Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 26 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Has there been any word on Womb of Night?

I’m a little sad how quiet all the stretch goal news has been as of late.

Has anyone run BitD one-on-one (ie One GM, One player)?

A number of BitD systems are designed with groups in mind. Things like assisting actions, group actions etc. It strikes me that a single player is going to run through stress very fast without companions to assist.

What concessions/changes would you recommend ?

One obvious choice might be to give them a friendly NPC to assist, but assuming they wanted to run a ‘lone rogue’ what other changes might we make to assist this style of play?

I’ve found I’m not that good at improvising details of Scores.

I’ve found I’m not that good at improvising details of Scores. Before the last session, my crew chose a Score hook to follow, which let me try a new prep method that worked out great. One key requirement is that the crew decided what Score they wanted to do before the session, allowing me to prep it in depth.

http://games.nightstaff.net/2018/04/24/prepping-scores-for-blades-in-the-dark/

Thinking about factories in Coalridge from the perspective of the people working there.

Thinking about factories in Coalridge from the perspective of the people working there.

Working conditions have got to be the worst. Cramped (to make more room for the work), hot (because of all the machinery), dark (minimal electroplasmic lighting), dangerous (tons of dangerous machines, jagged edges, open flames). I can imagine old Skov songs being sung to lighten the conditions and Akorosi foremen afraid the songs were insulting them (probably true) reacting poorly.

The wages. Silver slugs or something that forces people to stay in the area like food and rent vouchers? Better or worse pay if your Akorosi or Skovlander? Differences in pay for adults vs. children? Based on gender? Affected by disabilities (I imagine a lot of injured workers who have to work just the same)?

Working hours. How long is a slogger’s shift? 12 hours? 16? I think the work shifts probably are named after the hour they start, yeah? Sixes and Pearls maybe? Fours and Thread?

Do folks work every day? I’m thinking there is a break, not out of any kind of sympathy for the workers but because they machinery gets too hot, too greasy, too irradiated by the low grade electroplasm that they use to power the machinery? I’m imagining four or six days of work and one day of cleaning? Maybe just one shift of cleaning? Seems like a lot of ways to game that system.

What about the work itself? We know they’re working on repairing leviathan hunters. Also that there is a design facility for the sparkwrights. I’m sure they also did steel work to support Gaddoc Rail as well. But other products of industrial factories were textiles (a big one, both cotton and silk), glass making, agriculture, mining, building supplies, steel processing (to remove impurities), batteries, matches, waterproofing, and probably a ton of others that I’m missing. What all do you think is produced in Coalridge?

Just to make sure I’m getting this, before I run a game next weekend: excluding armor and “fine” equipment, the…

Just to make sure I’m getting this, before I run a game next weekend: excluding armor and “fine” equipment, the purpose of equipment is basically to determine what I have narrative permission to do (positioning), and providing another trait to impact in the case of devils bargains.

My question comes when I am looking at the character sheet there is a notch for a pistol, and then a second pistol. If having a firearm gives me permission to take that kind of action, what would the mechanical impact be of having a pair of them?

It’s entirely likely that I’ve overlooked something, but I can’t find it in the books, and I haven’t notice it come up in any of the actual play yet. Can one of you folks set me straight?

So I’ve been GMing my first game of Blades and my group are playing Shadows who do low level espionage for some of…

So I’ve been GMing my first game of Blades and my group are playing Shadows who do low level espionage for some of the nobles. On our last session, I’d given them a tail and report job to go find out information about an NPC and they suddenly came to a conclusion I hadn’t anticipated and just decided they didn’t need to know anymore and were going to go home and report back. I didn’t want to break the fiction and be like actually thats not it keep looking so I paid them out as though it were a regular successful score and let them go into downtime activities. I mean they weren’t quitting the score and they technically fulfilled the client’s wishes. Has anyone run into something like this before and if so how did you handle it?

I’m currently leaning towards the client acting on their incorrect information and having it blow up in the client’s face (either on or off screen). Then I can have that come back on the crew somehow. But I don’t want to have it negate what I’ve already ruled a successful score – i.e. the client demands repayment or they do a job for free or the get a reputation for sloppy work. I mean it was a totally valid interpretation of the information they had gained from the tail I’d just set it up assuming they would keep going and dig deeper and get to the twist. Anyone have suggestions?

Was 8.2 released in the Special Edition version?

I’ve been GMing BitD at the local FLGS (acronyms ahoy!) and I’ve questions about the match-ups between Scoundrel,…

I’ve been GMing BitD at the local FLGS (acronyms ahoy!) and I’ve questions about the match-ups between Scoundrel, Crew, and Score. Some match-ups are obvious:

Cutter, Bravos, Assault

Lurk, Shadows, Stealth

Cutter/Lurk, Assassins, Assault/Stealth

Whisper, Cult, Occult

Slide/Spider, Shadows, Deception/Social

Smugglers isn’t an obvious pairing with any of the Scoundrel playbooks but it’s clearly matched with one of the Score plans, Transport.

What Scoundrels and Score are best suited for Hawkers? The business of dealing illicit drugs makes me think of a workshop management game more than it makes me think of BitD-style harrowing action. My group is using the Hawkers playbook and we’re telling a story we all enjoy, but I think that’s in spite of the playbook.

Is it just the case that the Hawkers playbook is a less obvious fit for the available Scores, that a story about Hawkers requires more finagling than another Crew? Am I missing something?

Put together a Duskvol calendar for reference use.

Put together a Duskvol calendar for reference use. Also put in time zone conversions for both Duskvol and U’Duasha. Hope you all enjoy and let me know if you have any suggestions. (Updated link to PDF and in a page format for ease of use)

https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aore9K0r1f65rW9yIeilrOefZbNa

Category: Blades in the Dark: Discussion