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AUTUMN * Trys is outside Stonetop getting the lay of the land. She notices a group of three riders camping in an area where there is a dangerous sightline that would allow archers on horseback to fire into town. * Gavin is dreaming of being in the wild. He feels the presence of his wolves in...

Things get "nailed down" in the course of play (prior play and current play) such that situation is constrained intrinsically by the setting all the time in BitD. Players develop multiple lines of play to reframe situation routinely. Last game for example: * The assassination target was...

FIRST SUMMER * Returning to Stonetop with Jollum’s baby, Cullen seeks the counsel of his uncle, Llewelyn. He suggests Cullen speak with Gwynn, a town elder who’s served as a mentor of sorts to Cullen. He meets with the old blind woman, and she listens about the baby, and suggests a couple that...

As Pa'avu ushers the barge toward the middle of the lake, soft clouds form above with suddeness, dousing the fellowship with a refreshing rain that is not cold. When it splashes down on the unnatural purple-tinged waters, the lake seems to recoil and sizzle from the rain's "touch." The waters...

Figured I'd post all of @hawkeyefan 's Chronicles (for his Judge character) for this game as its nearing its resolution. That might stimulate some conversation about particular instances of play that hawkeyefan chronicles below. I should be able to recall and convey how the game engine/play...

Make sure to check in at the front desk to see if they have a Warlord to shout your spine back on!

I have very little doubt you would be able to pull it off and become at least proficient in the headspace and managing the various techniques to pull it off. Like anything one hasn't done, it looks and sounds daunting...until it isn't! In late 2019 I had to give up basketball (I was 42 then...

SKILL CHALLENGE COMPLETE XP: 1200/2 = 600 apiece (I believe this levels you both? If so, go ahead and level and create book-keeping section of your follow-up post) LOOT * Jade Hairpin returned. * Take the following Power for your confrontation with the Aspect of Caiphon from the insight...

Going to use this post to demonstrate what “prep” looks like for a Blades game. The PCs have Downtime where they commit to Downtime Activities. The Factions/Setting that the players either involve in play directly by targets for Scores or the fallout from Scores or Devil’s Bargains from Action...

Going to use this thread to plug one of the games that it appears like I'm going to be running next after a current Dogs in the Vineyard game ends. Its a PBtA game about Japan's Warring States called Thousand Arrows. Here are my thoughts after my read-through (I'll get to how I see Prep after...

The GMs in these games don't consider themself poor-off. They GM's don't indulge player's power fantasies. There is no "serve the game up for the players." Quite the opposite in fact. GMing these games is about putting rules/structure-constrained pressure on what the players (through their...

7 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available/0 Advantages Available The silence that passes over the room after the impassioned speech is deafening. There is sense in the air that something significant may have happened but no one volunteers what. Finally, the...

5 Successes (1 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skills Available/1 Advantages Available With the dogs’ hostilities ceased, the hunter picks himself up and, under a fading tremble of anger, warily moves forward to pick up the dropped leash of his now-docile hound. Quiet and the soft...

4 Successes (1 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skills Available/1 Advantages Available If this escalates to combat, we'll put this Hunter (H1 - Standard) at 1/4 HP down to start. The Hunter is flung from his feet and across the ritual chamber, his hound's leash ripped from his...

2 Successes (2 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available The drummers, conditioned to follow the stern words of chain-of-command, reflexively kneel at the display of impassioned authority. The mutant canines instinctively sense the change in mood and...

GM Force is a specific thing: When a GM suspends the system’s or a player’s rightful input (this could be tactical, strategic, thematic) by subverting it with the GM’s own preferred input. Illusionism is just Force but used covertly. All of those particulars are essential. So how is this...

1 Successes (2 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available Caught off guard by the display of seemingly genuine curiosity and empathy, the bands' arms holding hound-leashes and drum-mallets go relaxed and slack. The hounds, picking up on their alpha's...

Just a few quick comments on number of players in these games. As you and @pemerton know (or at least I'm fairly sure I've expressed it to you in the past), I'm definitely a "3 is the sweet spot for players and 2 is far preferable to 4" kind of GM. However, I concur with your above regarding...

1) On Ibhea and the Slave Girl: We'll leave it right there (at 5 Successes) as a cliffhanger and resolve later. 2) Recruit Mirage Moonstar to Seal the Breach: You can have 2 Successes for that last, nearly double DC move. There isn't any conflict left there. She is recruited and will...