The devil’s bargain is an incredible mechanic as long as you stick to the golden rule of RPGs: complications should make interesting things happen, not stop things from happening. If the guards simply didn’t believe him and got suspicious that would be way less fun.
Yeah I find that these "flexible" systems often really very heavily on the GM's skill and narrative ability, which is why in every single case I've tried something other than D&D the game ends up devolving into a fiesta over time because nobody can keep this up consistently. There's nothing stopping you from doing this in D&D, but the base game mechanics leave you a more substantial basis to fall back on if you're not able to consistently come up with plot devices like this one
A good GM with imaginative players should never have trouble coming up with plot hooks for a session. Usually it's just using the backstories of players or paying attention to dumb stuff they did. No, what's hard is keeping the players on one thread. It can be like herding cats. You spend ages concocting this interesting plot hook for them, but instead they get distracted by your gnome shopkeeper because you made the mistake of giving him a funny voice. Now they want to spend all their time harassing him >:(
@Captanblue This is why I like making events pass in real time. In all the campaigns I've been in and run I've always loved there being consequences for ignoring the hard to deal with or darker parts of a story.
@@MrThewooter Yes, this is the way. You wanna keep picking at my Gnome? Fine, my rival gang of adventurers are busy raiding that castle YOU were supposed to be handling and now you get to hear people singing about them at the next bar you go to.
This is actually how Devil's Bargains are designed; they add an additional consequence regardless of the outcome of the roll, they don't change the outcome. In other words, if you succeed you still succeed, but you take the consequence discussed in the Devil's Bargain (and it really can be a discussion; it's not always the GM coming up with the Bargains, players can too, or the group as a whole can brainstorm one). If you roll a success with a complication, you succeed but take a complication from the roll _and_ the complication from the Devil's Bargain. If you fail the roll, you don't achieve your goal, but the complication from the Devil's Bargain still occurs. I think more often than not my players end up taking Devil's Bargains not because of the extra dice, but because they find the consequence to be really interesting (even though they're usually negative). I suppose in a way, that comes back to the 'drive your characters like a stolen car' mentality that's become a bit of a motto in the Blades community. Having your character succeed isn't really your primary objective; creating an interesting story is.
Honestly, this sounds fantastic for text-based online RPG play. Being able to just lay out the positives, negatives, and threat and then lay it on the players (rolls AND choices) sounds like a way to keep things neat and organized without getting deep into sub-systems and things like positions and mechanics. For a game without minis, just writers, this sounds like a godsend.
wow, that's a really cool idea honestly. I personally have never done any text-based online rpg's but now that you suggested using this system for that purpose, I'm very excited to think this through and maybe gather some people to try it
THANK YOU for highlighting Blades. It's my favorite system and hella underrated, or more accurately, underexposed. Super easy to learn, and incredibly flexible.
@@pleep1887 yes. every character has a gun on their sheet iirc. they are mostly singleshot slow reloading ones tho. But you can choose to bring more to get around this, choose a special ability from the hunter sheet, modify your weapon artificer style or tinker up an entirely new weapon as a long term project (if you can spare enough of your precious downtime).
I love how these alternate systems focus more on improv and storytelling than D&D. For a regular D&D campaign, you have to have important characters fleshed out, and lots of backups to throw in if your PCs decide to do something weird. For this, storylines just tend to fall into place. Its alot easier to get a cohesive and rich story without planning that many elements ahead.
You're right in your assessment, but I do not understand the use of "alternate"? Is baseball an alternative to football? Is rock an alternative to pop? Systems are systems, there's no "main" and "alternates".
I'm in love with the Stress system - having a way to push yourself, for a resource cost to add a die for 2 stress, or aid an ally for 1 stress is great, and the role playing consequence of exceeding your stress and taking a trauma is GOLD.
I don't see how it's necessarily any smoother than any other type of "I'm trying on do a thing" roll in an RPG. You can set a DC and apply advantage/disadvantage/bonuses/penalties to a 5e Persuasion check just as easily as happened in this video. I do like the having a mixed success being integral to the system, though the same thing can be accomplished elsewhere easily too.
Dude! We just played our first actual session last night of this! Really loved how intuitive the dice system feels once you get into it. Love your animation man!
Thanks for giving a clear and concise explanation of the game's centre mechanic; even after running a bunch of games, I was still struggling with this. It also took me a while to realize that the outcome of a single scene or score (mission) wasn't where the meat of the game lies. It is fairly easy for the PCs to overcome most obstacles; however, the lasting effects of stress, wounds and heat are where the PCs feel the pain.
