Setting the Stage Episode 8 – Atti and Blades in the Dark

Published by

Isaac

January 18, 2023

I talked with Atti about the Blades in the Dark system and setting produced by Evil Hat Productions. Blades is set in a gothic, steampunk ci ty centuries after an apocalypse closes the gates to the afterlife. Without a way to their eternal rest, ghosts wander a world where the sun and stars are gone from the sky. Blades has simple, narrative-focused mechanics for resolving action. The system is similar to Powered by the Apocalypse games, but with a new name, Forged in the Dark. It’s spawned many offshoots that tweak the rules to fit a number of different settings and play ideas from westerns to teenage school dramas.

If you’re interested in Blades in the Dark, the basic rules are available for free at this link: https://bladesinthedark.com/downloads#
Also the system has excellent integration into Roll20 and is easy to pick up and play online.

Here is a map of Blades in the Dark’s established setting world, the Shattered Isles.

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2 responses to “Setting the Stage Episode 8 – Atti and Blades in the Dark”

talaraska

January 20, 2023

I’ve been meaning to check this out. Would you say that Blades in the Dark could support a full campaign or would it be better suited for something limited to an adventure or two?

Reply
1. Isaac
  
  January 20, 2023
  
  We didn’t get into it during the podcast, but Blades definitely works for both. It varies between each person, but I really enjoy how the heists play out. There’s also a deep downtime system for what your characters do between heists.
  
  Each character is allowed one free downtime action between heists. Typically you’ll spend that action relieving stress by indulging in your character’s vice to recovery stress. Additional actions can be purchased with Coin. Coin is an abstract representation of wealth and currency that you get from completing heists. One Coin gets you one downtime action. Other actions include training to improve your character’s skills, inventing new items to use, upgrading old items, and managing your character and your crew’s relationships with other people and groups in the city.
  
  The basic goal for each character is to reach 40 Coin as that allows them to comfortably retire. You have to balance how much Coin you spend on downtime actions versus how much you save.
  
  And all these downtime actions are changed up a bit if you use a different Forged in the Dark system.
  
  Reply

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End.Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.The End is a Christian End Time series based loosely on the events described in Revelations. A man calling himself Nero has risen to rule over the world and he has outlawed Christianity. Robots called Guardians hunt Christians throughout the world, murdering them on the spot if they don't recant their faith. A resistance movement works in the shadows against Nero, but things aren't looking good for them.We talked about the basics of those settings along with how they could be adapted for RPG campaign settings. My main recommendations were Ashes Without Number, Spire, and Blades in the Dark.If you're interested in reading Aaron's books you can find them at most any bookstore or library. Both of the series are also being adapted into movies, but aren't publicly available yet. Aaron's website is https://authoraaronryan.com/ for the latest updates on his work. Next up for Aaron is the Talisman series that covers events within the "Aaronverse" in the decades between Dissonance and The End.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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