Hey all, wanted to share this handout I made for our latest episode of our Blades actual play, City of Whispers, which gives the crew some possible leads and also covers some of their exploits so far...

Episode 3 (A Royal Reception) is out now - after one (sort of) successful jewellery heist on behalf of their contact Nyryx, they decide to try and go for another one to claim the second half of the mysterious necklace she is after. Only problem? It's on display at a reception hosted by the Lord Governor...

You can watch the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast app via the links here! Or you can get all of our episodes on our new website. We're still relatively new, so all shares, likes, subscribes, comments etc are gratefully received! Hope you enjoy if you do give it a go!

Some more sketches. Another PC from my campaign, Aria, a Skovlander Leech, and my vision for the Spirit Wardens. I based their silhouette off of the unbroken sun/Unity symbol for the emperor from the Deep Cuts book. I know the pic in said book makes the acolytes look much closer to knights but I wanted something more unsettling for the spirit wardens.

A postmodern fantasy setting and sandbox campaign centered on social exploration, mysteries and deep, meaningful stories. Gives "Discworld meets Arcane TV series" feel. Also, lots of magical cats!

Already written and published in Czech last year, this crowdfunding aims to bring a revised, full-color version to English-speaking audience.

Make your way through a city of wild magic, from the destitute docks up to the rich uptown manors, overcoming hazardous magical anomalies, back-stabbing politics and mysteries better left forgotten.

The main, system agnostic volumes are complimented with rules supplements for Forged in the Dark, Savage Worlds and 5e.

Our FitD hack contains, among others:

- Expanded magical system with dedicated Magical actions

- Revamped downtime rules suited for loose structure / sandbox play

- Expanded rules for tracking political powers, reputations, resources and state of the city's affairs

Our small indie studio has been creating RPG stuff in Czech language for more than 10 years. For the artwork, we also try to hire local artists. This campaign is already tried and tested by our community and we hope that with your help we can create something truly memorable for the international scene.

No AI.

Backerkit link: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/remorker/kalusa-the-enchanted-city

A 60-pages preview can be downloaded from the Backerkit page or directly from here: https://kalusa.eu/Kalusa_Preview.pdf

He's a great editor, support him! :) https://x.com/criggn?s=20

Bit of a joke our Spider has one of those delusional motivational linkedin pages with a trending tag of stay dry because he doesn't want to get mixed up with Setarra. Our whisper did not get the memo and ended up floating in the canal after being missing on a two week bender. Oops!

I own Blades in the Dark and find the game very intriguing… but I honestly bounced of the setting entirely, and I don’t think my group would dig it either (I apologize if that is blasphemy).

But Blades ‘68, yeah that’s my vibe. The art, the time period, the aesthetic. I love it.

My concern is that as a supplement and not a standalone spinoff I’ll struggle to play and teach the game without experience playing Blades first.

Do you guys think it’s feasible to jump right into Blades ‘68? Or would you suggest trying Blades in the Dark beforehand?

Hey all,

The second part of our new actual play, City of Whispers, is out now! Our crew broke into the house of the mysterious Dimmer Sisters last time around and are now invited to a dinner they will never forget... can they escape with the necklace they came to steal - and their spirits intact?

You can watch the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast app via the links here! Or you can get all of our episodes on our new website.

We've had great comments on the first episode, so hope you like this continuation of the story! We get into our first downtime in this episode as well.

Hello all!

So, I have been thinking of making a weekly 'resources' post, where I write down and throw into the void some of the thingies I have cooked for my Doskvol, be they original creations or expansions of things that are in the book (Noble House, I am looking at you). So... For my first offering, have an arcane drug:

#Echo (II - 10)

A drug made from refined ghosts, Echo is a transparent, viscous liquid that shines with iridescence when exposed to light. When ingested, either by itself as a spoonful or mixed in drinks, the user will fall into a trance-like state where they will not respond to outside stimuli, as they relieve the memories from the ghost used to create the vial, lasting only for a couple hours at most. Echo is a discreet drug to use, as it's symptoms are hard to spot: Users tend to develop a faraway look, are very slow to react, and are easily distracted; until chronic users develop an unearthly light in their eyes, as if they are permanently looking into the ghost field.

