Category: Blades in the Dark: Game Questions

I’m looking for feedback on my first sets of crafting and rituals. These might be a bit more complicated than they need to be, but the crew (hawkers) is intending on creating their own product and I wanted to let them do that and still do the cool stuff that Leeches and Whispers are supposed to be capable of.

I’d appreciate any and all feedback you’d be willing to give me!

– The Leech performs crafting as downtime action to distill a catalyzing substance from Leviathan Blood

– Must reach tier 2 on Tinker roll (automatic tier +2 for workshop and alchemy)

– Devil’s Bargain – Failure results in exposure for anyone involved in in production – Level 2 harm – deafened, blinded, or choked, tick clock “tainted” (4-segment)

– As long as tier is reached on the roll, the crafting is a success and production continues, with the added bonus of the Leech’s TBD alchemical recipe (which is effectively a byproduct of the above process)

– After the catalyst has been crafted the Whisper performs a ritual as downtime action to imbue the catalyzing substance with the essence of a spirit from a live subject, also providing an easy target for his ghost friend to draw energy from

– Tick Setarra’s clock (12-segment) – This is to reflect that the crew has found a source of vagrants and hollows in a grotto beneath the Docks; Setarra has been luring these people to the grotto for her own means, and once she realizes the crew is stealing from her she will retaliate

– Roll attune, risky position/great effect

1-3 = The ritual fails and must be attempted again at a desperate position

4-5 = The ritual succeeds with standard yield but the spirit is extracted in a manner that could be detected by the Spirit Wardens (tick 8-segment clock)

6 = The ritual succeeds with standard yield and the Whisper’s ghost friend feeds (tick 6-segment ghost clock once)

crit = The ritual succeeds with greater yield and Stavrul is satiated (tick 6-segment ghost clock twice)

– On a desperate roll

1-3 = You fail completely, the production is ruined, take level 2 harm, tick “tainted” clock, tick Spirit Warden clock twice

4-5 = The ritual succeeds with standard yield but the spirit is extracted in a manner that could be detected by the Spirit Wardens (tick clock twice)

6 = The ritual succeeds with standard yield

crit = The ritual succeeds with greater yield and ghost friend is satiated (tick clock twice)

– Ghost friend’s potency is represented by a 6-segment clock. When the clock is full he is tier +1, when the clock is partial he is = to tier, and when the clock is empty he is tier -1 – Every time ghost friend is invoked in any way the clock ticks down 1; there are some actions that may cost more than 1 segment (this is a consequence that can be resisted by the Whisper)

– Essentially, the ghost either diminishes when he acts or the Whisper must take stress

– Replenish the clock by conducting the ritual either for production purposes or just to feed the ghost (effect drops to standard for the latter and there is no exposure consequence)

– If the clock is empty the ghost can can only perform minor actions but there is no effect on the clock, unless the crew’s tier is 0 (you cannot roll at less than 0)

– If the clock is full any extra ticks are not held or rolled over (or does this empowerment cause the Whisper to lose control temporarily?)

Hi everyone, after running my second session of Blades in the Dark I have a couple queries and I could use some advice.

To set the stage, the players have opted for a Crew of Hawkers consisting of a Cutter, Leech, Spider, and Whisper. My first question stems from the fact that none of them have chosen a physicker or other healing type NPC as a friend or contact. Should I encourage them to create a consort capable of reducing harm sooner than later as a crew upgrade, or suggest that the Leech take the Physicker special ability as early as he can?

I don’t think it is incumbent on me to adapt to their strengths and weaknesses, because as far as I can tell the rules are intent on the GM not pulling their punches. I can also see that it might not be a huge deal if they don’t have immediate access to a healer, but I don’t want to run into a situation where progress stagnates because the PCs are spending half their downtime actions acquiring a temporary asset to lick their wounds. Any insight would be appretiated!

My second question involves drugs, rituals, and alchemy. The Whisper and the Leech are interested in developing their product together, with the Leech creating an alchemical enhanced by the ghost field by way of the Whisper. It would make sense that they are able to produce something of a pretty high quality, since they have taken The Good Stuff as their crew’s special ability, a workshop as a crew upgrade, the Leech has Alchemy, and the Whisper has Rituals.

It’s great that they’ve envisioned this cooperation and the drug they’ve come up with is really cool (an addictive hallucinogen that kind of inverts colours, creating the illusion of daylight, along with euphoria that dissipates into anxiety and aggression when the drug starts to wear off), but I’m afraid of making the operation too complicated. The material components include Leviathan Blood, which they can acquire through their crew’s smuggler contact, and a freshly deceased body, which they will basically pay heat for or take one from a recent score that included murder. The Whisper extracts the spirit and the Leech does some weird chemistry using the blood and the spirit to distill or extract (the details haven’t been decided yet) and then the Whisper takes the empty body to feed to his ghost friend for an entirely different purpose.

How should we handle this? I wanna say that, due to the complexity of the alchemical, a four or six segment clock should be required. The Leech can contribute with crafting and the Whisper can contribute with ritual (or should the Whisper be crafting as well, and then have to perform his ritual for ghost feeding as a separate action?).

More questions arise from this situation: How can I make the teamwork rules apply to downtime activities? Should I try and simplify this, or are the extra actions necessary due to the complexity of the drug? Should the cost of producing the drug be reduced due to The Good Stuff, Alchemy, and the workshop upgrade, or should those features strictly effect the quality?

Thanks in advance for any tips you can provide!