It was asked, and so I answer: My Blades in the Dark kit:

It was asked, and so I answer: My Blades in the Dark kit:

It was asked, and so I answer: My Blades in the Dark kit:

Dice – Some cool D6s, yes, but I also keep one fate die on hand as my “I haven’t thought about that in a while, what’s happened there?” die. Quick roll can tell me if things have gotten better or worse, possible advance or withdraw a clock.

Pens & Pencils – Most normal stuff – Sharpies are my go-to here, but I want to call out one thing. That yellow handled thing is a lead holder – it’s kind of like a mechanical pencil, except the lead is a quarter inch across. When I remember, it’s what I like ot use to fill in clocks because it works almost as well as a sharpie, but it can be erased.

Index Cards – These are the heart and soul of my game. Every element int he game (PC, NPC, Faction, Clock, Whatever else) has a card where i can capture notes and i can shuffle them up for inspiration Some of them are nicely curated (like Uncle Callum’s card) but honestly, most of them are just a line or two, hastily scrawled. If I can, I spread these out in front of me when I run.

Card Stands – These are the little plastic bits you get in boardgames that you insert a paper character into to make a pawn. I keep them on hand to stand up index cards that have information relevant to the table for high visibility. They’re also good for character names,

Photo Printer – Mine is an HP Sprocket, and it prints out 2″x3″ photo stickers from my phone. This is exactly the right size to put on an index card (as I did with Callum). The photos are about 50 cents a pop, so I’m a little conservative with it, but it can reallly be great for NPCs). Full credit o my friends Will (who first showed me these) and Eric Thornber (from whom I stole the idea of putting them on Index cards)

IPad – This is my map and my quick ref rulebook. While not strictly necessary, I gotta admit it comes in handy a lot, especially because it’s big enough that I can hold it up to show the table a relevant piece of data.

I sometimes add in dry erase material, but that’s less consistent, since I haven’t really found a way to use it that I like more than index cards. And things like Post Its (and, god forbid, the actual book) make it into the rotation too, but that’s the stuff I make sure is in my box for running Blades.

17 thoughts on “It was asked, and so I answer: My Blades in the Dark kit:”

  7. This is similar enough to what I do that the things I hadn’t thought of can slot right in–and there are some great ideas here! I love the photo stickers on the index cards, and the card stands.

  9. I really love the photo printer, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to justify the purchase just for printing out NPC portraits. Is there anything else it might come in handy for?

  10. Sadly, it’s a pretty specialized tool. I get decent use out of it printing other stickers to entertain kids or to jazz things up at work, but it’s definitely tricky to justify.

  13. Mark Wiand Those bullet dice looks like just the right thing for my Weird West Hack. Thanks for pointing that out. Because of the “Spiel” I hoped they are in Germany or maybe Europe which is sadly not the case. So, shipping again will be the problem. Thanks anyway!

  17. Ok, yeah, that bugged me so I checked. Apparently I got it through Mightydeals in 2013 for $18. That both explains why I it has fewer faces and why I have a font that is probably above my price range. 🙂

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