Category: Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports

I played a oneshot with my Monday group the other day. We went with a Cult: a theatre troupe, The Weeping Muses, working devilry out of an abandoned theatre in Silkshore. Our deity was The Blinding Eye, a radiant but cruel godhead, depicted as a great closed eye above the stage (our ritual space).

The crew consisted of Lucella the Whisper, Skovlan refugee turned flaky art student; Hix Lomond the Spider, horned Tycherosi wheeler and dealer; and Narcus the Leech, sleazy alchemist from the Dagger Isles (yours truly; picture a grimy, coppery-skinned Steve Buscemi with gold teeth, long coat, and tricorn hat).

Plus, you know, a small gaggle of unreliable theatre people (adepts).

The idea was to set up a play to summon forth the Blinding Eye (we chose Ambitious and Daring for our reputation). The GM was a bit inexperienced, and wanted to play a little looser than BitD generally prescribes. But it worked out pretty well nonetheless.

We intercut between the play itself and the scores to set it up.

First, Narcus presented the play in front of the audience – the sordid tale of an Iruvian monarch (hammily played by Hix) seeking to usurp a god, and his high priestess (Lucella, cheesily garbed in near-nudity), who was inevitably going to betray him.

The curtain opened on the royal bedchambers, with the monach observing his nighted domains from the window and declaring his intentions to godhood, the sultry priestess egging him on.

I remember campy-brilliant lines like, “…and then I will become a god, and have godlike powers, such as I deserve,” and, “…yes, my liege, I will help you, and when you are become a god, godlike powers shall be yours.”

Then we cut to our hopeless trio trying to get asses in our theatre seats; pub-trawling Silkshore for slumming nobles, depressed playwrights, curious miscreants, haunted painters, and anyone else with a pulse.

We pissed off some real Iruvians in the process, who decided to show up to the play and beat the snot out of us afterwards; and one of the devil’s bargains was unknowingly gaining the attention of a spirit warden.

The best kind of shit show.

We briefly cut back to the play, somewhere in Act II.

Subtle ritual elements had crept into the show, and we made note of all the audience members now watching and waiting to yuck our yums: the eager-eyed Iruvians, the silent spirit warden, the critics and the ink-rakers. A gargantuan Skovlan painter I’d managed to Sway into helping me escape the irate Iruvians.

Then we sort of clumsily did downtime. Narcus overindulged his vice of luxury (exquisite silken undergarments), and managed to become a persona non grata at his favourite import/export/tailor shop by making a scene and complaining about sizes and chafing.

No one else overindulged. Everyone trained.

Next we cut to the heist to get ahold of the sacred manuscript that Lucella’s vampire friend had told us about. In the hands of a rich collector. Bit of a bother. I think the plan was to take control of a ghost and use it to steal the pages.

Narcus got his corpse-thief acquaintance to supply the recently deceased. Lucella mucked up the recruiting of the ghost. It got loose on the stage, went crazy, attacked us, then escaped. Conclusion: we’d have to piece together a manuscript based on hearsay from the vampire. He’d seen it performed once. Maybe two centuries ago.

What could possibly go wrong?

Back to Act III, where the Iruvian monarch was about to drink from a sacred well and fulfill his ambition. The priestess made a sacrifice of a bound and gagged man, slicing his eyeballs and drowing him in the well. One of our adepts, since we botched the score. (Timmy was always late anyway.)

Against all odds, we managed a Desperate group action with Limited effect, summoning forth The Blinding Eye. You know. A little bit.

The eye above the stage opened up a sliver, blinding and bathing the audience with its unholy radiance. The cultists danced and cheered; the audience, ensorcelled, became enraptured and cheered also.

The spirit warden evaded influence, calling in the cavalry. Some of the bluecoats and detractors were seared to crisps by the Eye. It despised critics.

Chaos ensued.

The curtain closed.

All in all, highly entertaining. I hadn’t laughed so much in as session for years! Hix using his Spider helping abilites to coach Lucella on how to play a slutty priestess was just priceless. Narcus doubling as sleazy presenter and one-man-orchestra, banging cymbals at dramatic high points, tickled me to no end.

I’m a neophyte when it comes to the system, so I don’t have any great insights to share; but we had a talk about the scope of oneshots, complications, harm, all that stuff. If the GM tackles BitD again, I’m sure he’ll do great.

I tip my hat to John, and to all the rest of you playing BitD, posting actual plays, streaming. You inspired us to try out the game, and to have a most outrageously silly good time. Cheers!