Re-Imagined FitD System

For players, Blades in the Dark said "Play your character like you're driving a stolen vehicle!"  For Game Masters, it felt like they were along for the ride in the trunk!

For Guild & Glory would not exist without the Forged in the Dark (FITD) system of games and particularly Blades in the Dark (BITD). After being introduced to BITD in 2020, the designers were inspired by the exciting action-packed, fiction first gameplay. Their favorite parts of the system were the flashbacks, engagement rolls to jump right to the action, simplified equipment/load, downtime activities, and the faction play. During the next year, the designers read, played and loved Scum and Villainy, Fistful of Darkness, Galaxies in Peril, Wicked Ones, and Rebel Crown. They were seeking a game to replace their Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. 

But all of these games did not have the fantasy theme they were looking for. The only similar game that was fully realized was Band of Blades. That game was phenomenally fun and provided some great sessions but was not really a suitable replacement for D&D because it had a very different purpose. So the designers set about designing their own. The game started out as identical to BITD but quickly became a very different game.

So what are the main differences in FG&G and other FITD games?

First, the setup for the action roll. In BITD, the GM sets a position and effect which determines a range of outcomes of how an action can resolve. In this game instead the GM just decides “standard or dangerous' and the roll determines the rest. This change was made due to the differences between the fantasy and heist genres of BITD. Fantasy games tend to have a lot more attack actions and other action rolls and setting position and effect for each action really slows the game down. It also allowed the GM to decide on consequences after the fact. Sometimes in the FITD system the GM would tell the potential consequences ahead of the roll. Then if no consequence came up it was unused. In a fantasy game this led to a lot of downtime as the GM came up with potential consequences over and over that were not used when the players succeeded on their rolls. The simple binary “standard or dangerous” allows the player to know that they could face consequences but allows the game to keep moving and allows the GM to have less pressure to constantly create consequences. 

Second, this system also separates the consequences from the success or failure of the roll. In playtesting, the designers found that many players did not like the “you succeed, but with a consequence” because it made them feel like they really failed. By separating the success/failure and consequences to two separate dice pools, the players feel happier about their successes. 

Third, the success numbers were changed to 5 and 6 instead of 4, 5, and 6. This was due to the fact that with fantasy abilities, spells, and magic items players were gaining more dice on each action than they would in BITD. Lowering the chance of success on the dice balanced this out so the players still have a reasonable chance to fail even when they roll 3 or more dice.

Fourth, the damage system was changed. In BITD the game uses a tier harm-based system that inflicts penalties on each instance of harm and names each one. The same reasons for the action roll differences led to this change. Fantasy characters take a lot more damage and usually have a more traditional Hit point type system. This game uses a hybrid of the damage track and wounds to take the best of both systems.

Fifth, the travel phase was added. In fantasy games traveling through the wilderness and on long distance quests are a part of the genre. However, roleplaying every aspect of the traveling, camping, setting the guard every night, etc. slowed the game down too much and needed to be abstracted a bit.

Sixth, the GM turn was added. There was a need in the genre to allow the GM to activate legendary monster actions and have more tactical control over the monsters and NPCs. The GM turn allows the GM to inflict consequences on the PCs in spite of the actions they choose on their turns. 

Finally, the load system was adjusted. Fantasy games involve looking for more loot and finding magic items. Giving the characters more load by splitting it into personal carry and backpack kept the system relatively simple but also still allowed some flexibility for finding and carrying new items.