Today we will finish looking at the Street Smarts. Sue is upstairs right now giving these another run at editing, so I am sure there will still be some tweaking before publishing.
Basically this takes the old rumormonger Human card and opens it up to the world. Yes, vermites can now spread stories, but the GM may modify roll just because few people trust a Vermite.
Once again, this card is designed for town use. Finding a trap in the wilds takes a different skill set. Although it would be worth checking to see if you can use it in an abandoned temple. Maybe, see your wise and wonderful GM. (Did you bring chocolate?)
This will be an easy contest in a hamlet you know well, but in a new place, well, there is that GM MOD to use to simulate that.
Looks like the humans are going to need some new skills. Haggle is going to be available to everyone who knows the streets. I am thinking that the butlers buying for the rich will have street smarts, but the rich will be taking the Aristocrat cards.
This is a card that covers a lot of territory in a few words. Players will be using this one in all sorts of creative ways. Just be sure that as you suggest unique uses, do not expect the GM to recall what she agreed to today. It may not work tomorrow.
With one glaring exception, I love these cards and plan to base a newbie around them when they are legal to play. But this generally fawning fanboy continues to have a major problem with Deft Fingers not containing a COR stat component when the card explicity states it governs coordination tasks. Aside from the obvious, and aside from protecting the interests of my COR based PC like any GOOD rules-lawyer should, ;-) it also confuses the issue of what stat governs what. That seems like a bad idea to me, and seems to run counter to y'all's monumental effort to clarify, simplify,and rectify the inconsistancies that crept into DS over the years. Just sayin'
ReplyDeleteNow if it was WIS+COR...I'd be 100% fanboy again...just how I like it. The GM can always up her GM MOD, after all... ;-)
ReplyDeleteSue decided the most important Stat to add was being able to figure out the problem, which is WIS. All the COR in the world won't disarm a trap if you do not understand the trap.
ReplyDeleteWe played with doubling STATS on some of these and realized it just became an arms war. Player gets more, GM adds more. Why bother the GM by making her job tougher.
Ah well, nothing makes 100% and y'all certainly beatin' Sturgeon's Law...I would gladly agree with that reasoning if you took the words 'other coordination tasks' out and put 'similar tasks' in. Otherwise the issue of stat confusion remains available for BAD rules lawyers.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe something along these lines?
ReplyDeleteUser 2d6+WIS vs. 2d6+GM MOD
Play to disarm traps, pick locks or do other similar mechanical tasks where knowing what you’re doing counts.
Sue just sent me word to take the SPD off Pilfer..
ReplyDeleteDeleted word coordinated.
Rules lawyers should love DS. We have a Judge to appeal to, state your case before, and get a final judgement from, in seconds. The RPG that is closest to a court going. We even simulate the US Supreme court and can ignore all of the facts.
Ah, thank Sue for removing 'coordination' from the text. That bothered me so much more than Mihailis losing a couple of points on some contest rolls when he goes 2.0 and converts to Street Smarts from classic Thievery cards. On the whole I prefer the new stuff, but high COR PCs may see their contest roll numbers drop a bit. And I submitted another card to cover legerdemain...
ReplyDeleteAs far as COR characters loosing a little, maybe, but you have not seen all of the cards yet, so it may be early to make that judgement. You may find something more to your liking in the Bardic, Scout or Stealth sets. We will see.
ReplyDeleteRight now we are focused on the Street Smarts, Philosopher and Perception sets. Once we have the format established we can complete the sets. All three are set for Final Edit next week.
Neither Mihailis nor I are all that worried about that. And we both are looking forward to the above mentioned cards even more now that we know y'all is thinkin' about it... ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes we are. We have added that as a question in the edit process.
ReplyDeleteAdded Questions:
Are we using the correct bonus Stat?
Is the numerical bonus correct?
Is the timing correct? Act/Ind or Mov?
Are there limits needed? (In the Parenthesis)
It gets a little tricky. We have to look at the Universal versions (If any) and other cards, to check each thing. Universal cards are mostly getting just a numerical bonus and cards attached to anchors get Stat bonuses on them plus a numerical bonus from the anchor. The anchor bonus also gets added back to Universals as well.
We will make errors, but we call them "Mocha's Chaotic Sphere of Influence." not errors.
I had a thought in the shower inspired by this thread, the removal of SPD from Pilfer Stuff, Sue's logic about experience, & my original critique of this card. Might consider allowing the LLB to sub for other stats, like COR on Deft Fingers or SPD on Pilfer...you get the idea. Allows experience or stat but not both. Maybe put the code LLB on such cards. Or do it by rules. Might let us have it both ways fairly simply. And play to natural ability in the young. Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteIt might work, but we have never tested the concept. That might be too big of a jump for DS. Maybe another game.
ReplyDeleteLOL, as that sounds like a "time to end this discussion" remark, I will thank you for an interesting dialectic on card and game design and leave you with these parting thoughts in case you ever want to continue with it.
ReplyDelete1) Uh, y'all are testing the concept now...y'all just limiting it to one stat...WIS. Ain't really that much of a conceptual leap to apply it to other stats, as least to me, just an extension of y'all's idea.
2) One of the elegant things about y'all's design of 2.0 is the ability to add details and extensions to the basic rule set thru cards and the inserts that go with card sets. Seems to me you could play around with the idea without changing the basic rules by using that neat mechanism y'all created and beta card sets. No need to fool with those elegantly streamlined core rules. Not meanin' to be overly bold and I always bow to your superiour WIS. ;-)