Category: Blades in the Dark: Discussion

Still more questions.

Yep, I’m back with a new batch of questions. I’ve collected a few.

1. Is finding a new vice purveyor a downtime activity? I can’t find a rule in the book that says so, but it feels like it would fall under the Acquire Asset activity.

2. How do some of the more abstract Claims manifest, and how would you go about turning them into a score (sometimes without destroying the claim)? For example, Bluecoat Confederates/Bluecoat Intimidation doesn’t sound like a physical location that can be raided, and even if it was it feels like you run the risk of battling the actual Bluecoats instead of the opposing faction. Would you, perhaps, have the crew run the opposing faction out of a territory? Or maybe track down the Bluecoat head honcho and “convince/bribe/blackmail/etc” him or her to switch alliances? I might ask the same about Informants. Cover Identities is another one. Is that a guy in a back room forging false papers, or something more abstract? How about Secret Pathways? Are you more or less just running off an opposing faction that guards those routes? There’s more, but I think you get my drift.

3. Do starting playbook supplies sort of resupply after use, or does the player have to acquire them again once used/lost/broken? For example, our Cutter recently used his Rage Essence Vial and then later broke his Fine Claymore in a fight against a hull. Do those items resupply out of the nebulous non-coin expenditure the crew is just assumed to use, or do they need to actively seek them out ala Acquire Asset? Should some of the pricier items cost actual coin?

4. Does actual coin play into the Luxury vice? I have a PC with the Luxury vice and he’s outfitting his apartment with some pretty swank swag. Should I be charging him coin for that stuff? That doesn’t feel quite fair, given that the rest of the PC’s are basically indulging their vices for free. And yet, that painting over his fireplace has got to cost something to make it Luxury. And how then does this play into Stash? It feels like, mechanically, they are totally separate, but at this point his lifestyle is quite beyond his fellow crew members. I’ve sort of funneled him into non-permanent vice indulgences (nights at the opera, museum visits, etc), but in the early game I did allow him to simply hand wave filling his little apartment with luxurious items.

Thanks for any and all advice. You guys are the best!