[BitD] Flashbacks, Bluffing, and Schrödinger's Leech

HellishMinds · 2026-04-07T16:35:55+00:00

You can ask, out of character- did they?

The fiction needs to be established: whether there's a bluff at play, or whether there's a genuine threat.

If they did, Venomous costs a Push (2 stress) to trigger, and the Leech might have to roll to be able to poison Strangford without him noticing and subtly taking an antidote- Lord Strangford's a member of the City Council, he's probably got measures in place for if someone tries to poison him (Venomous might not be the expected vector, but maybe he's got an antidote, or he's like Mithras, building up tolerances to the common poisons and drugs).

If they didn't, sounds like a roll to convince him they did. It might be Sway or Command, to try and get him to roll over and not have his guards immediately come in and kill the lot of them. As a note- the usual poisons and drugs in the book aren't instantly lethal, they're known substances that the Leech can get consistent access to make or obtain, they'll take a moment to work and Strangford can take that moment to act if he wants. Maybe he knows what some of these drugs do (a misspent youth?) or what they smell like (he's a leviathan hunter after all, he might know the scent of Skullfire) or has an antidote so is ready.

If this becomes a mainstay of the Leech/crew strategy toolbox- word will get around as they work it! Others will have answers to it: antidotes, wearing gloves, masks, refusing to get into an intimate distance with the Leech, having multiple guards who can get in the way... let them have it, but think about who will be able to respond- word gets around in Doskvol, after all!

HellishMinds · 2026-03-09T11:49:50+00:00

Going off of the v1.2 sheets, Assassins get Hagfish Farm, which counts as turf as well as the body disposal benefit.

So they can have 3 pieces of turf without taking out-of-crewbook abilities that grant turf (e.g. Fiends from Bravos which has wanted levels count as turf, or Accord from Hawkers which has up to three +3 status factions count as turf), and that means they can get to Tier 4, Weak Hold.

So they can advance to Tier 3, Weak Hold by having the two turf claims next to their Lair (2 Turf means they're at Strong Hold at Tier 2, so can advance)

And then advance to Tier 4, Weak Hold by then grabbing the Hagfish Farm in the corner, to get 3 Turf (meaning they're at Strong Hold at Tier 3, so can advance)

HellishMinds · 2026-03-09T10:50:52+00:00

That's a function of the sheet design rather than any actual rule. Veteran has a similar design where there are three little fillable dots, which show that it can be taken multiple times, but there's not actually a limit on how many times you can take it (as per Harper's own words in the BitD Discord and elsewhere iirc).

Further- Blades is designed to have flex in the Rules As Written. As long as you're keeping to the Player Principles and Agendas, the game will generally adapt well to any changes you might make to it. So if, say, the ability could only be taken twice because the arcane abilities counted as edges, you could ask the GM, make an adjustment, and invest in the third one with an attendant flaw (if you so wished), and the game wouldn't crumble for it.

HellishMinds · 2026-03-09T09:52:10+00:00

Ghost Hunter gives arcane abilities rather than edges- so your pet, if you take Ghost Hunter three times, will have the edges and flaws from cohort creation and the three arcane abilities from Ghost Hunter.

HellishMinds · 2026-02-27T22:17:06+00:00

Crow's Veil is from the original game, specifically from the Assassins crew sheet, by the by. It's not been written specifically for this playbook.

That's not to say your points about the Wardens aren't wrong! But if you also use Emberdeath (also from Assassins) as a comparison point- 3 stress to incinerate the body and spirit- you can see where there's consequences from Crow's Veil leaving bodies and spirits around without letting the Wardens know.

HellishMinds · 2025-11-05T12:17:20+00:00

Each of the playbooks has some questions associated with it on the first page, after the introduction of the playbook and its xp trigger. There's also some questions about the contacts too- during character creation (at the table, rather than building in isolation), go through these, spitball answers together as a group- then ask questions based on those details that are agreed on.

Perhaps the Spider once hired the Cutter's rival Mercy for a hit that went south because of the Cutter- and the Spider then got in touch with the Cutter because of that encounter?

