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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8801419" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Cool thread [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] !I just skimmed it and I saw this post and (given that I'm GMing this game) I thought I'd post a few comments about when should someone (both a player in a TTRPG and the PC embroiled in the conflicts and paradigm of the play) suspend their personal sovereignty for the collective and when should they put their foot down and express their own dramatic needs (to some extent; large or small) at the expense of the collective?So where Blades in the Dark does have "personal Tier" is very interesting with respect to this question.  Let us consider Takeo ( [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] 's character in this Blades game) and how the rules of the game give expression to this "personal Tier."Stash is one very important one.  It is sort of a "personal score" number in Blades.  It expresses lifestyle.  Stash goes up by 1d at 11/21/40 dots (eg at 21 you have 2d worth of lifestyle).  This is personal.  You can (a) use this value as a means to make an Action Roll or a Fortune Roll during play when lifestyle is the important part of the test.  Again, its also "your score."  However, what players are perpetually tempted to do is liquidate Stash for Coin (at the cost of 2 : 1) in order to do various things in game; help out with a Crew Longterm Project, buy-up an Action Roll result (where that makes sense in the fiction), pay someone off outright and obviate an obstacle (where that makes sense in the fiction), or (personally) Train for xp, or buy-up an Acquire an Asset or Recover result.  The decision to liquidate or horde (for "score" or to increase lifestyle dice pool) is a personal one.  The decision on what to spend that liquidated Coin from Stash is a personal one.  But both the weight of the collective's needs is a persistent one (particularly when there are many threats in play...as there are now for this discussed game) and the downward social pressure of players upon other players (whether intentional or incidental).The same thing happens with PC build where you have all manner of individual choices on "individual expression of Tier:"* Should I put a Dot in x Action vs y Action?  The inputs for this question are many and multifaceted.  Going from a 0 to a 1 in an Action Roll is a huge deal in this game and it also increases your Resistance for that bin of stuff (either Insight, Prowess, or Resolve).  But what about having a huge dice pool in Skirmish (like Takeo) and spreading myself thin on Prowess Resistance (signifying a very capable offensive character, but less so defensively...or at least a much more "living dangerously" character when on the defense)?  There are many reasons why one might make this personal choice, some of them are expressions of sovereignty and some are downward social pressure of the group (in terms of removing liabilities or amplifying synergies).* Should I push for an alternative to Weapons Quality Upgrade as a Crew Upgrade because I'm already personally very high in quality?   Takeo has +1 Tier with his default suite of weapons due to his chosen playbook already.  He also has Potency vs Supernatural due to PC build choice.  When Assessing Factors vs supernatural, this puts him at +2 for Effect already (on top of the +2 for Crew).  The Weapons Quality Upgrade suddenly puts him at +3 so now Takeo is walking around at +5 when Assessing Factors vs Supernatural (even mundane its +4)!  In a great many cases, that is extreme overkill...but there are cases where it would absolutely help.  An alternative Crew Upgrade would help Takeo in most situations while Weapons Quality Upgrade will only help in some (due to his already large number of factors).* Consider the push for a Score to vanquish your own Vice Purveyor (the Demon embedded in your sword)!  This "cost" a Score but it also cost you a Downtime Activity as now you have to establish a new Vice Purveyor!  This was very personal.  In the meta of play it was also a consideration however, as your demonic Vice Purveyor was starting to cause problems.* Consider the NPC (shortly thereafter Friend and then quickly Cohort) Hajime who just entered play a bit ago due to a Devil's Bargain (due to the dramatic needs of the character expressed at PC build and during play).  There are many decisions about her (and some still to come) that interact with personal sovereignty vs collective.  Accepting that Devil's Bargain (that gave "life" to her) at all is one.  Pushing for and then executing a Score (at the expense of the myriad other things a Score could have been spent upon...particularly considering all of the threats pressing in upon the Crew) to liberate her from her conditions is another.  The decision to move her from Friend (which only bears out personal benefit) vs Cohort (which can/will bear out Crew benefit) is another.  What about decisions to use her in a Score or an Action (Group or individual) when the risk is not insignificant that harm might come to her?  What about you having Takeo take Leader (giving her +1 Effect and 1 Armor) vs another (perhaps more consistently useful or more powerful) Ability?  What about your decision to begin a Longterm Project to uncover the shared past of your homeland (as it pertains to "how you got here" and The Unity War) vs spending Coin or default allowed DTAs or Stash on an alternative Downtime Action that gives expression to the collective's needs?[HR][/HR]We could continue this exercise for you and your own character (there is more) and we could do this exact same exercise for each player in the Crew.  There are many tensions around "personal Tier" (retention, growth, diminishment) vs "group Tier" and individual dramatic needs vs collective and assets spent or horded (and on what) in this game.  We didn't even touch on The Faction Game here (who to try to seduce, who to try to destroy, what terrible entity to bring into this world and which one to foil)!</blockquote>

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