Court of Blades is a Forged in the Dark game for those who like their darkness a little less dark, with a tone of swashbuckling romance rather than gritty crime. It is a stylish and eminently playable game, and one which hews very close to base Blades. You play the movers and shakers of the smallest of the six noble houses of Ilrien, and by daring intrigues you will rise. Or if you fail, you will bring shame to your entire house. Be brave, be passionate, and above all else, don't get killed.


POV: You've caused a scandal at the ballroom. Netflix's Bridgerton.

First the seeking. Ilrien is finely gamable setting, where the Six Noble Houses jockey for position above a stratum of happy workers, devious criminals, glamorous magic, deadly mercenaries, and some mostly-locked away undying horrors. There's all the glamorous backdrop you'll need for your story. This isn't really my genre, but everything seems to work okay.

Mechanically, Court of Blades is an almost one-for-one match with base Blades. The most significant change is the faction subsystem has been streamlined, with turf replaced with spheres of influence. Each season consists of three linked errands, where you'll try to advance your house's objective and deal with surprises, giving you a roll to advance ticks on a clock. As someone who's thought that BitD downtime is too complicated as is, this might be a nice lighter version. The other major mechanical innovation is a Paramor system, where you use downtime actions to court another person who can help you out, but also will make their own demands. Oh, and playbooks have bond statements connecting everyone in the party, which could become a lot.

I'll say upfront that my taste in RPGs, and FitD in particular, is oriented towards mechanical innovation. The d6 pool, mixed success, and position-effect-clock mechanic is solid, so when I add a game, I look to see how it builds on that foundation. Wicked Ones, Band of Blades, and Neon Black all did something new and unique with the base system, and Court of Blades does not. And this is a shame, because the core tension in the source fiction is between Obligation and Passion, and the ways that becoming a slave to either wrecks a person. Don't get me wrong, Court of Blades is very good, but I wish it were great.