Blades in the Dark (GM Sarah)

Game Master Sarah 'queen' B.

Hello !

Blades in the Dark is a game about a group of daring scoundrels building a criminal enterprise on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, escapes, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, deceptions, betrayals, victories, and deaths. We play to find out if your fledgling crew can thrive amidst the teeming threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the City Watch, and the siren song of your scoundrels’ own vices.

The game takes place in the cold, foggy city of Doskvol (aka Duskwall or “the Dusk”). It’s industrial in its development. Imagine a world like ours during the second industrial revolution of the 1870s — there are trains, steam-boats, printing presses, simple electrical technology, carriages, and the black smog of chimney smoke everywhere. Doskvol is something like a mashup of Venice, London, and Prague. It’s crowded with row-houses, twisting streets, and criss-crossed with hundreds of little waterways and bridges. The city is also a fantasy. The world is in perpetual darkness and haunted by ghosts — a result of the cataclysm that shattered the sun and broke the Gates of Death a thousand years ago. The cities of the empire are each encircled by crackling lightning towers to keep out the vengeful spirits and twisted horrors of the deathlands. To power these massive barriers, the titanic metal ships of the leviathan hunters are sent out from Doskvol to extract electroplasmic blood from massive demonic terrors upon the ink-dark Void Sea.

You’re in a haunted Victorian-era city trapped inside a wall of lightning powered by demon blood.

Welcome to the discussion on BitD. I’m really looking forward to running this! I know some/most of you haven’t played it before so pleasea ask questions as we go along.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This is a game where you play criminals and bad guys, or scoundresl as BitD calls them. That does NOT mean that you get to play Jack the Ripper type psychos. You work as part of a crew and you need to be team players. You’re not here to squick everyone out so please be careful about other peoples comfort levels.

Personly, I don’t squick out easily, I can handle mature themes but prefer them to be handled you know, maturely. As I’ve alreaday said to some of you, if you imagine what any girl-gamer has had to face in a tabletop game, and then don’t do that, we’re all good :)

Witih that out the way, the first thing you need to do is decide what sort of character you want to play. This is as much about who you want to be as what you want do, because it defines how your charcter approaches life and how they solve problems (like, “smashing is awlways an option” or “hey, let’s get together and talk and talk and talk” or “excellint. This is just how I planned it” or “Boom! Headshot”) There are 7 playbooks/classes:

Cutter, a dangerous and intimidating fighter. Cutters gain XP when they address a challenge with violence or coercion. They are good at winning fights, with violence and with intimidation. Play a Cutter if you want to get your way.

Hound, a deadly sharpshooter and tracker. Hounds gain XP when they address a challenge with tracking or violence. They are good at tracking things down and also long-distance combat. Play a Hound if you want to choose your battles.

Leech, a saboteur and technician/alchemist. Leeches gain XP when they address a challenge with technical skill or mayhem. They are good at using alchemy and wrecking stuff with sabotage. Play a Leech if you want to be creative with weird tools.

Lurk, a stealthy infiltrator and burglar. Lurks gain XP when they address a challenge with stealth or evasion. They are good at sneaking around and breaking into places. Play a Lurk if you want to slink around in the shadows.

Slide, a subtle manipulator and spy. Slides gain XP when they address a challenge with deception or influence. They are good at social situations and subterfuge. Play a Slide
if you want to manipulate and deceive people.

Spider, a devious mastermind. Spiders gain XP when they address a challenge with calculation or conspiracy. They are good at masterminding maneuvers. Play a Spider
if you want to assist teammates and deal with other factions.

Whisper, an arcane adept and channeler. Whispers gain XP when they address a challenge with knowledge or arcane power. They are good at magical stuff and dealing with ghosts. Play
a Whisper if you want to meddle with arcane powers.

If you are just learning the rules, I sugest you stay away from the Whisper (maye the Leech too). They can be quite pwoerful, but you need to have a handle on the rules to get the bset out of them.

You also need to decide as a group what sort of crew you want to be, which affects the sorts of jobs you will take and the reputation you will build. In BitD, your crew is like an extra character sheet that tracks the story of your group. Even if your PCs die or retrire and get rplaced, the crew will carry on.

Assassins: killers for hire. Assassins gain XP when they execute “accidents,” disappearances, murders and ransoms

Bravos: mercenaries and thugs. Bravos gain XP when they execute battles, extortion, sabotage and smash & grabs.

Cult: followers of a forgotten god. Cults gain XP when they execute artifact acquisitions,
auguries, consecration, and sacrifices.

Hawkers: Vice dealers. Hawkers gain XP when they execute product procurement, covert sales, shows of force and social events.

Shadows: Thieves and spies. Shadows gain XP when they execute burglaries, espionage, robberies and sabotage.

Smugglers: Contraband transporters. Smugglers gain XP when they execute clandestine deliveries,
territory control, and expeditions outside the city.

Any crew can do any mission: smugglers can asssasinte, bravos can smuggle, so on. It's not what you're set up for though and it's best to stik to what you are god at.

So, questoins?

Hi everyone! I'm excited to try out BitD. Thanks for the invite, Sarah the GM.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:Personly, I don’t squick out easily, I can handle mature themes but prefer them to be handled you know, maturely. As I’ve alreaday said to some of you, if you imagine what any girl-gamer has had to face in a tabletop game, and then don’t do that, we’re all good :)

I also can handle mature themes handled maturely. This is a good baseline for my preference but am happy to make things lighter/fade to black depending on other comfort levels.

