Posted these a while ago, but I’ve improved and expanded the file: character cards for Blades games, made with real…

Posted these a while ago, but I’ve improved and expanded the file: character cards for Blades games, made with real…

Posted these a while ago, but I’ve improved and expanded the file: character cards for Blades games, made with real daguerrotypes, and laid out for cutting. It’s grown to 138 characterful portraits of weird and wonderful NPCs. Enjoy. šŸ™‚ https://www.dropbox.com/s/cbkkgvsg7m5ls56/BladesCharacterCardsv03.pdf?dl=0

Thinking ahead to a Blades game I plan to run, I grabbed a bunch of the most characterful daguerrotypes I could…

Thinking ahead to a Blades game I plan to run, I grabbed a bunch of the most characterful daguerrotypes I could…

Thinking ahead to a Blades game I plan to run, I grabbed a bunch of the most characterful daguerrotypes I could find, put them together as cards, and slapped a space on them to write a name. Feel free to use them for your NPCs, and if you point me at more cool pictures I’ll happily add them. šŸ™‚

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5v4d6b7fk7keq1o/BladesCharacterCardsv01.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5v4d6b7fk7keq1o/BladesCharacterCardsv01.pdf?dl=0

Wondering about Smugglers, and them having cargo types instead of hunting grounds…

Wondering about Smugglers, and them having cargo types instead of hunting grounds…

Wondering about Smugglers, and them having cargo types instead of hunting grounds…

1. During crew creation, would the faction theyā€™re paying/pissing off be one with an interest in their chosen cargo type?

2. Would the +1d gather info and additional downtime activity be for the crew engaging in a score involving their cargo type, no matter where theyā€™re operating?

3. Since gaining Turf expands the crewā€™s hunting grounds, would that mean Smugglers gain a new cargo type, and not necessarily any new physical territory?

Iā€™m curious: Blades has a fair bit of time travel (flashbacks) and mode switches (gather info vs score vs downtime).

Iā€™m curious: Blades has a fair bit of time travel (flashbacks) and mode switches (gather info vs score vs downtime).

Iā€™m curious: Blades has a fair bit of time travel (flashbacks) and mode switches (gather info vs score vs downtime). So how do you as a GM deal with consequences of ā€œout of scoreā€ actions? For example: a PC is gathering info, something goes wrong, and he takes harm or stress. So heā€™d go into the score wounded/stressed? Or a flashback goes pear-shaped and the PC takes trauma. Itā€™s permanent, so when we come back to ā€œnowā€ heā€™s traumatised?

GMed my first session tonight, and although we didnā€™t get any dice rolling, weā€™re all pleased with the results and…

GMed my first session tonight, and although we didnā€™t get any dice rolling, weā€™re all pleased with the results and…

GMed my first session tonight, and although we didnā€™t get any dice rolling, weā€™re all pleased with the results and looking forward to seeing what the scoundrels get up to…

We have:

Severin, AKA ā€œWhiplashā€, a Skov Cutter and adrenaline junkie who almost became an Inspector, and turned to crime when they rejected him.

Branson Vale the working class Akorosian Whisper who dabbles with ghosts and demons (and wears his dead grandfatherā€™s face as a mask), and hopes to rise above his humble roots.

Rosencrantz Stenicon a born and bred Dagger Isles pirate alchemist, who cares for a garden of blood eating plants for ā€œrelaxationā€.

They are an (as yet unnamed) gang of Smugglers with a reputation for strangeness, a lair in a well hidden shipwreck under a bridge, two Deathlands Scavengers (Nan and Byron) working for them, and some complicated relationships (Gondoliers and Red Sashes good; Crows, Bluecoats and Silver Nails not so good). They also have a boat, are immune to possession by spirits, and can each carry a ghost in their body as a passenger. šŸ™‚

Does anyone have a ready to go list with cool names from the different cultures?

Does anyone have a ready to go list with cool names from the different cultures?

Does anyone have a ready to go list with cool names from the different cultures? Iā€™ve seen John Harper referring to one in his APs…

And yeah, I know about page 56. šŸ˜‰ Just seems all sort of Akorosian. Maybe?

Running Blades for the first time tomorrow, and super excited.

Running Blades for the first time tomorrow, and super excited.

Running Blades for the first time tomorrow, and super excited. šŸ™‚ So of course I have thousands of questions. But just one for now…

Thereā€™s probably already some conversation somewhere about this that I canā€™t find, but: how does Blades resolve player vs player action?

Sell me on it?

Sell me on it?

Sell me on it?

I really want to love Blades. The general idea, and a fuzzy idea of the mechanics, sounds awesome. But when I dig in, and really read the rules (twice now), I come away thinking, “ufff, complicated.” I know it’s not exactly PbtA, but I have the feeling it’s lost so much of the simplicity and openness of most PbtA games, and the loss of that stuff hasn’t bought me many advantages that make me want to run it.

I feel like I probably haven’t grokked it, and maybe missed something in my imagining of how it runs. And admittedly haven’t tried running it.

What am I missing?