Nathan Roberts – Page 12 – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

I used Jason Lutes’s wonderful map and added factions and clockstamps for a new group’s run through of the…

I used Jason Lutes’s wonderful map and added factions and clockstamps for a new group’s run through of the QuickStart this Easter weekend.

Rage Essence Vial (another Dishonoured poster)

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/315/6/4/sokolov__s_elixir_by_joelatlas-d5k0p7s.png

Its from Dishonoured, but given current events, I’ll be using these guys as the undertaker faction in our game.

http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/315/4/e/the_bitterleaf_crematorium_by_joelatlas-d5k0ojk.jpg

Hey John Harper, will there be any guidelines for playing ghosts in the rulebook?

I only ask, because in last night’s tumultuous game, Miss Vanessa the Whisper confronted the Master in an attempt to sway the Red Sashes to the troupe’s chicanery. It all went horribly wrong and I offered Barbara (who was playing Vanessa) the danger of her grisly death at the hands of her nemesis (she has a project to trap the master’s spirit essence).

She rolled poorly on her effect save, had limited stress reserves and asked if she could become a ghost instead? I said sure! Because that sounds awesome, but she now has other issues, since she will be hunted by the spirit wardens, needs a vessel to house her soul, craves vengeance on the Master and has limited means of (physically) interacting with the world.

I’m sorta winging it. Any advice would be welcome!

Ooooh. I just got my grubby mitts on this as ‘thematic reference’ for Blades. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0DkFQ1km04

So last night was freaking amazing! My kind of game for sure.

One thing that worked admirably was the combination of flashback and Devil’s Bargain.

A couple in the group was most enamoured with the TV Show Penny Dreadful, so much so that the Hound named his character Lord Malcolm and the Whisper Miss Vanessa. There was a scene in the initial occult plan (they had gathered info to the effect that Rory had been murdered by a creature, some sort of vampiric entity), where the missing detail was being chased…

The trio decended below the tatoo palour in the Canal district, scouring the Leviathan Blood drug den looking for traces of the vampire.

Sir Malcolm on point was pushing for a stalk roll in a desperate situation, as piles of blood-soaked bodies and keening cries closed in on the group. Vanessa helped with her Summon ability via flashback tarot card reading, to foretell the vampire in to the crypts beneath the tattoo palour. Skannon the Lurk has set a trap, blending in with his shadow essence and lurking to spring his ambush.

I was upfront with the characters and players that yes, the Master was here, and he wants something from them. I offered a Devil’s Bargain to Malcolm if we was willing (with Vanessa) to give us a flashback scene right here and now, to a dark secret they shared with the Vampiric creature.

Of course he took it, and prior to the stalk action, we had a wonderful debauched scene of longing and regret involving Sir Malcolms lost daughter and her best friend Vanessa. It was freaking genius.