Witih that out the way, the first thing you need to do is decide what sort of character you want to play.

There's so much here that looks intriguing. In Pathfinder, I generally enjoy playing melee types or 3/4 caster support types (skald is probably my favorite class). I'm not sure how exactly that translates to BitD, but I think I'd enjoy a cutter, leech, spider, or whisper.

You also need to decide as a group what sort of crew you want to be, which affects the sorts of jobs you will take and the reputation you will build. In BitD, your crew is like an extra character sheet that tracks the story of your group. Even if your PCs die or retrire and get rplaced, the crew will carry on.

Like the individual roles, these all sound like a lot of fun. I think I'd lean towards assassins, cult, shadows, and smugglers, but bravos and hawkers sound great too!

Question: Once we choose our crew, is that decision set in stone? Can crews change focus over time?

Howdy, y’all. *waves at fighting chicken* I should hopefully have an opportunity to look over stuff in detail this evening.

Hey Hrothdane! Looking forward to gaming with you here!

No strating decisions are set in stone! If after the first mission it becomes clear you'd rather play a different class, or have a differnt crew, we can just handwave and say that's what you alwasy were.

In terms of chaning focus over time, you can do that and there are rules for swaping out one playbook for another but mutliclassing as you understand it from Pathfinder is not really a thing. (Although you can take special abilities from another class as you advance thru the "Veteran" upgrade.)

Aaaaaaaaaand I've jsut realised that the onine SRD I pointed you all to doesn't have the playbooks! Duh.

The classes and crews are porvided here. Ignore the vampire/hull/ghost ones please! TY :)

The ipmortant thing to realise is that ALL the classes can do ALL the skills (they're not actually skills but we'll get to that). Everyone can fight, everone can wear armour, and so on. What makes eache class different is the specail abilities they have, and some unique equpment: Cutters get better weapons, Leeches get alhcmicl bandoliers, Hounds get a sniper rifle.

In the tabletop game I was in, I played a Whisper who ended up becomeing The Dreaded in close combat.

Mature Themes
I'm also good with mature themes. I have seen all-too-well what people would subject me as a woman gamer to, so you have no worries there. If something does come up that crosses a line, I will say something. If I do, it's not meant to be personal; it's about the behavior. I dislike grudges and ultimately just want everyone to have a good time.

Classes
I tend to come up with a concept first and then mechanics for it, so I wouldn't commit to any one of them until I have something solidified. That said, certain *types* of characters tend to appeal to me, and those would roughly map to Cutter, Slide, and Spider. I'll start musing on a concept.

Crew
I could see potentially enjoying almost all of them. I'm not much of a saleswoman so hawker is less interesting to me, and I have a hard time imagining a cult I would actually enjoy playing in. Lovecraftian cults do not interest me and I have a hard time playing fanatical characters. My only one plays that aspect of her personality more for comedy and it's a good deity.

Yes, do say somehting if you're uncomfrtoble. I've certainly not been shy about speaking up.

Concept-first, or "fiction-first" gaming as BitD calls it, is very much teh thing here. It's one of the reasons you have Actions rather than Skills - you describe what you want to do, and then you talk aobut the Action you want to use to acheive it. If you pick comeone's pocket, do you distract them with your charm while you make the lift? That's probly Sway. If you do the classinc "bump" and then quikly move on, thtat's probably Finesse. If you creep up behind them unseen and time your movements to theirs so they don't feel a thing, that sounds like Prowl. Or you can knok them down and go through their pockets, which is likely to be Skirmish or Wreck. ("You've got to pick a pocket or two" *THUMP*)

Dice rolls tend to be a LOT less common in BitD and a lot more significant, with a discussion between PCs and GM before the roll to make sure everone understands the stakes. There's much less "I'll just roll Diplomacy and Sense Motive every time I post a conversation" and much more "Actions have consequences."

Hi everyone! Looking forward to gaming with you all, especially people I haven't met before :)

A minor correction before I dive in any further.

In the tabletop game I was in, I played a Whisper who ended up becomeing The Dreaded in close combat.

Actually, she was The Dreaded full stop. It's the only time I as a GM have been just a little bit scared of one of my PCs...

I am planning to play a Lurk, but I'm fairly relaxed about what our crew is. I think Assassins and Bravos have some nice special abilities, but there doesn't tend to be that much variety in playing them. Shadows can do a bit of everything, Hawkers have the social option, and cults are probably a bit too grimdark for my taste. Not that Doskvol is a happy place exactly, but the game is generally fun to play - and I don't know how much fun a cult would be to play out.

Classes

I tend to come up with a concept first and then mechanics for it, so I wouldn't commit to any one of them until I have something solidified. That said, certain *types* of characters tend to appeal to me, and those would roughly map to Cutter, Slide, and Spider. I'll start musing on a concept.

