Blades in the Dark

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:01 pm

Lounges, I think that vagueness will be cleared in the full game.

And my understanding, based on the lore from Ghost Lines, is that everything "fantastic" on the setting is based on spirits/souls, while everything hi-tech is based on whale oil (like the electro-plasm rods the rail jacks use, and the very electricity that fuels the city).

By the way, is the quick start free ? How do I get it ?

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:07 pm

You become a backer, or become friends with someone who is stupid enough to back the kickstarter.

everything hi-tech is based on whale oil

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:14 pm

Lounges wrote:You become a backer

Thanks.

or become friends with someone who is stupid enough to back the kickstarter

Why such offensiveness ? The project looks interesting from a setting and rules standpoint, and the author John Harper has put some nice games out in the past (Lady Blackbird, Agon, Danger Patrol).

Edit: its possible that Lady Blackbird also shares the same setting, BTW.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 3:11 pm

So, can we just get silva banned as a troll now? With like everyone outright saying 'plagiarism,' in text and images, his response is 'wait, why u mad?'

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 3:19 pm

Why don't you just behave like an adult and just ignore my posts altogether, and let those who actually want to talk about the game do it ?

P.S: and the plagiarism argument is so weak its funny, really.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:29 pm

angelfromanotherpin wrote:So, can we just get silva banned as a troll now? With like everyone outright saying 'plagiarism,' in text and images, his response is 'wait, why u mad?'

I'm not sure that he's done anything bannable. At this point it is entirely possible that he legitimately thinks that plagiarism makes a game better and we wouldn't be able to tell. The only way he'll be banned is if he fucks up like shadz.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:41 pm

Thanks.

Also, I dont think the game plagiarizes anything. Its clearly inspired by a bunch of sources like Thief, Dishonored, Ghostbusters, Final Fantasy movie, Bloodborne, The Order 1886, etc. But between inspiration and plagium is a long stretch.

- - -

Backing to the "Whisper" character that Lounges brought before. I think he, and his powers, will be better explained in the full game. Also notice that the Whisper dont start with all those powers - there is a little dot behind each one. At the game start he ill pick one or two mostly, and another couple as the game goes on.

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:42 pm

MGuy wrote:I'm not sure that he's done anything bannable. At this point it is entirely possible that he legitimately thinks that plagiarism makes a game better and we wouldn't be able to tell. The only way he'll be banned is if he fucks up like shadz.

I agree. Silva hasn't done anything really ban worthy. Silva doesn't even think the plagiarism argument holds because...reasons.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:47 pm

Why was Sadzar banned ?

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:57 pm

silva wrote:Why was Sadzar banned ?

Scroll down:

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?p=39 ... ht=#397260

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 5:35 pm

silva wrote:Thanks.

Also, I dont think the game plagiarizes anything. Its clearly inspired by a bunch of sources like Thief, Dishonored, Ghostbusters, Final Fantasy movie, Bloodborne, The Order 1886, etc. But between inspiration and plagium is a long stretch.

- - -

Backing to the "Whisper" character that Lounges brought before. I think he, and his powers, will be better explained in the full game. Also notice that the Whisper dont start with all those powers - there is a little dot behind each one. At the game start he ill pick one or two mostly, and another couple as the game goes on.

Bloody hell, it's "Longes", not "Lounges".

I also didn't list Whisper powers. I gave an example of one power (Channel), which performs an undefined magical action, and one equipment piece (Demon blood), which... does nothing.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 5:52 pm

Im sure those will be explained in the full book.

Also: we dont know what each "detail" means in the Planning section of the Crew sheet:

"Planning:
Choose the plan the characters have made, establish a detail, cut to the action

�- Assault plan: Point of attack.
��- Deception plan: Method.
- Infiltration plan: Entry point.
��- Occult plan: Arcane power.
�- �Social plan: Social connection."

I imagine the purpose of this is to abstract and cut on actual planning by the group. So, they decide a course of action (detail ?) and then receive some kind of bonus when action begins.

But Im wildly speculating at this point.

Longes wrote:Bloody hell, it's "Longes", not "Lounges".

Oops. Sorry.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:07 pm

Actual play report from a pal over at other site:

Alter Boy wrote: Playtested it this weekend. Excellent game! Had me grinning like a fool.

I noted two things. First, this game felt like you could really make a place for yourselves in this fictional world. Like building a stronghold in AD&D, you have to amass power both operationally and politically to keep your crew going upwards. You can't just go into the wilderness, fight monsters for XP, and return a year later with The Might that Sunders Empires. NPCs matter a lot in this game. In our game, we had to untie complicated knots of allegiances (an allied group is allied with one of our enemies, with bonds tighter than they have with us), and it felt like what the NPCs thought really mattered. Unlike most games, not putting the social PC on lead felt right, because my PC had closer connections with them, and knew what they wanted.

