Cult (FiD)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark fan page

A cult serves some kind of supernatural creature. This can be a god, but also a saint, philosophical teacher, demon, devil, archfey, greater aberration, undead lord, great spirit, and so on. A cult has a religious or magical agenda and fights over the souls of a population. This can involve reforming an existing church, introduce a new faith, or to create a secret cult network that acts in the shadows. An adaptation of the cult crew playbook from Blades in the Dark.

Claims

Spirit Gate: Get +1d to the engagement roll for Occult plans.	Catacombs: You get +1d to the engagement roll for Stealth and Transport plans.	Offertory: Secret scores give +2 coin payoff.	Ancient Tower: You get +1d to Resolve actions with arcane entities on-site.	Ancient Obelisk: -1 stress cost for all arcane powers and rituals. This effect applies to all cultists, everywhere—so long as the deity is well pleased.
Sacred Library +1d on Study and Sway rolls on location.	Sacred Hall: +1d to Command and Consort rolls on-site. A place of worship that impresses congregation and visitors.	Sanctuary Your collection of artifacts and rare books. Claims start here and can extend horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally.	Confessional: +1d to all Resolve actions to gather information.	Cloister: Your Adept cohorts get +1 scale. More room for hopeful novices desperate to pledge their service.
Spirit Well: You get +2d to Attune rolls on-site. A spirit well draws spirits, which you harness to aid your arts.	Charity: You get -2 heat per score.	Sacred Nexus: You get +1d to healing treatment rolls. +2 coin from public operations.	Ancient Altar: You get +1d to the engagement roll for Assault and Social plans. Its blessing is with you.	Temple: Any time during downtime, roll dice equal to your Tier. You earn coin equal to the highest result, minus your heat.

Heat & Wanted Level

☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ | ☐☐☐☐

Coin

☐☐☐☐ | Vault ☐☐☐☐ | Vault 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Special Abilities

1. Chosen: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Attune, Study, or Sway (up to a max rating of 3).
2. Anointed: You gain +1d to resistance rolls against supernatural threats. You get +1d to healing rolls.
3. Conviction: Each member of the crew gains an additional vice: Worship. When you indulge this vice and bring a pleasing sacrifice, you don't overindulge if you clear excess stress. In addition, your deity will assist any one action roll you make—from now until you indulge this vice again.
4. Glory Incarnate: Servants of your deity sometimes manifests in the physical world. If you worship a demigod they may even manifest themselves. This can be a great boon, but the priorities and values of a god are not those of mortals. You have been warned.
5. Intercession: You may use teamwork maneuvers with any cult member, regardless of the distance separating you. By taking 1 stress, your whispered message is heard by every member of the cult.
6. Sealed in Blood: A human sacrifice yields -3 stress cost for any ritual you perform.
7. Zealotry: Your cohorts have abandoned their reason to devote themselves to the cult. They will undertake any service, no matter how dangerous or strange. They gain the loyal and tenacious edges (p 96) and +1d to rolls when they act against enemies of the faith.
8. Additional Playbook: Select another crew playbook. From now on, you can choose its Claims, Special Abilities, Crew Contacts, and Upgrades. You gain immediate access only to the Crew XP.

Crew XP

At the end of each session, for each item below, mark 1 xp (or instead mark 2xp if that item occurred multiple times).

1. Advance the agenda of your deity or embody its precepts in action.
2. Contend with challenges above your current station.
3. Bolster your crew's reputation or develop a new one.
4. Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the crew.

Contacts

1. Gagan, an academic.
2. Adikin, an occultist.
3. Hutchins, an antiquarian.
4. Moriya, a spirit trafficker.
5. Mateas Kline, a noble.
6. Bennett, an astronomer.

Crew Upgrades

Start Vice (Faith or Weird), Secure or Hidden Lair, 2 of choice.

Cult ☐ Spirit Cohort (gain one cohort who is also a spirit), ☐ Spirit Well (+1 occult effect in lair).

Hardware: ☐,☐ Boat, ☐,☐ Cannon, ☐,☐ Carriage, ☐,☐ Stable.

Lair: ☐,☐ Hidden, ☐,☐ Secure, ☐,☐ Quarters, ☐☐☐☐ Training, ☐,☐ Vault, ☐ Workshop, ☐ Prison.

Quality: ☐ Documents, ☐ Gear, ☐ Implements, ☐ Supplies, ☐ Tools, ☐ Weapons.

Vices: ☐ Faith, ☐ Gambling, ☐ Luxury, ☐ Obligation, ☐ Pleasure, ☐ Stupor, ☐ Weird.

Cohorts ☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐ Cohort: (Max 2 per tier +1 for strong hold) ☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐ Add Elite, Edge, or Type to one cohort

Cohorts

Name:

☐ Gang or ☐ Expert.

Type: ☐ Adepts, ☐ Rooks, ☐ Rovers, ☐ Skulks, ☐ Thugs.

Edges & Flaws: ☐ Elite, ☐ Fearsome, ☐ Independent, ☐ Loyal, ☐ Principled, ☐ Animal, ☐ Savage, ☐ Unreliable, ☐ Wild.

Damage: (☐ Armor), ☐ Weak, ☐ Impaired, ☐ Broken.

