Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8153432" data-attributes="member: 16814">No, because here the GM has already determined the particulars of that location, and the players are just choosing which aspects of the GM's ideas they're going to explore at this time.  There's no ability for the players to add anything they care about -- it's all up to the GM.  You're confusing the ability to pick which choose-your-own-adventure book to read for agency in that book.In Blades, I do not direct play at all.  As [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] has said, the players pick what's important.  I have inputs, yes, but they're entirely triggered by the players.  Here, they picked a haunted neighborhood, a source that dealt with ghosts, and a mission that involved recovering a kidnapped ally from a creepy cult.  Sure, I could have picked any number of other places, but it's really hard to say that the choice of a haunted, abandoned manor house was, in any way, incongruous with the players' intent or the fiction established.  I certainly had no idea we were going to a haunted manor house at the start of the session.  I have no idea what would happen in our next session.  That's the point -- I, as GM follow the players' lead.You're misunderstanding the nature of the investigation.  The players tell me they're talking to this source about this topic, and, well, that source knows something about that topic.  Because that's how it works.  You said above I could have picked anything for where the cult was, and that's true in a trivial sense.  Here, though, no matter what lead the players choose to follow it will pan out for information.  Why?  Because getting information isn't the point of Blades in the Dark, the score is, and finding info on a score is what drives the game towards it's point.  So, when they picked a ghost dealer in a haunted neighborhood, they chose a lot of what things were going to be about.  I could have put the cult in a steampunk rave club, but given what the players cared about (save ghost friend, haunted neighborhood, dealing with creepy cultist) that wouldn't have made sense.Was my choice unoriginal?  Guilty.  Was it cliched?  Also guilty.  I find cliches to be useful quick mood and setting tools so everyone's on the same page very quickly.  I actually spoke to my friend who plays in this game and described this argument to him -- he was taken aback that anyone would suggest that things turned out in any way different from what he (he plays the Whisper who was searching for his ghost friend) expected or wanted.I mean, right now, in that Blades game, here's some of the things that the Crew is dealing with:-One of the crew is in jail, serving time, and that's not a nice thing.-The cult has expanded operations using the madness formula to create seeming zombies from their victims, in reality, this is an alchemically boosted form of possession that has nasty effects.-One member's ghost friend is missing, presumed kidnapped by the cult.-One member is trying to change his vice.-One member is trying to find a way to get revenge on an old slight by a Priestess of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh.-One member is trying to build a Hull for the ghost of their dog.-The Crew is tasked by a Demon to recover the alchemical formula being used by the cult.-One member has a locked box, known to be an artifact from near or before the apocalypse, and wants to discover it's secrets.-Every member of the crew has a rival looking to knock them down a rung.-*There's a gang war in the Crew's neighborhood, and they're caught in it because the winner of the war will take control over the neighborhood, and the Crew will have to pay tribute or go to war themselves.-The Spirit Wardens are looking for the Crew, due to a number of untimely deaths around the Crew's activities.-The Dimmer Sisters have allied themselves with the Crew, and have some needs to be met to keep them pleasantly happy.-One member is developing a contact within the Bluecoats to help deflect heat from their activities.-*The neighborhood of Dunslow harbors a grudge against the Crew for starting a fire there, and is trying to get them arrested for the deed.-The Railjacks are angry with the Crew for a heist in their railyards, and may seek to cause mischief for the crew.-Ulf Ironborne has an issue with the Crew, and his gang is on the lookout for the "traitorous" Skovlander on the Crew.-The Greycloaks have an issue with the Crew, and are looking for some payback for the humiliations caused to them during the haunter house score (the Greycloaks were hired muscle).I'm missing a few things here, I'm sure, but this is pretty close to the list of current things the Crew is dealing with.  I've asterisked the ones that were part of initial crew generation.  If you think I'm prepping for that list, please dream on!</blockquote>

Verification