Not everyone wants or needs a Faction Map, but I updated the one I posted a year or so back to reflect the…
Not everyone wants or needs a Faction Map, but I updated the one I posted a year or so back to reflect the connections per the released rulebook, so I thought I might as well share.
Every listed faction’s relationship to The Crows, Red Sashes & The Lampblacks triangle of the Crow’s Foot district.
Re-making my faction map today for the “War in Crow’s Foot” starting situation to reflect some of the new factions…
Re-making my faction map today for the “War in Crow’s Foot” starting situation to reflect some of the new factions that were added and the re-tier-ing of others.
Man, the Lampblacks really have their hands full with this Red Sashes gang war; the Sashes’ have some powerful allies. On the side of the Lampblacks, the Gondoliers got a bit tougher, sure, but so did the Dockers, Cabbies, Inspectors & Path of Echos! And the Tier III Iruvian Consolate’s come along and has Mylera Klev’s back too.
Backing Bazso Baz might be considered “Iron-mode” now. If the players do decide they prefer to work with the “lovable rogues”, I might decide the Bluecoats are a bit more interested in cracking down on the Sashes right now. Or maybe there’s an Ironhook prison break clock & Baszo might have some more muscle coming.
Iron-mode can be pretty fun though… 😉
Ready for a crew…
Ready for a crew…
Now that we’ve got a high resolution map of Doskvol, I’d love to hear about anyone’s experience with getting a large…
Now that we’ve got a high resolution map of Doskvol, I’d love to hear about anyone’s experience with getting a large map printed out for tabletop. Either paper or vinyl. Vendors, pricing etc.
I recall someone contracted such a map early on with mixed success when the map was lower resolution.
There’s something about Blades’ genre that makes me want to see the players stooped over a table, plotting out their schemes on a grand scale.
Did the version of the QS with the Effect sheet get released?
Did the version of the QS with the Effect sheet get released? I’m not sure whether I have the most current version and I’m supposed to be running a game tonight.
Man, twenty-six posts since I just recently check this community. Hard to keep up with all the rogues around here.
I’m doing NPC downtime tonight for one the two Blades games I’m running & it’s got me thinking about the Bluecoats.
I’m doing NPC downtime tonight for one the two Blades games I’m running & it’s got me thinking about the Bluecoats.
Even if Duskwall is on the sparse end of the population bell curve we’re guessing, the number of watch/patrol people they could theoretically field against any one gang is daunting.
To balance this out, the amount of intercity ward rivalry and/or corruption must be staggering.
That or the Bluecoats are a very special kind of Tier III faction…
That or the thought exercise tells us more about the kind of power a Tier III faction might be able to wield within the city within their “area of influence.” Maybe the PCs need to be pretty careful about getting on the wrong side of groups like The Unseen, The Spirit Wardens or the Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh anytime in the first dozen sessions of any given Blades campaign.
Which has me thinking about the Duskwall Council & the potential muscle behind the Skovlander Refugees.
No great insights. Just procrastinating. Back to the lonely fun of what prep Blades allows…
Running With Blades
Running With Blades
A would-be series about playing with the forms in Blades in the Dark, but more likely my last big job before retirement.
Sometimes a character needs or wants to achieve two things at once in a short amount of time and a Flashback isn’t the right tool. One way you might permit this is by granting them a “countdown of one”. A “countdown of one” is essentially an obstacle with the unique quality that it must be completed in a single action or the opportunity to complete it is lost.
The character achieves their primary goal with a “6”, but achieves their secondary goal only if they get a complete (four segment) success on that same action. In extreme circumstances, a critical (six segment) success might be needed. It’s also possible fewer than four segments are necessary.
It’s important the player know about the countdown and the number of segments up front. They might elect to face the danger following their action roll to add to their subsequent effect roll so they need to know where they stand.
Example: Zamira is in an exhibition duel with the Red Sashes lieutenant, Zaid. The duel is to the blood. She instigated the bout as a distraction for the rest of the crew to infiltrate the Red Sashes’ temple and plant an artifact. The deed is done, but another Red Sash was killed during the mission and the crew had to commit some robbery as cover for their mission. Zamira now needs to conclude the duel in such a way that suspicion is not cast on her being a part of the robbery. That is a difficult enough task to require an action to overcome and that is her primary goal. She also wants badly to win the duel before making her exit. Zaid is a fierce opponent so that is a difficult enough task on its own that it might require an entirely separate action sequence. Telescoping both of these goals into a countdown of one might help move things along and add tension to the scene. Zamira can conduct the duel in such a way that she was clearly just an arrogant duelist that happened by during the break-in that will be discovered later. She can also win the duel by achieving a complete success on her effect. Otherwise Zaid won the duel by scoring first blood. The danger in this case will be harm incurred as a result of the duel.
With the help of a Devil’s Bargain ensuring they make a permanent enemy of Zaid regardless of the outcome, the player gets the “6” they were looking for on their Risky action roll, but elects to face the harm in order to improve their chances against him in the duel. The subsequent “4” for effect is improved to a “6” result. They’ve achieved four segments in one roll and won the duel, displaying the superiority of their Rising Moon technique over the style taught by the Red Sashes!
Since the duel was to the blood, we know the harm must be either a non-blood injury during the course of the duel (a cracked rib?), or perhaps something that happened immediately after the duel. Defeated, Zaid approaches Zamira for the traditional offer of his dueling knife as trophy. With lightning speed, he instead dishonorably cuts her cheek with the blade and storms from the room disgraced.
To the ambitious Duskwall scoundrel who wants it all and wants it now, such a price is worth it.
BitD has a lot of different cool mechanics that might be actual “scenes” if the group decides they’re interested in…
BitD has a lot of different cool mechanics that might be actual “scenes” if the group decides they’re interested in the details.
I’m finding as I run it that I want to try to be more explicit about the level of detail we’re going to get into for any given mechanic before we enter into it. Whether it’s first or third person, how much is actual dialogue and how much is a conveyance of the general nature of a conversation, etc. These are things I struggle with a bit when running all RPGs.
The game is flexible enough that nothing breaks and we can navigate through it, but following some of the scenes I feel like either:
1) I didn’t provide a level of detail/color that was sufficient for the scene because I didn’t quite have a handle on the level of detail that would be appropriate when entering into the scene/mechanic and
2) The other players and I may have had different expectations about how much would be covered or glossed over.
You can negotiate all that during or before and it’s fine but I’ll be curious what the final game text says about some of these issues. While we’re playing I feel like we’re sort of “finding our way forward with generosity” similar to games like Fiasco or Archipelago, but with mechanics more akin some other games.
It’s going to take some practice, I think.
When you bind, harm or deceive a soul or a spirit, it’s personal.
When you bind, harm or deceive a soul or a spirit, it’s personal. Those kinds of conflicts/obstacles are often dramatic and exciting. They’re against someone.
As a GM or player, what are some techniques you use to make actions taken against inert objects, e.g. a lock or a hidden panel, feel cool? Exciting?
To some degree, it might be said that when activities like prowling or stalking go just right, the result is that…
To some degree, it might be said that when activities like prowling or stalking go just right, the result is that nothing happens.
As a GM or player, what are some techniques you use to make stealthy actions feel cool? Exciting?