So last night, before my regular GURPS session, I grabbed the first player through the door (Roderick) and persuaded him to try a quick session of Blackguard while he ate his Chinese. I'll outline the game in this post and the comments in the second.
Roderick quickly created Skarren, a classic fantasy thief with a black cloak and a floppy black hat who'd come to the castle to steal the Queen's Crown, and discover (for reasons we didn't specify) whether it was fake or real. He chose to be Good at Stealth, Average at Breaking and Entering and Poor at Charm.
Scene 1 - Obstacles 5, Alert 0
Skarren started on a hillside outside the castle in the evening. Lights were on and many nobles were making their way across the drawbridge for a ball the Queen was holding. To leave things open for the first skill I described the distracted guards he could charm his way past, and open windows he could climb too, and Roderick suggested there might be a back servant's entrance as well. Skarren grabbed a sack full of food and walked into the servant's entrance with a delivery, before dropping it in the kitchens and slipping into the servant's corridors. He got three dice for Stealth + The style dice (I like the bold faced entry) and got a success, but also Danger!
Scene 2 - Obstacles 5, Alert 1
I grabbed my extra obstacle (so lost one for the success, but gained one for the danger) and Skarren found his way blocked by giant cook Melba, who saw him shirking and ordered him back into the kitchens to scrub the dishes or face her rolling pin. Skarren quickly pleaded that he needed to visit the privy, and succeded with a Charm roll (no style).
Scene 3 - Obstacles 4, Alert 1
Skarren found himself in the servant's corridors and decided that the since the ball had not yet begun there was a good chance that he crown would still be awaiting the Queen in her dressing room, and headed up the servant's stairs to the third floor. Rolling the Blackguard dice for inspiration and getting B&E and Stealth I told him that the door to the third floor was locked. He could pick the lock, but he could also hear a maid coming up the stairs. Skarren chose to hide in the shadows till the maid came, then slip a wedge into the hinges of the door before it closed so he could sneak through after her. He rolled 3 stealth + style and got a success ... and danger! (see a pattern)
Scene 4 - Obstalces 4, Alert 2
As the maid went through the door Skarren darted out of the shadows and wedged the door, only to be spotted by the maid. She screamed for help before fainting and the guards came running from up the corridor. Skarren hastily leapt through the door, doffing his cloak, grabbed the fainting maid and when the guards came pointed down the stairs and shouted "He went that way!". He rolled 1 charm + style and got a success and swag. I let him take the maid's expensive sheets with him.
Scene 5 - Obstacles 3, Alert 2, Swag 1
Making his way to the Queen's appartments Skarren found a guard and a butler arguing outside, the guard insisting that he couldn't leave the appartments while the butler upbraided him on his unpolished armour and told him to go and clean up. Neither was paying much attention to the door (I rolled charm + stealth on the inspiration roll). Skarren chose to toss a pebble down the corridor to distract them more and then slip through the door. I said he could get the style dice in return for an alert point if he did this and he agreed. He rolled 3 stealth + style and got a success and 2 swag.
Scene 6 - Obstacles 2, Alert 3, Swag 2
Skarren now found himself in the Queen's parlor, full of fineries such as a polar bear rug, glasses and decanter, an exquisite lute on a stand and many hangings. An inner door led to her bedroom. Skarren helped himself to the glasses but before he could enter the bedroom he heard the Queen approaching from the corridor! He quickly took cover behind a hanging and watched as the Queen entered with 3 ladies in waiting and 4 guards. The Guard captain was telling her that there was an intruder in the palace and that he insisted on an increased guard. The Queen and maids entered the bedroom, while two guards stood at the door and the other guard and captain went outside.
I told Roderick that there was a narrow ledge outside the window that could maybe be used to enter the bedroom, or he could fight the guards (both B&E). He chose to fight the guards, leaping out from behind the curtain and throwing the sheet over them before stabbing one and hitting the other over the head with the lute. I said that he could trade in one of his Swag for a re-roll, and he chose to do that (more on this below). He rolled 2 B&E + style + a re-roll and got success and suspicion. He decided to use his re-roll on the suspicion and got danger!
Scene 7 - Obstacles 3, Alert 4, Swag 1
Skarren leapt out and dispatched the guards with style, but he was heard by the guard captain, who rushed in with sword drawn to save the Queen. Skarren threw open the bedroom door and grabbed a lady in waiting as hostage! Skarren rolld 2 B&E + style (with a forced re-roll of blanks on the danger dice) and failed! Another of the ladies in waiting hit him over the head with a chair and we faded to black ....
