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Some thoughts on what makes a good PC Deal (or class/archetype/playbook/etc), and how I went about this in Dungeon Bitches.
(a thread).
(a thread).
So there's three things I think a good Deal needs:
-A strong diegetic identity
-A thematic hook and ideas it explores
-A mechanical niche
-A strong diegetic identity
-A thematic hook and ideas it explores
-A mechanical niche
The diegetic identity is normally the first step. Sometimes this is an obvious external factor (a Corpse Doll is somebody who's been brought back from the dead), and other times its more internal (an Amazon enjoys violence, or a Lantern Girl is paranoid and unsure of herself).
This is normally how you'd initially pitch a Deal to somebody. "Oh, you wanna use secret magical abilities? Sounds like you'd have fun with a Witch."
That sort of thing.
That sort of thing.
Next up we have themes. These are a bit less literal, about the sort of story the Deal tells.
Dungeon Bitches has a pretty strong central theme ("marginalisation is traumatic, but our connections to each other make us stronger") but each Deal explores a different facet of that.
Dungeon Bitches has a pretty strong central theme ("marginalisation is traumatic, but our connections to each other make us stronger") but each Deal explores a different facet of that.
So the Wounded Daughter puts a hard focus on trauma and the drive to survive, and the costs that has. The Corpse Doll is about reinventing yourself. The Disgraced Princess deals with social privilege and the ways it can intersect with marginalisation, or be suddenly absent.
If I sign up to play as a Disgraced Princess, I know that my Bitch's position in society is going to matter. I'm going to have to grapple with the fact that I have social advantages by sisters don't. The presence and absence of privilege becomes key to the story I'm telling.
And then lastly, we have the actual mechanics. For a start, the mechanics need to realise the previous two points. It's no use saying that a Banshee is about uncontrolled, self-destructive power if none of her moves DO that.
So working out mechanics that model particular patterns and behaviours is important.
But beyond that, where possible, I want to give each Deal a unique mechanical niche. I want each Deal to feel different to play. To have a different ~mouthfeel~.
But beyond that, where possible, I want to give each Deal a unique mechanical niche. I want each Deal to feel different to play. To have a different ~mouthfeel~.
In some cases, this means a Deal will have a particular hook that's unique to it. Such as how many of the Firebrand's represents burnout by spending XP to trigger her abilities, or how so many of the Lantern Girl's moves key off illuminating things with her lamp.
For other Deals, there's a particular area of the game their moves focus strongly on (the Amazon and violence, or the Disgraced Princess and social manoeuvring).
And then for a few Deals, it's more of a grab-bag. The runaway Nun, for example, has a few different things going on and ways she can focus her moves. Here, this works to highlight the inner conflict of the Nun (spiritual purity vs pragmatism) based on which moves she takes.
And hopefully, all three elements click together. The Deal's fiction naturally supports her themes, and her mechanics reflect both. When you play as her, it FEELS like you're that Deal, and her themes and story beats naturally emerge.
And sometimes, that's tricky. It took me a little while to get the Amazon to a place where she wasn't just a fighter (but sapphic), and to get some pathos out of her. But I had creative playtesters who did inventive things with the Deal, and that insight gave me what I needed.
In conclusion: I like how this game is shaping up.
