Blades in the Dark: Discussion – Page 59 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Cult Payoff – How do you folks handle it?

The Cult Opportunities listed are fascinating, but many don’t seem to lead to a direct payoff – the crew often don’t have an employer.

Is it a simple matter of the crew picking up whatever random loot might be laying about? Other thoughts? Any suggestions appreciated. 🙂

Anyone want to help me brainstorm?

Anyone want to help me brainstorm? I have a Cultist game with a plethora of conspiracies. You can find out more in the link if you want…

But the main thing I want to talk about is the Gondoliers. The badass Folk/Suave Ghost Busters / Whispers who make Rail Jacks look like amateurs. The Players are set up on Gondolier’s turf. In the starting situation we asked the question of whether or not the Gondoliers would get involved in the criminal/occult underworld.

In order to push that question more I need to come up with a more active agenda to pursue. They are anti-Church of Flesh which is great but I need something a bit more. The worry here is if I don’t think of something specific i’m going to default to this weird altruistic community service organization. Which feels out of place in Duskwall and also doesn’t stand a chance in hell of coexisting with the players.

I know there is an esoteric line about dusk in the book. So maybe their goal is to bring back the sun perhaps?

So far in play, all the ghosts they’ve summoned have been nautical characters of some sort. They recently ceremonially executed the leader of the Fog Hounds for the crime of killing a Gondolier. [The Fog Hound leader knew she was framed for this crime but in order to spare her crew was willing to take the fall] After the execution they captured her ghost. It had the feel of Carnival Justice like from the show ‘Carnivale’.

Anyways any ideas of what the Gondoliers are up to? The weirder and more esoteric the better their odds of surviving contact with the players.

What references do you use for clothing?

What references do you use for clothing? I’ve been putting together a pinterest for it and I wanted to know what ideas you guys had.

To introduce new players quickly, is there a better + shorter setting description than this one?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark

Jon Britton presented us with this outstanding map and Buffalo Trace last night.

Jon Britton presented us with this outstanding map and Buffalo Trace last night.

How does the Church celebrate mass or similar rituals in your doskvol? How do they preach to the public?

About Late/Just-in-Time choosing of Special Abilities for Characters and/or Crews + Crew Upgrades:

In my group we made the experience that sometimes it’s hard to choose the next special ability or crew advancement. Sometimes it’s not, because you already planned for some cool ability and you just know that next pick will be X or Y because it already fits the story of the PC or crew. But more often, you’re not sure because THEY ALL SO DAMN COOL (ahem, sorry for yelling) and you may pick X if you only know what the next score will be, but you don’t know, yet.

Another point is that it may be not so easy to ground them in the fiction right now. You may have a story which fits or not but it may feel a bit unorganic right here at the end of the session doing XP.

So, we have a house rule now that it’s ok to keep an advance on hold and in the right moment you have a kind-of-flashback during the score, like “Let us pick “sychronized” as a crew ability now, because it is useful and it fits the story and it makes us competent scoundrels and …” or “I was not sure if X or Y will be my next abiltiy but now (during Score) I know that it’s X because of yadder, yadder, yadder”

Sounds a bit munchkin but works great because the focus is a cool story. Give it a try, it may work for your group, too.