Scum and Villainy (Sci-Fi BitD) on PbP

Nov 22, 2022 5:31 pm
Hi All,
Not sure if this has already been discussed, but I'm intrigued by the SciFi version of the Blades in the Dark RPG as a alternative for running a Star Wars game. Has anyone here played a Scum and Villainy game? If so what are your thoughts? Do you think the BitD system would work for PbP or is is too GM dependent (for setting Positions, Effects, and consequences?)

Thanks!
Nov 22, 2022 7:39 pm
While Scum and Villainy started its life as a Star Wars game, it quickly dropped any mention of the IP (but kept the name:). In addition to avoiding legal issues, this allowed them to make their own --rather intriguing-- setting. It can still do very Star Wars like games, though is probably better as 'alternative Star Wars'.
With the right group Forged in the Dark (FitD) games work very well. The better all the players know the rules the better it works (it rewards invested effort). It can be rather slow when every action also comes with a lesson on how the relevant mechanics work, but that improves with practice.

This is even more evident in PbP. It takes longer between each example of the rules and mechanics (PbP is slow), so learning and becoming proficient takes a long, long time. The slowdowns from needing to discuss each part of each action are also amplified --what takes minutes at the table can take weeks in PbP.

I have reached the stage where I will only do FitD with people who already know what they are doing and know that they like the system/style. It takes a lot of effort to get going and then does not shine till people fully grok what is happening, so it can be hard to get into.

This is sad, because Scum and Vilany is a good game.
Nov 23, 2022 1:19 am
Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful response. I really like the concept of the FitB system but was never that interested in the setting of Blades but Scum and Villainy seems great. I definitely see how FitB would be hard to implement over PbP. It seems like a lot of discussion would take place OOC between IC posts and could really show things down.
Nov 23, 2022 1:36 am
With a bit of proficiency there need not be that much discussion. Once the GM knows the players' preferences and the players know the GM's defaults most pre-roll discussions can be "go for it".

This does require the player to establish the fiction of their action properly before they move to the dice, but that is always the case with FitD. People sometimes get caught up on the whole 'the player gets to say which stats they roll' and forget that the player first needs to show how they are using that stat to perform that action before we ever get to rolling.

Getting to the point where everyone is on the same page --with the fiction and the mechanical outcomes-- means there are no surprises when the dice come out. Often the most we see is "rolling Controlled, yeah?" "No, it is Risky because of < the thing >." "Oh yeah, I forgot about < the thing >. Rolling Risky/Normal." But that could still take two days at a daily posting rate, and that is before the dice are rolled.

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