Table of Contents
Deep Cuts Cheat Sheet
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Threat roll
When you face a negative consequence from a dangerous opponent or challenging situation, make a Threat Roll to see if you can avoid it.
- The GM must clearly state the threat before the roll
- The failure of an action is also a Threat
Standard roll
The default check is risky, and the effect is standard. Make an Action roll or an Attribute roll:
- 6 6 Triumph: You avoid the threat
- And gain Edge
- 6 Success: You avoid the threat
- 4/5 Peril: suffer a reduced consequence
- Or push yourself to prevent the effects entirely
- 1-3 Threat: You suffer the consequence
- Or push yourself to reduce the consequence
Controlled position
- No roll needed.
- If you want to achieve more-ask for Devil's Bargain.
Desperate position
- 6: Success: You avoid the threat.
- 1-5 Threat: You suffer the consequence.
- Or push yourself to reduce the consequence
- Mark XP
Additional Threats
The GM can add additional threats depending on the situation:
- Add +1d for every additional Threat
- Assign roll result for every Threat
Push yourself
When you suffer a consequence, you can choose to push yourself to avoid or reduce it
- Make a roll using the related Attribute to
- improve result of Threat roll
- increase effect of the action you take
- activate certain abilities
- Mark stress according to the result of the roll:
- 6 6: 0 stress
- 6: 1 stress
- 4/5: 2 stresses
- 1-3: 3 stresses
Edge
Edge can be gained on a Threat Roll when you roll more than one 6.
- Edge can be:
- Spent immediately to increase the effect of an action.
- Carry forward to add +1d to future roll.
- While assisting teammate you can spend an Edge on their roll.
- Edges can be accumulated.
- Any remaining Edge you have is lost when Downtime begins.
Effects & Consequences
Effects and Consequences are categorized by levels of impact:
- Limited 1 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
- Standard 2 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
- Great 3 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
- Extreme 4 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
Devil's Bargain
The way to achieve something for a cost or facing the threat.
- Pay the cost (from minor to major)
- Mark stress (or ask to push)
- Tick a clock
- Spend coin
- Suffer harm
- Lose item
- Take heat
- Lose rep
- Lose faction status
- Face the threat
- Or to try a different approach
- If is already facing a threat and making a roll, player can ask for a Devil's Bargain to add +1d and an additional threat
Teamwork
For a teamwork characters need to be in fictional position to do so or take Devil's Bargain to get into position.
Assist
- Benefits when help or protect teammate, or set up they action:
- Add +1d to roll
- Reduce the severity of a consequence
- Improve effect or position
- More details or questions when they gather info
- While Assisting teammate you can spend an Edge on their roll
Cover
- An action you take so your teammate doesn't have to face a particular threat. GM tells you what need to be done:
- You just accomplish it
- You need to do to get into position first
- You need to take a Devil's Bargain to do it
Coordinate
When the team coordinates, designate a leader - they can push themselves on behalf of any other character who's acting with the team (in addition to the Scoundrel pushing themselves).
- Group action
- Everyone faces the same threat
- Each player rolls individually
- A benefit from a group action can be an increase in scale
- Divide & Conquer
- Team faces a variety of threats
- Each tackles a threat with their own action
Harm
Harm Levels
If you suffer Harm at a level that has all instances filled, the Harm advances to the next highest level of severity.
- 1. Temporary Condition (unlimited number)
- Temporary negative conditions that can impede your character
- If you suffer the same condition twice, bump it up to level 2 but no further if all 2 level instances are filled
- Go away with time and doesn't require treatment for recovery
- Some conditions might require an action to remove
- Some conditions are removed when it makes sense in the fiction, or invoked couple of times
- Remove all conditions when Downtime starts
- 2. Lasting Harm (2 slots)
- Serious injuries, ailments, or impairments
- 3. Severe Harm (1 slot)
- Major wounds which can incapacitate a character
- Wound what may become fatal if not treated
- 4. Fatal Harm
- A mortal wound or instant death, depending on the situation
- If not instantly lethal, you may survive if someone can treat the wound and stabilize you within a few minutes
- Remains and must be dealt with during a recovery activity
- Record a Scar: a permanent injury, it may be invoked like Harm
Invoking Harm
The GM may invoke harm to impede the character, creating a problem or limitation for them
- Invoke Harm to
- Introduce a bad outcome or new problem for the character
- Reduce an Action and/or Attribute rating for a roll
- Reduce the character's position or effect
- Mark XP when Harm is invoked
- Tough it Out
- take 1 Stress per level of the Harm and draw a line through it.
