Blades in the Dark - Forged in the Dark

#1

So I got a Forged in the Dark game on recommendation. Song in the Dusk.

Unfortunately it is incomplete and is really a drift/hack of Blades in the Dark.

I have read through Blades in the Dark SRD. I am reluctant to spend another 20 dollars for Blades in the Dark book unless i think it is a game that I will want to play, as I am wanting to really use it for Songs in the Dusk (more my jam for game content).

Are there any really good guides, blog posts, or actual plays that give a really good perspective on playing and running a Forged in the Dark game?

Peace,

Steve

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#2

Kavita has included a lot of advice in Songs for the Dusk in its current state with the specific spin for her game. It is actually surprisingly complete so with the BitD SRD you should be fine.

However, reading a game is always tricky, especially FitD titles that can have a lot of little moving parts and when you haven’t played something like it before.

So, I’d definitely suggest, like you were thinking already, to seek out a couple of actual plays.

Maybe Stardancer where they play Scum and Villainy, I remember that the basics are taught in that quite nicely (and Songs for the Dusk has a similar mechanic to S&V’s Gambits):

On that channel you can also find Blades and Girl by Moonlight APs.

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#3

I’d also recommend this series of videos from Wiegraf 9009 aka Kyle Thompson. He walks through all of the basic elements of Blades.I also put together a short post talking about what I picked up on after running BitD for a while. Also I have AP videos of Blades, Scum & Villainy, and Band of Blades up on my YouTube channel-- all drawn from Gauntlet sessions.

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#4

I’ll second Kyle’s Let’s Learn Blades videos. The system is not easy to grok, but those vids helped me a lot.

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#5

The Rollplay Blades and John’s own Bloodletters game have APs up on youtube and those are good watches. The Rollplay series starts with either the final rules or just before they went to print, so that’s a good place to start IMO. I like the Bloodletters game a lot, but if you start from the beginning be warned that it’s also a playtest AP using previous mechanics.

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#6

Adam Koebel did a pretty good interview with John Harper about the core themes and philosophy of Blades in the Dark and how to hack it. It’s not strictly a guide on how to run the game but I think it gives you a very solid idea of what kind of gameplay it produces.

Part one

Part two

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#7

Thanks All, good resources that I will check out. Good to put in forums for others in future.

#8

Also, just to be super-clear, it’s more than worth he $20. Even the best how-to vid isn’t a real substitute for having the text to reference.

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#9

I am deeply suspicious of people who say FiTD games are simple - multiple reads and even playing and I still don’t think I really get it or the currencies in play. The let’s play videos above are cool. I don’t disagree with a recent Gaintlet podcast that said Scum and Villainy is the best first timer FITD game I’ve seen so far.

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#10

Perhaps the answer is that they can be simple - I think they’re simple if you’re not pedantic about getting all the rules right the first time (not trying to say you’re pedantic to be clear!). The original Blades text actually even suggests not using all the rules straight away; you can learn and teach the game in a modular way; slowly introducing new rules as you go. :slight_smile:

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#11

As someone who has taught dozens of people to play various FitD games, the rules are by no means simple.

But they also don’t require much more than the guidance of one experienced player and the game handouts to learn. Actual plays are also a great way to learn the game.

I find that, unlike some other games, the common mechanics eventually become very intuitive in play (after a few sessions), and so while I would not say the rules are simple, they do have a certain elegance.

To answer the original question: I believe Song in the Dusk is still in development. Hopefully as the author updates the files, the need for the SRD will be less.

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#12

Afaik, Songs for the Dusk is feature complete at this point. That’s why it has gone up for sale.
But it doesn’t have art and layouting, yet, so is not a book and potentially needs some further playtesting to round off rough edges.

Seconding your description of the complexity of the system, though. You need to wrap your head around it, I feel. Once you do, it becomes very intuitive to apply and scale, making it super versatile and fun to use.

But it’s also not a game I just recommend. There are caveats about needing to enjoy switching between actor and writer stances, zooming in and out, the sandbox nature and increased player responsibility vs. what people may be used to.

#13

Songs for the Dusk says:

This game is in development! The currently-available version, 0.3, is a playtest edition for a discounted price.

The file title is beta v0.31.zip.

So I think the designer has made it abundantly clear that the game isn’t done yet.

Also - Blades is probably the best game to come out in the last 5 years so…maybe it’s worth your investment? Let’s run the numbers:

Blades + Songs = $35. You and three friends sit down to play. You create whatever Songs calls a crew and characters. You get through that in maybe an hour, get started in earnest and play for let’s say 4 hours - a very typical session.

Let’s say you hate it. And you never want to play again. You and your friends each spent $1.75 per hour to try it out. At worst, you have some new memories and the story of that time you tried that awful game. And probably you got some snacks and jokes in over the course of it.

I feel like a bad movie gives a lot less value.

And let’s say you like either game - the cost goes down drastically with every session. It’s a great gamble.

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#14

Yeah, totally. My suggestion that they can be simple comes after watching like 50 + hours of Bloodletters, hehe.

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#15

This is my concern about the “watch APs” recommendations - if there was a single AP or maybe a two shot that covered everything that’s one thing. But most of the APs suggested are like 10+ episodes… If people have suggestions for one or two episodes of AP that really demonstrate everything I’d love to hear them.

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#16

Episode one of most APs usually is where they go over rules for viewers and give examples.

Or at least they should.

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#17

The Bloodletters one is not good for that as the game goes through about half a dozen rule iterations as they play, hehe.

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