Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports – Page 94

I streamed a session on twitch and recorded it! If you like watching this sort of thing, you can do that here!

I streamed a session on twitch and recorded it! If you like watching this sort of thing, you can do that here! http://www.twitch.tv/trustyfish/c/6605693 I am not doing a write-up right now because I am lazy, but perhaps I will edit this post to include one in the future. Cheers!

Right on.

Right on. So, last night at around 6 PM, I GM’ed my first ever game (period, not just of Blades in the Dark), and while our group may have missed some rules and some other things, may have messed up a few of the dice mechanics and whatever, it was more of a “Hey, let’s see if we like this and then we’ll fix things as we go!” type of situation. We had an absolute blast playing.

It was me as the GM, and then a group of 5 players from all across the world that I have played a variety of video games with for years. I sat down with each of them prior to this session to work individually with them on their character sheets, and I was very open to pretty much any idea as to what they wanted their character to be. Everyone was very satisfied with what they created, and the party ended up consisting of two Whisper, one Hound, one Lurk and one Slide. They created their crew in ~45 minutes right at the beginning of the session (many jokes to be had when naming it, was fun) and then we were off and running. We played out of the scenario in the Quick Start and they decided (at least, for now) to side with the Lampblacks in the ongoing turf war with the Red Sashes. Their first real score was to steal from the Red Sashes treasury. So, they all went separate ways at first looking to find information on the whereabouts of the treasury, and only found some generalities at first in terms of location. After that, the Hound and the Slide decided to scope the area out to try and find out when the area had the least amount of guard / attention, but to no avail. So, they went with a deception plan (although, it ended up being more of a mix between deception and infiltration, which was no issue with me).

The Slide and the Lurk decided to deceive the door guards of the building that they had found to be the building containing the treasury / vault for the Red Sashes. The Hound and two Whisper decided to play distraction game on the outside, the Hound taking wounding pop-shots with his rifle towards guards from an advantageous position on a roof top (at the cost of being spotted from one Devil’s Bargain), and the Whisper’s worked together to create a sort of magical show of noise and explosions to draw attention away from the building.

The distraction outside started off okay, but man it ended up in a huge mess. People were getting shot left and right, the one whisper ended up getting spotted while trying to cause some Mayhem (as punishment for him rolling six straight 1’s….), and the Hound ended up falling off a roof at taking some stress when failing another prowl roll trying to relocate his position to cover the eventual escape from the building. The Lurk and Slide ended up using Slip and Deceive to get their way into the building, and then rolled a few 6’s on the inside to find the exact location of the vault within the building. Once they reached the fourth floor (where I decided to place the vault), the distraction on the outside was still going on and Mylera was, in a very concerned and confused fashion, conversing with two of her brute vault guards (not right in front of the door, but a little down the hall from the vault) about the situation arising outside. Yet again, the two guys inside rolled and the action ended up critting, so they ended up using Slip to go right past Mylera and enter the vault, where I decided it was only fair to have nobody in currently as they had just rolled like, approximately a million 6’s in a row.

They only had a couple of options to escape once inside: They could either go back out the way they came in and not cause a ruckus, or they could bust through a window on an opposing catwalk to the hallway outside of the vault, Prowl down into a main alleyway and attempt to get away through a (via flashback and 2 stress to our one Whisper) smoke bomb setup down in that specific alley. They went with that second option and, once down in the street, a massive amount of chaos ensued with Red Sashes running in, prepared to kill the invaders. But once in the smoke, yet again, the Lurk and Slide rolled a 6 with some help, and ended up using Slip to tuck into a building and dip out the other side, escaping the scene flawlessly. The other three that were creating distractions ended up regrouping, planning the best escape route ever, apparently (due to another 6…), and then rolled out together with a Prowl roll to climb through a building and escape together.

This isn’t obviously as detailed as the session truly was, but I think it gives a general idea. The session lasted four hours and everyone at the end was entirely on board for another session, which we’re planning to do in a few weeks. Also note that this was the first active experience with a pen-and-paper RPG for many of us (myself included), and the others that had some experience didn’t have much (just a few D&D sessions under their belt). All in all, we had an incredible time and everyone is super excited to see how the crew can continue to grow and expand through scores.

