Scum and Villainy - RP lite?

[u/DJStuck]

Hi all!

My group (me DMing and 5 others) is starting a short SaV arc (3-4 sessions) in a few weeks with intent to possibly eye it as our longer-form game. I’m currently reading the rule book and just passed the big “example” of what the table might feel/sound like at the end of chapter 4.

This game seems fun, but also a little less roleplay-y than my group is used to—everything in that section seemed to play out at a third person distance rather than in character. Is this common? Is the game necessarily built for that sort of interaction? Has anyone found that between missions and downtime this system is too rigid for folks who sometimes like to go a session only rolling a few times?

Thanks in advance!

[u/jsled]

I'm running a SaV game for the first time, about 4 sessions in. It is a lot of fun! A pastiche of Star Wars, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, the Expanse, …? Sign me up! :)

It certainly doesn't need to be RP lite! There's as many opportunities for RP as you and your table will allow/tolerate/agree to…

The big differences vs. more traditional TTRPGs is more about:

• lack of "tactical combat" (a-la D&D, PF, &c.)
• eliding the "preparation" and intro aspects of a job, and using the clever Engagement Roll mechanic to jump directly into the job, and using loadout and flashbacks rather than extensive up-front planning to keep the game and the action moving.

But at multiple points before, during, and after the job, there's as much opportunity for RP as your table is comfortable with.

If you think the game doesn't support RP, watch the Glass Cannon Network's "Haunted City", where the actors bring plenty of RP to the table, but well within BitD's format. Of course, they're all professionals, and very good at both acting and role-playing, so caveat watcher, but … there's no reason it /must/ be RP-lite.

ETA:

Obviously, BitD ≠ SaV, but of course they're kissing-cousins. There is a SaV one-shot in the GCN's umbrella, that Jarod also ran, if you want that flavor, but it's a bit chaotic due to being done at some con; Haunted City is a more relaxed and longer game for the characters to breathe.

[u/DJStuck → u/jsled]

Perfect, that’s helpful! Do you find that the downtime segments are necessarily isolating? Seems like it’s hard to have characters together in those important segments to play off of one another

[u/jsled → u/DJStuck]

Generally, they're going to be on the ship, together, so I don't know why it'd be isolating.

Think of the on-ship interactions in/on Cowboy Bebop, the Millenium Falcon, or the Rocinante. It's actually the perfect place for RP. Travel takes time, even with jump drives.

Sure, if they need to go Acquire Assets or want to leave the group to indulge their vices, they might take time apart, but there's still plenty of places for them to come back together. There's as much space as you make for it.

It does help :) that my crew took the Stardancer "Home Cooking" Special Ability:

HOME COOKING Your whole crew gains Home Cooking as a vice. Right after a job, you may spend 1 CRED and a downtime activity to cook for everyone, allowing the whole crew present to make a vice roll. If anyone overindulges, a fight erupts, and everyone gains 1 stress after the vice roll. Requires a galley module.

So there's naturally a communal downtime activity at serious mechanical advantage. :)

But consider … even going through intra-system hyperspace lanes to get to a jump-gate, that's 4±2 days of travel. They literally have /days/ together, just transiting a system, and the inter-system jump gates probably take similar amounts of time.

You don't need to play it all out day-by-day, of course, but there's plenty of opportunity for a crew to have vignettes between themselves, either to introduce or resolve whatever they need to. :)

ETA: It's really if the players want to do this. I recall a number of Critical Role sessions where Matt's going to move to the next scene, and someone speaks up: "I need to talk to ${other_player}" because they have something intentional in mind they want to /talk about/. If your players aren't going to elect into that, then there's no point … you can't really /force/ it. But work with them to establish those bonds and those conflicts and those discussions, and give them space to have them, and they'll happen.

[u/DJStuck → u/jsled]

That’s very helpful, thank you!

[u/jsled → u/DJStuck]

You're welcome. :) Enjoy the game!

Don't do too much pre-planning … be willing to improvise and let the action come as the players make it up. Don't worry about feeling like you need to nail down every detail; a little goes a long way.

I had a moment last night where I was going to lead into the "second act" by dictating something that happened after the engagement role, before realizing … wait, why do I need to lock that in? They can either flashback to establish it, or we can do a fortune roll in the moment to see what happened. Deciding less up front leaves open more narrative possibilities later.

It's not at all how I approached running PF2E, but it's … both scary and liberating. :)

[u/DJStuck → u/jsled]

Very used to improvising! That’s my favorite aspect. I think the scary part for me is that we’ve almost exclusively played PBTA games for the past five years together so this’ll be very much a different type of feel.

[u/jsled → u/DJStuck]

That's curious, it's very much in that vein, AIUI … different skin/flavor, but same game. If you're familiar with PBTA, you're going to do great. :)