Capes In The Dark

Capes in the Dark is a game about super-powers and the effect they have on a community of people. In this game, you’ll play as a team of “capes” (people with super powers) trying to navigate the ever-shifting network of alliances and expectations that tie together your friends, families, comrades, and enemies. You’ll make dangerous bargains and get out by the skin of your teeth, fight for what you believe and get hurt in the process, bond with your teammates and compete with insidious rivals, and see heroes become villains and villains become heroes.

The Game

This is a Forged in the Dark game that takes inspiration from the likes of Beam Saber, Fall of the Red Planet, and obviously Blades in the Dark. The game presently features 7 cape playbooks and 5 team playbooks, each of which describes a different attitude toward your own team and the greater cape scene in the city you're playing in, each with bespoke Google Sheets to keep track of all the information you need for a game.

In Capes in the Dark, the players will go out on missions to accomplish their goals, changing the city around them. But, you aren't the only team of capes trying to change the city (for better or worse).

The Players

In Capes in the Dark, players characters don't play  "heroes" or "villains". Instead, as the players act, the population of the city and the other capes in your community decide that of you and your team. At its heart, this game wants to put players in a position where they have to choose between being seen as heroes, and actually doing the right thing.

• Cape Playbooks
  
  • The Loose Cannon: A cape whose recklessness is both their greatest strength and biggest weakness. 
  • The Rookie: A cape trying to prove themselves while learning to balance their cape and unmasked life. 
  • The Specialist: A cape with a talent that permeates their life as much as their powers.
  • The Symbol: A cape with an eye for leadership who embodies the best and worst of the team. 
  • The Turncoat: A cape who has left behind a painful past, whether that be with another team or in their personal life. 
  • The Veteran: A cape with a long history on the job and deep roots in the community. 
  • The Visionary: A cape whose work is driven by philosophy, zeal, and a drive for change.

Additionally, the game includes a playable Faction Game to make the setting you're playing in feel dynamic and reactive to the events of the game. Each of the non-player teams makes a move from a set list during downtime which can be played out as a scene in narrative, advancing that team's long term goal. The Faction Game has varying degrees of complexity, allowing groups to add more to the Faction Game if they want.

Early Access

This game is still in the playtesting and development phase. Though the game is already in a finished and playable state, there is more work to be done. Over the next little bit, you should expect to be able to see more GM resources and rules / guidelines for creating factions, NPCs, and settings.

Credit to Yuri Runnel for the awesome cover art!

Curious to see the game in action?

For the 2023 Roll + Bond live stream Anna ran Capes in the Dark to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians! To see the game in action, check out the VOD on YouTube.