Feel free to disregard anything I say here that's not helpful, but one thing I think is a critical difference between D&D/PF and BitD is the concept of "you play to find out." In PF, especially on this forum, for a recruitment to be taken seriously you need to have a really good handle on your character, who they are, and what their background is. In BitD, you can literally create stuff as you need it - we used to call it "Schrödinger's RPG" because until you've established something in the narrative, all options are open (yes, our group was entirely scientists, why do you ask?). A couple of examples of what I mean by that:

As Sarah said above, the Hound starts the game with a fine hunting rifle and a permit. Because it's bulky and quite loud, it was 3 or 4 sessions into the game before he finally got to use it. At which point, he decided that it had been his brother's, who had served in an elite military regiment that had been almost wiped out in the war, and that he wore his brother's old uniform jacket that was really distinctive. At which point, the uniform, the regiment and even the brother not only existed but had always existed in the game, despite not being mentioned before. A few sessions later, he was tangling with a demon and I gave him the option of getting away, with the complication that - in addition to his injuries - his uniform jacket was utterly shredded and ruined beyond repair. Because of the previous characterisation, this became really meaningful and the crew then spent another session trying to find a replacement jacket for him and ended up having to steal one from a collector.

(You obviously could make all of that up during character creation, but given that it was several sessions into play before the rifle even got used, that's a lot of work to do in advance.)

Perhaps a more meaningful example in-game was when the group was doing a rooftop infiltration that went horribly wrong from the start. The first three players rolled appallingly badly and they ended up in a haunted attic where the family had stored all of their heirlooms that were no longer useful and leaked bad magic everywhere. At which point, the fourth player, who hadn't yet got involved, said "As soon as I hear the sounds of the distraction in the attic, I quietly break in through the second story window." Which completely changed the narrative: now, the group was deliberately being noisy in the attic - they were trying to draw the guards away, and that had been the plan all along. Up until that point, we'd all assumed that the group would break in together, but because he hadn't had his turn yet, he was free to place himself anywhere he liked in-game. Of course, having done that, he wasn't able to assist the rest of the group and he had to go it alone.

(That is a lot more than I intended to write! But I hope some of it is helpful to anyone who hasn't played the game before.)

Hello all. Looking forward to giving this system a try.

Right now I'm leaning toward Slide or maybe Whisper. As for crew I'm game to try any of them although I would agree the cultists seems less interesting.

And like everyone else, I've no problem with mature themes as long as they are handled maturely.

Thanks everyone for engaging with this, I know it'a a lot to read up on if you haven't played it before! It looks like we might have

Cutter, Leech, Spider or Whisper (FC)
Cutter, slide or Spider (Hrothdane)
Lurk (WW)
Slide or Whpser (Tareth)

Crew: looks like cult and maye hawker are out, but assassin, bravo, shadow or smuggler might still be on the table.

I did send out invites to other people to see if there was any intrest, but 4 is actually a good number so even if noboy else posts it looks like we have a gaeme :)

@Wandering Wastrel I appreciate the feedback. Nevertheless, I prefer to have a more solid idea starting out for a few reasons. First, a game is a commitment and I want to make sure I will be enjoying the character I am playing. Second, I play my characters more like a writer than like an actor. I plan and project and pace. I start with a general idea of where the character’s arc would go, but leave the details to be played out with plenty of room for just listening to where the story takes me. I am directing the character, not embodying them.

For example, my rise of the runelords character is a woman of high society and former party girl in Magnimar who is on the run because she was framed for murdering her children by her husband (I was loosely inspired by Medea). She has an alcohol problem, is
in denial about being in love with her best friend Sapphira, wants to clear her name, wants to kill her husband, and she has some self-loathing and guilt she needs to get past. How and when these issues come up in her story are to be determined, and some may get far more play than others. I tend to make up lots of details as I go along, but the general topics I’m interested in having the character deal with are there. I have a graduate degree in writing and am working on finishing my first novel right now, so it’s just how I work. Play-by-post is one of the methods I use to practice writing something creative everyday.

I've openengd up gaemplay so you can dot in an madke sure this game appears on yuuor campaign screens. Don[t post anything in reply yet! Im just setting things up to shwo the starting situation, sot that when we're ready we can dives straitgh in :)

Hello all.

Hey, Wastrel!

I picked up the BitD rules a year or so ago and they really appealed to me. As a player who much prefers story over combat, the rules really drop right into my wheelhouse.

Letting everyone know in advance that I consider all my character's stories, love stories. I'm all about the drama and (PG-13) romance. If that's not your thing, no worries, with the GM's permission, I have no problems creating NPCs to scratch that itch.

I would prefer to play a Lurk, but could do a Slide as well.

As a crew, I think either Shadows or Assassins would be interesting.

I honestly wasn't sure how much interst I'd get, so I'm really pleased to have five of you! That's probly all I can manage though so I'm closing the "recrutiement" part of this discussion and we move forwrd to character creation.

I look ofrward to seeing what you come up with, please ask questions and I will try to asnwer speedily. I'm going to be in the lab a fair bit this week so if you do't get an immediate reply pls be patient :)

EDIT: btw, Itzi (and anone else) if you delete your dot post in gameplay it still counts as being dotted in

Yes, but then I would have to actually delete my post. :) :)

(done)

Okay here's my initial go for a Whisper. Keeping it pretty open and rough for the moment since I usually like to add background and tidbits as the campaign develops. But certainly open to suggestions or better ideas for something that might fit better within the concepts of the campaign.

Hey, Itzi!

