Hey Man, well this is Babylon

I am seriously considering the idea of adding a form of follow-up mechanic to the core conflict system (aka the “Showdown” system). B&BoB is most certainly inheriting the core Showdown mechanic from Cannibal Contagion, in which players go around the table throwing down cards and “stepping up” the smack-taking narration until one player wins. Given the greater focus on drama and intense action in this game, I want to introduce a system to allow the losers of a conflict to take the really important battles and push them forward, transforming a horrible defeat into a costly by unexpected victory. I am currently calling this the “Press On” mechanic.

It must first be stated that the option to Press On would only be available in very rare circumstances. Since a core rule of the system is that no single conflict can be attempted twice in the same manner, the ability to actually break that core rule would have to be a special one, and not easily accomplished. My intention is to connect it to the player’s Sign card somehow, allowing “Press ON” combos to be played whenever a related card is played.

Doing this would require me to adjust the “if you can beat it, you must” rule of Showdown card-play. In Cannibal Contagion, there was no way to concede once the cards were dealt; you had to keep playing your cards until you couldn’t play any more. This rule served to further solidify the “Win Big vs Win Now” focus of Showdowns: in other words, don’t start fights you can’t win. Taking away this rule and allowing players to concede mid-Showdown would work pretty well as a companion to the “Stash” mechanics (in which players build a hand of cards they hold onto through the whole game), but it could also make such a mechanic pretty unbalanced.

Anyway, the big question here is how to implement the mechanic at all. One way would be to just extend into another round of a Showdown, but I’m not really fond of that idea, as it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.