Thanks for reaching out, hoss. Couple of buddy-breathe copies just went up on the pile. Grab one and get salvaging.
A Couple of Drakes
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Greetings Retainer Hopeful,
We're always happy to send over the keycode for a PDF copy with any proof of purchase, to include sending a fantastic selfie posing with your physical copy, in case you pick it up at the local FLGS and lose the receipt along the way, or get it secondhand. Just shoot us an email at acoupleofdrakes@outlook.com and we'll get you sorted. We don't do physical copy distribution for ourselves... yet. But Amazon always has Court of Blades in both soft and hardcover options.
Thanks for inquiring!
Howdy, Belter.
Now I'm not one to tell a scraphound what sort of thing in the cargo-hold steadies their nerve and makes them feel lucky or competent again, but we've all got our particular tricks for when the day's labor becomes hinky. The answer is an unsatisfying one, I understand, but to go ahead and pull the curtain back a little and divorce from the fiction, I'm gonna tell you Game Balance and Testing.
Glow's an edge-stat that don't get checked often like Grit, and having a surfeit of it makes for a less interesting and engaging experience. Also them OmniFlash batteries is miserable power-drawers and when we plugged one into a Kildeer, it damn near ate the fusion drive just keepin' itself topped up. Honest and true, Grit's refilled by suit-patches, little lucky-dos, a quick smoke, or maybe a little nip to settle yourself before you button up your hat and step once more into the old groaning ghost of a Bird.
So yeah, Belter. I agree, when dealing with the fiction it makes plenty of sense to have some Flash batteries kicking in stowage more than a quick and heady "okay, I can do this" waiting back at the airlock. But also some things gotta get square on the meta-level. Indulge me, if'n it ain't too onerous. Or hell, scritch it out and change it. I ain't your pa.
Best of luck out there. Chariout, out.
Absolutely! We've got some really nice sheets on Roll20 as well as a fillable GoogleSheets version. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oTRb7CZoIYCyBOtszYVxTVepClfSHTue_7thzmRf...
Hope you find all the best kinds of trouble in Ilrien!
Each unit of Gas drops your Gas number by 1, Belter. So if you’re on 4, one Gas from the spares bank puts you down to 3. Same thing with any you scrounge on a Bird, each unit’s one box on your sheet. Be a lot cooler if they were tanks, I’ll grant. But it’s rough out here like that.
Hope your luck hangs tough out there, Belter. Y’all let us know if you have anymore questions. We’ll keep the channel open.
Chariot, out.
Concordat ain't listening, but I am, Belter. Now, per page Twenty under the Bank section, it says y'all got a single salvage operation after you hit debt 10 to pay down your principle or else your friend loses the ship and goes to work off the balance in their ledger on one of the core-ward Wealth Reclamation Facilities. Means their time out on the Gasping Frontier's at an end, I'm afraid. But hey, they got one more shot to bring home enough to get back to limping, right?
It's not all dark, no stars yet...but yall can see it from here. Get to scrappin' hoss.
Chariot out.
We're working on getting hardcopies available through Indie Press Revolution currently. When we're completely through distribution, there may be a couple of copies left over, but that's an ongoing process. As soon as I've got a link to point you towards, we'll circle back and ensure you're situated to snag yourself a copy, Belter.
Howdy, Belter.
We've got the Born on the Belt SRD that'll get you on the path toward hacking together your own game of desperate exploration. But before we go exchanging data packets here, I need y'all to understand that I'm expecting you to tell me when it's all put together so that I can both play it and send other folks to check it out, too. If that sounds like a deal, then this here's my go-ahead and blessing, Belter. Done and dusted.
Ain't no one on the Belt for longer than a minute can't say they're too old for this particular ration of nonsense. You're in good company, Belter.
Movement on these birds is orthogonal. Modules got four sides, we move in four directions...unless we're space-walking. But it turns out, maneuvering through the fathomless black is a whole rasher of additional trouble. If you stick to making your way through the hatches, it's either long-side or short-side on the map. Corners don't come equipped with doorways, I'm afraid. Structural concerns, y'understand.
Hope that gets the headware back on the right track, Belter. Y'all let me know if you run up against anything else makes for friction, and I'll see if I can't sort it for you.
Hang in there, pard. I'll be hanging with you.
Chariot, out.
Look, I love dice, but this is kind of brilliant. The use of character narrative beats is exceptionally exciting. Working more of those into Regions is fertile ground and I for one am really excited to get this to the table.
Great work here, Spencer. This is a very exciting direction you're working toward. Journey on.
Howdy Belter,
We're in the midst of fulfilling the Kickstarter currently, but just as soon as we can come up for air, we're planning on getting to work on getting Dead Belt up on Amazon and shortly thereafter we hope to have it available through Indie Press Revolution. Hang tight, and we'll be loud and proud just as soon as we can get a physical copy into your hands.
Chariot, out.
Hey there and welcome to Blades! These scores are meant to establish framing fiction. Whatever you do, don't think of these Scores like a module. Unlike more traditional GM-led games, Blades happens as a conversation at the table, kind of like a writer's room. If you prep, the game will fight you. So this is a starting point.
This is the establishing shot. You've got a paragraph telling you about the job, then a list of possible Patrons who might be approaching you to do this job. There's a wrinkle, or Problem, that stands in the way of you just waltzing in and making it happen. There's a Payday which is the reward that you can expect at the end of the Score. Down at the bottom are some example clocks that you can throw in when the Score's in progress to ratchet up the tension.
Basically you can mix and match any of these elements and go. You can work through it like a checklist at the table with your Crew, asking which bit they think is most interesting for each heading.
As far as what the Heist is, there aren't any here. Blades in the Dark is largely pitched as a "Heist" game, but not every game plays out like Ocean's Eleven. Theft and Infiltration's only a very narrow piece of what the game does. These are Smuggler's Scores, largely dealing with getting from here to there discreetly or against all odds. The "Heist" is more a matter of having prepared for the obstacles, flashing back to putting things in motion before danger or suspicion reared. We still plan in reverse, but it's not to have someone holding the door for us or clipping the red wire just as the camera turns.
Hoo-boy, that ended up longer than I wanted it to be, but hopefully something in there was helpful. If you've got one that's throwing you for a loop or you want to talk through one together, I'd be happy to walk you through how I use these at the table.
Coteries are intended to start with 2 Influence but it's been brought to our attention that in the course of dickering over how much influence we wanted to begin the game with (0? 2? 4?) We neglected to give any guidance at all.
Following in the footsteps of Blades in the Dark, starting with 2 is the generally accepted sweet spot, but you might want to start with 4. Or begin the game owing favors in exchange for status. Or accept that the odds are stacked against you and begin with 0.



