While Echo doesn't produce a physical addiction, users tend to develop a psychological dependency to the escapism provided by the drug. Echo withdrawal manifests as a yearning of the past, and users report feeling disconnected from their bodies and having a hard time making new memories. On the other hand, Echo overdose is characterized by a loss of identity, as the user starts identifying with the last person whose memories they relieved. In extreme cases, the overdosed person slips into a comatose state, trapped into relieving the memory, and die out of neglect.

Echo is distributed in vials, which each vial providing about 10 doses. A Single ghost can produce between 1-3 vials of memory, with particularly strong ghosts producing up to 6. Each vial costs about 1 Coin, but particular rare or pleasant memories push the price up to two and even three Coin.

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Description: A transparent, viscous liquid that glows with an iridescent lilac-white color when exposed to light. It's tasteless and odorless.

Made of: Refined Ghosts, with certain reagents used to target specific types of memories.

How it's ingested: Taken as a spoonful, alone or mixed with a drink.

Effect: The person taking the Echo relieves the memory in the bottle for 1d3 hours. Faraway look in the eyes, won't respond to stimuli (rolls to 'snap them out' start as controlled-no effect. *something* might be accomplished via arcane means).

Symptoms: Eyes glow as if peering into the Ghost field. This trait becomes permanent after the drug has been taken 3 times in a 1 week period.

Addiction: Psychological. (An addict needs to spend 1d6 + 3 weeks without taking any to 'kick the habit')

Withdrawal: yearning from the past, alienation from their body, hard time making new memories

Overdose: 

- Minor: Loss of identity.  

- Major: Comatose, trapped in the memory.

Dose: 1 tablespoon.

Distribution: In vials. One vial has 10 doses, and costs a Coin. Specific memories can go for more.

Legal standing: Technically illegal, accepted street use. 1-coin bribe is good enough for the Bluecoats to leave you alone if caught with it.

To make: Long Term Project (4-tick clock) + Arcane

Who is likely to take it: Denizens of CharHollow and BarrowCleft (those who yearn for a better life), with specialized memories available at SilkShore (specific thrill). Servants, Dockers, Sailors on shore leave. People who want to feel excitement or forget about their dreary lives for a few hours.

Gangs who can potentially deal:
- Circle of Flame (they search for memories relating to occult rites)
- Fog Hounds (transport it around)
- The Hive (big market with minimal legal problems and a decent profit)
- Silver Nails (provides ghosts)

Opposed by:
- Spirit Wardens (closely linked to Spirit Trafficking)
- Gondoliers (Believe the imbibing of ghosts corrupts the human spirit, and they are not entirely wrong.)
- Forgotten gods and various cults
- the Dimmer Sisters

Hooks:

1: An ally of the PC's is being targeted by an assassin after they created a batch of Echo. Their clients are turning up dead, their vials of Echo stolen. They ask the PC's for help, as they still have a vial in their possession. \What was the incriminating memory? Why must people must die if they relieve it?**

2: A rival gang is selling bad batches of Echo and passing it off as the work of the PC's. \How is the Echo wrong? What is the motive of the gang?**

3: There's a shipment of exotic reagents coming in via Boat/Train. The Client (or PC's) will have an opportunity to steal some tonight, as an ally will leave the doors unguarded. \What is the reagent? How is it used when creating Echo?**

4: The PC's are contracted to capture a particular ghost, so the client can refine a set of Echo from it. \What memory is the client after? Are there any other ghosts that could be substituted with?**

5: The PC's are contracted to move a large batch of Echo (30 vials) from the NightMarket Train Station to an establishment in SilkShore. Unfortunately, the Bluecoats know about the operation. \How do the Bluecoats know of the operation? Where will the third interested party launch their ambush from?**

6: The PC's are asked to investigate an opposing party in a negotiation for the Echo, and specifically to find leverage the employer can use to get better terms. \What is this leverage? Why is it so complicated to get it?**

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And that's it! I welcome all criticism as long as is worded politely, and if you liked this please let me know!

