I looked at this briefly; would be interested in reading thoughts as you progress through play to see if experience mirrors some commentary about it!
Any Forged in the Dark tips and pointers for an upcoming campaign?
- Thread starter innerdude
- Start date
I looked at this briefly; would be interested in reading thoughts as you progress through play to see if experience mirrors some commentary about it!
Manbearcat
Legend
@innerdude , alright, just a few focused thoughts for you:
* Make sure that the players have a very open, very focused meta-conversation about what Errand they're interested in tackling for the evening. If handling this in character makes it obtuse and bogs play, then just no. Handle it in meta-chat and then let that focus follow-through to Info Gathering where scenes framed will build out the dynamics of that coming Errand; Plan, Detail, target, Payoff, etc.
They, and you, need to look at this like collectively generating a Kicker which will infuse subsequent play with opening conditions, meaning, and possible trajectories
* Introduce Lady's Favors (Devil's Bargain equivalents for those following along) as often as possible. Use them to threaten people (Contact, Friend, Paramour) and stuff the PC(s) care about offscreen. Use them to start a problem with a Setting of Faction Clock offscreen and outside of the current Errand. Use them to introduce a Rival into the Errand.
* Don't neglect your Downtime Action responsibilities with Setting and Faction. Be both provocative in the fiction that they should generate, but simultaneously (as importantly), generate a compelling game layer for players to engage with. There should be meaty decision-points to mull and either act upon or pass. The choice to interfere with or ignore Faction Clocks needs to be a hearty component of play which will generate compelling fictional trajectories and strategic throughline.
* Use your Risky and Desperate Consequences to introduce multiple situation-state and gamestate changes that players can choose to Resist down or roll with. Desperate turns into 1 x Risky Consequence (Resist down to Controlled) and 1 x Controlled Consequence or 3 x Controlled Consequences while Risky turns into 2 x Controlled Consequences. Don't use this all the time, but sprinkle it in enough to present a layered, complex, provocative decision-point when you can come up with a pair of good ones that observe your principles.
That is it from me. Enjoy your game and report back!
* Make sure that the players have a very open, very focused meta-conversation about what Errand they're interested in tackling for the evening. If handling this in character makes it obtuse and bogs play, then just no. Handle it in meta-chat and then let that focus follow-through to Info Gathering where scenes framed will build out the dynamics of that coming Errand; Plan, Detail, target, Payoff, etc.
They, and you, need to look at this like collectively generating a Kicker which will infuse subsequent play with opening conditions, meaning, and possible trajectories
* Introduce Lady's Favors (Devil's Bargain equivalents for those following along) as often as possible. Use them to threaten people (Contact, Friend, Paramour) and stuff the PC(s) care about offscreen. Use them to start a problem with a Setting of Faction Clock offscreen and outside of the current Errand. Use them to introduce a Rival into the Errand.
* Don't neglect your Downtime Action responsibilities with Setting and Faction. Be both provocative in the fiction that they should generate, but simultaneously (as importantly), generate a compelling game layer for players to engage with. There should be meaty decision-points to mull and either act upon or pass. The choice to interfere with or ignore Faction Clocks needs to be a hearty component of play which will generate compelling fictional trajectories and strategic throughline.
* Use your Risky and Desperate Consequences to introduce multiple situation-state and gamestate changes that players can choose to Resist down or roll with. Desperate turns into 1 x Risky Consequence (Resist down to Controlled) and 1 x Controlled Consequence or 3 x Controlled Consequences while Risky turns into 2 x Controlled Consequences. Don't use this all the time, but sprinkle it in enough to present a layered, complex, provocative decision-point when you can come up with a pair of good ones that observe your principles.
That is it from me. Enjoy your game and report back!
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innerdude
Legend
Okay, first session report ---
We just barely got through character creation and some of the initial Great House (re: "Crew") setup. Still more setup to go, now that I've organized everything into usable digital formats (see more below), but we did start some basic Info Gathering, leading into the first errand (re: "Score").
The Good:
The Bad:
We just barely got through character creation and some of the initial Great House (re: "Crew") setup. Still more setup to go, now that I've organized everything into usable digital formats (see more below), but we did start some basic Info Gathering, leading into the first errand (re: "Score").