Also, from a first-time GM perspective… this game is very good for the first timer to run, in my opinion. Yeah, I know I didn’t get all of the rolls 100% right, but I fixed that as I went along, and I know that maybe the narrative and situations could have ended up being more punishing, but I wanted to see what I could do while putting them in a pretty insane situation, and everyone ended up having an incredible time, myself included. There were no complaints, there was no whining when something back happened. Just adjustment and rolling to fix the issue at hand. Will give another play report after we do another session!

Also, enjoy the photo of our one whisper rolling five 1’s and a 2 while rolling actions, effects and resistance to injury from a Red Sash grunt.

I’ve done my first 3 sessions this week, with 3 different groups.

I’ve done my first 3 sessions this week, with 3 different groups. The first two I was a player, and in the 3rd I was the GM. All three sessions took between 3 to 3.5 hours. All three sessions consisted of character creation and then 1 score + development rolls.

I would say the average was 45 minutes for character creation, and that was because we took an effort to talk about backgrounds and RP it out a little. The first score took about 2 hours while people get comfortable with mechanics.

The development rolls and downtime was kind of the most frustrating part, but I don’t know if that was because we were tired at the end of the session, confused about some of the downtime/development system, or both.

I think the ordering of the pages for the downtime/development system is the roughest part. We found ourselves jumping around between the beginning (page 5?) and the end (29 and thereabouts) to do everything we needed to, and even then, I feel like I’ve missed some of the clean up in all 3 sessions.

Obviously, I’m having fun, because I played in 3 sessions in one week. Just trying to throw my 2 cents in for what I thought was the part of the quickstart that needed the most loving.

Session 3 play report.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/blades-in-the-dark-adventure-summary-3/

No complaint about the players, but that was the most miserable game I’ve run in a long, long time. Something was wrong with my sound, and they sounded like they were murmuring behind their hands. I spent so much energy straining desperately to hear them that I couldn’t focus on running the game.

I have no idea why I had that problem this time, but last time people were clear as a bell. No idea, and that’s uncomfortable, because if I can’t figure that out I’m not sure it makes sense to schedule more online games! Being unable to hear is a deal breaker.

Anyway, we soldiered along as best we could. It took the full three hours to make decisions on a gang and get characters made and run a single heist. Given the difficulty in hearing all around, some decisions that I think would have been much crisper around the game table became prolonged.

Also, I was playing with people I have not played with before, and we were all playing an unfamiliar game, so of course there’s a learning curve there for all of us. Kudos to my players for sticking with it and making it through the game session in spite of the difficulties!

I played fast and loose with the rules because communication was so difficult. This is a case where it would have been really helpful to have an online way to show clocks; last session the verbal communication was clear, and I had two players instead of four, so it was pretty easy to get everyone on the same page and keep them there. This time it was harder.

I admit I dumped a lot of rule stuff. This was probably not the best first Blades in the Dark experience, because it only partly reflected the ideal of how all the mechanics work. When I did lean into the rules things slowed down even more, and considering my hampered environment that was bad.

I also ran into the differences between a more traditional game and Blades in the Dark. Normally I encourage players to role play through encounters and talk to people. In this game, flashbacks serve a purpose to advance the central heist that is the frame within which the rest fits. The game should move fast and light. Especially with flashbacks, which focus all play on one player for a while (and ideally a short while.) It was counter-intuitive to choose a mechanic and assert it during what promised to be leisurely role playing scenes, but I think that’s the best rhythm for this particular game. It’s hard for me to guess at how that turned out, because I was so distracted struggling to hear.

