SNAKE

A social predator who preys on hopes and fears

Beneath a bewitching smile and a veneer of civility, the Snake seethes with contempt for
those who lack the conviction to seize what the world owes them. Always analyzing and
judging others, they pounce the moment someone falters. They attract followers with clever
philosophies and empty promises, then reforge their minds and bodies into weapons. Cravings
for power and admiration consume the Snake, and we are all fuel for the fires of their ambitions.

When you play a Snake, you earn xp if you exploited someone in pursuit of your goals, or if
you gained someone’s trust or betrayed it. Move in any social strata as you seduce those who
will serve you. Use twisting words to make pawns pull the triggers while your hands stay clean.
Infiltrate the ranks and psyches of your enemies and turn them against themselves.

Do you have a grand plan, or are you making it up as you go? Do you feel any guilt for those left
dead and broken in your wake, or is remorse a weakness you pity in others? Could all the money,
power, and fame in the world ever fill the gaping emptiness inside you?

STARTING ACTIONS DEVIOUS FRIENDS, RIVALS

COMMAND ‹ Larkin, a barrister. Does she keep you

walking free despite your obvious guilt, or is
SWAY she working to put you behind bars?

STARTING BUILDS ‹ Roland, a journalist. A source for tantalizing

gossip, or a watchdog hot on your trail?
If you want some guidance when you assign
your four action dots and special ability, use ‹ Bozkurt, a radical thinker. Your mentor, or
one of these templates. who you stole your best ideas from?

GURU. Consort +1, Study +2, Sway +1.
Beguile.
SPYMASTER. Finesse +1, Prowl +1,
Study +1, Survey +1. Sleeper Agents.
RINGLEADER. Hunt +2, Skirmish +2.
Gang Stalk.
PROVOCATEUR. Consort +1, Study +1,
Sway +1, Wreck +1. Cross the Line.
‹ Darwishi, a dignitary. A co-conspirator, or
an agent for shadowy foreign interests?
‹ Opal, an heiress. A devotee, or an apostate?
YOUR FOLLOWERS
You start with a small but devoted following
that you can build through long-term projects.
This cohort is a gang of Rooks that start at
scale 0 (1-2 people) and quality 0. For more
details, see Your Cult of Personality below.
SNAKE SPECIAL ABILITIES
BEGUILE
You can push yourself to make someone feel a nearly irresistible urge to please you and lower
their defenses both physically and emotionally.
When you push yourself to activate this ability, you still get one of the normal benefits of
pushing yourself (+1d, +1 effect, etc.) if you’re making a roll, in addition to the special ability.
While not true mind control, your charisma and force of personality can dominate others.

CROSS THE LINE

After making someone feel shame or perverse thrill, you get +1d next time you push them further
or exploit their vulnerabilities.

DENIAL
You get +1 effect when making others doubt the truth of their own experiences and memories, or
when accusing someone of flaws or insecurities you deny in yourself.

ENTRUSTED
You may expend your special armor to resist a consequence of distrust, disloyalty, or dissent, or
to push yourself when gaining someone’s trust or betraying it.

GANG STALK
Once per downtime, you may have a cohort dig up dirt on a target. They get +1d to either gather
information discreetly or reduce heat by intimidating the target into silence or submission.

GHOST DREAMS
Your astral self can trespass into dreams. Within this dreamscape, you may pry at sleepers’ private
thoughts and feelings and perhaps even implant subconscious commands, desires, or phobias.

PROFILE
You can profile someone as a 6-clock to gain deep insights into what makes them tick. When
exerting influence or control over someone you’ve profiled, take either +1d or +1 effect.
Profiling can be done discreetly as a long-term project, or you can quickly size someone up
but risk raising their suspicions. The actions you take to build a profile are up to you, but
your aim is to learn the target’s likes and dislikes, needs and wants, and hopes and fears.