Happy to do drama and/or romance with you, if you like. I'll try and create a more cheery/less angsty character than my previous :)

@Hrothdane - that sounds like a very disciplined and focused approach! I like the idea of being the director of my character, but I do find that my characters don't really like being directed: I can occasionally be found metaphorically rubbing my eyes as I reread what I/they have just posted. Do you find that your characters surprise you? Or does being the director mean that you tend to know what they will do in advance?

(If you'd like to say more about your novel, I'm definitely open to hearing more, although I know that some writers prefer not to talk about work in progress until it's more completed)

@Sarah - that was some great literary-referenceapalooza posting. I totally read his speech in Badger's voice! :)

Jonha, that was fast work. You get the first prize, which is well I got nothing*. I have a few questions, but WW is right that "I don't know, we'll find out in play" is a perfectly ok answer.

What arcane design do you start off knowing?

Is the rest of his family still in Skovlan? Did they survive the war?

Is he out for revenge against ALL the Silver Nails, or just a small group fo them? One of those is more doable, but feel free to dream big

WHY did he hide her body and ensure she became a ghost? I assume he knew that would happen?

I think I really do need an asnwer to that one

Why did Nyrix fall for hiim? What happend for her to drop her usual guard around men/clients?

How have Quellyn and Jonah interacted so far? Who did he hear the rumours from?

What happened to Nataliya's body once her ghost was free of it?

How does he keep her ghost hidden from the wardens? Does he hav a way to stop her wandering off? Or does she make a point of haning around him - which could also cause problems?

EDIT *If everoyne could use the same charcter sheet template as Jonah (ulness you spot something wrong with it, but it looks fine to me) that would make my life a lot easier. Tx :)

Jonha, that was fast work. You get the first prize, which is well I got nothing*. I have a few questions, but WW is right that "I don't know, we'll find out in play" is a perfectly ok answer.

What arcane design do you start off knowing?[/qoute]

This I definitely don't know yet. Open to suggestions, otherwise I'm thinking let gameplay figure it out.

Quote:

Is the rest of his family still in Skovlan? Did they survive the war?

Some are still alive and back in Skovlan as far as he knows. Not on good terms with most of his other half siblings, which is why he couldn't let Nataliya go. She's his only 'true' family being his only sibling to actually have the same mother. (His father has been married 4 times. Two died in childbirth, the third of disease during the war. The fourth is still alive.)

Quote:

Is he out for revenge against ALL the Silver Nails, or just a small group fo them? One of those is more doable, but feel free to dream big

Well, I guess this depends. If the Nails are actually a large mercenary outfit with units scattered across the Empire, then not all. Much more realistic to just go after the squad, centile, unit, whatever that was directly involved with the occupation of Skoval and the abduction of his family.

Quote:

WHY did he hide her body and ensure she became a ghost? I assume he knew that would happen? I think I really do need an asnwer to that one

After seeing much death, loss, and destruction during the war and after mustering out and traveling in Skoval, he couldn't stand to lose the only person that he has truly felt connected with over his entire life. Her letters provided him strength to keep going during some of the darkest parts of the war. To know that she would simply cease to exist was too much for him to handle in the moment, so he did what he did. As for knowing she would become a ghost, well he saw it happen enough on the Eastern Front during the war. As one of the more desperate efforts in a losing cause his squad would slip behind the lines with newly dead to 'release' angry newly formed ghosts upon the enemy supply trains and logistics centers.

Quote:

Why did Nyrix fall for hiim? What happend for her to drop her usual guard around men/clients?

She knew Nataliya, when she learned he was her brother and was looking to get some payback for her death that opened the door. He's always treated her with respect, if not a huge amount of warmth which he may or may not be capable of showing to anyone ever again.

Quote:

How have Quellyn and Jonah interacted so far? Who did he hear the rumours from?

Although they don't know it, Quellyn and Jonah fought each other during the war. Quellyn was a military warden tasked with capturing and destroying ghosts used by Skovlanders like Jonah. The death and destruction caused by these ghosts turned Quellyn into a fanatic, both against spirits but also against Skovlanders. If he finds out the role Jonah played in the war he'd go after him directly.

Who started or told him the rumors? Who knows...it's a big city with lots of eyes and ears and cut throat competition. :)

Quote:

What happened to Nataliya's body once her ghost was free of it?

Good question. :) I'm thinking he buried it somewhere using an old Skovlander rite, perhaps in service to one of the old gods or rituals. OR maybe he has it stashed on ice (is refrigeration a thing) because he's heard initial rumors that having the original body helps a ghost transition and keep from going insane. Whether this is true or not, who knows. OR Knowing her spirit is free, the body is less important and he dumped it somewhere out of the way. Unfortunately, it was found and has now triggered an investigation into how an unknown body suddenly appeared and with the ghost already released.

Quote:

How does he keep her ghost hidden from the wardens? Does he hav a way to stop her wandering off? Or does she make a point of haning around him - which could also cause problems?

He could have rigged a weak electrostatic field around the rail car that creates a 'null' field so the wardens can't detect a weak spirit inside. Can't really stop her wandering off, although that might be a good reason for keeping her body (or some of it...) nearby because he can always call her back to it if necessary. Bigger problem would be her curiosity and desire to follow him, even into dangerous situations. He tries to get her to not do that but is only successful in convincing her to do so about 50% of the time.

@GM I have a concept that’s forming that overlaps between Slide and Spider. I’ have to look at the rules more closely to see which fits better. Also, where can I find more information about the setting? It will help me get a bit more grounded.

