There’s a lot to like about Blades in the Dark (John Harper’s award winning game from last year). It’s got a dynamic fiction-influenced set of rolls which take into account how the players approach things, flashback mechanics that eliminate the need for extensive prep, and a rad steam-flavored spooky victoriana aesthetic. However it’s also a long term game that shines brightest when you can devote time to it’s many subsystems and intricate set of mechanics involving rising through the tiers of influence and power, and growing your crew to become one of the largest in the ghost-haunted city setting of the game. This is a process however, that takes many sessions of play.

The question many people are asking is how to get a punchy one-shot of the game to the table. Game nights and/or convention slots (about 4 hours) are common events many people play (or these days stream). There are several major stumbling blocks to running a one shot inside these constraints. Character and crew creation takes up a chunk of the time. The setting takes time to introduce (including the many rival gangs and organizations getting in the players way).

I’ve run a fair number of one-shots and convention slots of the game, and I’ve come up with a number of tools that I use to streamline the experience and keep things punchy and flowing. For those of you looking to show someone exactly how the game is played (including the crew and character creation) there’s no need to stray from the starting position and blades details. But if what you’re looking to do is run a great one-shot with low overhead and fast on-boarding then read on. And of course (as always) feel free to mix and match what works for you and discard what doesn’t. These are just things that work for me.