Category: Blades in the Dark: Discussion

“The traits on spirit playbooks are not special abilities, and cannot be taken by living characters by using a veteran advance.”

In the last Blades game I played, I was a Spider with the Vampire’s Arcane Sight.* I used it to read Elstera Avrathi’s mind and find out who her spymaster was, with a view of forcibly making them our crew’s Informants. I also read my fellow PC’s wife’s mind – she was a foreigner from the Islands and it was difficult to parse her language and culture, but I still learned that she was surprisingly content with the situation that her arranged marriage put her in. Later down the line, I was also planning on taking Possession, to be able to control living bodies, because that’s a thing to do. I am also looking forward to playing a demonblood cyborg Lurk with the Hull’s Compartments as the first playbook advance.

As you are reading this, you are probably thinking two things – “fuck, that’s cool”, and “damn, that seems like it would be a little bit difficult to GM.” If you are thinking the first thought, well, thanks for the compliment! As for the second, you and me both know that you will manage just fine.

“Don’t” is the wrong thing to say to this stuff. “Be careful” is enough.

*The GM ruled that I also had to take one of the Vampire’s Strictures. I could not enter a private residence without permission. It was great.