[S&V] The Pilot playbook seems… kinda lame?
Edit: thanks to everyone for your insights! It seems like while my hangups with the playbook aren’t entirely without merit, in actual play the Pilot gets much more use than I was expecting. When I start to GM the game I’ll be sure to keep in mind that (1) speed is not limited to “drive real fast,” and (2) there are plenty of vehicles around for a pilot to mess with even on the ground.
Original post:
For context, I have run BitD before but not Scum and Villainy, and I’m just reading through the book now.
The pilot seems like a bad playbook to pick. It seems like if a player wants to be a pilot, they’re better off taking “Scoundrel” or “Mechanic” and investing a few points in helm. Off the top of my head, there are a few reasons it seems a bit lackluster:
- the playbook seems way too specific in its intended use (you pilot a ship or drive a car)
- its abilities are all okay at best (and the good ones, such as Commander and Hedonist, don’t really fit the “pilot” archetype as much as a “captain” archetype)
- its XP trigger is too specific to reliably come up as often as other playbooks
- any time your crew is on the ground you’re not doing what your playbook is about (unless you’re being the chauffeur); and anytime your crew is in the ship you’re rolling the same actions over and over.
For anyone who has either played a pilot or run S&V for a pilot, how would you make the game interesting for someone who took this playbook? I get that I could throw the pilot a bone by shoe-horning in a car chase, but it feels like I would need to make the game fun for a pilot in a way that I wouldn’t for other playbooks.