AW Fortune Rolls
Fortune Rolls are a tool in Blades in the Dark that the GM can use to “disclaim decision making”.
My favorite way to use it is _”When you need to make a determination about a situation the PCs aren’t directly involved in and don’t want to simply decide the outcome.”_
Of course there are moments when the outcome is clear or when I want a specific outcome as part of a move against a specific character. But not always.
The first thing that came to mind is using it when Hardholds go against each other. Making a 2d6 roll for both works perfectly but what do they roll with I wondered. Then I though fractals (as in fractal Fate). Why couldn’t Hardholds, Gangs, Groups etc. have stats to roll with if needed?
The Hardhold stats can be taken from their armory, number of fighting people etc. right? I haven’t thought this through a 100% (because my next AW game isn’t starting until next year most likely) but I want to use this method when I run AW going forward.
It’s not a technique I want to use too much but I think it can be helpful when I don’t really care about specific outcomes.
Doing an assault on a hardhold with 2 rolls (Attack+Defend) creates a much more nuanced result then I would come up by myself.
The “problem” with it would be that they are not really moves that I roll. Much more like Oracles. It feels a bit cheaty but principles etc are still in play so stuff should be fine.
The other thing I want to do is mainly use countdown clocks instead of the traditional AW system of fronts. Instead of breaking down each danger into a clock with 5 segments and having to decide when what happens etc. I can just make a clock for their next bigger thing and mark that off when I feel like it.
In the end 3 linked clocks create much the same thing as a 6 segment clock with each segment having a specific thing happening but I anticipate this working way better for me. It’s also much easier to set up while I MC the game.
[Rambling over]
Principle #11: *Sometimes, disclaim decision making*.
Yes indeed
It took me a while to get comfy with Fortune Rolls in Blades in the Dark (still in beta / playtest), but I found good use for them in my last session:
1) One of the thieves peered through a keyhole to see if there were any Bluecoats on the other side of a door. The answer was likely “yes” – it was a Bluecoat city watch station – but a “no” was certainly possible and nothing in the fiction said they had to be. So I made it a 0d Fortune Roll (meaning, roll 2 dice and keep the lowest). The answer was ultimately “yes, a bunch,” but it injected some quick tension into an otherwise procedural question.
2) Later, the thieves were raiding the Bluecoats’ evidence locker. Time was of the essence, so they tried to concentrate on the most valuable loot, but were stymied by the lack of labels or organization. One of the thieves was ready to start stuffing random bags into his satchel. I said that this would be a Fortune Roll to see how much Coin-worthy loot he took. He ended up not going that route – an idea came to him – but could have.
3) When reinforcements trapped the thieves in the evidence locker, the Whisper (read: weird occultist) opened a ghost door and ushered the gang through. Ghost doors are fickle things in the setting, and the Whisper had no idea where the other end let out. I had him make a Fortune Roll to see whether the exit would be helpful, harmful, or ambivalent.