Steelweaver's Rebellion
A downloadable module
Steelweaver's Rebellion is an unofficial Blades in the Dark module where you and your scrappy revolutionary crew must band together with other working-class factions in order to claw Coalridge back from fascism.
The module includes:
- a new type of crew called Revolutionaries
- hella scores
- new mechanics for coalition-building, where you must unite factions both politically advanced and unconscious, while defeating reactionary factions who oppose your revolutionary goals
- several new factions, including gun-toting sex workers who look out for their own and a gang of former child laborers who really like knives
- an in-depth look at Duskvol's district of Coalridge
Steelweaver's Rebellion is feature complete and should keep your table occupied for a minute, but could use more angles, more factions, more scores, more causes to fight for. Keep an eye out for updates, and feel free to get in touch with me to make suggestions or necessary criticisms.
Thanks to Adam Vass for helping me with the layout!
NOTE: This project was originally written for an official module Broken Crown when it was being headed by James Stuart. So with that being said, I have zero legal claim to Blades in the Dark, which is owned by John Harper and Evil Hat. I'm allowing donations for people who enjoy my work and are able to support me, but they are not for purchasing Steelweaver's Rebellion—the module is free. Again, I don't own the intellectual property. This is basically fan fiction. Feel free to share it with your friends and modify it to your hearts content.
Download
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Would that be ok if I translated this module in French ?
already replied to you on mastodon, but want to repeat here just so anyone else who might want to translate Steelweaver's can see: absolutely 100% okay, i think that is awesome, and please let me know when the translation is done so i can link it!!!
I've played one session so far. It was intense! The NPCs so far are everything I could have hoped for in an artistic work of this genre. I love how they feel like real people, yet some of them and their interactions also symbolize various important things (trying not to spoil). The actions we did in planning for and executing the Score felt important, impactful, and very dangerous. The framework so far really supports the fiction of being revolutionaries, from the new Crew type to the clocks. Great work!
You don't have to be a leftist revolutionary to play this module, but it helps!
Seriously, the module as-written requires your characters, at the very least, to buy into the idea that violent revolution can be a good way to create lasting change. (I happen to grudgingly agree, but you might not. Then again, if you don't, why are you even looking at this module?) That isn't to say you won't get any use out of it if you don't want to play a revolutionary, though: Mabel Harper has created new fan characters, factions, and scenarios that can work for most any group. I plan to use the Knives (an orphan gang) and the Pink Roses ("a gang of gun-toting sex workers who know how to use 'em") at my own table. Worth the investment!
This module is extremely playable for a noob GM - I really feel like I can relate with the story personally while figuring out how to play the game. It provides enough structure to launch all kinds of possibilities, such as having a Reform clock instead of a Doom clock*, and Mal and Kev's ideological differences are further complicated by them being boyfriends, etc. <3
*potayto potahto lol
thank you so much for the kind words~ i love the interpretation of Mal and Kev being boyfriends!!! if i ever run it, i'm definitely going with that one :)
Woot Woot. amazing game, had a session a few weeks ago and had a blast, though some painful character deaths. Planning to record a session for our YouTube soon ish!
hey that's so awesome!!! thank you for playing it and i'm so glad y'all had fun. if you record any sessions, please feel free to send any of em to me! always love seeing how people use the module :)
Looks awesome! A note though. "Wealth Redistribution" seems pretty useless since the default blades rules allows you to spend coin to improve result level so two coin would make a failed roll a success, three would make it a crit.
hey! thanks for the feedback! i'll make adjustments the next time i update the text so Wealth Redistribution will be more useful in the future :)
I cannot wait to get this game to the table. It's a brilliant rewrite of the core fictional ideas of Blades in the Dark while still taking advantage of the mechanics. Recommended!
Not only is this an important piece of perspective that's been painfully missing from/for Blades in the Dark, this is also an excellent longer form example of how you can set up a game (instead of the short gang violence one found in the core book).
Absolutely fantastic and much-needed addition to Blades. Where the original feels like a indulgent heist fantasy, Steelweaver's Rebellion pushes what I *wished* BitD had done more - to tell a story of fighting back by bleeding the oppressor through revolution.