Can anyone recommend any works of fiction that inspire your Blades games, that aren’t already in the book? Lies of Locke Lamora is great, but I really didn’t get along with the Vlad Taltos books (something about the writing style) – on the other hand, I’ve been reading the Low Town books by Daniel Polansky, and they are absolutely perfect for the tone that Blades wants. I’d easily recommend it to anyone who wants ideas or material or just to inspire your creativity.
What else have you guys been reading/watching/playing?
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Currently reading Six of Crows… very appropriate from what I can tell.
Whitechapel Gods might also be a good one for you. I couldn’t finish it myself but I remember the general mood being a fit.
On the TV front, Peaky Blinders is a pretty good fit
My inspirations are rather indirect, as regards genre.
Lupin III and Cowboy Bebop, honestly. Also, the Russian scifi novel A Roadside Picnic. Stalkers in the Zone are true badasses on the heist.
Among Thieves and the sequel to it. Also Penny Dreadful TV series. I would also add Black Sails because of various criminal crews.
I also recommend Six of Crows. I picked it up the other day to a suggestion on here, and it was great. Also, the afterword had a few good suggestions for non fiction resources as well.
I have not read any of the Low Town stuff, so I am looking forward to that.
Coming at it from the other side of the law, but I’ve found some inspiration in Ripper Street.
Also from law enforcement side Hawkwood series is quite good. It’s about Bowstreet runner.
For examples of using flashbacks, I can’t think of a better example than the Leverage tv series, although if your players watch it, they may end up leaning more towards a Robin Hood style group of outlaws…
Leverage is actually also a great source for thinking about playbook niches. They’re a gang of Thieves with a well-defined Cutter, Lurk, Slide and Spider (I’d put Hardison as a Whisper, or at least the same fictional space as one). And they all have their own thing to do in each heist, setting each other up in the pursuit of the score (most of the time – the Cutter doesn’t always have a role, since there’s not always someone to fight, which is a problem I have in the games I run). They even get in trouble from indulging their vices. It’s great for inspiring the mechanics and the narrative flow of Blades, if not the atmosphere and the fiction itself.
From that point of view, it can also be a great example of how to highlight your character’s weaker roles: Parker being forced to grift in the early seasons is always a delight (unless you’re the mark’s hand, but still!)
As Leverage was mentioned – I should certainly mention Hustle – an earlier UK series (so only about 6 eps per season). Somewhat similar, except they aren’t the A-Team of crime – they pick their targets (always bad people though), and they usually keep the money. Their cons are longer, the planning is better, the smug is higher, and there’s often a twist – sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and once or twice they themselves get conned. First 6 seasons are good, but when Mickey Bricks leaves I didn’t like it as much.
Much classic con heists and good examples of long cons. The denouement usually has flashbacks.
While I haven’t run a game of this yet, the first series that screamed inspiring for me is one of my favorites: The Night Angel trilogy. If you have not read them, Brent Weeks is an amazing author, and the series is a sprawling fantasy epic. And while the entirety of the book may not apply, the book’s main character is a very rouge-ish take on life, and many of the specific incidences end up being very “Score” worthy, as well as general inspiration for style.
Very red character? 😊