Scene 8 - Obstacles 3, Alert 5, Swag 1
Skarren awoke in a castle cell stripped of his swag. I rolled for inspiration and got B&E. I told him that outside the cell bars a man-mountain of a jailer was picking his toenails with a dagger while a dog slept under a table. The jailer's keys were hanging from his belt. Skarren pulled a concealed lockpick from the heel of his boot and tried to pick the lock. He rolled 2 B&E and failed with danger! (ARGH)
Scene 9 - Obstacles 4, Alert 6, Swag 0
Before Skarren could get out of the cell the dog woke and barked, alerting Mondo the jailer (Melba's brother). Mondo leapt up (one boot on and one off) waving his dagger, while Skarren attacked him with his own boot. Skarren rolled 2 B&E + style (for the boot) but failed.
Scene 10 - Obstacles 4, Alert 6, Swag 0
After failing to be beaten with the boot Mondo suggested that it was a very nice boot, and Mondo might be willing to let Skarren go if he gave him his boots, clothing and all the rest. Skarren countered by offering to trade the boots for the dagger. He rolled 1 charm and failed.
Scene 11 - Obstacles 4, Alert 6, Swag 0
Almost out of ideas after Mondo simply avails himself the boot and clothing the easy way ... by force, without a trade, Skarren tries to flee while Mondo is distracted with the boots. He rolls 3 stealth .... and fails! He ends up naked but for a shirt and locked back in the cell while Mondo chuckles about how he loves a good hanging!
At this point the other players were willing to wait no more, and since we had come to a clear impasse we ended the game for now.
Observations to follow in the next post.
So all in all that was an
Submitted by David Donachie on Tue, 25/09/2007 - 09:29.
So all in all that was an incredibly fun playtest! The dice flowed pretty smoothly, even without having the symbols on them (I scribbled down a quick lookup table) and it felt enjoyably co-operative. Unfortunatly there were some bad rolls on Roderick's part and the whole thing pretty much ended in a stalemate. Skarren ended up still locked up after four scenes of escape and having tried all of the different skills to get out.
Basic play
Basic play went very well, with some rounds using the Blackguard dice for my inspiration, and some being obvious from the scenes before. Five obstacles were plenty, since danger kept adding more. With perfect rolls it could have been over in something like the 15 minutes suggested but in actual fact it took a lot longer. I did sometimes wonder about all test having the same difficulty (e.g. you couldn't have a stronger monster to fight), but rising alert goes hand in hand with rising danger and does a lot to fix that. The style dice was very powerful when used, when using the weaker stats it was really needed for success.
Swag
Almost as soon as Skarren picked up some Swag it became obvious that there was no use for it in play and should be. Although the rules suggest that it might be used as XP after the game I don't think this would work, there are only two stats that can be raised (the poor and average ones) and doing so would make the game far less interesting. Instead I ruled that you could give up a point of Swag for a re-roll on any test, by using the swag in your description ... we did this with the sheet that Skarren took from the maid in the later fight. Between games you could convert swag into starting re-rolls for the next game as well, to be used on anything.
The question also came up of what happened to swag when you got captures (i.e. failed an obstacle created by danger). It seemed unlikely that you would get thrown in a cell with your loot, though you might be *captured* with it.
Alert
Rising alert was our biggest problem, since it quickly makes tests harder and capture more likely, but nothing you can do reduces it. Playing as written the Alert was still 5 after Skarren was captured (which made sense, they knew he was there), making any escape difficult.
Roderick suggested that the thief be allowed to do a scene that didn't remove an obstacle but just reduced alert by one ... maybe by hiding for a while, or planting false clues or something. I'm not totally convinced, but maybe allowing the thief a roll to reduce alert by 1 but giving the Taskmaster an obstacle in return would work. That would allow the thief to wait till the heat was off ... but extend the robbery in the process, which makes a lot of sense.
Fighting
The rules say toe to toe fighting is not allowed but it came up lots of times. I said that toe to toe fighting was breaking and entering. Did I do wrong? Was fighting the guards outside the bedroom stealth? Was fighting the guard captain charm? What would fighting Mondo with the boot be?
Dead end
The biggest problem was in the final scenes with Skarren and Mondo. The rules state that when failing a test in a non-danger scene the thief starts the next scene facing the same obstacle ... all well and good except that they don't get to try the same way of passing it again. In this case Roderick tried all avenues of escape and failed them all!
So where next? Do we say that if you fail all three ways of escaping captivity you are bound for the gallows (the most plausible outcome here) and can actually lose, or do you just get another opportunity to escape on your way to your hanging or whatever? Graham suggests you can give up when the situation is hopeless (e.g. alert 10) but then that you should test for the escape scene, which is hard to do when there is no escape and you've failed all tests to get away!
If the principle is that there is always another opportunity to escape and the thief can't die then that needs to be explicit, otherwise the inventions required to support this would stretch credulity.
