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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7918780" data-attributes="member: 6785785">So I've recently had the opportunity to play some Blades in the Dark, instead of running it for my group. And as I was playing, I was thinking about this thread a bit, and how I feel that Blades lends itself to character driven play more so than D&D does.Again, I don't think D&D can't do this, I just think other games are designed to promote that kind of gameplay where as D&D leaves it up to the group to decide how they want to do this. I play and enjoy both games. Each does certain things well. In regard to character-driven play, I think Blades is better. I'll offer a couple of comparisons to show how.In 5e D&D, the player is meant to choose two Traits, an Ideal, a Bond, and a Flaw at character creation. Per the rules, when the player evokes one or more of these elements in play, the DM can grant him Inspiration. This can then be spent by the player to gain Advantage on any future roll that he chooses. You can only have Inspiration or not have it, so you cannot bank multiple uses through repeatedly evoking your Traits/Ideal/Bond/Flaw during play. You need to spend Inspiration before you can gain it again.In Blades in the Dark, the player must choose a Vice. This is the thing that they struggle with. It's both how they cope with the harshness of life as a scoundrel, and also a point of weakness. It is mechanically meaningful because it is the way that the PC can reduce Stress, which is a PC resource taken in order to power special abilities and to resist Harm and other consequences. So when a PC takes a Stress, they need to indulge their Vice in order to reduce their Stress. There is also the risk of overindulging, which can have consequences of varying degrees for the PC and their crew. Also, Vice is directly related to one of the XP Triggers: "You struggled with issues from your Vice or Traumas during the session." At the end of each session, the player decides to take an XP point if they struggled with their Vice or Traumas. If they did so more than once, they can take 2 XP.There are a lot more differences I can go into, and maybe I will in a future post, but just looking at these two areas of these games, I think it's pretty clear that certain games are just designed to deliver play that's more character-driven.In D&D, the entire structure of the Traits/Ideal/Bond/Flaw is optional. Yes, it's meant to be there to give the PC some sense of character, and the player may portray the character accordingly. If they do, they may be rewarded by the DM with Inspiration. Yes, there are ways to tweak this, or alternate systems we could use for this....but ultimately, this system as is is nothing more than suggestion.In Blades, the decision of Vice will not only inform the player on how to portray their character, but it also determines a weakness that absolutely must come up in play. They will indulge their vice often, and will potentially accumulate Traumas that make it harder and harder to resist their Vice, and will also permanently impact and shape their character. Ultimately, their Vice may consume them. It also has the strong hook to grant 1 or 2 XP per session if the PC struggles with it. And I think this is a big distinction here.....not just that it comes up, or that the player portrays the character as having a vice, but that they must struggle with it. That's big.....it means that play is impacted in some way by this Vice.So if a D&D PC has the Flaw of "I'm a compulsive gambler. Games of chance and taking risks gets my blood flowing like nothing else" the player may play that up quite well. He may earn some inspiration for doing so. He may even go above and beyond and make decisions for his character that may be harmful because of this Flaw. That's all quite possible, and can be a lot of fun.He could also ignore it and never bring it up in play.With Blades, there is no avoiding the PCs Vice. It is essential to the character, and essential to the game. Perhaps that's the big take away.....it is essential to the character and to the game. Hence, play is character driven.</blockquote>

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