Forged in the Dark

Band of Blades is written by Stras Acimovic & John Lebouf-Little, a creative duo from Boulder, Colorado. It is published by Evil Hat Publishing. In many ways, Band of Blades is a typical Forged-in-the-Dark game: it has staggered successes, stats you take pips in, abilities you choose from to make your character feel unique, and a stress resource linked to trauma that slowly grinds your character down. In other ways, Band of Blades is not a typical Forged in the Dark game: it reinforces the idea of playing multiple characters from the beginning, and it is guaranteed that there will be characters who will die throughout the campaign.

Friends, and potentially also avid readers of this blog, may remember that fantasy is not really my genre. I find it hard to understand what it is about fantasy games that has so much of this hobby in a choke-hold, although I typically find myself in the GM's seat, which has afforded me the freedom to play in the sandboxes that I like, without giving too much thought to what other tables might prefer. However, this case was different - I was invited to be a player, not a GM, and I was being invited by someone I respect, and whose company I enjoy very much. These reasons were more than enough for me to look past the fantasy packaging, and also prompted me to pull from the fantasy books that I have read in the past, so I could create characters that felt fitting for the setting in which we played.

My primary inspiration was the book series The Malazan Book of the Fallen, which was also a piece of media that I picked up thanks to a friend's recommendation. Since Band of Blades is meant to be gritty and grim, I figured this was the closest piece of media that I was familiar with. Our GM confirmed that I was not the first person to make that connection. The series spans too many characters to count, as well as centuries of time, but the first book is all I really need to summarize for today's purpose. In Gardens of the Moon, the Bridgeburners' legion of an imperial army prepares to invade the last freestanding city on the continent of Genebackis, in a land that contains mysterious floating cities, powerful sorcerers who can bind demons to their will, divine powers, and the undead. The first book alone follows the perspectives of a captain, a mage, a healer, a thief, a commander, an assassin, and a young girl possessed by a god. These characters have clashing points of view, conflicting goals, and personal foibles that remind us of how terribly human they are. There is no "right" side really; the Seven Kingdoms are an imperialist army set on conquering a foreign continent, but the city of Darujhistan has its own cast of cowardly, greedy, and jealous characters, some of whom become main characters by the end. As you read, you find yourself rooting for the Bridgeburners, led by a grizzled & cynical veteran, as well as for Crokus, a young thief who gets involved because he's become infatuated with a young noblewoman after he breaks into her house to steal from her. The series is written by Steven Erikson (whose real name is Steve Rune Lundin) and a sister set of books is written by Ian Cameron Esselmont. The two are a pair of Canadian writers, whose academic backgrounds feel important to the way they write, but we'll get there in a second.

First, let's talk about what's been going on in our game. The army has been performing pretty well, all things considered. We haven't won every mission, but for the most part, it feels like we've gained more than we've lost, including a very memorable session where a regular rookie was hurriedly promoted after receiving a crown from her people's god that simultaneously granted her mystical powers. However, in the background, tension has been mounting, as one of the officers has been wrestling with a curse, both social and literal, as he struggles with ostracization from his fellows compounded with a corruption that is slowly overtaking his heart.

Our most recent advancement has involved joining a city that is under siege, with our supernaturally powered champion (called a Chosen) bringing her fundamental opposition to the army's decision to harbour the officer to the forefront. The tension has finally bubbled to the surface, and the ramifications are, narratively speaking, quite juicy. This is compounded with a realization that a former friend of my own character, the Marshall, is aiming for a suspiciously timed promotion. The Marshall is reacting very badly to the whole situation. This includes a very poignant moment in which he struck his own Commander on the cheek, after a tense conversation in which they debated whether or not they should attempt to save their Officer (which would result in forfeiting the protection of their champion, which the game calls our Chosen).

Back to the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Lundin & Esselmont are purported to have designed the setting for a GURPS campaign in the 1980's, when they would have been reaching the end of their twenties and the beginning of their thirties. They went to university for and trained in the fields of anthropology & archeology. Both of the authors have lived in multiple countries (which is not surprising, considering what they went to school for). For Lundin (Erickon), Book of the Fallen is known for the unique way it presents its protagonists - they are complex and flawed, neither wholly good nor wholly evil, capable of doing both wondrous and terrible things. There's also so many of them. The world feels truly complex because each book examines a slightly different cast of characters, wrestling with the fact that most of the forces they encounter aren't necessarily good. Erikson is known for being an author who is able to express a considerable amount of empathy in his cast, which feels to be a natural extension of his field -anthropology.

