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Blades in the Dark

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Winner: 2015 Golden Geek, RPG of the Year

Winner: 2016 Indie RPG Award, Game of the Year (also Best Production and Best Support)

Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and, above all, riches to be had — if you’re bold enough to seize them.

You and your fledgling crew must thrive amidst the threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the city watch, and the siren song of your scoundrel’s own vices. Will you rise to power in the criminal underworld? What are you willing to do to get to the top?

In this stand-alone game, you’ll find:

  • Rules to create your scoundrel using the following character archetypes: the Cutter, the Hound, the Leech, the Lurk, the Slide, the Spider, or the Whisper.
  • Rules to create your crew, built from types like Assassins, Bravos, a Cult, Hawkers, Shadows, or Smugglers.
  • A robust core mechanic which puts the fiction first—the strength of a character’s position (desperate, risky, or controlled) matters just as much as the character’s ability scores.
  • A lightning-fast mechanic for planning criminal operations to cut through the usual slog of planning at the game table.
  • Rules for alchemical experiments, gadget tinkering, and weird occult powers—including rules for playing Ghosts and other strange beings.
  • A setting guide to the haunted city of Doskvol, with all the maps, factions, NPCs, schemes, and opportunities you need to run an exciting sandbox game.

GAME INFORMATION
Number of players: 3-6
Age of players: 13+
Length: 2-6 hours
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Page Count: 336

OBS_mere.pngStaff Pick

Open to the fantasy city of Duskvol, haunted by ghosts and other terrors while a criminal empire is being built in the background. This game is all about choosing on the fly which makes the risk and adventure more real. There is less prep and more of a focus on making fast decisions with plenty of very cool character "classes" to take on. You'll need a GM that is quick on their feet and invested but once you find that, then the game will start to click. There are so many awesome aspects, including the combat system which seems clunky at first but once you get to play it, it runs so smoothly. The setting gives plenty of room for exploration and gives players the opportunity to dabble in all types of adventures (especially ones that lean more into the occult, which I love!). Players will feel that the game is all about teamwork and you are rewarded and encouraged to continue as a unit. Even the battle system requires operating as a unit, through the progress clock where the GM chooses the difficulty and players fill the clock with successful rolls to determine the outcome.

My favorite mechanic is the Devil's Bargain (if you want that important roll to go well and need some bonuses, it'll be at a negative cost).
-- Meredith Gerber, Maven of Mythology (DriveThruRPG Publisher Service)