Second, it's really hard to succeed without complications. My character had to choose between taking trauma (and exposing his role in a con) or losing a valued contact (and, as it turned out, becoming haunted by her spirit). You have plenty of options in this game, but all of them are bad. That means that there's no "right" move to "win", only the move that you want to roleplay. The tension of relieving stress (spend too much time relieving stress, and you lose coin; go on a job stressed, and you could get lose coin) felt like I was playing the life of a criminal game. Again, like AD&D, the harsh fickleness of life in-game makes the possibility of succeeding seem very impressive and desirable to accomplish.

Dont know if only used the Quickstart or other material.

RelentlessImp · Post by **RelentlessImp** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:21 pm

Oh good, it even uses failing forward mechanics. What a clusterfuck of terrible.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:55 pm

Terminally curious can enjoy the official play recording from the devs.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:57 pm

silva wrote:Bloodborne

Don't get me wrong, all your other examples are probably also wrong too, but let us be serious here. Can you just fucking admit you have no idea what Bloodborne is? Because literally zero fucking percent of this game is inspired by bloodborne.

Foxwarrior · Post by **Foxwarrior** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 7:28 pm

Okay, I was terminally curious, I'm afraid.

Channel works the way it was described above.

Fighting apparently is about hoping the players who aren't good at it don't try to join you.

The gameplay seems to be equal parts describing how cool your moves will be, arguing about die rolls (making this argument keep going seems to be the DM's primary role), and asking about the scene.

Schleiermacher · Post by **Schleiermacher** » Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:46 pm

So a game that wishes it were FATE but doesn't even make it to Apocalypse World?

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:09 am

silva wrote:Thanks.

Also, I dont think the game plagiarizes anything. Its clearly inspired by a bunch of sources like Thief, Dishonored, Ghostbusters, Final Fantasy movie, Bloodborne, The Order 1886, etc. But between inspiration and plagium is a long stretch.

Bullshit. As I let Arkane & Bethesda know, when I first read the description I thought for a moment that this was literally Dishonored: The TTRPG. Granted it's been like 2 years since I played the game so Duskwall and Dunwall are so close that they're easy to confuse, and that's seriously the litmus test for shit like this. I wouldn't call plagiarism even if they took the basic concept and ran with it and spent time like... changing shit, but they couldn't even do that. It's like setting up a fast food restaurant with a big Golden W that sells Big Mics and claiming that you are only *inspired* by McDonalds.

And the pseudo-victorian sort of electropunk city on the ocean that subsists on "whaling" creatures that aren't really whales to use the "whale oil" to power technology that otherwise should be beyond their capabilities that is ruled over by an emperor who is targeted by a gang of assassins who have mystical abilities to help them achieve their goals is a setting and concept that is *so* fucking specific that I'm unaware of any other setting *other* than Dishonored that even comes close.

As I said though, I made Bethesda aware of it. They can lawyer up with the best of them and I'm sure they'll have lawyers pick the fuck out of this project. If it's plagiarism it'll go to court. If not or if they don't care, then I don't give a shit.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:11 am

Kaelik wrote:
silva wrote:Bloodborne
Don't get me wrong, all your other examples are probably also wrong too, but let us be serious here. Can you just fucking admit you have no idea what Bloodborne is? Because literally zero fucking percent of this game is inspired by bloodborne.

I want to know how someone is inspired by the setting in a video game and writes a TTRPG setting before that video game is published.

Bloodborne was released on the 24th, or literally like a hair over 2 weeks ago. Kickstarters run for 30-45 days. 30 days minimum.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:47 am

TheFlatline wrote:
Kaelik wrote:
silva wrote:Bloodborne
Don't get me wrong, all your other examples are probably also wrong too, but let us be serious here. Can you just fucking admit you have no idea what Bloodborne is? Because literally zero fucking percent of this game is inspired by bloodborne.
I want to know how someone is inspired by the setting in a video game and writes a TTRPG setting before that video game is published.

Bloodborne was released on the 24th, or literally like a hair over 2 weeks ago. Kickstarters run for 30-45 days. 30 days minimum.

I agree, but I'm sure that he will say he was inspired by promotional footage from months ago that show some random architecture, because he thinks Bloodborne is steampunk.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 4:09 pm

@Flatline: we got it. You think the game is plagium and all that. We got it. Now, please, lets keep the talk about the game proper, ok ? Setting, rules, concepts, etc.

Thanks.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 4:31 pm

So, what do we think will happen if the BitD people get a C&D letter? Negotiate to pay royalties? Go through their text and rub the serial numbers off? Other?

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:02 pm

angelfromanotherpin wrote:So, what do we think will happen if the BitD people get a C&D letter? Negotiate to pay royalties? Go through their text and rub the serial numbers off? Other?

Harper already got $180k for this 'project'. Seeing how kickstarters are not refundable, I expect "Ooops, sorry, our project is shut down by the evil lawyers. Back our next project, where a team of Ashen Protectors, super elite soldiers and wizards drafter from all walks of life, is trying to unite the world to face the Plague of evil zombie orcs led by a giant undead Wyvern."

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:09 pm

An aside- I like the art for this one that I found in the comments section of the Dishonored ripoff kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/it ... bletop-rpg