@@OhNoTheFace Because Attrition Games are so rare and niche in both video and table top that the basic idea of "You don't top off after every chunk of things" starts to feel more like a Twist than a Design Decision.
@@OhNoTheFace I've been mucking about with mashing Blades in to Darkest Dungeon 😄 The artwork in DD is such a great match for the grubby, down-at-heel side of Blades. 👍
this was such an interesting way to demonstrate this specific mechanic for a system I don't know much about. definitely some interesting roleplay mechanics. also a great roleplay encounter, as it makes a couple NPC cops that is friendly to one of the players, something that may be extremely useful later on.
I would love more Blades in the Dark videos like this! I’ve been meaning to play a Blades campaign but I feel a bit overwhelmed by the rules. This was a great explanation!
Wow thought after the last Blades in the Dark vid you wouldn't do another but glad I'm wrong. Blades in the Dark is such a neat and simple TTRPG that I'm honestly enjoying really much, hope we get more stuff on this👍.
Considering recent events in the TTRPG world, seeing this channel branch out to other systems is a great way to keep it relevant, and introduce fresh content to people who otherwise wouldn't find out about these systems! More please!
Blades in the Dark! I have been wanting to show this to some of my friends!!! Thanks for the video, I think it will help them get excited about it while teaching them exciting parts of the game! I would love to see more videos about blades (make a long road-esque story arc???) in the future :) you're great
Looking forward to hearing more about the system and the adventures you've had using it. Keep up the good work and may the dice roll ever in your favor.
I really like this system, id love to see you branch out and talk about other systsems more often! Makes me excited to explore rpgs even when i bounced off dnd
I bought 'Blades' a while ago and have wanted to play it for so long. Having this to refresh me on the rules with its clear info, and inspire me to play with its expressive examples is perfect motivation to make it happen! Thanks!
I am trying to teach myself this game right now, and this has been the best explanation so far… I mean I am reading the book, but this example made things crystal clear for me
Sounds like this player was able to take this situation and turn it in a really good direction: He's now on friendly terms with two members of the law, he has an alibi, and his compatriots were able to do their thing without getting caught.
I'm very interested in seeing you go either deeper into Blades in the Dark, as you have such a great way of demonstrating how systems work. Or just showing off other systems.
I think my first ever exposure to Blades in the Dark is from the latest season of The Adventure Zone, "Steeplechase," where they use the mechanics of Blades in the Dark. So a lot of this information is familiar to me, but it's nice to see a video here giving a review/overview of the roll mechanics. Very nice
Oh my gosh, perfect! My family DnD group just started playing Blades in the Dark two sessions ago and while we're getting the hang of it, I could sure benefit from a Zee Bashew explanatory video!
Great joke mixing the Blades in the Dark book art style and your animation style! Also, stoked to see other systems getting some love (in the "let's talk about this mechanic/small feature" way)!
Zee! I have a vault heist planned ahead in my D&D campaign, and, you have no idea how much I’ve been trying to figure out the rolls for the heist (was thinking blades in the dark?)... and this is exactly what Ive been needing Awesome timing!
This definitely wants me to check it out. Been hesitant to try a new system with everyone having to learn new mechanics but this seems pretty simple. Really curious Zee if you have every tried Vampire the Masquerade?
I haven't heard a whole lot about this system before, but this is definitely selling me on it. I really like the mechanics I've seen so far, and your brand of storytelling/explanation helped a lot! Thanks, Zee!
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The reveal of the characters through a passing light and slowmo was masterful. The novelty and creativity of it to me gave me chills.
Agreed and the bonus detail is that the rain is only visible in the lanterns lights.
The devil’s bargain is an incredible mechanic as long as you stick to the golden rule of RPGs: complications should make interesting things happen, not stop things from happening. If the guards simply didn’t believe him and got suspicious that would be way less fun.
Yeah I find that these "flexible" systems often really very heavily on the GM's skill and narrative ability, which is why in every single case I've tried something other than D&D the game ends up devolving into a fiesta over time because nobody can keep this up consistently.
There's nothing stopping you from doing this in D&D, but the base game mechanics leave you a more substantial basis to fall back on if you're not able to consistently come up with plot devices like this one
A good GM with imaginative players should never have trouble coming up with plot hooks for a session. Usually it's just using the backstories of players or paying attention to dumb stuff they did.
No, what's hard is keeping the players on one thread. It can be like herding cats. You spend ages concocting this interesting plot hook for them, but instead they get distracted by your gnome shopkeeper because you made the mistake of giving him a funny voice. Now they want to spend all their time harassing him >:(
@Captanblue This is why I like making events pass in real time. In all the campaigns I've been in and run I've always loved there being consequences for ignoring the hard to deal with or darker parts of a story.
