07-19-2019, 09:07 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
The Blades in the Dark (BitD) / Scum and Villainy RPGs have neat ideas. The "stress track" gets a lot of praise. Also the retcon flashback system. How would I implement these in GURPS? I feel like GURPS is 90% of the way there already if I can just rearrange the parts a little, but I'm not usually a "homebrew rules" kind of GM so your thoughts would be great. At first I thought the stress track was just a FATE-y storytelling system but the more I mess with it the more it also seems to be a gritty simulation of the mental rigors of adventuring. I like it.
My goals -- these are the interesting BitD ideas that I'm trying to obtain in GURPS:
Here are the specific BitD rules. (There is a SRD but it is way too vague so I will list the relevant rules. Sorry this post is so long!) The BitD Stress Track is a pool of 9 stress points. In BitD you spend stress points in order to...
If you max out the stress track (9 points) you acquire trauma to clear the track -- in GURPS terms you acquire 1 from among 8 mental disadvantages. The fourth time you max out the stress track your character takes a mandatory retirement. Essentially you die -- stress has teeth. You reduce stress points in BitD by indulging in a vice while not adventuring or by sitting out an entire adventure. You can also pay money (to take a vacation, sort of). You can only reliably reduce 1d stress points between missions. (Money can +1d.) But if you overshoot your vice roll (your die clears more stress than you have), it backfires on you producing a negative consequence. I think you can do the same thing as the above BitD stress track with a dedicated stress point ("SP") pool that combines features of the GURPS FP/HP pools and character points. Numbers in this list match the BitD rules list above. Let's say in GURPS terms you have a new pool of 9 SP (stress points). Stress points are much more important than HP or FP and are priced closer to character points. (?? I could make the SP pool based on Will. Not sure.) During GURPS character design reduce your disadvantage limit by 10 points to allow for the mental disadvantages that may be produced by the stress track. I think the PCs need to start more sane so that you have room to wear them down. (This could also be implemented as Schrodinger's Disadvantage if anyone remembers that 3e rule.) Then in GURPS you could spend those SP in order to...
If you max out your SP track, it is cleared and you acquire a new 5-point mental disadvantage of your choice related to the event. (?? Not sure about pricing this.) Disadvantages acquired this way cannot be bought off with CPs. The fourth time you max out your SP track, your character must retire (as per BitD rules). To remove SP, you must not be adventuring and you must have free time. Make a self-control roll against a vice-related disadvantage (if you have one). If you have none, you can still indulge in a vice: roll against Will. Clear the number of SP equal to the margin of success up to a maximum of 6 SP. If your margin of success is greater than the stress that you have, it backfires and something bad happens (use BitD rules). On a failure, clear 1 SP. On a critical failure, clear 0 SP and it also backfires. You can only roll once between missions, unless (at GM's option) you pay one month's wages to buy a second roll. You may also clear your SP track by making your character sit out an adventure if this is consistent with the story -- a GM decision. (You may play another character.) For this rules change to work I think you'd need a low-heroic point game (100-200 point starting characters). The GM will have to hit the players hard with very difficult challenges that they have to spend SP on. The players will need to like that -- as well as the idea of their character degrading (mine would). They'll also need to like the idea that indulging in vices is a campaign requirement. You might also use a stress track to modify/control Powers, Magic, or Psionics (BitD does this) but am not using them in my campaign and this post is long enough so I left that out. What do you think? I realize this has the potential to change gameplay a lot if the players dive in feet-first. However I think it is not feasible to implement the stress track idea "just a little bit." It has a lot of interconnected components. And I think a number of them can be expressed in GURPS rules that already exist. Last edited by weevis; 07-19-2019 at 10:56 AM. |
07-19-2019, 10:16 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
The consequences of Stress are similar to those for "Stress and Derangement" from GURPS Horror, but the use of it is a good deal like Destiny Points and similar from GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys. You may want to look at those for inspiration.
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GURPS Overhaul |
07-19-2019, 10:25 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Thanks this is very helpful! I didn't know about either of these.
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07-19-2019, 10:46 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
In addition to what was mentioned above, the "flashback" mechanic you mentioned also has a certain implementation in GURPS already.
Pyramid #3/53 Action has an article called "I've Got a Great Idea!" wherein different skills can be rolled to generate "Angle," which can then be spent in varying quantities on retroactive declarations depending on how drastic the changes are (and it must be narrated as to how the retroactive declaration actually occurs).
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07-19-2019, 10:47 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
As an aside, I also feel like modeling "ordinary" adventuring as progressive mental illness is *very* 2019.
If you spend time on twitter it seems like many people view everyday life in terms once reserved for Horror. |
07-19-2019, 10:50 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Quote:
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07-19-2019, 10:59 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Quote:
To explain: By default, the Pyramid article only says you have to "narrate" how the changes you made are justified. However, if your goal is to actually play through the action/retcon as you suggest in the OP, "Impulse Buys" suggests that if the purchased change is not a certain advantage but is only a chance at one, then you should discount all point expenditures by one (to a minimum of one point spent). Short version: if you want to actually roleplay through the retcons and see how it goes, rather than just having them narrate it and letting it be a sure thing, then I suggest giving them a discount of one point off whatever Angle they spend for it. It's hardly official, but I think it makes sense for what you seem to want to accomplish.
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- Danny |
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07-19-2019, 11:08 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Quote:
One last thing to mention, you may want to check out the article "Mad as Bones" from #3/103 Setbacks; it has sort of a simplified/streamlined version of the stress and derangement rules from Horror (as well as being a slightly different take in general, but it seems to match very closely to the effects you're trying to achieve above); I've used it several times to great effect to model stress, and the recovery rules are very nice as well as flexible/straightforward.
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- Danny |
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07-19-2019, 11:33 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Quote:
e.g., in the "Mad as Bones" mental stress system, being in a battle and having a major wound would cost you 2 SP. In the BitD mentality, the stress system is sometimes more like a pool of emergency "Oh s__t!" points. You could take the major wound and not use any stress or even mention SP. Or you could choose to resist the wound and spend stress. Or you could also have bolstered your tricky rolls in advance with modifiers bought using stress, ideally preventing the wound in the first place. I think also the "Mad as Bones" recovery is too easy in BitD terms. But it's great food for thought. |
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07-19-2019, 11:33 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: 3.165, -3.048, -0.0818
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Re: GURPS-ize the "Blades in the Dark" stress track?
Absolutely, this makes a lot of sense.
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Tags |
alternate gurps, cinematic, homebrew, narrativist, rule change |
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