Blades in the Dark: Game Questions – Page 17 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

BitD p97 says “When you send a cohort to achieve a goal, roll their quality to see how it goes.”

Is this meant to be an action roll (with position and effect), or a fortune-roll-with-loss-possible? I’m pretty sure, from hints on that page, that it’s meant to be an action roll (because e.g. otherwise how can Weakened’s “reduced effect” matter). That right?

Hey all

Hey all,

I’m planning to start running a game of Blades soon, so I’ve been listening to some APs, and I was hoping to get some examples that might help clarify when a social interaction crosses over into a social score.

For context: in one of the APs that I listened to, Baszo Baz invites the PCs to a meeting a la War in Crow’s Foot. The group decides that this constitutes a social score and proceeds directly to the engagement roll. To my mind, this is more of a gather information moment: the PCs aren’t aiming for any particular outcome, they’re just there to learn what Baszo has to say and to figure out how they can best take advantage of the situation. Moreover, they’re meeting with Baszo at his invitation, so there’s no real opposition, per se, although things could certainly go sideways if, for example, they decide that they’re going to double-cross him. On the other hand, if they had arranged a meeting with Baszo with the specific aim of, say, tricking Baszo into believing that another crew had it out for the Lampblacks in order to sow profitable chaos, then that might be more in-line with my vision of a social score.

I’m under the impression that, at the end of the day, the best rule of thumb is that if it feels like it ought to be score to your group, then it’s a score, ’nuff said. Still, I’m trying to get a feel for when a potentially dangerous social encounter that might yield some advantage to the crew becomes a potentially dangerous social score that might yield some advantage to the crew.

Thanks!

Starting an S&V game soon and I have a question about how tier and effect works:

When pushing for effect, using fine items, and/or gaining potency from moves, and then calculating against the opponent’s faction tier, do you add up all the factors specifically/mathematically and then compare them directly against each other, or do you keep a more loose assessment of the factors? Using an example from the book:

“Hayley is picking the lock to a Malklaith warehouse. Her crew quality is I and she has fine lockpicks– she’s at Tier II. Malklaith is Tier III. Hayley is outclassed in quality, so her effect on the lock will be limited.”

In this example, it’s obvious why Hayley will have limited effect, and that if she then pushed for effect, she’d go up to Standard. However, what if the warehouse were owned by the Guild of Engineers, a Tier V faction? Would the initial calculation factor in the wider disparity between Tiers, or no? The example says the hit to effect comes from being “outclassed in quality,” but not necessarily because of the degree of the disparity. Does it matter how much a character is outclassed, or simply that they are?

I’m thinking specifically in the case of comparing quality and tier, and assuming there aren’t other clear dominant factors, such as in the example of a character trying to fire a gun at a large ship, where the difference in scale clearly makes the action not only limited, but impossible.

In other words, could the difference in the example be stated as: Hayley is Tier II, Malklaith is Tier III, therefore Hayley is at a -1 disadvantage, so her effect changes -1, from standard to limited? Then if Hayley were up against a Tier V faction, the difference would be -3, and her effect would go down from standard, to limited, to impossible (stopping there, assuming things can’t be extra impossible). Then she could push for effect and come back up to limited?

Or would you say that although there’s a wide disparity in Hayley and the Guild’s qualities, this isn’t an unpickable lock, so the action isn’t impossible, and her effect will still only be limited to begin with?

Practically speaking, does a crew basically need to entirely avoid dealing with factions that are any more than 1 or 2 tiers higher in quality than they are, since the disparity in quality is constantly going to make any action impossible to begin with, and even pushing yourself or gaining effect from other sources is likely to have you achieving limited effect at best?

Or do you always have tools at your disposal to stand up to even the highest tier factions, so that going up against a higher quality faction is generally a disadvantage, but not supposed to be a complete non-starter? In which case it’s more likely that you’ll generally be starting with limited effect, which you can then increase to standard?

Does the Cutter special ability Leader apply both when you give orders to a gang with Command and when you lead a…

Does the Cutter special ability Leader apply both when you give orders to a gang with Command and when you lead a group action alongside a gang rolling the appropriate ability?

