Deep Cuts Cheat Sheet

When you face a negative consequence from a dangerous opponent or challenging situation, make a Threat Roll to see if you can avoid it.

• The GM must clearly state the threat before the roll
• The failure of an action is also a Threat

The default check is risky, and the effect is standard. Make an Action roll or an Attribute roll:

• 6 6 Triumph: You avoid the threat
  • And gain Edge
• 6 Success: You avoid the threat
• 4/5 Peril: suffer a reduced consequence
  • Or push yourself to prevent the effects entirely
• 1-3 Threat: You suffer the consequence
  • Or push yourself to reduce the consequence

• No roll needed.
• If you want to achieve more-ask for Devil's Bargain.

• 6: Success: You avoid the threat.
• 1-5 Threat: You suffer the consequence.
  • Or push yourself to reduce the consequence
• Mark XP

The GM can add additional threats depending on the situation:

• Add +1d for every additional Threat
• Assign roll result for every Threat

When you suffer a consequence, you can choose to push yourself to avoid or reduce it

• Make a roll using the related Attribute to
  • improve result of Threat roll
  • increase effect of the action you take
  • activate certain abilities
• Mark stress according to the result of the roll:
  • 6 6: 0 stress
  • 6: 1 stress
  • 4/5: 2 stresses
  • 1-3: 3 stresses

Edge can be gained on a Threat Roll when you roll more than one 6.

• Edge can be:
  • Spent immediately to increase the effect of an action.
  • Carry forward to add +1d to future roll.
• While assisting teammate you can spend an Edge on their roll.
• Edges can be accumulated.
• Any remaining Edge you have is lost when Downtime begins.

Effects and Consequences are categorized by levels of impact:

• Limited 1 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
• Standard 2 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
• Great 3 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)
• Extreme 4 (ticks, heat, harm, etc.)

The way to achieve something for a cost or facing the threat.

• Pay the cost (from minor to major)
  • Mark stress (or ask to push)
  • Tick a clock
  • Spend coin
  • Suffer harm
  • Lose item
  • Take heat
  • Lose rep
  • Lose faction status
• Face the threat
  • Or to try a different approach
  • If is already facing a threat and making a roll, player can ask for a Devil's Bargain to add +1d and an additional threat

For a teamwork characters need to be in fictional position to do so or take Devil's Bargain to get into position.

• Benefits when help or protect teammate, or set up they action:
  • Add +1d to roll
  • Reduce the severity of a consequence
  • Improve effect or position
  • More details or questions when they gather info
• While Assisting teammate you can spend an Edge on their roll

• An action you take so your teammate doesn't have to face a particular threat. GM tells you what need to be done:
  • You just accomplish it
  • You need to do to get into position first
  • You need to take a Devil's Bargain to do it

When the team coordinates, designate a leader - they can push themselves on behalf of any other character who's acting with the team (in addition to the Scoundrel pushing themselves).

• Group action
  • Everyone faces the same threat
  • Each player rolls individually
  • A benefit from a group action can be an increase in scale
• Divide & Conquer
  • Team faces a variety of threats
  • Each tackles a threat with their own action

If you suffer Harm at a level that has all instances filled, the Harm advances to the next highest level of severity.

• 1. Temporary Condition (unlimited number)
  • Temporary negative conditions that can impede your character
  • If you suffer the same condition twice, bump it up to level 2 but no further if all 2 level instances are filled
  • Go away with time and doesn't require treatment for recovery
  • Some conditions might require an action to remove
  • Some conditions are removed when it makes sense in the fiction, or invoked couple of times
  • Remove all conditions when Downtime starts
• 2. Lasting Harm (2 slots)
  • Serious injuries, ailments, or impairments
• 3. Severe Harm (1 slot)
  • Major wounds which can incapacitate a character
  • Wound what may become fatal if not treated
• 4. Fatal Harm
  • A mortal wound or instant death, depending on the situation
  • If not instantly lethal, you may survive if someone can treat the wound and stabilize you within a few minutes
  • Remains and must be dealt with during a recovery activity
  • Record a Scar: a permanent injury, it may be invoked like Harm

The GM may invoke harm to impede the character, creating a problem or limitation for them

• Invoke Harm to
  • Introduce a bad outcome or new problem for the character
  • Reduce an Action and/or Attribute rating for a roll
  • Reduce the character's position or effect
• Mark XP when Harm is invoked
• Tough it Out
  • take 1 Stress per level of the Harm and draw a line through it.

