Blades in the Dark is John Harper’s fantastic TTRPG about street crews planning heists and and gaining prestige as they move up through the criminal underbelly of the isolated early industrial city of Doskval. It uses a heavily modified Apocalypse World chassis with lots of cool elements that have influenced a ton of games created since. It’s one of my favorite games of all time.

Blades ’68 is Tim Denee’s meaty 438-page expansion to that game, moving the time frame forward 100 years to Doskval’s swinging sixties (which mirrors our own sixties somewhat), an era of groovy music, cold war spy antics and sixties-ified tech. Its described as “hectic criminal escapades in a retro-futuristic dystopia” and it more than lives up to its premise. The layout reflects the cool sixties setting, with bold colors, fonts and Warhol-inspired art pieces, and the book contains a wealth of information for GMs and players.

Aside from beautifully expanded city maps, updated and expanded playbooks for characters (Hounds, Hulls, Intellectuals, Operatives, Paranormalists, Radicals, Swingers and Veterans) and crews (Dealers, Hit Squads, Militants, Racers, Shadows and Utopians); alternate rules (the “Trouble Engine” is a basic gameplay cycle and special procedures help with the flow of the game between missions, keys – character traits for advancement – and deadlocks – replacing trauma, etc.); lots of GM and player advice; huge numbers of tables to support GM decisions and planning; a bunch of “Cold Opens” to launch campaigns; loads of new factions and extensive lore and equipment updates. Needless to say this Blades’68 has everything you need for playing missions/heists in sixties Doskval. It’s hard for me to sum up how good this book is, but if you love Blades in the Dark, then this is a no brainer.

I supported the recent Blades’68 Kickstarter, but the book is now available through Evil Hat and on DrivethruRPG. Below is a preview video to give you a taste of the huge amount of content within.

NOTE: Blades’68 is not a standalone game – you will need Blades in the Dark to play it.