7 thoughts on “I’ve run my first couple of games of Blades!”

  1. I had a one shot result in Baszo’s death, and I know of one other GM who posted about it recently, so it’s getting more usual. Not problematic either. Just pure awesome.

    I suggest you select the most fitting entanglement rather than roll for it (unless you did already), I made that mistake and the fallout didn’t feel like it made sense for my group’s fiction

  2. Mark Cleveland Massengale cool, that sounds like a good idea. (We’ll be starting with the downtime next session, so that fits very well.) And yeah, it was pretty awesome 😀

  3. Not at all, I mean the Quick start even suggests his assassination as an initial score. Plus, power vacuums are great. One thing I’d bear in mind in case you made the same mistake I did when my players killed Baz is that unlike games like Dungeon World, yes is not the only answer. Whether they don’t have a good enough Position, Effect, etc. there are situations where the answer is no or “partly”.

  4. I think one of the best ways to design scenarios is to give the players a basic setup and a reason to act, and just let them go. “Okay, these two gangs are about to go to war, each one is asking you for help, there’s an opportunity to make lots of money here. Go.”

  5. Ben Morgan Yep, that’s what we did. We rolled characters (not crews), then I put them in Baszo’s office and we went from there. (They bluffed the Lampblacks because they wanted to see what the Red Sashes would offer. But one of them took a devil’s bargain that the Sashes would know they were getting sloppy seconds, so to speak. They ended up proving themselves taking out a few of the Sashes’ guards, and last night went back to Baz’s coal factory to assassinate him. Two very busy sessions, but everyone agreed it was some of the best RPG’ing they’d ever had.)

  7. Everyone is in the crosshairs. Even that immortal emperor! If it feels like high profile targets are too easy to take down though, there are some tools in the system to help you add some challenge.

    * Position (jumping Baszo in his own factory sounds risky at least, possibly desperate)

    * Effect (Bazso is higher tier which reflects his greater resources, experience, and connections. Effect levels from a lower tier can always be reduced against him because of quality. If he has his gang with him effect is further reduced because of magnitude)

    * Allies (The Lampblacks are in tight with The Fog Hounds, Gondoliers, Ironhook Prison. Mess with them and their friends might come for you).

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