April 2016 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 4 (February 24th 2016)

The crew goes to see Fitz, one of their contacts. He is a collector of antiquities who runs a shop in Six Towers, and occasionally hires the crew to acquire certain items for him. This time he wants them to retrieve a curious bronze statue recently brought in from Tycheros that is currently being held by the Dockers until Fitz agrees to pay their exorbitant customs & handling fees. He offers the crew 4 Coin and the opportunity to take whatever else they want from the warehouse where the statue is being kept.

The Bronze Statue Job:

They stake out the warehouse and Constance notes the comings and goings of the guards. Boots looks for a way in, which he finds in the form of a skylight. Shade performs a ritual to take over a swarm of rats, so he can scope out the inside of the building without being detected, and in the process locates the statue. When they’re ready to do the job, Constance provides a distraction to the guards on the outside as only Constance can, while Boots and Shade go in via the roof. Boots ends up twisting his ankle a bit on the way down. The only opposition inside is in the office off to the side, so Boots and Shade shove one of the heavy crates up against the door as quietly as they can, and then let Constance in the side door once the outside guards are all knocked out. They retrieve the statue, and a number of other valuables, and quietly make their escape.

They get 3 Rep for going up against the Seaside Dockers and lots of Coin: 4 for the statue, and another 6 for the other stuff they stole. They receive a minimal amount of heat, but there was still a hell of a lot from the last job. The Entanglement roll resulted in Demonic Attention, which I will follow up on later.

Notes:

Apologies for the sparseness of this post, I actually had to recreate this entry from memory.

#dontmesswiththedolls

Last night our crew hit an edge case.

Last night our crew hit an edge case. I think we handled it okay in the moment, but now ‘d like to hear how others would cover it. They finished a score and had eight Heat, Wanted Level 0. For their Entanglement they rolled a 6: Arrest. One of the crew members gave himself up, but since they were at Wanted:0, we figured that the Bluecoats didn’t actually have enough on him to make a case before a magistrate. Instead, they took him to the local watch station and held him for about a couple of days until the rest of the crew pulled an Acquire Asset to get a barrister and get the whole thing thrown out. He spent a couple of days in holding, then was released. The crew cleared all their Heat since the barrister got the case tossed (as a nod toward the result of getting incarcerated).

In retrospect, I feel like I should have had the barrister make a roll based on his Quality to determine how much Heat was cleared rather than clearing it all.

I had just a quick question for whomever may know.

I had just a quick question for whomever may know. Is there any way to upgrade from the POD to the hardcover level of backing? If not or if it’s too late, that’s fine, I’d really like the hardcover, but it’s no big deal if I can’t get it.

Question: Someone in my campaign is creating a hound and wants to take the Ghost Hunter special ability, which gives…

Question: Someone in my campaign is creating a hound and wants to take the Ghost Hunter special ability, which gives him a choice between 3 arcane abilities.

However, none of these arcane abilities seem to be listed anywhere.

ghost-form is also a special ability of another playbook, so I can see what that is, but the other 2: mind-link and arrow-swift aren’t specified anywhere.

I’d appreciate help! thanks in advance.

Fun question: Who feels Whispers are almost a necessity for a PC crew?

Fun question: Who feels Whispers are almost a necessity for a PC crew? I’m not saying the game suffers without one, but I myself would feel much better having one as a (hopefully) trusted crew member, especially if the crew is a Cult! 🙂

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there are any modern espionage (a la Jason Bourne or Ronin kind of stuff)…

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there are any modern espionage (a la Jason Bourne or Ronin kind of stuff) renditions of the BitD ruleset in the works? I don’t recall one among any of the KS settings, but I wasn’t sure if an industrious fan out there had taken it upon themselves to make it happen.

So, while I was looking through the dangerous friends in the playbooks, I saw that the Whisper has a friend called…

So, while I was looking through the dangerous friends in the playbooks, I saw that the Whisper has a friend called Nyryx, a possessor ghost, and the slide has Nyryx a prostitute. Is this a typo, or does Nyryx have some fun with the bodies that it possesses? Just thought I’d ask.

#glowinthedark

I’ve gotten a first round of actions hacked together for my Mad Gamma Max Fallout World hack, Glow in the Dark. You might notice I’ve got 5 actions for Resolve – I’m not sure about hardly any of the ones I’ve got so far. Is Barter too close to Sway? Like, can’t you just Sway someone to take the deal you’re offering? So I’m not sure Barter needs to be there, although I like the nod to Thunderdome.