SLEEPER AGENTS
You can send a cohort on a long-term project to infiltrate another faction’s ranks. Once infiltrated,
you get +1 effect when gathering information about the faction’s plans and inner workings.
The embedded cohort can’t be used outside their covert mission until they are extracted, but
you can have them commit sabotage. Consider the Tier of the target and their security and
wariness when setting the infiltration clock. A low-level street gang is easier to infiltrate than
the secretive Spirit Wardens. You risk retaliation if the conspiracy is discovered.
SNAKE ITEMS
‹ Followers: Through charisma and guile, you have gained devoted followers who serve you.
See Your Cult of Personality for how you can command and develop your following. How do
you attract and ensnare your devotees? Do you break them down to rebuild them in your image?
What fears and desires do you exploit to secure their loyalty? Cohort (Gang: Rooks)
‹ Fine social connections: You’re likely to know someone in any social circle, and your
reputation tends to precede you. Even those who dislike or distrust you know they spurn you
at their own peril. Your connections grant you access and privileges denied to others. [0 load]
‹ Intelligence dossiers: Files detailing potential threats­—including your allies—with particular
focus on their notable assets, potential weaknesses, blackmail material, and dirty secrets.
Through flashbacks, you can access intel you don’t have on you in the moment. [1 load]
‹ Seer stone: A semiprecious stone used for scrying. Believed to allow someone with the gift of
divination to interpret the will of the Gods and receive supernatural knowledge. The common
practice is to bury one’s face in a hat to block out light and peer into the stone to see visions. Are
you truly in connection with a higher power, or is this just a ruse? [0 load]
‹ Drugs: A small roll-up bag that holds a narcotic and its Black Lotus
paraphernalia (syringes, smoke pipes). When partaking of a Bloodneedle
drug, choose one from the list to the right (or one of your
Dream Smoke
custom-made formulas). See page 226 for descriptions of the
drugs’ effects. During downtime, you automatically restock Quicksilver
your drugs, so long as you have reasonable access to a supplier Spark
or workshop. [1 load] Trance Powder

A WORD OF WARNING ON PC VS. PC

This playbook was designed around how real-life human predators like cult leaders violate
boundaries and dominate others (see the appendix for more info). With such selfish creatures
as its basis, it meant many of its special abilities could be used on crewmates, and its xp trigger
encourages exploitation and betrayal. But be very careful before you turn on other players.
For the sake of social dynamics and group cohesion outside the game, talk with your fellow players
before manipulating, coercing, or backstabbing their PCs. Players rarely like having their agency
taken away, and the game runs smoothest when the crew is united in a common purpose.
Doskvol crews have no shortage of external targets and enemies. We recommend you reserve your
devious machinations for outsiders, and spare your crew unless you’re all in agreement the story
would be better served by treachery and infighting. Remember, unlike the inspiration for this
playbook, you must have everyone’s consent.
If you do enter into conflict with PCs, follow the PC vs. PC advice on page 41: 1) pause the game,
2) agree on the resolution method, and 3) abide by the results. We’re playing as scoundrels, but we
need to respect each other and care about making the game enjoyable for everyone.
YOUR CULT OF PERSONALITY
You start with a small but devoted following. They act as a cohort (Gang: Rooks) with scale 0
(1-2 people) and quality 0. They do not grow in scale with your crew’s Tier, but their quality does
improve. You can work on long-term projects to develop your following. If your following is
destroyed, you can rebuild it per the instructions on page 97, Cohort Harm & Healing.

CHOOSE YOUR SECOND-IN-COMMAND

Appoint a most trusted follower. Give them a name and a look. This is who you usually interact
with when issuing orders to your followers or receiving information they have gathered.

