What is a "Narrative Mechanic"?

[Crimson Longinus]

The conversation between the players and the one between the characters (if there even is one) is different.

Which makes it meta!

Is this all that different from a player in a D&D game saying something like “Should I cast Invisibility and sneak past this guy or try and charm person him?”

Yes. Those are both spells the character presumably has, and both the character and the player knows it.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Right. You effectively have to discuss it like you had all the items you could possibly choose with you. Except you don't, and later might not be able to choose them as you have used all your gear slots!

... your games must be slow!

You discuss the plans you've come up with. You don't discuss every single possibility unless you want the entire game to get bogged down. And to try and cover every possibility rather than leaping in to things is against the spirit and explicit guidance of Blades.

 

[Pedantic]

... your games must be slow!

You discuss the plans you've come up with. You don't discuss every single possibility unless you want the entire game to get bogged down. And to try and cover every possibility rather than leaping in to things is against the spirit and explicit guidance of Blades.

It does feel like trying to run uphill. I didn't find BitD more enjoyable once I accepted the gameplay loop wasn't me trying most efficiently solve all the situations in front of me, but I felt significantly more comfortable not continuing to play. I was not missing something, the game simply wasn't the activity I showed up to engage in.

 

[Neonchameleon]

It does feel like trying to run uphill. I didn't find BitD more enjoyable once I accepted the gameplay loop wasn't me trying most efficiently solve all the situations in front of me, but I felt significantly more comfortable not continuing to play. I was not missing something, the game simply wasn't the activity I showed up to engage in.

BitD is (like it's parent Apocalypse World, although FitD isn't orthodox PbtA) a game about keeping plates spinning and dealing with spiralling consequences rather than trying to do things "cleanly". If that's not what you're here for then it's not for you

 

[Crimson Longinus]

... your games must be slow!

You discuss the plans you've come up with. You don't discuss every single possibility unless you want the entire game to get bogged down. And to try and cover every possibility rather than leaping in to things is against the spirit and explicit guidance of Blades.

Perhaps. The GM even ticked the guard doom clock one tick for us dillydallying. Still, it also is rather hard at the look the tools (not the literal tools, the mechanics) and not end up thinking how they could be best applied to solve a problem. And in this instance we really didn't want to fight the guards, or kill them, or even them to see us, as we were trying to frame someone else for the crime we were about to commit. We couldn't just barge in guns blazing.

 

[Pedantic]

BitD is (like it's parent Apocalypse World, although FitD isn't orthodox PbtA) a game about keeping plates spinning and dealing with spiralling consequences rather than trying to do things "cleanly". If that's not what you're here for then it's not for you

On paper that sounds very appealing, but I've found it's very different when it's presented as content, not as mechanical function of the game. I love getting handed a complicated situation without clear answers and trying to puzzle the best outcome from it, but that requires trustworthy tools and systems that can be leveraged against the board state, instead of actively producing the mess in the first place.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Which makes it meta!


Yes. Those are both spells the character presumably has, and both the character and the player knows it.

But a player asking other players for feedback on which spell should be cast is just as meta. The characters aren’t stopping to discuss the best course of action on their turn.

 

[Neonchameleon]

On paper that sounds very appealing, but I've found it's very different when it's presented as content, not as mechanical function of the game. I love getting handed a complicated situation without clear answers and trying to puzzle the best outcome from it, but that requires trustworthy tools and systems that can be leveraged against the board state, instead of actively producing the mess in the first place.

You can leverage the systems against the board state. This is what things like flashback mechanics and the equipment are about. It's just that your outcomes won't be clean. You're running like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean in terms of each problem solved leading into others.

 

[Pedantic]

You can leverage the systems against the board state. This is what things like flashback mechanics and the equipment are about. It's just that your outcomes won't be clean. You're running like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean in terms of each problem solved leading into others.

Yes. The tools create the problematic board state. They are not tools that one deploys to solve problems, they are systems that exist to create the mess in the first place. The gameplay loop is not in trying to deploy them to resolve the situation, it's in accepting that your actions will routinely make the situation worse, and continuing to propose actions anyway. We're describing the same thing with different language.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Yes. The tools create the problematic board state. They are not tools that one deploys to solve problems, they are systems that exist to create the mess in the first place. The gameplay loop is not in trying to deploy them to resolve the situation, it's in accepting that your actions will routinely make the situation worse, and continuing to propose actions anyway. We're describing the same thing with different language.

Except they don't overall make the situation worse unless you are playing badly. They overall make it better - but at the rate of two steps forward and one step back rather than always going forward cause we can't find reverse.