Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 104 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Level 4 Harm

Just rereading the Harm rules and wanted to make sure I understand.

If you sustain level 4 harm, that’s fatal in all cases, right?

But if you suffer harm that rolls up to level 4 (because your level 3 harm box is already full), you might die, but equally, if the circumstances fit, you might instead be able to suffer a permanent physical disability of some kind. So it’s something akin to Trauma, but physical, like loss or limb, blindness, partial paralysis, need for a pacemaker, etc.

Is that basically it?

And once someone suffers level 4 and they aren’t killed off, I assume they’re removed from the scene in the same way as if they Trauma’d out, right?

(I guess theoretically, if you were unlucky enough to fill up all your level 1-3 harm boxes, you could hit level 4 with a level 1 harm, so having the option not to kill them outright is helpful there.)

Anybody have any success creating new special abilities for the game based on your character’s stories?

My crew’s Whisper has “Nightmare in a Bottle: Your Spirit Bottles can now be used to contain Demons and Horrors. You start with one Demon or Horror in your possession”

Likewise my crew’s Hound shares some mindspace (has been partially-possessed) by a demon, and can manifest that demon’s energy into a potent arcane weapon.

Any cool abilities you folks have come up with? Particularly any that relate to your (or your players’ character’s story?

How hard do you guys make people work for non-playbook items?

For example, I have a Whisper who wants to be sort of a Whisper-Lurk, sort of the Corso-esque magical assassin, and wants to acquire a Fine Shadowcloak. I’m trying to figure out how many clocks this sort of thing should take. Maybe an 8-clock for acquiring a fine item? Or a 12-clock for acquiring something that isn’t normally available to them which is also fine? Or two or three 8-clocks?

Any advice/input would be appreciated. Thanks!

So I’m looking for some ideas on a very juicy devils bargain.

So I’m looking for some ideas on a very juicy devils bargain. The skinny is that the vicious member of the crew decided that murdering a spidery npc with a lot of contacts was a good idea, and plenty of people know he did it. I’ve mentioned to my crews spider that this will probably spark a war with someone and they’re wanting to do a flashback at the start of next session where she switched Sercy (the deceased) with a body double. Since the alternative is war with a tier iii faction I figured it was worth a shot, but there should be some kind of severe devils bargain in the mix.

I wanna know what you guys think, and if you have any juicy complications for the situation. They just reached -2 with the spirit wardens so maybe there’s something fun there.

Ok, so that just happened

I had, a couple of sessions ago, informed the crew, the Speaks Easys (Easys for short) about a heist of a Leviathan Hunter ship, it wasn’t meant to lead to anything, just something that happened as another crews Crit roll on their Faction Clock. But the crew ran with it, decided that these ships are a vital part of Duskwall and that they should offer their services to retrieve the stolen items and improve their relationships with this faction.

After a number of Gather Information rolls the crew find out that the most likely crew to pull this off was the Grinders, now the Easys already have a -2 status with the Grinders from crew creation (The Grinders were pissed off that the Easys were using the Underground maps and passkeys). The Slide with the Cutter bodyguard go to visit the Captain of the ship to find out what was stolen. The Captain tells them that most of it is easily replaced but some personal items were taken that he would like back. A couple of paintings, a statuette, a small chest and the Captains Astrolathe (an item I made up which is essential in navigating the Void Sea) the ship had its own but this Astrolathe had been a part of the Captains stateroom since the ship was commissioned. The Captain was willing to pay the group 5 COIN for the Astrolathe and one COIN each for the other items as well as one COIN just for bringing anything back (The Slide rolled a crit on his haggle roll)

Now the crew had a quandary, 10 COIN is a lot of money but is it worth risking a War with the Grinders? In the end the money won out so they cased the Grinders turf and found their HQ, an old abandoned Warehouse, the Whisper used his Arcane Eye ritual to case the inside of it so I put the map of the interior I made earlier on the table. The Leech quietly Wrecked a ventilation shaft in a darker area and they all got in unseen (Engagement roll 6)

Inside the warehouse I put 4 Grinders playing poker at a brightly lit table and a guard patrolling the upstairs gangwalk where other doors could be seen. The Lurk snuck up to the gangwalk to set up the Cutters sneak, then Skirmish to quietly take the guard out. The Slide and the Whisper then group prowl up as well with the Leech keeping an eye on the poker players. First two doors upstairs are unlocked and lead to storerooms/offices where they find the paintings, statue and chest, they COULD walk out now with 5 of the 10 COIN secured but again, money talks.

