Author: Stras Acimovic

Let’s talk about Scum and Villainy

Over a year ago I was playtesting an early version of Blades in the Dark with some friends, when one of them suggested we should use the system to play Scoundrels in a very different type of setting: Space Opera (Star Wars specifically). We jokingly dubbed the hack Blasters in the Dark.

At the time it was just a funny joke, but it’s an idea that’s stayed with me for a while. 

Blades as a core engine has many parts that fit very well with this concept. The different playbooks give you a good set of abilities to work with genre. Team playbooks can change purpose and genre pretty readily (rebels or smugglers?). Switching the skills over is pretty trivial.  So what stops you from just recoloring things?

The answer is the core mechanics.

You might note that the hacks you’re seeing tend towards the darker edge of things. Part of this is no doubt genre (heat forces you to fight the law) which leads to outcasts and ne’er do wells. However there are some conceits at the core of the system that are hard to shake. The way actions/effects/stress are stacked generates a very specific vector of fiction.

By dividing up things into desperate => risky => controlled you make a very specific statements. Things that are controlled you’re far more likely to get away with. Hedge your bets. You only have so much stress. Desperate rolls are really dangerous.  That sounds like space opera? Not so much.

So one of the most important things to do in order to make this feasible and fun is to tweak the breakdown into something that encourages more daring behavior. Shift the core actions to keep the ratio of success, but give additional incentive to jump into danger face-first (dangerous => daring => safe bet) by triggering different sorts of moves. An example might be the Close Call rule where if you crit on a desparate action you gain a stress back.

Once that’s in place it becomes straightforward to setting drift to other source materials that follow a similar pattern. Smugglers in the Black dodging the Alliance. Bounty Hunters with a jazz soundtrack hunting for the next big prize. I’m also really excited to add an optional xeno book that can help you make aliens of all various sizes, colors and shapes.

Oh yeah. And spaceships. Can’t forget the spaceships.

Very excited to be working on this. Pyew Pyew!

Let’s talk about Band of Blades

When John invited me to beta test Blades in the Dark many months ago I was really impressed with how the system handled horror. This is a setting that has some of the familiar trappings of steampunk (strange devices, alternate power sources, industry) but also steps sideways into the wierd and paints the setting with a ghostly brush. 

My players were delighted to explore this ghost haunted, demon frequented place of forgotten gods and broken rules of death.

Although many folks know my fandom of cyberpunk, my main jam is dark fantasy. I’ve loved mixing horror and fantasy since my first days of roleplaying and it’s something I return to constantly. So as I started playing BitD, I was also furiously scribbling notes about a dark fantasy setting that could take advantage of the distinct roles and teamwork BitD had built into it.

When working on a hack of this the first thing to do I feel is to build the world. I spent some time sketching out ideas, and writing a short story to try and nail the tone. For a game like BitD knowing the setting tone is important because the abilities of the company and the nature of the moves will be tied closely to the setting. They flow from it and reinforce it. Even the name of the roles will be derivative of the tone. So it was important to me to really feel rooted and know the sort of fiction this was supposed to relate to.

This (included doc) is what I sent John as my pitch.

The touchstones I was using were realistic gritty grim fantasy like the Black Company books by Glen Cook. One of the things that always struck me about dark fantasy is how human it is. Humans stand shoulder to shoulder, trying to conquer terrifying and impossible enemies with grit, steel and determination – only winning through a combination of luck, skill and reliance on teamwork and planning. Sounds like Blades no?

Oddly enough when hacking Blades what I found difficult wasn’t the Playbooks (sure the Cutter won’t be a Cutter, but the big bruiser on the squad is definitely a relatable role) or the teamwork structure – but Heat. The premise of blades is that you’re a band of ne’er do wells. That’s easy enough to replicate (with team books like Mercenaries, Soldiers etc). Heat represents the repercussions from the law (as thieves these are important things you have to worry about and account for) and is a lot harder in a setting where there is no such factor.  However, military stories have a different aspect that I flipped the chart around for. Instead of building up Heat you lose Resources. Thus keeping logistics and resupply lines open and making sure your crew is equipped and well fed – becomes a bit of a game. Now you can undertake missions to sieze objectives, but also running missions to reinforce, build or clear supply lines becomes a major factor.

There’s lots more to talk about. Setting elements. How magic works. The insidious Rot and how it spreads. But I think I’ll leave those for a later post. What I can say is that I’m very excited to be working on this, and can’t wait to share this scary dark fantasy world with you.