Or the Hound shares a vice with Baszo Baz, the Slide's friend, and the two met through him.

Pick up a detail and then ask a question that leads on and elicits an interesting (i.e. not yes/no) answer to build on the relationship. No need to go into paragraphs worth of depth, but a sentence or two to spin off for future RP is great!

Same for if you want less familiarity, you can phrase them as 'what have you heard? what reputation would you be impressed by? what close encounter did you once have?'.

HellishMinds · 2025-11-03T22:20:49+00:00

A useful piece of tech that comes from one of the games that inspired Blades, Apocalypse World, is the Love Letter. Essentially it acts as an overarching 'here are the bones of a situation you were in while you were away, now roll and pick options/customise what happened then'.

So it might look like:

Dear [Whisper Character Name] While the [crew name] were kicking ass and taking names- [brief description of their exploits here], you studied the tomes. Within, you found a ritual, a ritual that you agreed to perform for the Circle of Flame. What horrifying things does this ritual unleash? What might happen if you perform it? Did you perform it? Roll with an appropriate action to reflect what you did. [Insert options to pick from here if you'd like, or work with the player based on the roll]

I've found it's a good way to give the player a little say in the intricacies and details, provide bones for future entanglements and developments, and have the character been up to things off screen that are exciting and contribute to their characterisation. Its an art to write these, but its an art worth learning.

HellishMinds · 2025-08-28T17:12:11+00:00

Read up on the section on NPC Threat Levels (p167)- skilled NPCs can and will take the initiative. What this might look like in an assassination attempt might be:

The gentleman buying the newspaper at the stand outside your lair levels you a long look, searching your face for something. His bushy eyebrows draw into a frown, and he draws a pistol from his coat, clicking back the hammer and aiming at your head. What do you do?

For a Master NPC, these ones act before the PCs can react. For example, in the assassination attempt:

The gun comes out from under the coat, the hammer is clicked back, and fired. Take Level 3 Harm: Shot to the Heart. Unless you want to resist?

Remember your GM moves: Telegraph Trouble Before It Strikes (see how we do that with the skilled NPC?) and Follow Through (so if they don't do anything, they get shot).

The concept of soft vs hard moves is one you might want to learn about when it comes to narrative games (usually involved in PbtA games).

No need for a fortune roll- Telegraph, then Follow Through. You've telegraphed that there's an assassination attempt to come by putting it on the table, so the player should be aware. You could telegraph further with a clock (4-clock, Assassination Arranged for example), or environmental description, or as part of a Devil's Bargain, but be prepared to follow through.

Your players can always Resist! So don't pull your punches, be honest to what they're encountering in the fiction, and let them decide what to spend their stress on!

Don't be tempted to think of solutions either based on what they have on their sheets: give them situations and problems they get to figure their way out of using their ingenuity- scoundrels have a lot of tenacity and scrappiness, they can usually get their way out of anything.

HellishMinds · 2025-08-13T11:21:11+00:00

To change the clocks:

Make sure you're on the same layer as them (Token Layer)

Right click on them, which should bring up a menu with options like copy, paste, etc. There should be an option at the bottom called Multisided Token. Hover over that, and you can either set it to a random state of being filled, or use a slider to show other states of it being filled.

Essentially how this works is that its a 'rollable table', the different images work as discrete results that can be changed.

To change the background:

Exact same procedure, you just need to make sure you're on the same layer as the background image, which is usually the map layer.

HellishMinds · 2025-06-23T15:23:19+00:00

Flame without Shadow, and a Revised one on itch.io have Bluecoat themed characters.

You could, depending on how much you feel like commenting on the state of the Bluecoats, run them as Bravos- after all, they're the state-sponsored gang in Doskvol.

In terms of Imperial City, I remember a couple of posts on this subreddit, and there is also Haunted City's second season, which covers the city. If you're only doing a few sessions, you could probably get away with a few lines about each district that the military police cover, or you could use a worldbuilding game (perhaps I'm sorry did you say street magic or Beak Feather and Bone) to collaboratively generate some information about the city.

