This PDF collects the mission types listed for each crew type in Blades in the Dark on to a random table that can be used as a procedural content generator. As detailed below, it’s particularly effective when used in conjunction with the more specific procedural content generators already found in the core rulebook.
USING THE TABLE
FIRST: Roll 1d6 + 1d4 to generate a mission type. Option: Roll 1d8 + 1d4, with results of 7 or 8 on the d8 defaulting to the crew’s type. (This creates a result that will be biased towards the crew’s type, while also leaving open a sizable opportunity for other mission types.)
OPTION #1 – USE OPPORTUNITY TABLES: Roll 1d3 + 1d6 on the appropriate crew’s opportunity table and combine with the mission type.
- Assassins, p. 103
- Bravos, p. 107
- Cults, p. 111
- Hawkers, p. 115
- Shadows, p. 119
- Smugglers, p. 123
Example: “Smuggle Arcane/Weird” + “Union organizers want to arm factory workers in advance of a strike” tells you what kind of weapons the union organizers are looking for.
Example: “Sabotage” + “A master assassin has come out of retirement for one more job; many would pay well to know who their target is” means your mission isn’t just to figure out who the target is, but to prevent the master assassin from carrying it out.
OPTION #2 – USE WORK TABLE: Rolling 1d4 + 1d6 on the WORK table may seem superfluous, but can also combine with the mission type in unexpected ways (e.g., “Disappearance” + “Hollow or Revivify” resulting in a job where you need to kidnap a corpse in order to revive it).
- Blades in the Dark, p. 306
Example: “Accident” + “Burglary or Heist”. It’s that much harder to kill someone and make it look like an accident when you ALSO need to purloin something from their person/house.
Example: “Augury” + “Poison or Arrange Accident”. Cult mission types can be difficult to interpret for other crews. In some cases, the crew may just be engaging in cult-like activity (attempting to gain a powerful augury by giving a noblewoman a very powerful poison that causes prophecies regarding their blood relations to appear as blood welts on their skin). You might also invert the scenario so that the crew is seeking to prevent a cult from carrying out the mission. Or the crew might be hired by the cult to do the mission.
FINALLY: Flesh things out with the other SCORES tables.
- Client/Target, p. 306
- Connected to Person/Faction, p. 307
- Twist or Complication, p. 307
Just wanted to say that your blog is excellent and that it’s exciting to see some articles about Blades. We are currently on our 4th session and I’ll have to admit that for the first 2 it felt pretty shaky. Then, more and more of the mechanics and systems clicked and we began to see what Harper was trying to do. Will you be writing some kind of review of ‘Blades in the Dark’ in the future? It would be interesting to see your take on it.
A full review is likely after I’ve run a few more sessions of it. I want to see more of the crew mechanics in actual play before synthesizing my thoughts.
It clicked well for my group at the third session. I don’t think it was a coincidence that this was the session where we pushed past the “X hires you to do Y” format and allowed the game to be about what the characters wanted to do.
The opening scenario encourages that format as a kickoff, if you’re not careful — if the crew takes the first offer anyone makes, well, it’s exactly that. I’m wondering now if it shouldn’t be started in media res: “so what do you do about these two incompatible offers?” And then flashback to the crime lords laying out their opposing jobs. That’d also make the flashback paradigm clear.
Coincidentally, I’m actually working on a short essay discussing alternative starting situations for Blades in the Dark now. It includes a couple of options that put PC initiative front and center. It should probably go up before the end of the month if all goes well.