This Saturday is likely my last open table Blades in the Dark session until after the rules come out officially. To celebrate, I’m sharing the updated gang rules. These are suited for Blades in the Dark one-shot sessions.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QtJxtygvG33wWTfUt14Z10RxHUIkVbAICznRwwHwt3Y/edit?usp=sharing
The crew rules are designed to do four useful things:
* Save time by not generating a crew.
* Offer the whole group an advantage as a crew normally would.
* The players tell the GM what kind of play style they want.
* The players tell the GM what kind of mission they want to run.
I like it. Nice and clean. I’m highly tempted to use this for a one-shot at Minnesota LongCon in a month.
What do gang-member PCs do with Coin? More downtime actions?
The last paragraph about downtime was somewhat confusing. Do you mean players should probably use all downtime actions for vice rather than long-term projects, gaining assets, gather info, etc?
On another note, I doubt it, but do gangs bother with rep?
Gangs don’t bother with rep. They don’t really get down time actions, either; it’s all about the heists. They get Coin because you can often use it to boost rolls, in flashbacks or in the heist.
I’m glad you like it. For a long con I would build a crew, but for the 3 hour one-shots I’ve run online I begrudge the time and decision making spent on a crew when I want to get them stuck in and get as much scoundrelling done as possible. =)
Another advantage is I can have several repeat player characters along with new player characters for one-shots and I don’t have to figure out what that means for the crew’s membership roster.
Ok, so instead of any real downtime phase, you just give an epilogue of the last session’s fallout, then say “Everybody clear your stress and suit up. You have a new job from your boss. If you have a harm condition (whatever its called now) either its been long enough to recover from it or you’re still smarting from it. Ok now you’re hiding in a gondola with a noblewoman while a ghost hound hunts her. Go.”
The first part is right, covering epilogue, clearing stress, and dealing with harm conditions.
However, for the second heist, I let them pick their gang type again (because it might change) and their advantage, and their underboss. This takes little time, but it’s another point for them to communicate how they want to play and what sort of thing they want to do. It can be fun watching a gang switch from one style to another between heists.
Then a quick briefing scene, THEN they get stuck in.
I would skip a phase I usually have where each character gets one quick gather information task, because if we’re getting 2 heists in 3 hours they are probably pretty straightforward.
A side benefit of this is that it’s easier to hack to new settings than the full game.
Adam Minnie I think you’re right. The gang styles can be crafted to target the play styles the game supports best. The “underbosses” can represent patrons or clients who offer kinds of work that the game targets. Even if this specific document doesn’t make it an easier hack, the structure of gang style and boss and one advantage can really focus a setting. Players get significant voice in what comes next using that structure.
For fun, (and boy was it fun) I attempted to see how easy it would be to “hack this for pirates.” Answer: Too easy.
By the time I came to the end of the doc, I realized the only change I made was swapping “Crows” in the introduction paragraph with “the Queen Anne’s Revenge” and expanding the Adepts benefit from just supernatural to “supernatural, scientific, or academic-related assaults or conditions” for a bit more of a pseudo-historical Pirates of the Caribbean slant rather than the paranormality-all-over of Duskwall. Oh and swap the heritage names. I let the hagfish racing pool slide. 😛
Other than those two-three tiny things, however, nothing needed changing! :O
Obviously, what a whisper does with his or her powers in the Pirate Age Caribbean will require some flexibility within the ability flavor text, but honestly not much.
Ok, let’s push it. What about space pirates/Star Wars? That takes a bit more, but it’s still fast and effortless:Â
—Replace “Crows” in the first paragraph to Rebellion/Empire/Hutts/Jedi Council.
—Adepts deal with Force and alien animist forces rather than supernatural ones.
—Reflavor the italics gear pairs for each gang type: i.e. Rovers’ “Whips and lanterns” become “Astromec droids and starcharts”; Shadows’ “lockpicks and climbing gear” become “hacking computers/tablets and jetpacks”; Adepts’ “scrolls and charms” become mind shields or heck, lightsabers!
—Reflavor the Lair add-ons, but not much: Boathouse = garage/landing pad/bay, Stable could stay (Taun-tauns or droids) or become Science Lab or luxe Computer/Relay Rig or Infirmary if you want to play passive/reactionarily. I bet the Lair itself is more often than not going to be a ship, whether capital or something like a YT-1300 or Tie squadron. Let’s be honest.
—Give Utrecht a more modern job: “Mechanic” works well enough. His lair is in his garage or ship.
—On player sheets, probably nothing changes besides refluffing heritage options, supernatural items in the gear list, and (maaaybe) flavor text of the Leech’s abilities.
Contrary to my expectations, the hagfish pool made the cut again. Darn it you Hutt cantinas! 🙂
Hagfish ascendant! =) I’m glad you’re getting really good use out of the gangs, looks like great reskinning.