D&D 5E Adapting BitD Flashbacks to D&D5E

[MarkB]

I'm not sure I'm reading this right. It seems like you'd have 100% chance for one flashback per heist (starting freebie), then a 50% chance of getting a second (recharge on a 4-6), then a 25% chance of getting a third (recharge on a 4-6...after recharging on a 4-6)...on down. I want it to be limited, but rolling for a recharge doesn't seem like a good idea, to me at least.

No, that's just the chance of them successfully getting three flashbacks in a row. If they fail a recharge check, that means they can't use a flashback to get out of this one situation (i.e. the 'caught by the security guard' situation), but they can still try it again five minutes later, to resolve the next mishap.

 

[Don Durito]

Have the PCs make a 'plan'. Make this plan very vague, the sort of thing they do in making the plan rather than specific steps. Eg "I use my skill in history to try and find out any local stories about the mansion" Just a tiny step more than "I use History". Then have them roll the skill. Each success puts a token in the pool that anyone can later use for a flashback. Once this is done the plan is finished. There is no actual plan, this is just answering the basic question "how was a plan made?"

The PCs should then use that vague planning stage as a driving off point for their flashbacks. It doesn't have to be directly related, it could be that while the pc with history was trying to find out the history of the local area they somehow came across the path of the keeper of the inner gate while he was on a bender in town and blackmailed him - that's cool.

 

[Quickleaf]

That’s great. Sounds like it was easy to use. Did you give much more explanation than that or was that enough?

Pretty sure I still have the writeup on Google Drive. Yep! Here it is: Assassinate the Lizard Emperor.

The "Inspiration Flashback Planning" house rule was super hands-off and minimal, pretty much what I said above is what I said to my players.

 

[loverdrive]

The amount you suggested (one to three per character per day) is enough to cover the heist... But would it change how PLAYERS approach the game? I think the ressource should entice players to go blind.

Well, they would eventually get used to it, and smacking them over the head yelling "DON'T PLAN ANYTHING FOR THE GOD'S SAKE!" from time to time also helps.

Maybe simply limit each character to 1-2 or 2-3 flashbacks per heist or per day.

What do you think? What mechanical limit should there be on things like flashbacks in D&D5E? I'm not interested in arguing about whether or not to use flashbacks, only what mechanical limit should be used to control how many can be done.

Blades assume that most of the flashbacks are free, a bit of a stretch is 1 stress (out of 9) and 2+ is something just utterly ridiculous, so 2-3 flashbacks is kinda low.

I mean, the players are supposed to yell "FLASHBACK!" at every complication that arises, as every setback is actually just another step in their plan.

 

[overgeeked]

Blades assume that most of the flashbacks are free, a bit of a stretch is 1 stress (out of 9) and 2+ is something just utterly ridiculous, so 2-3 flashbacks is kinda low.

I mean, the players are supposed to yell "FLASHBACK!" at every complication that arises, as every setback is actually just another step in their plan.

Right. If it's "an ordinary action for which you had easy opportunity," like asking a friend to show up somewhere, it's free. It's the 1 stress stuff I was shooting for with the question. "A complex action or unlikely opportunity." Things like hiding extra guns under the card table, just in case.

 

[Don Durito]

One thing that might be fun is to prepare some kind of major complication that can appear at some point to throw everything into chaos. An obvious one might be a third faction appearing in the middle of the heist and throwing everything into chaos.

So you could allow PCs to have as many flashbacks as they like, but everytime they do you keep a track of the number. At various points you roll a D20 and if it's lower than the number of flashbacks so far...bang, the complication happens.