@Itzi I am a romantic at heart. My character will assuredly be a gay (possibly trans) woman like her player so that will have to be kept in mind of course!

@WW I am surprised all the time! I usually don’t know what my next post will be like in any but the vaguest terms until I actually write it, and even then it may change. I have to maintain a certain fluidity to react to other PCs and NPCs in a natural manner, after all. To go back to my earlier example, I came up with Val because I knew I wanted to play someone who was worldly, outgoing, who likes adventure and anything that makes her feel good, and who would rather do than act but most of the details as to how those are expressed were left unwritten. I discovered she doesn’t actually enjoy killing because it does not make her feel good about herself. I also discovered she hated having to live under an assumed identity because it meant she had to hold herself at a distance. She only enjoys trickery when it’s a game, not when it’s work. What interests me most about characters (and people in general) are contradictions and understanding the source of them. And I need established traits to build those off of.

@Jonah I liek what you've ritten, I have more to say but busy today.

@Hrothdane there is setting info in the rulebook somewhere at the end I think. I will try ti give you more details later today but it more likely tomorrow.

What interests me most about characters (and people in general) are contradictions and understanding the source of them. And I need established traits to build those off of.

That makes perfect sense to me, thank you for your exposition. It's helpful to read about someone's formal writing process - in general I would regard myself as reasonably well-educated, but schooling in my country means (or meant, it may have changed in the last *cough* years) that you do science or arts, and you essentially make that choice at 16... All reading and writing I've done since then has been unstudied.

GM Sarah,

Is there a chance that we'll be setting up a discord channel for ooc discussion? In other games I'm in I've found that it can really be a convenient tool for quick ooc back and forth as well as a nice backup means of communication if (oh, let's be honest, 'When') Paizo's boards are down.

Here's my avatar. I'm waiting on the rulebook to arrive, so I'm moving a little slow on PC creation, as I don't understand a lot of the lore. The idea that is grabbing me is mine worker something something rifle bad guys TRAGEDY move to the city. It is all pretty nebulous still :)

I have a question about the Hound playbook. Does a Hound have to take a hunting companion? I assume the items in the grey part of the items box are class-specific equipment, but they are selected like other equipment, in accordance to loadout, so they can or cannot be chosen like everything else. Or are those things automatically with the PC at all times b/c they are part of the class playbook?

I'm between breaks in the lab so I don't have time to go thru much. I'm hoping to get a longer post in a bit.

@Casia - I have never used discrod and I quite like having this forum as my one stop shop for gaming. But i do taek your point about the forums being genrelly a bit rubbish. If you can talk me thru how Discord works then the anwer is a "maybe" :)

@Lolo - FYI a pdf of the rulebokk is avilable on DriveThru RPG, instand delivery (unless your wifi is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeaallllllllllllly slooooooooooooooooow

Your huntinc cmpanion is like any gear, you can have it with you or not as the mision demands.

EDIT - aslo, Doskvol was built as a col mine orginally, so your mine worker something something could have strated life in the city

I really enjoy using Discord along with the forums here. Some people have moved their games entirely over to that format, but I'm not a fan of going that far. For OOC stuff, though, it's great. I've created a private channel for us on my server, so if any of the players here would like to use it, send me a DM with your Discord username#id and I'll DM you an invite back.

This is Hrothdane! Slowly making progress and nailed down a name and a profile pic at least. Wife and I got off work today and took a four hour nap.

@GM Cool. We get paid on friday so I’ll probably pick up the pdf then. Also discord is great and I highly recommend it :)

@WW Oh good! I’m glad I articulated it well. I had an extremely heavy arts and humanities education. It took until high school for it to really stick though. What country are you in, if I may ask? (And pardon if I missed that info)

Thank yo for the info on discord, I will tak a look at it.

Thanks everyone else for bearing with me.

JONAH

I’m fine with your arcane forumula not being known yet, it won’t see use until downtime anyway, most likely.

The Silver Nails are Tier III,, same as the Bluecoats. For compariosn, you are Tier 0 - and Tiers are xeponentiol so Tier I is *much* better than Tier 0 and so on. Tier VI is the maxium, rserved for major players like the imperial militray. The city council and Minsitry of Preservation are Tier V. The Spirit Warndens are Tier IV. The REd Sashes, the Crows and teh Lampblakcs are Tier II.

In the case of the Silver Nails, Tier III is probly because of their training and equipment rather than sheer numbers. I'm going to say they'’re a regiement of veterans. Exact numbers don't matter so much, but it's probly areound 50.

I love the idea of releasing new gohsts as an army tactic! That totally happned. Of course, to try and prevent it, the other side started taking Skovlander hostages because the ghosst will attack anyone, so relaese them at your peril. Thata means that he put his own famly in danger by his tactics, which is nicely Greek tragic (I think?).

Quellyn ad Nyrix looks fine to me, we can develp that in gaem.

Re bodies, refrigeration is maybe sort of a thing, if you’re rich, but long-term storage of bodies in a fridge does not work. Unless you embalm/remove internal organs, you’d have to freeze the corpse solid or it will start to rot. Also, keeping a body around is trouble anyway. You can do it, of course. Burial isn’t easy in a city. There’s a reason boides tend to get dumped into the canals.