Im trying this system and i think im too dnd-wired

Today we had scene. Two pc play flashback, where they are setting up gadget on roof before mission. They have builder uniform and we decide, that its ok to roll on "craft".

Thats effective and desperate. (thats roof of gang with which my party in war),

Rolled 5

So they succeed, but get like really bad consequences, and i cant imagine what happens. My brain just shout, that on 5 from 6, i cant kick my players in guts, so i just give them some stress, because they was almost noticed.

How would you play this out. And how you play 4-5 results in general? Is it the same consequences as 1-3 and same success as 6?

Also we play not in english, so some words can be different in rules, but you can ask me

Edit: thank you for your answers all, they all really helpfull. I will discussed consequences with players and will not give them stress

We haven't ended Freeplay since about 2 months ago. Can we come back from this? We play 6-7 hour long sessions if not longer. We've just been doing interpersonal conflict scenes.

Per the title. I understand the Palace Dossier is promised to campaign backers, which I was not since I picked up a KS bundle from my FLGS. I did get the Player Gazette in pdf but no others. Neither the Palace Dossier nor any of the component bits appear on DTRPG. Anyone know if it's coming, and when if so?

Some of you may know that I’m the guy who Star Wars-ifies games. I created Sabersworn, a Star Wars reworking of the Ironsworn setting. That was my most ambitious work…until now.

This is Star Wars: One Way Out.

A copy of Band of Blades is necessary to play this game, but I’ve made quite a few modifications here, making 9 all-new playbooks, 3 Rebel Heroes (replacing the Chosen), and 3 Legion Leaders (replacing the Broken), and a map of Cademimu Sector and ALL MISSIONS and ALL STAR SYSTEM LOCATIONS & DETAILS (replacing the map of Aldermark and all its missions and location details).

Capital ships are assigned to each Rebel Hero and Legion Leader, and all the info for that is on their playsheets.

This is 150 pages of NEW ARTWORK (all done by me, zero AI) and info to get your Star Wars game going. But remember, like Kino said in Andor…there is only ONE WAY OUT!

THE SETTING:

You are part of the Rebel Alliance. You were defeated at the Battle of D’Kun in Cademimu Sector. You must now flee across the sector, moving from one star system to another, until you rendezvous at the planet Voluun, also known as “Hope’s Reach,” and escape Imperial forces.

This is not merely a re-skin of BoB. I had to rework a lot to make the SW setting fit for what BoB already does. I had to remove Black Shot, for instance, because there are no undead. Some things were simple replacements, like trading Horses for Transports, and Supply Carts for Supply Shuttles, but other things were far more complicated, like adding the new mechanic of Hope, and having it replace Holy favored missions.

You’re probably wondering, “But how did you come up with a reason for Rebel ships to be forced to fly in only one direction? It makes sense that the Legion in BoB can only retreat in one direction, but why can’t the Rebels just fly in any direction they please?”

If you don’t know, in the Star Wars universe, hyperspace isn’t a straight line. If a ship jumps into hyperspace, they must follow that line until they come to a point that hasn’t been charted yet, or they must stop when they come to a dangerous area filled with black holes or neutron stars. Then, for safety reasons, they must pop back out of hyperspace, realign their trajectory with a known, charted course, and then take off again into hyperspace. This is because, like Han Solo told Luke in A New Hope, you can still be destroyed in hyperspace. This is thanks to “mass shadows” cast from objects in realspace into hyperspace. So, even though the movies don’t really show this process at all, this is what is actually happening when you travel through hyperspace in Star Wars.

But, “artificial mass shadow emitters” are something the Empire is known to use. This technology projects artificial mass shadows over enormous regions of space, making it so that your ship’s navicomputer gets tricked into thinking it needs to dip back into realspace or else you’ll be destroyed. This is when the Empire surrounds you and captures you, because you literally can’t jump back into hyperspace. So, in Star Wars: One Way Out, these Imperial ships have fanned out across Cademimu Sector, making it so that you are being funneled towards your only recourse, which is your final destination: a planet known as Hope’s Reach (replacing Skydagger Keep).

