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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9591318" data-attributes="member: 6785785">A few comments in response to some of your statements. I can understand why you make some of the comments you made, but I want to offer some counterpoints from my experiences with the game. “Heists” are a part of play… but how much will really depend on what kind of crew the players choose to play, and what they tend to focus on with their characters. One crew type is “Shadows” which is a pretty classic group of thieves or spies. They will likely perform a lot of heists. But a crew of Bravos (basically hired muscle) will not likely perform many heists. They’ll tend to perform a lit of assaults. Assassins will likely murder targets. And so on. The focus of any given Score (job or mission) will vary quite a bit, and isn’t really much more limited than many other games. Flashbacks are a part of play, but their frequency and importance will vary from group to group. I’ve played with groups who used them often, and I’ve played with groups who rarely used them. It’s a matter of preference and comfort. I think the mechanic serves to reinforce the idea that the PCs are capable criminals who are likely to expect or anticipate the kinds of things that folks like us in the modern mundane world would overlook… and in that regard I think they’re great. They also suit crime fiction of thre sort that Blades is trying to emulate. But they aren’t essential to play and can be removed if one wanted to do so. As for the morality of the characters… almost paradoxically, morality has mattered in my games of Blades far more than in most D&D games I’ve played. I mean… most D&D games can be summed up pretty well with alignments. This character’s Lawful Good, so everyone knows what that means. From time to time a character may struggle with their alignment a bit… but even that tends to be pretty simplistic. I mean… the idea that you can boil the spectrum of human behavior down to nine categories is inherently simplistic. So the setting is pretty bleak. Just being a proper citizen… working a job and keeping your nose clean… is basically presented as a sucker’s bet. The society is rigged and such people are resources to be used up and spent by others. So crime is one of the only ways to avoid that fate. However, that doesn’t mean that every criminal is a murderous psychopath. Some might be, yes. Others might be heroes of the people… criminals in the same sense as Robin Hood or Batman. Ot any number of other examples of heroes or anti-heroes we can come up with. The players have to actually consider how far their characters are willing to go to get what they want.The setting also helps reinforce this in ways. One such was is that whenever someone dies in Duskvol, the Spirit Bells sound and the Spirit Wardens are dispatched to collect the ghost that will soon form. This means that every death attracts a lot of attention… so the players are encouraged to avoid killing, especially when it’s not necessary. This setting detail is an interesting bit of worldbuilding… but like the best worldbuilding, it also serves a game purpose. It forces the players to consider these decisions. It helps define the characters as we play. It avoids labeling them at the start with a two word phrase that sums up the entirety of their morality. Has there ever been a D&D campaign where such thought was given to every single instance of killing by a PC? I doubt it… most D&D campaigns are filled with endless slaughter (deserves or not).Just a few thoughts in response! Happy to answer any questions or get more specific with examples.</blockquote>

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