Trauma
When you need to mark Stress, but all your boxes are marked, gain a Trauma condition for your character
- Mark one of your Trauma boxes
- Remove all your Stress
- Describe your character's Trauma reaction
Invoking Trauma
Each of your characters Trauma conditions can be invoked once per session to create a problem or complication for them
- Mark XP when Trauma is invoked
- This replaces the end-of-session xp award for trauma
- Only the player may invoke their character's trauma
Retirement & Recover
- When you mark your fourth Trauma box, your character retires
- Before that, you may be able to recover from Trauma
- Work with the GM to create a long-term project
Load
Before the score choose your character's load style:
- Conspicuous
- 6 item boxes
- Choose and mark heavy items before the score
- Discreet
- 6 item boxes
- You may not bring any heavy items
If you pick something up during a score, count it as a marked load box
- if you mark a 5th box, your character becomes conspicuous
- If you mark a 7th box, your character becomes encumbered
- can no longer climb, run, or swim unless they drop enough
- You can't carry more than 9 boxes worth of load
Gathering information
- Tell obvious information, including
- what they know
- what they intuit
- what they suspect might be true
- Base information on the appropriate aspect of a character
- playbook
- background
- heritage
- special items
- special abilities
If there's more to discover, ask them what they do to find out. Based on their action choose one:
- Offer a Devil's Bargain
- a cost: Coin, Heat, Stress, or ticking a clock
- a threat
- Give them a lead
- They know person, place or thing what gives them opportunity to get the information
- Ask to start a long-term project to investigate the information
Advancement Clocks
Draw four 6-segment advancement clocks for character playbook and crew playbook. Whenever you would mark xp, tick a clock instead.
- If all clocks filled, extra xp isn't lost. Just make an additional clock Cost of advancement in clocks:
- 2 New special ability from your playbook or crew sheet
- 3 Veteran special ability
- 1 Crew Upgrade (per box)
- If using Downtime module only Cohorts cost XP advances
- 1-4 Action or Attribute dot
- Depends on filled dots in Attribute or Skill rating
Downtime: Crew Phase
- First, each cohort heals one level of Harm.
- Then resolve
- Fallout
- Payoff
- Entanglements
- Development
- Heat & Hold.
Fallout
The GM assesses the fallout from the score in the form of faction Status changes and the amount of Heat gained.
- Adjust the crew's Status with factions affected by the score
- +1 if the score significantly helped the faction.
- +2 if the score was a major boon for the faction.
- -1 if the score hurt the faction.
- -2 if the score was a major problem for the faction.
- -3 Set Status to -3 if the crew initiated war with a faction.
- Assess base Heat, plus any additional Heat from the score
- Base 0 for a smooth, low exposure operation.
- Base 2 for a standard criminal operation.
- +1 Heat per crew Tier.
- +2 for a high profile or well-connected target.
- +2 for open combat, destruction, or mayhem.
- +2 if you're at war with another faction.
- +4 if death occurred in connection to the score.
- +2 if there are witnesses that can be questioned
- +4 if specific crew members were identified.
Payoff
Determine the payoff from the score, rep gained, and any additional Coin from seized assets.
- Payoff
- 1 Coin per PC, plus Coin equal to the target's Tier x3
- Rep
- 1 Rep for every 2 Heat generated by the score.
+1 Rep per Tier of the target above the crew's Tier
- Seized Assets
- Take +4 Coin if you seize a load of cash.
- Very valuable stolen items can be fenced for 2-8 Coin (but you take 1 Heat for every 4 Coin of value).
- Tithe
- If you're Tier 2 or lower, pay a tithe to your ward boss
- Tithe: 1 Coin for every 4 Coin you earned from the score
- As GM to go for debt, favor or trouble instead
Vaults and Banks
- In addition to the crew's vaults and the Scoundrel's stashes, you may deposit Coin in a bank. When your crew has wanted levels, you lose access to all funds in the bank until you remove all your wanted levels (or devise a way to gain illicit access). Some legitimate business transactions (like a legal purchase of a property deed) may require funds in a bank to complete
Entanglements
Play entanglement if Heat is 6+ or when the fiction demands
- When gains a Wanted level, mark crew xp and pick Bluecoats
- Bluecoats: assail crew with a severity of your Wanted Level (adjusted down by your positive faction Status with the Bluecoats).
- 4: Lethal force, arrests, loss of lair and all assets.
- 3: Severe Beatings (Harm 3), an arrest, destruction of assets.
- 2: Serious Beatings (Harm 2), interrogation, seizure of assets.
- 1: Beatings (Harm 1), demands, observation/tailing.
- 0: Questioning, harassment, threats, observation/tailing.
- They can be bought off for Coin equal to your Wanted level +4.
- Devilry: A spirit or other supernatural entity is drawn to the crew
- Favour: A +2 or +3 Status faction asks you to do a job for them.
- Agree to do it or lose 1 Status with them
- Flipped: one of contacts switch allegiances
- Remove them as an ally until you get that worked out.
- Rascals: A cohort or contact causes problems for the crew.
