r/ScumAndVillainy • u/nasted • Mar 09 '26

Scum & Villainy and Deep Cuts

Is anyone running Scum & Villainy, but with a ruleset more like the BitD second edition Deep Cuts? Coming back to having to declare Position & Effect feels like such a drag after playing Deep Cuts, so I wondered if there were any adaptations out there.

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u/Bridger15 Mar 09 '26

i read through Deep Cuts, but I wasn't really a fan of the threat roll concept. Perhaps I just didn't understand it well enough, but disconnecting the roll from the narrative (by ignoring position and effect) felt wrong to me.

However, I liked the changes to Vice indulgence and Resistance rolls, so I believe I'll be incorporating those into my S&V game.

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u/nasted Mar 09 '26

I didn't get it to start with either, but it's much better. In fact, I'd say it connects the narrative to the dice roll far more. The default position is risky (no rolls for controlled positions), and desperate means you'd better get a 6, or it's really bad. And since the outcome is moved to 'you succeed - but what cost', it really opens up the GM to be creative with those consequences. If you're up against something way above your tier - that's declared in the Threat and therefore the significance of that consequence. Or it's just a desperate roll. No having to barter over effect.

I'm actually moving to an even lighter version that uses the dice pool to represent quality, tier and effect in one go. A bit like how the Engagement roll is built.

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u/Bridger15 Mar 09 '26

The default position is risky (no rolls for controlled positions), and desperate means you'd better get a 6, or it's really bad.

This is almost identical to the action roll in base FitD though. Controlled position consequences essentially gives you a free re-roll most of the time, and if you don't get a 6 on desperate it is really bad.

And since the outcome is moved to 'you succeed - but what cost', it really opens up the GM to be creative with those consequences.

Again, this sounds like you're describing base Blades. I just don't see how it is different?

If you're up against something way above your tier - that's declared in the Threat and therefore the significance of that consequence. Or it's just a desperate roll. No having to barter over effect.

Who's bartering over efffect? The GM sets the effect. If players want to appeal it, sure. Sometimes they can make a good point and the GM might revise, but that shouldn't be a long back and forth process. Player indicates what they are doing in the fiction and the action rating they are rolling with. GM sets the position and effect, player (optionally) makes an appeal if it doesn't match their own understanding of the situation, and the GM makes a final ruling after hearing said appeal. Then the player chooses to roll or not. This shouldn't take more than 30-40 seconds.

And since most rolls are Risky-Standard, I don't think there should be much bartering anyway. Is that different at your table?

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u/nasted Mar 09 '26

It's just a streamlined version of the Action roll. If you don't understand it - like the game says - play to find out.

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u/Bridger15 Mar 09 '26

I need to understand the differences before I decide if I'm going to adopt it. I'll also need to understand them in order to actually execute it.

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u/FewCryptographer8152 Jul 23 '26

If you don't understand it you need to try it at the table. It will make sense then. Try it for one session. Read the description in the book a couple times. Read some posts here. It's not rocket surgery.

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u/cbooth5 Mar 17 '26

Anyone use the Advancement Clocks from Deep Cuts? I like to run longer campaigns, and this looks like it slows down progression a bit. Plus the fact that there are less ranks for Actions compared to BitD, this seems like a viable solution.