Anthropology is the study of human beings. Anthropologists have been studying the complexities of human beings for a long time, and the discipline as it stands today also recognizes both the wondrous and terrible things humans have been doing to each-other over the course of human history. Anthropology as a discipline has also done terrible things to the people they study, and in response to that, modern anthropologists encourage a practice called reflexivity. This involves reflecting on your own experiences as an anthropologist, and asking yourself how those experiences might inform your own opinions and reactions. Nobody is neutral, so acknowledging where your bias comes from is considered the next best thing. One of the goals of Anthropology could be described as the goal of learning empathy: we study those outside our own cultural context to find the elements that make us similar, allowing us to see ourselves in the other.

"If you cannot be someone else, then writing fiction is probably not for you… …this act of becoming someone else, of feeling what they feel right down to the core of your soul, is an act of immense vulnerability. Emotions rarely trickle into a consciousness—they flood in, arriving in a torrent, and one can drown in them. The more extreme the emotion, the more devastating the flood."

Steven Erikson, for Reactor Mag

So, time to get reflexive.

A few years ago, I was spending some time with a close friend of mine. In the middle of our board-game, I remembered a reservation I had to make, so I pulled out my phone and called the restaurant. It wasn't a big call, a minute at best, but when I hung up I realized my friend was looking at me in disbelief.

"How did you do that?"

"How did I do what?"

"Make a phone call like that without having to rehearse it beforehand?"

This was the moment I realized that my ability to make simple phone calls was not a universal skill. This was the moment I recognized a form of capital I had that made the world around me much easier to navigate.

To be honest, there are a lot of advantages I have. I'm white. I'm cis. I speak English. I'm able-bodied. I have the ability to make a casual phone call, and I don't have a lot of debt. I have the financial literacy that kept me stable even when I was making poverty wages and the basic literacy that made secondary education feel like a second home. I was taught how to move through the systems that evaluate how valuable you are as a person as if I came from more money that I had, and for that reason, the systems (more or less) work for me. And yet, I'm also witness to the myriad of ways in which these very same systems are inaccessible, or even impossible for folks that I care about very much.

My Marshall in Band of Blades is navigating these same frustrations. He has been in the army for his entire life, and for the entire life, the army has done right by him. He's been promoted, he's learned how to manage recruits, and he has a very solid idea of what a Commander should be. My Marshall judges the Commander because when he looks at them, he sees inexperience, and a level of unwillingness to work within the systems that the army so clearly lays out. My Marshall is also witness to the ways the rules of the army are punishing an officer that has been an exemplary soldier, who has been cursed through no fault of his own, and my Marshall does not know what to do about it.

I've read before about how bleed doesn't have to be emotional - it can be ideological as well. (It was a blog post a few years ago and I have no memory of who wrote it, but if you also read this blog and know what I'm talking about, please comment with a link!) I don't typically feel a strong emotional reaction when I play games, but I do think that i experience a good amount of ideological bleed. For me, games are a great place to work through the questions in my everyday world, and while I didn't recognize these questions when I created my Marshall, these questions appear to be bleeding into our story all the same. Like my Marshall, I see friends of mine who are being left behind & neglected by the very same systems that I've used to find stability. Like my Marshall, I do not know what to do about it.

My counterpart, the Commander, is embodied by a player who deeply understands how the structures and systems of today don't work for everyone. She's also dedicated her time and energy to methods and movements that are fighting for a fairer, more just world. Her Commander has a strong ethical core that they stick to, regardless of the circumstances or the consequences, and that part of her character doesn't surprise me.

The way the Commander and Marshall clash is exciting for me, as it allows me to engage with a dichotomy that I've been attempting to navigate in my own life. It's a bridge of empathy that encourages me to keep looking for answers. Our characters are wonderful and terrible and flawed and complex, and they're fighting against a force that feels like it is big enough to swallow them whole.

The Doctrine of the Abyss Sect

Endurance, Dominion, Survival ​Primary Tenets: 

Weakness is the precursor to annihilation.

Ambition is sacred and stagnation is sin.

Balance is maintained through might. 

The Abyss will never abandon those who strive to survive. 

Mercy is strategy with no room for sentimentality.

Power is not granted. It is earned through survival and the strength to do what is needed. The preservation of order cannot be accomplished by the weak. To the sects of the Abyss, loyalty is forced through shared survival and the resilience to move forward. 

Major Sects: 

The Court of the Abyss

The Silk Lotus Hall

The Iron Mist Cult

The Umbral Sanctum

The Mandate of the Heaven Sect

Order, Law, Divinity Primary Tenets: 

Law prevents decay.

Legitimacy and rank come solely from spiritual refinement and celestial harmony. 

Divine mandates can always be revoked.

Authority is granted through true alignment with the cosmos.

Rules sustain the existence of this world.

Freedom is preceded by order. Those of the Heaven sects see themselves as the regulators of the world, the true authority even when not in direct control. Yet should they stray from what the Heavens deem is correct, their spiritual rank and even their very fate can be severed by those they serve. 

