What is the mechanical effect of Hold? I understand that it can go up and down, but what’s the benefit of having Strong hold and what’s the downside to having a Weak hold?
I understand the narrative impact and that the game is fiction-first, but one of the things I really like about BitD is that there is a strong relationship between narrative and game. Also, mechanics are a tangible feedback to the players about their choices, and making interesting choices is a key fun factor for my group.
Is there any way to somehow convert Heat into Rep?
It strikes me that Blades is a bit like a Euro boardgame, with a lot of moving parts and resources to manage. I’d love to see a flowchart of diagram as to how it all fits together.
This post is keenly relevant to Duskwall, where the characters are victims of the new.
This post is keenly relevant to Duskwall, where the characters are victims of the new. (Especially the Lampblacks–it is explicit that their whole way of life evaporated.) Also if you are thinking futuristic, a useful insight.
Custom figures! I have a bit of an obsession with painting custom minis for our RPGs, and, well, here we are. We have a Lurk, Spider, Slide and Hound. The Hound is prett obvious, but for the others I tried to bring out their vices. The Lurk has a penchant for getting fighting drunk, the Spider likes the finer things in life and dresses rather garishly as a result, and the Slide has a slight gambling problem.
I opted to shade them a little on the gritier side because it seemed to work well within the setting. They’re dirty, they’re mean, and mighty unclean; they’re wanted men.
They still need facial detailing, which is easily my least favorite part, but the base, layers and shades all came out to my liking. 🙂
Actual Play Prep : Ex-Legionnaires in Tropical Duskwall
Actual Play Prep : Ex-Legionnaires in Tropical Duskwall
At long last, with different players, in a different city, I’m finally going to run a game of Blades in the Dark.
As per long-standing tradition, I give Players the opportunity to tell me “Three True Things” about the world – this is basically their opportunity to add or remove elements they like or don’t.
After much debate, they decided on these :
– There is a high society, nobles are exotic “other” people whose lives are mysteriously, decadently different from ours
– There are airships, though they are largely the purview of nobles and the military, and the skies are as dangerous as the seas
– The game takes place in a tropical city, more like a cross between Karnaca, Camorr and Ashamoil,* and the weather matters
From this I noted a few more details :
– There are terrible, horrible, not good, very bad things living in the wilds, the waters and the skies. Among them, the leviathan
– Mermaids came up often enough in player conversation that they should probably come up in play… more like Lovecraft’s Deep Ones and fairytale Nymphs and Sirens (see terrible, horrible, etc.)
– Lots of other things that were quite clear from the start, but player conversation emphasized one way or the other
So I was wondering what people thought :
– Should I set the game in an altered Duskwall, or set it somewhere else in the world (John Harper​​, is there a city that might fit?) and what would be the implications of it all?
– Any thoughts or recommendations for running a group of ex-legionnaires turned arms dealers? What problems might they encounter? What advantages might they have?
– What do you think of the fact their current goal is to become something between the A-Team and Leverage, which sets them up to cover the same patch as The Lost?
As an aside, they’re building an ex-military group who somehow fell out of favor and are hawking stolen military weapons while they figure out what they did wrong and why people are trying to kill them… but the impression I get is that they’re looking to be something like The Lost
*from Dishonored 2, The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Etched City respectively
trumpets. If someone has already put forth argumentation on this, let me know
part 1 – the term Risky is a waste. All Actions, those that are Dominant or Desperate as well, involve Risk, as do a bunch of the features in downtime and so forth. Everything is Risky, so the middle tier’s name isn’t clear, doesn’t add. We already know there’s Risk involved, there’s Risk all over the system and the city and the world.
part 2 – you lose a mnemonic, which as part of the player’s main interface is both useful and enjoyable. The triple D – Dominant, Daring, Desperate – has a good roll. A new player is going to remember the 3D’s, even if they don’t remember the specifics, and anyone keen on the language will get a kick out of the consonance.
part 3 – the word itself – Daring – falls into the style of the characters in the game, not just the setting or mechanics. Daring scoundrels, daring swashbucklers, daring rogues, the word taps how the characters are, how they act, how they behave, not just a point of mechanical average-ness or worry.
You can see the Character in a Dominant position (hiding and watching from the shadows, over top a downed foe, smiling as their plan come into effect), you can see a Character Acting Desperately (sweating, scrambling, panicking, outnumbered, exhausted), can you see a Character being Risky? Not as clearly as you can see him or her being Daring – swinging from a chandelier, lying through their teeth, drawing a pistol and screaming bloody murder.
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Man, im super impressed with this game, if it weren’t for the fact I have a three month old child in the picture, and the resulting full plate that brings, Id be playing the heck out of it. Something else, you did some fine work Mr Harper. Looking forward to hearing more about those hacks too, the Womb of the Night and Children of Neon, or whatever the proposed cyberpunk one was called.
smoke bomb, swirl of cloak, leaps to rooftop, escape
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good demo score and preferably one that has some level of write-up currently…
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good demo score and preferably one that has some level of write-up currently available so I can focus on learning the rules? I’d like a heist scenario that shows off the Thief side of things, with maybe some supernatural elements. The PCs will all be pre-gens so I’m not focusing particularly on character connections or specific faction relationships. Yes, I know I could randomly determine one using the score generator, but again, I’m trying to focus on figuring out the rules and am looking to outsource the score.
What is the intent of the Bound In Darkness ability of the Cult crew in conjunction with leading a group action?
What is the intent of the Bound In Darkness ability of the Cult crew in conjunction with leading a group action? Does it mean that if several members are sneaking in somewhere, but on opposites sides of the compound they can still use teamwork? Or does it mean that one person can sneak in and another member can be meditating in the temple across town and help them? The point being, does everyone in the group action actually need to be doing the action somewhere, or does bound in darkness allow someone in your crew to simply focus on a prowling while not actually doing it?
