(A) Blades in the Dark / Blades of the Nephrite – “to hack” analysis
This is archival material from previous blog
Considering Blades of the Nephrite is supposed to be just reflavouring of ‘struggling gang in big city’ in order to make it Hong Kong-alike multicultural metropolis. I mean guns, mystical spirits and technological boom due to occult material. So no need to create system from ground up. Something similar did Blades of New Crobuzon but with the advantage of already literature material to back up the hack.
First thing to change would be world description. Here New Crobuzon gets advantage as part of established literary fiction but I think it is something to pull off. I think not with fully elaborated world and history – more likely ‘what would characters know’ basics with giving creative freedom to groups. Also basing it on recognizable tropes without too much detail – from my experience people already go mostly by identifying tropes. So living in the city, some characteristic elements of cultures living in it, elements of the law, daily life, criminal underground, industry. Also vague outside of city stuff.
The Map and City Districts – it’s clearly understandable. I don’t think I would derive a lot from general Doskvol design – some really rich districts, some slums, factories, occult elements. I think more destruction and space internally industrial and toxic. I think Tailong City doesn’t outsource their toxic rafineries as Doskvol does – they keep it in because raw product is on place too. And spiritual energy needed to alchemize it. I think I’d just go with alterations of Doskvol districts.
The Factions are to be done too obviously. I wonder now how to make it so dead people are a problem – maybe the spiritual flow allows some agencies to trace brutal deaths? Like spirit wardens but more occult diviner kind and less secret agent-exorcist vibe. Also a lot of similarities with Doskvol in terms of government agencies and factions, maybe gangs too. Some established archetypes like lonely mysterious Lord powerful enough to challenge big mobs. Crow’s Foot starting situation. Bluecoats being just another mob, just state sponsored. Too good to just pass on it.
Playbook changes – New Crobuzon changes mostly strange friends and “Ghost Something” abilities and I think I’d do that too. I want to base occult element on Feng Shui like flow of spiritual energy. Hound gets additionally option for ammunition and since we’re operating more in Phlebotinum grounds with the mystical powers of the Nephrite I think more of equipment elements should be changed. Also I’d tinker with more abilities and reflavour some of them to be more pulpy action movie-y. Y’kno, ninjas and stuff. And of course Whisper is to be turned around completely.
Crew adjustments – some special abilities, upgrades, claims and contacts. I think here lies a lot of secret work I’m not seeing right now. Like, the mission types and such. The problem is it is not the end. I don’t want to restrict myself to existing crews. I’d like to present it in more positive manner as wuxia heroes, vigilantes helping regular folk stuck between oppressive government and brutal criminals. And that’s a whole lot of a workload, especially since I’m not that familiar with Blades regular Vigilantes.
Bonus highlights. Magic. The Nephrite, infusing other materials, spirits, magic and technology. Mutants, nations, tensions, imperialism, racism. I mean, a lot of stuff to deal with, sensitive and neutral stuff. At least right now I’m more aware of what I’m looking at. And how much work it needs. If I just did something like Blades of New Crobuzon patch it would’ve been simpler but I do not feel like I could pull off any IP. Also I’m somehow ambitious enough to take additional workload of explaining new magic and making new crews.
I thought from my projects overview this was supposed to be the simplest one out of them. The motor gangs of Akira is less direct with the need to maybe change some mechanics from BitD? The thing simplest from mechanical standpoint seems to be Band of Elves. But there is a catch – Band of Blades is full of hidden lore and specific aesthetic. Maybe I should go this way? Flavour alchemy as magic tainted by Almost Sauron and Mercy’s as… druidic priests of some unspecified elven nature goddess? There is also my universal heartbreaker – Wacky Post Apocalyptic Fantasy but it’s a ton of work making all above games into one coherent style.