Here are two I like in particular. They change BitD in a way that works well with their unique settings.
Crimson Blossoms:
Only three attributes, no action ratings. Uses narrative traits, like Fate Aspects, which can “blossom” and “wither” to add +1d.
Band of Blades:
Having different rewards/penalties depending on the type of mission (assault vs recon, etc).
I like a lot of the things that Neon Black does, but my favorite addition might be downtime scenes, which replace entanglements. Basically, it adds a Firebrands-like mini-game every downtime designed to tell certain stories that are thematically consistent and help manage the plot beats of the game. It’s a really neat mechanic.
This is a very nice mix, jexjthomas!
What kind of mini games do they use?
So, for example, one of the scenes is “Day in the Life,” where you introduce a new NPC. The group answers specific questions by either roleplaying scenes or describing what’s happening. Questions are things like, “Where in the community do they live?” which might set up a nice little scene of this new NPC in their apartment. The second question, “What is their morning routine like?” gives us a reason to elaborate on this: we see the NPC making breakfast, maybe. We add in little details, like they’re eating tempeh bacon, or they scratch their butt before flipping the omelet. There are a few other questions, and then the last one is “At the end of the day, they seek out one of the player characters. Why?” so we can tie things back into the main game. Once the scene is over, that NPC gets added as a contact with an incomplete need that has to be met.
These scenes also do a great job of driving home the themes of the game. Another scene is called “Bills” with the description show the needs created by capitalism. The questions encourage scenes of PCs or NPCs struggling, having debts go into collections, get help from the community, etc.
All of the scenes are structured in that manner, with a brief description and a list of questions. So maybe “mini-game” is a bit strong of a description, but the thing they remind me the most of is the games in Firebrands or its many hacks. It’s a really cool way to do things.
Thank you for your elaboration! I especially love these ideas because they might finally help me fix the problems I see in Ars Magica 