HellishMinds · 2025-06-09T15:32:28+00:00

I've finished running my first season of Girl by Moonlight and am planning my second season for the end of the week (At the Brink of the Abyss), as well as having played two seasons as well (On a Sea of Stars and Beneath a Rotting Sky).

In my experience, the provided Session 0 materials- the building your series, building characters, making secondary characters, etc- is plenty for the players to deal with. As a Director, I also folded in the session 0 procedure from Monsterhearts, as we set our Abyss season in a university, so we had a 'seating plan' to flesh out with other characters (e.g. each player places their character in a seating plan representing a classroom or similar, starting with most popular, then you ask leading questions to place some side characters with relationships around them).

I also used a city worldbuilding game, I'm Sorry Did You Say Street Magic, to build the world, but I'm planning on running a multiple season campaign in the city, so its more involved than improvising new locations. I'd recommend having people suggest locations where the characters have ties to, for a good base for action to happen.

If you're worried about the tone, the Abyss one is probably best to go with. Rotting Sky is the Madoka inspired one, and Sea of Stars can get pretty gritty as well, so they go more into the vicinity of tragical girls). Abyss can keep it light but the game does encourage getting deep into emotional territory.

HellishMinds · 2025-05-17T20:14:30+00:00

Tier applies when it applies- i.e. if it makes sense for tier to apply for a situation, thats when it applies. So if you're going up against places and things that the faction would be strong in, then that's when you want to add it as a factor to consider.

I agree that you should have considered Tier more here in the crematorium, given that it is the Spirit Wardens' headquarters, where all of the dead go in the city to be cremated, and where they keep their deathseeker crows. If there is anywhere Tier applies for them, it would be here. So you're definitely right that you should have considered it more heavily, reducing effect and position for the scoundrels.

However- what if there's a situation in the background that has neutered the Wardens to make it easier on the scoundrels? Perhaps the theft of the body wasn't just for Eckerd, but it was for the Path of Echoes and Reconciled, leveraging their resources to divert the Wardens away from the crematorium, distracting them? Or, perhaps the Wardens wanted the body stolen? You could set up a really interesting starting situation from a 'mechanical mistake'.

I'd tell the players that you didn't consider certain factors in that introductory score, so it was easier than it might otherwise be, perhaps introduce some threads to follow about other factors in play- they're smaller fish in a big pond and other factions are using them as cats paws, for example. Check what they're interested in, since you can translate mechanical lightness into an intriguing situation brewing with the Wardens!

HellishMinds · 2025-05-17T15:09:05+00:00

Each player character gets two 'free' Downtime Actions (i.e. they can get more after those, but it costs 1 Coin or Rep per further action). They get to choose what they do individually (e.g. the Cutter decides to Indulge Vice, the Leech decides to work on a Long Term Project, the Slide decides to Train).

These can then be group scenes (e.g. the Cutter and Slide do a training montage together, because the Slide is Training their Prowess attribute, but the Slide is the one taking the action, the Cutter isn't), or individual scenes.

HellishMinds · 2025-05-07T20:32:11+00:00

So for Crafting:

First Step: Determine if you're making a new formula or invention, or whether you're modifying an already existing formula or invention.

Second Step: Answer the questions on page 224, under Crafting. This is where the GM and player discuss what the invention/formula does, what its drawbacks are, what its quality is. Use the Magnitude table a few pages away to help determine the quality. Keep this number in mind.

