Blades '68: Law & Disorder | Espionage, Swinging, & Bad Behavior

Creating your character

For: - One Shots: Pre-made characters will be used. - Campaigns: We will develop them in Roll20 together as a part of our free Episode #0. Additionally, during (Session) Episode 0 we will meet and talk mechanics and storytelling for the game. 🎲 The Really Short Version: PLAYBOOK → HERITAGE → BACKGROUND → 4 ACTION DOTS → SPECIAL ABILITY → FRIEND → RIVAL → VICE → KEY & DEADLOCK → NAME/LOOK The Longer Look: 1. Choose a Playbook (Character sheet and "class") This is your character's main archetype—what you're good at and what kind of trouble you tend to get into. The seven Blades ’68 playbooks are: Veteran — Violence, combat, military experience Swinger — Social manipulation, charm, improvisation Hound — Tracking, investigation, talking your way through situations Operative — Stealth, infiltration, breaking into places Intellectual — Science, invention, problem-solving Radical — Explosives, destruction, revolutionary action Paranormalist — Supernatural knowledge and paranormal powers The official game specifically adds these new ’68-era character options while retaining the familiar Blades framework. 2. Choose Your Heritage Pick where your character comes from, such as: Akoros • Dagger Isles • Severos • Iruvia • Tycheros This gives you some background flavor and helps establish where your character fits into the world. 3. Choose Your Background What did you do before becoming the person you are now? Examples include: Military Trade Underworld Academia Labor Government Your background helps determine one of your starting action dots. 4. Assign Your Action Dots Your playbook already gives you some dots. Then you add four more: 1 dot reflecting your Heritage 1 dot reflecting your Background 2 dots wherever you want Important: At character creation, no action can have more than 2 dots. So you're basically deciding: "What is this person REALLY good at?" 5. Pick a Special Ability Choose one special ability from your playbook. This is usually the thing that makes your character particularly awesome or gives them a unique trick. 6. Choose Friends & Rivals Your playbook gives you a list of NPCs your character knows. Choose: 1 Friend — someone you're close to 1 Rival — someone you don't get along with These give the GM ready-made connections to pull into the story. 7. Define Your Character Fill in the fun stuff: Name • Alias • Look • Clothing • Personality • Vice And Blades ’68 has another particularly cool addition: 🔑 8. Choose Your Key & Deadlock These are personality traits/behavioral hooks unique to Blades ’68. Your Key represents something your character leans into—something that can earn you XP. Your Deadlock represents a personal breaking point. When stress pushes you to succumb to it, you can cross it off. That means your character's personality isn't just roleplaying flavor—it actively interacts with advancement and stress. And you're ready to pull a score!!

Preparing for the session

You will need a (FREE) Roll20 account to access the game. Once you are signed up for this game via StartPlaying, I will send you an invite into the "Blades '68: The New Groove" Roll20 game. Additionally, we will be using Discord for our communication purposes both during and in-between sessions. Once you are signed up for this game via StartPlaying, I will send you an invite to my Discord server. I will assign you the #Start Playing Cast Member role and invite you into the private room we will use for the game. You will need your PC and internet along with a mic and camera. Having your camera on is preferable so we may see each other an better act the dramatics of the game. Being able to see each other's facial expressions and body language are extremely valuable when you have a back-and-forth narrative. It is the essence of the game! I will provide a pdf copy of the core manual to each player (on the basis they will not redistribute or sell it in any way) and we will build from that. Otherwise, all tools are still available in Roll20. We will utilize the Roll20 platform for the character builds and the game itself. All rules will be covered, the builds are easy, and everything is provided!

What Lucas G Variety brings to the table

I run games through the Roll20 platform for character prep and play, and Discord for in-between and during game play. Additionally, our video call will be done through Discord for both mics and cameras. I will be recording the sessions for my records, notes, and safety. I have no intention of live streaming or uploading these episodes. Additionally, Episode #0 is FREE! Expect a balance of heavy roleplay and criminal misbehavior! It'll be heavy on theatre of the mind with sweet maps and tokens to flush out the realism. We'll have music for ambience, tokens, clocks, and animated bits to help bring it all to life! And don't forget that we'll have a healthy dose of mirth added into the mixture. I rely on the immersion of the players in stressful, meaningful situations where their decisions shape the story. Using this and the mechanical features for character creation, the ability to create very real, very fun characters to play is absolute! I like to get into character for all my characters, using gentle accents and vivid descriptions to bring many races, cultures, and personalities to life. I follow Rules as Written most of the time, but I’m not afraid to lean into the Rule of Cool when the moment calls for it. My goal is to create a cinematic experience where roleplay and mechanics work hand-in-hand, giving you the feeling of living inside the story rather than just playing a game. If the mechanics interfere with that, especially at a crucial moment, we may just roll a die and see what happens! This game is a conversation between the players and the GM. Together, we put together a narrative good times and mis-begotten antics. The dice just help us decide which way the story turns and changes. There is no wrong answers, just dire consequences that we narrate our way through. :)

Homebrew rules

I am new to running this supplement of Blades in the Dark, but not new to the game itself, or RPGs in general. I'd like to stick as closely to the rules as we can. However, in the spirit of the moment, if it's better for the narrative, we could just toss a die and let it decide. I am open to home brewing certain rules as we learn about the game and make homebrew rules decisions together.

How Lucas G Variety creates a safe table

I'll set clear guidelines with Lines and Veils clearly beforehand and during our Episode 0. I will also use Aftercare, Debriefing, Breaks, and the X, N, & O cards. The X, N, & O cards will done during a session as a private, direct message to me (or the group) in Discord.