April 2016 – Page 11 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Silly question, but my google-fu is weak today and if it’s explicitly stated then I’ve missed it entirely.

The starting territory given the Thieves in the QS is three blocks along Ash Way between Cinder Street and Rye Street. Where is this supposed to be on the map?

We know where the Lampblacks, Crows, and Red Sashes are, but unless the PC Crew is supposed to be headquartered in the Leaky Bucket, I’m not quite sure where the Drop should be placed.

Finally: My first posting under “Actual Play Reports”.

Finally: My first posting under “Actual Play Reports”. We did our first session last week and it was great fun even though it was a bit (expected) confusing.

It took very long to create the PCs because I wanted to describe the background a bit. This “bit” took ~ 1h because I explained the setting a lot (… industrial fantasy, but with ghost/demons/vampires, but with elektroplasma, but with X and Y). Then I tried to explain the “special” rules to my old-school players (… flashbacks and Group Actions, Fiction-First, no Combat Initiative and did I mentioned flashbacks! Wow!)

Then finally we did the characters and the crew and then I had a group of suprised players when I told them that they’re already in Bazo’s office. They had a hard time coping with that. We did not manage to finish the score and go to downtime because we had a break after 3 hours of playtime. We’ll see how this will work out.

BUT: It was great. All my three (stressed) players said it was great and they’re all curious how say will manage to climb to the top in Doskvol (no doubt about the if)

Question to anyone who played the Lampblacks vs. Red Sashes start: Did anyone of your players took the “yep, we’re here to murder Bazo using a flash back” option? My players were REALLY relieved when I said that this is only an option and they don’t have to. Short planning will be a challenge to them 🙂

As a GM I had some hard times thumbing through the papers (situation front, rules in the middle, score somewhere in the back) and I decided to create my own cheat sheet for the next session.

So, I’ve been inspired by Adam Koebel to replay through dishonoured for some scoundrelly goodness and inspiration…

So, I’ve been inspired by Adam Koebel to replay through dishonoured for some scoundrelly goodness and inspiration when I’m running the game.

Damn, but this game is good. Plus, I’m a crap video-gamer and ALWAYS get stuck on mission paradigm games, particularly immersive FP types. Whilst surfing the tubes for guidance and help I came across this AWESOME sequence. It combines stealth, murder, mayhem and attuning in a fast paced steampunk romp across multiple locations.

So freaking watchable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T2bQU7veCc

How does a vampire choose to leave its body? I.e. when does the bound stricture come into effect?

I’ve asked this a couple of days ago but got no answer (and my next session is scheduled for tomorrow), so I’ll try…

I’ve asked this a couple of days ago but got no answer (and my next session is scheduled for tomorrow), so I’ll try again 🙂

In my last session, the Whisper called a Flashback to create a one-shot freezing device. I used the rules for Magnitude to assign a Stress cost but that felt kinda wrong (too much similarity with the Tempest ability).

How have you managed “Strange Methods” in Flashbacks?

The reddit.com/r/rpg Indie RPG Book Club has chosen Blades in the Dark by popular vote as April’s Indie RPG of the…

The reddit.com/r/rpg Indie RPG Book Club has chosen Blades in the Dark by popular vote as April’s Indie RPG of the Month. Folks are invited to try it out at the Roll20 group.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/4d1b4l/aprils_indie_rpg_of_the_month_is_blades_in_the/

Has anyone done a BitD re-skin using The Warriors as inspiration?

Has anyone done a BitD re-skin using The Warriors as inspiration? I have an itch to rename the skirmish action to “rumble” among other things.

How have you managed “Strange Methods” and “Artificer” in Flashbacks?

How have you managed “Strange Methods” and “Artificer” in Flashbacks? Did you charge Stress using the Magnitude rules? Called action rolls to enstablish the usefulness of the object? Something else?

Last session I had my Whisper pay Stress to use a one-shot electroplasmic freezing device: it was cool (pun intended), but it seemed to overlap too much with the Tempest ability.

Any suggestions/ideas?

This Sunday I’m running a one shot of Blades using Sean Nittners vigilantes crew type.

This Sunday I’m running a one shot of Blades using Sean Nittners vigilantes crew type. We took subterranean tunnels and decided it’d be cool if Duskvol had a pre-cataclysm subway system that’s now all broken and stuff. Obviously they claimed a station as their lair.

I thought this was awesome and so it was true…. as long as their vice isn’t pizza.

Is Rep gained from scores variable or is it purely a function of the Tier of the faction you are messing with?

Is Rep gained from scores variable or is it purely a function of the Tier of the faction you are messing with? Could you gain +1 Rep for a particularly daring score, or -1 Rep for a particularly tame score?

Also, if you are trying to pin the score on someone else to reduce Heat gained and/or reduce faction Status lost, does that affect your Rep? Doesn’t gaining Rep from a score imply that everybody knows it was you who pulled it off?

Finally, what’s the fictional explanation for spending Rep to take additional downtime actions? The only thing I can think of is: you’re spending extra time between scores, so word of your exploits is beginning to fade. I think that’s a perfectly fine explanation, but I’m wondering what else people have come up with.