This blog is quickly becoming a fan-site for Blades in the Dark, but I do have a tendency to obsess over whichever system I am currently GMing. Blades is a goldilocks system for me in terms of the balance between mechanical crunch and writer’s room storytelling, but this creates its own unique challenges and dynamics that are quite different to those of trad games and PbtA style games.
After each session, I tend to go over my notes and summaries, and in addition to the prep that I would do for the next session (more about this in another post, I promise!) I do take a moment to focus on areas of improvement as a GM. For what it’s worth, here is a quick summary of my reflections since our most recent session.
Complexity & Clarity: One of the greatest strengths of Blades in the Dark is how its mechanics naturally generate rich, interconnected storylines with minimal prep from the GM. Every successful score improves the crew’s standing with one faction, while usually souring relations with two or more others. After just a few sessions, the crew finds itself entangled in a complex web of alliances and rivalries—not only with multiple factions, but also within the broader network of faction relationships across Doskvol. With so many overlapping plots and advancing clocks, it’s easy for the stakes to blur. I need to do more in terms of clarifying the state of play, using session recaps, simple handouts, mid-game updates, sticky notes and visible trackers to help players keep track of factions, scores, and active threats.
Letting the Weird Linger: Blades also has a tendency toward the gonzo, especially in terms of the horror and haunted brush of the setting. The setting is rich with eerie flavour, and I try to embrace that tone, but the supernatural elements and bizarre moments can sometimes feel brief or incidental, emerging mainly from dice rolls rather than deliberate narrative focus. I could do more to give the weirdness lasting effects, surfacing these aspects more often and adding small magical touches that evolve and deepend session-to-session.
Vice & Trauma Spotlight: There is a tendency to handle downtime fairly mechanically in our games, and to hurry back to the scores. This is fine, but as we play more and more, the lines between downtime, free play and scores is increasingly blurring. In a sense, all of these parts of the structure are opportunities for free play and scenes proper. I need to tie in the mechanical fallout from vice, trauma and downtime more directly to character arcs, especially through the big set pieces, flashbacks, or supernatural complications.
Blades in the Dark
Effective Scene Framing Techniques for GMs
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Customising Cohorts with Edges and Flaws in Blades in the Dark
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The House of Nerdery and Curios 