Blades in the dark: Servants of Halthar

Game Master Meetch

I’m going to steal liberally from DM Raven’s excellent recruitment thread from earlier this year.

System: Blades in the Dark
Seeking: 4-5 players of any playbooks
Posting Rate: 1/day - Blades requires a lots of back and forth. I would like players who are okay with the game being moved along if they cannot post during a 24 hour period. If you’re going to be out for more than 24 hours, shoot me a quick message.

Blades in the Dark is a heavily modified PbtA gloom-punk crime game. You play as a group of scoundrels in a Victorian-esque haunted city that runs on the electrifed blood of demon whales. The sun exploded and the moon is closer than ever. Think the Gentleman Bastards books or games like Thief and Dishonored.

You don’t need the book to play, here is a link to the downloads page including rules reference and playbooks.

The basic mechanics are pretty simple and I’ll step you through the more crunchy downtime segments where you expand your criminal empire and make enemies of other factions.

When signing up, pick your character type (what kind of criminal you are specifically) and your ranked choice for crew type (what kind of criminals you are collectively). Your crew choice will guide what kind of crimes you do, but isn’t a hard limit. Smugglers may occasionally kill someone, but Assassins do it professionally.

Once recruitment is settled, I’ll open discussion for you to mutually create your crew and lair, then I’ll drop you in media res into your first heist. The flashback rules (which I’ll explain in detail when we get there) allow your characters to plan carefully for crimes without players having to plan anything.

Let me know if you have any questions, and let’s dive in.

Dibs on whisper (unless someone is really feeling whisper, in which case, Lurk)

Ooooh, spooky! I’ll be sure to include a lot of g-g-g-ghosts!

I'd like to play a Spider that's a pidgeon keeper.

He'd work best in...

[1] Cult
[2] Hawkers
[3] Shadows
[4] Smugglers
[5] Assassins
[6] Bravo's

Edit: I mean, we might as well fill that second column... (In the campaign's tab)

Intriguing!

Elsine, give me your (at least) top three ranked crew concepts.

Oh hey! I made space. We're not addicted. >.>

[1]Assasins
[2]Cult
[3]Bravos
[4]Shadows
[5]Smugglers
[6]Hawkers

How many friggin games are we 3 going to be in together? also, Bastian, I figured you for slide or Leech... come to think of it, I don't hate the idea of leech... s%~# I'm gonna come up with 3 concepts and have to choose aren't I?

I think there's a pretty limited PbtA pool. I was surprised by how many new faces I saw in my KoB game.

Hmm, I'd play a Slide in an Assassin, Cult, or Bravo's game... Switching portraits is a thing I like doing... I could be persuaded. Their ghost move also looks fun if we go Cult/Whisper...

Color me interested. Let me do some reading and see what tickles my fancy.

We might want to keep a few in case we get incarcerated... >.> I gotta go back and watch my streams, but I remember that being a thing...

Oh this sounds dope. I notice the group's missing muscle so I'd probably go Cutter.

Awesome. What’s your crew preference? At least top three in ranked order?

Interested!

I am quite flexible in the character pick, depending on what the crew needs. In order of preference: Cutter, Leech, Hound.

Crews in order of preference: Assassins, Cult, Smugglers, Shadows, Hawkers.

Ok! A lot of people are interested in playing a lot of things in a lot of crews. That’s awesome, but now we gotta get specific. Everyone pick *a* playbook and tell me your (at least) top three crews. Once everyone has locked in, we’ll move to discussion.

Cutter.

Assassins, Cult, Smugglers.

F!$* it, Whisper

Cult
Bravos
Shadows

Kitten, Derz called Cutter last night. You cool with Leach or hound?

I'm cool with a Hound.

to be fair, the book does explicitly say that you cna have more than one of a given scoundrel type (been re-reading the book)

mind you, the hound kicks 9 kinds of ass, so do that up if you want

Sorry, but this isn't going to work for me. Good luck though!

to be fair, the book does explicitly say that you cna have more than one of a given scoundrel type (been re-reading the book)

mind you, the hound kicks 9 kinds of ass, so do that up if you want

That’s an excellent point! Either playbook is fine. Settle on one, and then we’re ready to go.

Bastian: Spider
Elsine: Whisperer
Derz: Cutter
Kitten: Cutter or Hound

For crew, Cult is currently winning, but assassians is a close second. Derz’s vote could change everything!

If we lean Assassin, I'll switch to Slide. I think I'll repurpose this alias either way...

Cool cool. And remember, your crew isn’t a limit. Cultists can still kill people, assassins can still perform weird rituals. Your crew just determines your special abilities and advancement options.

We could be a cult of the god of assassins.

You certainly could, but then you'd miss out on one or the others' special abilities. One makes it easier to be culty, the other makes it easier to be killy. You can do a simple vote or debate among yourselves to come to consensus.

Your crew isn't a hard limit, but it does give me guidance on what type of game you want to play. A cult game will be full of mysteries and monsters and secret societies jockeying for position. An assassination game will be about politics and the bloody tasks necessary to push them forward.

If we're feeling assassins, I could feel assassins. after all, A guy who can control ghosts is a pretty deadly assassin

Honestly, as long as it in't Hawker's, I'm cool, so don't prioritize my priorities too much

We'll see what Derz is feeling. He'll be the deciding vote IF he wants assassins most of all. Otherwise it'll be cult.

Yay for instant run-off voting!

The Spider I had in mind wouldn't fit with the more in-your-face crews, but I'm excited whatever we do.

Assassians don’t have to be “in your face.” Some targets need finess to get close to and a good face-man can be a huge boon to any criminal enterprise.

Do you guys still have room? I REALLY love this system.

We do! Give me your playbook and your top three crew choices. Well do instant run-off to decide.

This is my first time running it, so please feel free to correct me if I misstep

Switching my crew preferences as I work on the details of the character:
1) Cult
2) Assassins

Also, alias

Is there any more space. I'm a huge fan of Blades in the Dark and have been running games of in real time.

Is there information on the heritages and/or backgrounds?

King, six players is pushing it, I’m afraid. If anyone drops I’ll pm you!

I’ll post it to the discussion thread.

In fact, now that we have three votes for a cult, we’re locked in without Derz’s vote. Let’s all roll to the discussion thread to finish characters and define your crew!

I'm going to go with a Leech.

As far as my vote for crew goes, I vote assassins, bravos, or shadows.

I want to try this out before a home game starts up, is there room for one more?

There isn’t, I’m sorry...

Figured no harm in asking, have fun!