For a while I will be out of state and thus taking a short break from RPGing. Think that’s a very good thing – sometimes the soil grows best when it is allowed to lie fallow for a time. And the trip will be an adventure in its own right. Nonetheless, before I go I wanted to provide a link to the current ruleset for Blood in the Night.
When night falls, an endless war begins again. The needy wrestle for the scraps they can find while the ruthless make use of the darkness to satiate their greed. For many in the City of Stonehope, the oppressive policies of the King mean there is not enough to go around. Therefore the Resistance formed, largely made of thieves who have now made a common cause with the public who once hated them. To prove the viability of the Resistance, heists of high profile targets have been planned. Success will bring riches. For any thief though, it is a brutal and dangerous life. Your best friends are your sharpened steal, the night and the moon. With these and a small band of trusted allies you confront a harsh and desperate world. The sun has set. The wealthy are sleeping. Only their guards stand between you and glory. There will be blood in the night. . .
Blood in the Night
Many RPGs have a combat system that makes the players functionally superhuman. You can take hundreds of damage from a dragon’s claws but a healing word here and a ten minute rest there your character is ready to do it all over again!
Blood in the Night is not like that. This is a game that presumes that a single knife stab can kill. As such the players must always maintain a high stealth, a stat that is constantly decreasing as guards close in, in order to keep themselves safe.
Blood in the Night Features:
- Stealth-centered heists
- Simple but strategic system
- Stat system forces players to make the best of their situation, but the variety of classes, including one that has an ability that improves based on how weak the weakest stat is, gives them a means to accomplish this
- Choice of species (Ancestry or Race in other RPGs) increases probability of certain stats being stronger than normal, but does not guarantee it. Reflects that there is variance within the same species.
- Easily adaptable to fit gameplay preferences
- Can be played in solitaire, as a group narrative campaign, as a stealth-based dungeon crawl or as a war-game.
You can even GM a game for yourself – even knowing the map ahead of time there will be tough choices to make and discretion may be the better part of valor.
I hope to have an itch.io up for this game by March. The current ruleset is playable – I have been testing solitaire matches with myself. Nonetheless at least for now am planning to let my more developed RPG Martian Muckraker and my Alice in Wonderland RPG, Wonderer have the spotlight on itch.
The game was fun to make as it was a strong departure from what I have written before – a dungeon crawler, combat intensive, no tarot, stats play a key role in game play. My hope is that it will give players a very different way of thinking about a dungeon crawl. Kick down the door and fireball is not an option. Instead one must stay in the shadows and strike when the opportunity is right. There will be blood in the night . . .
In other RPG news, when I get back, I look forward to learning from the OG itself . . .
The Martian Muckraker 