I think that covers it but let me know if you have any other quetiosns

HROTHDANE

World setting: 1000 years ago this was a high-fantsay world like Golaroion or Eberron or suchlike. Then there was the cataclysm, which shattered the sun, broek the world and loosed the gates of death. Now the world is semi-industrialised and barren, with hordes of ghosts and worse lurking beyond the lightning barriers.

This was once a storybook fantasy world of magic and wonders, which was destroyed and an industrial civilization was built on top of the ruins.

Don’t expect scientific realism here.

From the once vibrant world, these continents remain:

Akoros (the Akorosi), a western Euroepan/British type empire. Recently fought a 40-yeaer war with Skovlan, known as the Unity War (Skovlan lost).

Skovlan (Skovlanders, or “skovs” for insult), Slavic/Russian-influenced country. Thoursands of survivors of the War of Akorosi Agression have crowded into Doskvl in search of a better life. Anti-immigarnt sentiment is rising.

Iruvia (Iruvians), Arabian Nights influenced setting. Large empire, on good terms with Akoros. Lots of Iruvians in Doskvol, mostly traders and leviathan hunters and rich nobles. Black deserts, obsidian mountains. Volcanoes. Baking hot, even wihot the sun.

Severos (Severosi), horse lords and that’s about it. Generic “proud warrior race” guys, I think.

Dagger Isles (Islanders), Gaelic influence. Supersitious. Great sailors. Was once a tropical archipelago but since the cataclysm the treesa re dark and twisted. Sometimes rains blood. You get the idea.

Tycheros (Tycherosi, or “Strangers” for insult). Far off, beyod the reach of the empire. Twisted and stragne. People there are said to have demon blood. Be from here if you want to play a tiefling.

The city of Doskvol was established over 1000 years ago as a coal mining settlement on the cold north coast of Akoros. It has withstood the breaking of the world, an attack by a titanic leviathan, massive fires, a plague, a civil war, and legions of angry ghosts. It is a community of survivors.

The city is densely packed inside the ring of immense lightning towers that protect it from the murderous ghosts of the blighted deathlands beyond. Every square foot is covered in human construction of some kind—piled one atop another with looming towers, sprawling manors, and stacked row houses; dissected by canals and narrow twisting alleys; connected by a spiderweb of roads, bridges, and elevated walkways.

Doskvol is one of the most important cities in the Imperium, since it is from its port that the metal steamships of the leviathan hunters are launched. The hunters brave the far northern reaches of the Void Sea, far out of sight of land, to grapple with titanic demons of the depths and extract their precious immortal blood—the substance refined into electroplasm, the power source of civilization.

All powerful noble families operate hunter ships, each commanded by the scion of their line—and it is by their fortunes at sea and the bounties of blood they capture that the fortunes of the empire wax and wane. The savvy and the ruthless of Doskvol do well to position themselves to profit from this crucial enterprise upon which so many depend—either as an ally or servant of the aristocracy, or by preying upon the corrupted rich and privileged elite.

Doskvol is divided into districts:

Barrowcleft. Residences and markets for the farmers who work the fields and eeleries.

Brightstone. The grand mansions and luxury shops of the wealthy elite.

Charhollow. A crowded district of tenements and stacked houses.

Charterhall. The city’s civic offices and the hub for shops, artisans, and commerce.

Coalridge. The remnants of Doskvol’s original hilltop mining settlement, now home to laborers and industrial factories.

Crow’s Foot. A cramped neighborhood of multi-level streets, ruled by gangs. YOU ARE HERE

The Docks. Rough taverns, tattoo parlors, fighting pits, and warehouses.

Dunslough. A labor camp served by convicts and a ghetto for the destitute poor.

Nightmarket. The trade center for exotic goods imported by rail. Many vendors also trade in illicit goods.

Silkshore. The “red lamp district” and artist community.

Six Towers. A formerly rich district, now worn down and dilapidated.

Whitecrown. The sprawling estates of the Lord Governor, Hunter Commander, Master Warden, and Doskvol Academy.

LOLO

I’ve just realised I miusnderstood your question about equipment. The bit in grey on the playbook is equpiment that is unique to your class, but you don’t HAVE to take it with you. What happesn is that, at the start of a mision, you decide what load you are going to takee (light, medium, heavy). Then, when you need something, you just say that you have it (“good job I brought THIS along!”). If you take a light load, you can do that 3 times. If you take a medium load, you can do it 5 times. Some items have zero load, so you can always haove them with you. Some items count as 2 load or more, like light armour.

Remember what WW said about this being Shrocdinger’s RPG? You don’t need to decide in advance what you take with you. That’s boring. How much time hae you wasted reading and wriing your character’s equipment lists in Pathfinder? Far better to jmp into the game and pull stuff out that you *totally* had with you the whole time.

CASIA

Sad story, mcuh drama. I like it :)

Does Desmona work for hrerself, or is she with another gang or faction? I have ideas on this but let me know if this is something you already know.

Also, where is Casia living now? In Crow's Foot, or seomewhere else?

And do her dad, mother and brother have names?

I'm the brother.

How much time hae you wasted reading and wriing your character’s equipment lists in Pathfinder?

