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, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and riches for those bold enough to seize them.
The world is in perpetual darkness and haunted by ghosts. A thousand years ago, the sun was shattered by a cataclysm that broke the Gates of Death. 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, the 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 stuck in a haunted Victorian city circled by a wall of lightning powered by demon blood.
You're a scoundrel, a villain, a wastrel, a vagabond, a criminal, a sword-for-hire, a cutthroat. Respectable people belong to guilds, the church, or are born into nobility. Or barring all of that, they're salt of the earth and tend the eel farms and mushroom groves.
Your problem is that you're none of that. You're a third child or worse. You can't get into a guild - too many apprentices already. You're sure as hell not nobility - even if you were your older brothers and sisters have soaked up the inheretance. The temples will take you, but they have so many acolytes, they hand you a kit and a holy sign and send you right out the door again. Get out there and preach the word and find something nice for the absent gods.
And if you ever entertained the notions of Leviathan hunting, think again. You'd end up little more than a slave to wealthy nobles.
This is a grim land. Summers are short. Winters are long. The cities are overcrowded. Food is expensive. Guilds control trade. Nobility control the taxes. Priests spout empty platitudes.
So there's naught for you but to make your own way. There's a certain freedom to it, but it's a hard life. Cash flows out of your hands as easily as blood from your wounds.
But at least it's your life. I am an experienced GM who would like to explore this system and setting with an eager group of players. I have run a one-shot of this game before, but I am by no means an expert. I'm looking for players of any experience level who are interested in taking a break from the standard D&D dungeon-crawl.
We will start with collaborative character creation and describing the crew (A secret cult? A mercenary gang of thugs? Drug dealers?) and quickly move into running some Scores. These are kind've like Jobs in Shadowrun, except every character has the exceptional power of being able to flash back to a scene in the past where they prepared some clever solution to their current problem. This keeps the game moving at a break-neck pace as it's not necessary to carefully plan for all possible contingencies.
Time Zone : GMT+5 (I'm available most week nights in the evening, and Sundays. I will schedule a regular weekly session that works for as many players as possible). Voice : Microphone & Discord required, no cameras
Length : I am not going to be like most GM's and promise a years-long campaign right up front. I hope we can play for a few sessions and then we'll discuss whether to jump into a long running campaign. My goal is to make every session fun on its own, with an episodic style of play. Maturity : 18+ only. This is a game with very adult themes, please be respectful of everyone at the table.
Application : Please reply below or in a private message telling me your age and how much experience you have with D&D and other RPGs.
