Just got my copy of blades and it looks really cool. It also looks kinda of complicated with tracking all the various things outside of the playbooks. Any tips on learning the system or any particularly helpful videos?
Just got my copy of blades and it looks really cool.
Just got my copy of blades and it looks really cool.
Erik, it all falls into place once you start playing – plus, just start with the Core MEchanic, that’s all that really counts. The other subsystems lock into that one concept and easily cope if you forget one or two things during play.
John, Adam, Stras and Sean have the most excellent AP series of videos on John’s Youtube channel. Sean’s writeups on his blog are full of little helpful tips as he critically reviews his GMing each and every session.
http://www.seannittner.com/blades-in-the-dark/
youtube.com – John Harper
I’m not certain what you mean by “all the things outside the playbooks”. Care to specify?
Nathan: thanks for the links. I’ll check them out. Thomas: the crew, turf, ect. It’s a lot to process but it seems like it be really cool to build not just a character but a criminal empire (wow that’s kind of subversive).
Erik, the crew-building subgame can be as involved or as ‘background’ as the players care to make it. Their choices with advances; both on their own playbooks and that of the crew, plus the score types or threats they choose to deal with will inform the fiction of your game.
A criminal empire is a fine ambition! But sometimes just focusing on the personal struggles of an individual character and letting the big picture drift into the wings is just as fun. The game supports this eliding fiction marvellously – as the Bloodletters AP above will testify.
There’s a series on YouTube on the channel “Drop Dice” called “What is Blades in the Dark?” I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but it looks pretty thorough, with the basics covered in one video, then individual playbooks covered in individual videos.
https://youtu.be/dC99gKnueCw
Jason Lee Thanks Jason.
Erik Buchanan No worries. I’m reasonably new to the system, but it actually isn’t as hard to learn as it seems. There’s some suggestions in the book for how to ease in to the game. Things like just using Risky Standard for all rolls at first can help reduce complexity. As long as you and your players are all on the same page about the fact that in the early games you’ll probably get things wrong but you can work around those mistakes as you spot them, you should be fine.