To summarize: I’m glad we finished the heist, and I’m glad they had basic success. I think the players by and large had a good time. I’m exhausted, and really kind of worried because I STILL don’t know what the difference was between the session where I heard just fine and the session where everything was a distant mumble.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/blades-in-the-dark-adventure-summary-3

The Continuing Adventures of the Gaffers

The Continuing Adventures of the Gaffers

Session 3: Demon Spit Can’t Melt Ironborn!

previous adventures of the Gaffers can be found here:

Session 1: Red Sash Rumble

https://plus.google.com/105179574276953345976/posts/LjfcRMS3bBw

Session 2: “Wait, we spent all of it?”

https://plus.google.com/105179574276953345976/posts/bjYfpCrAsvm

With the Cutter and Slide back we started out the session updating them to the new rules and doing their downtime. The Cutter woke up happy and stress-free (but without his pants), but he failed to recruit any more thugs for the gang. (The Sashes and Lampblacks have been hiring everyone of that sort.) Meanwhile, the Slide has been working his ass off at the Bucket setting up for a traveling troupe, which he told me was a Skovlander skald and actors. He’s also trying to get an “in” with the other local merchant types to increase his influence there.

Last time on the Entanglement table I had rolled that someone was muscling in on their territory, and they did mess up the negotiations between the Red Sashes and Ulf. Unknown to the Gaffers, the Sashes had ceded a couple of blocks to Ulf in exchange for his help, the tavern was in the area, and Ulf came to collect his protection money.

Well, the Gaffers weren’t about to let that happen. The Slide cast aspersions on the Skovlander’s manhood (and got a broken nose for his trouble), the Whisper used her new channel ability to borrow power from her demon friend to spit fire and set Ulf’s face aflame (“Beard braids look stupid.”) and the Cutter (who is Not To Be Trifled With) led the gang in routing Ulf’s minions. Ulf tried to flee, but the Hound’s fine shooting dropped a chandelier on him (and set the bar on fire a little bit, but what are you gonna do?)

While Hound and Lurk put out the fire, the Slide slit Ulf’s throat. The body was disposed of with more demonic flame.

Advancement-wise, the crew leveled up and took Expertise, since everyone has two dots in their particular specialties and is feeling constrained. Slide and Hound took extra Effect, Cutter took Battleborn, Lurk took Shadowed, and the Whisper was obviously showing off her new Channel.

Dangling plot threads:

* Everyone remembers the Whisper, the Lurk, and the Hound being involved in the massive fight. (Everyone’s keeping quiet about the Cutter, though. That guy is scary.)

* The Whisper owes a favor to her demon friend, Setarra.

* Nyryx has a new body thanks to the Whisper and Lord Scurlock. Who did it belong to before?

* What’s going on with the alchemist? They still don’t know.

Rules:

The rules are going more smoothly now. I think one of the biggest rough spots is the background – maybe it’s just our setup, but taking Underground as a background seems like a lot of free dice if you’re going into a gang war situation, while stuff like Labor comes up far more rarely. Also, my players have a tendency to want to play it similarly to background in other games, like “I should be better at this because I have Bluecoat background”

I think the PCs absolutely need ways to get dice but I’m not sold on that one.

Should long-term projects get the background die? The Slide was schmoozing with merchants as part of his long-term projects, and he has Merchant background…but the LTP roll doesn’t have Background die as adding anything.

One of my players from last night posted about the experience on his blog! Woo hoo!

http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com/2015/04/actual-play-blades-in-dark.html

I ran a second session of Blades in the Dark.

I ran a second session of Blades in the Dark. This one was my very first online session of gaming ever. It went really well! The players want to play again, so that’s a good sign. Here’s the play report.

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/another-blades-in-the-dark-adventure-summary/

https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/another-blades-in-the-dark-adventure-summary

Actual Play Report

Synopsis: Three scoundrels (comprising a gang of thieves calling themselves The Redeemers) were invited by the new boss of the Crow’s Foot to… handle a delicate matter.

The Lampblacks had managed to steal a rather valuable sword from the Red Sashes, and were planning to use it to ignite a gang war on their own terms. Lyssa wants the sword stolen back, and returned, in such a way as to allow all parties to save face and maintain the teneous peace.

The Redeemers consist of:

* Brick, a Cutter and former Bluecoat who was stabbed in the back by his own brothers when trying to report on some of their own illegal activities.

* Maggie (or The Magpie, according to some of the fishwrappers), a noble Slide that started thieving as a means of rebellion, and whom prefers to target old blood nobility for their slights against her nouveux riche family. Also in an on-again-off-again relationship with Basco.

* Deacon, a Whisper who devoutly believes that confession is good for the soul; an information broker and blackmail artist trying to save people from this broken world.