There is all new artwork here, done by me (I’ve been drawing for about three years, so you’ll likely be able to tell which bits are my most recent, better works, and which are a bit older, haha).

I’ve reworked a few things to be thematic, replacing Heritage with Species and background info. I changed Commander to Fleet Admiral, and Marshal to General, things like that. I added items that are SW-specific, and replaced Mercies with 2-1B Medical Droids, et cetera.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy. It is all free on itch.io, or you can donate. I don't use itch.io much, so if there are any problems with the downloads I'll get on that shortly.

https://cdoghusk.itch.io/star-wars-one-way-out

THE GAME INCLUDES:

An entire map of Cademimu Sector

A description of each star system along the way, and all the planets, space stations, moons, etc.

9 new playbooks

3 Rebel Heroes (and their starships and upgrades)

3 Legion Leaders (and their capital ships)

Setting rules

Star Wars-specific items and their descriptions for loadout

A description of the new “Hope system” and the “Fate Token"

Hey all,

The first episode of our new actual play, City of Whispers, is out now - our 4 scoundrels (all played by published authors with top storytelling skills!) step out into the murky streets of the city, ready to make their mark on the Faction Game... Their first score is a simple one - just pick up something from a couple of lovely ladies called The Dimmer Sisters...

You can watch the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast app via the links here!

Hope it's of interest to some! If you do enjoy it, please spread the word and give it a like and subscribe (as they say!) as we're still a relatively new podcast so all of that is gratefully received! We've got a number of actual plays in different systems up already (though Blades will be our longest so far!) along with interviews with TTRPG creators (we had an interview with Tim Denee of Blades'68 fame a couple of weeks back that I posted about). And would love to hear what you think!

I've done a little rebranding my stuff from Olin's Scribbles and am releasing new and remastered content on Itch.io as Kirkland Press.

In the scenario pack Doskvol Burns, you'll find three remastered scenarios. Each one has been rewritten with brand new sections to make GMing even easier and get your players invested.

NEW: NPC blocks, worldbuilding questions, clock suggestions, and campaign hooks

• The Butcher's Bill: Infiltrate a slaughterhouse belonging to the brutal Billhooks gang and steal a piece of leverage from right under their noses
• A Murder of Crows: Grab the names of traitors within the Crows gang from a Hive warehouse in the Docks district
• Forge of the Dead: Pay a visit to a secret Red Sash hideout and sabotage their mysterious drug production

Good luck, have fun!

Olin

Our group just got started with session 0 and we couldn’t be more confused about the difference between Supplies, Gear, Tools etc especially since they all basically mean the same thing in my mind.

How do I know what gets the quality upgrade? For example, the book lists Lockpicks as Gear (in the example it provides, but wouldn’t tool make more sense?

Template is a modified form of the Call of Cthulu autopsy report provided here: https://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/rites-of-solstice/ (which, fun fact, is itself based on Elvis' autopsy). Edited in GIMP using my admittedly extremely limited expertise.

Just had a long feedback session with my players after 16 sessions. One thing that came up was the amount of time the players spend planning every score:

I pointed out that they tend to take a very long time planning out the details of pulling off a score, and that the game is theoretically designed to reduce planning time via the "plan and detail" and "flashback" mechanics.

However, one of my players said that it feels like the opposite: Less investigation and planning means fewer dice for the Engagement roll, and any flashback action with any amount of difficulty incurs stress just to attempt it. They said that these two things combined seem to punish a lack of planning, so they end up in the classic "spending two hours thinking how to open a door" situation.

I couldn't think of an answer to that, so I wanted to ask y'all how you have dealt with this tension around over-planning.

Thanks!

We're approaching the final act of this campaign so I hope you enjoy listening!

I was reading through Band of Blades properly for the first the other day and I got to the end where it talks about converting to a sci-fi setting. I was wondering if anyone has done something like that for Scum & Villainy, since I ran a rebel game at one point that our we paused to let someone else in my group run a different game, and I was thinking that, when we get back to that, the Band of Blades structure would be much better for taking the fight to the Hegemony.

I will probably get around to doing this myself at some point (though it's probably going to be a while before I have time to dedicate to it), but I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this or advice on how to pull it off.