CLASH
A downloadable supplement
CLASH is a pamphlet supplement for Blades in the Dark about the factions that fight for power in the haunted streets of a victorian city. In this supplement you will find rules for a new phase of play called the faction turn. In the faction turn, active factions take turns using their resources in pursuit of their goals, creating rumors and opportunities for the players to follow during free play, scores and downtime.
Is this supplement you will find:
| WAYS TO ACTIVATE FACTIONS. Before a new season of play begins, choose a handful of factions to star in the next series of factions turns. Each active faction uses their personal assets to battle for power inside the city. |
| NEW ACTIONS. Organizations can pursue their goals by choosing from a list of clash or development actions. But be careful, failing a faction roll can lead to consequences, tipping the scales of power towards enemy factions. |
| MANIFESTING TURNS. Find advice on how to manifest the results of each faction turn inside your game, including what to do when your own crew of scoundrels decide to intervene in the ongoing war between factions. |
License: This work is based on Blades in the Dark, product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
MORE FROM ME:
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hi! Thanks for this stuff, I hope I'll have the chance to use them in the future. In the meantime, could you explain better to me this part? "they are open to complete and utter defeat if they suffer one successful attack from an enemy faction." I'm not sure if I simply cannot grasp it fully°°.
I put other comments following this one, hope you are comfortable with feedback and suggestions.
EDIT, note °°: ok, maybe I understood it: it sounds like "If they suffer one successful attack from an enemy faction, then they will be totally defeated".
PS: consequence n°4 looks positive at first sight. I understood it after reading the example; maybe it could be more clear moving the phrase parts around, something like:
Information leaks about your actions; an enemy faction makes an immediate free action against you.
Under MANIFESTING TURNS it seems that there's a Faction Turn about every time a score ends.
However, in the first pages it says "At the start of a new season of play, activate between 3 to 5 factions to take place in the faction turn." Later, it says "When time passes and power in the city shifts, play a faction turn."
So, I'm not sure about how many times I should roll have those Faction Turns. From what I understand, when a new Season is starting, we need to make one. Then, not sure if we should have one Faction Turn after every Score, or if it's a more free thing, maybe more based on the amount of fictional time passed AND how many changes there was in the City (i.e. following the instruction on the first page more than those on second page).
Thanks for all the feedback! Here are some thoughts.
You got the defeated part right, once you are in weak hold and fill your stress clock, you are open to be defeated and taken out.
Good catch on the consequence, I will be changing that to make the intention more clear!
The system was built with the idea of playing short but dramatic seasons of play. So when you start a new season you activate factions relevant to the situation, usually those with negative and positive status as part of character creation. RAW you play a turn every time the players finish a score, or you know they are going into downtime at some point in the next session. The main reason is so you can manifest the actions in play through their contacts and offer new opportunities for scores in free play.
Now, this is often how I do Blades. Big scores and even bigger downtime, each phase often taking one session +. I believe some people do more phases in less time, so it's easy to change that if you think less turns would make more sense.