I see, thank you! But Slugblaster, IIUC, also has the PCs shed stress ("trouble") by buying negative beats (fights with family, etc), whereas you've kept the positive beats but just do stress reduction the usual FITD way. Any particular reason you ditched the negative beats? Just for simplicity's sake?
Viewing post in Bump in the Dark: Revised Edition comments
Yeah, that's exactly right. I think in some ways I didn't have my head fully wrapped around beats yet, and I really have always liked the sort of "indulging your vice"/seeking solace way of clearing stress, which feels in keeping with the genre. I think there's a way I could have done it more elegantly, though, and one of the games I'm working on currently will use beats much more in line with how Slugblaster does. There's maybe part of me that wanted it both ways with Bump and while I think it works, I think it could be smoother.