#48: Surveying the Dark - Part 2
I. Dear Reader,
This week, we’re continuing my misguided overview of the world of Forged in the Dark games. And in today’s newsletter, I’m going to try and quickly slot dozens of games into various categories of fantasy. Is this foolish? Only the normal amount!
Disclaimer: I’ve read only a very small percentage of all these games and basing my info on whatever public material I could find.
Dark Fantasy
Band of Blades: I already talked about my deep desire to play this game way back in issue #2 of this newsletter. It still inspires me in a half-dozen ways. A game about the last army of men fleeing the undead hordes of the Cinder King. Complete.
Deathwish: Industrial fantasy with a big focus on alchemy. Lots of crunchy tactical options for making combats that feel like a puzzle. Also, Deathwish is the name for a position that’s worse than Desperate. Which is hilarious. In-development, text is free.
Brinkwood: Blood of Tyrants: A game were you play fae-blessed outlaws fighting against feudal vampire lords in a bleak, bloody world. A lot of crunchy additions to basic Blades system including taking oaths to avoid rolling and switching powers between every mission. In-development.
Also: Demonsteel (industrial setting but there are demons everywhere, in-development), Blood and Sacrilege (play vampires being evil, in-development), Decline Oblige (Game of Thrones but more fae, in-development)
High Fantasy
Sig: City of Blades: A setting that’s a love letter to planar fantasy and Sigil. A mechanical system that deviates from Blades in the Dark in interesting ways. This is for the high-powered heists. Complete
Vergence: I’ve always wanted to play Amber Diceless and this feels like an amazing modern take on it. Turns the power level way up. Play beings that travel across the multiverse. Your biggest threat is each other. In-development.
Wicked Ones: You play monsters setting up and defending a dungeon from annoying heroes. Huge game with lots of new design and maybe most importantly, involves drawing the dungeon out as you go. The worse you are at drawing, the better. Also, it’s free! Complete.
Princess World: Frontier Kingdoms: Not to be confused with the PbtA game by Kevin Petker. Seems to diverge from Blades in many interesting ways including not just using d6s, not having unique playbooks, etc. In-development, free.
If you like raiding dungeons: Raiders in the Dark (classic dungeon-delving, Complete), Into the Dark (highly modified, leans toward horror, Complete), Blades Against Darkness (the oldest of the three I believe, free, Complete?), The Pack (a GM-less game of people chosen to enter a magical dungeon that grants them anything they desire … if they survive, Complete.)
If you like D&D high fantasy: Swords Under the Sun & Blades of Xenthra & Tales from the Old Oak Inn are all games currently in-development that are trying to translate D&D into an FitD game. Also, there’s an in-development Ars Magica-style hack.
Urban Fantasy
Mutants in the Night: Play X-men style mutants trapped in ghettos in a dystopia city fighting for freedom. I’m not sure how much this changes from Blades mechanically as it was early hack. Complete.
One More Notch: This is a hack that mixes the canon Blades setting of Duskvol with the Grishaverse setting of Leigh Bardugo featured in their books and the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone. Complete, Free.
Arcanademia: Play magical university professors doing hijinks to earn department funding. A short game, very close to standard Blades but much more tongue in cheek. Complete
Children of Midnight: Play witches building up a coven in an alternate version of today. A lot like Blades with a few big changes at first glance. In-development, playtest kit is free.
If you like paranormal investigation: Agents of Emerald (hews close to standard Blades but aims for Hellboy and Buffy, in-development), External Containment Bureau (more X-files and Control, pre-order)
Miscellaneous (because genres are too hard)
Shatterkin: If you want to play a kid and their pokemon, this is it. Instead of Stress, the resource is the Trust between your character and their monster friendo. Rules for elemental advantages when fighting. No risk of death. Lots of interesting stuff here. In-development, free.
Also, Beast Dream is another Pokemon inspired game but I’m not sure how much it relies on FitD mechanics. In-development.
A Fistful of Darkness: Weird West fantasy hack. I haven’t read it so I can’t really more. Complete.
Where’s There Smoke: Surreal, fairy tale game where you play “the personification of a dried up river, a nightmare purged from its dreamer's mind, a reformed battleship, or anything else you can think up”. Complete
Crescent Moon: Non-violent stories of children exploring memories and dreams. This looks really beautiful and something I am definitely interested in playing at some point. In-development, free playkit.
(Did I miss a game that fits here? Did I get something wrong? Probably! Let me know. I’ll edit and compile these sections after I’m done.)
II. Listen of the Week
There was an excellent interview with Meguey and Vincent Baker over on the Tabletop Talk podcast discussing how they got started with gaming (not what you would expect), how Apocalypse World was born (also surprising) and so much more. I really enjoyed this one.
III. Links of the Week
This issue already has too links so I’m keeping this short!
How visionary comic book artist Moebius inspired a new wave of weird tabletop RPGs
An introduction and some GM tips on running Agon and other games in the Paragon system
Possum Creek Games, publisher of Wanderhome, announce a series of new games.
Two nice posts on game design up on Ben Robbins’ Ars Ludi blog: Feelings > Actions & Balancing Agreement and Disagreement.
IV. Small Ads
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