on how to prep a campaign or even a session seems to have kind of fallen out of vogue, and I'm starting to wonder if this is because people don't expect / don't want to be told how to prep a game session. In designing my own stuff, I've taken the position that prep rules are still good to have, even if people don't use them, but I've started to wonder lately if I've been going overboard. 

As a practical example, here's some rules I wrote up on how a GM could run a "GM Turn" between sessions of a Forged in the Dark game. I wanted to be thorough, designing it as a sort of mini-board game, but now I'm wondering if having so many rules devoted to the "lonely fun" of preparing a campaign will turn potential GMs off. As usual, any feedback / criticism is welcome, though they're mostly included to illustrate my larger point about Prep.

Agreed, with the caveat that I start writing games because I have to, it's the only way to get them out of my brain. I finish writing games because I force myself to.

Thanks a lot for the feedback! You pointed out a lot of useful stuff, I'll be making some changes.

Hi everyone, apologies in advance if this thread should have gone somewhere else. I figured since it's a forged-in-the-dark game, this would be the place to post.

I'm looking for feedback on my Forged in the Dark hack, Brinkwood, especially on the "Special Abilities" section for each "Mask," though any feedback is welcome. Masks are my version of playbooks, except they're change-able from score to score. Any feedback, comment, or critique is most appreciated!

Check here for the specific section: http://bit.ly/BW-MaskFeedback

Or here for the current game prototype: https://erikthebearik.itch.io/brinkwood

The best game about being gay and doing crimes that I've ever read.

Hey folklore-lovers! In doing research for our games, I thought it might be useful to share useful any useful resources we came across. 

Going first, I found this livestream WorldAnvil recently put up, interviewing a professor on anglo-saxon folklore and mythology. It isn't super specific to just England though, and she has some interesting insights into why people share and create folklore that I think might be more broadly useful. Take a look, hope it helps! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/400653592

Alright, first pass at the survey is complete! Please let me know if you feel anything should be added or removed. Also, if you don't mind, please share this survey far and wide so we can gather more data!

http://bit.ly/2TyMrHE

Hello Folks, does anyone know if there is any survey data on people's play experiences with Blades in the Dark or it's hacks? I'm thinking about building out a survey for public consumption, but I'd rather not duplicate work if I can help it.

If no such survey exists, what sort of questions would you like to see on such a survey?

Edit:

My intent is to find (or, if there isn’t one, create) a public resource for Blades in the Dark hackers to get some solid data on what kinds of games people play with the system. If I end up creating one, I’d share the raw, anonymized data publicly along with any analysis I do of it. The survey would contain a disclaimer that the anonymized data would be publicly shared and an opt-out option for respondents that don't want their data publicly shared.

If anyone feels this intent is wrong-headed or that I’m making a mistake, please let me know!

Hey folks, I was wondering if people with more experience going on tabletop RPG podcasts and livestreams, either to promote a game, talk about design, or just to play some games, could talk a bit about how they got those opportunities. If aspiring designers want to get their games out there, is this a good way to do it? If so, what do they need to do, write, or talk to in order to find those opportunities?