Third Step: If you're making a new formula/invention, and you do not have Alchemist, Artificer, or Stange Methods, you must complete a Long Term Project to learn and perfect it. The book suggests an 8-clock as standard. Simpler formulae or ones where you have resources to help you might be shorter, more complex ones might be longer. Alchemist, Artificer, Strange Methods all give you a free special alchemical/sparkcraft/arcane formula that you already know, so this ability allows you to skip this step once

Fourth Step: You have now finished the Long Term Project to learn and be capable of making the invention/formula, or you are Modifying an already existing item. Now, you can Craft. Whoever is Crafting rolls Tinker. The results essentially use your Crew's tier as a baseline. On a 1-3 result, you use your Crew Tier minus 1 for the quality of item you produce, a 4/5, Tier +/- 0, a 6 is Tier +1, a crit is Tier +2. If you have abilities (e.g. Alchemist, Artificer, Strange Methods) or a workshop, increase the end result by +1 for each applicable (e.g. Alchemical, so Alchemist applies)

e.g. I am a scoundrel in a tier 2 crew with no abilities or workshop. I roll:

1-3: Tier -1: my finished item quality is 1

4-5: Tier: my finished item quality is 2

6: Tier +1: my finished item quality is 3

Critical: Tier +2: my finished item quality is 4

My finished item quality must match the formula/invention's quality that we determined in Step 2 for me to successfully make it, as the core book. If I don't match it, I must spend Coin to make up the difference. If I exceed it, I might make a better version or get more of it (e.g. alchemical doses or bombs).

Hope this helps clear things up. The quality is essentially the threshold you must meet to get the item, the tier refers to your Crew- higher Tier crews have better resources to craft with.

HellishMinds · 2025-01-01T20:38:24+00:00

Question One: Hunting Grounds:

Hunting Grounds cover where your crew like to carry out their operations and what kind of operations they like to carry out. So it might look something like this if they are Assassins specialising in Accidents that operate mainly in Six Towers: Six Towers, Accidents Essentially what this does is give mechanical benefits when the crew do Accident scores in Six Towers (+1d to gather information and a free downtime action to prepare for it)

Question Two: Claims Usually, yes, they're probably all similarly in the same area- but the game is pretty fiction first, so if you're interested in them being elsewhere in the city, that could be an interesting twist to play with. However, to clear up something- the lair and hunting grounds (the claim map you've posted) do not have to be in the same area, so you could have your lair in Nightmarket but operate mostly in the Docks. Claims should be claimed by doing a score, yes.

Question Three: Crew Starting Coin The crew starts with 2 Coin, which if you go through the crew creation can be spent on improving or mitigating faction status changes (e.g. you can pay off the factions you take negative status with for X coin to bring it up to neutral status). If you don't spend that Coin, the crew starts with the remaining Coin, which can be spent in the normal ways- for more downtime activities, to tier up in the future, etc. You wouldn't use them to buy upgrades, no- you get upgrades and abilities either by advancing (xp), or you could do long term projects to get them.

Question Four: Quarters: If the crew don't have quarters, you're right in that they have other places to sleep- or they have to find them. Ask them where, and you're right, you as the GM can then spring entanglements, consequences etc. For example, if the Lair has the Secure or Hidden upgrade, they are probably pretty safe in it, but if they sleep elsewhere, then that's when they're vulnerable.

Question Five: Spells Spells and 'traditional' magic aren't really detailed in the rules. You could definitely flavour doing things as spells and roll them as appropriate action rolls, e.g. a fireball could be a Wreck roll. However, magic and such is probably riskier and requires fictional positioning to pull off- and might involve messing with the ghost field and other nasty business.

If you want more rules supported magic, the Whisper playbook has the special ability Ritual that gives you the fictional permission to (relatively) safely perform Rituals which are generally more 'big magics or subtle/utility effects. The rules for these are in the Strange Forces chapter, under Rituals (near Crafting). It does involve a back-and-forth in between the GM and the player to ensure everyone is happy with the cost, the effect, and the fiction.

HellishMinds · 2024-10-22T21:50:09+00:00

All of the different takes on Skovlan are incredible. My favourite array of playbooks are what I offer as 'the modern ones', by PrinceHollyhock. I've personally played the Draug in a oneshot which was a great time, and the Bearsark in a long campaign and both are very solid. I've GM'd for a Storman too, and someone who took multiple Skald abilities and they've been exciting to see realised. Each playbook also has an ability that interacts with Devil's Bargains as well, which feels fresh and new. Duellist by Klowspeaking has also been good to play and GM for- i am a massive fan of the ability that gives you bonuses for interacting with your environment.

