Blades in the Dark

War for Territory

War for Territory is a supplement to Blades in the Dark to take your criminal enterprise to the next
level. This book contains additional guidelines on how to flesh out relations between different
factions, how to spread them out on the crew’s territory map, how to handle situations where the crew
takes over or even outgrows a district, and how to handle takeovers, when the players completely
defeat a faction by assaulting their Lair and vice-versa.
The rules outlined here do not fundamentally change anything in the core rules, they serve to provide
quick answers to questions that might come up during a session if you happen to draw a complete
blank.

Crew Creation
Filling out the Crew Map
During Crew Creation, your gang must designate five factions that they have met in the city and have
built up a rapport with.
- One for establishing hunting grounds.
- Two for getting your crew upgrades.
- Two for getting your crew contact.
You can opt to choose the same faction multiple times, but when choosing factions for crew and
contact you must pick different ones, because you get positive status with one and negative with the
other, but you can offset the negative status consequence of your choices by switching the factions for
your contact and upgrade choices. Whatever the case, the claims on the crew sheet will correspond
with the factions you picked.
Contact Plus Crew Upgrade Hunting Grounds Crew Upgrade Contact Minus
Faction Minus Faction Faction Minus Faction Faction
Contact Plus Crew Upgrade Lair Crew Upgrade Contact Minus
Faction Minus Faction Minus Faction Faction
Contact Plus Crew Upgrade Hunting Grounds Crew Upgrade Contact Minus
Faction Minus Faction Faction Minus Faction Faction

There are a few restrictions in place when you pick these factions:
- No faction chosen can be Tier IV or higher.
- No faction chosen can be an Institution.
- Only one citizenry faction can be chosen.
Additionally, when picking a starting territory, you cannot pick Whitecrown, Charterhall, or
Brightstone. Those are too secure to allow any newcomer gang to set up shop just like that. If you
want to seize a claim in those areas, you will have to expand beyond your starting location, establish a
foothold, and start fighting the institutions that hold the real power in the city, but especially in those
places on a less uneven footing.
Taking Over
Seizing a Claim
Whenever you decide to seize a claim, you must get rid of its previous owners, and they are not going
to like you for it. When you decide you want to extend your criminal empire, point to a spot on your
claims map and the GM will describe what sort of an operation they are running there. Sometimes the
claim will help with its description, but you don’t have to go off that. If you must come up with
something on the fly, you can use the following table.
Roll Operation Reward
1 Safe House / Barracks 2 Coin
2 Brewery 4 Coin
3 Pub / Opium Den 6 Coin
4 Brothel 6 Coin
5 Storehouse / Storefront 8 Coin
6 Gambling Den 8 Coin
The players can decide to do whatever they want with the property, they might keep it running, or tear
it down, either way provides no additional REP or COIN.
When it comes to taking over the claim, the players have a wide variety of options, but whatever they
do, you will lose 2 status with the faction that owned the place. The crew can even negotiate they way
into seizing a claim, buy it with COIN or outright threats, even do a score that benefits them for it, the
minus one status still applies.

Weakening a Faction
When you seize a claim from a faction or do a score that seriously hurts a faction reduce its hold to
weak if it was strong or reduce its Tier by one and have its hold set to strong if it was weak. If you
want to target a specific faction, you can gather information on what kind of operations it’s running
and if it is significant enough to cause their hold to drop. If you do end up causing this, you lose two
status with the faction, otherwise, only one.
Under special circumstances you may end up hurting a faction more than just causing them to lose one
hold, for example if you were to assassinate the head of the faction. In those cases, you might do a
fortune roll to determine how badly they are hurt. Critical is five hold, 6 is three, 4/5 is two, 1-3 is just
the one. The number of dice you roll is determined the GM and should be between 1 to 3 dices,
depending on how serious the damage was.
Examples of devastating an opposing gang include killing its current head or culling most of the top-
level lieutenants, destroying their lair, or a major source of their income, instigating a widespread
police crackdown or a mass uprising. Each of the listed examples are worth one dice, meaning a 3-dice
roll would happen only after you plant a bomb at the gang’s lair that kills the faction leader, the
lieutenants, and devastates most of their headquarters. Such actions carry serious consequences with
both the underworld, and the police, and the job itself is fraught with peril, but the rewards just might
be worth it.

