Two sessions ago we had a light turnout, three of the rogues, so we sat there for a few minutes and nobody had a goal or plan. I had drawn a couple heists from the heist deck earlier that afternoon just in case, and so we ran one, then the other.
Last session I really didn’t want the crew to do work for hire. There were five of them this time. I mean, if that’s what they wanted, they could be a gang for some bigger crew. I wanted them to choose a direction and strike out, and make the city theirs, saving the work for hire for desperate moments or the occasional slumming or promotion transition.
It was painful for a while. We had characters who weren’t there last time come back, and I prodded them for what they were interested in; maybe starting a goat stable (I suggested they could steal a stud goat), maybe provoking the Dreaming God’s cult into a war for fun (I pointed out there were vulnerable points to rob). They looked at the crew sheet, and I suggested maybe they wanted some turf. I gave them sketches of two lucrative bits of turf nearby, maybe they would pick one.
They did! They wanted to take the fence, and get +2 Coin per score. Excellent.
Now we were getting somewhere. I gave each of them a chance to do some recon; they could find out some basic information, but if they put some more skin in the game with a roll or greater risk, they could find out more.
So we went around the table, and as they asked questions I focused my answers towards something that could lead to a heist to shift the power balance, and I tip to a time-worn but effective solution, something they can steal so a current gang leader can no longer blackmail his boss, and the claim can change hands in gratitude. (Internal dialogue while improvising: “Seriously, another “ghost of Roric” gambit?” “Yeah, shut up.”)
In the end I think they were better off doing something that moved the needle on growing the crew and adjusting their relationships with their neighbors, rather than more work for hire. I had to prod them to get there–more to the point, had to restrain my own impulse to jump in and decide direction, just so we could get moving. Here’s the play report.
https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/blades-in-the-dark-clockworkers-shavers-row/
Your mileage may vary, but I find it much more entertaining to run games for groups that can fall into some reasonably healthy and collaborative pattern of leadership and pursue a goal together.
My advice to players: if things are off to a slow start, and leadership is not clear, kick things off by inquiring about something you care about. That’s what your friends and enemies are for. See if you can help or hurt someone on your list. If you think deathseeker crows are cool, see about getting some turf where you can set up a post to see them come and go and sell the intelligence. Look at your background and see if something there gets you moving; that’s even worth experience! Ask if there are any rumors an enemy faction is overextended.
Look at what other players have going on in a similar vein. See where your interests could overlap. Pull as many people as you can into your idea in ways that help and define them too. If you hit resistance, back up and reroute. If you bring your character’s flavor to the game, and encourage others to do the same, then that provides energy that can turn into momentum and get something started. This game provides all the tools to tie characters to the world and give some initial ideas for what to do with them. (Faction relationships, NPCs for each character and for the crew, backgrounds and heritages for everyone, desire for coin, turf, and rep…)
Once you’re started, then the entanglement roll can provide more grist for the drama mill, or something from one heist leads to another, or there are goods that have additional complications, so we’re off the the races. But getting started, that’s where players can be really helpful in choosing a direction. That’s their role, after all.
(None of this is intended to insult my players, just a reflection on play style and what feeds the beast for Blades in the Dark. I couldn’t play without you all!)
https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/blades-in-the-dark-clockworkers-shavers-row/
So something that is not clear having not played yet, is the detail on the crew sheet. You said, you sketched up two bits of turf, have you pre-designed this information as part of your campaign design or is this improvised? Probably a noob question, but a break down of the design steps the experienced ref’s go through would be great. What is designed and detailed, what is left to on the fly design.
Sure. The turf is deliberately vague, and if you wanted a safety net, I think there’s nothing wrong with investing some thought into what it might be. Your third or fourth thought will often be deeper and richer than your first.
However, in this case, I just made them up on the fly. To do that I leaned on other stuff I’d done in the setting before, and it may not have been as deep and rich, but it worked just fine.
The biggest advantage to doing things on the fly is drawing your players and their creativity in to make an alloy that’s stronger for its mix, blending creative ideas you would not have come up with on your own and increasing their investment in the setting.
The biggest advantage to doing things ahead of time is you have opportunity to sift your ideas, discarding the most overused or typical and latching on to some more unexpected things. This work ahead of time leaches into your setting in small ways all over, making a more engaging and cohesive setting than if you sketch it off the cuff.
Both are good. Both have flaws. Mixing and matching to taste is encouraged. In the end, the final game table result is not staked out at one end of the spectrum or the other all the time, it’s usually a blend of improv and forethought that is adjusted as you go.