Blades In The Dark...

I’ve been a little bit distracted lately, so I haven’t been posting as much as usual. I’ve been without a gaming crowd for close on 10 years now and I’ve been missing it quite badly, so when some friends asked if I wanted to try out a new game with them, I jumped at the chance.

The game is called “Blades in the Dark”, written by John Harper and produced via Kickstarter by Evil Hat Productions. There is a free quick-start .pdf version running around, which contains just enough information to commence mayhem in a limited fashion and I’ve been devouring it steadily (the game itself isn’t available through normal channels as yet).

Serendipitously – as far as my mentioning it here is concerned – the major influence on this game is Fritz Leiber’s series of short stories and novellae, set in Lankhmar on the world of Nehwon and starring that dynamic duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The added input from one of the Lovecraft Circle is just icing on the cake for me!

Not that the game itself is set in Leiber’s fantasy milieu. The setting is more of a steampunk one, in a city called Duskwall, on a world existing through a post-magical calamity, trying to cope by using low-grade electronics and steam technology. Ghosts and demons are a common problem but the major storylines are generated by gangs of street thugs, trying to grab (and hold) turf, and trying to skate beneath the gaze of the Authorities. Here is where the influence of Leiber is at its strongest.

The players generate characters and incorporate them in a “crew”. For however many individuals make up this gang, the crew is the +1 character that binds the players together: as the individuals gain experience and wealth, so too does the collective entity which binds them together, allowing them greater capability, notoriety and advantages. Much of what happens amongst the players, is a matter of discussion about what’s best for the whole and planning and strategising focuses on this aspect. For this reason alone, I’m quite excited about getting into this game – a system which dispenses with the ‘kill and collect’ mentality and puts storytelling front and centre has much to recommend it, as far as I’m concerned.

On top of which there are canals with gondolas, corrupt officials, decadent Emperors, Thieves’ Guilds, ocean-dwelling Leviathans and hungry ghosts. How can I resist? If you need to know where I am, I’ll be out in the dark with my blades. I may be some time…