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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8269368" data-attributes="member: 6696971">There are so many issues with that proposed Blades hack that I read.  Some initial thoughts:* D&D 5e doesn't remotely have the kind of authority distribution and transparency in action resolution that Blades possesses.  This is for a number of reasons that don't just begin and end with "well, start asking questions and using answers in 5e just like in Blades!"  You'd have to change the DC spread/complication paradigm (DC isn't Position...its not Effect...its not some amorphous combination of the two...they're conceptually different enough that you have an issue), you'd have to tighten up and stabilize the numbers (the maths between the two systems are different), you'd have to conceive of a functional and integrated Teamwork/Push/Devil's Bargain system, and you'd have to make table-facing the entire action resolution structure (the easiest part).* The pressure points of the two games are entirely different (both in the breadth of them and in the potency of them).  There is so many missing analogous pieces (Hit Points/HD are not even close to Stress and Fatigue isn't remotely Trauma and the suite of restoration abilities that PCs have for them in 5e immediately alters the play space and the moment to moment gamestate to a point that it a hack attempt looks unrecoverable...and that is just scratching the surface...how do you create a Coin > Get Stuff Done model that is stable and intuitable...what is the Heat analogue?).* The incentive structures are entirely different.  What is the carrot that equates to negotiating for Desperate Position so you can get xp?  1 Inspiration ain't it...and if you used that, the downstream effects are significant (you're suddenly exchanging the mechanics and incentive structures of Push/Devil's Bargain for the incentive structures of advancement that push the game toward "be bold and tempt fate"...that alone changes the nature of play and decision-points). That is just scratching the surface.  Int for Flashacks?  That again rewards smarty-pants Wizards (D&D needs more of that!) and punishes martial characters that aren't F-Ms!I think if I was actually trying to hack in something like Blades tech into 5e, the very first thing I would think of is "how can I stabilize + tune + integrate all the Help/Teamwork/DB stuff within the action resolution mechanics, make them table-facing, and give them teeth!"Very first question.  Tackle that and then you can get on with the rest (which doesn't just including changing stuff, but integrating it).  Some initial thoughts I'd throw around:* 1 Flashback per Score per PC.* Somehow make Fatigue into Harm and make it very difficult to recover (the current D&D model makes it trivial to recover).  Downtime Activities can recover it on a Clock w/ a Healer's help.* Figure out and tightly tune the Coin > Get Assets/Get Stuff Done/Advance Level economy.* Figure out how Heat + Wanted Level + Engagements works (what it is...what it does > Entanglements are basically Random Encounters, so there is that kindred part).* X number of Stress per Score (not HP, not HD...it can't scale and it can't be restored in Score via all the various ways D&D PCs can) and if you Stress out in a Score, your PC is taken out and you add a Flaw that is like Blades Trauma (Cold, Haunted, Obsessed, et al) that the (a) has teeth and (b) the player and the GM can use the pressure point later as complications that earn xp.* Saving Throw System is somehow Resistance Rolls where you can risk increased Stress to mitigate complications.That is kind of the starting point.  No D&D scaling of integral stuff.  1 Flashback per Score.  Hit Points/HD aren't Stress.  Somehow make Fatigue into Harm.  Flaws are Trauma. Lot of figuring out to do.  But that is just the beginning.  Then you have to tightly tune and integrate all the stuff.This project feels like the "well 5e is basically 4e D&D because HD and Healing Surges!" that was/is thrown about.  No.  Not at all.  But that is just the tip of the iceberg (navigating the reality that HDs and Healing Surges don't have the same immediate and longterm gamestate implications).  Once you've got all the parts, you have to tightly tune and integrate everything. The sort of "modular-based" + "just let the GM deploy the Triple F (Feel, Fiat, and Force) to get it to roughly hang together" thinking that undergirds 5e (and the overwhelming majority of the D&D hacking community) is extremely different than "holistic, integrated, tightly tuned design" where GM's aren't performing Fiat or Force and the extreme corner cases where they're deploying Feel its as tightly guided/constrained by the system as a game could be (upthread I mentioned Genre Hold 'Em conflict resolution...that is as corner case as it gets).</blockquote>

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