Gotham - Forged in the Dark - Playbook Ideas (+)

[Fenris-77]

I think there’s some interesting potential there. Obsession also seems close to Vice. Potentially, at least.

I think you could go a few ways with this.

So let’s say the Obsession comes up....the GM points it out. The player can deny his obsession by paying stress. Do they clear stress by accepting the obsession and changing their action accordingly?

That was what I had envisioned, yeah. There's a couple of reasons I'm kicking this horse. One, I wanted the core villain drives to be very up front and part of the narrative. Two, I feel like stress use is going to be very dynamic in this game, and I wanted the PCs to have some options for managing their stress track in play. This felt like a good way to get both of those things done. I am also considering the idea of Monologuing as a mechanic that gets used in the same way. That's a standard villain pitfall, so why not encourage it mechanically.

Can it be connected to stress and not its own thing?

Or do you think there’s enough there to warrant a new track devoted to Obsession?

I think it depends on how you want it to function and how you want it to impact play.

So far I think it works as a part of the stress mechanic. Nothing I've come up with requires that it be a second track, so at this point it won't get one. That could change, but my default is to keep things simple.

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, after playing around with some character builds I've decided to change the action list a bit. There just didn't seem to be enough criminal stuff, and maybe too much tech focused stuff - the perils of using SaV I guess.

I'm going to roll computer stuff into Rig, which frees up a space for to put Hunt back into Insight, although I want a different name than Hunt. Hunt is still info gathering, tracking, and long range gun-fu, which also splits combat back into two skills, which I like. At that point I'm going to shift lock picking back to prowess and stick it in with driving in Handle, which I may have to rename as well (and I might as well toss Picking Pockets back in there too since it's essentially straight Finesse). I seem to have come full circle here back to something very like the original Blades action list, which is fine, I just wanted to make sure I'd kicked the tires on some options.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Maybe "Operate" for using tools and or vehicles in place of Handle? I feel like there should be a better option than that, but at the moment I can't think of one.

 

[Fenris-77]

Maybe "Operate" for using tools and or vehicles in place of Handle? I feel like there should be a better option than that, but at the moment I can't think of one.

You don't operate lock picks though. Well, maybe you do, IDK. You definitely Finesse them however. Sigh. I really want my own action names. This will keep, we all know what the skill does. I was coming at the lock pick thing more from here: Damn, the door is locked! he cursed. Don't worry, I'll handle it. I said, pulling my lock picks.

 

[hawkeyefan]

You don't operate lock picks though. Well, maybe you do, IDK. You definitely Finesse them however. Sigh. I really want my own action names. This will keep, we all know what the skill does. I was coming at the lock pick thing more from here: Damn, the door is locked! he cursed. Don't worry, I'll handle it. I said, pulling my lock picks.

Yeah I can’t think of the perfect verb for it. I kept coming back to operate becuase you operate machines and so forth. But it’s not great.

I think use whatever placeholder you like and hope for a better idea to come along!

 

[Fenris-77]

Yeah I can’t think of the perfect verb for it. I kept coming back to operate becuase you operate machines and so forth. But it’s not great.

I think use whatever placeholder you like and hope for a better idea to come along!

The only other thing that comes to mind is Move. I'm going to stop obsessively browsing the thesaurus now and worry about it later. Finesse is a fine stand in.

I should have a couple more refinements to post in the next little while. Still working on the playbooks and I have some alternate ideas for the action mechanics.

 

[Fenris-77]

Fooling around with some new fonts and a very rough first pass at a graphic title. I think I'll try do something like this on a transparent layer over a comic cityscape. I'm new to this desktop publishing thing, so it should be an adventure. I think I'll go with a mix of the second font there and a more traditional comic font for the interior work, probably laid out in panels over greyscale and washed out Batman images. Or something. I have a bunch of design ideas rattling around, in addition to all the rules stuff.

 

[Manbearcat]

Been busy.

Alright, so, lets map this onto a Blades PC and include some other games' tech to round it out. How do we include Joker and Penguin under the same Class?

SPIDER

A devious mastermind
The underworld may appear on the surface to be a chaotic array of warring factions and bloody deeds, but it has a beautiful order to those who are able to see it. This pattern is the web of connections, favors, vendettas, and secrets that bind the criminal world together. The scoundrels who pluck the strands of this web are known as Spiders.

3 stock Action Dots

1 Study
2 Consort

4 picked Action Dots

JOKER - 2 Command, 1 Tinker, 1 Wreck
PENGUIN - 1 Study, 1 Survey, 2 Sway

Special Abilities

JOKER -Weaving the Web: You gain +1d to Consort when you gather information on a target for a score. You get +1d to the engagement roll for that operation.

PENGUIN - Connected: During downtime, you get +1 result level when you acquire an asset or reduce heat.

Then of course, you'd have Joker having a different Loadout of Special Spider Items (vial of slumber essence or some alchemical device and a hidden palm pistol or something vs Penguin having the fine bottle of whiskey and the architectural plans)

Instead of Heritage and Background, you could just have:

Backstory
Method
Aim

If any of these are revealed/expressed through play, mark 1 xp (or 2 xp if multiple times).

JOKER might be:

• Tragic, mystery man of madness
• Build a house to burn it down
• Show them you're the same

PENGUIN might be:

• Came from nothing... (see Aim)
• Calculation and conspiracy
• ...To take everything

---

Those two characters would create a gamestate, change the gamestate, and be revealed through play quite differently. You don't need to hew to that exact schematic, but the guy who leads a Crew can be differentiated quite significantly just through a few pivot points. The Backstory/Method/Aim xp trigger approach would do a lot of work.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

I'm personally a fan of John Ostrander's Hacker Penguin from his old 1980s Suicide Squad comic, but otherwise it looks great!

 

[hawkeyefan]

I'm personally a fan of John Ostrander's Hacker Penguin from his old 1980s Suicide Squad comic, but otherwise it looks great!

That comic was so good. Ahead of its time.