Blades in the Dark Solo Supplement by Man Alone
You are the Rider.
You never wanted to return to this place. You left because you didn’t care what became of it. But now you know: it didn’t “become” anything. It’s all the same. All of it: scowling statues, cold gray buildings, flickering gas lamps, even the same stench. Especially the stench. But how did you get here? Barely anyone gets in or out these days, without the right people’s permission. You’ve never been one to know the right people. And you’ve never much been one who asks for permission, either. So how? And why?
That is the story you’ve come to tell
You take on the role of “The Rider,” a brand-new solo playbook designed to survive the streets of Doskvol as a single player. This is but one of many solo-focused tools available to you in The City at Night, alongside a Leviathan-sized helping of tables, upgrades,oracles, generators, and so much more to finally build the Solo Blades in the Dark experience you’ve always wanted. The crown-jewel is The Skyline, a bespoke solo Score generator that uses playing cards and a few simple procedures to build a Score that is both structured and surprising. And there’s so much more to discover.
Luckily your character – whoever they are – won’t be completely on their own. They will still be able to find “friends” to help. The Companion system gives you a Crew of three teammates that can join you in each Score, at times even handing you the reigns as you Crossfade into them. Sure, they may be a bit older, a step slower, with a little more gray in their hair, but hey – the Crew was always called “The Gray” and now it fits.
So get your old Crew back together, build your Rep, re-claim Turf, dust off your Lair, and get what you came for. It could be to settle a score, stitch old wounds, or put something – or someone – to rest. Whatever that job turns out to be. It’s up to you, it’s your story. Nobody else’s. It’s not going to be easy, and you might not make it out alive again. But you already know the score:
Darkness always awaits us all in the city at night.
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The City at Night is a fully-sharpened Solo Supplement for Blades in the Dark that offers a comprehensive GM-Less 1-player BiTD experience. It includes:
A bespoke Protagonist and Crew built for one. The Rider (a competent, weathered player character whose background you discover through play rather than overdetermined at character creation) and The Grey (a veteran crew whose age and experience justify a rebalanced starting competence) exist to solve the structural problem of playing a group game alone; one strong point-of-view character carried by Companions who share the load (literally, in a way).
Companions that are more than tools and less than full secondary characters. Your PC is the “POV” character, but you’ll still get a collaborative “team” experience through a special solo crew system, modified to provide the balance and diversity of options that come from working with a team, without burying you in paperwork or draining your cognitive reserves. Your companions can use equipment, collaborate with you, follow your lead, lend you a hand, form opinions, and “level up.” Occasionally you will even be able to slip into their perspective with the Companion Crossover action that uses the same basic mechanics of a Flashback. More on that later!
Starting Ability Levels that give you more of a fighting chance to survive on your own. Paired with the Rider and Grey playbooks, you’ll also have a narrative justification for this (rather than feeling like you used a cheat code).
A full set of tools to help you make GM decisions, including guidance on setting Position & Effect, plus safeguards against the subjective drift solo players beat themselves up about (making it too easy or too punishing).
Tools for creating managing your crew, scores, downtime… for making a solo campaign. Everything you need to build a one-of-a-kind story is either in this guide or somewhere in the Core (that always means “core BiTD book” – exact page numbers given whenever possible).
Structure. Step-by-step guidance on how to complete different stages of play. Not just for Character, Crew, and Companion formation (though that is included), but procedures for navigating through Scores, Downtime, and PC/Companion Advancement. You’ll be guided through play in a way that is organized and streamlined but not robotic (and you’ll need less direction each session you play, and more able to customize the experience to your preference got).
A Full Set of Printable Worksheets for your Character and Crew Playbook, as well as tools to create and manage your Companions (“NPC+” type crew-members that give you lots of versatile play options.
A Starting Score to get you up and playing right away (how else are you going to get your 3rd Companion without rescuing them?)
..and of course, every city worth it salt has a Skyline…but more on that later.
The City at Night is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.
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