Category: Blades in the Dark

Writeup from our third session is linked — what follows here is my notes as a GM.

Writeup from our third session is linked — what follows here is my notes as a GM.

Writeup from our third session is linked — what follows here is my notes as a GM. This was, FWIW, about three hours of play plus some downtime played out over email.

Three sessions in and it feels like the game is really starting to click. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this was the first session in which I really embraced the sandbox. I randomly rolled up a score which I linked to one of the PC’s background, but once we got to the table the crew decided they needed to expand their wine business.

So they scouted out locations and I handed them the Gray Cloaks, mostly because they were in Six Towers. This meshed nicely with the crew’s connection to Lord Scurlock. Obviously, the webwork of relations between the factions is what makes this particular sandbox hum — there’s enough there so that your imagination is likely to catch on one detail or another.

From there they could have gone in hard and violent or tried subterfuge, but in the end they decided negotiation was the best approach. OK; I could have treated that as the entrance point for a social score but instead I decided to roleplay it and when one of the characters suggested that the Gray Cloaks might have been set up, I ran with it. That’s where Phin’s betrayal came from.

Once I decided what Phin’s current situation was, the characters came up with the rest and the unexpectedly violent showdown at the restaurant happened, um, unnaturally.

The switch from “someone shows up and hires you” to “what do you want to do in the world” was great. The first two sessions were important for learning rules and figuring out who the characters were, but we’re in high gear now and it feels more natural. If the characters want to look for work, it’ll be readily available, but if they want to do other things that’s easy too.

https://innocence.com/games/shadows-over-six-towers/Sessions/Session03

There’s a gap in my play experience of Blades in the Dark.

There’s a gap in my play experience of Blades in the Dark.

There’s a gap in my play experience of Blades in the Dark. Most of the games I’ve played or run have been with strangers banded together for the short term, or people who don’t hang out in real life.

I think this game would just SING, it would give a crew a tremendous advantage, if the players knew each other well enough to drop fictional hooks through flashbacks and improvisation that were customized to their fellow players and characters. I imagine a level of trust and experience with each other would give a group of players the PLAYER tools they need to give the CHARACTERS great advantage.

I’ve seen a lot of infatuation with the more drama-oriented “fun” of making life more difficult by working out individual character whims at the expense of the other characters. What I think would be intriguing would be to see the “fun” of players who learned to work together in OSR or other more cooperatively focused games leverage that experience to heighten the effectiveness of their heists.

It’s time to distract a guard, and the two players drop into a silly debate about coconuts from popular culture that they both have memorized. One player had a character who was all about gems once, and came up with a hundred uses for them and ways to stash them and built up some player knowledge about stones; so we go heisting gems and do stuff with them. One character is a sucker for doomed love, so we gotta work that in. Yes, of COURSE I’m lying to him and we’re going to burn it all down.

Knowing what devil’s bargains will appeal to which players, and how to make the story more fun for everyone, and having a background to pull from for improv, would really add something I have not yet experienced with this game at the table.

So, rules (or rulings?) question for you folks.

So, rules (or rulings?) question for you folks.

So, rules (or rulings?) question for you folks. By suggestion of the “lost” overindulgence, one of the players in my Scum & villainy game has decided to create a second character. With this, we’ve hit some resistance from the rules. We agree that we don’t want to encourage the best strategy being ‘create 20 characters’ – we agree it makes sense that he would choose which of his PCs to bring to any given mission. We also think it makes sense that he would get 2 downtime actions as a player, and he could use any character during downtime, as long as they are fictionally present.

Where we’ve hit some snags are some very specific moves. His current character is a Muscle, with the new one being a Scoundrel with Speaker moves.

First, The Muscle’s “Flesh wound” gives the character 3 ticks (half the clock) on their healing clock if they are wounded at the start of a downtime. In S&V, this means that they could essentially skip one mission, and get 6 ticks for free, which clears any and all harm. RAW it feels like it should apply, but it seems maybe unfair?

Second, the speaker’s “Air of Respectability”, which gives an extra downtime action to spend on acquiring assets or reducing heat. We feel like it makes sense that he could use this every downtime, so long as he can justify it, but this maybe sets a dangerous precedent about creating additional characters with special abilities that give more free downtime actions.

Any and all advice on the situation would be greatly appreciated!

Is there a discount on the physical copy of Scum & Villainy for those who bought the in-progress PDF?

Is there a discount on the physical copy of Scum & Villainy for those who bought the in-progress PDF?

Is there a discount on the physical copy of Scum & Villainy for those who bought the in-progress PDF?

The absence won’t stop me from purchasing, but I’ll be buying more than one copy, so if there is such a discount, I don’t want to miss it!

Just finished my first Band of Blades session, and boy it was fun.

Just finished my first Band of Blades session, and boy it was fun.

Just finished my first Band of Blades session, and boy it was fun.

Panyar sniper, Orite scout and Orite officer went with The Horned one to get the black shot back from the dead. They started with a six in the engagement roll, so I gave them the opening shot – they found Victor and the Red Hook very much Not Arguing while guarding the supplies. My lovely players had the element of surprise, so, naturally, they went looking for wild predators.

