I wrote up some thoughts about setting roll difficulty for Blades, since that’s a question I see come up a lot from…
I wrote up some thoughts about setting roll difficulty for Blades, since that’s a question I see come up a lot from new GMs.
http://games.nightstaff.net/2018/12/08/roll-difficulty-in-blades-in-the-dark/
http://games.nightstaff.net/2018/12/08/roll-difficulty-in-blades-in-the-dark/
Questions about drawbacks for the Lurk’s Silence Vial item and the Slide’s Trance Powder.
Questions about drawbacks for the Lurk’s Silence Vial item and the Slide’s Trance Powder.
In the Lurk section, on page 75, the description says:
> Silence potion vial: A vial of golden liquid that negates all sound within 10
paces of the drinker for a span of several moments.
In the Crafting section, it says:
> Potions (arcane)
> Drawback: 4-clock, “Accosted by Spirit Wardens,” 1 tick per use.
> Silence Potion (iii/1): Creates an area of utter silence around the shattered vial.
1) The Lurk section says the effect is centered on the drinker. The Crafting section says it’s centered on where the vial breaks. Which is it?
2) The Crafting section says that every use ticks the “Accosted by Spirit Wardens” clock. That seems like a hefty drawback for a class feature, and it’s hidden from the Lurk player unless they’ve looked at the Crafting section. So does the Lurk’s Silence Potion have this drawback, or does that only apply to Silence Potions crafted by non-Lurks?
Similarly, the description of Trance Powder in the Slide section just describes what it does, no drawbacks:
> Trance powder: A dose of the popular drug, which induces an altered mental state. The victim of this powder is not fully unconscious, but rather retreats into a calm, suggestible mental state, similar to hypnotism.
But in the description in the Crafting section, it has a drawback that the user will take Lvl 1 Harm: Woozy unless they resist it.
> Drugs (alchemical)
> Drawback (Volatile): “Woozy,” lvl 1 harm.
> Trance Powder (i/3): A glittering blue powder. Induces a pleasant hypnotic trance when inhaled.
And earlier:
> Volatile. The item produces a dangerous or troublesome side-effect for the
user, specified by the GM (see examples on the sample creations, next page).
A side-effect is a consequence, and may be resisted.
3) Again, does this drawback apply whenever the Slide uses it, or only to Trance Powder crafted by a non-Slide?
4) Who is the “user” of a drug for this drawback? If one person applies it to another (e.g. Slide claps a cloth full of Trance Powder over a victim’s nose), do both have to deal with that consequence, or only the one who gets dosed? What about for ingested drugs, like Spark, or injected ones like Bloodneedle?
I’ve found I’m not that good at improvising details of Scores.
I’ve found I’m not that good at improvising details of Scores. Before the last session, my crew chose a Score hook to follow, which let me try a new prep method that worked out great. One key requirement is that the crew decided what Score they wanted to do before the session, allowing me to prep it in depth.
http://games.nightstaff.net/2018/04/24/prepping-scores-for-blades-in-the-dark/
http://games.nightstaff.net/2018/04/24/prepping-scores-for-blades-in-the-dark/
Clock and faction sheets for Blades in the Dark
Clock and faction sheets for Blades in the Dark
https://games.nightstaff.net/2018/03/14/blades-in-the-dark-clock-and-faction-sheets/
The faction sheets were requested by Thomas Berton a few weeks ago.
https://games.nightstaff.net/2018/03/14/blades-in-the-dark-clock-and-faction-sheets/
I often find myself stumped narrating 4/5 results that aren’t just Harm or Reduced Effect.
I often find myself stumped narrating 4/5 results that aren’t just Harm or Reduced Effect. I was inspired by Rob Donoghue’s blog post about Risks (http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2018/01/17/risks/), and decided to brainstorm a table of Actions to Consequences. I’ve also noticed that we sometimes go through a Score with plenty of Load left, so I included a column of situations that might prompt them to use Equipment.
This table is incomplete, and I’d love it if people could add ideas. I focused on the Actions my crew uses the most, mixed the ones I found easiest to brainstorm.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IteO6GjmaEEf05B-RsYjskSifVpuRsxy_YFN6xspYLM/edit?usp=sharing
What are people’s takes on using Group Actions to move around Stress/Consequences?
What are people’s takes on using Group Actions to move around Stress/Consequences?
We had a Score where the crew was hired to acquire some goods, but the goods turned out to be tagged for tracking in the Ghost Field. The Whisper had determined that the tags could be dissolved with electroplasm, with the consequence from that roll that whoever did it would get some nasty electroplasm burns. The Whisper was 1 Stress away from Trauma and generally not in great shape. The group felt this action was vital because taking tagged goods to their patron was basically a mission fail state, and wanted to boost success. The Spider especially wanted to take responsibility (due to having no Stress yet).
We wound up running it as a Group action on Attune, with the Spider leading and taking the Harm. This felt like stretching the rules. How would you have run it?