Fine Blueprints

Today, Umbra joins hosts Jacob and Nychelle to talk about his game Future.Shock, as well as how resolution mechanics (dice, cards, etc.) affect the tone and fantasy of your game. He describes his transhumanist game, but also discusses how to tell if your dice mechanics will work out, and gives examples of when the dice mechanics accidentally told a different story than what the designer intended.

You can follow Umbra on twitter at @DealerUmbra.
You can find Future.Shock and Umbra's other games on itch at dealerumbra.itch.io

Today, Mark is joined by Michael, author of a number of forged in the dark games, to talk about A Torch in the Dark, his single-player dungeon-delving/revolution game. We talk about how "the conversation" which usually happens between players and GM still happens in a solo game. He also talks about his influences and what drew him to make a solo game.

You can find Michael on twitter @notwritinggames.
You can find A Torch in the Dark, as well as Michael's other games and his hugely helpful "An Amateur's Guide to Hacking Blades in the Dark", on his itch page, notwriting.itch.io.
You can also get his games, as well as early previews and such, on his patreon: www.patreon.com/notwriting
And lastly, you can find the collaborative project, featuring Michael and a bunch of other designers from the discord, External Containment Bureau, at mythicgazetteer.itch.io/external-containment-bureau.

Today, Stefan joins hosts Nychelle and Mark to talk about his game Fistful of Darkness, the impact of the touchstones you give on defining how your game plays, and also the effect of the hellish economy of the system. Last year, Nychelle ran a game of Fistful for our twitch channel with Stefan and Mark as players, so we reminisce about and highlight the parts of the game that shined.

You can check out the game on itch here: monkeyecho.itch.io/a-fistful-of-darkness
You can find Stefan on Twitter @MonkeyEcho.

If you missed our stream, and want to see how Fistful of Darkness plays, you can find it all on our youtube page here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7V0TnXlMfuIq6FGylx5TQTMDydE4Res


Editor's note: At the end, Mark shouts out the awesome Blades in the Dark forum (community.bladesinthedark.com), but describes the similarly awesome and more active discord (discord.com/invite/qzb2y98). Check both out!

Today, Justin is joined once again by Laurie to talk about his game, Hieronymous, a FitD hex-crawl game through the artwork of Hieronymus Bosch. He talks about what inspired the idea, and how to get inspiration from art. We also talk about Lichcraft, Laurie's  kickstarted game about trans necromancers, which he also discussed on our Zinequest 2021 episode!

You can find Laurie on twitter @Laurie_eee, and you can find his games on itch at laurieoconnel.itch.io.

If you want a physical copy of Hieronymous (who wouldn't?), you can get one from floatingchair.club/collections/zines/products/hieronymous in the US or www.rookspress.com/products/hieronymous?_pos=1&_sid=90d08699e&_ss=r in the UK.

Today, Jacob and Ian are joined by Adam Bucceri to talk about his new, setting-agnostic game, Enter the Survival Horror! We discuss how the Doom Clock and related mechanics set the survival horror tone, and how to enable the players to take on the narrative authority normally associated with a GM by making them choose between difficult options.

You can check out Adam on twitter @AdamBucceri, and you can find Enter the Survival Horror on itch.io at adam-bucceri.itch.io/enter-the-survival-horror.

You can find Jacob @Jacobalso and Ian @antifinity on twitter.

Miss Justin? You can find him GMing his game Moth-light on our twitch channel at twitch.tv/hackedinthedark every Wednesday, with vods on youtube at www.youtube.com/c/HackedintheDark

As always, you can join the amazing and welcoming Blades discord server where we help each other build hacks at https://discord.com/invite/qzb2y98

Today, our host Mark is joined by Dustin and Michael to talk about Synthicide: Sharpers in the Dark, their new Forged in the Dark adaptation of Dustin's original trad-game. We discuss why Dustin wanted to bring his game to FitD, and how they maintained the tone and content of the original, as well as how more content was added to fit into FitD.

Synthicide: Sharpers in the Dark is kickstarting now! You can check it out here!

Follow Dustin on here, and Michael on their twitter here. 

Show links..

• Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/willpowergames/synthicide-sharpers-in-the-dark
• Dustin DePenning: https://twitter.com/DepenningDustin
• Michael Elliot: https://twitter.com/kindelingboy

In this very special episode, Justin is interviewed by three guest hosts: Ema, Eli, and Nychelle! Our hosts get a bit silly, then we talk about Justin's highly anticipated post-fall sci-fi game, Mothlight, and the process of iterating on your designs through playtests, feedback, and experience. We talk about what to change, what to keep, and how to take feedback, as well as the huge changes that Justin has made to Mothlight over its development.

You can hear Justin as our usual host on most of our prior episodes, and you can find him on twitter @MothLands! You can also find Mothlight on itch.io at moth-lands.itch.io!

We're currently doing an actual play stream of Mothlight on our twitch page. Come watch Wednesdays at twitch.tv/hackedinthedark! Episodes will also be posted soon to our youtube page www.youtube.com/c/HackedintheDark.

You can find Ema on twitter @spookymeal, and her current game Crescent Moon at stardrift-design.itch.io/crescentmoon.
You can find Eli on twitter @ZapDynamic, and his current game Errant Deeds mythicgazetteer.itch.io/errant-deeds.
You can find Nychelle on twitter @Mistletoetrex, and her website at www.voidalspace.com.

Today, Justin is joined by a member of the team, Mark, to talk about Science Fiction adaptations of Blades in the Dark through his Sci-Fi/ Fantasy game Runners in the Shadows. We talk about how to accomplish the tones and themes of science fiction, as well as how Mark balances and blends futurism with magic. Mark also teases his future game, Voyagers in the Dark, a military sci fi game inspired by Star Trek, and we contrast Runners with Justin's sci-fi game, Mothlight.

Mark has been a huge part of building Hacked in the Dark and helping us thrive, so check out his game on itch.io here!

You can also follow Mark on twitter here.

You can watch Mark GM Runners in the Shadows on our youtube channel here!

Episode Links..
Mark Cleveland Massengale: http://www.twitter.com/savemejebu5
Runners in the Shadows: http://markcleveland.itch.io/runners-in-the-shadows
Runners Actual Play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7V0TnXlMfu86chJ9L9DAkXbyuTZbc8T
Voyagers in the Dark: http://markcleveland.itch.io/voyagers-in-the-dark

Today, Justin is joined by Ben Roswell and Caro Asercion to talk about Rearguard, their supplement for Beam Saber. They talk about what drove them to make a supplement, how their supply drop is more than just new playbooks, and why make a supplement instead of a hack.

You can find Rearguard at roswellian.itch.io/rearguard

You can check out Ben's twitter @roswellwrites and Caro's @seaexcursion.

If you want to hear more about Beam Saber, check out our podcast episode 4, where we talk to the developer, Austin Ramsay!

Today, Justin and Mark are joined by Emanoel to talk about his new game, CBR-PNK. We also discuss what sacrifices had to be made to fit the game into a one-page trifold, what advantages were gained, and how a fiction-first approach allowed it to stay small. We also talk about the TTRPG scene in Brazil, and FitD influences on OSR.

You can find Emanoel on twitter @emanoelmelo.

You can check out CBR-PNK at emanoelmelo.itch.io/cbrpnk.

For another cyberpunk take, check out our actual-play series of Mark's game Runners in the Shadows at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7V0TnXlMfu86chJ9L9DAkXbyuTZbc8T