Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 28 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Happened to have Turner Classic Movies on in the background with the sound off last night, and Sunset Boulevard was…

Happened to have Turner Classic Movies on in the background with the sound off last night, and Sunset Boulevard was on. Hadn’t seen it in a while, so I watched a bit. My God, that movie is superlative Blades fuel, just on an imagery and set design level. Check this bit out, frex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivTbd38NtWg

Hey – I have an informal poll for you.

Hey – I have an informal poll for you. I’m playing around with a short “modern thieves” hack. One of the crew types is a “Fast and Furious” style. What should I call it? 1. White Knuckle Tight 2. Throttle Hoppers (both are street racing slang) I’d love to have you vote for 1 and suggest alternatives! Feel free to tell me if you hate both.

Note: The other crew types: Angels (vigilantes, think A-Team or Leverage), Collectors (high-end thieves), Disposable Heroes (mercenaries, problem solvers, gov’t contractors), Syndicate (criminal – not thrilled with this name), Vagabonds (traveling circus performers, musicians, etc. who steal).

I’m hauntingly late to the party, and can’t play much these days.

I’m hauntingly late to the party, and can’t play much these days. But, I used to do a game design thing where I looked at mechanics and gave players suggestions for decisions: #dicenerdery ahead. Sorry if a repeat.

I’m only look at basic mechanics here, but special abilities shouldn’t change too much. I crunched numbers on dice, and here are the big points:

Key Takeaways

Rolling 2d and keeping the lowest … is a really bad idea. Just awful. Push it and get 1d if you can.

The shift from 1d to 2d is worth it.

Your character gets really effective at 4D (duh). Anything lower means failure or partial success is more likely.

Every die you add cuts your chances for a bad outcome in half! So, ask yourself, what’s good enough for this situation?

* Do you just want at least some success? Settle for about 3d.

* Do you really need full success? Shoot for 4d. It’s usually worth it.

Details below…

I’ve enjoyed the heck out of the Bloodletters and the Last Word, but there’s something in Blades that I’d love to…

I’ve enjoyed the heck out of the Bloodletters and the Last Word, but there’s something in Blades that I’d love to see, and I’m wondering if there are any Actual Play recordings going more in this direction:

Are there any Actual Plays of Blades, or of a hack, where the crew tries to stay away from physical mayhem? Where they go more for subtle, devious, cunning, and/or stealthy as hell?

One of the things I love about Blades is that it enables that kind of scheming, cunning sort of game; the Spider mastermind or the shadowy Lurk can do just as much damage as the brawniest Cutter. I’d love to see a game that brings that to the fore — if anybody has one to recommend to me 😀

I have a kinda inconsequential question about the map of the Shattered Isles: What, if any, is the distinction…

I have a kinda inconsequential question about the map of the Shattered Isles: What, if any, is the distinction between the cities marked with black dots and those with clear ones? Is that meant to signify something about those locations?

Bonus question: Do you think the stops on the rail lines are the only holdouts of civilization that remain after the cataclysm? It’s said that the people on the Dagger Isles live without lightning barriers, but for everywhere else, I imagine the idea is that humanity has had to retreat to the few locations where enough resources could be pooled to erect the barriers, so the relatively few major cities shown on the map are the only places people can live at all now.

Asked a different way, do you think this is a map primarily showing the major stops on the rail lines (but excluding other cities), or is this a comprehensive view of civilization in the Shattered Isles?

Two quick questions for the Doskvol hive mind.

Firstly- my Smugglers Crew have the Smugglers Rigging upgrade which means that two items can be carried without being noticeable. Does this mean they can carry 5 Load and still look like they only have 3 Load (ie they choose “Light Load” but actually have 5 Load worth of items?) or that they still only have 3 Load for “Light” but two of them can’t easily be found.

Secondly – a matter of taste I suspect but I’d value opinions. The next Score I have in mind for my players is a request to smuggle some firearms to some oppressed union workers in Coalridge. This is likely to involve

a) Finding a source for the items (whether by theft, bribery, negotiation etc)

b) Actually smuggling the weapons in.

Would this be one Score (the smuggling) or two (the acquisition, then the smuggling)?

I can see it working either way and the acquisition could be interesting enough not to gloss over it, but it would feel odd to have Downtime after that part.

Thoughts anyone?

I’m relatively new to Blades, only GMing about a 1/2 dozen scores.

I’m relatively new to Blades, only GMing about a 1/2 dozen scores. I do wonder if I’m being ‘too easy’ on my PCs though. No one has a trauma yet. There’s only been 1 or 2 scores that everyone was near maxed out on stress. They’ve been cunning and afforded bringing much attention to their activities so few story complimcations…

1/. How many challenges/clocks to overcome/rolls would you typically see in a given score? (if a typical score exists).

2/. When do you choose to bring in story consequence stuff into the PC’s lives (i.e. framed a minor noble for a crime. When would you have his revenge come knocking)? Free play? Start of a game session? During a score?

3/. I assume life complications begin snowballing as the campaign runs. Perhaps I’m too worried at this point?

Since we have more hacks in the works than anyone could ever play, here’s more fuel for the everburning forge.

This War of Mine, if you’re familiar with the video game, seems like it has tremendous potential for translation.

Almost every location that has something you need has dangers/moral choices associated with it. Sure you can get enough food for the next few days, but you have to steal it from an old defenseless couple. Sure you can get a weapon to defend yourself, but you’d have to ambush a young man defending his parents and their belongings. You’re sick and you need meds? The hospital’s got ’em, but it’s locked up tighter than the blockade itself, and you’re taking them from patients who are even worse off than you.

Crew types as follows: Bandits, Scavengers, Good Samaritans, and Local Law.

Character playbooks as follows: Bruiser, Thief, Face, Organizer, and Lookout.

Claims could instead be necessary staples of survival, like heaters, stoves, toys (for children), music, a gun storage locker, vests and helmets for protection, reliable and helpful neighbors, a radio to keep up on current events, etc.

Entanglements could be good or bad, and your chances of something good or bad happening could depend on how you’ve been interacting with you’re community. Did you trade the soldiers the bandages they asked for? You’ve now got an increased chance of rolling the “Safe & Sound” entanglement, where someone protects your home for you. Did you kill a man and take all the potable water he was hoarding for the coming days? You’ve got an increased chance of rolling the “Wasn’t Yours” entanglement, where a wronged party demands back more than what you took.

This is just a recent brainworm that I wanted to share.

Hypothetical question for GMs here:

There’s a fairly common trope in caper movies: a character seemingly dies but later revealed to have survived and it actually was a part of the plan to fool the antagonist.

Would you allow your players to “resurrect” an NPC (or even a PC) in that fashion through a flashback for sufficiently high amount of stress and appropriate roll?

NPC names

Hi, I wanna make the background of NPCs more noticeable by giving them proper names. The book compares some of these regions with real culturs, so my plan is:

Iruvia – arabic

Skovlan – russian

south akoros – italian (stole all of my names from the locke lamora series)

north akoros – german (my native tongue)

west akoros – english / british

severos – ???

dagger isles – ???

Tycheros – ???

Do you have ideas for the last 3? Or a favorite name generator? Or a way better idea?^^