Grade the Forged in the Dark System

[overgeeked]

Slightly steering off topic but I am interested in more talk of Clocks. Have you guys experienced over-using Clocks?

When I read the official Cowboy Bebop rpg, I found it all too clock focused. Every action's success or failure ticks one clock or another. It felt too much disconnection from the fiction when usually I want some more description. Since reading that I am more thoughtful when GMing and in my own design work on how frequent to use a Clock vs narrative impact. I kind of want to run Cowboy Bebop just to see how it is in play.

Has anyone else felt the same?

I absolutely love clocks and use them as often as possible. Anything that takes more than one roll is a clock as far as I’m concerned. Anything that takes more time than “now” or “instant” is a countdown as far as I’m concerned. They’re just ways to organize and keep track of things behind the screen. But, if you skip or skimp on the narrative, clocks absolutely feel wrong or off or too mechanical. So don’t skip or skimp on the description. Clocks are a fantastic tool and I wish more games would use the hell out of them.

 

[Campbell]

In my experience most longer running characters in Blades will end up taking substantial part of their move sets from other playbooks. My first long running character was a Hound (Imperial sniper) that sort of become more of a Slide (from brokering a lot of deals) as the game went on. My other long running character was a Lurk (a fairly prototypical assassin) who became more of a spider (long term planning and reliance on connections to the setting).

There's also coverage in the book for changing your experience triggers to more fitting ones. In the game ran by @Manbearcat that I played with @kenada , @niklinna and @AbdulAlhazred my character changed his triggers to the Spider ones after the fact.

 

[MarkB]

In my experience most longer running characters in Blades will end up taking substantial part of their move sets from other playbooks. My first long running character was a Hound (Imperial sniper) that sort of become more of a Slide (from brokering a lot of deals) as the game went on. My other long running character was a Lurk (a fairly prototypical assassin) who became more of a spider (long term planning and reliance on connections to the setting).

There's also coverage in the book for changing your experience triggers to more fitting ones. In the game ran by @Manbearcat that I played with @kenada , @niklinna and @AbdulAlhazred my character changed his triggers to the Spider ones after the fact.

Very true, and of course that holds as much or moreso for the crew playbook. It almost always pays to pick up a few juicy special abilities from other crews.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think Blades in the Dark is a really interesting game, and a real showcase for design. I know sometimes there are complaints that it is complex, or could do without one or more elements that are present, but I think the way that all the different systems interact with each other, how they feed into each other, is simply brilliant.

I think it's a watershed game... the kind anyone interested in RPGs overall would be well served to check out, and to actually play.

 

[Voadam]

I picked up a couple in Bundles and charity packages and I am interested in how they handle flashbacks, downtime activities, and clocks in particular but I have not read through any yet or played any of them.

I have used a flashbacks mechanic in my 5e D&D game to allow a character to trade inspiration to tell a flashback scene of how they prepared for what is going on in the moment with a different appropriate unused prepared spell or item on hand or similar setup ("I bribed this guard last night, he's our inside man!") that comes into play as useful right then.

 

[FrogReaver]

I absolutely love clocks and use them as often as possible. Anything that takes more than one roll is a clock as far as I’m concerned. Anything that takes more time and “now” or “instant” is a countdown as far as I’m concerned. They’re just ways to organize and keep track of things behind the screen. But, if you skip or skimp on the narrative, clocks absolutely feel wrong or off or too mechanical. So don’t skip or skimp on the description. Clocks are a fantastic tool and I wish more games would use the hell out of them.

I wasn’t a huge fan of clocks. Setting them and clicking them down always felt arbitrary to me.

 

[Reynard]

I wasn’t a huge fan of clocks. Setting them and clicking them down always felt arbitrary to me.

Like hit points? I mean, those are just granular clocks in the end.

I like the track in Ironsworn and Starforged, but it is still essentially a clock.

The thing about the clock is that it isn't an innovation so much as a method of understanding stuff we were already doing all the time.

 

[FrogReaver]

Like hit points? I mean, those are just granular clocks in the end.

No. Not like hit points at all.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

No. Not like hit points at all.

Why not? I mean, as Reynard notes, it's really granular, such that I don't think it's worthwhile tracking it that way. And I don't know that it'd be interesting. But you could do it.

 

[hawkeyefan]

No. Not like hit points at all.

What’s the difference? Each is a countdown pacing mechanic that determines when enough has happened for a resolution of some sort.