Blades in the Dark

[Rummy Tum Tum]

My IRL DnD group has started getting into Blades in the Dark and it has been phenomenal. I don't 100% know how it plays in a PbP format but I'm interested in exploring the setting and system more. Basically, I'd love a game with some craziness, drama, humor, and--this being E--a bit of smut to round it all out.

[shengami]

I'd be down. I've been really wanting to get some experience with BitD.

[MightyMaiden]

I've had the book for a while but no opportunity to delve into it at all, so colour me potentially interested.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Cool! Just need a GM.

[Praxis]

I've tried a couple play by post of BitD.  (In my case, it was through email  and Discord but same thing really...ish )

It absolutely works, pending players and GM.

Good luck with your search!

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Great to hear. Thanks!

[HairyHeretic]

I'd like to try this myself. Actually I'm most interested in giving Wicked Ones a go, though I'd prefer to play rather than DM for a first game, to get a handle on the rules.

For anyone who doesn't know it, Wicked Ones is basically Dungeon Keeper with the BitD ruleset. You're the monsters, building your dungeon, annoying your neighbours and dealing with occasional wandering heroes :)

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Ooh that sounds fun

[shengami]

That would be neat. Again, the problem being a lack of GM... but I'd be on board. I recall loving the old Dungeon keeper video games.

[HairyHeretic]

It might be possible to get a free copy of the rules. I'm checking into it.

I've only ever played a one shot of the base BitD game, and really would prefer a bit more experience with it before running a game. Maybe we could sort of co-GM and figure stuff out that way?

[HairyHeretic]

Ok, looks like the rules are free to distribute. If anyone wants a link for them, PM me.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Well, some of my scheludes got freed so I could volunteer to run The Wicked Ones (albeit got the pdf's recently so need give it good read next weekend when I can). So game set up would happen next week at the most fast pace.

[shengami]

I look forward to hearing about it and may pick up the materials to read if I have time.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Sorry for the delay, I have taken a look over the rules and I think I can manage GM this albeit it's a heavily player narrative-related game that uses d6 dices to determine your success (and also reactionary action by environment/NPC's).

I am fine run this for 3 people minimum, but also okay run it for 5 peeps. If we get less than 3 or just 3 but desire for more, I can open a recruit thread.

In any case, I am leaning towards allowing players an additional calling ability or being able to trade it for +2 more action dices (actions they have trained in). Allowing primal abilities as needed to replace the core ability of a given calling (if the player wants to lean towards a strong racial ability but often comes with weakness). Indicating their past experiences as being lieutenants to Wicked Ones from an earlier dungeon which was overrun by adventurers/crusaders and lieutenants who had fled during the chaos.

[HairyHeretic]

I'm interested. Have to look over the rules and figure out what I want to play though

[AndyZ]

I don’t know Blades in the Dark but I see a lot of friends in these usernames.

[shengami]

I'll need to digest the rules. But shades of interested.

[Zaer Darkwail]

So got 3 interests so far, would folks want more than 3 here or fine just 3?

[HairyHeretic]

I'm leaning towards something like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0mgu0_i3c&ab_channel=WildStarOnline



Crafter, custom race

[shengami]

Ehhhh, tracking down the rules proving to be more than a casual search is annoying. Anyone got a link or source?

[HairyHeretic]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z2MzjhdC1AgNPPUobnLSvyFXfizUOzlF

And before anyone asks, yes, these are made freely available here.

[shengami]

Thanks!! I found the core pdf but not the Big Bad stuff.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

While the monster game sounds fun I’m only interested in Blades in the Dark. Hope yall have fun though!

On that note, could the monster game folks move to a new thread in case an interested BitD GM shows up?

[shengami]

Oh, on that note, I think I'll stay with Rummy and wait for BitD.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Oh yeah, that's true. I make a sepparated player's recruit thread for the monster game. Good luck for your search Rummy.

Here is link for recruit thread; https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=357406.new#new

[BlueOrange]

So, I just finished playing a live-action Blades in the Dark session, and I’m interested in GMing Blades in the Dark.