Channel is just a lazy Attune rename, and implies that there’s some sort of weirdness in the setting, and that a character has the ability to influence that weirdness. I’m not sure that I want all those things.

By the same token, is Build really needed if you can express the same concepts through other actions and long-term projects?

What’s core to post-apocalyptic things when it comes to Resolve?

Insight

Hack old technology or jury-rig contraptions; modify, disable, or repair devices; painfully and messily patch wounds.

Hunt a target; gather information about its location and movements; attack with precision shooting from a distance

Read a person’s intentions or situation; recon a location; actually use reading to uncover lost knowledge.

Scrounge up items or information; find sustenance in the wasteland; spot useful things.

Prowess

Finesse explosives into or out of pockets; employ subtle misdirection or sleight of hand; race in a vehicle; sew up wounds and perform surgery with the right knowledge.

Prowl about unseen and traverse obstacles; climb, swim, run, and jump; ambush with close violence.

Raid a location; fight in open battle; perform a drive-by.

Wreck a place, vehicle, item, or obstacle with savage force; unleash chaos; breach defenses.

Resolve

Barter with people for resources, info, or access.

Boss people around using threats, charisma, or presence; lead a cohort.

Build lasting constructs; earn trust; battle entropy and decay.

Channel your connection with the pervasive poisoned miasma of the world; call upon psychic powers or use mutant abilities; connect to and control nanite swarms and sentient microorganisms.

Sway someone with charm, logic, deception, disguise, or bluff; manipulate and seduce.

I’ve been working on a modern-day, down-to-earth crime hack set in the US South, basically ala the TV series…

I’ve been working on a modern-day, down-to-earth crime hack set in the US South, basically ala the TV series Justified (with a heavy dollop of Breaking Bad). Its called Copperhead County, after the Steve Earle song “Copperhead Road.” After a lot of tinkering, I feel solid about this action list, so I thought I would post it for thoughts. It is a mix of renamed Blades actions and new ones, with reworked attributes. I wanted to keep the three-attribute, twelve-action setup, but needed to replace the supernatural actions, which led to some pulling apart and rethinking which will hopefully make sense outside of my head.

I welcome any comments or questions anyone may have (about the actions or the rest of the project, if you’re interested). Some of these words I’m not married to, but there is a combination of action-appropriate language and setting-appropriate language I’m aiming for, which is hard to get perfect.

GRIT (resist consequences with strength and determination)

Assault an opponent or position in close quarters, with your fists or with a weapon; grapple and wrestle.

Growl a threat or display dominance; showcase your hardness; bark out orders.

Handle heavy machinery and vehicles; perform manual labor; husband animals.

Tread across land and road, by foot, bike, or car; scale obstacles; swim and romp.

GUMPTION (resist consequences with brainpower and insight)

Deal with others to reach mutual agreement; negotiate terms; talk turkey.

Direct matters with thought and care; manage organizations, people, and resources.

Reckon information and problems with scrutiny; put two and two together; do research.

Watch out for activity; read a person or situation; sense trouble before it happens.

GRACE (resist consequences with subtlety and careful moves)

Coax someone with charm or guile; manipulate attitudes, perceptions, and behavior.

Creep up on someone or steal around unseen; pick a pocket; attack with hidden violence.

Fix up objects to repair, modify, or break them; mix up chemicals and ingredients.

Hunt a target and track their movements; attack with precision shooting from a distance.

Ok, so I’ve been playing a lurk in Vasco Brown’s play group, and decided to make some art to flesh out the character.

Ok, so I’ve been playing a lurk in Vasco Brown’s play group, and decided to make some art to flesh out the character. This is Skeever. She’s from Tycheros, and has obvious demon-like traits (black eyes, purple-ish dusky skin, white hair). She carries light climbing gear that doubles as a utility belt, and her shadow cloak folds up into the hood/cowl, so its always within a couple of seconds of use. Her go-to weapons are throwing knives, which are carried on the sides of her torso for easy access. On her wrist is a small crossbow that she developed during downtime. Also, you can see her dark-sight goggles that she uses to sneak in and out of dark places.

If you have any questions, let me know. 🙂

I hope you all enjoy!