Just finished my second round of playtesting for Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder! The major takeaways:

Just finished my second round of playtesting for Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder! The major takeaways:

Just finished my second round of playtesting for Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder! The major takeaways:

* I think I have it to a place where people can make their characters fit into the world with about a page worth of star-wars style scroll read by the GM and a 2-page reference. Those resources need to be folded into the main game document.

* Oops the character sheets got super messed up in the PDF export! Gotta… figure that out, I guess.

* A brief write-up of variant rules for 4 hr one-shots would be worth writing.

* I need to resist the temptation to add a mechanic to a game that’s already working well, but gosh I’d like to work in something like Tier to give the GM/Players a yardstick for making judgement calls.

Hoping to have an update to put some polish on all this in the next few days. After that it’s “just” getting the art and layout sorted!

https://itsdanphipps.itch.io/fangs-plague-and-gunpowder

How do the GMs out there prep for blades?

How do the GMs out there prep for blades?

How do the GMs out there prep for blades?

I’ve started experimenting with quick ‘n dirty prep for Blades to help make the city feel more alive. Aside from jotting down a few names and descriptions of people & buildings, the main thing I’ve started doing is giving the factions I find interesting secret clocks to roll between sessions.

Right now, for instance, The Spirit Wardens are tracking down the spirit well under one of my PCs ancestral home. Also their crew of leg-breakers, The Black Derbies, are starting to take over new turf and establish themselves as a gang in their own right. And finally the Iruvian Consulate is sorting out who in their ranks is a mole for the Skovlans.

I’ve found this gives me plenty of stuff to set the table, but nothing I’m overly worried about the players ignoring. As clocks start to count down I make sure they know something’s up with the faction in question – rumors and newspaper articles, etc. It also really helps when something like complication rolls give me something I’m not ready for.

I’d be interested in knowing how other GMs have started to prep for Blades games though! It feels like a totally different beast from other games I’ve been running.

Just finished a major update to Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder thanks in no small part to the great feedback from all…

Just finished a major update to Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder thanks in no small part to the great feedback from all…

Just finished a major update to Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder thanks in no small part to the great feedback from all y’all. Major changes include:

-> Added the Nine Mischiefs who rule the novarchy of ratkind in The Rat King’s absence, their spheres of influence, and rules for your character’s reputation with them

-> Clarified the rules for Impending Doom, Rumors of the Frontier, and Scavenging

-> Reference materials better support first-time GMs with story hooks and locations on the frontier.

-> Replaced the character sheets with something more in line with the Blades in the Dark character sheets

-> A typeface that can be read by actual humans on this earth, and changes to a truly embarrassing number of syntax errors, repetitive language choices, and typos

The updated rules and character sheets can be found here: https://itsdanphipps.itch.io/fangs-plague-and-gunpowder

From here: playtests playtests playtests, hopefully minor updates, layout, and art!

https://itsdanphipps.itch.io/fangs-plague-and-gunpowder

My first Blades hack is finally playtest ready!

My first Blades hack is finally playtest ready!

My first Blades hack is finally playtest ready!

It’s called Fangs, Plague, and Gunpowder and it’s about an expedition of mad scientist rats exploring a world where all the humans are dead, reptiles rule the world, and everything is haunted. Kill your foes, scavenge them for parts, and build bombs and ghost mushroom spores out of ’em!

From here it’s some playtesting for balance, hopefully minor editing and layout, and moving on to a game about Death Metal Viking Cats!

Just finished the first draft of my Forged in the Dark game about mad scientist rats exploring a world full of…

Just finished the first draft of my Forged in the Dark game about mad scientist rats exploring a world full of…

Just finished the first draft of my Forged in the Dark game about mad scientist rats exploring a world full of dangerous beasts, ancient human technology, and ghosts!

Still need to make character sheets and reread it for syntax/tone but it is real close to being playtest ready.

If you were enjoying Blades in the Dark but had thought to yourself hey man it’d be cool if human beings were extinct, our pets had taken over the world, and I could shoot a grenade full of poisonous spores at a Komodo Dragon the size of a house then do I have a game for you!

Seriously, any feedback would be appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oGY-XAhg_9AD9hf4jrW7vari95UgULvKy86qrcFbnJ0/edit?usp=sharing

Meanwhile, In Duskvol: http://www.opb.org/news/article/eels-truck-highway-oregon-slime-101/

Meanwhile, In Duskvol: http://www.opb.org/news/article/eels-truck-highway-oregon-slime-101/

Meanwhile, In Duskvol: http://www.opb.org/news/article/eels-truck-highway-oregon-slime-101/

http://www.opb.org/news/article/eels-truck-highway-oregon-slime-101/

Getting ready to run my first session! Just need to find a stack of index cards and practice clock-drawing.

Getting ready to run my first session! Just need to find a stack of index cards and practice clock-drawing.

Getting ready to run my first session! Just need to find a stack of index cards and practice clock-drawing.