Blades in the Dark: Game Questions – Page 29 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Strange question, folk, but when rolling for Entanglements, am I correct in assuming that if a crew doesn’t have any…

Strange question, folk, but when rolling for Entanglements, am I correct in assuming that if a crew doesn’t have any wanted levels or heat, that they would still roll 2d6 and take the lowest? I’m not sure why they’d attract trouble if they didn’t cause a stir, but it doesn’t seem like the rules necessarily require them to if their rivals or something show up unannounced.

Hey all – a question for you.

Hey all – a question for you. Apologies if it’s already been asked before but I can’t quite figure how to search on google plus yet…especially on mobile.

Anyway:

Gather information. The rules state that this can either be done as a fortune roll or an action roll but don’t go much further. Any tips on when to use a fortune roll over an action roll? Removing all possible consequences and seeing how well some surveying goes seems far less exciting than doing a full action Roll .

Also another minor point – less of a question but more of an observation. There’s been a few times where the rulebook has pointed to something that only exists in the downloadable sheets – things like the gloom and wreck lists for example. This has been a primary source of fuels confusion for me when reading and it might be something to fix in later editions.

So there’s a few questions I have after doing some more sessions with my Cult group.

1. On Page 40, describing Canter shooting someone for added effect on a command roll, it shows Canter pushing himself AFTER he rolled. Is it still acceptable to push for effect after a roll?

2. On page 14,

You can use stress to push yourself for greater performance. For each bonus you choose below, take 2 stress (each can be chosen once for a given action):

- Add +1d to your roll. (This may be used for an action roll or downtime roll or any other kind of roll where extra eﬀort would help you)

-Add +1 level to your eﬀect. (See Eﬀect, page 24.)

-Take action when you’re incapacitated.

Does this mean you can push yourself multiple times for both a dice and an effect for 4 stress?

Is there any guidance on creating Drives and Beliefs for our characters?

Is there any guidance on creating Drives and Beliefs for our characters? I couldn’t find anything in particular in the book. I’m not opposed to making that up out of whole clothe, but if there are suggestions/rules I’d prefer to use those.

Hey, I have a question about how to handle a situation.

Hey, I have a question about how to handle a situation. In the game I’m running, our Cutter discovered which gang murdered his friend, found two members of that gang, beat them to a pulp, knee-capped one, and said “Tell your friends I’m coming for all of them.”

Well, the gang isn’t going to go quietly, and instead plans to attack the Cutter next session, basically just catching him out in the street and knifing him. I was wondering how to run this, since it’s a pretty NPC driven action instead of player driven. My thoughts were that I basically make it an impromptu Score, where the Cutter uses his Survey as the engagement roll to see if he sees the ambush coming. He can also choose score type at that time, is he going to stay and fight (Assault), try to flee (Stealth), or maybe even talk his way out (Deception or Social). Does that sound like the way to run it?

My other thoughts were just do it all as free play, but that seems too abstract and the group is probably going to take some stress, if not harm, so I want them to have downtime actions after. Thoughts?

Hello!

Hello! I’ve just been pressganged into running a campaign and I’d love to have some help with it. The trouble is that it’s a West marches-esque campaign as everyone’s got pretty busy schedules and there’s no chance we could get the same people every month let alone week.

Plus since everyone wanted a feel of already being a somewhat powerful gang I started them off at Tier 1, against my better instincts. (looking back at it it would have been better to start with more crew upgrades methinks)

Fictionally this is justified by the crew being part of a leviathan hunter captain who went to the dagger isles and was thought dead, instead coming back with a load of money and pirates.He wants to get a piece of the underworld, but since he’s a bit clueless the PCs handle all of that stuff, swapping in and out between active crew and “shore leave” (scores). Kinda inspired by a cross between Jack Sparrow and Euron Greyjoy

Anyway, the only crew I could get our first two PCs to agree on was smugglers, so 6hs of play later they had done 3 scores and we’ve got a nice story with a pre-cataclysmic entity in the bay and Strangford hunting them down for stealing his ex-cousin’s-roomate’s maps.

How do I get the next group, possibly with no-one in it from the first group, on board with the story and the idea of playing smugglers if that’s not what they want? Multiple crews which the PC’s can choose from? Just pick an XP trigger at the beginning of each session? I’ve created a gazette offering an overview of the last session and new possibilities, but I don’t think it’ll do. Ideas appreciated!

Question regarding Crew XP.

(PS: Spoilers for the Pathfinder adventure path Edge of Anarchy are within)

(PSS: My crew runs in Marienburg of Warhammer fame)

My Shadows crew, the Crowtalons, are contacted by Zellara, a fortune teller from Dead Canal who wants them to steal back her heirloom Harrow cards (used to read the future).

They have been stolen from her by Lamb, a old man with the magical ability to charm children and simpletons.

(In my world, the Dead Canal is the home for the Lampblacks and Red Sashes, as well as the Bloodletters – see below)

They head down to the Dead Canal and begin asking around and run afoul of the Lampblacks who, as it turns out, are also looking for Lamb. Pickett agrees to overlook their transgression and let them have run of the Canal if they agree to bring the Lamb back to her when it’s over. As they are after the cards and not the Lamb, they agree.

Ultimately, they find the Lamb holed up in a ruined fishery. The Leech climbs the roof to create a distraction so that the others could rush in and take the goods. Many failures were rolled but ultimately the characters prevail.

Finally the question:

When they set out, this was a fairly straight-forward burglary (steal the book back). After they meet the Lampblacks it becomes a possible kidnap (capture and return the Lamb). Finally, their tactics were smash and grab (break stuff and rush in).

Do the Shadows get experience for the burglary job, despite the fact that it became something else?

Hoping some one can just clarify….

We started Crew and Character creation last night using the full rule set 🙂

However since the Quick start the faction relations seem to have changed and now I am a little confused:

Does each player pick the +1/-1 with faction related to there contacts and then +1/-1 for the crew contact or is it just the Crew Contact (with the option to up with a Coin) Also do I give them a Coin if we adjust down, can they add multiple contacts at the expenditure of a coin?

or do I adjust based on the fiction, just not clear to me maybe I am miss understanding it.

Cheers

Three sessions in now (two with improvised scores that have been really fun) and I think the next thing I need to…

Three sessions in now (two with improvised scores that have been really fun) and I think the next thing I need to get a handle on is…

“How much clock information should be player-facing?”

Like, I’ve been kind of using them sort of like the mission directives in The Sprawl (to do this Score there’s items A and B to complete, item C to avoid completing) and keeping them openly-named and player-visible. So far it’s worked well, but one of my players mentioned that he could see the potential for someone to just be concerned with “playing the clocks” vs “playing their character.” So I’m working out if I should dial back some of that information that I’ve been leaving out in full view. (But also want them to be able to tell when they’re making progress.)

How do you handle the clocks in your games?

One thing I’ve been struggling to determine is Score payoff.

I run for a group of Hawkers and we are now coming up to our 4th session.

This will be the second Score that seemingly has no direct payout in terms of Coin.

If the crew goes on scores to retrieve some product/setup a new supply line/obtain new equipment etc. is it still recommended that they receive Coin from those types of scores, even if fictionally, they’re not being payed by anyone?

For example, the next Score the group is off to the Jayan Hall of Alchemy to attempt to steal some alchemical apparatus so that they may synthesise a particular drug en masse within the comfy confines of their own lair.

If they succeed would you also give them a Coin payout, and if so how much is reasonable? (perhaps in the form of surplus supplies they then offload or something?)

Cheers in advance.