Band of Blades: The Road to Skydagger Keep (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

So Band of Blades.

It's the grimdark military survival horror campaign, inspired by (among other things) Glen Cook's Black Company books. You play a group of elite mercenaries trying to survive after the battle against the Dark Lord has gone catastrophically wrong. It uses the Blades in the Dark system. If you don't know what that is, it's a narrative-intensive system that uses dice pools -- somewhat like PbTA or Alien: TRPG. I think it could run very well as a PBP campaign.

What am I looking for?

-- Must either already be familiar with BitD / BoB, or be willing to read the BoB rulebook and become familiar with it. (NOTE: the BOB rulebook is fairly massive.) I have a basic familiarity but am not fluent, so I'd like most of the players to know the system.

-- Strongly preferred that you own an honestly acquired copy of the rules, whether physical or pdf. (Note that you can pick it up as part of a Bag of Holding Bundle right now and for the next week or so -- $25 gets you five complete RPGs, three of them very good IMO, plus a bunch of accessories.)

-- If you're not familiar with it, be aware that BitD / BOB is very different from PF / D&D. Just to mention one difference: there's no character monogamy, i.e. you would be playing several different PCs.

-- This is an RPG that has a heavy resource management / bookkeeping aspect. In between missions, you play the Quartermaster, Commander, and Marshall, determining things like how the Legion is going to find food, allocating horses, finding recruits to replace casualties, and the like. This would be super tedious for some players, super interesting for others. Just, FYI.

-- I'm looking for fast posting and strong commitment. I'll commit to posting every day; I'd be looking for the same from the players.

So, trial balloon here. Would anyone be interested? If yes, then:

1) Have you played BitD or any similar games, like PbtA? If not, are you a quick study?

2) Do you have a copy? If not, are you willing to blow $20-$25 to pick one up? (Obviously I can't enforce this; I just think creators should be paid. If you're living on a tight budget, okay -- PM me.)

No commitment at this time; this is an interest check. Some notes on setting and tone follow.

Doug M.

Band of Blades is a dark military fantasy.

Dark fantasy contains strong horror elements, and this game has strong horror themes. The enemies the players face are horrific undead, with a casual disregard for the living. The enemies are stong, deadly, and want to kill the characters, who have no magic spell to save the day. It’s a game where mortality and the frailty of the human condition play big parts.

This is a fantasy world, but one without dragons, elves, or dwarves. There are no prophecies that predict the outcome of this war, no healing magic that will let you leap back into combat from the edge of death, no wizards to craft some mighty spell to defeat the Cinder King. This is a world where the only solutions are the blood, sweat, and tears of people fighting for their existence.

It is an old world, with forgotten ruins, creatures of legend, and a history that remains primarily shrouded in mystery. The world doesn’t care if our protagonists live or die—indeed, the odds are stacked against them. The enemy has arcane horrors, and you have cunning, courage, and strength of arms.

The technology level of the world is late European Renaissance. Black powder is available and most countries have muskets and simple muzzle-loaded pistols. But combustion engines don’t exist and steam engines are huge and very rare — animals still perform the bulk of society’s labor. Magic absolutely exists, but is often unpredictable and almost always dangerous.

THE SETTING

When humanity is in true peril and affairs of the supernatural plague the world, the gods create one or more Chosen. These powerful champions are imbued with aspects of the deity in question. They ride forth to vanquish mythic beasts, mend rifts in the world, and seal away curses. When the Cinder King rose in the West, an unheard-of nine Chosen arose.

When they faced the Cinder King, five were Broken and turned to fight at his side.

A desperate army was assembled by the remaining Chosen and led to fight a final decisive battle on the plains of Ettenmark. Humanity lost. They did not expect the horrors the Broken brought to bear.

Now in retreat, a famous band of mercenaries seeks to stem the tide of the Cinder King, hoping to buy time for the Eastern Kingdoms to mount some wild hope, some wild plan, to keep humanity alive.

* * *

In the aftermath of the catastrophic battle, the Legion has to retreat across hundreds of miles. The good news: you have one of the Chosen with you as an ally. The bad news: you are pursued by not one but two of the Broken, each commanding an army, and each with its own suite of ravening abominations and arcane powers.

Oh maaaaan, I am a lover of Blades in the Dark and Band of Blades looked super interesting to me.

1Q) Have you played BitD or any similar games, like PbtA? If not, are you a quick study?
1A) I have run BitD for a couple of years now and played in a few games too. It is one of my favorite settings.

2Q) Do you have a copy? If not, are you willing to blow $20-$25 to pick one up? (Obviously I can't enforce this; I just think creators should be paid. If you're living on a tight budget, okay -- PM me.)
2A) I will be able to pick one up soon enough, just waiting for pay day.

I will be keeping a big eye on this.

dotting in to follow this

I have BitD and BoB physical rulebooks, though I've never played. I very much want to though.

I played in a Girl by Moonlight PbP on this very forum for a couple years. Found the mechanics intriguing enough I picked up both BitD and S&V. Not acquainted with Band of Blades other than by rep, but would definitely be interested.

Ooooooo! You had me at "heavy resource management"!

As a certain sentient squirrel once said: "Is it weird that I wanna do it more now?"

I am interested in joining. I am in the middle of a Band of Blades campaign currently, and am very familiar with the rules. I have a physical copy of the rules, and I love the aesthetic. I can commit to posting daily.

Interested in this for sure. The setting seems awesome. I am unfamiliar with it but would be ok with eventually picking it up(if not right away). It seems something that is very roleplay heavy and the management aspect of it interests me as well.

