Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 10 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

I hope to start a Band of Blades campaign tomorrow with players new to the BitD system.

I hope to start a Band of Blades campaign tomorrow with players new to the BitD system. What advice do you have for both preparing myself to run the campaign/setting and/or teach new players? Which parts of the setting/lore/mechanics are key to get across early, and which can be discovered or covered through play?

I’m very experienced with BitD, but what surprises might I face in mission-play that are different in Band of Blades? Finally, I know I’m not too great at GMing in a horror/grimdark tone, so that will be out of my comfort zone. Are any particular Chosen or Broken easier or harder for players to engage or for me as GM to run effectively and evocatively?

What are the plans for the group when G+ goes away next year.

What are the plans for the group when G+ goes away next year. I’m seeing an exodus to both Pluspora and MeWe. Since MeWe seems like a very popular site for alt-right types I’m hoping we move to pluspora.

So I guess it’s off to Discord, eh! What with the recent announcement about G+ and all..

[PS: not that serious of a suggestion]

Some people are getting together to try to make a collective move to something else for indie games now that G+ had…

Some people are getting together to try to make a collective move to something else for indie games now that G+ had been given 9 months to live. I plan to see what the RPG Communities decide as a whole since I am used to going to one place for all the indie love.

https://plus.google.com/communities/117817751909237129167

A quick discussion on the narrative/tactical rpg spectrum.

A quick discussion on the narrative/tactical rpg spectrum. Thought it would be of interest for fellow BitD fans. https://clockwerkwarriors.com/2018/10/rpgspectrum.html

https://clockwerkwarriors.com/2018/10/rpgspectrum.html

Any chance U’Duasha’s gone up for sale yet? I know it was planned for “soon.”

How many Gangs in a Faction?

How many Gangs in a Faction?

The book says Tier defines “the quality and scale of the gangs your crew employs” (emphasis mine). To give examples, the Billhooks (Tier II, pp. 285) have “a large gang of bloodthirsty butchers” and “a pack of death-dogs” listed under Notable Assets, which to me implies two Gang cohorts of around 12 members each. The Bluecoats (Tier III, pp. 285) have “many large gangs of vicious thugs” under Notable Assets, which to me implies 6+ gangs of 20 people each. But then the Deathlands Scavengers (Tier II, pp. 288) have equipment listed under Notable Assets instead of cohorts of any kind.

I know there are no objective rulings about this sort of thing, so this is a question for individual GMs/tables: how many gangs do you give to factions at different Tiers? Do some of your factions have more Gangs/Experts, and some others have assets of a different kind? I’m thinking about the overall population of different factions and trying to get some insight into the ways other GMs approach the situation.

And yet another question…

I imagine this has been answered many times, but I’ll hope for your patience.

Why do the authorities not question the ghosts of murder victims about the identity of their killers?

I understand that the Spirit Wardens cremate bodies asap because they don’t want ghosts running around, but it seems like, in the case of an assassination or something similar, that they, or the Bluecoats/Investigators, would have a few Whispers on hand to wrangle the victims ghost and compel it to tell them whodunit.

Is there a mechanical or lore reason why this doesn’t happen?

A question about ghosts.

How does a ghost possessing a PC work? Does the ghost just attempt to possess and the PC resists? Likely with Attune? Does the ghost possess the PC indefinitely until it’s challenged (when it eats the PC’s life essence, etc.)? Is the draining of life essence reflected in physical harm or stress/trauma?

Can a ghost attack physically, or in some other way than possession? Somewhere in the book it mentions that ghosts take limited damage from physical attacks, but that infers that they take SOME damage. So is that perhaps zero to one harm? I understand that NPC’s (including ghosts) don’t have hit points, but EFFECT has some effect on them, no?

I haven’t introduced ghosts to my crew yet. They haven’t had a Whisper in the ranks so up till now I didn’t know if they could even harm a ghost. They recently got a Whisper though, and so of course I’d like to add more of the supernatural element. I’m just not sure how to adjudicate those elements.

Ok so soon I will be DMing my first ever Blades campaign.

Ok so soon I will be DMing my first ever Blades campaign. To be honest I’m nervous because I don’t want to be judged for a different or inexperienced style, and I don’t want to run a shitty campaign. I want everyone to feel included and to enjoy writing a beautiful and interesting story along with me. I’ve had experiences in the past with groups that eventually aren’t fun to be in anymore. Every time I went to go to DnD I was excited but I also felt so insecure and uncomfortable because I just got judged the entire time for being inexperienced, or for literally anything I did. They would purposefully not respond to cues my character gave that I wanted to do something, for example I made letters and sealed them with wax with important pieces of the backstory of my character and they were left out in her room. Every time I mentioned they were there they ignored it to piss me off. I got shit on all the time for the videos I enjoyed on YouTube, and I got shit on for not shitting on others. That will not happen again. Everyone in my group will be excited to come to DnD, and will get to enjoy the company of everyone around them. So I want to ask you all for some help. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for DMing a Blades game specifically, like how to spice up a session, how to deal with “effect” for various rolls, how to give freedom to the players without letting them go freaking crazy and mess something up, I’m open to any tips or suggestions specifically for Blades since it’s such a unique game. Thank you all for being a kind group of people I can get help from when I need it, and share art or ideas when I have them. ❤️