When you need to mark Stress, but all your boxes are marked, gain a Trauma condition for your character

• Mark one of your Trauma boxes
• Remove all your Stress
• Describe your character's Trauma reaction

Each of your characters Trauma conditions can be invoked once per session to create a problem or complication for them

• Mark XP when Trauma is invoked
• This replaces the end-of-session xp award for trauma
• Only the player may invoke their character's trauma

• When you mark your fourth Trauma box, your character retires
• Before that, you may be able to recover from Trauma
  • Work with the GM to create a long-term project

Before the score choose your character's load style:

• Conspicuous
  • 6 item boxes
  • Choose and mark heavy items before the score
• Discreet
  • 6 item boxes
  • You may not bring any heavy items

If you pick something up during a score, count it as a marked load box

• if you mark a 5th box, your character becomes conspicuous
• If you mark a 7th box, your character becomes encumbered
  • can no longer climb, run, or swim unless they drop enough
• You can't carry more than 9 boxes worth of load

• Tell obvious information, including
  • what they know
  • what they intuit
  • what they suspect might be true
• Base information on the appropriate aspect of a character
  • playbook
  • background
  • heritage
  • special items
  • special abilities

If there's more to discover, ask them what they do to find out. Based on their action choose one:

• Offer a Devil's Bargain
  • a cost: Coin, Heat, Stress, or ticking a clock
  • a threat
• Give them a lead
  • They know person, place or thing what gives them opportunity to get the information
• Ask to start a long-term project to investigate the information

Draw four 6-segment advancement clocks for character playbook and crew playbook. Whenever you would mark xp, tick a clock instead.

• If all clocks filled, extra xp isn't lost. Just make an additional clock Cost of advancement in clocks:
• 2 New special ability from your playbook or crew sheet
• 3 Veteran special ability
• 1 Crew Upgrade (per box)
  • If using Downtime module only Cohorts cost XP advances
• 1-4 Action or Attribute dot
  • Depends on filled dots in Attribute or Skill rating

• First, each cohort heals one level of Harm.
• Then resolve
  • Fallout
  • Payoff
  • Entanglements
  • Development
  • Heat & Hold.

The GM assesses the fallout from the score in the form of faction Status changes and the amount of Heat gained.

• Adjust the crew's Status with factions affected by the score
  • +1 if the score significantly helped the faction.
  • +2 if the score was a major boon for the faction.
  • -1 if the score hurt the faction.
  • -2 if the score was a major problem for the faction.
  • -3 Set Status to -3 if the crew initiated war with a faction.
• Assess base Heat, plus any additional Heat from the score
  • Base 0 for a smooth, low exposure operation.
  • Base 2 for a standard criminal operation.
  • +1 Heat per crew Tier.
  • +2 for a high profile or well-connected target.
  • +2 for open combat, destruction, or mayhem.
  • +2 if you're at war with another faction.
  • +4 if death occurred in connection to the score.
  • +2 if there are witnesses that can be questioned
  • +4 if specific crew members were identified.

Determine the payoff from the score, rep gained, and any additional Coin from seized assets.

• Payoff
  • 1 Coin per PC, plus Coin equal to the target's Tier x3
• Rep
  • 1 Rep for every 2 Heat generated by the score.

­ +1 Rep per Tier of the target above the crew's Tier

• Seized Assets
  • Take +4 Coin if you seize a load of cash.
  • Very valuable stolen items can be fenced for 2-8 Coin (but you take 1 Heat for every 4 Coin of value).
• Tithe
  • If you're Tier 2 or lower, pay a tithe to your ward boss
  • Tithe: 1 Coin for every 4 Coin you earned from the score
  • As GM to go for debt, favor or trouble instead

• In addition to the crew's vaults and the Scoundrel's stashes, you may deposit Coin in a bank. When your crew has wanted levels, you lose access to all funds in the bank until you remove all your wanted levels (or devise a way to gain illicit access). Some legitimate business transactions (like a legal purchase of a property deed) may require funds in a bank to complete

Play entanglement if Heat is 6+ or when the fiction demands

• When gains a Wanted level, mark crew xp and pick Bluecoats
• Bluecoats: assail crew with a severity of your Wanted Level (adjusted down by your positive faction Status with the Bluecoats).
  • 4: Lethal force, arrests, loss of lair and all assets.
  • 3: Severe Beatings (Harm 3), an arrest, destruction of assets.
  • 2: Serious Beatings (Harm 2), interrogation, seizure of assets.
  • 1: Beatings (Harm 1), demands, observation/tailing.
  • 0: Questioning, harassment, threats, observation/tailing.
  • They can be bought off for Coin equal to your Wanted level +4.
• Devilry: A spirit or other supernatural entity is drawn to the crew
• Favour: A +2 or +3 Status faction asks you to do a job for them.
  • Agree to do it or lose 1 Status with them
• Flipped: one of contacts switch allegiances
  • Remove them as an ally until you get that worked out.
• Rascals: A cohort or contact causes problems for the crew.
  • Make amends or lose Status with aggrieved faction
• Show of Force: A negative Status faction moves against you.
  • Make them an offer (Coin or a Claim) to back off or go to war.
• Under Their Thumb: An authority forces you to do their dirty work
  • Or Bluecoats entanglement, as if your Wanted Level 1 higher
• The Usual Suspects: The Bluecoats questions your connections.
  • Make a Fortune Roll based on their resilience and loyalty
  • The crew suffers 3 Heat minus the highest die.

