Blades in the Dark is one of those things that has flown under my radar for ages, and now I’m aware of it I see acclaim everywhere! I think I’m going to have to get hold of the original in order to understand and enjoy it 
(I did discover the free ‘system reference document’, but I’d like to support the creator by actually buying a copy, plus the additional words will probably help me grok it quicker)
I love the idea of flashbacks to fill in character backstories. When I first came across that concept I was surrounded by brilliant people and felt particularly foolish, but once I got used to what you could do with it, it’s super.
I’m Forging in the Dark a game tentatively called “Dashpunk”. My goal is to create a setting-less game where players can put a technology at the center of their punk narrative. Players could play everything from “bookpunk” (imagine: slightly more dystopic Catholic church versus Martin Luther & Gutemberg) to more traditional “biopunk” or “survelliancepunk”. In the game, the “power” controls the technology and the players attempt to seize it back, by sabotage, infiltration and symbolic acts of activism (or terrorism, according to the ruling power).
I tried to come up with my rule system for a while but fell in love with Blades in the Dark because of it’s ability to represent different levels of stakes and effects for every roll. While slightly complicated for the GM, the controlled/risky/desperate + great/standard/limited matrix is AMAZING at fictional positioning. I love it because as a GM you can foreshadow to the players what is likely to happen if they fail a desperate/great roll. And there’s a lot of tension in that conversation that can lead to either great gambles or strategic rethinking.
Somebody do FitD Robin Hood (Blades in the Greenwood?).
I’m working on a game about characters surviving/dying in the end of the world. The setting is a dark fantasy world (elves, dwarves, orcs, fighters, wizards, etc). I’m using the Crew mechanics for the Apocalypse (it has a Tier rating, special abilities, reacts to what the characters do, etc), and groups can choose what kind of Apocalypse to play through (world war, plague, demonic invasion, for example).
The mechanics are intended to drive characters to have conflict with other characters as they pursue their goals. One example: instead of an assist move to assist another character, characters can get extra dice for their action for free, but all complications of their move are visited on the other characters instead of the acting character. They accomplish what they wanted, but others suffer (like securing the door before the horde gets there, but some people are trapped outside). And if their selfish move failed? That’s a great opportunity for a hard GM move that drives home the horror of their actions. The game is about seeing how far characters will to survive and facing the costs of that survival.
Working actively on one and idly on two
An Xcom-2 based game about a counterinsurgency against alien occupiers, heavily influenced by band of blades, headspace, and sigmata.
Wizards in a tower, ars magica style medieval academic horror.
Crimson in the skies, interwar deisel punk air pirates.
This sounds amazing. The crew and downtime mechanics could be so powerful to zoom in and out between actions and long term survival projects. 
Oooo, this sounds very interesting. Please keep us updated!
Can I interest you in a Robin Hood vs. Vampires hack?
I would love to play that! Also, “Robin Hood” will be a crew type if I ever get around to making the hack lurking somewhere in the back of my head.
Many years ago I tried to write a novel. It was set in the nearish future, in a partially flooded southern port city that had been so beset by hurricanes, destroyed infrastructure, poverty, and a highly contagious STD that the entire city was condemned and walled off from the mainland. Picture a more urban version of the community in Beasts of the Southern Wild.
There were unscrupulous corporations taking advantage of the lack of regulation. There were smugglers bringing goods and people across the new border. There was an underground group of people with that contagious disease, avoiding quarantine. There were the quarantine officers hunting them. There were multiple groups of radicals bombing the other factions. There were pirates. And ghosts, because why not.
The novel itself sucked, but the setting was a beautiful chaotic mess that I’ve always wanted to use for something that didn’t suck. It recently occurred to me that this thing is an FITD hack waiting to happen. Different factions, different crew types, opportunities for so many different crimes… It would translate so well that I almost feel guilty for not having written it yet.
You must have seen Blades of the Inquisition?
Yeah! It’s a good one. It was put together around the same time I was tinkering with my rogue trader hack, and to be honest it was why I put my own 40k blades hack on the backburner.
I’ve been interested in making a Forged in the Dark game, but looking through the site is pretty intimidating. I saw they had a github, is there any place that coalesces the engine in a user-friendly way? I couldn’t find a PDF or text download anywhere…
I assume you’re referring to the SRD? Honestly beyond that I’d suggest buying and reading one of the games as a PDF. Many people agree Scum and Villainy has a particularly good presentation of the rules.
Yeah unfortunately the site-based guide feels impenetrable. I’d really love to have a basic reference document as a PDF or a single document, but I’d rather read the absolute basics rather than something with a game flavor already attached. If I can’t get a good handle on the ruleset after reviewing the site a few more time i’ll probably spring for Scum and Villainy.
Check out the downloadable player kit. Page 1 covers the basics and the rules references on Page 26 - 28 gives you all the information on how the procedures work on three pages:
This is making me frustrated by the ending of G+, as I now can find no source for Blades of the Inquisition.
You may be able to find updates on it via the Blades forums.
Aha, thanks! I hadn’t realized a formal one existed.