Quickstart for Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts Edition
A downloadable game
Quickstart Guide - Stop Teaching New Players the Wrong Rules!
Hey fellow GMs and scoundrels!
If you're running Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts and bringing in new players, you've probably hit this frustration: all the quickstart guides teach vanilla mechanics, forcing you to constantly say "learn this, but actually that's changed in Deep Cuts..."
No more teaching then un-teaching! I created a focused 5-page quickstart guide that teaches ONLY Deep Cuts mechanics from the start.
What Makes This Different:
- Built specifically for Threat Rolls (not Action Rolls)
- Teaches the new Push Roll resistance system
- Explains Deep Cuts-specific Load and inventory rules
- Covers flashbacks and XP with Deep Cuts terminology
- Just enough to get playing without the 400+ page rulebook!
What's Included:
- Quick crew creation (all crew types)
- Streamlined character creation
- Core mechanics explained simply
- Clean, printable 5-page format
I've used this successfully with multiple groups of complete Blades newcomers. They were up and running in under 30 minutes without ever needing to "unlearn" anything when they eventually encountered the full rules.
Get it here: https://roezmv.itch.io/quickstart-for-blades-in-the-dark-deep-cuts-edition
This is the guide I wish I'd had when Deep Cuts first dropped. Completely free - just trying to make our favorite game more accessible to new players!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
Comments
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Hey, wdym by
There is no push 2 stress for better roll and assist also says "be in position to assist" which doesn't lock it on 1 stress and kinda flexible in deep cuts.
There is also mistake in Devil's Bargain. It is not only reduced to "+1 die, improved position, or greater effect". Deep Cuts says "the GM can offer a player a bargain to achieve a goal by proposing a cost to pay or by introducing a threat." which looks like auto-success for some goal to me.
Thanks for checking! In the comments on the deep cuts itch page, John said that, for simplicity, players familiar with Vanilla deep cuts can just use 2 Stress as a devil's bargain to improve a roll. For simplicity, I just stated it directly in my cheatsheet.
My writing choices were to make things EASY for brand new players. Which required me to simplify things a bit. I don't think I over-simplified too much, but if you feel I did, please push back.
Yeah, I get it. But to me, it feels like it strays a bit from what Deep Cuts is going for, especially with how flexible things like assisting and devil’s bargains are meant to be.
Totally get wanting to keep it accessible, but I think in this case the simplifications might give the wrong impression about how the mechanics work. Just a thought.
amazing, thank you so much! this will come in super useful
Wahoo! So glad! After using it, if you have any feedback, give me a shout.