The play in brief:

The trio of Redeembers charmed their way (with the aid of a barrel of ale) into the Lampblacks front, where a celebration was underway, cheering the victory of the capture of the sword and the plan to use it to force the Red Sashes’ hands when and where they want. Maggie stole Basco (who was holding on to the sword) away with dancing and some alone time; therein she used some trance powder to knock out the boss and slipped out a window, sword in hand.

Meanwhile, Brick and Deacon did some snooping; they found a Bluecoat was responcible for the actual acquisition of the sword in question; the ‘coat in question (Volette) is soon painted as someone playing both sides against the middle- trying to bait the Lampblacks and the Red Sashes into an ambush by her true blue family.

Once outside with the sword, the trio donned disguises as a Bluecoat (Brick) with two ‘associates of dubious quality’ headed over to the Red Sashes headquarters, with the sword disguised in an unusually long and large scroll-case.

Nominally, they are there to collect their regular bribe from the Red Sashes- using this as cover to sneak the sword back into the Sashes vault, while also lifting some extra coin (and pinning it on the Bluecoats).

End result: The Lampblacks blame Volette for double dealing them when the sword goes missing. The Sashes blame the Bluecoats when the money goes missing. And the Redeemers walk away with their commision from Lyssa, a bit of increased goodwill from the Crow’s Foot, and neither of the other parties any the wiser.

——

Thoughts on play:

* Play was generally pretty smooth. The clocks worked pretty intuitively- the only time they reall stumped the players was early on, trying to get the sword away from Basco; due to some really poor rolls, they only managed to fill three sections out of four on the clock, and had to brainstorm for a bit on yet another approach to close the job.

* The other point of friction was probably in part learning how to pace in Blades; the players often wanted more fine grained task resolution, and were frustrated at stuff like Fine Items not applying. About halfway through, I suggested a tweak where if a resolution roll wasn’t applicible, then having a Fine Item gives you +1d on your Action roll.

* Acquire Asset being a Downtime action fights against the ‘minimal planning’ approach- Acquire Asset seems like the right thing to use when they wanted the extra large scroll case, so I fiated that it was used.

(Alternatively, it could have been brought in via flashback, in retrospect)

* The player of Deacon wanted to use Faith as his Vice; I was frankly unclear as to how that should work within the fiction. In particular, how to tempt him (such as via Devil’s Bargin) with that Vice, as opposed to something like Drink or Luxuries.

* I would recommend skipping the attitude-setting section of gang creation for the Quickstart; we got kind of bogged down about who the various factions are (or are supposed to be), given that we only have a thin slice of them, and even a smaller slice are meaningful in the QS.

* Brick’s player initially wanted to be an ex-soldier turned criminal mercenary, which suggests a Military background as being appropriate. (Granted, it could work as Labor, but that brings a very different idea to mind)

* Amongst the questions to ask players during character creation, an important one to focus on is ‘How does your character break the law to personally profit, and why are they in a gang rather than working alone?’ The player of Deacon initially envisaged a much more altruistic character that didn’t really fit as a scoundrel in a gang of thieves.

Here’s how it went for me (long post, be prepared):

Last Saturday, I was playing with a few friends to another RPG and since one of our player had to leave we decided to do a pre-playtest (since I already scheduled a real playtest tomorrow). 11 PM, 3 experimented players and no real expectations or preparation (I’ve went through the QS a few time, that’s it). And I think that’s what made it so great, my player were just in the mood for fun and to give it a try.

I took maybe 15 min to explain the rules and setting (and told them we’d be really forgiving) and we then went through the character creation as you would expect it at 11PM, they didn’t put too much thought in the background, asked a few question on the setting and rules; 5 min later we were on the crew creation. That’s where they decided to go with a group of bloody thief (Reputation: Ruthless) and they’ve changed a few of their stats accordingly. 10 other min later they only had a name to choose.