- Make amends or lose Status with aggrieved faction
- Show of Force: A negative Status faction moves against you.
- Make them an offer (Coin or a Claim) to back off or go to war.
- Under Their Thumb: An authority forces you to do their dirty work
- Or Bluecoats entanglement, as if your Wanted Level 1 higher
- The Usual Suspects: The Bluecoats questions your connections.
- Make a Fortune Roll based on their resilience and loyalty
- The crew suffers 3 Heat minus the highest die.
Development
These crew upgrades cost Coin instead of crew advances:
- 6 coins
- Camouflage, Rigging, or Underground Maps & Passkeys.
- 8 coins
- Composed, Hardened, Ordained, or Steady (per box) Ironhook Contacts, Ritual Sanctum.
- 10 coins
- Barge, Lair Upgrade, Quality, or Training Mastery (per box)
Upgrade a Cohort to Elite quality.
Heat & Hold
- Reduce Heat
- For each +2 Status with a Tier 3+ faction, reduce Heat by 1.
- Reduce Heat by 1 for each Coin or Rep they expend
- Ask the GM if there's anything else you can do to reduce Heat
- Assess Hold
- Hold on their Tier is measured by your number of turf claims
- Strong hold: number of turf claims greater or equal your Tier
- Weak hold: number of turf claims is lower than your Tier
Downtime: Scoundrel Phase
- Restore your Armour and Special Armour
- Remove all level 1 Harm.
- Add 1 tick to your Healing clock if you have a safe place to rest.
- The rest of the downtime consists of Vice and Activities.
- Each player can do these in any order
- Each pursuit includes a question or two to prompt roleplaying and future game play possibilities.
Vice
When indulging vice, spend 1 Coin and clear all of your Stress
- If your stress level was 6 or more, you overindulge:
- 1 Get Wild: Damage property; terrify citizens.
Take -1 Status with the appropriate faction or citizenry - 2 Big Spender: You indulge lavishly; spend +1 Coin
- 3 Brag about your exploits: +1 Heat
- 4 Attract Trouble: Face entanglement
- 5 Tapped: Your purveyor cuts you off. Find a new one
- 6 Wasted: Your Vice costs a downtime activity
- Instead of overindulgence, you can choose to be lost to your vice. Play a different character until this one returns.
Debt
You may go into debt with a provider if they agree.
- Note the initial Coin you owe
- Make a 4-segmented clock and tick it every Downtime
- If the clock fills, the provider takes steps to get their money back
- To remove a tick:
- pay Coin equal to half the initial amount (round up)
- or do a favor
- Resolve your debt: pay the initial amount and have no ticks
Supply Clocks
Clock to track acquired supplies or other acquisitions:
- Example applications:
- Product stockpiles
- Blackmail secrets
- Promised favors
- Provision in the deathlands
- For a significant expenditure, tick the clock multiple times.
Activities
Each Scoundrel may pursue two free activities during downtime.
- Additional activities cost 1 Coin or 1 Rep each.
- If you have level 3 Harm or survived a mortal wound, you must use at least one of your downtime activities to Recover.
Acquire
Gain temporary items, services, vehicles, or cohorts for the crew.
- Make a 4-segmented supply clock for the acquisition
- tick each time it's used in a consequential way
- Pay 1 Coin for every level of Quality higher than the crew's Tier.
- Pay +1 Coin for a special feature
- If the acquisition is very rare, restricted, or prohibited, ask the GM:
- how much extra Coin and/or Heat is required to get it
- or if you'll need to acquire it with a score
- Acquire a personal item in the same manner, comparing its Quality to your Lifestyle rating.
Recover
- When you recover in a safe location:
- gain ticks on your healing clock equal to your crew's Tier+1.
- When your healing clock fills
- reduce each instance of Harm you have by one level.
- when you remove all Harm, clear your healing clock.
- With services of a Physicker:
- remove an instance of Harm with a level equal to or less than their Quality
- Physickers on the playbooks (like Sawtooth) are Quality 2
- For each Coin you pay, increase the Physicker's Quality by one
- Stay in a private hospital:
- remove all of your Harm
- then choose: Take 1 Heat and pay 2 Coin -or- pay 3 Coin
- there are no public hospitals in Doskvol
Train
Use this activity to spend xp to get an advance for your character. (You don't advance instantly as in standard Blades)
- Acquire an instructor if you don't already have one
- Act as an instructor in an area of your expertise
- When you're an instructor, you may spend xp to advance.
Work
- Accomplish a simple project
- Quick side job
- earn 1 Coin
- ask the GM if you can charge more for your work
- Work on long term project
- make an 8-segment clock
- When you spend an activity working on it, mark a number of ticks equal to your Action rating
- Add +1 tick if you have a workshop or special advantages
- Elaborate projects require multiple clocks to complete.