Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 15 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

I’ve blogged about running Blades one-shots here, including how to get the sequence of play (score – downtime -…

I’ve blogged about running Blades one-shots here, including how to get the sequence of play (score – downtime – score) into 3 short hours https://burnafterrunningrpg.com/2018/08/12/the-training-mission-blades-in-the-dark-one-shots-part-1/

https://burnafterrunningrpg.com/2018/08/12/the-training-mission-blades-in-the-dark-one-shots-part-1/

One of my players was having a really hard time creating rituals, so we workshopped some examples.

I thought I’d share them in case these help inspire other players or GM’s.

Etheric Veil

Cost: 2 Stress

The ritualist combines cremation ash, holy oil, and black orchid leaves into a paste. The Paste is applied in ritual sigils on the subject’s body. The effects of this ritual may last for several days.

Choose a Willing Target, they are wrapped in threads of Etheric energy that draw shadows more tightly around them, they count as having a fine tool for actions that rely on stealth and hiding. While wrapped in these etheric threads they are vulnerable to etheric beings and constantly hears their whispers; they count as one tier lower against such beings (ghosts, ephemeral demons, et al). While under the effect of this ritual, a character can push themselves to temporarily become ethereal and pass through solid objects as if they were a ghost; once a character has used the ability, the ritual’s effect ends.

Genius Loci

Cost: Stress equal to the Summoned Demon’s Tier +1

The ritualist creates a circle from black sand mixed with blood. By invoking the name of a demon, the ritualist can summon and bind it to its will. While bound the demon counts as a Cohort equal to its tier and will perform actions precisely on the ritualist’s commands. This ritual lasts for a period of time based on the tier of the demon which is summoned. When the ritual ends, the ritualists rolls a fortune roll based on their tier to banish it back to its prison.

Mist of Nepenthe

Cost: 4 Stress

The ritualist blends cephalopod ink, pure rainwater, and nightcap mushroom into a viscous fluid. The ritualist inscribes an illuminated scroll with the fluid with a list of names. The people listed on the scroll become harder to remember as a shroud of mist surrounds their interaction with strangers. While under the effects of this ritual, people will have a hard time remembering you or your actions and react to you with a sense of Déjà vu. While this ritual is in effect, create a 4 tick Mist of Nepenthe crew clock. The crew may opt to take ticks against this clock instead of taking heat for a score. The rituals effects will fade away after a week if it is not fully utilized.

Hey folks!

A little while ago I floated the idea of an amateur RPG design club: a place for amateur designers to meet and talk about their hacks and tabletop role playing game design challenges. The idea being it’ll be a place to talk about the games we’re making, challenges we’re facing, and to make the process feel a bit less lonely.

Well, I’ve gone ahead and set up a Discord server where we can chat and have meetings every couple weeks! I’ve had some interest from folks in this community, my own group of BitD players, and folks from other Discord servers. If you’re hacking Blades, or any other RPG, and could use some semi-weekly camaraderie, feel free to join.

The first meeting is this Sunday, August 12th at 5:00 pm PST. We’ll be meeting at this Discord channel: https://discord.gg/5nUharP to coordinate.

https://discord.gg/5nUharP

I want to run Blades for my RPG group, but none of us have ever played before.

I want to run Blades for my RPG group, but none of us have ever played before. I’d be the GM, since I own the book and PDF (and I DM our normal D&D game).

What’s the best way to introduce my players to this game? We’re really most comfortable with D&D, though I’ve played (but not GM’d) many other systems.

Like, is there an introductory score already set up, or quickstart somewhere to help get up to speed? I want this to be as successful as possible with my group, and I’m afraid if we all go in as newbies, and I’m the only one driving it (also being a newbie), that it’ll flop.

My crew just got their first Wanted level and they want to Incarcerate one of the crew to bring it down.

My crew just got their first Wanted level and they want to Incarcerate one of the crew to bring it down. However, they also want to get him out early. They discussed a Score to break him out, but I feel like that would be counter productive (it’s unlikely a crew’s Wanted level would go down if the guy serving the time disappears before he’s supposed to). But also, Incarceration is easy enough to handle with a roll, some quick narration, and an appropriate jump forward in time. I’m struggling to see the value of expanding that to the detail of a full Score.

Any thoughts from the community?

