Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts

There's two different, and seemingly unrelated, people named Bowmore (Admiral Bowmore, p14 and Master Builder Bowmore, p16) which is bound to cause confusion. It's a little late to point out the existing confusion in the original Blades between the two "Lord S...somethings" (Lord Strangford and Lord Scurlock) which forever trips me up, but having two Bowmores who aren't related is just asking for trouble.

Otherwise I'm loving everything about this so far, although I've barely scratched the surface of it yet.

I just noticed that there are no checkboxes next to the contacts on the crew sheets. Is that intentional?

Hey, my DM noticed that one of the prison claims, Hard Case, makes no sense apparently. Since the system uses the upgrades and cohorts to level up instead of a sum, it makes Hard Case useless. Do you have any advice or tips how to run it now?

Requesting clarifications:

p.75 "...the fatal Harm remains on your playbook and must be dealt with during a recovery activity." does it mean it must be dealt with before the downtime ends? Or just that the only way to get rid of it is via a Recovery activity?

p.75 "...You may invoke a scar to impede your character..." is invoking a scar only permitted to the character's player?

p.76 Would be nice to have a rough guideline / example of how hard would it be minimum to recover from trauma.

p.77 What fictional differences do the load styles represent, beyond the implied visual conspicuousness? is Discreet character more faster, nimble, etc. like in the old Load system?

p.77 Is it correct to interpret Rigging as allowing the two free loads to be a Heavy Item in Discreet load, but only the two load box provided by the rigging? i.e. "you may bring one 2-load item to the score while being discreet"? Does it still have to be chosen before the score begins?

p.78 Is Attribute now subject to max 2 limit upon character creation too? Is 4th Attribute dot locked behind Mastery crew upgrade? How does it interact with Downtime module's Instructor Quality rating?

p.87 With recovery amount drastically reduced especially early on the game, does your healing clock still reset when you gain new Harm(especially level 1 No Big Deals), or are you supposed to go to hospital or rely on Physickers early on?

p.88 Does an instructor's Quality rating limit how high can you raise your action rating, or how much XP you can spend on that area with one Train action? What does a playbook instructor's Quality rating do? Do you have to choose the area of expertise for the instructor that comes with Mastery instructor, or do they cover all training? Can one playbook instructor teach all playbook special abilities?

p.87 What does "an area of your expertise" mean? How do you know your Quality rating in that area? When you're an instructor, is there any limitation(such as imposed by instructor Quality rating when you're trainee) to your own spending of XP?

Among the claim changes, only the Warehouses is listed, despite changes not covered by general rules exist - such as Bravo's Informants.

Thanks a lot, just started Blades a few weeks ago and now excited to see the system develop!

I noticed that on the sheets the cohorts only have 2 boxes for harm, but usually 4 levels. Are the boxes for level 2/3 harm, as I guess that 1 isn’t doing anything to cohorts and level 4 has no need of recording?

Awesome stuff! Will there be a hardback release eventually? I'd love to have it next to the original rulebook on the desk!

On the sheets, what does "+1 Rank" refer to, like with the Hound's Ghost Hunter? Through a bit of searching, I think it's referring to "whichever stat you're using, Attribute or Action, in the relevant circumstance," but it's not actually spelled out in the text.

Do you still get +Effect when pushing to activate a special ability, like in standard Blades, or is it push to activate and a second push when I want +Effect? It's an important difference, imho

Loving the new update. I am looking for some clarification on the Train Downtime Activity. "Use this activity to spend XP to get an advance for your character." Is this activity just another way to spend the XP you gain from other things to advancement or is it something else? 

I've got a (hopefully) small question about combining the Load and Downtime modules. In the Load example, it reads "During the score, Valkos finds a stash of Coin hidden in the Billhook’s lair. Each Coin of cash counts as one load, so Abu marks a box on Valkos’s sheet", implying that this one load box is worth 1 Coin.

However, in the Downtime module in the Payoff section, it reads "Take +4 Coin if you seize a load of cash," which feels like a contradiction! Am I misreading something or misunderstanding? Possibly, but I'd appreciate some clarification nonetheless!

