By Jason Campbell
Evil Hat has just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit for a new supplement for the Blades in the Dark TTRPG called Blades ‘68. Today we’re looking at the campaign and the 40 page free preview. And last week a bunch more cool TTRPGs went live on Backerkit, so we’re talking about those as well!
Blades in the Dark
From the description by Evil Hat:
Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game by John Harper about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city.
The original game is well regarded, it is an offshoot of Powered by the Apocalypse, but with many of its own innovations. The characters are thieves, ne’er do wells and the like whose adventures are centered around heists. The setting is the city of Doskvol, where evil ghosts surround and threaten the sunless city. The setting is similar to a steampunk world.
Blades ‘68 uses the core mechanics of Blades in the Dark, but will include changes to the Gameplay Cycle.
The Blades ‘68 supplement moves the setting ahead 100 years to a time period roughly equivalent to Earth in 1968. The supplement adds new playbooks, new crews and new heists.
Blades ‘68 Playbooks
- Hull: The result of an experimental procedure meant to “cure” hardened criminals, you are now a hardened criminal mind in an android body.
- Swinger: The life of the party who meets conflict with charm and quick thinking.
Blades ‘68 Crews
Hit Squad: This crew is composed of contract killers and skilled assassins.
Blades ‘68 Doskvol
The names will be familiar, but the setting is updated for the times. That includes updated and new factions for the characters to deal with. The world of Doskvol was so dense that it could support a long campaign, and the additions from 2025’s Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts gave even more places for fun. The updated setting of Blades ‘68 wasn’t necessary to expand the setting, but it looks like it will be great for a group looking for a shift in tone.
You’ll have to judge if your group is right for playing this, to avoid your game devolving into a session of Austin Powers.
Orshin Incident
The Orshin Incident is a sci-fi “dungeon crawl” with horror, survival and lots of tense moments. It’s created by Wes of DMtales and Dave of Grimwood Games. And just to be even cooler, it’s written for Inde card RPG, EZd6 and Ironbound, with stretch goals that can add conversions for the Cypher System and Darkspace!
Food & Evil
Food & Evil is a game by Goosepoop Games where you play a demon… running a food truck. Goosepoop is know for weirdly great games, and this one looks to be right in line with their other games. As of the writing of this article the campaign has added 4 more adventures through stretch goals!
Mystery Snacks
Mystery Snacks is a new game from TTRPGkids, known as stars in the field of family friendly games. Mystery Snacks includes 3 mysteries in a system-agnostic format. As of this writing, they’ve met stretch goals adding 2 more mysteries, and it looks like they’ll meet other stretch goals before long.
Overview
It’s a great time for Indie TTRPGs! These games add fun to many genres, and they’re written by companies we’re happy to support. Check them out!
About The Author
Thank you for doing a piece on Zinetopia!! And for including Mystery Snacks! The shoutout is much appreciated, and this is also a really great summary of other projects to check out.