@@MrThewooter Yes, this is the way. You wanna keep picking at my Gnome? Fine, my rival gang of adventurers are busy raiding that castle YOU were supposed to be handling and now you get to hear people singing about them at the next bar you go to.
This is actually how Devil's Bargains are designed; they add an additional consequence regardless of the outcome of the roll, they don't change the outcome. In other words, if you succeed you still succeed, but you take the consequence discussed in the Devil's Bargain (and it really can be a discussion; it's not always the GM coming up with the Bargains, players can too, or the group as a whole can brainstorm one). If you roll a success with a complication, you succeed but take a complication from the roll _and_ the complication from the Devil's Bargain. If you fail the roll, you don't achieve your goal, but the complication from the Devil's Bargain still occurs.
I think more often than not my players end up taking Devil's Bargains not because of the extra dice, but because they find the consequence to be really interesting (even though they're usually negative). I suppose in a way, that comes back to the 'drive your characters like a stolen car' mentality that's become a bit of a motto in the Blades community. Having your character succeed isn't really your primary objective; creating an interesting story is.
That lantern light animation blew me away. Such good framing
Yeah this is a very high quality tutorial, really went above and beyond/gen
Buck had the reverse NPC kidnapping where instead of a party adopting an npc the npc adopt a player
Honestly, this sounds fantastic for text-based online RPG play. Being able to just lay out the positives, negatives, and threat and then lay it on the players (rolls AND choices) sounds like a way to keep things neat and organized without getting deep into sub-systems and things like positions and mechanics. For a game without minis, just writers, this sounds like a godsend.
wow, that's a really cool idea honestly. I personally have never done any text-based online rpg's but now that you suggested using this system for that purpose, I'm very excited to think this through and maybe gather some people to try it
yeah there's a good potential to be suuuuper light on the rules if you need it to be
It also works quite well in text-driven videogames. Citizen Sleeper (a Disco Elysium-like RPG) uses a variation of this system.
@@bonzwah1 my friend has run a play by post game with Forged in the Dark games for years. Go for it champ.
THANK YOU for highlighting Blades. It's my favorite system and hella underrated, or more accurately, underexposed. Super easy to learn, and incredibly flexible.
it is not a system it is pbta
Can you shoot people?
@@johnxina1681 forged in the dark isn't a pbta, ryan's right that blades has its own system
@@pleep1887 yes. every character has a gun on their sheet iirc. they are mostly singleshot slow reloading ones tho.
But you can choose to bring more to get around this, choose a special ability from the hunter sheet, modify your weapon artificer style or tinker up an entirely new weapon as a long term project (if you can spare enough of your precious downtime).
@@johnxina1681 it's not pbta..it's another system
I love how these alternate systems focus more on improv and storytelling than D&D. For a regular D&D campaign, you have to have important characters fleshed out, and lots of backups to throw in if your PCs decide to do something weird. For this, storylines just tend to fall into place. Its alot easier to get a cohesive and rich story without planning that many elements ahead.
You're right in your assessment, but I do not understand the use of "alternate"? Is baseball an alternative to football? Is rock an alternative to pop?
Systems are systems, there's no "main" and "alternates".
@@Dudae_ Main: D&D
Alternate: anything else not from Lizards of the Coast
The Adventure Zone newest Season Steeplechase is based on this game mode and it is amazing!
Same! One of my favorite games is Monster of The Week
Yeah dnd is so heavily built for straight combat it always annoys me how many people hate it
Position & effect are my favorite things from Blades. It made adjudicating actions so smooth.
"Flashbacks" are another cool idea in Blades; really getting the game off to a quick start, and fill in the details later. 👍
I'm in love with the Stress system - having a way to push yourself, for a resource cost to add a die for 2 stress, or aid an ally for 1 stress is great, and the role playing consequence of exceeding your stress and taking a trauma is GOLD.
@@nathankirk1545 Bibliophile Stressed PC, "I'm just going to the bookstore to do a little retail therapy."
Narrator, "Three Days Later..."
I don't see how it's necessarily any smoother than any other type of "I'm trying on do a thing" roll in an RPG. You can set a DC and apply advantage/disadvantage/bonuses/penalties to a 5e Persuasion check just as easily as happened in this video.
I do like the having a mixed success being integral to the system, though the same thing can be accomplished elsewhere easily too.
Blades has some of the most elegant game design out there
Branching into non-D&D content? Heck yes! More of this please! :D
The crew being revealed in slow motion by the light flipping was such a cool idea...