And to clarify, we would only need the BoB book right, it says on the site that it is stand-alone, not required to purchase BitD right?

And to clarify, we would only need the BoB book right, it says on the site that it is stand-alone, not required to purchase BitD right?

Correct. All the BiTD spinoffs -- BoB, Scum and Villainy, and all the rest -- include everything you need to play.

Doug M.

The base system is called "Forged in the Dark" and at this point there are a bunch of different games based on it.

Also, if you're OK with getting pdfs, the Bag of Holding is a pretty good deal -- you can get five complete games, all using the same system but with very different campaign rules and settings, for about $28. You can find it right here.

Doug M.

interesting, and wile I do not have any experience with BitD / BOB I love to learn new games and would be happy to support the creators if I had a game to play.

As noted, BoB doesn't have strict character monogamy. You may have favorite PCs, but you'll certainly play two, three, or even more characters over the course of a campaign. So the "design a PC beauty contest" wouldn't work here. I guess I just have to take a few minutes to scan over your activity?

So, closing recruitment later today. If you're still interested, jump in now.

Okay, the following players please report to the Discussion thread --

KingHotTrash
CrusaderWolf
Atlas2112
DeanC

-- and let's get started!

Okay, we lost a couple of players early on -- fast-paced game, new system. So, recruitment is open again.

To be clear, we are hoping for a fast-paced game where everyone tries to post at least once per day.

As to new system: BoB uses the Forged in the Dark system, which is used for about half a dozen different games currently, with more coming. It's a pretty easy system to learn -- chargen, in particular, goes very fast.

We're still on the first page of gameplay, so there's not a lot of catching up to be done.

Also: since there's not really a critical mass of FitD players on this forum, I guess we're going to waive the "should know how to play FitD" requirement.

It's a pretty easy system to learn.

I'm interested.

Never played any PbtA games but I've really wanted to play Band of Blades since I heard them playtest it on The CritShow podcast, to the point where I bought the book, just to read it (no face to face players around).

I'd be happy to read it again and fully learn the rules.

I know Blades in the Dark and would love to try playing it pbp.
I have no idea about BoB, though. Need to look into it over the weekend, but I feel it's not for me setting-wise.

We're down a player. The game is continuing, but we're looking for another.

We're about to hit the end-of-first-scene break point, so this would be a good time for a new player to jump aboard.

I'd be interested. I'm a fan of the Black Company books and the setting/premise look like fun. I'm not familiar with the rule set at all. Will do some reading over the weekend and see if it looks like something I can pick up without too much trouble.

I'd be interested. I'm a fan of the Black Company books and the setting/premise look like fun. I'm not familiar with the rule set at all. Will do some reading over the weekend and see if it looks like something I can pick up without too much trouble.

The system is Forged in the Dark, which is heavily narrative but mechanically pretty simple -- uses d6 dice pools.

There are a couple of experienced players who can help you along.

I am interested! I've played a lot of Blades in the Dark in my tabletop group and really enjoyed it, but never played Band of Blades so it might take me a while to get used to the differences. I've read up on the playbooks so could put a character togehter fairly quickly.

What are you missing and/or in special need of?

EDIT - Nvm, I see you have a heavy, a sniper and a medic. I could put together a scout unless you think there's a need for something else?

I am interested! I've played a lot of Blades in the Dark in my tabletop group and really enjoyed it, but never played Band of Blades so it might take me a while to get used to the differences. I've read up on the playbooks so could put a character togehter fairly quickly.

Superb. Please join us!

Great! I need to do some shopping but will post a character in a few hours :)

So, the character sheet for Karina Zayatevya, scout of the Legion, is ready. Let me know what you think. My plan is to play up the heritage and the fact scouts tend to be loners, so there'll be short sentences with lots of nyet and da and Russian Reversals. You can call her Katya if you've served with her on a major mission, so come up with a flashback that's suitably awesome and you gain "diminutive rights" - of course, she'll have a shorter name for you as well. Atterro's is going to be either "Terminus" or "Tumnus" I haven't decided yet :)

Katya is particularly good in desperate situations and so I imagine she has a reputation to match. My then-bf made me watch Agents of Shield a few years back and Katya is probably something like whatsername who was nicknamed The Cavalry: gruff and tough, but she'll look after you if you don't piss her off too much. Her experience with Shreya has made her more caring (without making her nicer) so I put 2 dots into social skills. She's a bit of a sheepdog for the junior female soldiers: corralling them and keeping them from the surrounding wolves without being their friend, exactly.

As for why she hasn't been with you from the start, maybe Shreya gave her a side mission which she completed and is on her way back from when she saw the signal flares? Ride (march) towards the sound of the guns.

Questions: A couple of things on the sheet I'm not familiar with from BitD: the Corruption mechanic and the 'clock' on the right hand side with the "Specialist" column. What do I need to know about them? Also, as a scout I get XP if I help the squad with stealth or foresight. "Stealth" seems fairly straightforward but I'm not sure how "foresight" applies here, because one point of BitD is that it eliminates a lot of planning by having it take place in flashbacks. If I solve a problem via flashback, does that count as "foresight" for XP or not? (I'm getting ahead of myself here - need to survive first!)

Welcome aboard! Let's take this up over at the Discussion thread.

Looks like you've got your player. Did some reading of the rules and it seems like an interesting, fun system. If you end up needing another at some point I'd give it a try.

Looks like you've got your player. Did some reading of the rules and it seems like an interesting, fun system. If you end up needing another at some point I'd give it a try.

We've had to replace three people in the first month. I'll keep you on speed-dial!