CULTIVATING YOUR FOLLOWERS

You may work on these long-term projects to develop your following. Projects marked with ∞
can be repeated for added benefits.

follower upgrades progress clocks

Your followers gain an edge or lose a flaw.
How do you reshape impressionable minds?
Edges: Fearsome—Independent—Loyal—Tenacious 0 ∞
Flaws: Principled—Savage—Unreliable—Wild

00 ∞
Your followers gain a new gang type.
Gang Types: Adepts—Rovers—Skulks—Thugs

00 ∞
Your followers become Elite in a gang type.
Elite Gang Types: Adepts—Rooks—Rovers—Skulks—Thugs

00 ∞
Your followers grow by +1 scale.
This project increases by an 8-clock each time the scale increases.

00 ∞
A follower with special talents is promoted to expert.
You spot the gifted and elevate them. How are they useful to you?

Your followers earn coin equal to their scale each downtime.

What labor do you exploit to turn a profit with your followers? 00
Your followers can perform an activity each downtime.
Acquire an asset, reduce heat, or work on a long-term project. 00
Your followers will gladly die for you. Their loyalty is absolute.
No order is too extreme, no whim too trivial. How do you wield them? 000
About Real-Life Cults and Human Predators
Learning About Cults Nonfiction books

My hope is that this playbook is fun to play,
but also that it serves as a lesson on how real
predators and their cults operate.​Every detail
is based on actual tactics: violating boundaries,
gaslighting, victim blaming, controlling with
shame and guilt, indoctrination, love bombing,
blackmail, stalking, spying, etc. To learn more,
see the recommended resources to the right.
♦ Freedom of Mind by Steve Hassan
♦ Opening Minds by Jon Atack
♦ Bounded Choice by Janja Lalich
♦ Feet of Clay by Anthony Storr
♦ The True Believer by Eric Hoffer
♦ When Prophecies Fail by Leon Festinger
Documentaries

For an example of how one man can exploit ♦ Going Clear

well-intentioned people to commit crimes on ♦ Wild Wild Country
his behalf, read the article “US taxpayers are ♦ Holy Hell
financing alleged cult through African aid ♦ Cults & Extreme Belief
charities” or listen to this podcast by Reveal.
Models & Frameworks
What is a Solipsist?
♦ Hassan’s BITE Model and
The working title for this playbook was the Influence Continuum
Solipsist. This was inspired by two sources: ♦ Lifton’s 8 Criteria for Thought Reform​
♦ Singer’s 6 Criteria for Thought Reform
The first was Robert Lifton describing Trump ♦ Lalich’s Bounded Choice Model
as living in a solipsistic reality. Solipsism is the
philosophy that nothing exists with certainty Podcasts
except the self, but the term has come to refer
to extreme egocentrism. To the solipsistic mind ♦ IndoctriNation
of an authoritarian, anything and anyone that ♦ Generation Cult
doesn’t serve them can be erased or destroyed. ♦ On Belief
They invert what’s true or false as it suits them ♦ Bikram
in the moment, unaffected by the shame of ♦ Heaven’s Gate
hypocrisy that a normal person would feel. ♦ End of Days
♦ Uncover: Escaping NXIVM
The second was Azar Nafisi’s memoir ♦ The Gateway
Reading Lolita in Tehrah. In her story of the ♦ You Must Remember Manson
subversive book club she ran under the nose ♦ Dear Franklin Jones
of an oppressive regime, she borrows the term ♦ Last Podcast on the Left on Mormonism
solipsizing from Lolita to equate that novel’s ♦ Behind the Bastards on L. Ron Hubbard,
abuser and the Iranian dictatorship, both of Keith Raniere, and Napoleon Hill
which violated and erased the identities of
those they claimed to protect. Nafisi calls the You may also be interested in the Power Threat
true story of Lolita one of “the confiscation of Meaning Framework, a mental health model
one individual’s life by another,” which sums which includes concepts of interpersonal and
up what I intended to show in this playbook. ideological power being held over a person.
Creator Credits & Licensing
This unofficial playbook for Blades in the Dark was written and designed by
Aesopian using a fan-made template.

Please leave feedback and ratings at mkudn.itch.io/snake-playbook.

Photo by Adrien King on Unsplash.

This work is based on Blades in the Dark, product of One Seven Design,
developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.