So last night I ran my third session of Blades. It was the second session for one group and the first session for any of the groups to feel right on my side of the table. What I mean is that while every game was fun, this was the first time that Blades started to fulfill its promise to me. Part of it was that I was starting to get comfortable with the core mechanic. More importantly, the downtime meta-game aspects really came through and helped replicate that feeling of a group of scoundrels who are barely keeping it together. Vices were indulged. Blue coats had to be bought off. And the mad scramble for turf and influence was on. Loved it.
One of the most promising things about the game is that it helps me with really being able to put the player characters in escalating danger. I’ve fallen into a rut with other games of late where I haven’t been able to dial up the pressure once an encounter/scene has started. Not so last night. With little help from me, the rules did most the work on that score. Presenting the outcome before giving the players the option to resist was a big part (and that was one thing that felt very weird initially).
Anyway, I’m hooked now. Can’t wait for the next iteration of the game.
Thanks for posting, Tim! I’ve been busy tinkering in the guts of the game lately, focused on minutia. Your post helps remind me that the overall game is doing what it’s meant to do — and that’s a good place to be. 🙂
Lovely Post Tim. Which technique dialled up the pressure most?
 Blades mechanically is so good at doing what it says on the tin. (If you let it). I find that ‘fighting’ with the system creates a lag in the feedback of the scoundrel economy that deflates play. When you let it sing though? Awesome.Â
Nathan, can you say more about ‘fighting the system’? That’s something I should address in the text as a possible pitfall.
Last night I had a couple of excellent Devil’s Bargains, for example, as players quickly learned the value of desperately adding dice when their stress was getting too high. In all cases, this directly led to an escalation. And then of course, we had failures or low hits that directly escalated a situation. Things snowballed nicely.
Oddly, not much teamwork last night as my five players had a hard time on agreeing on even the basic plan. Instead they executed three plans simultaneously as they tried to take down a Red Sashes drug den. The Slide had it relatively easy trying to infiltrate as staff to blackmail patrons while the Cutter and Hound ran into patrolling heavies while shaking down patrons on the outside. It was the Whisper and the Lurk, however, that really got into trouble while following the drug supplier back to the production facility in effort to taint the product. They end up barely escaping the explosion caused by tampering with the leviathan-blood powered spirit essence distillery. Of course it was their actions that ultimately won them their turf.
Two characters had to overindulge in their vice to clear the accumulated stress 🙂
Sure John. Its that baggage that comes from other games wherein you expect Blades to behave in a certain way because it eschews existing paradigms.
Its the ‘little bit of this’ and a ‘little bit of that’ gamer brain that finds on first pass the system disgruntling so we immediately strive to ‘fix’ (or fight) the issues with ways that we are comfortable with.
This ranges from parsing the  task / intent / effect / resolution to proclaiming the heists persona, to revolving the downtime mechanics. I think Andrew’s experience of the game far better reflects what I am trying to get across. If you look at his dogged persistence and resultant epiphany with the game, I think I comes from not trying too hard to muck with the RAW to find the emergent experience you (desire) out of the game.
Perhaps its the age old adage of letting go of expectations and just playing the game as presented…. For a good while. Pinpoint player flags as instructed, allow the reward economy to kick over, indulge fully in the flashback mechanics, seriously ‘meta’ game the clock system.Â
In essence, suck the marrow out of your design and savour its nuance without proclaiming the ‘faults’ of  its heritage. Enjoy Blades for what it is: a fine synergy of progressive role playing game designs encapsulated in a rather engaging and individually evolving milieu.