Hey folks,
I’m currently running a campaign of a group of Smugglers, known as the Jawbreakers due to the fact they live above a candy shop. It turns out that their next mission will be an assault plan, likely with multiple cutters, as a kidnap job from Lord Scurlock.
I haven’t run a ton of combats in Blades to date, and I would love any practical advice folks might have. I have a bunch of PBTA combat-administering experience, but I know that Blades in the Dark handles differently.
You’ll be fine! Listen to the assault podcast by the Bloodletters, episode 3 or 4 – where the Six towers gang are attacked by the red sashes after their score to take the gambling den takes a little more time. Its FULL of combat and mystical shenanigans and consequences and lots of ‘Nooooope.’ by the players as they resist. Super good example.
https://youtu.be/9Y5mF3gPloU?list=PLQQW3Ew6DKsN0-Iv7n7144RbqKKRneqHH
That episode is a really good resource. Don’t be afraid to create clocks and tick them up and down even when PCs and NPCs take actions not intended to tick them. Some of your clocks may work at cross-purposes or invalidate each other when they are fulfilled and that’s fine.
Don’t assume the players are going to roll results that will let you hit them back. 🙂 Also assume they’re all going to pick armor if it’s an option – it’s just a no-brainer.
For an enemy who’s tough, you can use a small clock to simulate their defense, their guard, armor, or otherwise. Just a pacing mechanism to bring out more chances for people to roll those sweet 4-5 results. You can also use this if the enemy is higher tier than the PC – if they’d be a one-shot minion, maybe now they have a 2-4 segment clock due to training, gear, etc.
For an enemy who’s dangerous, you can attack the player first and call for a resistance roll before the PC can go.
FWIW, when people DO roll lower results, I like to adjust positioning before I attempt to deal harm in combat. A swordfight turns into a grapple that turns into wrestling over a shard of glass, that sort of thing. Makes it a more interesting fight without throwing around harm each time.
Read Poison’d by Vincent Baker – the whole concept of ‘enduring duress’ is wholeheartedly endorsed by Blades. John is so supportive about using this technique to bolster the untenable situations the scoundrels get themselves in.
Hit them with bad stuff that HAPPENS, until they players say ‘Nope’. Its not so much If the scoundrels do a thing, but rather how do they cope / deal with the consequences of their actions. Both Macro and on a Setting level.
That reminds of a Ryan Macklin post a while back: http://ryanmacklin.com/2012/05/dont-roll-for-the-horror/
Adam Schwaninger Really(!!!) like the idea to adjust position before dealing harm PLUS like to threaten harm to players to let them resist. They not very used to it, yet but they will over time.
Thanks for the idea to stress the position adjustment a bit more.