Category: Blades in the Dark: Rules & Sheets (Official)

I’m running a game on Monday. I guess at this point I’d say the “effect” roll would be “highest rolled result -1” for segments filled, +1 per additional 6. The resist roll would be “6-highest result stress to avoid consequence.”

What do you think? If we don’t get a new integrated draft by Monday, do you think this serves, or what else would you suggest?

I’m still figuring a lot of the changes out, but I’ve found a lot to love in the update.

The claims are good–especially since I believe they will be more customizable once we are past the quick start and into the game proper. The concept of nodes that provide advantages and discrete physical and conceptual territory for competition is useful for driving story and competition. It gives players a way to strategize and have ambition, and gives the GM targets for rivals to threaten.

I like the action/attribute rating split. It is a different choice than having separate effect ratings, but for this game and its goals I feel it is a GOOD choice. What you may lose in flexibility is more than paid off in what you gain in a more intuitive system that rewards diversifying. Experience awards are also simplified.

I like the engagement roll because one of the tricky parts of the game is launching directly into a heist. Having a not-totally-random kicker at the beginning to give immediate things to react to and overcome helps both the GM and the players engage more in-media-res.

I LIKE THE NEW ACTION ROLL OUTCOMES. They retain the narrative flexibility, but are FAR less ambiguous. As GM, I want room to maneuver and interpret, and I still have that; however, the boundaries of what’s fair to the players is clearer. Also, the option of escalating and taking multiple turns within a single turn has been turned off, and that’s awesome. I also like that there is the option to take 2 stress for 1d more, if you want to. (I think it should be specified you can do that AFTER you roll the rest of the dice if you choose.)

I’m neutral on the new harm system. It reminds me of FATE. I do like the previous method, relying on narration and specific lasting conditions for injury, I think that’s more true to the heart of the game. But I haven’t tried this, so I don’t have strong feelings on it.

The fortune roll has a good mix of three factors; context, framing the possibilities, and some randomness. I could see using it for many things; it takes the place of rolling on random encounter tables. The table outlines what is likely to happen, the circumstances triggering a roll suggest it is appropriate in that place in the narrative, and there’s an element of chance so even the GM can have a new surprising development in the current events.

I’m not sure how p. 17 “PC Advancement” works in some ways. Under 6 playbook advancements, you can add +1 effect (is this outdated?) or get a special ability or add 2 items to a list of item options. So I guess you would spend 1 advance to get 2 options, then the next advance could buy one of those options? As far as I can tell, you gain no advantage from special abilities in your playbook unless you’ve bought them. I guess this is a way to make other abilities cost 1.5 as much as playbook abilities. How does that interact with “veteran” now?

I want to know more about getting flawed gangs. I’m not sure I understand reputation fully.

I REALLY LIKE THE NEW ENTANGLEMENTS. Simple but flexible. You could get similar results a number of times in a row without duplicating events. Great flavor and escalation.

I feel like the character sheets should include under “Bonus Dice” using a fine item. Is that still advantageous?

I’m a little fuzzy on how the success roll interacts with the clocks.

Well, I’ve rambled enough. TLDR is I think this is a great update, and I look forward to trying it out. Thanks, John Harper!

I think it would be helpful to reflect on how to manage a crew getting bigger when it goes up a tier. The game encourages crews to go up a tier, the idea is they are fighting for advancement in size and power.

However, the manageable number of PCs does not go up when the crew tier does. So, what does that mean? Do your gangs join the crew, and you get more gangs? How do you manage leadership in the crew, and does it still make sense to have “crew” and “gangs” as the two categories? Or do you reach a point where you need middle management? “Leaders” and “made men” and “gangs” for example.

There comes a point where your PCs are directing a more broad operation than you can easily manage with PCs and gangs as the two categories.

I think the crew rules need to address actions taken by the crew that are not undertaken by PCs or by gangs.

I also think it would be useful to have something like the “entanglements” possibilities that are “internal politics” that can cause problems for a crew during each down time. There is a “morale” effect; what else is it for? I think it could be used to suppress internal dissent and dissatisfaction and plotting and theft.

Issues of discipline and the like will come up. Underlings will cause problems that they need the leadership to sort out. Gang leaders will aspire to be crew bosses to come to the attention of the guys running a tier 3 crew.

In short, I think there needs to be more granularity for Tier 2 and up.

So when people are making characters, and you’ve got players who are fresh to the world, how do you tell them about heritages? (This is open to anyone who has run character generation.) How much time do you spend on it, and do you point them to any resources to help their decision? (I don’t know of anything to point to besides the last page of the quickstart, which I used.)

I told my players heritage was just for flavor, and they were probably several generations from the point of immigration anyway. And if they didn’t want to figure it out, they could be thoroughly native and put “Akorosian.”

I get that some people like longer story-driven character generation, and others (more like me) like quick character generation so we can get to know the character in play and in context. I think both styles are valid and have their advantages and disadvantages. 

I do think this game is better suited to speed in character generation, or we wouldn’t have the equipment shopping already done and a list of friends already picked out on the sheet. Still, there’s plenty of room for different styles on that.

This is an attempt to stop hijacking a play report thread. Sorry about that, Jeff Johnston!

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