I have a pretty clear understanding of how I would do it, and will look into getting the custom die roller we used for the other game and making it available.

We would be leaning heavily into the ‘players drive the narrative’ concept, and using the BitD mechanics very much as per the book. If we get more than 4 players interested, I’ll need to consider how that impacts game balance and pacing.

Also kinda half interested in the monster thing, but I’ll look into those rules and apply (or not) to that game in their thread.

I’m open to the possibility of doing scores using Discord voice for that side of things. If so, then scores would be smut-free, sexiness would be restricted to text communications.

[BlueOrange]

@Rummy Tum Tum did you have crew playbook and location in mind? Given that the game was your idea, I think you have the right to speak first on that.

[Zaer Darkwail]

If you GM for Blades in the Dark I would not mind joining as a player, as I understood Wicked Ones is very similar in mechanics-wise but has some added wheels (for dungeon-building stuff and dark urge/dark hearts).

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Sweet! I’m thinking a Shadows crew would be fun. Leaning toward burglary but we could talk that out. Espionage sounds cool but also a lil too serious. 

[HairyHeretic]

I'd be interested in playing the regular version too

[shengami]

Obviously here for base BitD! Shadows/BUrglary sounds cool.

Now I need to reread the book.

[BlueOrange]

Awesome, Shadows it is, with an initial focus on burglary, with espionage as an option if we don’t play it too serious.

There’s some handy resources here: http://ad1066.com/bens-character-sheets/blades-in-the-dark-playbooks

Not just form-fill playbooks (best opened in a proper app, rather than a web browser), but also a briefing on various districts. Knowing which district you plan to operate in will inform the tone.

[BlueOrange]

One thing I’m not sure how to handle is the ‘assist’ mechanic. When playing at the table, it’s easy to find out quickly if there’s a player who will assist an action, and it plays well, helps make the group into a team.

I’m not sure there’s a viable option other than “When making a roll, we allow 24 hours for someone to declare that they are assisting, unless everyone says ‘no’ before the time is up.”

It seems slow. If anyone has a better idea, please chime in!

[HairyHeretic]

Is there any downside to assisting? If not, could we consider someone always available to assist?

[shengami]

Also, is there to be a discord? That'd speed thing up. Have an Assist channel? People ask, some replies. Still a time limit.

I don't think I'd be okay with auto assists. That takes an aspect of agency away.

[BlueOrange]

Is there any downside to assisting? If not, could we consider someone always available to assist?

Assisting costs a point of stress (or a use of a limited-use ability) so we shouldn't assume it.

[BlueOrange]

Also, is there to be a discord? That'd speed thing up. Have an Assist channel? People ask, some replies. Still a time limit.

I don't think I'd be okay with auto assists. That takes an aspect of agency away.

Discord is probably a good idea, and we could probably make use of the nifty BiTD-specific dice roller I've started getting used to.  Will look into that now.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Agreed on Discord speeding things up

[BlueOrange]

Discord invites sent to Rummy, Hairy, Shen, and Zaer.  Player cap for the first score (story segment) will be 6, so there's two slots left.  In the event that more than 6 people express interest, we will work out some kind of a solution.  Perhaps not everyone goes on every job.

[MadPanda]

DEFINITELY up for Blades! And Shadows as a Crew. Where’d I leave my little Lurk…?

[MadPanda]

…ahh. Voice only on Discord. By text I can do, Voice, not so much. Scheduling issues.

[BlueOrange]

Yeah, looking at the timezones (and why we joined a forum site in the first place), I don’t think voice / real-time was ever really an option, it was more of an expression of my excitement, I think. Will get an invite out shortly.

(Am doing that pretty indiscriminately at the moment, I figure that compatibility issues, if there are any, are something that can surface before they get resolved. I will NOT be setting up a recruit thread in the player section, since we have enough players to get started.)

[Ixy]

BitD looks really neat, stylistically.  Does the system have any advantages over other RPGs?

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Flexibility. For example you can flashback during a score to say you prepared for something that comes up. And you can choose your prepped gear mid-score, you're only locked into how many items you can choose (which is based on how heavy a load you pick at the score's start).