At the final door they could hear voices talking so the Whisper takes stress to run his Arcane Eye ritual again getting the layout of the room, nearly filling the Poker Players see you clock. Inside the room are the three leaders of the Grinders, Hutton, Sercy and Derret as well as the Astrolathe. The Slide disguised himself as the guard, opened the door and quickly said that the Easys had been spotted nearby (Sway, crit) Derret rushes out the door and takes 2 of the poker players with him leaving Hutton and the cripple Sercy in the room.

The Lurk uses Ghost Step to phase through the wall to attack Hutton from behind while the Slide and the Cutter burst through the door to help. The Lurks Silence Potion made the fight quiet enough not to attract the other two poker players remaining.

Now comes the WTF bit, if the crew left with the loot leaving the Grinders behind, then war was a definite, however the crew did not want to attract any HEAT or ruin their rep by killing them either (5 scores in, they have caused no deaths nor are they planning any either). So they knock them out, smuggle them out of the warehouse and take them to the Leviathan Ships Captain, another critical Sway and they convince him that these two are responsible for the thefts so perhaps they would like to “volunteer” for the next Leviathan Hunting expedition.

So now the Grinders are left leaderless, only Derret of their top 3 remaining and I see him more as a muscle man not a brain, so what happens now to the Grinders, do you think they are still a force in Duskwall, will they retreat back to Lockport? The Easys were in and out of the Warehouse and the only people in the Grinders who know it are now out on the Void Sea (possibly in the Void Sea now) The crew are next planning on taking the Secret Pathways claim and want it to be from the Grinders as well so in how much disarray do you think the Grinders are in, I believe it is feasible that Derret suspects the Easys and will be enraged. I would like to see what ideas the hive mind here has

Sell me on it?

I really want to love Blades. The general idea, and a fuzzy idea of the mechanics, sounds awesome. But when I dig in, and really read the rules (twice now), I come away thinking, “ufff, complicated.” I know it’s not exactly PbtA, but I have the feeling it’s lost so much of the simplicity and openness of most PbtA games, and the loss of that stuff hasn’t bought me many advantages that make me want to run it.

I feel like I probably haven’t grokked it, and maybe missed something in my imagining of how it runs. And admittedly haven’t tried running it.

What am I missing?

For anyone who wants it I have been making some basic videos for Blades in the Dark at the end of the I am trying to…

For anyone who wants it I have been making some basic videos for Blades in the Dark at the end of the I am trying to mention places to find more Blades content. So far I have mention itmejp, John Harper, Eric V, Distracted Elf, FriendlyFireTV, Sean Nittner, and the group as a whole. Anyone else want their favorite content mentioned? This is a work up for my own campaign starting next month on the 5th.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL328svODnfNGT001qZfCm0YGonmS99Lkr

(my players, don’t read!) (or do read it, the GM/PC relationship isn’t antagonistic; whatever)

Does anyone have any alternative first session kickoffs other than the meeting with Baszo Baz?

Background: I love the Baz meeting as an intro.

– It starts things in media res

– It very quickly introduces three factions (Baz’s Lampblacks, the rival Red Sashes, and the Crows ruling over them all) without dumping tons of exposition

– It forces a decision: are you siding with Baz or against him? No room to waffle on this one

– It offers a lot of options but not unlimited options, preventing choice paralysis

– It hints at the flashback mechanic, letting the players dip their toes in rules that might be new to them

If it’s so great, why aren’t I using it? Because this will be my second campaign with this same group of players, plus a few newbies. The setting will still be Doskvol, but one year after the last crew (the Blackstone Outfit) murdered Baz, pissed off the Iruvians, nearly burned down Crow’s Foot, and vanished into the ink black sea.

So I’d like a kickoff that hits most of the same bullets as the Baz kickoff – something that thrusts the players right into the action and lets them try out the mechanics. Does anyone have any favorites?

Alright so I did the Scurlock Manor thing tonight and it was awesome!

Alright so I did the Scurlock Manor thing tonight and it was awesome! My cutter literally tackled the ghost of Baston Skurlock to deliver to Oscarr, my Spider decided to make a pact with Ixis off the cuff to hunt down the secrets of the world, and my Hound decided shooting down a Spirit Warden’s “metal spider” was an excellent course of action.

I have a question tho, the ability “Ghost Fighter” specifies potency towards ghosts, but what about other supernatural like Vampires or Demons? Could the imbued Cutter be the answer to basically every crew’s question of “how the hell do we actually kill x demon?”

This is probably a question for the table but i’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Getting claims as gifts without going to prison.

Is this feasible? I would think so. If going to prison can net you a claim, why couldn’t you get one by doing a favor on the outside? I’m looking for some ideas. LTPs are always good but might be too simple, unless linked with another LTP and possibly some scores. Hmmm…