The Good:
- Love Court of Blades' playbooks. Really evocative, flavorful abilities that hone in the basic character concepts. Currently have 3 players, expecting a 4th next session. First 3 players chose The Eye, The Knack, and The Hawk (rogue/saboteur, sorcerer, ranger/hunter).
- I love the basic setup the world and factions, except for the glaring exception of the included city map (more on that in a minute). The world and factions are all sorts of interesting and intriguing. Limitless ways to link the characters/coterie/Great House to the world with meaningful ways to create tension.
- The interlocking mechanical pieces all feel meaningful and weighty (while not being difficult to manage/grasp on the player side). I think the players and I are going to really enjoy watching events play out. They immediately latched on to the idea that their goal is to rule the city.
- The flavor / tone of Court of Blades just leaps off the page. One of my players turned to me and said, "This is basically the BBC The Musketeers on Amazon Prime, right?" Yep. Exactly. My wife and I love that show; it was one of the key inspirations for wanting to tackle this campaign and system.
The Bad:
- I love the system, the concept, and the art---but oh my goodness is the core book in need of a vast edit/revision for clarity. Just to manage the basic structures of managing the Great Houses, I have to search through three or four different areas. Basic mechanics for advancing clocks between seasons (a group of 2 or 3 "scores") are in DESPERATE need of some visualizations / flow charts. Comparing Court of Blades' messy disorganization to the clarity and ease-of-use of Ironsworn and Starforged was a stark contrast.
- So much of the faction information should be consolidated and combined into tables for summary. I realize that there are offline PDFs for some of this, but it was pretty daunting to try and find everything in the rulebook FIRST just to understand the mechanical interplay, then try to hunt through the other PDF material just to find how to track/log everything.
- Digital tools -- This is a game that's just dying for dedicated VTT support. I eventually just settled on creating two Google spreadsheets, using pie chart graphs to represent clocks, and consolidating most of the information on my own.
- I'm sure the authors and artist of the basic city map of Ilrien are happy with the result. I found it utterly impossible to follow or read. I didn't spend more than 60 seconds on it before I hopped online and found a map of Marseilles, France, circa 1841, that I updated and layered over the basic city territories. Sure, there's some discrepancies between some geography in the book map, but at least I don't feel like gouging my eyes out trying to figure out where the heck anything is in the city. I definitely ramped down the water/canals, as the original map makes the entire city one tiny island after another. It's just so over the top I couldn't buy it. So if anyone feels the same as me and finds the map included with the book / PDF to basically be unusable, here's my semi-home-made version. Yes, it's a boring "bog-standard medieval city with walls." But other than adding the outer wall and the canal routes, the map is literally taken from a 200-year-old real-world map of a real-world city, so if you find that boring, I don't know what to tell you.
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Joshua Randall
Legend
BITD in general could use another editorial pass to clean up the rules and consolidate them into coherent sections.
I am glad your players enjoyed the setup. I have found, across… five? Six?… runs of BITD, that the character and crew creation requires WAY too many decisions for players unfamiliar with the game and its gameplay cycle. It might work for experienced players who can foresee several steps down the road, like a chess masters; but for new players, they are either making uninformed decisions out of frustration, or we bog down creation explaining every. Rules. System.
So I only use pre-gen characters and crew now.
Maybe Court does this better than BITD. It can’t do it worse! LOL
—
I’m VERY curious to see how the players respond to the deliberately rigid gameplay loop, because that’s the game.
I am glad your players enjoyed the setup. I have found, across… five? Six?… runs of BITD, that the character and crew creation requires WAY too many decisions for players unfamiliar with the game and its gameplay cycle. It might work for experienced players who can foresee several steps down the road, like a chess masters; but for new players, they are either making uninformed decisions out of frustration, or we bog down creation explaining every. Rules. System.
So I only use pre-gen characters and crew now.
Maybe Court does this better than BITD. It can’t do it worse! LOL
—
I’m VERY curious to see how the players respond to the deliberately rigid gameplay loop, because that’s the game.
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