An Evil Hat Productions Pulication

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Blades in the Dark

Copyriht © 17 John Harper.
All rihts reserved.

First pulished in 17 y Evil Hat Productions, LLC.

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Productions, LLC. All rihts reserved.

Evil Hat product numer: EHP3

Diital Release, March 8, 17. v8.

Printed in the USA.

No part of this pulication may e reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or y any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopyin, recordin, or otherwise, without the prior express permission
of the pulisher.

at said, if you’re doin it for personal use, o riht ahead. For those workin
at a copy shop, this means the person standin at your counter can make
copies of this thin. is is “express permission.” Carry on.

is ook was produced usin Adoe Creative Suite.

Typefaces: Minion Pro, Kirsty, Uly Qua.
 CREDITS

Joh Hpe
Game Design, Writing, Layout, Art, and Cartography

SsAcmovc SeNe
Consulting Designer Developmental Editor

Additional Material by
SsAcmovc,VeJ.Ae,
DmFgeo,DGee,
SeNe,AewShes

FeHcks
Director of Operations for Evil Hat

SeNe
Director of Projects for Evil Hat

CeHs
Marketing Manager for Evil Hat

ChsHh
Business Development for Evil Hat

KeTweves
Copy Editor

RTm
Indexer

Visit the wesite for character sheets and other ame materials
.ladesinthedark.com
THANKS
Adam Koeel, Adam Minnie, Alex Crossley, Andrew Shields, Anthony Turner, Asteyni,
Blake Hutchins, Brandon Amancio, Brandon Hilliard, Brendan Adkins, Chris Bennett,
Clinton Dreisach, Daniel Levine, Dave Turner, Duamn Fiueroa, Ed Ouellette, Eric
Levanduski, Fred Hicks, Gre Stolze, J.P. Glover, Jack Conte, James Stuart, Jared Sorensen,
Jason Morninstar, Jeannie Harper, John Tynes, Johnstone Metzer, Jonathan Tweet,
Jonathan Walton, Josephe Vandel, Kelsa, Kieran Maill, Kim Dachtler, Kira Marann,
Larissa Barth, Leonard Balsera, Les Hilliard, Luke Crane, Mark Diaz Truman, Mark
Grin, Matthew Gaan, Michael Atlin, Michael Prescott, Mike Pureka, Nadja Otikor,
Nathan Roerts, Neil Smith, Oliver Graner, Paul, Paul Riddle, Peter Adkison, Rachael
Storey Burke, Rachel Martin, Rachel Walton, Radek Drozdalski, Ro Donohue, Roin
Laws, Sae LaTorra, Sara Williamson, Sean Winslow, Shannon Riddle, Stephen Shapiro,
Steve Harper, Steve Nix, Steve Sechi, Steve Seedy, or Olavsrud, Tom Dachtler, Tom
Richardson, Travis Stout, Vasco Brown, Wesley Flowers, Will Scott, Zane Mankowski.
Additional Feedack & Proong: Adam Sexton, Alex Blue, Andrew Shields, Arne
Jamtaard, Aske Lindved, Ben Scerri, Benjamin Liepis, Brian Pullam, Bryan Lotz,
C.R. Harper, Carl Leonardsson, Carsten Bärmann, Chris Pipinou, Christopher Slifer,
Crai Reeder, Daniele Di Ruo, David Barrena, Haakon Olav unestvedt, Jack Shear,
Jamarr P, Jamie Collette, Jason Eley, Jason Kottler, Jason Puckett, Jens Brandmeier,
Joer Mintel, Johan Nilsson, John Dornerer, Jordan Lessin, Kai Tave, Kevin Denehy,
Kevin Heckman, Lukas Myhan, Michael Pureka, Michael Sands, Nathan Black, Oliver
Graner, Paul Drussel, Rouser Voko, S. C. Israel, Slade, SlyBeop, Stefan Struck, Stras
Acimovic, Troy Ellis, Wojciech “Onslo” Chelstowski, Zanakai, Zeke Mystiue.
My ello “thiey game” designers: Vincent Baker, Will Hindmarch, Harvey Smith,
and Matt Snyder.
e cataclysmic three: Allison Arth, Keith Anderson, and Mike Standish. anks
for destroyin the world.
e original scoundrels: Ryan Dunleavy, Dylan Green, Zane Mankowski, and Ed
Ouellette. is ame desin wouldn’t have survived without you.
e dynamic duo: Stras Acimovic and Sean Nittner. You made this ame so much
etter than I could have alone. ank you so much for your insiht and friendship.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Several desins inuenced Blades in the Dark in various ways. is ame would not
exist without them.
Apocalypse World, y D. Vincent Baker and Stars Without Number and Other Dust, y
Meuey Baker. Dogs in the Vineyard and Kevin Crawford.
e Sundered Land y D. Vincent Baker. Night Witches, y Jason Morninstar.
The Shadow of Yesterday, y Clinton Talislanta, y Stephan Michael Sechi.
Dreisach. Fate, y Ro Donohue, Fred Hicks,
e Burning Wheel and Mouse Guard, y Leonard Balsera, et al.
Luke Crane, et al. ief (series) and Dishonored (series), y
Dream Askew, Monsterhearts, and e Harvey Smith, et al.
Quiet Year, y Avery Alder. Fallout: New Vegas, y Josh Sawyer, John
ou Art But a Warrior, y Anna Kreider. R. Gonzalez, Charles Staples, et al.
Bliss Stage and Polaris, y Ben Lehman.
contents

