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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tun Kai Poh" data-source="post: 8459046" data-attributes="member: 6761960">I play things quite fast and loose in Blades in the Dark. The Engagement rolls kicks things off kind of like an initiative roll, except that it just determines how risky the initial situation is. So we introduce some initial obstacle like security checks. But sometimes it's fun to kick things off with a more dramatically significant threat.Some GMs like to prompt players for ideas based on what the score is ("It's been a while since we've had your rivals show up at a social event. Maybe Myra or Minx's rival? What do you think?"). Or if I have a better idea (another NPC crew happens to be here for their own score, or a renegade ghost with a grudge against the NPC the crew are here to meet) then I introduce it instead.There are a few ways PCs to accumulate stress during this process. Pushing themselves to make the action roll needed to overcome the immediate obstacle, or spending 1 stress aiding someone else who is making the roll. Or they can change the narrative situation in some way by proposing a flashback and negotiating with me for how much it affects play. "I sent a fake invitation to Flint because he's sure to want to come, and he is bound to make a huge fuss when the guards recognize his fake invite. That should cause a ruckus or distraction, is that enough to reduce the roll from Risky to Controlled?" "Yes, that'll be 1 stress, and Flint is going to be looking for the people who set him up in the future..."Or the flashback might allow a roll that wouldn't make sense otherwise, like "Seeks sneaked over last night and installed a timed cut-off for the lights at the gate area, so there'll be a perfect opportunity to slip in. So can we make this a Tinker roll by Seeks instead of Sway?" "OK, that would almost be like a mini-mission ahead of time, but I'll allow it; it'll cost 2 stress. Go for it."If a roll gets anything but a 6, there are also consequences - maybe harm if there's physical danger, but maybe the Lurk's lockpick breaks in the lock and has to be crossed off the equipment list, maybe the situation escalates when more guards show up because the task took too long, or maybe you start a 6-tick clock for "general alarm" and make a number of ticks (1 for Controlled, 2 for Risky, 3 for Desperate). BUT the player who rolled can resist the consequence, rolling to see how much stress is taken instead!Stress has nothing to do with Harm, all it does is count down towards taking Trauma. Think of it as a limited resource that players use up for Pushing, Aiding, Flashbacks or Resisting consequences.Based on the result of the action roll, maybe it resolves the situation, or if you intended the threat to be particularly tough then the players will need to take another action ("the guard you're brawling with is hardy, so you'll need to fill up a 4-tick clock. Since your action was Risky Standard and you succeeded, that's two ticks out of four, and he's still standing, brandishing his baton. He's coming at you again - what do you do now?"). Or perhaps the situation has escalated (which is common when the best roll is less than 6, or someone took a Devil's Bargain) in which case the narrative scene snowballs into more trouble for the players to roll against.When the players get through all the trouble, it's okay to give them room to breathe, and let them progress in their score. But this is where you create the next stage with a new obstacle - often this starts Controlled, if they have been doing well, but sometimes I like to throw in a twist with a more dangerous threat, making it Risky or worse.And just keep going, go with the flow.</blockquote>

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