Category: Blades in the Dark

Hey Bladers! I picked up a copy of the rules based on my sister’s recommendation and I just finished running my third session last night. I came up with mechanics for a social score that my players really enjoyed. I’m sharing what I wrote to get some feedback on how to improve it and also to offer it to any other GM’s that might want to play around with it. (This is long, TIA for reading. Considering making a one-sheet in a Google Doc for folks who want to run this, LMK if that’s a good idea!)

The idea of a ‘social’ score was one of the first things that appealed to me when thinking about Blades sessions. Conceptually I borrowed from movies like the first Mission: Impossible (the scene where Ethan Hunt et al steal the NOC list), Black Panther (the casino scene), Firefly (the ‘Shindig’ episode) and even Mask of Zorro (where Alejandro dances w/Elena at Montero’s hacienda) where a specific objective had to be completed out in the open, in polite society, without making a scene.

As we are just starting out I decided to use the “War In Crow’s Foot” starting condition. My crew decided to ally with the Red Sashes, so I decided the brass ring of this session would be to prevent the assassination of Remira, an important Red Sash lieutenant. Remira would be representing the Red Sashes, and indeed the Iruvian delegation, at a party hosted by city council member Lord Carro, who keeps a manor in Silkshore.

The engagement roll for this score covers how the crew scores invitations/entry into the party in the first place. My crew decided that, as the Spider was a former Skov noble, they would finagle legit invitations through his contacts. Forgeries, breaking in, or even a separate score where the crew steals invites from someone else are all other possibilities.

I dictated to the crew that the loadout would be ‘light’, and that no character could choose anything bigger than one load- in other words, no heavy weapons/armor/explosives. Specific to this score, I also told the Leeches that any potion in their bandolier would count as one load as the potions would need to be concealed as to not draw suspicion. I also made them mark off “subterfuge supplies” to start to reflect their masked ball-esque costumes, so really the loadout as 2 for them. Fun RP opportunity for everyone to describe their character’s costume/mask and such.

Here’s the meat and potatoes of the score- instead of the typical overcoming of obstacles and running clocks on mixes/fails, I modeled the score mechanics after D&D 4E skill challenges. The players needed to make 12 “Investigate” successes in order to identify the would-be assassin without making a fuss. In addition to the “Investigate” track, I had two other tracks called “Charm” and “Obstruct” that would begin to fill as a consequence of mixes/fails on “Investigate” rolls. These tracks represent the crew making a scene/calling undue attention to themselves during the party which would complicate the investigation.

If either Charm or Obstruct got to 6 before Investigate got to 12, the crew gets kicked out of the party and is unable to prevent the assassination. (In our case the crew rolled crit on their engagement roll so I lowered their required Investigate score to 10- I figure a success would be 12 as normal, a mix would require a fight or somesuch to acquire their invites, and a fail might increase the required Investigate score and/or give the crew a worse starting position.)

As an example, the Spider picks Consort for an Investigate roll to get a feel for the attendees. They roll 4- mixed success! They make a decent accounting of themselves in conversation but ruffle a few feathers. Add 1 to Investigate successes but also add 1 to the Charm track. A fail might add to both Charm and Obstruct and/or lose position. Subsequent players might spend their actions on Charm and Obstruct rolls to smooth things out and decrease those pools.

In general, I envisioned “Investigate” rolls for Insight checks, “Charm” for Resolve, and “Obstruct” for Prowess, but as in all things a player could make a case for any given check- Prowl for Investigate, Sway for Obstruct, etc. The idea was to give non-social characters an opportunity to feel useful and contribute on a score like this.

I know Blades does not have initiative per se, but I thought it’d be interesting to use a modified Fortune Roll to determine turn order, as the actions of one crew member might inform the actions of other players. This represents the in-game windows of opportunity a given scoundrel gets to act. With a crew of 5, I rolled a D6 to determine who got to act, with a roll of 6 giving me the option to choose. After a player acts I’d roll again whittling down to D4, D3, D2 until the last player acts. On a given turn, the player can Investigate, Charm, Obstruct, or spend their action Assisting another player.

I started with fixed positions for each roll- Risky for Investigate, Controlled for Charm, and Desperate for Obstruct (not a good idea to get physical at a fancy party!). Criticals would improve position and fails could lose position. I then would assign effect as normal. If a player used the same skill twice in a row I would give them -1 position for going to the same well (too harsh?).

After all players acted in a round, I would increase a round counter then have the last player to act roll a D6 for a fortune roll to determine how circumstances at the party change-

1- Dance! Group action to participate in a dance- fails add to Charm pool

2- Drink! Level 2 Harm “Very Drunk” resisted by Prowess (mix = 1 harm, success = no harm, crit = no harm + remove 1 Obstruct)

3- Chat! Level 2 Harm “Exhausted” resisted by Resolve (results as above, swap Charm for Obstruct)

4- Games! Level 2 Harm “Puzzled” resisted by Insight (results as above, choose Charm or Obstruct for crits)

5- Move! Carro moves the party to another part of the house- -1 to Investigate pool

6- no effect this round

If a player failed a check such that the Charm/Obstruct meters would fill, I gave the crew the option to Disavow that character and let them twist on their own. In game terms, it let them ignore the consequences of their roll and it meant they could not Assist nor accept an Assist, and all their rolls were by default from a Desperate position to reflect the rest of the crew cutting them off (and the scoundrel being branded as obnoxious). Should a Disavowed character fail a check that fills Charm/Obstruct after that the investigation would fail.

My players got to 9 out of their 10 Investigate checks in 5 rounds before a Disavowed character failed a check that pushed Charm over the brink. As the idea for this score came late to me I hadn’t thought through what exactly the consequences were for failure, so I decided they would get a chance to fight the assassin(s) out in the open, at the expense of faction standing with Lord Carro/the government as well as additional heat. The party went to hell and the crew had to kill/knock out the assassins before they could kill Remira (switched back to clocks for combat at this point).

Would love to hear ideas about any/all the above- too hard? Too easy? Ways to improve/adapt rules? What do you think about alternatives for failure? How should the end part go? Also I’d love to hear from other GM’s who try a score this way. Would it be helpful to turn this into a scenario doc to have handy at the table?

Appreciate this group and everyone’s excellent contributions. Looking forward to more!