Major Sects: 

The Academy of the Adjudicator 

The Luminous Cloud Sect

The Boundless Heart Monastery

The Celestial Pavilion

The Creed of the Mortal Sect

Agency, Will, Progress Primary Tenets: 

Inheritance is second to adaptation. 

Institutions serve those who are here, not the traditions of the past.

Ascension happens through effort.

Knowledge is to be shared.

Failure is temporary until one accepts it.

Those of the Mortal sect believe in meritocracy. Often they see themselves as a bridge between the realms and some even see themselves as the future that will leave behind the past. Several sects in the past have embraced the break from followed traditions. A few even led rebellions against nobility and even the government itself. 

Major Sects: 

The Black Sword Order

The Azure Jadeite Pavilion

The Vermillion Mist Sect

The Earthen Bastion

The Ideology of the Outlier Sect

Truth, Understanding, Renewal Primary Tenets: 

The system is flawed and authority is suspect by default.

True power can be found beyond sect doctrine.

Ascension requires a rejection of all imposed notions. 

There is no allegiance without truth.

Power with no understanding is corruption.

Outliers are destabilizing by nature and those who follow the Outlier sects are no different. They do not seek ascension in the same way the other sects do. Thrones and authority are worthless unless you question why they are there. Should a system or process be too flawed to continue its existance, then renewal must come through destruction. Only from the ashes can one rebuild.

Major Sects: 

The Unbound Hall

The Order of the Silent River

The Blood Lotus Temple

The Hobby Horses have spent several months trying without success to find the secret society involved in banishing magic from Geth; the only secret society they have found is Barnaby’s drinking circle, who call themselves the Illuminati and intend to rule the world from the shadows, but don’t really do much. Trying a new tactic, Barnaby shares their problems with his friend Squiffy, who tells a rambling story about trying to find a gardener and learning about advertising. He suggests doing an audacious crime that will prompt the secret society to come to them. And then he says he has to go because he’s got tickets to the opera.

The opera is called the Marriage of Lady Fyengeh, starring soprano Emmeline Morland, and a particular point in the advertisement is that the Ruby of Mistmire is being “played” by a genuine ruby. The gang formulate a plan to steal the ruby and replace it with a dissolvable fake, that will release a spirit as a calling card when it is dramatically thrown into the river at the climax of the opera. Barnaby will go as a regular patron, having schmoozed Emmeline beforehand. Edvard gets hired as a lighting technician. Lilith sneaks in as a backing actress all in black for unseen prop movement. Zillah and Kasimir sneak in as stage hands lugging around sandbags. They get 5d6 for their engagement roll, with the highest being a 5. As a consequence, Barnaby spilled his drink on Emmeline, but she is into him.

Edvard has learned that the ruby will be clearly illuminated at two points in the opera; in Act 1 when it is given to Lady Fyengeh, and in Act 3 when it is thrown in the river. He passes this information on, and gives Lilith the fake. Barnaby settles into his box with Squiffy, and receives an invitation from Emmeline to meet her after the show; he asks for it to be at the interval instead. Kasimir and Zillah are asked about their sandbag stacking, and Kasimir spins a convincing tale about the scenery needing bracing.

Lilith has to hurry on stage as she and the other backers are required to lift wheels so the strong and kind page Chauncey can fix Lady Fyengeh’s omnibus. She does acceptably, and scurries away as Lady Fyengeh continues to Mistmire, where her would-be lover Captain Shattershield gives her the Ruby of Mistmire as a token of his love; Edvard illuminates it expertly. Lilith, Zillah and Kasimir note that there are security guards watching intently whenever the ruby is on stage. Kasimir calls a flashback to say he filled Zillah’s sandbag with ball bearings.

The opera continues, as Lady Fyengeh shows more affection for the page Chauncey than Captain Shattershield. After some time, a man hurries towards the stage with a prop barrel, but he trips over Zillah’s sandbags and lands on his barrel, knocking himself out and crushing the barrel. On stage, Shattershield starts singing a call for a barrel to put Chauncy in so he can throw him in the river. The woman who questioned the sandbags comes looking for Bertie with the barrel, and starts to panic. Kasimir improvises a poorer quality cylinder for a barrel and takes it on himself. He hams it up for the audience, saying “I didn’t see nothing” after handing over the barrel as a touch of comic relief, which Shattershield styles out and goes down a treat. As Kasimir leaves the stage, the woman asks for his name, and he gives his real one.

Act 2 ends and it’s the interval, so Barnaby goes to look for Emmeline. He finds some guards on the door, and gets somewhat interrogated as he tries to convince them that he’s there to see Emmeline and doesn’t care about the ruby, giving them lots of details about himself, his name, his friend Squiffy, until they receive confirmation from Emmeline she had requested him. He’s shown to her dressing room, where there are also a dresser and a hair stylist, and they arrange to meet up somewhere more private; there’s a Chauncey-heavy section in Act 3, and Emmeline has a secret spot where she sneaks off for a pipe smoke, although she has to hand the ruby to a guard before leaving his sight.