I didn’t want to let them linger and wonder what to do for that fist score, so I went with a meeting with the Lampblacks and told the all the basics of the situation. “Bazso is awaiting an answer: are you going to work with them to overthrow the red sashes? What’s the plan? Who’s on point? Are you here to listen or to do something else?” One of my player jokingly said they were here to kill them all and reduce their influence, so that’s what they did (didn’t let them talk to long). A clock (6) for bazso himself and another (8) for the 6 other lampblacks. Rapidly, I’ve reminded them how the flash backs works, they learned pretty quickly. One (the hound) used a Flashback to remind everyone he was outside with is long rifle awaiting for their sign (cost 0) and another (whisper) remembered everyone he used is connection to get a ghost to possess one of the goons with them (cost 2 stress, reduced the goons clock by 2). And they went with the assassination.

I’m not sure if I used the rules as they should, but my players only used team actions and it really helped them and the scenery of the combat, everyone was seeing a combat were they would swirl; fighting an enemy and trading with their friend. First, the cutter (on point) jumped (Team action: Lead a group action) bazso making him bleed (2 tick) avoiding to get himself hurt(Armor). The hound took the point(group action) and fired at bazso while the others were in charge of making sure he were in front of the windows (gave them a devil’s bargain, if it misses, the cutter would get hurt, it didn’t happen, still only 2 ticks on Bazso’s clock). Finally the whisper decided to try the set group action, he used Channel special ability to make a big flash, blinding everyone and letting the hound do the follow through (Fired at bazso, did a critical at action and effect). They then proceed to finish the job, as soon as they did; they heard banging on the door. (I asked them a prowl roll to escape through the window and in the streets, they did it really fast, the whisper got is ankle sprained though). Flash back to choose the crew name and sign it in Baszo office.

We then proceed with a first round of downtime. Players really like that part, feeling they were building their criminal empire and that their vice was really part of themselves. They then decided to go on another score: Strike the red sashes treasury. They’ve found red sashes costumes and the next score was starting with them pushing the doors of the dojo. I’ll spare you the description, but it went well, they tried having their crew (killer gang) make a diversion while they were getting out, but got them all killed or fleeing (they didn’t want to pay the stress to let them avoid danger) and right in the middle of the mission they did a flashback to learn they had a side mission to poison the red sashes boss sister.

My observations:

-Keep it simple!

-Action, Action, Action! (Blades, for me, is really resources and described scenes, make it fun and cinematic)

-Encourage them to tell the story.

-Clocks, not the how; the what! (A clock for the guards, not killing the guards)

-Abuse the team actions, players will learn to all assume the risks and really feel like a team.

-At first, dont overplan, just let the players choose their way.

My propositions/questions:

-Crew creation should come before the characters, mood and expectation are more of a group thing than individual.

-Why not put some empty clock on the character sheets for lasting effects?

-How would you treat a desperate group roll? Everyone get the advancement tick?

-Background weren’t easy to follow while playing. It would be good to have a regular background for each group and sometimes you could get a specific background to a character (or none, in my example, Lampblack were Labor, but Bazso didn’t have any background, he was too specific to be that predictable). A dice every time you deal with your background is quite strong, maybe something else (or a one time/score +2d)?

-I really don’t like the veteran ability on the playbook, I feel the playbook should feel unique, and letting a playbook pick from other kind of reduce the impact of having “your” playbook.

-I know it’s already a lot, but hold should get their own advantage and specifics, bonus on supply with specific items, protection in a part of the city, ect. Why not being able to “burn” those hold? For example, I invest 2 hold into a protection racket on a gun shop, once it could simply get you a bonus die on a supply roll (and that “use” could be replenished by paying some coin or by a job).

Feel free to comment…

I’ll keep you posted with my next playtest tomorrow. 5 players, I wonder if it will be as smooth as it was with 3.

So the Spectral Sisters have a new side deal: Importing electroplasmic jellied eels from Lockport.

So the Spectral Sisters have a new side deal: Importing electroplasmic jellied eels from Lockport. They are innocuous as food, but when passed through the Sister’s processing distillery make a version of Lightning oil that leaves leviathan blood a cold, crude oil by comparison. Only thing is, their shipping partner – The Erstwhile Eels (faction), are starting to take liberties with the price of their product. Methinks some good ol’ fashioned shakedown hijinks are in order!

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/dishonoredvideogame/images/3/3b/Pratchett_jellied_eels_sign.png/revision/latest?cb=20141206015851