Gauntlet Quarterly: Blades in the Dark

darren · May 3, 2021, 7:29pm

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, escapes, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, deceptions, betrayals, victories, and deaths.
We play to find out if the fledgling crew can thrive amidst the teeming threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the City Watch, and the siren song of the scoundrels’ own vices.
The game takes place in the cold, foggy city of Doskvol (aka Duskwall or “the Dusk”). It’s industrial in its development. Imagine a world like ours during the second industrial revolution of the 1870s—there are trains, steam-boats, printing presses, simple electrical technology, carriages, and the black smog of chimney smoke everywhere. Doskvol is something like a mashup of Venice, London, and Prague. It’s crowded with row-houses, twisting streets, and criss-crossed with hundreds of little waterways and bridges.
The city is also a fantasy. The world is in perpetual darkness and haunted by ghosts—a result of the cataclysm that shattered the sun and broke the Gates of Death a thousand years ago. 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 in a haunted Victorian-era city trapped inside a wall of lightning powered by demon blood.

Content warnings: Violence, crime, capitalism, prison, assault, murder, the occult, demons, ghosts, the undead
System: Blades in the Dark
Duration: 12, three hour sessions
Breaks: Two hourly breaks per session (~10 minutes each)
Venue: Zoom
Recording: Yes, with the consent of all players each session
Attendance: Joining all sessions is ideal but not required. You must RSVP to each session you wish to attend.
Safety: Lines & Veils and X-card. This series adheres to the Community Code of Conduct and has an open door policy.