That's actually pretty cool how he stayed calm and just led the cops away!
Zee, your character design is ON POINT. You have grown so much as an artist.
Dude! We just played our first actual session last night of this! Really loved how intuitive the dice system feels once you get into it. Love your animation man!
Fuckin rad! Give us a highlight!
Thanks for giving a clear and concise explanation of the game's centre mechanic; even after running a bunch of games, I was still struggling with this. It also took me a while to realize that the outcome of a single scene or score (mission) wasn't where the meat of the game lies. It is fairly easy for the PCs to overcome most obstacles; however, the lasting effects of stress, wounds and heat are where the PCs feel the pain.
Heh why does that seem so Darkest Dungeon to me :D
@@OhNoTheFace Because Attrition Games are so rare and niche in both video and table top that the basic idea of "You don't top off after every chunk of things" starts to feel more like a Twist than a Design Decision.
@@OhNoTheFace I've been mucking about with mashing Blades in to Darkest Dungeon 😄 The artwork in DD is such a great match for the grubby, down-at-heel side of Blades. 👍
@@euansmith3699 I was honestly surprised Darkest Dungeon *wasn't* listed as one of the inspirations for Blades in the rulebook's introduction.
@@Dafuqinator7 blades happened before darkest
Man you portray blades in the dark so well! This is super helpful! Please feel free to do more like this!
If it's not to complicated could you do these mini reviews of a variety of different systems. I love your input and animation style!
Him doing a 3 hour long on m&m character building
this was such an interesting way to demonstrate this specific mechanic for a system I don't know much about. definitely some interesting roleplay mechanics. also a great roleplay encounter, as it makes a couple NPC cops that is friendly to one of the players, something that may be extremely useful later on.
god, that first scene where he lowers his lamp with a disgruntled look while the light reveals the party is SO well done
I would love more Blades in the Dark videos like this! I’ve been meaning to play a Blades campaign but I feel a bit overwhelmed by the rules. This was a great explanation!
Wow thought after the last Blades in the Dark vid you wouldn't do another but glad I'm wrong. Blades in the Dark is such a neat and simple TTRPG that I'm honestly enjoying really much, hope we get more stuff on this👍.
Where was his other one?
This is such a solid video too. Shows off the cool mechanics framed in a fun story
Considering recent events in the TTRPG world, seeing this channel branch out to other systems is a great way to keep it relevant, and introduce fresh content to people who otherwise wouldn't find out about these systems! More please!
Blades in the Dark! I have been wanting to show this to some of my friends!!! Thanks for the video, I think it will help them get excited about it while teaching them exciting parts of the game! I would love to see more videos about blades (make a long road-esque story arc???) in the future :) you're great
This was incredibly helpful and entertaining. Made my day better. Thank you for making this!
Wow, that’s an interesting system. Wish I had friends.
The most concise explanation of the Blades rolls I've seen. Thank you!
Looking forward to hearing more about the system and the adventures you've had using it. Keep up the good work and may the dice roll ever in your favor.
I really like this system, id love to see you branch out and talk about other systsems more often! Makes me excited to explore rpgs even when i bounced off dnd
I bought 'Blades' a while ago and have wanted to play it for so long. Having this to refresh me on the rules with its clear info, and inspire me to play with its expressive examples is perfect motivation to make it happen! Thanks!
This format is amazing! Please make a whole playlist like this.
I absolutely love how you conveyed the Rolls mechanics here. Going to send this to my group for when we move onto FitD.
That sounds wonderfully intuitive and rewarding.
"The dog shit is ready!" was not a phrase I was expecting, but damn did I laugh
Oh my god, you finally did some other systems, than DnD! Haven't played this one, but it looks like some great narrative system.
Been playing Blades in the Dark for about 2 months now. Fantastic system!
Love it! I got the book for blades a while back but it's been tough to get a group together. Glad to see more of a spotlight on it!
I really like this like the last person said it improves storytelling. Love it all the way.
This is awesome! Lots of love for blades in the dark!
Loving the extra wide video! fills up my monitor nicely!!
Your introduction of this interesting system of rolls is what pushed me over the edge to buy the game. This is gonna be great.
This is helpful since I've been getting into slugblaster which uses blades in the dark
This is very clear, wish I had this video when I was learning the system 🙂
I am trying to teach myself this game right now, and this has been the best explanation so far… I mean I am reading the book, but this example made things crystal clear for me
Great video, succinct and fun. Nice. So glad Blades is getting more love!
Love your videos! I wish you’d tell us more of your D&D stories!
Sounds like this player was able to take this situation and turn it in a really good direction: He's now on friendly terms with two members of the law, he has an alibi, and his compatriots were able to do their thing without getting caught.