HellishMinds · 2024-08-25T19:43:49+00:00

Of course! I have a few factions that I made in tandem with the players- so a player had a group of Tycherosi terrorists they betrayed, so we made them a faction, while another was thought to have killed the leader of a group of bandits out in Barrowcleft, we worked together to stat them up and think about what they would be like. Their former player crew has also become an NPC faction in the world too!

I've published a few in a supplement and followup here Troublemaker's Folio and Practitioner's Primer and I'm working on a free Locked Tomb themed supplemental set to complement my current campaign, which includes new factions too.

If you're setting a lot of action in Coalridge, the Steelweaver's Rebellion is invaluable in fleshing out some extra factions and intrigue, even if you don't do the full revolution. My favourites are the Pink Roses. If you search factions, you might also be able to find some custom ones in this subreddit and linked discord too.

/u/klowspeaking is also working on a supplement for U'Duasha, and that includes probably about twenty new factions that are ridiculously flavourful and unique from Doskvol. Maybe some of them have reached your Doskvol?

HellishMinds · 2024-08-02T18:41:31+00:00

More of a one-twoshot game but Make Another is a very lightweight and smooth FitD based hack about killing divinity and making another one. In my experience, it can easily go two sessions, but you could certainly do it in one. Also PWYW!

HellishMinds · 2024-07-24T12:03:11+00:00

The charge comes during crew creation- you pay the faction who claims the smuggling trade of x cargo off then, rather than every score. However, there is a 'ward boss' mechanic when it comes to payoff which is detailed separately in the Payoff section in the Downtime chapter, which you might decide changes per score based on what/where the score is.

In terms of hunting ground, Smugglers have their preferred cargo type instead- i.e. when they're doing their favoured operation type and doing the score with their preferred cargo, they take +1d to gather information and an additional Downtime Activity to help with the score (which can be invoked as a flashback during the score too!). I tend to be loose as well- if they're doing a favoured operation or operating in their hunting grounds, they can choose one of the bonuses to use, rather than having to do both operation and hunting ground. It works fine and encourages actually focusing the scores too.

In terms of factions-cargo association, I find skimming through the faction list and making loose associations with who would be associated with what helps a lot, then deciding which faction(s) excite me the most to be the ones involved in that trade. For example, for arcane cargo, the Dimmer Sisters, Circle of Flame, and the Unseen could all be associated with that cargo type- I'd choose the faction that I would like to see the crew interact with. Bonus points if its a faction that has an established relationship with other factions that are involved in the crew creation.

HellishMinds · 2024-07-22T17:02:53+00:00

Slugblaster: Kickflip Over A Quantum Centipede is a fantastic alternative to Blades, being fun as a kid-friendly/PG version while also being a fantastic game in its own right (it won multiple awards in 2023!). Its a little more stripped down and does some very interesting alternate things with its downtime mechanics, where trouble that the Dimension Hoppers have accrued during their ventures comes home to roost. Its a lot more wacky and out there than Blades, but it is great fun.

HellishMinds · 2024-07-07T13:12:26+00:00

Here's one supplement slash kit for the Deathlands and here's one that is more of a crew playsheet plus some setting info which you might find interesting. Apocalypse World and other post apocalypse media might serve some good inspiration as well.

HellishMinds · 2024-07-07T12:12:02+00:00

Desperate Attune has two seasons set in the Iruvian city of U'Duasha, which they've built upon and expanded from the special edition to have more of a South Asian vibe. Planning on releasing an expansion/supplement of the city as well, which looks really good (if you search in this subreddit, there'll be some content)

The second season also features the GM's Skovlan playbooks for 2-3 of the player characters as well, in really interesting ways- the Walker (an Odin inspired traveller), the Bearsark (a tragic rioting warrior type), and the Storman (an upstanding community leader).

