I think -- my book is not right in front of me right now -- it's kind of the last thing you do in the session so the next session starts with the mission choice. I think.
Help me "get" Forged in the Dark.
hawkeyefan
Legend
I took a look at the book because honestly, I’m not sure! As I said, my group only played three sessions.
I think that mostly, what kinds of missions are available is dependent upon the location the legion’s in. Each location has certain types of missions, so selection may be limited. Each location also has a few special missions, which you can discover by spending Intel. They can also come up when the GM rolls a 6 when determining the number of missions available. The special missions also have a type (Assault, Recon, Supply, or Religious).
The Commander gets to say on what type of mission he’d like to focus. The GM rolls a d6 and uses this table:
1 Assault
2 Recon
3 Religious
4 Supply
5 Commander Focus
6 GM Choice
If the roll indicates a mission of a type not available at the current location, then you move up to the next number. So the Commander’s Focus increases the chances of the specific mission type he’d like. Especially since there are most likely 3 missions at a given location.
I didn’t recall all of this at all! There’s honestly a lot going on in this game. I’m reasonably sure I just offered the mission types available based on location, and let the Commander pick from those. But it’s a little more nuanced than that.
Ultimately, it’s dependent on location and the dice rolls, with the Commander having some input via Focus and possibly spending Intel for a Special Mission, and the GM having some say, as well.
Ovinomancer
No flips for you!
Hah! We were both misremembering in different directions!
hawkeyefan
Legend
I have to imagine that many folks just tend to choose a lot of the mission details instead of rolling. And I think that may be just fine when you’re starting out. Get a feel for the rest of the game, pick some stuff that you find interesting or easy to handle.
Looking at the book today I forgot how involved the Legion roles and campaign phase are. It’s good stuff.
Looking at the book today I forgot how involved the Legion roles and campaign phase are. It’s good stuff.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
I'm still going through the entire thread, but my strong suggestion is to watch an actual play video. Until I saw the game actually being played, I kept on trying to understand it in the context of games I knew and that really got in the way of understanding this game. There's a bit of unlearning of things we always assumed are foundational parts of the RPG experience. Fate was the same way, that I needed to release my assumptions and watch what was actually happening to "get it".
The very first time I saw a PbtA game, a long time (and good) D&D DM ran a one shot of it for us. But he just picked it up and never played, and he ran it like D&D. Rolls of 6- were often like failed rolls in D&D - just a lack of success. He didn't grok the concept of hard moves, and half way through started rolling for foes because he didn't get how we could be hurt otherwise. And he had a location-based adventure idea. It left all of us with a bad taste and a completely wrong idea of how the game was actually played.
So my advice is to watch people actually playing. Youtube has plenty for whatever game. Because you'll end up what "what the heck?!" and pausing and then figuring out that what was going on was violating unconscious assumptions about how RPGs are played, be it in terms of authority and authorship, task vs. conflict resolution, GM constraints, or whatever. Or was just a neat mechanic or rule and you can look it up. Either way, good things for learning.
The very first time I saw a PbtA game, a long time (and good) D&D DM ran a one shot of it for us. But he just picked it up and never played, and he ran it like D&D. Rolls of 6- were often like failed rolls in D&D - just a lack of success. He didn't grok the concept of hard moves, and half way through started rolling for foes because he didn't get how we could be hurt otherwise. And he had a location-based adventure idea. It left all of us with a bad taste and a completely wrong idea of how the game was actually played.
So my advice is to watch people actually playing. Youtube has plenty for whatever game. Because you'll end up what "what the heck?!" and pausing and then figuring out that what was going on was violating unconscious assumptions about how RPGs are played, be it in terms of authority and authorship, task vs. conflict resolution, GM constraints, or whatever. Or was just a neat mechanic or rule and you can look it up. Either way, good things for learning.
I'm watching the Band of Blades videos from the "Actual Play" channel. It looks like the GM is one of the authors, so that should be helpful.
Manbearcat
Legend
@Reynard
You’re getting tons of advice so I’m not going to engage on that level.
But if you want, I’ll run a 2-shot of Blades in the Dark (not BoB…haven’t read it yet) for you guys in a tutorial fashion (we can discuss rules/procedures/ethos as necessary as we play). Playing 2 x full play loops in an explicit, tutorial fashion should help quite a bit to understand FitD for your BoB game.
Let me know.
You’re getting tons of advice so I’m not going to engage on that level.
But if you want, I’ll run a 2-shot of Blades in the Dark (not BoB…haven’t read it yet) for you guys in a tutorial fashion (we can discuss rules/procedures/ethos as necessary as we play). Playing 2 x full play loops in an explicit, tutorial fashion should help quite a bit to understand FitD for your BoB game.
Let me know.
So, i'm in a Band of Blades campaign that's nearly done and i do have a few things about it:
The troupe play nature of it, combined with being a war narrative means the GM should absolutely be willing to do grevious harm and kill people as consequences for things. While I think it should be reasonable to cut loose in something like Blades in the Dark, especially so in Band of Blades.
The lorekeeper is actually way more important than is mechanically suggested, because the "back at camp" scenes are the place where you can really have the interesting drama and build and break relationships that will affect the missions, where it's less reasonable for people to be weird and interpersonal.
With the missions, you don't want to draw too much about them early on because you want the players to be able to ask reasonable intel questions and get something useful for them. Rolling it out is fine.
Like a lot of fiction-forward games, it helps a LOT to have players who are both assertive and have a good knowledge of the subject matter- since these games require everyone to be able to make things up on the spot. Same for the GM, but that goes without saying.
I recommend finding a random table to roll for the rookies' personalities and then come up with a blurb on the sheet- it helps a lot.
Also, don't limit a roll to one particular action- when you're using a clock to determine progress toward an objective, while it's important to have the GM parse how much a given action will help, don't force maneuver rolls just to have the characters move to the next danger, just say they get there. Maneuver is for if you're trying to deal with the challenge by moving, not just trying to get from A to B. Skill rolls are holistic.
The troupe play nature of it, combined with being a war narrative means the GM should absolutely be willing to do grevious harm and kill people as consequences for things. While I think it should be reasonable to cut loose in something like Blades in the Dark, especially so in Band of Blades.
The lorekeeper is actually way more important than is mechanically suggested, because the "back at camp" scenes are the place where you can really have the interesting drama and build and break relationships that will affect the missions, where it's less reasonable for people to be weird and interpersonal.
With the missions, you don't want to draw too much about them early on because you want the players to be able to ask reasonable intel questions and get something useful for them. Rolling it out is fine.
Like a lot of fiction-forward games, it helps a LOT to have players who are both assertive and have a good knowledge of the subject matter- since these games require everyone to be able to make things up on the spot. Same for the GM, but that goes without saying.
I recommend finding a random table to roll for the rookies' personalities and then come up with a blurb on the sheet- it helps a lot.
Also, don't limit a roll to one particular action- when you're using a clock to determine progress toward an objective, while it's important to have the GM parse how much a given action will help, don't force maneuver rolls just to have the characters move to the next danger, just say they get there. Maneuver is for if you're trying to deal with the challenge by moving, not just trying to get from A to B. Skill rolls are holistic.
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