Goodbye Worse Position, sorta...


Following the latest release, there are only four types of consequence listed in the text, instead of five. This might worry some of my readers, but don't despair: the worse position consequence was "cut", but then again - not really. It's there, but it's not mentioned the same way. Instead, going to the next lowest position is only mentioned as an option out of a Controlled 1-3 (which you might decide to do to avoid failing altogether and losing the opportunity, for example). 

My reasoning for cutting this is as follows:

  • Why would you put yourself in a worse position, unless you failed to do the thing? The way Blades works, you could do this to yourself on a 4/5. But if you DID IT, even partially, why should you be forced to try again? That sounded more like a complication to me.
  • What is the functional difference between a worse position and a serious complication? Both might make things "desperate", but for some reason the first one forces the player to try again. If I think about this more, getting put into a worse position is only really possible if they run headlong into the new danger, or failed in the first place. 
  • If they partially do it, then.. why is it guaranteed they will act and put themself in this worse position, for the little bit that remains to be done? The answer is.. you wouldn't. I mean.. you wouldn't have to, though you might. But that's why it's only ever a player option, appealing because the alternative would be failure + worse stuff.

So instead of calling out this thing that functions like a complication ON STEROIDS, Runners mostly relies on the GM rulings to impart the mechanical impact of a complication. without breaking those cardinal rules on page  based on what the player describes doing about it - as usual. There is no "you must try again at desperate" - it's just "this happened. Now what?" and any desperation comes from the opposition to (or foolishness of) their chosen course of action. Nothing says you must run headlong into danger. But it might be fun to try!

PS: I almost cut lost opportunity too, but honestly that one retains its usefulness - as a more serious form of complication to help differentiate the failed outcomes of Controlled actions from Risky / Desperate ones where the outcome will be decisive for the  

Files

Runners Sheets 4 MB
Sep 13, 2021
Runners Sheets b+w.pdf 2 MB
Sep 13, 2021
Runners in the Shadows core.pdf 21 MB
Sep 13, 2021

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