THE BASICS 1 GATHERING INFORMATION .... 36

e Game.................................................1 EXAMPLE OF PLAY .................... 39
e Settin ...............................................1
e Players............................................... PC VS. PC .................................... 41
e Characters ........................................ COIN & STASH ............................ 42
e Crew..................................................
THE FACTION GAME ................. 44
e Game Master ...................................3
Tier .........................................................44
Playin A Session....................................3
Hold........................................................44
Before You Start ......................................3
Development .........................................44
Touchstones .............................................4
Turf .........................................................4
What You Need To Play .........................4
Faction Status ........................................4
Makin e Game Your Own ...............
Claims ....................................................4
THE CORE SYSTEM ...................... 6
ADVANCEMENT ......................... 48
e Conversation ...................................
PC Advancement ..................................48
Judment Calls ........................................
Crew Advancement ..............................49
Rollin e Dice .....................................7
Chanin Playooks Or Crew Type ...49
e Game Structure ...............................8
ACTIONS & ATTRIBUTES .......... 10 CHARACTERS 51
STRESS & TRAUMA .................... 13 CHARACTER CREATION ........... 52
Character Creation Summary .............7
PROGRESS CLOCKS ................... 15 Actions ...................................................8
ACTION ROLL ............................. 18 CUTTER ...................................... 61
Action Roll Summary ..........................
HOUND ....................................... 65
EFFECT ....................................... 24
LEECH ......................................... 69
Conseuences .......................................7
LURK ........................................... 73
SETTING POSITION & EFFECT ...29
SLIDE .......................................... 77
CONSEQUENCES & HARM ......... 30
SPIDER........................................ 81
RESISTANCE & ARMOR ............. 32
Death ......................................................33 WHISPER .................................... 85
FORTUNE ROLL.......................... 34 STANDARD ITEMS ..................... 88
THE CREW 91 HOW TO PLAY 161
CREW CREATION ....................... 92 Fiction-First Gamin ........................ 11
Crew Uprades .....................................9 Trierin e Action Roll............... 13
Cohorts ..................................................9 How To Choose An Action .............. 1
Cohort Harm & Healin......................97 e Purpose Of Daners & Stress ... 1
Crew Creation Summary.....................99 NPC reat Levels ............................. 17
ere’s Always A Conseuence........ 18
ASSASSINS ................................ 100 Failin Gracefully .............................. 18
BRAVOS .................................... 104 Settin Precedents ............................. 18
Astraction Vs. Details ..................... 19
CULT ......................................... 108 Attune.................................................. 17
HAWKERS ................................. 112 Command........................................... 171
Consort ............................................... 17
SHADOWS................................. 116 Finesse ................................................. 173
Hunt .................................................... 174
SMUGGLERS ............................. 120
Prowl ................................................... 17
Skirmish .............................................. 17
THE SCORE 125 Study.................................................... 177
PLANNING & ENGAGEMENT .. 127 Survey.................................................. 178
e Detail ........................................... 17 Sway..................................................... 179
Item Loadouts .................................... 17 Tinker .................................................. 18
Enaement Roll................................ 18 Wreck .................................................. 181
Linked Plans ....................................... 131 PLAYERS’ BEST PRACTICES .... 182
Flashacks........................................... 13
Givin Up On A Score ...................... 133
RUNNING THE GAME 187
TEAMWORK ............................. 134
GM GOALS ................................ 187
EXAMPLE SCORE ..................... 137
GM ACTIONS ............................ 188

