Blades in the Dark
A crew of scoundrels gathers round a stolen blueprint as they plan their big score. Their target has them outnumbered and outgunned; they’re just a no-name street gang up against the rich and powerful. But they have something their mark never expects: the stone cold audacity. The guts to risk everything. And a desperate hunger to get rich or die trying. Blades in the Dark is a tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, about building a criminal empire in the industrial fantasy city of Duskwall. Inspired by video games like Thief, Dishonored, and Bloodborne, as well as crime drama films and television like Heat and Peaky Blinders, players create scrappy scoundrels who commit crimes in a haunted city. They might play a smooth-talking Slide, a bloody Cutter, an ingenious Leech, or a weird Whisper (among others) to lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top. They’ll also create a Crew, the gang they operate, and which, through a series of criminal jobs, will attempt to conquer the city’s underworld. One player, the Game Master (GM), takes on the role of the world those players inhabit; they’ll play as the rival gangs, wealthy nobles, and corrupt Bluecoats that pressure the player characters from all sides; the haunted, sunless, industrial city of Duskwall; and the ghosts, demons, and occult forces that lurk behind it all.
Originally created by John Harper, One Seven Design
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Blades In The Dark Reviews (15)
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Blades In The Dark is the most cinematic TTRPG I run. It also one of the easiest systems to teach new players but it also has a lot to give for veterans of ttrpgs. My favourite aspect of this game is the resolution system used for all actions in the game. The succeed with cost feature pushes narrative and story and it really embraces the fail forward mentality. This game inspires and rewards player creativity more than any other system I have run. The fact that combat uses the same system as all other areas of the game means that there is no down time. There is no initiative system so players can take moves when it makes sense in the action. The lack of hit points on enemies means you can reward a good roll and combat description with a take down rather than slog through a hit point sponge enemy. I always enjoy running BiTD and it plays out in a much more fluid, unscripted way than other systems .
The system so good that the best 5e "how to GM" book opens with a foreword about how it changed their approach to tabletop gaming. I can candidly say that even just reading the rules for this game made me a better GM across all systems. Rules-lite, collaborative, and efficient in design. Weirdly enough, the more ingrained other systems are in folks, the harder it can be to pick up, but once you've got the grasp of it it's hard to put this system (or its lessons) down. Want to run a high stakes, edge-of-seat heist, but want to skip the boring planning parts? Think to all of your favorite heist films where in the eleventh hour, when our heroes are cornered, suddenly, we flashback, and see how they prepared for this... That's it. That's how the game works. One of the few games I give a perfect score to.
Blades is probably the best PBTA adjacent game on the market, and the worldbuilding is nothing short of stellar. Groundbreaking planning, flashback, and encounter roll mechanics make this fast paced and exciting. No analysis paralysis here, and it can support things like heists, smuggling, and assassin style play like no other TTRPG can.
My go-to rules light system, few do it as well as Blades. Every mechanic is well-thought out, focusing on GM and player collaboration, while still intertwining itself with the Victorian-esque world of Duskwall. It cuts out all the fat that bogs down most TTRPG’s and focuses on “what are the fun parts?”. And in that it succeeds in creating a thrilling and unique game. Always ready to get dirty in the slums of Duskwall!
Blades in the Dark is literally a game-changer in the TTRPG space. It's nimble, evocative, and intuitive in a way that almost nothing else is, and if you cut your teeth running or playing something like D&D, Blades will absolutely change the way that you approach role play and action! There are a couple of things that make it harder to pick up than some other systems. First of all, the play style is so different that, as the rulebook warns, it will take your group a few sessions to adjust to it. More importantly, you need to be comfortable with improvising the details of your character or campaign, because a lot is left intentionally vague. I like this a lot, because it gives the GM and players space to make the world their own, but it's an adjustment compared to how most systems handle things!
How to play Blades in the Dark
Players roll pools of six-sided dice based on their character’s skill and take the highest roll; a 6 is a complete success, a 4–5 a success with consequences, and a 1–3 is a failure. Players can also spend a resource called Stress to boost their rolls, activate special abilities, and even flashback to plan retroactively. In addition to controlling their individual characters, players also collectively control their crew, a gang of scoundrels fighting to carve themselves a place in the haunted city of Duskwall.
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Explore Blades In The Dark Classes
Cutter
This is the fighter of the team. The Cutter can take more hits than other characters and command allies to push past their limits. This Playbook also allows you to use spirit energy to grapple spirits with your bare hands.
Hound
While it’s usually best for a crew to stick together, sometimes a lone warrior needs to scout ahead or track an enemy. The Hound excels at this set of skills. This Playbook gives you tools for tracking, sharpshooting, and surviving in hostile environments.
Leech
If you like the techie characters in heist movies, the Leech is for you. They excel in preparing gadgets and alchemical solutions even when under a short deadline. You can use certain Leech skills can also help you act as a saboteur, planting destructive devices that detonate quietly.
Slide
The Slide is your fast talker and master of disguise. Slide into a location, talk up that crucial contact, and get out before the guards even notice you were there. Their communication skills are so honed that they can even talk to ghosts!
Spider
Here’s the Playbook for those who like being the mastermind. The Spider has several ways of bailing teammates out of danger by planning for just that moment. You don’t actually have to be a genius to play the Spider, however; your master plans come out in the form of enhanced dice rolls.
Whisper
BitD is seen as a heist game, but there’s a strong supernatural element to the world as well. The Whisper is the best at channeling those ghostly powers. These abilities let you summon entities, control ghosts, and even summon storms.