Well, tonight I ran my first session of Blades in the Dark. It was a disaster. By the end of it, the players were very frustrated. I am discouraged, to say the least.
I’ll break down the analysis tomorrow, after sleep. Probably put one or two issues per post to unpack the problems my players had.
I planned to run an online game on Monday, and now my confidence is shaken to the point I may cancel.
Anyway, good night.
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It’s possible that your longer list of issues come from a smaller number of root causes. Exploring the issues one or two at a time may make it more difficult to see such a pattern. Perhaps open with a summary of the session?
As I’m thinking myself as teachable, I look forward to read about your disappointment, especially because I’ll run a session next thursday.
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Sorry to hear that, Andrew. I’ll /sub to this thread because I’m interested to hear more.
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Andrew, I’m sure it can be sorted. All these folks are really happy to boost your confidence and support you in being a great Blades GM. Have no fear! Looking forward to hearing about what didn’t work for you.
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I’m also keen to find out what problems you ran into, and perhaps to help. Let’s all remember that Blades in the Dark is still to some extent in testing, and finding the issues now is helpful to everyone. Plus we don’t want to alienate players…
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I really had the same problem with Fate Core. Things just didn’t work. The community helped me a lot to understand better and not get too frustrated. I think it will be the same thing here.
https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/blades-in-the-dark-adventure-summary/
Interesting. The first score seems to have gone great. The described flashbacks sound fantastic . What changed in the second run?
Eloy Cintron They didn’t roll lots of 6s all the time.
Sorry you had a rough time, Andrew! Obviously, the quick start is pretty sparse in terms of teaching the game well. And a few mechanics are still being revised. Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully the game will work better for you in the future as the text gets more complete and the mechanics are dialed in.
John Harper No worries. Every time you sit in the GM chair you take a chance, you don’t know how the evening will go. Especially with a new system with new mechanics and rhythm. Especially when it focuses on improv play!
I currently have an online game (different people) scheduled for Monday. That involves a new venue for me (online) with people I haven’t played with before.
If I muster up the nerve to not cancel, I’ll offer feedback from that session too. =)
ANdrew, I gotta say the fiction you generated at the table (in reading your AP as a story) was wonderful! All that from the diminutive kickstart?! That’s play to see what happens! Well done!
Your use of the flashback mechanic is wonderful and appropriate.
Sometimes scores don’t work out, yeah? That’s fictionally suitable…
Why were you and the player’s frustrated? Can you elucidate the problems you were having with the system?
Nathan Roberts Thanks, man! One of the things I love about the idea of BitD is how you can sit down and get things spinning, dropping in at the beginning of the heist, loaded with little plot hooks. That’s what attracted me to the game in the first place. (Plus, I wanted to see how the mechanics for crews would work.)
As for what went wrong, I put that in other community posts. =p
When the players lose heart it’s tough to recover the session. I never care about characters getting beat up and kicked around, that’s par for the course. But when the players are discouraged the fun gets sucked out of the session.