Flame Without Shadow V3 for Blades in the Dark

Flame Without Shadow V3 for Blades in the Dark

Flame Without Shadow V3 is a role-playing game supplement for Blades in the Dark, focusing on law enforcement within a dark fantasy setting. Players take on the roles of Bluecoats, Inspectors, or Spirit Wardens, engaging in missions that involve uncovering criminal conspiracies or addressing supernatural threats. The supplement introduces new gameplay mechanics, including the Mandate and Imperative systems, which guide players through their missions. Designed for fans of tabletop RPGs and those interested in narrative-driven gameplay, this edition enhances the Blades in the Dark experience with fresh content and challenges.

Key Points

  • Introduces the Mandate and Imperative systems for structured gameplay.
  • Allows players to assume roles as Bluecoats, Inspectors, or Spirit Wardens.
  • Focuses on uncovering criminal conspiracies and supernatural threats.
  • Includes new mechanics for managing missions and character progression.
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  • ST4ND4RT_FLY
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v3.0
flame without shadow
In this supplement for Blades in the Dark, you play members of the Bluecoats,
Inspectors, or Spirit Wardens, tasked with a special mission. Before creating
characters, choose which special mission your group will pursue. These replace
the crew sheet from standard Blades play.
M: A task force lead by an Inspector, with a few Bluecoats assigned
from the area in question. Matters of Imperial security and prosperity which
are deemed essential by a Lord Governor can be issued a Mandate by the High
Office of Justice. The goal of a Mandate is to uncover and take down a criminal
conspiracy (or to give the appearance of doing so for political purposes).
I: A task force lead by an Initiate of the Spirit Wardens (with a
few Bluecoats assigned to assist). Usually a final test to determine the Initiate's
fitness to ascend to Warden status. The goal of an Imperative is to uncover
and take down an occult conspiracy (or subborn its power for the Wardens).
When you've completed your Mandate or Imperative, the task force is disbanded.
If the players have unfinished business and want to continue playing these
characters, they can arrange to do so "off book" — perhapns choosing a scoundrel
crew sheet to represent their new endeavors, or somehow petitioning for a new
Mandate or Imperative assignment.
REGULAR BLUECOATS
If you want to play a standard, day-to-day Bluecoat squad operating in a precinct,
choose the Bravos crew sheet from standard Blades. Most Bluecoat squads operate
as extortion rackets in their district, in addition to "enforcing the law" to serve
the interests of the rich and powerful people who control them.
Playset Notes
This playset kit has the bare-bones needed to play Flame Without Shadow.
Experience with standard Blades in the Dark is assumed.
Some elements which aren't fully fleshed out yet:
Case Dice: The idea here is that by completing full rows of the Mandate grid,
you earn Case Dice to use in Fortune rolls as needed to address legal concerns
during play and to resolve the final conclusion when the Mandate is finished
and handed over to prosecutors.
Faction Benefits: I'm tinkering with downtime elements and some other bits
to highlight the benefits of working for a powerful faction (rather than being
unsupported scoundrels). Stuff like: Free clock ticks equal to faction Tier to
spend in downtime (due to better support systems in place for healing, projects,
etc.), earning Coin from a salary, and rolling faction Tier as a Fortune roll to
address institutional opportunities and problems. Still hammering out the
details here — a first stab at salaries is included in this version.
Advancing the Timeline: This supplement takes place about 5-10 years after the
time of standard Blades. Some new factions will appear and some old ones will
change or go away. Also, some new technology will be introduced, including:
Electroplasmography: the recording of light onto metal plates treated with
quicksilver to produce images (similar to photography)
A rudimentary form of radio transmission (propagated through the ghost
field, of course)
Advanced weapons, like the Hellyers Repeating Coilgun
Airships (formerly only found in Imperial City) — lighter-than-air craft
powered by the lightning field over the city.
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character
&
mandate creation
CHARACTER CREATION
Character creation is mostly the same as standard Blades, with a few changes.
Starting Coin & Stash
Bluecoats start with 1 Coin and 10 stash. They can maintain a moderate
lifestyle: When their stash is less than 10, they earn 1 stash at the end of
downtime until it reaches 10.
Inspectors start with 2 Coin and 20 stash. They can maintain a good lifestyle:
When their stash is less than 20, they earn 2 stash at the end of downtime
until it reaches 20.
Initiates start with 4 Coin and 40 stash. They can maintain a luxury lifestyle:
When their stash isn't full, they earn 8 stash at the end of downtime until it's
full again. Whenever an Initiate pulls money from their stash to use as Coin
on the job, tick an 8-clock called "Secret Identity Discovered."
Backgrounds
Inspectors and Initiates are Nobles, and may select an additional Background
as well.
ACTIONS
Flame Without Shadow uses different actions than standard Blades. Most of the
actions are available across all the law enforcement playbooks, while a few are unique
to specific character types (though they may be acquired with a veteran advance).
Gathering Information
A: Scrutinize details to discover useful pieces of evidence and conclusively
demonstrate connections between them. Reveal deception. (Inspector).
F: Uncanny understanding through deep intuition and clarity of the
inner eye. When you fathom what's true, you know it without a doubt—but
you may not be able to explain why. (Initiate)
P: Walking a beat, noticing what's out of place, sitting a stakeout, relating
with the locals, shaking down informants for the "word on the street." (Bluecoat)
Institutional Process
F: Use administrative tools to marshal the resources of your office or cut
through red-tape—fast-track a warrant, pull an extra detachment of Bluecoats
for a patrol, deploy lightning barriers around a city block, etc.
T: Submit convincing testimony into record—prove that a suspect is
guilty (whether they are or not). Provide clear evidence to secure resources
or action from higher Tier offices—demand action from the Lord Governor,
freeze a noble's assets, deploy the military, shut off power or water, etc.
Field Work
C: Manage a situation, crowd, or person by direct orders, a show of force,
or intimidation tactics. Establish security with a perimeter, checkpoints, etc.
D: Pass yourself off as a civilian or scoundrel, work undercover. Lie,
confuse, cheat, or steal.
M: Athletic movement (run, jump, climb) as well as coordinated