I'm working on adapting my googlesheet character keepers so there is a Deep Cuts version - and loving it :). 

Original Blades stated this RE crew XP advancement:

"Profits: Every time the crew advances, each PC gets stash equal to the crew Tier+2, to represent profits generated by the crew as they’ve been operating."

Now that there isn't a track to fill, how does that translate? I'm guessing it is moot because scores hand out so much more Coin? Thanks! 

There's a little error on the Cult sheet; under the Chosen ability are the same actions listed as under the Dangerous ability of the Bravos

On the crew playbooks, there is a fairly large box labeled "Ward boss". Anyone know what that space is for? In reading the book I can see the boss might allow you to go into debt, but there is a separate debt clock just to the right, so I'm figuring the whitespace is for something else? The name of the ward boss maybe???

Am I being dense? Probably! :) 

Thanks folks!

Hi john，this is a fantastic gift.

But i have a question about Edge：How many can PC having that？Only 1？or more？

This was a joy to read. Thank you for including the designer’s commentary; it is a real gift.

Are the systems modules licensed under the Forged in the Dark terms?

Great work John, but I'm not surprised that you cooked again ^^ I can't find enough words for how good this is. Will the new sheets be available on Roll20? Thanks for your creative energy.

First, just finished reading through and am delighted. I'll start updating the character sheet templates I use and share with people to incorporate the new rules. John, thank you kindly for your work. I know you love doing it, but we love it too :)!

Second, on page 73, the text below took a few read-throughs to - I think - penetrate my skull. It might benefit from a revision.

"You have space on your playbook to record two instances of level 2 Harm, and one instance of level 3 Harm. If you suffer Harm at a level that has all instances filled, the Harm advances to the next highest level of severity. You may have an unlimited number of level 1 Harm conditions, but if you suffer the same condition a second time, bump it up to level 2 — e.g. if you’re Tired and you become Tired again, erase it and take level 2 Harm Exhausted instead. If your level 2 Harm instances are full, that’s okay, just record another one — it doesn’t bump up to level 3 in this case."

That seemed to indicate that you could have unlimited level 2 harms, but I THINK it means that if a level 1 harm is repeated and you don't have a level 2 slot, just add a level two slot (temporarily). Does that sound right to people?

I love nearly all of this! I've got one question about the new version of Pushing Yourself, though - why is there no "spend some Stress for a bonus die" option? That classic 2 Stress for +1D push is where most of the Stress my players typically earn comes from, so I was surprised to see it gone.

Hi John! Any plans to make a blank pj sheet with the new design?

Lot's of cool things in here that really shake up the system, well worth the read, but this is going to make a community that already argues about the correct way to play even more insufferable.

THANK YOU for releasing this update. I'm enjoying going through this. My local copy shops won't print something that doesn't give permission. Any chance we can get this blurb from original Blades added please?

"That said, if you're doing it for personal use, go right ahead. For those working at a copy [print] shop, this means the person standing at your counter can [print copy(s)] of this thing. This is "express permission." Carry on." 

Thank you, Mr. Harper! It is a really amazing expansion! 

I have a question about desperate rolls. How many dice does the player while desperate roll? Does the player roll 1d for each dot in the Action as usual? It seems like only one die. 

I didn't think the last few weeks could get better in terms of TTRPGs and video games but you just proved me VERY wrong with this and I could not be happier. This is incredible and I've barely scanned through it. I've been using the City of Red Waters module recently but this may drive me and my players back to Doskvol for a while!

Thank you, absolutely amazing supplement.

If I hadn't already voted, I'd vote for you for president.

Hi John, very excited to dive into this (but also sad about my previous system mastery!). 

Wanted to let you know the Smugglers crew sheet has the same subheading as the Shadows ("Thieves, Spies, and Saboteurs") instead of "Suppliers of Illicit Goods."

Cheers!

Sorry if I missed this but where/when can I get a physical copy??

As someone who’s been running Blades for nearly 10 years, I gotta say, John.

You nailed it. Beautifully done. 

I really love the new rules... but I think there are enough changes to justify a BitD 2.0 full fledged edition. Navigating both the main manual and the supplement in game will be challenging, to say the least.