Opportunities

1. Cabal opportunity
2. Cabal opportunity
3. Cartel opportunity
4. Cartel opportunity
5. Cult opportunity
6. Cult opportunity
7. Delver opportunity
8. Delver opportunity
9. Glimmer opportunity
10. Glimmer opportunity
11. Manhunter opportunity
12. Manhunter opportunity
13. Traveler opportunity
14. Traveler opportunity
15. Troupe opportunity
16. Troupe opportunity
17. Warden opportunity
18. Warden opportunity
19. Warrior opportunity
20. Warrior opportunity
21. Air opportunity
22. Animal opportunity
23. Barrier opportunity
24. Darkness opportunity
25. Death opportunity
26. Earth opportunity
27. Electricity opportunity
28. Fire opportunity
29. Flux opportunity
30. Ice opportunity
31. Illusion opportunity
32. Kinesis opportunity
33. Life opportunity
34. Light opportunity
35. Metal opportunity
36. Mind opportunity
37. Order opportunity
38. Plant opportunity
39. Space opportunity
40. Time opportunity
41. Water opportunity
42. A Chosen is preaching religious renewal for the worship of your god.
43. A friendly monster that your dogma declares is an enemy appears.
44. A gang of thugs is having serious mystical problems from a rival group. They hire you to put an end to it.
45. A ghost ship returns to port, devoid of crew or any items save one thing: an artifact thrumming with the secret name of your god.
46. A heresy appears.
47. A moldy tome has been recovered: it contradicts some vital tenet of your cult's doctrine.
48. A noble performed a desperate ritual seeking assistance from your god. You have been chosen as the instrument of its aid.
49. A prominent collector of artifacts chokes to death in the streets, gasping the name of your god.
50. A rival cult is destroying any and all artifacts and sites sacred to other gods. They seem to have some arcane means of discovery. You may be next.
51. A rival cult's secret regalia have some connection with your god: are they his agents or is it mere coincidence?
52. A syncretistic claim is made that your god is a manifestation of another similar god.
53. A treatise is published claiming your god is a corrupted translation of an even more ancient god.
54. A trio of formidable spirits arrive at your lair and announce themselves as the true ancient masters of your cult.
55. A wealthy cult offers you riches (coin, claim, cohort, etc.) to abandon your faith and enter into their congregation.
56. An enemy of your cult appears as a direct threat.
57. Aristocrats want you to calm dissent among the commoners.
58. Blessed coins placed in the mouths of the dead allow the to return as spirits. Who is doing this? How?
59. Commoners seek divine support in their conflict with their superiors.
60. Construction work has accidentally unearthed an ancient spirit well, and awakened the entities trapped there.
61. Converts are joining your cult, but bring odd new ideas and practices.
62. Inquisitors intend to burn a “witch” in the public square.
63. It has become trendy for young people to pretend to swoon and have visions, but not all of them are pretense.
64. Local citizens have started working together at odd times, in a trance, constructing something alien out of strange debris.
65. Monsters friendly to your faith appear.
66. Monsters hostile to your faith appear.
67. Ruins connected to your faith have been discovered.
68. Signs and portents predict calamity!
69. Spirits are causing confusion and fear.
70. Spirits friendly to your faith appears.
71. Spirits hostile to your faith appears.
72. Strangers appear that are in a situation your dogma demands you help them with.
73. The anointed champion of a rival cult challenges your chosen one to deadly combat.
74. The murder of a noble has signs and sigils of your god left at the crime scene.
75. There are pogroms against unpopular cults and people.
76. Theurgists are accusing you of apostasy.
77. You are challenged to a religious debate.
78. Your altars crumble, your artifacts crack. Demonstrate your true faith, or despair!
79. The cult discovers ancient scriptures that reveal a hidden ritual site guarded by dangerous creatures.
80. A charismatic prophet joins the cult but brings their own agenda that could split the group.
81. A powerful noble offers protection in exchange for spiritual guidance but expects total loyalty.
82. The cult learns of a celestial event that could empower their rituals but risks drawing attention from enemies.
83. An influential scholar seeks to translate forbidden texts but demands knowledge in return that could compromise the cult.
84. A rival faith plans to publicly denounce the cult’s teachings, threatening their recruitment efforts.
85. The cult uncovers a relic believed to hold the essence of their deity, but it is cursed and corrupting.
86. A high-ranking official secretly seeks the cult’s blessings for political gain but demands dangerous favors.
87. The cult identifies a location where the veil between worlds is thin but it is contested by another group.
88. A wealthy patron offers funding if the cult performs a ritual to cure their ailment, risking failure and exposure.
89. The cult gains control of a small village, but the locals are wary and may revolt.
90. A holy artifact is stolen, and the cult must retrieve it from a heavily fortified location.
91. A powerful sorcerer offers to teach the cult forbidden magic but may use them as pawns.
92. The cult learns of a child prophesied to lead them but must first protect the child from other factions.
93. A rift opens, allowing the cult brief access to a divine or infernal realm, but the entity within is hostile.
94. A hidden sect within the cult begins to push for more extreme practices, threatening unity.
95. A temple aligned with the cult’s beliefs is unearthed, but it is infested with deadly traps and guardians.
96. The cult infiltrates a prominent institution to gain access to its resources but risks discovery and expulsion.
97. A mysterious plague spreads, and the cult is blamed, forcing them to find the true source or be destroyed.
98. The cult receives visions of an apocalyptic event they must either hasten or prevent, risking their own survival.
99. A powerful demon or celestial being offers the cult a dangerous pact with unknown consequences.
100. An influential bard or playwright begins spreading the cult’s ideology through art but risks public backlash....