Retaliation
When a faction drops down in tier because of your actions, start a 4-segment clock. Roll a fortune roll
with it’s current Tier whenever the time comes for an entanglement roll. 1-3, you tick one, 4/5, two, 6,
three, and five on a critical. Once it’s filled, it goes away, but the faction retaliates against you and
they seize one of your claims. Unless you execute a score specifically to stop this from happening,
before the clock is filled, this means they gain one hold and you lose one hold. Your Tier can be
reduced with this, but the effect is temporary, it lasts only as long as they control the claim they took
from you.
You can charge a gang cohort you control with protecting your territory. One cohort can only look
after one claim. If the claim they are trying to take is protected by a cohort, they fight back against the
aggressors, and suffer consequences. Position is determined by the Tier difference, it is desperate if
your Tier is lower, controlled if higher and risky if equal. On a roll of 1-3, the claim is lost and your
cohort is wounded. On a 4/5 your claim is defended, but your cohort still suffered causalities. A 6
means the intrusion was countered effectively and on a Critical, your cohort gains the Elite status.
Even if it already had the Elite keyword, make them Veterans, which adds an additional dice to their
rolls.
The GM announces the claim they are targeting only when the clock is filled, or if the players gather
information on their opponents. If the GM wants to make things interesting, they can also have the
enemy gang try and weaken your hold by targeting your lair, or even your scoundrels. Use the same
clock, but when it fills, roll with the current Tier of the faction. Once this happens, you lose 1 hold
which can permanently set you back a Tier. This happens when they roll 1-3. If they roll higher, they
can spend the leftover potential lost holds on the following instead:
- Inflict a harm on any PC equal to the potential lost holds spent.
- Eliminate a contact from a PC or crew per potential lost holds spent.
- Destroy a crew upgrade equal per potential lost holds spent.
This could mean that a player is outright killed on a Critical success if that consequence is not resisted.
Each crew upgrade can be replaced for 2 COINS, and a replacement contact can be found for the same
amount. One player can only resist one of these, and they cannot resist the consequence of losing 1
hold, no matter what. So if a GM rolled a critical and decide to spend the 4 leftover points he has after
decreasing the players’ hold, three players could each resist one destroyed upgrade, but one would take
place no matter what, since nobody was left to deal with that one. Cohorts can be used to protect
against these operations the same way as they would defend a claim, find out where they are going to
strike, and place them at the appropriate place.

War
In addition to normal rules (losing 1 temporary hold, 1 downtime, +1 Heat, reduced coin generation),
the retaliation clock also comes into play and unlike normal, it repeats and uses any leftover ticks from
the previous retaliation clock, much like the healing clock. However, the faction you are in war with
also temporarily loses 1 hold.

Making Peace
The players may call for peace talks at any time, but it’s up to the GM to decide whether the faction is
willing to sit down and what it is asking or willing to give to end the fighting. In general, war is bad
for business, so you really need to piss someone off in order for them to not even be willing to sit
down to the table with you.
Power is everything when determining the upper hand, so to figure out who pays who, compare the
Tier of the two opposing groups. The loser has to either give up one claim to the winner or pay 6
COINS per Tier difference. If the loser is the NPC faction, the players can decide which option they
want and the amount owed is paid in full. If the players lost, they must pay the first installment up
front, and another one with each downtime. If a faction has no more claims to give, and it cannot pay,
it is effectively absorbed by the victor. If this happens to the Crew, the players lose control of the
organization. They are reduced to simple scoundrels with nothing to their name, and likely, retire.
When a war is ended, the status with the faction is set to -1. You can negotiate further by giving up
COIN, Claims, Contacts and Crew Upgrades, or even some wild marriages between you and your
former enemy. Play to see what happens! Your GM has final say on what the final effect is on your
relations, but don’t be afraid to engage with them out of character to discuss what would be an
appropriate diplomatic gesture to win X amount of points.
Takeover
Another option to end a War is to reduce a faction below Tier 0. This can be done by repeatedly taking
claims from them, or by targeting them specifically to weaken the faction and cause them to drop
down in Tier. When you destroy a faction like this, all their claims on any claim map you have a
presence on now belong to you.
When this happens to the players, the PCs either die or retire, effectively ending their career. There are
no second chances in the underworld of Doskvol.

