Woodthorn – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Scum & Villainy

I’ll be running my first session of S&V in about 12 hours. This will be my first time ever playing any Forged in the Dark product. I’ve read both S&V and BitD, and watched some of John’s campaign on itmeJP’s channel way back.

As per the rules of the game we’ll begin with character and crew creation before moving to the Starting Situation. The group (of three players) has been kind enough to decide on the Stardancer before we even sit down at the table, meaning I’ve had some time to mull over potential factions and elements to introduce.

All in all I feel pretty well prepared in my non-preparation.

Regardless, I feel compelled to ask: Got any tips?

Scum & Villainy: Xenos and starting abilities.

Say one player chooses to be a Xeno Mechanic and opts for the Xeno starting ability. Could this player then choose to get Tinker (the Mechanic starting ability) either as their special ability during character creation or as an upgrade during advancement?

My confusion arises from the difference in names (starting/special abilities) and because of a line regarding the Veteran special ability on page 57: “Note that starting abilities cannot be chosen via the

Veteran special ability.”

So, will a xeno that goes for the xeno starting ability ever have the opportunity to get the starting ability for their playbook?

Scum and Villainy

I’m looking at the modules for ships (p118), and specifically in regards to the initial choice made during crew creation (p114) and crew advancement (p51). Each ship seems to have some modules listed as “Installed” and some listed as “Available” (or pre-checked/pre-listed but unchecked boxes on the sheets).

Taking the Stardancer (p122) as an example:

What does it mean that the Afterburners are available?

Can they be installed at any time for free?

Are they recommended starting modules?

If they are meant to already be in the crew’s possession, does that mean that other modules that aren’t listed on the sheet have to be purchased or otherwise aquired in order to be a legal pick for advancement?

A jumble of questions that all probably won’t need to be answered for me to work the rest out. Help appreciated!

Question regarding downtime in Scum and Villainy: How is travel intended to work during downtime?

Question regarding downtime in Scum and Villainy: How is travel intended to work during downtime? Can the crew fly around limitlessly and get the best downtime bonuses for different activities from different planets (and systems), or are they “locked” to a specific planet or system determined during, say, payoff?