Dice Exploder

Secondary Missions (Band of Blades) with Thomas Manuel

Oct 12, 2023

Thomas Manuel, co-host of Yes Indie'd podcast and contributor to Indie RPG Newsletter, joins the podcast to discuss Secondary Missions in Band of Blades, a grim military fantasy game. They explore how this mechanic supports the genre and themes, presents tough choices, and stands out in comparison to other games. The conversation also touches on the challenging decision-making process, hard choices and the cost of war, the brutality of the game, and the cultural fantasy of glorifying war.

34:09

Creator website

Episode guests

Thomas Manuel

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The secondary mission mechanic in Band of Blades adds depth and strategy to the narrative, requiring players to make difficult resource-based decisions and prioritize between primary and secondary missions.

The integration and balance of the secondary mission mechanic in Band of Blades contribute to an immersive war story, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and tactical decision-making while generating powerful and emotional storytelling moments.

Deep dives

Secondary missions in Band of Blades

Secondary missions in Band of Blades have a significant impact on the gameplay and storytelling. While players are focused on the primary mission, a whole other squad is sent on a secondary mission with the outcome determined by a single dice roll. The results often lead to tough choices and difficult consequences, adding to the overall dark and gritty atmosphere of the game. The secondary missions also highlight the theme of war and the cost of human life, forcing players to make challenging decisions and explore the repercussions of their choices.

Introduction

4min

The Concept of Secondary Missions

10min

The Challenging Decision-Making Process in the Game

2min

Exploring Hard Choices and the Cost of War in Band of Blades

4min

The Brutality of Band of Blades

10min

Exploring Cultural Fantasy and Discussing Mechanics in Band of Blades

4min

Transcript

Thomas Manuel of the Indie RPG Newsletter and the Yes Indie’d podcast joins me to talk about Secondary Missions, a mechanic from Band of Blades by Off Guard Games.

In Band of Blades, a grim military fantasy forged in the dark game, you and your party go off and do missions. Meanwhile, there’s a whole other squad out there doing a whole other mission! What’s up with them? This mechanic tells us. It’s such a change in the mouthfeel of Band of Blades compare to other forged in the dark games.

We get into how it supports the genre and themes of the game, all the tough choices it puts in front of players, and how mechanics like this one that couldn’t exist in any other game are often our favorites.

It’s a classic Dice Exploder deep dive this week. Enjoy.

Further reading:

* Blades in the Dark

* Malazan Book of the Fallen

* Band of Brothers

* Darkest Dungeon

* The Watch

* Dream Askew // Dream Apart

Socials:

Thomas on itch and Twitter.

Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.

Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.