These crew upgrades cost Coin instead of crew advances:

• 6 coins
  • Camouflage, Rigging, or Underground Maps & Passkeys.
• 8 coins
  • Composed, Hardened, Ordained, or Steady (per box) Ironhook Contacts, Ritual Sanctum.
• 10 coins
  • Barge, Lair Upgrade, Quality, or Training Mastery (per box)
    Upgrade a Cohort to Elite quality.

• Reduce Heat
  • For each +2 Status with a Tier 3+ faction, reduce Heat by 1.
  • Reduce Heat by 1 for each Coin or Rep they expend
  • Ask the GM if there's anything else you can do to reduce Heat
• Assess Hold
  • Hold on their Tier is measured by your number of turf claims
  • Strong hold: number of turf claims greater or equal your Tier
  • Weak hold: number of turf claims is lower than your Tier

• Restore your Armour and Special Armour
• Remove all level 1 Harm.
• Add 1 tick to your Healing clock if you have a safe place to rest.
• The rest of the downtime consists of Vice and Activities.
  • Each player can do these in any order
  • Each pursuit includes a question or two to prompt roleplaying and future game play possibilities.

When indulging vice, spend 1 Coin and clear all of your Stress

• If your stress level was 6 or more, you overindulge:
  • 1 Get Wild: Damage property; terrify citizens.
    Take -1 Status with the appropriate faction or citizenry
  • 2 Big Spender: You indulge lavishly; spend +1 Coin
  • 3 Brag about your exploits: +1 Heat
  • 4 Attract Trouble: Face entanglement
  • 5 Tapped: Your purveyor cuts you off. Find a new one
  • 6 Wasted: Your Vice costs a downtime activity
• Instead of overindulgence, you can choose to be lost to your vice. Play a different character until this one returns.

You may go into debt with a provider if they agree.

• Note the initial Coin you owe
• Make a 4-segmented clock and tick it every Downtime
• If the clock fills, the provider takes steps to get their money back
• To remove a tick:
  • pay Coin equal to half the initial amount (round up)
  • or do a favor
• Resolve your debt: pay the initial amount and have no ticks

Clock to track acquired supplies or other acquisitions:

• Example applications:
  • Product stockpiles
  • Blackmail secrets
  • Promised favors
  • Provision in the deathlands
• For a significant expenditure, tick the clock multiple times.

Each Scoundrel may pursue two free activities during downtime.

• Additional activities cost 1 Coin or 1 Rep each.
• If you have level 3 Harm or survived a mortal wound, you must use at least one of your downtime activities to Recover.

Gain temporary items, services, vehicles, or cohorts for the crew.

• Make a 4-segmented supply clock for the acquisition
  • tick each time it's used in a consequential way
• Pay 1 Coin for every level of Quality higher than the crew's Tier.
• Pay +1 Coin for a special feature
• If the acquisition is very rare, restricted, or prohibited, ask the GM:
  • how much extra Coin and/or Heat is required to get it
  • or if you'll need to acquire it with a score
• Acquire a personal item in the same manner, comparing its Quality to your Lifestyle rating.

• When you recover in a safe location:
  • gain ticks on your healing clock equal to your crew's Tier+1.
• When your healing clock fills
  • reduce each instance of Harm you have by one level.
  • when you remove all Harm, clear your healing clock.
• With services of a Physicker:
  • remove an instance of Harm with a level equal to or less than their Quality
  • Physickers on the playbooks (like Sawtooth) are Quality 2
  • For each Coin you pay, increase the Physicker's Quality by one
• Stay in a private hospital:
  • remove all of your Harm
  • then choose: Take 1 Heat and pay 2 Coin -or- pay 3 Coin
  • there are no public hospitals in Doskvol

Use this activity to spend xp to get an advance for your character. (You don't advance instantly as in standard Blades)

• Acquire an instructor if you don't already have one
• Act as an instructor in an area of your expertise
  • When you're an instructor, you may spend xp to advance.

• Accomplish a simple project
• Quick side job
  • earn 1 Coin
  • ask the GM if you can charge more for your work
• Work on long term project
  • make an 8-segment clock
  • When you spend an activity working on it, mark a number of ticks equal to your Action rating
  • Add +1 tick if you have a workshop or special advantages
  • Elaborate projects require multiple clocks to complete.