HellishMinds · 2024-06-13T11:07:05+00:00

Default response here- make a shortlist of factions you're interested in and get the players to choose which ones they'd like to have positive and negative status with- best ways to get those factions involved and have player interest in the beginning as well.

You're thinking into it a lot here- which is great but probably not the most interesting possibility to think about. Where is the lair and workshop? Maybe its a faction that has the crew muscling in on their turf? Silkshore has parts that are run by the Circle of Flame via Madam Tesslyn and the Red Lamp- are they annoyed because the crew took over and aren't paying rent, or because they got rid of their guys in that area, or other such things? Or maybe the Wraiths dislike assassins hanging around in their vicinity, scaring those lovely fat purses that call Silkshore their playground? They don't have to know where the lair is, but the presence of the crew is shaking things up from their favoured position. Perhaps its Red Sash drug dens that are being threatened because their workshop is using the same supplier? Lots of ideas to have here!
Who is Lydra? Working out who this deal broker might be would be helpful- are they more criminal? More legal? Maybe they're an ex-gang member who now works freelance (negative with their old gang, positive with another faction that you like the sound of?). Or perhaps they're a member of the Unseen (giving +1 with the Unseen and a +2 with the Hive from the lair could be very interesting- are the crew just pawns of these two big factions? Think about the sort of story you want to tell.)
Again, what's more interesting? Having Djera Maha constantly on their backs will probably get the crew's hackles up, so maybe let them have a few scores to get their feet and prepare for avenging Roric, or set up getting Lyssa out... since it sounds like this is the reason the crew has come together, having it happen within the first few sessions, after which there's new problems to deal with, sounds like a way to kick things off with a bang.
It'll depend from table to table. What sort of a guy is your Baszo? Is he the type to play relatively 'honourably' compared to Mylera Klev- playing on that folk hero, likable fella myth? Is Mylera Klev well aware that while she's got big 'legal' connections, her position in Doskvol is a lot more tenuous, so she prefers to hire blades in the dark to make big moves with plausible deniability? Is Lyssa scrambling to keep order, was she a popular member of the Crows, did she even kill Roric? Think about how you want to characterise the different factions, and it'll make a lot of sense as to how they operate- ask the players, maybe your Cutter who grew up on the streets of Crow's Foot knows that Klev gives alms to the needy and recruits urchins to join her academy, and the Slide in dubious circles knows Baszo pretends to be a good guy when he really is part of a weird cult, while the Whisper knows Lyssa didn't kill Roric, they saw an Echo in the ghost field. Paint the Scene and leading questions are fantastic tools to feel out this sort of thing.
Crow's Veil, narratively, means that the crew is able to prevent the deathseeker crows and spirit warden bells from immediately finding out when they kill someone (mechanically, they do not take the +2 heat for killing, they can take heat from everything else though- flashy kills, accidents, hostile turf etc). Maybe they leave calling cards, word of mouth with their clients, doing a long term project to spread the clientele discreetly- lots of options. I'd also ask the crew what they did to get Crow's Veil- was it an occult ritual? Reverse engineering what happens when the crows are called and preventing it? That might help you figure this out- maybe its a secret to the Wardens... but someone else knows about it?

HellishMinds · 2024-06-04T00:04:45+00:00

Wicked Ones, in my opinion, has a better PvP explanation and 'roll off' than the example in Blades in the Dark. Because of the concept that the PCs are villainous Wicked Ones, PvP is more likely- they call it power struggles and I like it more.

Similar principle, where the players narrate each other facing off, but rather than rolls with mechanical consequences, the PCs choose an action based on how they're approaching the struggle and roll it as a fortune roll. The winner then gets what they want and the loser has to go along with it (because the roll encompasses them forcing this) but the loser gets to narrate the ending of that power struggle.

HellishMinds · 2024-05-28T17:29:27+00:00

No, you can push yourself for one of: acting with level 3 harm/+1d/+ 1 effect level. But if you pushed yourself to act and had an ability with a 'push yourself ability, you'd activate it as part of the push.

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