Coming back months later to add: this is such a perfect tutorial, that I'm going to default use this to show all new players how Blades works.
I'm very interested in seeing you go either deeper into Blades in the Dark, as you have such a great way of demonstrating how systems work. Or just showing off other systems.
The face on that guy saying "the dog shit is ready" is just *chef's kiss*
Love this system, tried to run this game with friends and loved it to bits!
Thanks for this. More please!
I think my first ever exposure to Blades in the Dark is from the latest season of The Adventure Zone, "Steeplechase," where they use the mechanics of Blades in the Dark. So a lot of this information is familiar to me, but it's nice to see a video here giving a review/overview of the roll mechanics. Very nice
This came out just in time I have my first session of blades in the dark tomorrow!
I don't know why by I found Blades in the Dark impenetrable. Until this video. Thank you for justifying my purchase like two years later.
These are excellent; a good quick overview ahead of the campaign I'm playing in soon. Thanks!
Thank you, Zee. I'm about to run Blades and your video is definitely going to help my players!
Another interesting alternate ttrpg being given the limelight if anything new mechanics are always interesting to learn about, keep it up!
This was absolutely not clicking for me as I read Scum and Villainy and this made it make so much more sense from the GM perspective, thanks!
That system sounds really cool, thanks for showing people it. Amazing work as always!
The animation is so smooth and fluid in this one, especially Steve. I love how your style continues to change and evolve
This seems like a nice system, great that Zee is doing systems going with what's going on at his table.
Oh my gosh, perfect!
My family DnD group just started playing Blades in the Dark two sessions ago and while we're getting the hang of it, I could sure benefit from a Zee Bashew explanatory video!
It’s so cool to see a video like this for Blades in the Dark! I hope we get more in the future.
alright, im sold on the system, that's so cool, very evocative!
Wonderful, as always! :)
Great work.
Gotta give you credit man, the whole thing with the lantern lighting up the scoundrels while the cops argue is inspired!
Nice to see another system reviews. I like hearing all the different kinds of things for narrative mechanics.
Thank you for explaining powered by the apocalypse/blades in the dark in under four sessions of an hour each
YEEES! I am beginning to read through the Blades in the Dark book. I'd love to hear more about it from you!
This is the first youtube video that i have actually needed my ultra-wide screen to watch full screen. what a time to be alive.
Great joke mixing the Blades in the Dark book art style and your animation style! Also, stoked to see other systems getting some love (in the "let's talk about this mechanic/small feature" way)!
This is an excellent explanation of the video and has some really cool animation. Good stuff.
Conversation and narrative before touching the mechanical resolution, the heart of PBTA.
I love blades in the dark, happy to see people talking about it
As someone who is already subscribed, i appreciated your brief subscription plug, others take note!~
Glad you're spreading out.
Oh hey, widescreen! Neat! That lantern shot though, such a cool framing device!
ive been watching steeple chase and this is a very nice vod!
thank you for your service!
by the stars I gotta try blades in the dark, this entire system sounds amazing!
Thank you broadening your content to other systems.
Loved this! Excited to see more FitD content in the future!
Great story. Love the stuff I'm hearing about blades in the dark.
Thank you
Great video! Would love to see more blades in the dark stuff.
as somebody who just started playing in a blades game this is perfect timing!
Zee!
I have a vault heist planned ahead in my D&D campaign, and, you have no idea how much I’ve been trying to figure out the rolls for the heist (was thinking blades in the dark?)... and this is exactly what Ive been needing
Awesome timing!
I've been running Blades for years. It's by far my favorite narrative-first system.
I enjoy the way you tell a story
Love me some Blades in the Dark!
Really neat!
Blades is amazing and I love seeing it get some of your awesome animation.
love to see more Blades content!
Really great video. Would love to see more like this.
I love how you put this video together, and you explained the mechanics really well. I would be open to trying this game now.
Man I love this video. Id love more little one-off videos that explore a certain piece of a ttrpg. May I suggest: Mork Borg Goblins?
This definitely wants me to check it out. Been hesitant to try a new system with everyone having to learn new mechanics but this seems pretty simple. Really curious Zee if you have every tried Vampire the Masquerade?
Always happy to see Blades getting more love. It's sooooo good.
I haven't heard a whole lot about this system before, but this is definitely selling me on it. I really like the mechanics I've seen so far, and your brand of storytelling/explanation helped a lot! Thanks, Zee!
This was such a clean explanation with great, fun animation
I'm playing this game right now and you did a great job explaining it and its a lot of fun.