You see, they took The Horned One’s ability to speak with wild beasts. So, while the sniper kept watch on the Not Arguing enemy, the two royal Orites with consort through the roof went into a wolf den.

The officer channeled some really good meat, and after the wolfs got thoroughly spooked by the pair of TALKING HUMANS, the specialists convinced the pack Alpha to help them drive the dead of the wolf’s territory. of five wolf, two would survive the ensuing battle.

The battle started with both the sniper and the scout trying to get rid of Victor, as the wolfs told them he can set shit on fire really fucking well. The scout’s roll was controlled, and with help from the chosen her arrow seriously fucked with the good doctor, but than, with inhuman speed, Victor drew a bottle of special alchemist fire that was going to burn half the squad to death (as he is Threat 4)…

and the sniper got a six

from that point on, Victor coudn’t do much beside trying to not get killed by the chosen, which left the squad and their wolf allies to deal with a bunch of rotters and The Red Hook. The officer rolled for the rookies and wolf, and got nothing better than 3. So, the modified abomination ram into their formation like a train, killing the Alpha and two rookies, and breaking half the officers bones.

That is, it WOULD have done it if the scout wouldn’t have attack-on-titen–styled-prowess-resisted it and saved a bunch of rookies.

At this point the sniper got rid of one the the thing’s heads, and the officer channeled some really nasty acid for the scout, who is now standing on the fucking thing and trying to shove the acid into its remaining head.

me: sure you can do it, but it’s desperate, and if you get less than 6 you are immediately die

scout (HAVE THE DAREDEVIL ABILITY): sure

gets a six

finish the clock

shove the acid into Red Hook’s head

jump of the monster without a scratch while it very much dies

meanwhile, Victor tries to GTFO while the Horned one tries to get him dead. The sniper starts to get surrounded by rotters while Victor drinks some potion and start to run away like the wind. I offer a controlled roll to get away from the rotters, or desperate one to off Victor.

guess which one he took

So, while he aim to the running Doc, the zombies closing in, he mumbles “help me here, horned one” praying in an earshot from the incarnation of the god. I offer him to create a 4 clock with 3 segments filled, titled “horns of the lord”, and get a die. one more segment, and he lose the ability to speak to anyone BUT wild animals.

he take it, roll a six, and Victor is dead.

Infamous and Lieutenant down, Blighter is gonna be PISSED.

Good morning everyone.

Good morning everyone.

Good morning everyone. I just found blades in the dark and I’m looking for any kind of help or suggestions as to running a game of it. I love the concept and am an extreme been to dming or gming but am looking for anyone willing to game with or who can DM it as well. If you live close to or in Toronto Ontario Canada, give me a shout.

I’ve been dreaming about running multiple groups, and setting their games in the same persistent universe in some…

I’ve been dreaming about running multiple groups, and setting their games in the same persistent universe in some…

I’ve been dreaming about running multiple groups, and setting their games in the same persistent universe in some fashion. I was wondering if the sandbox-y aspect of Blades might be suitable. At the very least, I’d develop the factions and their agendas the same way across all the groups. From there, it could be about shared contacts (and the faction “people”) having the same appearance, voice, and agenda.

The other end of the spectrum is PvP (or, crew vs crew), where the groups could interact with each other as enemies or allies or service providers, try to find each others’ lairs, flip contacts, etc. The obvious problem with this, is that groups would (usually) play asynchronously, so I don’t know how to handle direct conflict.

Each group should be able to forge its own story. I picture you could leave it up to each group how involved they would be, similar to Elite: Dangerous’ “Open”, “Friend” and “Solo” modes. I’ve also been thinking about whether to do “perfect information”, where all the groups and players know about all the other groups and characters, or “discovered information” where the groups will either have to get some rumors about the other groups, or work actively to get them via Gather Information and Downtime Projects. Both feel appealing. It’d be awesome if the groups interacted out-of-character to provide story and interaction ideas for the others.

I’ve been playing with the idea of providing a common story framework: A starting situation like the one in the book, with a known faction war starting, maybe a midpoint linchpin event or turning point, and possibly some later-date event. I’ve been thinking to keep them vague, so the groups could find their own place in relation to them, but still provide some common narrative. I have a specific idea called “The coming of the Red Comet” for the last one, but I don’t (want to) know what that actually means.

I guess this would require multiple GMs, depending on the number of groups. I’m picturing 3 or 4 groups as a starting point, maybe just 2 as a test.

Any thoughts on something like this? Do you have experience with something similar? Are there issues with using Blades for it I should think about?

Here the cover for my first One – Shot ever of Blades in the Dark.

Here the cover for my first One – Shot ever of Blades in the Dark.

Here the cover for my first One – Shot ever of Blades in the Dark. As I intended to make it easier ( 😛 ) I didn’t use the base setting, bringing the ruleset to the WWII The result is clearly in the style of – Inglourious Basterds –

The result was amazing, and the game didn’t need any adaptation of the Score Phase or of the Playbook.

Did anyone try this before?

– Presto il podcast italiano della giocata su Gente di Ruolo, Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0P2Kl1MmvLDa2c_HPk9k7g