DOWNTIME 145 GM PRINCIPLES ....................... 193

PAYOFF ..................................... 146 GM BEST PRACTICES .............. 194

HEAT ......................................... 147 GM BAD HABITS ...................... 197

Incarceration ...................................... 148 STARTING THE GAME ............. 201
Prison Claims ..................................... 149 Startin Situation ............................... 4
ENTANGLEMENTS ................... 150 THE DARK FUTURE ................. 206
DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES ........ 153
STRANGE FORCES 209
VICE .......................................... 156
Stress Relief......................................... 1 e Unuiet Dead ............................. 1
Indulin Your Vice .......................... 1 Devils .................................................. 1
Whispers ............................................. 11
DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES Hulls .................................................... 11
IN PLAY .................................... 158 Vampires ............................................. 11
Npc & Faction Downtime ................ 18 Demons ............................................... 1
Downtime Activities Summary ....... 19 Summoned Horrors .......................... 13
Spirit Characters ................................ 13 Coalride ............................................ 4
Crow’s Foot ......................................... 
GHOST ...................................... 214
e Docks ........................................... 8
HULL ......................................... 216 Dunslouh .......................................... 7
Nihtmarket ....................................... 7
VAMPIRE .................................. 218
Silkshore ............................................. 74
MAGNITUDE ............................ 220 Six Towers ........................................... 7
Whitecrown ........................................ 78
RITUALS ................................... 222
Sample Rituals .................................... 3 OVERHEARD IN DUSKWALL .. 280
CRAFTING ................................ 224 FACTIONS ................................. 283
Sample Creations ............................... 
Sample Special Formulas .................. 7 VICE PURVEYORS .................... 299
Sample Gadets & Special Plans ...... 7 STREETS ................................... 300
Crain Example ............................... 8
BUILDINGS ............................... 301
CHANGING THE GAME 229 PEOPLE ..................................... 302
Expandin e Scope........................ 3 DEVILS...................................... 304
Tweakin What’s ere ..................... 31
Makin Somethin New ................... 33 SCORES ..................................... 306

ADVANCED ABILITIES
THE SHATTERED ISLES 308
& PERMISSIONS ....................... 234
Iruvian Sword Arts ............................ 34 World Map.......................................... 39
e Forotten Gods........................... 34
e Path Of Echoes ........................... 3 INDEX ....................................... 320
Bound To e Demon ...................... 3

DOSKVOL 237
e Dark Jewel Of Akoros................ 37
A Brief History Of Doskvol.............. 38
Cultures............................................... 39
Lanuaes ........................................... 39
Lihts In e Darkness ..................... 4
Weather, Calendar, & Seasons ......... 4
Law & Order....................................... 48
e Underworld ................................ 
Academia ............................................ 1
e Haunted City .............................. 
DOSKVOL MAP......................... 254
Landmarks .......................................... 
Districts............................................... 
Barrowcle ......................................... 
Brihtstone ......................................... 8
Charhollow ......................................... 
Charterhall ......................................... 
 1

free play

THE GAME STRUCTURE

Character Scenes
Actions & Conseuences
Gather Information

Choose a Taret
Choose a Plan

downtime
Payo, Heat, Entanlements
Downtime Activities
Return to Free Play

Enaement
Roll

score
Actions & Conseuences
Flashacks

9
 1

FORTUNE ROLL
1dfor each T ratin. Cc: Exceptional result / Great,
extreme eect.
+1d for each Mjo 6:Good result / Standard, full eect.
+
Avge.
4/5: Mixed result / Limited, partial eect.
-1d for each Mjo

FORTUNE ROLL
- -3: Bad result / Poor, little eect.
Dsvge.

 e Hound stakes out a ood spot and makes a sniper shot aainst Bazso Baz
when he enters his oce. e controlled H roll is a success, ut is reat
eect enouh to instantly kill the an leader? Instead of makin a proress
clock for Bazso’s mortality, the GM decides to use a simple fortune roll with his
“touhness” as a trait to see if he can possily survive the attack. e roll is a
4/5: the ullet misses his heart, ut hits him in the lun—it’s a mortal wound.
He’s on death’s door, with only hours to live, unless the Lamplacks can et
an expert physicker to him in time.
 Inspectors are puttin a case toether aainst the PC crew. How uickly will
their evidence result in arrests? e crew’s weeve counts as a major
advantae for the inspectors.
 e PCs face o in a skirmish with a veteran leviathan hunter captain and her
crew. e tide of attle oes in the PCs’ favor, and many crew memers are
killed. One of the players asks if the captain will surrender to spare the rest of
her crew’s lives. e GM isn’t sure. How cold-hearted is this veteran hunter?
She’s stared iant demons in the eye without inchin... is there anythin
human le inside her? e GM makes a d fortune roll for “human feelins”
to see if a spark of compassion remains in heart. If so, maye one of the PCs
can roll to Coso, Sw, or Comm her to stand down.

35
60
4

qesosocose
 How would a dierent enaement roll result chane the score? On a -3,
Rachel mentioned that she would have confronted them with the uardian
spirit riht away. Does that seem riht for an openin desperate position? What
if they had otten a 6 or a cc? How would you handle it?
 When Revka Ae to compel aunt ea’s spirit, on the -3 and 4/5 results,
how would thins have one if the PCs had resisted the conseuences? Do you
think the conseuences were appropriate, iven how powerful the Dimmer
Sisters’ house-maic is supposed to e? How would you increase or decrease the
severity of conseuences in a situation like this if the opponent was dierent?
 Allison used her ne spirit mask aer the roll, to increase the eect of her
result. Would you let a player do this, or do you think they should have to
declare use of their items efore they roll?
 e cc result on the Ae roll really made thins a lot simpler,
didn’t it? e crew could have een stuck attlin anry hosts in the rst
room of the house, ut instead they just slipped on throuh to the location of
the artifact, makin the score a lot faster to complete. What do you think of
short-and-sweet scores like this?
 What did you think of Ryan’s “shoot thins and jump out the window”
maneuver at the end? Is that the kind of action-adventure tone that you want
to promote when you play the ame, or would you like somethin more ritty
and closer to real-life? Do you think  stress is a fair cost for that ashack?
Should he have rolled Sve to see how ood his information was, or was
it okay to loss over that it?

144
CITY GUIDE TO

doskvol
THE DARK JEWEL OF AKOROS
e city of Doskvol was estalished over 1 years ao as a coal minin
settlement on the cold north coast of Akoros. It has withstood the reakin of
the world, an attack y a titanic leviathan, massive res, a plaue, a civil war, and
leions of anry hosts. It is a community of survivors.
e city is densely packed inside the rin of immense lihtnin towers that protect
it from the murderous hosts of the lihted deathlands eyond. Every suare
foot is covered in human construction of some kind—piled one atop another
with loomin towers, sprawlin manors, and stacked row houses; dissected y
canals and narrow twistin alleys; connected y a spiderwe of roads, rides,
and elevated walkways.
Doskvol is one of the most important cities in the Imperium, since it is from
its port that the metal steamships of the leviathan hunters are launched. e
hunters rave the far northern reaches of the Void Sea, far out of siht of land,
to rapple with titanic demons of the depths and extract their precious immortal
lood—the sustance rened into electroplasm, the power source of civilization.
All powerful nole families operate hunter ships, each commanded y the scion
of their line—and it is y their fortunes at sea and the ounties of lood they
capture that the fortunes of the empire wax and wane. e savvy and the ruthless
of Doskvol do well to position themselves to prot from this crucial enterprise
upon which so many depend—either as an ally or servant of the aristocracy, or
y preyin upon the corrupted rich and privileed elite.

Opposite: e canals of Doskvol carry most of the

goods and passengers across the city.

237
LANDMARKS DISTRICTS
 TheVoSe. Durin the cataclysm, Bowcef. Residences and markets for
the oceans turned to lack ink. Tiny the farmers who work the elds and eeleries.
points of liht, arrayed like constellations of Bghsoe. e rand mansions and
stars, can e seen far elow the surface. Only luxury shops of the wealthy elite.
the ravest or most desperate of captains
dare to sail eyond siht of land, into a Chhoow. A crowded district of
sea as lack and dark as the sky aove. e tenements and stacked houses.
veneful hosts that plaue the land tend Cheh. e city’s civic oces and
to shun the open ocean, ut there are more the hu for shops, artisans, and commerce.
terrile thins prowlin the deeps. Coge. e remnants of Doskvol’s
2 TheLosDsc. A once wealthy oriinal hilltop minin settlement, now
area, ravaed y plaue then aandoned home to laorers and industrial factories.
to the deathlands when the second lihtnin Cow’sFoo. A cramped neihorhood
arrier was uilt. Contains many lost of multi-level streets, ruled y ans.
treasures for the foolhardy to seek out.
TheDocks. Rouh taverns, tattoo parlors,
 IohookPso. A towerin metal htin pits, and warehouses.
fortress, where the worst (or most
Dsogh. A laor camp served y
unlucky) criminals are incarcerated. Many
convicts and a hetto for the destitute poor.
are forced into laor in the Southern elds
and pit-mines of Dunslouh. e condemned Nghmke. e trade center for exotic
are sent to scavene in the deathlands. oods imported y rail. Many vendors also
trade in illicit oods.
 GocRSo. Electro-rail Skshoe. e “red lamp district” and
trains from across the Imperium arrive
here daily with oods and passeners. artist community.
SxTowes. A formerly rich district, now
5 Eeees & Fms. Aout half of worn down and dilapidated.
Doskvol’s food needs are met y imports;
the other half is athered locally from Whecow. e sprawlin estates of
eel farms, mushroom caverns, and crops the Lord Governor, Hunter Commander,
nurtured y wondrous radiant enery lamps. Master Warden, and Doskvol Academy.
 ONohPo. Before the delue of Each district is detailed on the following
the second century, the Dosk River delta pages.
was only a shallow o surroundin a coal
minin settlement. Ships used the Old North
Port to dock and re-supply efore crossin
the open sea to Skovlan. e osolete port
was aandoned to the deathlands when the
second lihtnin arrier was uilt.
7 The Dehs. Beyond the
lihtnin arriers, the world is a
wasteland of petrified trees, ash, and
chokin clouds of miasma. Restless hosts
ceaselessly search for the faintest spark of
life essence upon which to prey.

WehHih  Medium  Low 

 bckve
Tcheos

ockpo
Skov Doskvo

veh
whehoow
wecff

moo

Akoos
cospe

mpe
s c
sev

Seveos
cfe soh
po
ho

sf
oe
bgh
hbo

Iv
The
’sh kehs
Dgge mspo
Ises

