The Magpies’ Quill is a monthly blog series, written by Rhi and the Magpies!

When I first stumbled across the Blades in the Dark Kickstarter, I remember having a pretty unusual reaction to the game. For most new RPGs, when I pick them up, my mind immediately goes to what it would be like to play it. What kind of character could I make, how do the player mechanics work, what kind of people live in the setting.

When I saw Blades, though, my first thought was that I really, really wanted to be the GM.

My introduction to GMing was pretty rocky–I made a common new GM mistake and came up with a whole, elaborate story in my head, one that my players would move through and admire. So, when the inevitable happened and the players went swanning off after some minor detail they found interesting, I panicked. I couldn’t improvise fast enough or figure out how to twist the story to get the players back on track. So several games fizzled out after just a few sessions, because the stories I wanted to tell fell apart.

The best part of being a GM for Blades in the Dark is that it broke me of that. The game isn’t just narrative driven: it’s player driven. As a GM, your job is to chase after the players and throw obstacles in their path as they careen headlong towards the inescapable consequences of their actions. It forced me to get better at improvising, at collaborating with my players, and at GMing in general.

So how do I prepare to GM a session of Blades in the Dark?

Well, it depends on what kind of session I’m running. One shot, convention, and campaign games all take me around the same amount of time to prepare, but different things go into them.

One Shots and Convention Games

The prep work for one-off games is pretty similar, regardless of where I’m running them. I’ll come up with a target or goal for the PCs to go after, a few locations and NPCs, and a hook–the thing that gets them interested. There are some score suggestions for each crew type in the Blades book, which are good jumping-off points if you need ideas.

If I’m running a one shot for friends, this part will involve some conversation as they build their characters and crew. What kind of score are they interested in? Do they want a fancy party heist or an exploration of the city’s underground canals and catacombs? A lot of times, the type of crew they pick will answer this question, but it’s always good to ask.

For conventions, I meet my players when they show up at my table, so I have to come up with answers to those questions myself. I make sure to be pretty clear about what kind of score it is when I write my event description for the con. I also make sure to prep all the paperwork: partly built character sheets, a crew sheet, and rules and setting references for everyone.

And… that’s about it! To see how this plays out, here are the notes (minus player/character names and the scripted intro I read at the beginning) I prepared for the Roll 4 Change charity stream.

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Crew: cult based on ancient and warped druidic practices from before the Cataclysm

Score: the cult has discovered an ancient druidic summoning ritual that should allow them to summon an unknown but powerful entity of nature; in order to accomplish the ritual, they have to obtain a focus, get them out to the ritual site in the Deathlands, and complete the ritual without being stopped by the Inspectors and Spirit Wardens in hot pursuit. The ritual itself will end up summoning a warped version of an animal that’s been extinct for centuries (like a badger or a wolf; think alienist summons). It is technically a summoned horror, but a very small one. It is friendly and loyal to the cultists, who will hopefully find it very cute.

OUTLINE

Just inside the Dimmer Sisters’ house, looking for the focus

Locate the focus and escape; dramatic chase through the city to reach the lightning barrier

Journey through the Deathlands to the ritual site

Perform the ritual before the authorities catch up

NPCs

Bluecoats: Kerrigan and Harker

Inspector: Rainer

Warden: Anis

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You can see how it played out in the VOD on YouTube. They hit pretty much all the elements in my outline, but the names of the NPCs were never used. Half a page of notes led to a really fun one shot!

Campaign Prep

For a long-running game like the Magpies, my prep looks a little different. If I’m preparing a specific score, I’ll come up with similar notes: a target, a place, some NPCs. But rather than just making something up myself, I look back at what’s been happening in the story. Who has the crew pissed off? Who are they at war with? Who among their allies is vulnerable? What are they interested in pursuing? This often also involves collaborating with the players and asking what they want to do next.

As I’ve been running the game for a while, I’ve found that I tend not to use the entanglements very much. The PCs tend to generate more than enough trouble and plot threads just in the course of the narrative without adding extra complications. But that’s a personal preference–they definitely can be useful for inflicting consequences.

Prep? What Prep?

One of the best things about Blades in the Dark, though, is that you as a GM can show up with no plan or prep work at all. This doesn’t work in every group–I would not recommend it for players new to Blades, for example, or for GMs who aren’t as confident in their ability to improvise. But the game is designed in such a way that a GM could show up to the table, turn to the players, and say “All right, you’re all in your lair. What do you want to do?”

In short, as a GM of Blades in the Dark, your main responsibilities are to provide a target, obstacles to that target, and consequences for the actions taken while trying to get to the target. Everything else comes together in play, through collaboration with the other players.