Barnaby heads to the wings as Act 3 starts. Lilith ends up part of a choreographed scene of the barrel floating down the river and is somewhat out of place, allowing Barnaby to identify her despite the complete black covering. As she leaves stage, he pulls her aside to where Zillah and Kasimir are standing, and tells them all about Emmeline’s smoke break and the ruby hand-off. They come up with a plan to lower Lilith on a rope to swap the rubies in the guard’s possession. Meanwhile, Edvard calls a flashback to have taught them all a flashing light morse code type communication, so from the lighting rig he can suggest someone takes Emmeline’s place as Lady Fyengeh. They decide that’ll be plan B.

Kasimir, Zillah and Lilith head up to the catwalks, and just after Emmeline leaves the stage, they start lowering and swinging Lilith over. Unfortunately, they roll poorly. Lilith drops onto the stage, landing directly on top of Chauncey. Edvard quickly switches the lights and spotlights Squiffy, who wakes from a nap in his box, realises he’s highlighted, and starts reciting a dirty limerick, before being tackled by security. As Edvard’s coworkers on the lighting question him, he claims Squiffy said he’d fund the opera company for the next two seasons if he could do his limericks, because it’s his birthday. Lilith escapes, battered, but unidentifiable.

Barnaby joins Emmeline in her secret spot, and after some making out, convinces her to swap clothes. He then proposes that, for a lark, he should go out in her wedding dress and wig and mime along while she sings from the wings. At this, Emmeline figures out he’s after the ruby, and agrees in exchange for 50%. He agrees.

Barnaby comes out in a hurry (there’s a hunt for Emmeline and the ruby after the kerfuffle), puts on the ruby necklace, and heads on stage, collecting the fake from Lilith as he goes. He puts on a decent performance, and manages to exchange the necklaces without being spotted on stage, before reaching the cue to toss the ruby into the river – there’s not enough water to dissolve it, but it shatters when it hits the ground.

Lilith’s child-ghost friend Fin emerges, spookily asking for a ride on a hobby horse repeatedly. Pandemonium. Barnaby shrieks and runs off as security descends, Zillah deploying the ball bearings to add to the chaos as they all extricate themselves. They have stolen the ruby, but also completed their goal of wild, chaotic exposure.

Mechanically, the gang have taken seven heat for the combination of exposure factors, and also attracted some demonic notice.

Notes from pre-show podcast commentary: Jane and Andy are here to introduce the game. It’s the eleventh of January, and Andy’s not got up to much yet; Jane has big ambitions. Andy’s finished Alan Wake 2 but doesn’t fully understand it. Jane has been running, and they have a lot of thoughts about practicalities. Jane’s taking up morning writing, and is also planning to learn to drive, get a personal trainer to get strong, all sorts like that.

Notes from post-show podcast commentary: Jane says her memories going into the relisten were of Barnaby wearing a dress, and all the lore crossover – this was created before Legacy of Dragons, and Johnny worked elements of the opera’s story into canonical Geth events. Andy is happy he managed to get the dress to happen. Andy likes sessions that happen at events. Jane, just like Zillah, isn’t sure what goes on backstage at theatres. They compare theatre experiences, including standing in the courtyard at the Globe. This was a rare full-cast Blades, but Andy was concerned that he’d isolated Edvard too much, because it just made sense to him to have someone on the technical side and it did just come in handy. They advertise subscribing to the YouTube channel and cocooning yourself in a blanket to emerge ready to complete your goals at the end of winter.

For the record, there are numerous reasons why the plot of the opera wouldn’t work with the canonical geography of Mistmire, even without the character development of Shattershield. In Legacy of Dragons, which was done after this, Johnny did establish that Lady Fyengeh and Chauncey got married and Chauncey was elevated to the Council of the Order of the Dragon d’Or, and Shattershield seemed to be displeased with the situation, but no detail as to how it happened. Personally, I don’t buy Shattershield being involved in a love triangle over Lady Fyengeh, but I do buy him being infuriated that Chauncey got elevated due to marriage, and possibly wanting to block the marriage if that would prevent Chauncey’s elevation.

They started out so well, and then they had a stupidly risky plan involving lowering Lilith on a rope. I’m not sure that would’ve worked even if they’re successfully lowered her in the right place, because even if she’s invisible on a directionally-lit stage, I don’t see how the guard wouldn’t notice a figure in black descending on him.

But I loved the dress.

The ghost was also very creepy, I liked it a lot. And it is quite a way to attract attention, you have to admit.

For the usual standards of a Blades heist, this was a very mixed success. But for the goal of attracting attention, that went great!

OX Blades in the Dark: A Crimsnight Carol

OX Blades in the Dark Season 2 Masterpost