So much, oh so very much - and thank you for bringing up such a painful subject, while you're at it why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it :P

@Hrothdane, I'm English. "Automythology" is a great word! Thank you for the recommendation of Tamsyn Muir, I will look her up. I love Le Guin's writing - the Tombs of Atuan is one of my all-time favourite fantasy novels. :)

@GM Awesome! Thank you so much for writing all that. That will help me a great deal with backstory

@WW The Tombs of Atuan is also one of favorite Le Guin books! If you like that, I recommend The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. It’s very much in conversation with Atuan.

English, eh? I’ve always wanted to go see all the Arthuriana in Britain. Knights are my most enduring special interest, after all. I’m shamefully American. Lived all over the US but have settled in California.

English, eh? I’ve always wanted to go see all the Arthuriana in Britain. Knights are my most enduring special interest, after all. I’m shamefully American. Lived all over the US but have settled in California.

You're one up on me. I've lived my entire life (and that's not a small amount of years) pretty much in the same small Northern Californian town.

~~~~~

Found a good google sheet for tracking BitD characters/crews.

Blades Playbooks

There are worse places to be than California! I've never felt quite so awestruck/insignificant as when I stood on a beach in San Diego and looked out over the Pacific, knowing that there was nothing in the way of land between me and Japan on the other side of the world...

Thanks for the book recommendations, I will look into it. Sadly much of the Arthuriana in England has been taken over by the sort of people who are all convinced that they were Morgana in a past life. If you can get beyond that, the ancient monuments are well worth seeing. Some of the castles - particularly the Welsh ones - are amazingly old and still in fabulous shape.

I refsuse to admit just how long I stared at your alias in confusion, thinking "but this game setting doesn't even *have* a Poland"

@Darella/Hrothdane - yoou are welcome but now I expect the most fabululyous backstory. No pressure :)

Hehe, another Californian here (San Diego to boot - glad you enjoyed your visit to our beaches, Finraeith). I was just in NoCal, in Point Arena, a couple of weeks ago. It was so stunningly beautiful. What a lovely part of the world you live in, Casia.

@Finraeith, I was in Wales quite a few years ago. I didn't go to any castles, but went to Hay-on-Wye (sp?). The sheer amount of used book stores there was awe-inspiring.

@GM, I've got my crunch mostly done. I have the genesis of a backstory, but this always takes me a looonnnnnnggg time to figure out. Hope it will be there soon!

Hehe, another Californian here (San Diego to boot - glad you enjoyed your visit to our beaches, Finraeith). I was just in NoCal, in Point Arena, a couple of weeks ago. It was so stunningly beautiful. What a lovely part of the world you live in, Casia.

What a coincidence. I was just in Fort Bragg (about 30 miles north of Point Arena) last weekend for my nephew's wedding in Mendocino Park. Very beautiful. We're a bit further east of there, though - Chico. Still a nice region.

Just wish the political environment in Cali wasn't so ... so.

I’m in San Francisco myself, though Jess (my wife) and I met down in Socal.

Ooh the subject of politics has been breached. I’m a dirty commie so there aren’t many places where I would enjoy the political environment, so I’m making do.

@WW That is a shame. Maybe someday i’ll make it out there

@GM I always give my best :)

What a coincidence. I was just in Fort Bragg (about 30 miles north of Point Arena) last weekend for my nephew's wedding in Mendocino Park. Very beautiful. We're a bit further east of there, though - Chico. Still a nice region.

We took a quick jaunt up to Mendocino/Fort Bragg from Point Arena. So, Mendocino is one of the prettiest small towns I've ever seen. I also discovered that the 80s era mystery show Murder She Wrote was filmed there, so of course it is pretty - it doubles as a quaint New England town!

We went to Glass Beach in Fort Bragg as well, which was oh so cool.

I have some colleagues in the CSU at Chico. They speak highly of the area; I haven't been yet.

I refsuse to admit just how long I stared at your alias in confusion, thinking "but this game setting doesn't even *have* a Poland"

Ha! Yes, now you point it out I can see that misunderstanding could arise :)

Given that most of us now have at least some sort of crunch and a background of sorts, do we want to revisit the type of crew we are?

Finraeth is a cutter so he's no stranger to violence but I don't think he's a hardened killer (or at least not yet). It's a dirty world and you have to get your hands dirty but I don't see him as a murderer for hire, and that's not a vibe I'm getting from anyone else, either. So I think that rules out assassins.

I'm taking a closer look at the Shadows playbook and I quite like it. The special abilities look handy, particularly Second Story and Synchronised; and Everyone Steals is a nice way to give everyone at least one point in Prowl.

The two upgrades they start with (hidden lair and training in Prowess) are both decent, and we get to pick two more to start with. Thief Rigging is excellent (you could carry climbing gear for "free") and so is Underground Maps, while Steady is a great one to aim for once we've survived a few missions.

From the "generic" upgrades, Quarters is good if we all want to be on-site together instead of scattered across the city (specially since our lair has the Hidden quality).

Unless anyone strongly disagrees, I suggest we start out as Shadows. If we find it isn't working for us we can switch.

Does that mean everyone but me and WW is on GMT -8? Taht should make for some interesting posting sessions/delays.

I'm not realy intterested in discusing politics here. My guess is that a "commie" in Amrica is someone who wants universal free healthcare, paid parental leave and a decent minimum wage - what we in the UK and Europc call a "centrist."

(Just FYI, my great-great-grandfather was Russion. He came to the UK and never went back. As far as we can tell, we are the only bit of his family who survived the 20th centruy - the purges, pogroms, wars and famine got the rest.)

It does look liek you're maeking good progress in builidng your characters so I want to trhow a couple more decisions at you. I know this is a lot of work for wahst's supposed to be a simple game! But most of these are one-off things that once done you can leave.

LAIR

I've decided that your lair is based in Crows Foot, so that's one thing you don't have to decied on. Your lair isn't where you live and in fact you cant live there unless you take the "Quaraters" upgrade - so until then I cna have fun messing with you one on one :) Your lair is where you get together to plan things, and where you store things that you wouldln't want to be found with if someone searched your living space.

You have a choice of what your lair is, pick something you like:

*A half-sunken grotto in the city’s maze-like underground canals.

*A small, abandoned house at the end of a dark lane.

*An abandoned watch tower atop an ancient, crumbling wall.

*A rickety, tin-roofed shack perched on a rooftop.

*The unassuming back rooms of a merchant’s shop.

*A junked rail-car, rusted in place on its old, overgrown tracks.

REPUTATION

This isn't your first rdoeo. At teh start of the gaem, you have done a few (small!) jobs together, enought to get to know each other a bit and pick up a reputation.

Playing up to your rep is one of the ways you gain XP so pick something you can play and have fun with.

*Ambitious
*Brutal
*Daring
*Honorable
*Professional
*Savvy
*Subtle
*Strange

STARTING GOLD

You start with 2 Coin. Not 2 Coin each, 2 Coin total. Waht is Coin? It's a measure of wealth, tied to the ancitent gold Akorosi currency that aren't used any more. 1 Coin is a week's wages for most people. Casia's family business porobably brought in 8 Coin in a really good month.

But. There's awlways a catch.

The Crows run Crow's Foot and if you work in this district you have to pay them. So, you have a choice of 3 options

1) Keep the 2 Coin and risk annoying the Crows by not respecting them

2) Give the Crows 1 Coin to show respect and keep 1 Coin for you

3) Give the Crosws 2 Coin to show deep repsect.

Yep. GMT-8 (Well, -7 for us right now - stupid DST).

I'll happily stay away from political discussions as well. I've gained a lot of practice over the years. This town, while small, is a curious mix of retired hippies, college students, and dyed-in-the-wool truck-driving, gun-toting, rednecks.

Does Desmona work for hrerself, or is she with another gang or faction? I have ideas on this but let me know if this is something you already know.

Also, where is Casia living now? In Crow's Foot, or seomewhere else?

And do her dad, mother and brother have names?

Desmona works for another gang, but Casia never found out which one.

Crow's Foot is just fine. Her and her brother share a tiny rented room.

Her father was Collin Spinther and her mother is Helena.