action with a team to act as a cohesive unit for a raid or arrest.
P: Elicit an emotion in a subject to produce a response—guilty
admission, trusting sincerity, angry outburst, remorseful confession, etc.
S: Violent action to incapacitate a subject—with bare fists, a truncheon,
precise saber cuts, or a pistol shot. Wrestle someone into manacles.
S: Find a person, item, or lead to pursue. Search for what's hidden.
ESTABLISHING THE MANDATE OR IMPERATIVE
Creating your Mandate or Imperative is similar to creating a crew in standard
Blades, with a few changes.
No Hunting Grounds: You don't have hunting grounds. Skip this step.
Your Cohort: You start with a Cohort of Bluecoats (for securing locations, crowd
control, canvasing). Their type is Thugs. They're scale I (6 people) and quality
III. Choose one positive trait and one negative trait for the cohort (page 96).
Warrant or Malefactor: Record the warrant for your Mandate (its initial named
conspirator and goal) or the Malefactor of your Imperative (the arcane entity at
the heart of the matter). Sample starting situations are provided for both.
Local Traits: As the officers advance the Mandate and Imperative, they also affect
the district the case is centered on. At the start of play record the Local Traits
from the district (For example Coalridge has 1 in Weath, Security & Safety, and
Criminal Influence and 0 in Occult Influence).
During downtime, record how these traits have been affected by advancing the
clocks on the Mandate or Imperative sheet. When a clock is filled, raise or lower
the trait accordingly.
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imperial mandate
When the Grand Adjudicator of the High Office of Justice ascertains a potential
threat to the Imperium itself, the Emperor’s Inner Council is summoned to assess
the situation and issue an Imperial Mandate to address the crisis.
The goal of an Imperial Mandate is to expunge a problem before it fully manifests,
according to the principle known as “Preemptive Justice” in Imperial law. As
such a tool, a Mandate falls outside of standard law enforcement practices and
prescriptions, and is given wide latitude to pursue the elimination of the threat.
Each Mandate is issued to two individuals who are responsible for its successful
completion: the Lord Governor of the city in which the Mandate is to be executed,
and the Inspector assigned to execute it. In addition, it’s traditional for the City
Council to assign representatives of the City Watch to assist the Inspector in
their duties—in practice, however, the dire political consequences for failure to
achieve a Mandate mean that the Council limits their responsibility as much as
possible, assigning as few Bluecoats as they can to the Mandate.
Within the byzantine legal systems of the Shattered Isles, the Mandate acts as a
variety of lawful powers including:
Warrant to arrest and detain any subject deemed pertinent to the Mandate.
Authorization to use force to achieve the Mandate.
Authorization to seize funds, property, and holdings to achieve the Mandate.
Authorization to offer leniency or rewards as incentives to provoke compliance
or assistance with the Mandate.
In practical application, the Mandate is seen as a nuisance to the regular workings
of local law, disrupting political operations and factional “arrangements.” The
elite with enough clout (and coin) will arrange to make themselves conveniently
out of reach if they believe the Mandate threatens their freedom or prosperity. As
a result, Inspectors are advised against wanton or flagrant use of the Mandate’s
authority—though not all heed such cautions.
THE MANDATE IN PLAY
For game play purposes, the Mandate acts as a focus for players to achieve a
concrete goal. Rather than running day-to-day police patrol operations, or a
mystery-solving investigation, the Mandate is instead an organized and targeted
problem, which can be approached from a variety of angles and creative solutions
to achieve its ends.
Much like an underworld crew, the agents of the Mandate are free to pick their
targets and go after them as they see fit—the action of the game is always player-
driven, not doled out as a series of clues to follow from the Game Master. The
characters have actions and abilities designed to allow them to cut through the
unknown and mysterious, to jump into who they will pursue and why.
Playing the Mandate is more fun when the discovery of the involved subjects
is simple, but what to do about them is hard. Despite the “police procedural”
trappings, the Mandate is not a crime to be solved, but rather a threatening
situation about to explode into a crisis. It’s a problem entangled in the local
landscape of factions and citizens in a messy way, so that striking at any part of
it will disrupt lives and create interesting consequences, leading to more action
and hard choices.
The Mandate grid replaces the Claims grid from standard Blades. Rather than
turf and assets, each box on the Mandate grid represents progress on the case,
either in the form of Evidence (physical or testimonial) to support the Mandate
in court, or a Subject (a perpetrator) whose apprehension or cooperation will
advance the case. The players choose which paths to take as they work their way
from the bottom of the grid to the top, eventually closing in on the Primary
Subject who's behind it all.
No Mandate can be executed cleanly, and that’s a big part of the fun. Who will
the players choose to destroy, who will they turn to their cause, who will be
helped, who will suffer? Nothing is set in stone and the responsibility is in the
player’s hands to pursue their course. Can they achieve anything good when
the powers-that-be oppose them at every turn? Can justice actually be done in
a system so corrupted, or can they only hold off this catastrophe for now? What
do the characters really believe in? What matters most? Play to find out!
STARTING THE MANDATE
Each Mandate begins with a warrant issued by the Grand Adjudicator (acting
on behalf of the Emperor). This warrant will name the individual selected by the
High Office of Justice as immediately culpable for the troubles assoicated with
the Mandate (usually someone from a lower Tier faction, less protected from
Imperial legal scrutiny).
The warrant is the central, bottom box on the Mandate grid, connected to a box
on either side representing the first choice the Inspector (and their team) must
make: Will they collect Evidence or apprehend a Subject as their first move?
WORKING THE CASE
Rather than running Scores as in standard Blades, the Inspector and their Bluecoat
team pursue Operations. The system is the same as running a score: choose an
Operation type (Capture, Legwork, Patrol, Raid, Stakeout, or Undercover),
provide the detail, then make an engagement roll and kick off the action.
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End of Document
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FAQs of Flame Without Shadow V3 for Blades in the Dark