The description of how you use a cohort draws a distinction between Command and leading the group, which the text of Leader adheres to, but the explanation of the ability in the Cutter section of the book indicates it is effective with group actions, too.

My common sense reading is that it should work for Commanding and fighting alongside them, but perhaps this restriction in wording is intentional?

The texts in question:

The Cutter special ability Leader says:

“When you Command [emphasis in original] a cohort in combat, they continue to fight when they would otherwise break (they’re not taken out when they suffer level 3 harm). They gain +1 effect and 1 armor.”

Using a Cohort on page 97 says,

“Or, a PC can oversee the maneuver by leading a group action. If you direct the cohort with orders, roll Command. If you participate in the action alongside the cohort, roll the appropriate action.”

Against that we have the expanded description of Leader in the Cutter section:

“This ability makes your cohorts more effective in battle and also allows them to resist harm by using armor. When you lead your cohorts, they won’t stop fighting until they take fatal harm (level 4) or you order them to cease. What do you do to inspire such bravery in battle?

For details about cohorts, see page 96.”

Probably gonna be starting a Blades Game soon (finally) so seeking the wisdom of the community on two questions I…

Probably gonna be starting a Blades Game soon (finally) so seeking the wisdom of the community on two questions I had reading the book:

If the PCs choose a form of training as a starting upgrade, how do you represent that as helping or hurting another faction?

Is the choice to put no tier 0 factions in the setting deliberate, to really start the PCs off as the smallest fish in a big pond? Or if the PCs go looking for someone their own size to cut their teeth on, do you throw out a few possibilities?

S&V Pilot question.

When piloting a spaceship, should I always roll Helm, or are there times when Skulk and Scramble would be better? I know this is really up to my group, just wanted other people’s opinions.

Hey all, I’m new to Blades and reading through the rules to run Scum and Villainy.

Hey all, I’m new to Blades and reading through the rules to run Scum and Villainy. Can someone explain special armor to me? I’m not getting a good idea of how special armor works.

Here’s what I DO understand: there are abilities that let characters mark the “Special” armor box to do different things (like the Cutter’s Battleborn special ability) by expending your special armor. Presumably if I pick a special ability that lets me expend my special armor use, I detail what it is fictionally when I take the ability.

What I DON’T understand is: do you have to bring armor with you in your initial Load to use it? Do you have to ALSO bring heavy armor? If I didn’t bring armor at all, do I have my special armor with Load weight appropriate to the fiction anyway? Can I use the special armor as just armor to reduce or negate harm, in addition to expending its use for my special armor ability?

I don’t have any experience playing Blades, and my only exposure is listening to the Marielda season of Friends at the Table (although it’s been a little while). I appreciate any help!

Quick question about resistance rolls…

Can you resist a reduced effect consequence? I assume so because there’s nothing mechanically to distinguish them from other consequences, but it intuitively feels a bit weird to me.

To put it more concretely: if I tell a player, “You shoot the guard, but because it’s misty out you wing them instead of kill them outright,” and she says, “No, I resist that”… does the guard take standard effect instead and die?

I have a cash-strapped cult who is facing a tier increase without ample Coin in the coffers and a Spider who is…

I have a cash-strapped cult who is facing a tier increase without ample Coin in the coffers and a Spider who is scheming to earn some extra scratch on the side using Downtime Actions.

My gut says Acquire Asset doesn’t apply because the rule state the asset is temporary; while the Coin would be spent the benefit would persist. So that takes my brain to a Long Term Project to earn Coin. It feels like a valid avenue to me — what are your experiences?

So, my playgroup recently discovered a discrepancy between my book and the character sheet.

So, my playgroup recently discovered a discrepancy between my book and the character sheet. I couldn’t find the “Veteran” special ability in my book, could anyone give me a page number or something for that. Also, I don’t know how to determine the “Items” section of the character sheet, aside from the “Load.” I take it those will be acquired stuff throughout downtime, so I should tell my players to leave it blank for now?

Edit: I answered my own question for the Items and Load, but I still want to know where the “Veteran” special ability is.