Andrew Shields – Page 11 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Need a location for a heist or a meet? Want something atmospheric where the ocean sings to you? Of course you do.

Don’t sleep on the boats, on the canals. Don’t touch the water if you sleep. Some sounds are quietly waiting, wafting in the breeze of a current, to get into meat. Once in you, you may never get them out, until the last of the air has drifted loose and you can finally be quiet enough to hear with a clarity denied the living.

https://youtu.be/EZTY0H1Hst8

Blades in the Dark caught my attention because it merged neatly in with many of my interests.

Blades in the Dark caught my attention because it merged neatly in with many of my interests. I thought this community might be interested in an anthology of three novellas I wrote that play with some similar ideas in a setting I developed before I ever heard of Blades in the Dark.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/chalice-anthology/

Those living outside the energy fences that protect Doskvol have other ways of refining the Ghost Field into plasm.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/03/harvesting-water-fog-solution-water-scarcity/

The system of panels was first designed by a close-knit cadre of rail jacks that all retired at the same time for undisclosed reasons. They used the energy harvested by the panels to protect their settlement through arc cannons mounted on the fortification rooftop, and interior “flashpoints” that could be activated to discorporate electroplasmic intruders.

The river runs the mill, the mill runs the shuttles, and the jacks protect the secrets of what is woven into the panels to make their condensing effect work.

The operation has since expanded to cover a mine site. Caravans have taken to stopping at Millpoint to purchase collapsible screens for exorbitant prices.

Word is the Vice Admiral is buying, bartering, or stealing all the screens he can get. He’s got something big planned for the Deathlands; his family has researched sites for generations, and the entire family fortune was spent on expeditions and scholarship before Delrak got his appointment and started rebuilding their wealth.

Everyone who is in the know understands that he is part of the Angelfish Collective, a thinly veiled society of revolutionaries. He is also getting more and more enemies in the Deathlands who wish him harm, but cannot reach him where he is protected in the city.

There is also a small but distressing number of people that have disappeared or been murdered after finding out more about his plan for the sails and the Deathlands.

Now he wants to hire your crew. For something innocent enough, on its own. To see if you can work together well. If you can be trusted.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/03/harvesting-water-fog-solution-water-scarcity

Here is a brilliant inspiration for a “ghost key” or entry to some location in the ghost field.

Here is a brilliant inspiration for a “ghost key” or entry to some location in the ghost field.

Hm.

I just got an alternative idea for ways to harvest leviathan blood.

https://www.facebook.com/Ridiculousnesss/videos/1043940718999430/

https://www.facebook.com/Ridiculousnesss/videos/1043940718999430

I have introduced 8 people to Blades in the Dark today.

I have introduced 8 people to Blades in the Dark today. (edit to add caveat; a number of players were backers, but had not actually played, and the play? The play is the thing.)

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/blades-in-the-dark-crowfeathers/

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/blades-in-the-dark-the-spoilers/

I didn’t need to worry about time for the first session; we could have made a crew as well as making characters. No one played in both sessions. And, it was a loud room and the group wasn’t keen to try to do a quickie heist in the last almost-hour.

For the second group, we went about 3:20, and it was a group of 5, so after making characters and the crew and scouting one mission then scouting another and doing a heist and a down time, the group was done. I was yelling myself hoarse to talk to 5 players while at the table in the middle of the room surrounded by happy gamers. Not so bad. =)

Lots of compliments were directed to John Harper for the catalog of games he designed, and the people who played this one had a great time.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/blades-in-the-dark-crowfeathers

You know what would be AWESOME?

You know what would be AWESOME? If v.6 had a TABLE of CONTENTS. Like, you could just print it out and slip it under the cover page like it was there all along.

https://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/blades-v-6-toc1.pdf

(You know what’s awesome? Loading up a .pdf then noticing you have ONE TYPO. “Quick Star” And then making a new .pdf and uploading it because of ONE TYPO. Let me know if you see others.)

https://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/blades-v-6-toc.pdf

Here’s a fun thing I had in my game last night that could be repurposed for other games.

A nobleman was moving an important object. First, he put the object in a case with a dimensional puzzle, so it could not be forced open and had to be unfolded in the Ghost Field.

Then he put it in his coach, with four guards inside, two on top, and two on the buckboard. The coach had thick walls and gun ports, with crenelation on top to provide cover for shooters there. It looked somewhat like a watchtower on wheels.The guy riding next to the coach’s driver had a golf-bag style boot with a rifle and a blunderbuss, so he’d have the right tool for the job if they were accosted by scoundrels.

Pulling the heavy coach was a brace of war goats. Over 5′ at the shoulder, they had metal-plated and gilded horns and hooves. Also, their shaggy and unruly hair was braided into artistic cornrows that followed the contours of their muscle. With heads the size of a human torso, sporting brutal horns, these unruly and deadly monsters provided both pull and security from the front.

Add some rearguard agents on foot, and perhaps a couple scouts to go ahead and look for ambush, and you have a pretty secure transport.

So! Put a treasure in the lockbox and slap your noble’s coat of arms on the side, and you’ve got a great rolling target for your scoundrels to hit.