Blades in the dark

THE GAME

Blades in the Dark is a game about a group of daring scoundrels building a criminal enterprise on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, escapes, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, deceptions, betrayals, victories, and deaths.

We play to find out if the fledgling crew can thrive amidst the teeming threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the City Watch, and the siren song of the scoundrel’s own vices.

THE SETTING

The game takes place in the cold, foggy city of Doskvol (aka Duskwall or “the Dusk”). It's industrial in its development. Imagine a world like ours during the second industrial revolution of the 1870s—there are trains, steam-boats, printing presses, simple electrical technology, carriages, and the black smog of chimney smoke everywhere. Doskvol is something like a mashup of Venice, London, and Prague. It's crowded with row-houses, twisting streets, and criss-crossed with hundreds of little waterways and bridges.

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

You're in a haunted Victorian-era city trapped inside a wall of lightning powered by demon blood.

PLAYING A SESSION

So, what's it like to play? A session of Blades in the Dark is like an episode of a TV show. There are one or two main events, plus maybe some side-story elements, which all fit into an ongoing series. A session of play can last anywhere from two to six hours, depending on the preferences of the group.

During a session, the crew of scoundrels works together to choose a criminal score to accomplish (either by getting a job from an NPC or by creating their own operation), then they make a few dice rolls to jump into the action of the score in progress. The PCs take actions, suffer consequences, and finish the operation (succeed or fail). Then the crew has downtime, during which they recover, pursue side-projects, and indulge their vices. After downtime, the players once again look for a new opportunity or create their own goals and pursuits, and we play to find out what happens next.

A given game session is typically one score and the following downtime, plus exploration and discovery of a new opportunity. As your group gets more familiar with the game, you might be able to pack more into a session, even doing two scores in an evening of play.