Alliances
We have discussed what it means to be enemies with a faction, now, let’s discuss how you can benefit
from gaining allies.

Favors during Downtime

When you are on good terms with another faction, you can ask them to help with your downtime
actions. You can ask favors from your friends, but each of them will only help once per downtime, and
two factions will not assist with the same action. The possible favors are detailed below.
- When you want to improve the result of your downtime roll, you can choose a faction that you
have positive status with. They will improve your roll result by one for 1 COIN rather than the
customary 2. They can only help you this way a number of times equal to your status with
them, upgrading the result further will cost 2 COINS.
- When you want to roll for a downtime action, you can choose a faction that you have positive
status with. They will let you roll with their Tier for an amount of COIN equal to 3 minus your
status with them. If their Tier is lower, you can add +1d to your roll instead.

Favors during Information Gathering

During the time you gather information, you can ask one faction you have are friendly with to provide
you information. This does not cost you time, but COIN instead, equal to 3 minus your status with the
faction. They roll their Tier for a fortune roll to see how much they found out regarding your inquiry.
Any other group you ask beyond the first will take extra time, meaning if you have limited time or
opportunities to do reconnaissance, any assistance beyond the first will count against those.

Favors during Flashback

When you call for a flashback, you can involve a faction you are friendly with in your action, even
going as far as having them do it instead of you. When you make use of your ally like this, you can
pay the stress cost of the flashback with status instead or pay 1 status for +1d to any roll involving the
flashback.

Favors during War

When you end up having to protect one of your claims from retaliation, you can ask one faction to
send their cohorts to protect your holdings. This costs COIN equal to 3 minus your status with the
faction. This will let your use their Tier and their cohort instead of having to deploy your own. The
negative consequences of this action affect your status with the ally instead of your cohort’s health.

Sharing a Claim
The final benefit of having friends is that you can borrow the beneficial effects of a claim. This
however can only happen if you have +3 status with the faction, and you pay 2 COINS for every time
you want to make use of the effect. For example, if you want to use your ally’s Bluecoat Confederates
which gives +1d to for the engagement roll of an assault plan, you can pay 2 COINs and get the extra
dice, no questions asked. The only type of claim you cannot borrow is Turf.
Expansion
Districts and Boroughs
Contrary to what you might think, the starting map on your crew sheet is only the first milestone of
your criminal empire. Doskvol is set up into twelve districts, each of those are split up between two to
four boroughs, areas where crime lords hold their claims. The first one is the one on your Crew Sheet.
And the rest are unlocked as you progress in Tier.

New Boroughs
To expand to other areas within your district, you first must achieve Tier II. Otherwise, your operation
is too small to be able to spread so thinly. After that, you can establish a foothold into the new
territory. This is like seizing a claim, but to make the occasion more atmospheric, it is recommended
that the focus this time should be on the exploration, not on the action. Getting a foothold can be as
simple as renting out the rooftop of a store in the area, but you must get to know the area first. Take
things slower, experience the new sights, sounds and smells of the city, and find a quaint little place to
set up shop in. Once you feel like you got a hang of the place, you can get to conquering claims as
usual. Such an event can and should count as a Score, even though the players actions might not
accrue either REP, COIN, or HEAT, so downtime actions and entanglements should follow.
When it comes to distributing claims between factions, you should always try to split them between at
least two. To provide a rule of thumb, pick 4 factions from the Labor, Fringe, Citizenry, and Institution
groups, and give each a claim, then pick two factions from the Underworld group and split the rest
among them. If you find yourself in Six Towers, feel free to increase the presence of Fringe factions,
or the Institutions when you are in Charterhall, Brigthstone or Whitecrown. Feel free to tinker with the
formula or leave it as it is.