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Reviews (22)
Discussions (65)
Customer avatar
Sean D February 25, 2023 3:00 am UTC
It would be great if the full size preview had some pages representative of the content. I navigated here via Reddit where people were extoling the virtues of the layout design so I thought I'd take a look.
Customer avatar
Dale H January 24, 2023 6:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm watching the YouTube video of John Harper running BitD (check it out: rollplay blades). The video is great; entertaining and informative. If you have any questions about how this game plays, the video will answer them. But one thing I noticed was that the art that was used for flavor was absolutely gorgeous. Seriously, I will buy another copy of the game if you use that artist's work in the new edition.
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Customer avatar
Dale H January 28, 2023 2:02 am UTC
PURCHASER
Meant another copy of the book...
Customer avatar
vincent F September 08, 2022 12:56 pm UTC
PURCHASER
where i can find the errata of this book from v8.0 to v8.1 ( i find the v8.1 to v8.2)?
Customer avatar
Mattia N April 09, 2022 4:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Some years ago I downloaded a version of the players kit with a beautiful description of each districts and a cutout image of it. Does anybody know why it’s no more present on any store (and where to find it)?
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Customer avatar
Stefan S April 09, 2022 4:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Check https://bladesinthedark.com/downloads
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Customer avatar
Mattia N April 09, 2022 8:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Already been there, there is only ver. 8.2, which is smaller.
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Customer avatar
Stefan S April 10, 2022 11:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
Oh, you're right! Districts are not part of the players kit, but of the sheets pdf file that comes with the original Blades in the Dark book Mine is called "blades_sheets_v8_2.pdf" and is included in the Blades in the Dark download here on DriveThru.
Customer avatar
Angel\'s C January 15, 2021 4:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Angel's Citadel just reviewed this awesome product. Check it out here: http://angelscitadel.com/2021/01/15/review-blades-in-the-dark/
Customer avatar
Adrian M September 14, 2020 11:27 am UTC
PURCHASER
Where did the PoD version go? Wanted to gift a copy to a friend
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Customer avatar
James S October 15, 2020 11:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It's available now.
Customer avatar
Blaine H February 19, 2020 12:14 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is there any difference between the PDF offered here and the pdf supplied by Evil Hat via Bits and Mortar?
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Customer avatar
Andrew M June 22, 2020 11:48 pm UTC
Probably just the watermark.
Customer avatar
Elijah G September 09, 2019 5:00 am UTC
Will there ever be a Dishonored expansion book? That would be amazing.
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Customer avatar
Phillip T March 04, 2023 6:34 pm UTC
Dishonored has it’s own RPG, so probably not.
Customer avatar
Matthew A L July 01, 2019 3:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This PDF (8.2) is terribly formatted. It’s difficult to follow in places, it’s so bad. For $20, I’d expect something that looks much better.
Customer avatar
Karolina J August 08, 2018 10:52 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is there any difference between ordering the book here vs ordering it on Evil Hat?
Customer avatar
Antonio Miguel M February 25, 2018 7:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
And now that there's a pod is discount coupon for the ones that have the pdf?
Customer avatar
January 10, 2018 10:26 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi any update for core book as i see player sheet already 8_2 versions ans book still 8_1(
Customer avatar
Yaitza H January 06, 2018 5:12 am UTC
PURCHASER
There seems to be no working preview page for this...?
Customer avatar
Kevin D December 02, 2017 1:24 pm UTC
Has there been any word on the SRD for this?
Reply
Customer avatar
Sean N December 27, 2017 3:51 am UTC
Hi Kevin, yep, it's available here: https://bladesinthedark.com/
Customer avatar
Federico T September 02, 2017 10:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
Please, people outside the US really need a POD of this.
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Customer avatar
Yuri L September 06, 2017 3:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
Second that.
Reply
Customer avatar
Patrick A September 06, 2017 12:31 pm UTC
Thirded...
There was some update on the Kickstarter about the POD on August 15th, but it wasn't public, so I have no idea what the current status is. Some news would be greatly appreciated.
Reply
Customer avatar
Tina T September 08, 2017 10:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
Fourthed. Current status from the August update is: it's delayed because it needed another pass, which was expected to take about a week (but apparently is taking longer or maybe another pass was needed).
Reply
Customer avatar
Luke W November 21, 2017 10:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
You guys do realise you can print a pdf yourself right? ;) hehe... you can even do it pretty nicely if you take some care :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Federico T November 26, 2017 1:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm used to have private printings on Lulu (France) when PoD is not available here, to cut shipping. But this PDF along with many others cannot be printed that way. I don't care about this anymore, I got the hardcover book from a friend in UK, and yet the policy of some publishers is a statement about first and second class customers.
Reply
Customer avatar
Sean N December 27, 2017 3:54 am UTC
It's painfully close. John got a copy of the POD on 12/21 but it was missing the game title/logo on the cover. One more try (we hope!).

Here's a pic of the NEARLY done POD print: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vazrmu0le9rudqa/pod_error.jpg?dl=0
Customer avatar
Jayson L June 30, 2017 5:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
is a POD still planned for this?
Reply
Customer avatar
Sean N December 27, 2017 3:54 am UTC
It's painfully close. John got a copy of the POD on 12/21 but it was missing the game title/logo on the cover. One more try (we hope!).

Here's a pic of the NEARLY done POD print: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vazrmu0le9rudqa/pod_error.jpg?dl=0
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 Recent History















Product Information
Adamantine seller
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Rule System(s)
Pages
328
File Size:
73.96 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
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Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Last Updated:
January 07, 2023
This title was added to our catalog on January 10, 2016.