So the Legion, with all that hoarded merc money, remaining social and political clout from the glory days, and a bit of Annalic foreknowledge on training, tactics and the existence of this tech in the first place, snapped a few crates of those beauties right quick? A bit too expensive to make them the standard for the line troops yet. Maybe give it a few years to purcolate and go down in price, get a machine or two and some alchemists on the roster once Blighter’s in the ground and Alchemy starts working right again, start a little in-unit manufacturing. Can’t rely on Or for all the shiny toys, even the Old Empire still fell. Really cool!
I’m loving the “Tech hunters/hoarders during a fallen age” thing going on. Reminds me of the Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout or the monastary from A Canticle for Leibowitz except more proactive and killy.
(This isn’t necessarily a question, just kinda being jazzed a bit. Your setting is just aces!)
I have one quick question so far: how many crowns of True Fire are there ? The Cinder King has a nine-pointed one while a ten-pointed one was seen in Dar.
Or may there’s only one but the Cinder King Broke one of the point !
I know this isn’t technically the place for rules questions, but: can you use Antoinette’s ability to start the game with two master spies by taking the other spy as a master?
I’m interested in how the Broken a) seem to be compelled to follow the Cinder King’s commands but b) also all want to overthrow him. I’m getting major Ten Who Were Taken vibes, and the infighting also reminds me of the Primarchs from the Horus Heresy.
So: how serious a threat to the Cinder King are the Broken? His divide-and-rule approach suggests they’re a fairly serious one, but the fact that they and four other Chosen weren’t enough to stop him suggests otherwise, at least a little. Do they have ideas above their station, or are they a risky tool used only to circumvent the limitations on Undead intelligence? If the latter, why not simply use human lieutenants (as Render seems to?)
Yes. That’s the point of it. She’s there to give you a free 2nd master if that’s the build you want.
The Chosen lost to the Cinder King largely because Breaking wasn’t a concept anyone understood, and none of them expect to be Broken. Who knows what would happen in a straight up fight (he’s technically a higher threat, but not so much so that they couldn’t get lucky). On one hand they HAVE to obey the cinder king’s edicts … so it sounds like they’re a small threat, and on the other, he does seem to act an awful lot like they might be a problem. They don’t quite have all the pieces necessary to really challenge him yet, and he keeps them off balance and squabbling to keep it that way. So the answer is actually kind of both?
Latter: He’s on a crusade to wipe out all humans (if that wasn’t obvious). Some Broken are making decisions out of his sight, and some (like Render) he tolerates for now (they’ve repeatedly proven their Knights are obsessively loyal … it’s part of Render’s schtick). To be real, it takes a special kind of evil to work for the CK, and there’s no guarantee that humans he got would be more loyal or wouldn’t work to seize power for themselves in that position either.
So obviously we have the Blades SRD for use in making hacks and it’s clear what mechanics and things from there can be copied into a hack (all the mechanical bits, not the Duskvol worldbuilding stuff, etc), but how does it work for hacking Band of Blades? For example, the mechanic for resolving a secondary mission using just an engagement roll?
SRDs take a while to make and then format. We’re actually working on an official website right now (there’s just a tiny placeholder up atm). The Blades SRD covers a lot of things (what is an engagement roll) but not BoB specific things — so for now, let me give you a shorthand you can use.
If you don’t use our trade dress (the look and feel, the fonts, the borders) and you don’t use setting material (Aldermark, Chosen, Broken etc) you’re probably ok. Part of why we make games is to show how you can push things, and what knobs you can turn on the system. So if you want to resolve a mission with a roll? Grab it! Make it fit your setting. Go for it!
The whole FitD community is based on sharing, and extending stuff. I really believe in this. If you’re just grabbing a mechanic (extra harm from extra threat!) go for it. BoB is written in part to show how we use some of this stuff in our own setting, but the sincerest form of flattery you can give to a designer is to re-use something like this and give them credit in the thanks and inspiration sections ^_~
The places things get tricky are where the mechanics and material get very entertwined (What is a Commander, and what is Time tied to). For that you’ll probably have to wait for the SRD. But hey, in good news we’re doing an SnV one too ^_~ So you’ll officially have things like gambits to play with.
Thanks Stras. I definitely understand the time and effort that it takes for you guys to get an SRD going. I just wanted to see what the policy was since the game I’m working on is inspired as much or more by Bands as it is by Blades. So thankful for everything you have contributed to the community through your games.
hey , um this might sound like a weird question but i just got the pdf and preordered the book but cant seem to find the character sheets and playbooks for the different roles. Does anyone know what spot they are in so I can find them? Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask
Also @marckontin our full website is AAAAAALMOST ready (offguardgames.com). Right now it’s just a mini placeholder but we should have sheets up for anyone at that point.
–Stras
PS - thanks @Warzen_Kamor The best part of this community is helpful people.
just want to say thanks for the awesome game! Just started a game with some friends and they’ve really loved the first couple of sessions!
Couple of questions if thats cool?
Firstly does breaking a chosen imply / include the breaking of the god/godess? Im partly asking as we have the horned one as our chosen and some of the characters are very interested in Nyx. The impression I got from the moon shattering when Nyx’s chosen was broken was that this connection was very very deep and powerful.
Other wonder Are old empire things like the warding stones divine “aagic” as well or do you imagine them more like alchemy esque it is science beyond current comprehension !
Breaking the Chosen definitely effects the god within. We can see that with Blighter and how Alchemy (which is tied to the divinity within) is now tainted. Or how the Breaking of Nyx caused the moon to shatter. What EXACTLY that means (how affected is the deity in question, can this process be somehow reverse) is a complex question that isn’t clear. What I can say is the Shreya believes that if you destroy a Broken the divnity inside will be freed. But she also lost the war she guaranteed she could win … so take that with a grain of salt ^_~
Old Empire tech is definitely a higher category of Alchemy. Old Arthur C Clarke quote and all (All sufficiently advanced technology…). Remember that they had understanding well past anything we have in the current calendar date (Or is slowly catching up though)…
Hahaha, my bad. I think you’re right @Khierdan. That’s on me. I think it’s the 0-nature of Rookie trauma that threw me off, but that’s an excuse not a good reason.
Awesome thank you very much! Good old Shreya I am really interested to see how a game with her in plays.
Hope it’s cool to ask a follow up If Blighter is corrupting alchemy does that mean old Empire Alchemy will also be getting corrupted and changed or is that part of a “different gods domain” for want of a better phrase ?
Really cool!