For example in the old Starblazer comic "Slayer in the Mists" the hapless thief ends up in just this situation, discovered, thrown in jail, beat up by the other inmates and scheduled for hanging. In that story the Goddess of mercy Orida turns up in his cell, creates a straw simulacrum to hang in his place, and takes him away on a quest. Another example would be the rescue from hanging in Pirates of the Caribbean (many times). If that's the ethic it can be done, but sometimes it just may make more sense to die!
My feeling is that if death is possible then it may need mechanical support, like if you are captured (by failed danger) and have tried all three ways out (each skill) and alert is some value or higher, then you are dead?
Anyway ... all in all, I loved it!
Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually
Oh, fantastic.
Submitted by Graham W on Tue, 25/09/2007 - 11:32.
This is great. Thanks very much.
Did Roderick enjoy it?
So...
1. You're right, it does take more than 15 minutes. I must change that description. How long did it actually take?
2. My idea for Swag is that you can use it to buy equipment after the game. Any item of equipment can be used, once per game, for a reroll. (I think the cost will be something like 3 Swag per piece of equipment). Is that any good?
3. But...yes...also, I like the idea of using Swag during the adventure. How would you feel about bribery? Perhaps, when you roll Danger, you have the option to give up all your Swag to avoid it? And perhaps, then, Alert drops by the amount of Swag you gave?
I do think the choice should be a big one, though. Hmmm.
4. Oh...but I like the idea of using the Swag in the description for a reroll, too.
5. My thought with Swag, when you're captured, is that it all gets put in a sack somewhere. Then, when you escape, you just pick it up.
It sounds silly, but it's the one that video games use when you're captured: your lose all your equipment, but after a while, you find an "Evidence Chest" and get it all back.
6. I'm unsure about scenes to reduce Alert. Part of me just wants Alert to go up. Mmmm. Really not sure. Suggestions welcome.
7. Yeah, OK, I need toe-to-toe fighting, don't I? I think a sneaky blackjack-to-the-back-of-the-head is probably Stealth. Otherwise, Breaking And Entering would do. I'll make it clear.
8. That thing about three-failed-attempts-and-you're-out? I'll put it in. Possibly, also, if you're captured twice (or three times), you're captured for good.
Thanks so much. That's great.
Graham
Yes Roderick enjoyed it a
Submitted by David Donachie on Tue, 25/09/2007 - 12:09.
Yes Roderick enjoyed it a lot, as did I. I think we played for closer to 30 minutes than 15, and we still didn't steal the crown, indeed the obstacles at the end were not dramatically reduced from the start! :) I think a lot of that was due to bad dice rolls though. Getting the danger on the re-roll of the suspicion was just really bad luck, and felt sort of like a waste of the swag.
Re: 2-4 Yes, buying permanent kit is a good use of swag, but I'm not sure how much it would come into play. We were just playing fast and loose with equipment (we mentioned a dagger, some silk rope and a lockpick along the way) so it would be more mechanical than narrative. I would certainly want to see it combined with an in-game use of swag you'd just got, so it was a trade off ... 3 swag = three rerolls this game or 1 permanent reroll in each subsequent game.
Re: 5 I have no problem with loot all just being there in a sack as you flee the cell, I'd assumed the same, only we never got out of the cell to find out :)
Re: 7 Toe to toe fighting as breaking and entering was fine for us, I don't think you need 4 stats. Its great that you have the flexibility to have each fight with any stat depending on circumstances.
Re: 8 Much as I might advocate the 3 strikes and your out approach it does change the dynamic of the game to something that can be won and lost, which it isn't as written. That's why I think there has to be plenty of evidence that the situation is un-winnable before you should accept death as a consequence. If the thief player feels its right then of course its fine, but they will play differently with death/losing on the cards.
Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually
OK...
Submitted by Graham W on Wed, 26/09/2007 - 11:18.
I think I might use the "Three strikes and you're out" thing. I always had it in my head that you could lose, even though I didn't make it explicit in the rules.
On using Swag: how do you feel about using it for reducing Alert? Something like this:
When you roll Danger, you have the option to bribe the guard. To do this, you must spend as many Swag as there are Alert points. If you do this, Alert goes to zero, and there's no extra Obstacle point.
If you don't have enough Swag to buy off the Alert points, you may, alternatively, spend all your Swag to reduce the Alert points by the same number.
I quite like this, because it makes a bit of narrative sense.
Graham
It does make sense, though
Submitted by David Donachie on Wed, 26/09/2007 - 12:18.
It does make sense, though paying off one guard is not exactly them all ... I would certainly like that as a tool in the toolbox, that the taskmaster can offer, rather like the style for alert trade I made with the thrown pebble.
I prefer the buy off some approach to the have to buy it all off approach
Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually