(click here for PDF)

Blades in the Dark is a really cool little game with three major claims to fame:

• A detailed system for running and developing a criminal crew.
• An innovative system for running heist scenarios using a combination of flashbacks and an “engagement roll”.
• A very unique approach to framing action resolution through a combination of setting position and level of effect.

As with my other cheat sheets, this cheat sheet is designed to summarize all of the rules for running the game — from Action Roll resolutions to Downtime activities. It is not, however, designed to be a quick start packet: If you want to learn how to play Blades in the Dark, you’ll want to read through the core rulebook. These cheat sheets are a long-term resource for both GMs and players, and can serve as a great tool for experienced players teaching newcomers, but it’s a cheat sheet, not a textbook.

These cheat sheets also do not include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). You won’t find the rules for character creation, the character playbooks, or the crew sheets here. (Although you can find many of those resources at bladesinthedark.com.)

VERSION 3

My normal procedure for creating these cheat sheets is to (a) write them up, (b) use them in actual play for several sessions, (c) iteratively revise them as necessary, and only then (d) share them here on the Alexandrian. For Blades in the Dark, however, I posted a picture to Twitter of my table set-up for the game:

The sexy map (printed by ABC Sign & Graphic) drew a lot of attention, and the prominent positioning of the cheat sheets unexpectedly created a lot of demand for them. This sort of short-circuited my normal process and, after using them in only a single session, I rushed them up onto the site.

Since that time, however, I’ve used the sheets in almost a dozen more sessions and it became clear that there were not only a number of errors, but also some significant shortcomings with them. These new versions of the sheets, therefore, have reorganized the existing material to configure it more usefully, but also added several significant new chunks of information:

• Duskvol District Modifiers: Getting these in front of the players has a really tangible effect on how they organize their affairs and run their scores.
• Glossary of Strange Forces: I found that our group was getting a little too “fantasy generic” in my handling of the setting, so I wanted to refocus myself on the very specific “demonic steampunk ghost apocalypse” vibe of the game.
• Action Ratings – Expanded Reference: I’d originally decided not to include this material and went with my normal “list of attributes/skills” method for cheat sheets. But the clear definition of what each action rating is for and, even more importantly, where those action ratings weakly overlap is actually really crucial to running Blades in the Dark correctly. During play we were constantly reaching for the rulebook to look this stuff up, which is exactly the material you want in the cheat sheet.

If you still want the original versions of these cheat sheets, they can still be found here.

HOW I USE THEM

I usually keep a copy of my system cheat sheets behind my GM screen for quick reference and I also place a half dozen copies in the center of the table for the players to grab as needed. The information included is meant to be as comprehensive as possible; although rulebooks are also available, my goal is to minimize the amount of time people spend referencing the rulebook: Finding something in the 8 pages of the cheat sheet is a much faster process than paging through the full rulebook. And, once you’ve found it, processing the streamlined information on the cheat sheet will (hopefully) also be quicker.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive.

Page 1-2: Core Resolution. This includes all of the core rules for action resolution, including action rolls, resistance rolls, fortune rolls, consequences, harms, stress, and progress clocks (plus additional resources related to those topics).

Page 3-4: Scores & Crews & Factions. Re-sequencing this material made the cheat sheet more intuitive to navigate. I’ve also dropped Incarceration rules onto page 4.

Page 5-6: Downtime. And once your score is done, everything you need for downtime activities (including vices).

Page 7: Miscellanea. Collecting together rules for Coins, Rituals, and Crafting.

Page 8: Deep Reference. The new references for Duskvol District Modifiers, Glossary of Strange Forces, and the Expanded Reference for Action Ratings. (Obviously you’d want to swap out the Duskvol modifiers if you’re running with a different setting, such as U’Duasha from the special edition of the game.)

Page 9: Principles. This page includes the game’s “core loop”, the standards for who controls which types of decisions (Judgment Calls), and the best practices/goals for players and GMs alike.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

I usually use a four-panel screen and use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them. After some experimentation, this is the set-up I’m currently using for Blades in the Dark:

• Panel 1: Action / Effect (with Deep References behind it)
• Panel 2: Consequences / Progress Clocks / Magnitude
• Panel 3: Scores (with Crews and Principles behind it)
• Panel 4: Downtime (with Downtime Activities and Miscellanea behind it)

This allows you to reference roll results, consequences, and the magnitude table with a single glance to your left. You can intuitively flip up the Action Rating page to find the expanded Action Rating material behind it. To your right you’ll be able to flip through the material for Scores  & Downtime on the final two panels (with miscellaneous details tucked behind each).

Something else I experimented with was leaving a panel open and sliding in the one-page reference for the current District. But as the action in my campaign seems to frequently shift betweeen districts, this ended up being more finicky than valuable.

It’s likely that these sheets will continue to evolve through play. Recently, for example, I’ve realized that I really want a reference for the different hours of the day (Blades in the Dark, p. 240) so that I can set the time of night more accurately. (This is perhaps particularly notable because the setting’s eternal night disrupts my normal time descriptors.) You might jot those down on the currently blank sheet on Panel 1. Maybe it would be useful to pair that with a map of Doskvol you could flip up to reference quickly?

FURTHER READING
Advanced Starting Situations
Alternative Starting Situations
Progress Clocks
The Vultures

(click for PDF)

Hal Foster’s groundbreaking Prince Valiant was adapted into the first “storytelling game” by Greg Stafford back in the ’80s. Many of you likely grew up with its much diminished legacy in the Sunday comic strips of your youth, but Foster’s original strips (as you can see below) was a beautiful, atmospheric, mythic-real take on the Arthurian legend. Stafford’s game sought to capture this universe with an elegant ruleset and incredibly simple character creation mechanics, and it’s recently been republished by Nocturnal Media.

The game is divided into two parts. The Basic Game, although the first to bear the title of “storytelling game”, is very much a traditional RPG. What made it particularly innovative at the time, however, was that it eschewed simulation-focused complexity and instead stripped things down to a simple, narrative-focused mechanic.

In the Advanced Game, Stafford introduces a structure by which players can, in mid-session, become Storytellers, running the group through short episodes before returning control of the session to the Chief Storyteller. Meta-currency rewards are given in exchange for taking on these GMing duties, creating not only one of the first STGs but also an early troupe-style game.

Thirty years later, Prince Valiant is no longer innovative. (Quite the opposite: The industry has been following its lead and looting its corpse.) But it remains an elegant and accessible game that, although its parts have been parceled out, still provides a unique playing experience that’s not really been duplicated anywhere else.

This is actually a great time to get into Prince Valiant: In addition to Nocturnal Media reprinting the RPG, Fantagraphcs has been publishing a freshly remastered reprint series of Foster’s original comic. This new edition has been scanned from the original syndicate proofs, restoring Foster’s stunningly beautiful art and subtle storytelling.

Inspired by both, I’m currently laying down a bunch of material for bringing Prince Valiant to my gaming table. This includes assembling one of my system cheat sheets for the game. For those unfamiliar with these cheat sheets, they seek to summarize all of the rules for the game — from basic action resolution to advanced options. It’s a great way to get a grip on a new system and, of course, it makes it easier to introduce the game to new players and run the system as a Game Master.

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

These cheat sheets are not designed to be a quick start packet: They’re designed to be a comprehensive reference for someone who has read the rulebook and will probably prove woefully inadequate if you try to learn the game from them. (On the other hand, they can definitely assist experienced players who are teaching the game to new players.)

The cheat sheets also don’t include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). In other words, you won’t find the rules for character creation here.

HOW I USE THEM

I generally keep a copy of my system cheat sheets behind my GM screen for quick reference and I also place a half dozen copies in the center of the table for the players to grab as needed. The information included is meant to be as comprehensive as possible; although rulebooks are also available, my goal is to minimize the amount of time people spend referencing the rulebook: Prince Valiant is one of those games which freely mix rules with philosophical discussions of how the rules can be used to best effect. The cheat sheets can’t duplicate that utility, but instead seek to pull the rules out for easy reference.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive.

Page 1: Core Mechanics & Combat. Most of the game is right here.

Page 2: Skills. I went with slightly longer skill descriptions than I usually do for these cheat sheets because we found that the divisions between skills were finely defined (which makes sense given the relatively narrow focus of the game on knights and courtly life) and also not completely intuitive (because Stafford has, very cleverly, adopted a medieval understanding of philosophy in the division of knowledge and skill).

Page 3: All the Modifiers. All of them.

Page 4: Special Effects & Fame. I’ve tried to appropriately emphasize the degree to which the Fame Award values are very much median guidelines that it’s expected the GM will vary from. (Review the appropriate sections of the rulebook as necessary.)

Page 5: Advanced Storytelling. I initially played with the idea of putting all of the Advanced rules on a single sheet, but ultimately decided that I was likely to include Advanced Skills (and character creation) even in campaigns that didn’t use all of the Advanced Storytelling rules. (Partly due to the exigencies of the new open table format I’m experimenting with using Prince Valiant as its foundation.)

MAKING A GM SCREEN

As with my other cheat sheets, the Prince Valiant sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

If you have the modular four panel screen, like I do, then this is quite simple: The “Advanced Storytelling” sheet is a nice reference, but you don’t need to be able to access its information in a single glance. So you can just insert the other four sheets and you’re good to go.

PLAY PRINCE VALIANT!

(click here for PDF)

UPDATE: These cheat sheets have been revised and improved. I recommend checking out Version 3.

As those who follow me on Twitter already know, I’m in the early stages of a Blades in the Dark campaign. As I do with virtually every RPG that I run, I’ve prepped a cheat sheet for the game, and now that it’s been put through its paces a few times it’s ready to be shared with all of you.

Blades in the Dark is a really cool little game with three major claims to fame:

• A detailed system for running and developing a criminal crew.
• An innovative system for running heist scenarios using a combination of flashbacks and an “engagement roll”.
• A very unique approach to framing action resolution through a combination of setting position and level of effect.

I’ll likely be discussing all of these in more detail at some point as I get a more experience with actually running/playing the game. (The last bullet point, in particular, is almost certainly going to be discussed as part of the Art of Rulings, because it bends your brain by pushing different paradigm in the way that you mechanically perceive and define action in the game world.)

As with my other cheat sheets, this cheat sheet is designed to summarize all of the rules for running the game — from Action Roll resolutions to Downtime activities. It is not, however, designed to be a quick start packet: If you want to learn how to play Blades in the Dark, you’ll want to read through the core rulebook. These cheat sheets are a long-term resource for both GMs and players, and can serve as a great tool for experienced players teaching newcomers, but it’s a cheat sheet, not a textbook.

These cheat sheets also do not include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). You won’t find the rules for character creation, the character playbooks, or the crew sheets here. (Although you can find many of those resources at bladesinthedark.com.)

HOW I USE THEM

I usually keep a copy of my system cheat sheets behind my GM screen for quick reference and I also place a half dozen copies in the center of the table for the players to grab as needed. The information included is meant to be as comprehensive as possible; although rulebooks are also available, my goal is to minimize the amount of time people spend referencing the rulebook: Finding something in the 8 pages of the cheat sheet is a much faster process than paging through the full rulebook. And, once you’ve found it, processing the streamlined information on the cheat sheet will (hopefully) also be quicker.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive.

Page 1-2: Core Resolution. This includes all of the core rules for action resolution, including action rolls, resistance rolls, fortune rolls, consequences, harms, stress, and progress clocks (plus additional resources related to those topics).

Page 3: Crews & Factions. I’ve also dropped the rules for Incarceration onto this page.

Page 4: Scores. All the rules for running a score.

Page 5-6: Downtime. And once your score is done, everything you need for downtime activities (including vices).

Page 7: Miscellanea. Collecting together rules for Coins, Rituals, and Crafting.

Page 8: Principles. This page includes the game’s “core loop”, the standards for who controls which types of decisions (Judgment Calls), and the best practices/goals for players and GMs alike.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

I usually use a four-panel screen and use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them. I’m currently still experimenting with how I want to arrange the pages for my own personal screen. My initial arrangement did not work very smoothly, so I’m going to reorganize and try a different approach. (I’ll post an update when I figure it out.) At the moment, I’m fairly certain that Page 1 and Page 2 should be on top (visible at all times by default) so that I can quickly reference roll results, consequences, and the magnitude table at a glance. Beyond that, I still need to play with it a bit.

(click here for PDF)

Robin D. Laws’ DramaSystem is tucked away inside the Hillfolk roleplaying game. Hillfolk is kind of an odd duck of a book: There’s about 50 pages of generic rules describing the DramaSystem engine. There’s 15-20 pages of setting material pertaining specifically to Hillfolk: A Game of Iron Age Drama. And then there’s another 150 pages providing everything you need to play in 30 other settings. In other words, there’s 200+ pages of material for the DramaSystem and only 15-20 pages of Hillfolk in there. The entire book is really designed as a generic resource for the DramaSystem, but it’s not branded, presented, or sold as such.

The raison d’être for the DramaSystem lies with Laws’ breakdown of fiction into procedural scenes and dramatic scenes: “In procedural scenes, characters confront and overcome obstacles — “they fight opponents, conduct chases, investigate mysteries, explore unfamiliar environments, and so on. (…) In a dramatic scene, the main characters confront internal obstacles, seeking emotional reward from people they care deeply about, for good or ill.” The majority of RPGs focus almost exclusively on procedural content. Laws wanted to design a storytelling game which specifically focused on creating and playing through dramatic scenes.

Laws believes that one of the primary obstacles to effective dramatic scenes in traditional roleplaying games lies in the fact that players tend to default to no, convinced that their characters are all possessed of a steely, unbreakable resolve that will never buckle, and thus creating flat, repetitious scenes that never build, centered around boring characters who never grow or change. (He says this in like the most insulting way possible, claiming that anyone who refuses to play games in an authorial stance is in denial about what roleplaying games are really all about, and that anyone who refuses to come to Jesus after experiencing the true glories of the DramaSystem is basically a petulant man-child who should be kicked out of your group. But except for the couple of pages where he goes on that Bizarro World rampage, he’s not fundamentally wrong.)

The DramaSystem structurally works to overcome these impulses by (a) specifically focusing gameplay on the dramatic content, (b) redefining “success” in dramatic instead of personal terms, and (c) mechanically encouraging (and, in some cases, forcing) characters to yield in dramatic scenes. The central mechanic around which these structures are built is simply framing scenes in terms of petitioners (and the emotional need they want fulfilled) vs. granters (and why they won’t give it).

One interesting feature in this is that Laws seems to identify these mechanics as modeling the storytelling techniques used by creators in other mediums. But that’s not really accurate. What the mechanics actually model is a process of literary criticism. (It is, in fact, the same lit-crit that Laws uses in Hamlet’s Hit Points.) Intriguingly, that’s also what the game’s mechanics feel like in play: A literary critique of the narrative you’re spontaneously generating.

The result feels very unique in play, and it definitely succeeds in forcing a group to aggressively focus on a type of character interaction which is, in fact, rather rare in most tabletop roleplaying. Having played it only a handful of times, I’m not 100% sure it actually succeeds as a game. But it definitely succeeds at being a very interesting creative exercise, and if nothing else I honestly think most groups would benefit from playing a half dozen sessions of it or so. The lessons you’ll learn (both individually and collectively) will likely have a very positive impact as they feed back into your other games.

SYSTEM CHEAT SHEETS

I’ve designed system cheat sheets for a number of RPGs and STGs now. This one is designed to be used with any DramaSystem setting (the 30 from the Hillfolk corebook, the 25 from the Blood on the Snow supplement, or any which you create yourself). For those unfamiliar with them: These cheat sheets summarize all the rules for the game — from basic action resolution to advanced options. It’s a great way to get a grip on a new system and, of course, it also provides a valuable resource at the table for both the GM and the players. (For more information on the procedure I follow when prepping these cheat sheets, click here.)

HOW I USE THEM

I generally keep a copy of the system cheat sheet behind the GM screen for quick reference and also provide copies for all of the players. I also keep at least one copy of the rulebook available, of course, and the cheat sheet probably won’t make much sense to you if you haven’t read it yourself. But the goal of the cheat sheet is to consolidate all of the mechanical content of the game, eliminating book look-ups: Finding something in a handful of pages is a much faster process than paging through hundreds of pages in a rulebook.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive:

Page 1: This page contains the broad, general principles of the system.

Page 2: This page contains virtually everything you need in order to frame and play through scenes (which is the heart of the system).

Page 3: Something of a miscellanea. This includes general principles and rules for the GM, but the rules for player v. player conflict also got bumped onto this page due to lack of space.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

(click here for PDF)

Here we have another one of my system cheat sheets, this time for a game that I was Lead Developer for. Like my other cheat sheets, this one summarizes all the rules for the game — from basic action resolution to advanced combat options to the nuanced gear options of the Human Sphere. It’s a great way to get a grip on a new system and, of course, it also provides a valuable resource at the table for both the GM and the players. (For more information on the procedure I follow when prepping these cheat sheets, click here.)

Infinity is a game of epic science fiction, mixing together transplanetary empires, alien invasions, existential threats, cusping transhumanism, and rich historical allusion into a kitchen sink of thrilling science fiction. The Wilderness of Mirrors scenario meta-structure will create wildly memorable gaming experiences, while the triple battlefield of Warfare, Infowar, and Psywar is implemented using a set of unified core mechanics which strips away the mechanical complexity so often found in cyberpunk-inspired systems.

I’m more than a little biased, but I think you should check it out.

HOW I USE THEM

As I’ve described in the past, I keep a copy of the system cheat sheet behind my GM screen for quick reference and also provide copies for all of the players. Of course, I also keep at least one copy of the rulebook available, too. But my goal with the cheat sheets is to consolidate information and eliminate book look-ups: Finding something in a couple of pages is a much faster process than paging through hundreds of pages in the rulebook.

The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet should, hopefully, be fairly intuitive. The division of pages is mostly arbitrary.

PAGE 1: CORE MECHANICS. As a 2d20 game, the core mechanics of Infinity revolve around skill tests, but (perhaps even more importantly) the concept of Momentum & Heat. Infinity Points are also summarized here for easy reference.

PAGE 2: ACTION SCENES. This page summarizes the core mechanical chassis on which all Action Scenes in Infinity are built.

PAGE 3-6: TRIPLE BATTLEFIELD. These pages detail the rules for Warfare, Infowar, and Psywar.

PAGE 7: ACTION SCENE MOMENTUM & NPC PROGRAM TEMPLATES. These two things don’t really have anything to do with each other, but the Action Scene Momentum page had enough space left over that I could put the NPC Program Templates on it, and those are too useful not to have at your fingertips during play. (They provide a a couple dozen hacking devices that you can give NPCs, allowing you to quickly customize hackers without needing to build a custom deck list every time.)

PAGE 8-9: VEHICLES, STEALTH, BASIC INTERACTIONS. Wrap up of some additional rules that flesh out the core engine of the game.

PAGE 10-14: GEAR. Based on playtesting with these sheets, the gear section was significantly expanded. Like a lot of science fiction games, Infinity has a need to cover a lot of different types of gear. We’ve kept those systems as streamlined as possible, but there are still specialized rules that are pulled out here for easy reference. Of equal importance are the Qualities cheat sheets, which chew up a lot of space but are really useful to keeping things moving in actual play.

PAGE 15: ADVERSARIES. They key info for running NPCs. This wouldn’t take up so much room, but the specialized rules for Fireteams (which make running large engagements much easier) and the full list of common special abilities (included for reasons similar to the gear qualities based on actual playtesting with the sheets).

A SIMPLER SET

These cheat sheets are sufficiently expansive that it would be very time consuming to review them in their entirety. If you’re looking for a quick introduction to the system for new players, here’s what I recommend:

• Page 1: Core Mechanics. (You can skip the specific details of how you, as the GM, can spend Heat. But the players need to understand how to flexibly use Momentum.)
• Page 2-5: The Triple Battlefield. Covering Warfare, Infowar, and Psywar does carry a heavier load than systems that only handle one of them.
• Page 7: Action Scene Momentum. (Emphasize that these are examples. The 2d20 System is nice if you run it as a RAW-above-all bundle of crunch, but Infinity really sings when you embrace the system’s potential for player improvisation.)
• Page 10: Lifestyles & Acquisitions. (It’s not a bad idea to take a look at the Lifestyle descriptions in the core rulebook, starting on p. 388. It’s a fairly short section, but it really encapsulates what it feels like to live in the Human Sphere, and that perspective can be really useful for players trying to create and get into their character’s heads.)
• Page 14: Remotes. (You can skip most of the other gear rules and bring them in as they come up in play, but I think the pervasive domotics and ability to take action at a distance through a variety of remotes is something that players really need to grok about the setting.)

Of course, you’ll also want to do a quick introduction of the setting. This can prove challenging because there’s A LOT of stuff going on in the Human Sphere. Standard advice about focusing only on the stuff that’s immediately relevant to your first 2-3 scenarios still applies here. But take a specific look at the “Human Sphere” sidebar on p. 8 (specifically designed to introduce all the planets) and the “Factions of the Future” sidebar on p. 27 (which introduces all the factions). Between those two, you’ll get a pretty good overview for the setting. The “Life in the Human Sphere” chapter (p. 140-145) is also something you might consider excerpting and giving to the players to read before your first session.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

Personally, I use a four-panel screen and use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them.