So I really love the concept and setting but the mechanics are not my cup of tea. After watching the live play it feels like the gm makes no roles and just determines when to damage the PC whenever they see fit. While I need a rp heavy game I also need a bit more mechanics than this game seems to have. I also feel like the recovery mechanics might be a little to restrictive than I prefer.
I like a dangerous game and all but 3 marks equaling a scar, 3 scars and your dead or permanently incapacitated means that any type of combat is rough. Based in last night show its not just combat thTs quite dangerous but mearly having memories. Then the only way of healing being using a very finite resource that only refreshes every 4 games seems to me that that by the 3rd or 4th game it's going to be very rough.
While the "Illuminated Worlds System" may not fully be a FitD game, it's probably easier to understand the underlying mechanics and design philosophy by looking at Blades in the Dark and even seeing what sort of makes changes CO makes to BitD.
Blades in the Dark is a pretty tight game where players take on the role of criminals in a gang trying to expand their territory in an enclosed city surrounded by a fantasy post-apocalypstic hellscape. I would recommend reading the rules for Blades in the Dark on the
SRD here. There are a number of Forged in the Dark games out there that do change the game in different ways. But much like with Powered by the Apocalypse games, I feel like there are also a fair number of PbtA and FitD games out there that come from designers who don't fundamentally understand or appreciate how everything works together as part of the game design. So the changes that these people make to the underlying game design tend to lead to pretty underperforming, forgettable games. I will admit that I am kinda worried that Candela Obscura and the Illuminated Worlds System will be one of these game systems, at least based upon what I am reading in the Quickstart.
Candela Obscura (Illuminated Worlds System) seems to have stripped down and changed
A LOT of the finer points of Blades in the Dark. One major difference that leaps out to me is with the Actions. According to the CO Quickstart,...
Ultimately it is up to the GM to decide when dice are rolled and which actions are used.
This may not seem like a big deal, especially if you are coming from D&D. However, if you are coming from BitD, this change is a really big deal, because that is not the case in BitD, as seen below:
- The player states their goal for the action.
- The player chooses the action rating.
- The GM sets the position for the roll.
- The GM sets the effect level for the action.
- Add bonus dice.
- The player rolls the dice and we judge the result.
In BitD, the player states their goal and
the player chooses the action (i.e., the approach) they would like their character to use. So for example, a player could decide that when sneaking up behind a guard to assassinate them,
they could choose to use the
Prowl action to make the kill, but a player could have also potentially chosen to use
Hunt or
Skirmish or even
Wreck actions.
The GM doesn't roll in BitD; however, the GM determines the Position/Effect of that action based on the situation. The Position represents how risky the action is to the player: i.e.,
controlled, risky, desperate. The Effect represents the effectiveness of the outcome based on that action:
limited, standard, great. There is a chart in BitD for what the results - 1-3 / 4-5 / 6 / Critical - may look on a Controlled/Risky/Desperate roll. But also here in the CO Quickstart, the GM only has one set of dials for establishing the stakes of the roll: low, normal, or high. No Position or Effect.
The player can even trade greater risk for greater effect! The player can also take Devil's Bargains that give them an extra die but usually with lingering consequences or a countdown clock for some other future negative consequence down the road. So the stakes of the outcome should be pretty clear by everyone when the roll is made. There are also differences with how a player can resist a consequence for their character in BitD and the sort of consequences/scars that this may involve, but I've rambled enough.
Candela Obscura / Illuminated Worlds clearly does take heavy, if not direct, inspiration from Blades in the Dark. But the changes that it makes to the game change it in some substantial and significant ways. And I'm not sure if these changes make for a better or more engaging game experience. (It seems like there are so many better ways the designers could have made a "
Forged in the Dark version of Vaesen.") So I'm now even more worried that my initial concern, which I voiced elsewhere - that the talented roleplay by the cast may be doing the heavy lifting for this new game system - is coming to pass.
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