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roleplaying:bitd:start

Blades in the Dark

Old Campaign - for version 6 (current version is 8 )

Introduction

The game takes place in the cold, foggy city of Doskvol (aka Duskwall or “the Dusk”). It’s an industrial city reminiscent of our world during the second industrial revolution of the 1870s—there are trains, steamboats, printing presses, simple electrical technology, carriages, and the black smog of chimney smoke everywhere. Doskvol is a mix of Venice, London, and Prague, crowded with row-houses, twisting streets, and crisscrossed with hundreds of narrow waterways and bridges.

The city is also steeped in fantasy. The world lies in perpetual darkness, haunted by ghosts—a consequence of the cataclysm that shattered the sun and broke the Gates of Death a thousand years ago. Each city in the empire is encircled by crackling lightning towers to keep out vengeful spirits and the twisted horrors of the deathlands. To power these massive barriers, titanic metal ships from the leviathan hunters set out from Doskvol to extract electroplasmic blood from the demonic leviathans that dwell in the ink-dark Void Sea.

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

Inspirations

Session Structure

Other than Session 0, sessions usually consist of a score/job started In Media Res, then Downtime afterwards followed by discovering/choosing which score/job to do next

Core Mechanics

As a fiction first game, players have more narrative control than traditional RPGs. This means that players will often know things their characters should not and will make story relevant choices that may not be in their character's best interests. Usually this is choosing between which bad result is the most interesting to have happen. Deep Cuts simplifies the main Action roll of the base game to a Threat Roll which combines several rolls into one.
Other changes include:

  • Harm level now no longer automatically effects the character. You get XP when the GM chooses to have it effect you. You can remind the GM when appropriate. Also level 1 Harm goes away in Downtime.
  • The player chooses when to invoke Trauma and gets XP for it. Once per session per Trauma. You may also use long term projects to recover Trauma.
  • Load is changed to conspicuous and discreet and is based on carrying heavy or bulky items.
  • Advancement is now handled with clocks, you cash in filled clocks to improve different parts of your playbook or crew sheet at different costs (from 1 to 4 filled clocks).
  • Downtime actions now are diceless. Some crew advances cost coin rather than XP. Tier advancements are now based on reputation, having a strong hold on your claimed territories and the minimum number of advances and cohorts. Vice being overindulged is now based on how much Stress you have. There are various changes to the types of activities you do as well.
  • The Devil's Bargain is now not automatically a bad thing that happens. It now has a cost or adds a Threat.
  • Gathering Information is no longer a separate mechanic.
  • Teamwork has been expanded.

Cheat Sheet

Character Sheets

Playbooks

What type of character are you?

Deep Cuts (11)

Official (10)

Unofficial (72)

Crews

Who do you work with?

Official & Deep Cuts (6)

Unofficial (14)

Factions

There are many faction in and around the city. When choosing your crew you also collectively choose which factions you have interactions with. The majority of factions will be unlikely to appear in a campaign unless you undertake specific plot actions to interact with them. Deep Cuts adds more factions including many relevant to the additional ongoing plot. Some faction descriptions include spoilers and should be avoided. Every faction has a tier from 0 to VI. Tiers are similar to levels and cover a faction's scale and quality (e.g. Tier V often has 80 members, but I has 3-6). Fighting higher Tiers gives you limited effect and lower Tiers gives you great effect. Effects are based on the type of action you are doing.

Your Crew is regarded as a Tier 0 faction with a strong hold on your territory (ie not likely to get worse in Tier)

Factions are grouped by their member types

  • Underworld (17) from Tier I to IV
  • Institutions (18) from Tier I to VI
  • Labour and Trade (12) from Tier II to IV
  • The Fringe (12) from Tier 0 to IV
  • Citizenry (6) from Tier II to V
roleplaying/bitd/start.txt · Last modified: 2025/03/31 19:02 by curufea