Author: Andrew Shields

What’s that you say? Your game of Blades in the Dark is not grotesque and horrible enough? I’m here to help.

The infernalist is to demons what the whisper is to ghosts.

https://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/infernalist-playbook-8-15.pdf

I went ahead and added it to this post so there’s no need to adjust the pin. All four of these are drafts that I am sure need some polish and love, but they are initial thinking.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/blades-in-the-dark-three-playbooks/

https://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/infernalist-playbook-8-15.pdf

Here’s a draft of what I’m thinking for actions right now. These are things that ANYONE can do.

PROWESS

* Fight. Engage in ranged, melee, unarmed, or emotional combat.

* Finesse. Detail work, sleight of hand, sensitive touch.

* Handle. Manage vehicles, animals, and heavy machines.

* Move. Climb, swim, run, dance, dodge, cover ground.

RESOLVE

* Attune. Sense supernatural energy, connect with it.

* Clatter. Manage chaos and mayhem, bend it to your will.

* Command. Order others, get the most out of them.

* Intimidate. Frighten or coerce others through threat or force.

WITS

* Shadow. Move undetected, follow targets unseen.

* Study. Research, write, break code, analyze character.

* Sway. Persuade, set the emotional tone, manipulate, seduce.

* Watch. Observe detail, remain alert over time, detect tells.

So, what got renamed and adjusted?

* Battle. I like fight better, it’s clearer but can still apply to a variety.

* Cipher. Study is broader and makes more sense to me.

* Observe. I like watch better, it feels more active and menacing.

* Prowl. This is a specific word for a huge variety, so I broadened it.

What got cut?

* Invoke. I’m still not sure what this meant, and I’d rather use Attune to line up with a supernatural force then use other actions on it.

* Stitch. This is about training, and I’d rather see that as a special ability than a generic health care. Use watch, study, finesse, etc.

* Tinker. This is about training, and I’d rather see that as a special ability than generic machinest skill. Use finesse, clatter, or study etc.

What got added?

* Clatter. I miss an action for managing chaos, whether in battle or navigating a crowd or generating a piratical ruckus as a diversion.

* Intimidate. Both part of violence, and a major means of avoiding it. Many flavors, but this is something anyone can attempt, and the intent is not really covered anywhere else. Make someone back down.

* Shadow. Seriously, both surveillance and stealth require this constantly and it doesn’t fit neatly anywhere else.

WE DON’T HAVE TO AGREE. So don’t get nasty. Just sharing a draft of some thoughts I have had.

I am pondering an explicit favor bank as part of how I run Blades in the Dark. With all the devil’s bargains, useful aid from reluctant friends, and factional interaction, there’s something more granular than faction status that I think needs its own page.

I cannot possibly be the only person running a game where this would be useful.

I imagine favors ranging from 1 (day to day modest stuff), to 2 (serious business), to 3 (life debt).

So, for each down time cycle, I am now imagining rolling 1d6.

1: Roll 2 Entanglements.

2: Roll 1 Entanglement.

3: A favor comes due. (Consult the list.)

4: A friendly faction wants your help.

5: An unfriendly faction makes a move.

6: Nothing happens.

Here is an idea for mechanizing Heat that I think is cool.

Any time you take Heat, you start a clock for consequences. Your “Wanted” level determines the size of the clock.

1: 8 segments. 2: 6 segments. 3: 4 segments. 4: 2 segments.

Each Heat clock gets 1 segment per down time. You can REMOVE segments from the clock using the “Long Term Project” system, and if you get a clock to 0, then it goes away. Doing this is independent of lowering Heat.

What if a clock fills? Then the crew is vulnerable. If the bluecoats don’t hit them, the inspectors might be more surgical in their approach. Or they appear weak and their friends are distant, and an enemy faction makes a move. Don’t define it too much. Let it be nebulous and bad. (Ambiguous is more intimidating and harder to defend against.)

Because clocks are bigger at lower levels of wanted, they don’t fill up fast and they’re easy to clear off. At higher levels of wanted, if you ignore them they fill up fast.

I have struggled with how Trauma, Vice, and Stress fit together. I’ve come up with a number of possible solutions, some more radical and complex than others, and discarded them one by one.

What’s my problem anyway? Here are some of my base assumptions that don’t fit with how these things work in the game as it is (and I don’t expect the game to change to fit my assumptions.)

* Vice is a threat to rogues, even as it comforts them. It is not an unmitigated good. You can get lost in it, brittle and destroyed.

* There are ways to clear stress that are not vices, and sometimes vice can add stress (by which I mean damage, system strain, and pushed luck.)

* I disagree that the more damaged you are, the easier it is for you to relax and clear stress; the more damaged you are, the more helpful vices are to you.

I have FINALLY come up with the rough draft of what I think is a workable alternative. As I continue working on my own hack of Blades in the Dark, this is the foundation of what I think will be a better fit for me.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t need you to love it! I don’t hate Blades in the Dark because we disagree about these issues! All is well. I’m experimenting. If you have useful comments I’d love to hear them, and clarifying questions are great. No abuse please.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pFXfro-ngx51VYVRjjisbcoMrO0K5NmE1ct4cbWwO70/edit