Category: Blades in the Dark: Discussion

Has anybody tried using BitD to run a cyberpunk or scifi game using the rules mostly as is, but swapping the use of supernatural actions for things like hacking-fu and tech/cyberware (and of course tweaking gear)?

Endgame Ideas?

So BitD is a blast to play to find out what happens to the scoundrels trying to make something of themselves. However, what have you done to provide satisfying closure to a campaign or story arc?

My player group with the cult crew played probably 15-20 sessions and ended the campaign when one of the members moved. We plan to revisit the campaign again with the full rules later this year.

Fortunately, we were able to wrap up that moving player’s character’s main projects and story arc in a way that also instantiated their first use of the Glory Incarnate cult special ability (thus encountering a manifestation of their supernatural leader for the very first time). This coincided with supplanting their campaign-long rivals the Lampblacks in a climactic rise in tier and a big nasty gang fight. Bombs in the PCs’ Lair were involved, mysteries and twists in relationships and origins were revealed, and the leaving player’s character was the first PC on the crew to die (aside from his dad who originally founded the crew).

This was great for closure in our case, but really only centered on that one character’s arc. The others went along with it due to expecting to continue later on.  Nevertheless, I’m curious how others aim to work toward an endgame in BitD, both mechanically and narratively.

To have a satisfying climax, I think you need to first have a big underlying conflict, ideally that weaves in each PC’s personal arc. I love the emergent player-focused nature of the system for regular play, but I’m less confident it naturally produces such an underlying conflict. What have you experienced? Similarly, in heroic games, there can easily be bad situations to thwart, or good situations to bring to be. In a scoundrel game, is there the same satisfaction in bringing about a bad situation (that’s good for the crew) or thwarting good situations for the world (that are bad for the crew)?

Should players work to identify for the GM (or can the GM infer somehow from player pursuits) a whole-crew big picture goal other than “move up”?

Is considering an endgame-style plot structure with rising action to a big climax followed by resolution even appropriate for this game?