What roles can players assume in Flame Without Shadow?
Players can choose to be Bluecoats, Inspectors, or Spirit Wardens in Flame Without Shadow. Each role comes with unique abilities and responsibilities that shape the gameplay experience. Bluecoats operate as law enforcement officers, Inspectors lead investigations into criminal activities, and Spirit Wardens deal with supernatural threats. This variety allows for diverse storytelling and character development, making each session unique.
What is the purpose of the Mandate in the game?
The Mandate serves as a structured mission framework within Flame Without Shadow. It guides players in their objectives, allowing them to focus on specific criminal conspiracies or threats. By completing tasks outlined in the Mandate, players can earn rewards and advance their characters. This system encourages strategic thinking and collaboration among players as they navigate the challenges presented in the game.
How does the Imperative system differ from the Mandate?
The Imperative system in Flame Without Shadow focuses on supernatural threats, contrasting with the Mandate's emphasis on criminal conspiracies. Players assigned an Imperative are tasked with addressing occult issues, often involving the Spirit Wardens. This system introduces unique challenges and narrative elements, allowing for a different style of gameplay that emphasizes the supernatural aspects of the game's setting.
What new gameplay mechanics are introduced in this version?
Flame Without Shadow V3 introduces several new mechanics, including the Mandate grid, which replaces the traditional turf and asset management systems. Players earn Case Dice by completing objectives, which can be used to resolve legal concerns and advance their missions. Additionally, the supplement includes new technology and faction dynamics that enhance the overall gameplay experience, providing fresh challenges and opportunities for character development.
What themes are explored in Flame Without Shadow?
Flame Without Shadow explores themes of justice, corruption, and the supernatural within a dark fantasy setting. Players navigate a world where law enforcement is often entangled with criminal elements, raising questions about morality and the nature of justice. The inclusion of supernatural threats adds an additional layer of complexity, forcing players to confront not only human adversaries but also the unknown forces that influence their world.

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