Crew Expansion
Each time you expand into a new borough you the GM can design a new claims map without any Turf,
or the Crew can decide to pick up a second, fresh Crew Sheet. From now on you can choose a special
ability or crew upgrade from the second sheet and use the second sheet’s map as the new borough
map.

Ward Boss
The title of Ward Boss is reserved for the underground faction leaders in a district who hold the most
claims and either have the highest or are tied for the highest Tier. To declare yourself the boss you
need to meet the following criteria:
- You have the most claims in the district, combined across all boroughs.
- There is no other criminal faction in the district with a higher Tier than you.
- You are not at war currently with any faction.
- You do not have negative status with the local citizenry.
- You do not have negative status with local criminal factions.
Once these conditions have been met, you gain the title of Ward Boss and receive the following
benefits:
- Every player gets +2 COIN per downtime passively.
- Every member of your crew gets an additional free downtime action.
- When you roll for entanglement, you can reroll one of the dice once.
New Districts
Expanding into a new district is very similar to moving into a new borough. Your crew needs to be at
least Tier III and you must establish a foothold in on of the boroughs in the district. You do not have to
be Ward Boss to expand, but you can be the boss of two districts at once, netting you the benefits
twice over.

Crew Upgrades
Secure
Each upgrade grants you +1d when defending against a retaliation that targets your lair, even without
having a cohort protect it.

Hidden
Before a faction can retaliate against your lair, it must discover it’s location. Instead of immediately
causing havoc, the first time the retaliation clock fills, your lair is simply discovered. The clock then
restarts and starts counting towards the real retaliation.

Quarters
When a player or a cohort is targeted for retaliation, they receive the benefits of the Hidden and Secure
crew upgrades as well.

Workshop
Even when at war, you get a second free downtime action that you can only use for long term projects.

New Veteran Abilities

Peacemaker
When you make peace with a faction, you get +1d to any Sway and Consort rolls during peace talks,
and your status with the faction is reset to 0 instead of -1.

King slayer
You get +1d for engagement rolls when your goal is to kill a faction leader. You get +1 effect when
you take an action that aims to end that faction leader’s life.

Immediately Likeable
When you increase your status with a faction for the first time, you gain and additional +1 status with
them. When you roll to gain a new contact, (on a long-term project for example) you get +1d to the
roll.

New Veteran Crew Abilities

Efficient Workforce
Your cohorts know how to work hard for profit. You can deploy a cohort to a claim that generates
COIN during downtime by rolling your Tier. Add +1d to the roll, but the cohort will be unavailable for
the next Score.

Enhanced Security
Your gang have developed your own secret security measures. When a cohort is deployed to protect
your claim from retaliation, it gets an additional +1d to their roll. If no cohort is deployed, you can still
roll with zero dice (roll two and take the lower result).
Duty after Death
Your cohorts are so compelled to obey you, through loyalty or fear, that even their spirits attempt to
aid you after their bodies have succumbed to death. When one of your cohorts suffers losses or dies,
they will then haunt their place of death, in your service. This means that if you deployed a cohort to
protect a claim and they were defeated, you will get +1d for the engagement roll when you try and
take it back. If they were successful, the spirits of the fallen will offer additional protection. The ghosts
will provide an additional +1d if you have defenders deployed and still allow you to roll with zero dice
to defend if you don’t. This is cumulative with Enhanced Security, meaning that if you have spirits
and security measures in place, even if you have no cohort there, you can roll 1d to defend.