Yora
Legend
Scum and Villainy is a variant hack of Blades in the Dark modified for campaigns in the style of Star Wars, Firefly, and similar works of Scoundrels with a Spaceship. While the core mechanics are basically identical to Blades in the Dark, the other 30% or so of the game are completely different. And of course, with a completely different thematic context, questions about good practices and judgement calls can be really different, so I think this deserves its own thread.
As a quick introduction to anyone curious about the game without knowing it, Scum and Villainy (like other Forged in the Dark and Powered by the Apocalypse games) is a game that is not about PCs and enemies with sets of character stats interacting with each by performing various actions defined by the rules, but really more a back and forth between the GM and the players taking turns who is going to control the next paragraph of the unfolding story. The character sheets of the PCs list 12 action ratings, which work kind of like skills, but also very much not. Anything that a PC does that requires a dice roll falls under one of the 12 defined actions; whichever seems to be the closest best fit. (Fighting, moving, sneaking, piloting, convincing, commanding, hacking, repairing, studying, medicine, supernatural) The rating for each of the actions determines the number of dice that are being rolled when performing an action that falls under that category. But since only the die with the highest number is counted as the result of the roll, and all other dice are discarded, the skill rating does not affect the limits of what the PC can accomplish. Every roll still comes out as a number between 1 and 6, regardless of the action rating and all other situational modifiers to the roll. A high action rating and additional bonus dice only improve the odds to get a 6 and decrease the odds to get a 1. What this means in practice is that the action ratings don't actually reflect skill, talent, or experience, and instead determine how often the player gets the desired result when announcing character actions that fall into the 12 different categories. In Scum and Villainy (and other FitD games), all special character abilities have something to do with giving extra dice to action rolls or gaining the benefit of two actions from a single action roll, or things of that kind. They generally don't unlock the ability to do new things that previously were impossible.
Any action roll can have three possible outcomes: You perform the action as you intended, you fail to perform the action and suffer a negative consequence, or you perform the intended action but also suffer a negative consequence as an unintended side effect. Only when the highest die of all the die you rolled is a 6 do you get the intended outcome with no complications. In all other situations, there will be some kind of problem. That problem can be injury, the arrival of new enemies, setting off alarms, discovering that the McGuffin has already been taken from its box, and a number of other things that are at the discretion of the GM. In a fight, NPCs don't have stats and don't take turns. If your action is to attack a guard and the roll results in a negative consequence, that negative consequence could be getting injured by that guard's weapon or the guard calling for help. Since all 12 actions are mechanically the same and only have different ratings (number of dice) for each PC, there isn't even a distinction of "combat" and "not combat".
With few actions giving you exactly what you hoped for, this system is made for escalating chains of chaos like an Indiana Jones movie. As you keep making progress, things also keep getting more wild. There's a lot more to the game, but this is the core mechanic that makes up probably 90% of what characters do during the game.
Now, I am having a specific question that I hope people can help me with. What exactly is the Consort action intended for? It's used for talking with NPCs and having to roll the dice, but the action is neither Command nor Sway. What kind of things would that be? The book does not elaborate much on that.
Since it's a colaborative storytelling game that doesn't require adventure prep, I think one way to use Consort would be to ask someone who's willing to talk about information, and the result of the rules determines whether you get to hear good new or bad news, or good news with also some bad news.
Say you're asking an ally if he knows any secret entrances to a place you want to get in. If you roll a 6, he can tell you about an entrance that will give the you an advantage if you use it. (For example, you will roll with Controlled Position on your action to "get inside" if you use the hidden entrance instead of any of the main entrances.) If you fail on the roll, he will warn you about some security feature that the GM wouldn't have introduced if you hadn't asked that NPC.
The only other situation I can think of is to get someone to give you an invitation to some restricted event or location, but that's about it. It feels rather limited compared to the other action ratings, and a bit like they had to pick something to get the number of Resolve actions to 4.
As a quick introduction to anyone curious about the game without knowing it, Scum and Villainy (like other Forged in the Dark and Powered by the Apocalypse games) is a game that is not about PCs and enemies with sets of character stats interacting with each by performing various actions defined by the rules, but really more a back and forth between the GM and the players taking turns who is going to control the next paragraph of the unfolding story. The character sheets of the PCs list 12 action ratings, which work kind of like skills, but also very much not. Anything that a PC does that requires a dice roll falls under one of the 12 defined actions; whichever seems to be the closest best fit. (Fighting, moving, sneaking, piloting, convincing, commanding, hacking, repairing, studying, medicine, supernatural) The rating for each of the actions determines the number of dice that are being rolled when performing an action that falls under that category. But since only the die with the highest number is counted as the result of the roll, and all other dice are discarded, the skill rating does not affect the limits of what the PC can accomplish. Every roll still comes out as a number between 1 and 6, regardless of the action rating and all other situational modifiers to the roll. A high action rating and additional bonus dice only improve the odds to get a 6 and decrease the odds to get a 1. What this means in practice is that the action ratings don't actually reflect skill, talent, or experience, and instead determine how often the player gets the desired result when announcing character actions that fall into the 12 different categories. In Scum and Villainy (and other FitD games), all special character abilities have something to do with giving extra dice to action rolls or gaining the benefit of two actions from a single action roll, or things of that kind. They generally don't unlock the ability to do new things that previously were impossible.
Any action roll can have three possible outcomes: You perform the action as you intended, you fail to perform the action and suffer a negative consequence, or you perform the intended action but also suffer a negative consequence as an unintended side effect. Only when the highest die of all the die you rolled is a 6 do you get the intended outcome with no complications. In all other situations, there will be some kind of problem. That problem can be injury, the arrival of new enemies, setting off alarms, discovering that the McGuffin has already been taken from its box, and a number of other things that are at the discretion of the GM. In a fight, NPCs don't have stats and don't take turns. If your action is to attack a guard and the roll results in a negative consequence, that negative consequence could be getting injured by that guard's weapon or the guard calling for help. Since all 12 actions are mechanically the same and only have different ratings (number of dice) for each PC, there isn't even a distinction of "combat" and "not combat".
With few actions giving you exactly what you hoped for, this system is made for escalating chains of chaos like an Indiana Jones movie. As you keep making progress, things also keep getting more wild. There's a lot more to the game, but this is the core mechanic that makes up probably 90% of what characters do during the game.
Now, I am having a specific question that I hope people can help me with. What exactly is the Consort action intended for? It's used for talking with NPCs and having to roll the dice, but the action is neither Command nor Sway. What kind of things would that be? The book does not elaborate much on that.
Since it's a colaborative storytelling game that doesn't require adventure prep, I think one way to use Consort would be to ask someone who's willing to talk about information, and the result of the rules determines whether you get to hear good new or bad news, or good news with also some bad news.
Say you're asking an ally if he knows any secret entrances to a place you want to get in. If you roll a 6, he can tell you about an entrance that will give the you an advantage if you use it. (For example, you will roll with Controlled Position on your action to "get inside" if you use the hidden entrance instead of any of the main entrances.) If you fail on the roll, he will warn you about some security feature that the GM wouldn't have introduced if you hadn't asked that NPC.
The only other situation I can think of is to get someone to give you an invitation to some restricted event or location, but that's about it. It feels rather limited compared to the other action ratings, and a bit like they had to pick something to get the number of Resolve actions to 4.
