Category: Blades in the Dark: Discussion

Something that occurred to me to ask while I was rereading the Quickstart.

Something that occurred to me to ask while I was rereading the Quickstart.

Something that occurred to me to ask while I was rereading the Quickstart. Now for the most part set-up actions seem pretty simple, you do an action and your effect rating gets added to the person that follows through, so if the Lurk grabs a guard from behind while the hound shanks him it’s clearly force+force. But what about say, the cutter kicking open the door of a drug den to help the slide make a grand entrance to intimidate the people inside, could you add the cutter’s force and the slide’s will together? Or does like only go with like?

Here is a video that one of my players used to get in the mood for Blades in the Dark:

Here is a video that one of my players used to get in the mood for Blades in the Dark:

Here is a video that one of my players used to get in the mood for Blades in the Dark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iokC3djlj_w

And here’s one she made a few years ago that gets my blood pumping. I love it! This is what I want to play. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJH_4_kagQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iokC3djlj_w

I have been reflecting on a recurrent theme I’ve heard today.

I have been reflecting on a recurrent theme I’ve heard today.

I have been reflecting on a recurrent theme I’ve heard today. There is an objection to the game making it too easy for characters to succeed. This is not a concern I share, at least not in the current model.

Just for a thought exercise, what if the current numbers held more or less the same for what happens in each band, but the bands were 1-2, 3-4, 5-6? So 1-2 was terrible, 3-4 success but qualified, and 5-6 success?

I think the result would be emboldening the rogues. They would be less risk-averse, and complications would still arise in play because they would push harder.

So they beat a heist more easily. Then there’s another one, isn’t there? If things seem too easy, hit them with more severe consequences if they do not succeed; tougher foes, more lethal dangers. Threaten them with things that are not easily diced away, like a rival faction gunning for their assets or the danger of becoming a pawn between two powerful rivals.

If the game is too easy and they get bored (an unlikely consequence in my mind), then make it more difficult by giving them tougher missions and more interesting choices to make–not by making it more difficult to succeed in their chosen course of action because DICE.

I guess I’m coming out of a more permissive mind set that wants to see the players do well when they choose to act, so the focus shifts from “Can we do it” to “what do we do.” Dice being what they are, you’ve still got plenty of chances for complications and escalations.

Just a thought. I’m just not grasping the value of using the mechanics to make sure the game is difficult enough, like we risk it being too easy. Especially with the really small dice pools and the inability to spend stress to advance clocks.

FYI, I suck and need a detailed sheet to show me all all the end of game shenanigans.  No not the current one, like…

FYI, I suck and need a detailed sheet to show me all all the end of game shenanigans.  No not the current one, like…

FYI, I suck and need a detailed sheet to show me all all the end of game shenanigans.  No not the current one, like big one with like a flow chart or something.

Otherwise tonight’s scores went pretty well.

John Harper From the Slide’s “low friends”, we  have “Nyryx, a prostitute”, which is the same name as “Nyryx, a…

John Harper From the Slide’s “low friends”, we  have “Nyryx, a prostitute”, which is the same name as “Nyryx, a…

John Harper From the Slide’s “low friends”, we  have “Nyryx, a prostitute”, which is the same name as “Nyryx, a possessor ghost” from the Whisper’s “strange friends”. Is this a coincidence (in which case I’m all in favour, ’cause I always think it’s weird how no two people in a TV programme have the same name), or is something very sinister at play here?

So I had a discussion with one of my players last session that’s been bugging me a bit.

So I had a discussion with one of my players last session that’s been bugging me a bit.

So I had a discussion with one of my players last session that’s been bugging me a bit.  Since 2 of the results are that you succeed but the danger manifests (and a 3rd offers a trade of danger manifesting for additional effect) it would seem that a multitude of obvious dangers couldn’t be present.  

For instance, you’re trying to climb up a tower (4 segment clock) and you’ve gotten about half way up (2 segments ticked off).  The most obvious danger I can think of would be to fall down to the bottom of the tower (and possibly break their leg).  Now say you get a 6 on a risky action to make progress on the clock, and you want to better assure knocking it out.  You then get a 1 on your resistance roll and you have 7 stress already.  So you chose to take the danger.

Do you fall to the ground?  Does that knock out the segments you’ve already ticked?  What about your effect roll?  Do you jump up and grab the top of the tower only to slip and fall to the ground?

Hey John Harper

Hey John Harper

Hey John Harper,

Would you be able to tease a little about the ‘fade out’ co-gming technique? The regulars (Spectral Sisters) are on our third session now and the gang is keen to try the mechanic, as two of the crew are itching to GM and that means I get to make a character!

I understand that whoever is NOT on point can ‘take the gm reins’ for the scene, and all clocks / obstacles are transparent and available to the group.

Are there any other useful tidbits? Oliver Granger, anything else you guys might add?

I’m excited!

My players rolled the entanglement of a Demon offering a Deal.

My players rolled the entanglement of a Demon offering a Deal.

My players rolled the entanglement of a Demon offering a Deal. I don’t think what I provided was very good: the crew was tasked with bringing him the eponymous flame from their rivals the Circle of Flame. I don’t really know what that means yet, but they definitely don’t mind stealing something cool from their rival faction.

What are some good ideas of interesting and problematic deals a powerful demon may ask from/offer the lowly PC crew?

‘If you slip, you will still have three seconds to live.’

‘If you slip, you will still have three seconds to live.’

‘If you slip, you will still have three seconds to live.’

A more well-heeled crew concept, perhaps. Duskwall University students exploring the rooftops and seeing the world from a different angle.

A sought-after item in the setting might be a guide to the rooftops like The Night Climbers of Cambridge (source of the quote above): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Climbers_of_Cambridge

The author of Night Climbers rather spoils a simple enjoyment of that work by later writing Return to Responsibility: A New Concept of the Case for Fascism in the Post-War World — perhaps the PCs meet the guidebook’s author and he turns out to be a thorough cad.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n08/katherine-rundell/diary