This may just be the adderall talking, but it occurred to me today to run a (reskinned) Blades game in the cities of…

This may just be the adderall talking, but it occurred to me today to run a (reskinned) Blades game in the cities of the same world my D&D campaigns are taking place in. Actual crossover potential of content isn’t clear to me, but I could see faction shifts impacting the political landscape of the D&D world.

Hello there everyone, long time no hello!

I am writing in today because I am going off on a grand experiment; my one tabletop group has been brave enough to be willing to try doing a Round Robin GMing game of Blades. It has been an idea of mine to try for quite awhile and I am looking forward to how it goes.

I am interested in seeing if anyone else has done such a thing yet and if so, how did it go? What issues did you run in and what things really helped make it work right? I’m going to list off the things we’re trying to do to ensure the gameplay will be as smooth and as friendly, since for some this will be their first GMing ever.

– Firstly, we decided we’d go with the Starting Situation in the book and have all our stuff focus in Crow’s Foot; our Hunting Grounds and our Lair. It will ensure that all our stuff is strongly focused in a single district so we can focus in more.

– We have decided, after talking about it, that we will either do Assassins or Bravos. They’re relatively simple to create Scores for and they’d mesh the best with the War in Crow’s Foot. We’d add Shadows in there too but I run a Shadows game on the opposite week so we wanted a change of pace. Cult & Hawkers get a lot more detailed heavy and no one has any experience with Smugglers (which is something I’ll have to change later)

– We’re planning on switching GMs by the score, not the session. To give an idea of what this looks like, we’ll say Player 1 has volunteered to start, Player 2 has volunteered to do 2nd score, and Player 3 will run the 3rd score.

Player one starts the game as usual; starting situation introductions, running and completing a score, payoff & heat, entanglements, and then downtime. Once Free Play has started, Player 1 specifically asks Player 2 if there is anything they are trying to do during Free Play. If so, they do the roleplay that may happen until it is done. Once it is, Player 2 assumes control of the game. Their character disappears, Player 1’s character returns, and the game picks up from Free Play.

Player 2 would run Free Play for everyone else, including Player 1’s character, set up the Score, run through it and complete it, do Payoff & Heat, Entanglements, Downtimes, and then do any roleplay with Player 3 they wanted done in Free Play. After that, Player 3’s character disappears and Player 2’s character returns while Player 3 takes over running the game.

I thought of doing it this way in order to not have to worry about a game ending mid-score and it switching over GMs while also making sure that the player that will be GMing soon still has a chance to do some Free Play stuff. We’ll see how execution actually goes.

So I would really love to hear any suggestions, advice, issues people had with it, hopes, or any other ideas or thoughts. I’ve been pushing on my players very hard to read the book even moreso than they are now so they have a better grasp of how the game works. Hopefully, they’ll follow through.

This Saturday is Session 0, we’ll be making characters and the crew and preparing all the good stuff we need for game.

I’m in the process of making some XP reminders for my Scum & Villainy group.

I’m in the process of making some XP reminders for my Scum & Villainy group. They don’t always find it easy, at the end of our sessions, to recall all of their XP triggers. Additionally, I think little reminders to roleplay their backgrounds, traumas, etc. would be helpful.

There’ll be six for each player, which they’ll have in front of them as visual reminders, and eight for the ship (probably on the ship sheet). As they trigger XP during play, they’ll pop a stick into the mug. At the end of play, counting XP will be quick and memory-free.

This is the theory, of course. 🙂

Question for the Leech’s out there, what would it take to make a self propelled wagon/stagecoach?

It was the early 30s, war was on the horizon, and the Sepulcherian Company of the Silver Nails had staked out some…

It was the early 30s, war was on the horizon, and the Sepulcherian Company of the Silver Nails had staked out some territory in the Lost District outside the city’s lightning barriers. The Severosian cavalry found that was the safest place to handle training their horses to fight ghosts, and to discourage tampering with their expensive horseflesh.

Like all the officers, Grainer was an adept. He was on an errand into the city when he saw a little girl, not even ten, chased by a ghost. He was ready to swoop in and save the day when he saw her take hold of the ghost and rip it open. When he found out she was homeless, he adopted her.

Silver is a noble metal because it does not corrode. It also holds enchantments well. When Grainer gave her the first of many silver weapons, she solemnly told him she wished her blood was silver too. After that, he gave her the nickname Red Silver. He had no way to know what her eventual betrayal would cost him or the Company, but even if he had, there’s no way to know whether he would have loved her any less.

From unpublished notes on Silver Nails and the Lost District by historian Garnel Taldorian