~~~~~

I like the idea of the crumbling watch tower for a Lair. That would also give us the option for the Quarters upgrade - clear out some of the rubble.

For the crew's rep; How about either Professional or Subtle?

In the case of the Silver Nails, Tier III is probly because of their training and equipment rather than sheer numbers. I'm going to say they'’re a regiement of veterans. Exact numbers don't matter so much, but it's probly areound 50.

Sounds good. I don't really expect to be taking them on any time soon, I'm assuming the obligation is supposed to be a loooong term thing and not exactly rational. Strategy will probably be to nibble at the edges early on to convince himself he's actually doing something, with maybe getting a lucky break to take out a low level grunt now and then.

Re bodies, refrigeration is maybe sort of a thing, if you’re rich, but long-term storage of bodies in a fridge does not work. Unless you embalm/remove internal organs, you’d have to freeze the corpse solid or it will start to rot. Also, keeping a body around is trouble anyway. You can do it, of course. Burial isn’t easy in a city. There’s a reason boides tend to get dumped into the canals.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm kind of thinking most of her body is gone, but he's got some of it (her head probably) preserved in formaldehyde or other embalming fluids ala Futurama. I was kind of thinking I could go full Frankenstein here and have a goal of reanimating her by gathering needed body parts. (Just another aspect of the obsession with death and the futile attempts to conquer it brought on by his experiences in the war and capped by Nataliya's death.) If that's all too gruesome, I'm also fine just having the body disposed of in the usual canal fashion.

For the crew, I'm good with Shadows. Seems like they might offer a good amount of flexibility and interesting avenues.

For our lair, I'm already living in an abandoned rail car, so having it be the crumbling watch tower or any of the others works for me.

Rep: I'm pretty open. I guess Professional, Daring, Subtle, or Strange if I had to narrow it down a bit.

Coin: I'd say pay the Crow's one coin...for now. ;)

Added a bit about Dareia’s personality for now while I steadily work on the rest. I think she’s starting to lean more Spider as I write.

She is good with Shadows.

As for reputation, I could see her making most of them work, except for brutal and strange.

Changing my special ability to Compel. It seems like that is more immediately useful now that I've read the item creation rules more in depth. Will probably take Strange Methods or something similar later on when we are at least Tier 1 or 2. Plus it just fits better with the way his background has ended up coming together.

As a Cutter, I'm not sure the Subtle reputation is one that I would do especially well with. I like Daring - the chances are that most of the scores we do will be against gangs that are higher Tier than us. The life of the scoundrel is not for the faint of heart, after all.

The abandoned watchtower works for me.

I'm fine with giving the Crows 1 Coin - no sense in having more enemies than we need. If they run things in these parts (for now, at least...) it makes sense to have them on side.