Quick question to those who have run Blades before.

9 thoughts on “Quick question to those who have run Blades before.”

1. I had my players do characters first. I find that when the characters a set it is easier to decide what crew type fits best.

2. I’ve had my players do characters first, but it’s not a bad idea to at least talk about the possible crews beforehand.

3. Depends on the players and the group. Feel it out and ask them. If they know what kind of crew they wanna play let them decide on the crew and build around it. If they have no idea about crew then feel free to wait on the crew and let their play decisions define what crew type best fits later on.

   Typically when I play I like to talk about the crew options with other people pick a crew type and then jump over to characters and start making scoundrels and then jump back and forth and let things compliment each other. If everyone wants to play shadows then the loud hound idea is one ill save for another crew probably, instead maybe I’ll go with a leech with smoke bomb access to make us extra sneaky and then when everyone has a playbook maybe jump back to crew and talk about if there are any crew upgrades we want to compliment our playbooks or fill gaps (oh crap we don’t have any muscle let’s spend on a cohort) and then jump back to characters and solidify my play choice with what ability I want.

   Play it loose and go with the option that keeps the discussion and creation moving. Blades is very much about jumping to the action so if you can do that with creation you probably should.

4. We did characters, played two sessions doing some “round 0,5” stuff, and then they decided they were Hawkers. We’re now on the third session coming up, and we’ve not yet written the crew sheet.

   It works, but it was really a cockup on my part, and I don’t recommend doing it like that.

   I need to get more into “Action now, details later” mindset.

5. This has come up before, with similar answers. Basically, it makes no odds so I just put it to the group: Do you want to have protagonists who get together and form a gang, or do you the players decide on a gang and choose PCs to fit?

   One former is more actor stance (if you are into this stuff), the other more author stance. If you are not into that story game philosophy stuff, then it comes down to do they want to make an ‘in character’ decision or not?

   EDIT: Don’t forget to remind them that the crew playbook can change later, so its not a unalterable choice.

6. I like doing characters first, then crew. It’s more organic that way. In fact, some groups don’t need the crew sheet at all for the first session (it complicates things for first time players tbh)

7. I knew my friends would want to play hucksters and charlatans rather than killers, so we picked CREW first. I also wanted to highlight the differences in this game compared to D&D, so the central crew sheet was something I knew they’d be excited to pick.

8. It might vary with the group and experience level of players with the game, but I would still recommend crew first. I would emphasize that the crew itself is a character. One whose creation and future development will take input from all the players.

   The ideas for characters they no doubt have in mind should support the crew, but perhaps also challenge it (express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the crew). As andrew smith pointed out the crew sheet is the system mechanic that separates Blades in the Dark from many other rpgs. I could not think of a better reason to lead with this factor rather than treat it as secondary or nonessential to your game.

9. For my crew it was sort of both at the same time. The players had ideas for their characters then chose the crew playbook before finishing their characters. Mostly this was done for skill selections, didn’t make a lot of sense for a Shadows crew to have next to no Prowl 😄

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