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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 8458945" data-attributes="member: 85870">So I backed the Court of Blades kickstarter a few months ago, and only now just started digging into the "preview" PDF. Everything I've read so far has been tremendously compelling, and very much in line with what I hoped it would be when I backed it. The "preview" is a 90-95% complete set of rules, minus the interior art. The premise is a Forged in the Dark take on The Three Musketeers (particularly the BBC TV series), Count of Monte Cristo, Dangerous Liaisons, Scarlet Pimpernel, etc., with hints of fey/gothic magic interspersed. On the whole, the rules and play structure seem relatively clear, and the general tone / playstyle / player + GM authority roles seem quite similar to standard GM-led play in Ironsworn. But I'm having questions around how exactly to structure a "score". In Court of Blades it's referred to as an "errand", which if I am reading things correctly, would be a specific set of scenes undertaken by the players to achieve the goals of their faction (one of the "Great Houses" of the city of Ilrien). For example, "Attend Baron Von Falhauser's ball, seduce Mistress Janokov to get her to reveal the location of the hidden warehouse full of smuggling goods, and retrieve the bills of lading from the Baron's vault in his upper chambers."From what I understand, entering a "score" / "errand" is not meant to be done in a painstaking, GM-backstory-pixel-hunting, hours-long planning session. Basically, once the "errand" is to be undertaken, the GM and players perform a quick series of engagement rolls which sets some of the initial position / effect for the players' "coterie" (the BitD equivalent of "the crew"). The dice rolled are based on the relative power levels between the player's faction and the faction being engaged, any background info, any pre-existent fiction that may help/hinder the players, etc. But immediately after that, it's assumed the players and GM just dive in --- "Okay, you arrive at the Baron's ball, and immediately notice that there's a much stronger bureaucratic (and security) presence than you initially surmised. If Mistress Janokov remains true to form, she will either be found consuming wine along the outskirts of the dance hall, or ingratiating herself to whichever prince of the court is willing to lend an ear . . . . "From that point, what's a typical back and forth going to look like? At what point does it become clear to the players that they may need to sacrifice some stress to introduce a flashback? As a GM how permissive vs. hard-lined should I be in requiring rolls for flashbacks, and in setting position / effect for the flashbacks, etc.?I understand how "harm" conditions are generated through responses to action rolls, but how does stress interact with the harm conditions? What mechanical effects does accruing too much stress have on the players?</blockquote>

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