Blackwood Docs

The first few minutes

New operators start in Ashfall. HQ gives you a small Get Established list. Follow it. It is there to walk you through the basic loop without throwing the whole game at you.

1. Do a Job.
2. Put some cash in the Vault.
3. Boost a ride.
4. Leave Ashfall for the first time.
5. Make your first rank.

Each line pays a small reward. Once the whole list is done, it gets out of the way.

The basic loop

Most of Blackwood comes back to the same idea: do work, earn cash and XP, improve your gear, move around the city and open harder work as your file climbs.

You do not need to understand Factions, Hunt, Raids and the Market on day one. A Job, a safe bit of cash in the Vault and a car in the garage is enough to get moving.

Pocket cash matters

Money shown in the top bar is cash you are carrying. Hunt can take it. The Vault cannot. If you are sitting on more cash than you want to lose, stash some.

Phone

The top bar is the quick version of your operator file. It shows your district, callsign, HP, street cash and Immunity when you use it.

The bottom bar keeps the things you will use most: HQ, Jobs, Hunt, Vaultand More. More opens the rest of the game.

Tap the HP/Status area to open the fuller operator readout. A gold mail mark means you have unread Messages.

Desktop

The full menu sits on the left. On wider screens your operator file sits on the right, so you can see rank, health, money, district and other useful bits without leaving the page.

What the menu groups mean

• Command: HQ, Districts and Assignments when one is waiting.
• Street: Jobs, Boosts, Raid and Hunt.
• Holdings: Garage, Vault, Armory, Stash and Market when those pages are open.
• Faction: your faction page and supply-run business.
• Ward: Clinic and Quarantine.
• Network: Forums, Messages and Operators.
• Information: Change log, FAQ, Docs and Discord.

How rank works

Successful work pays XP. When you reach the next mark, your rank changes automatically. Protocol sends you a Message and any rank reward lands at the same time.

Rank can open different Jobs, vehicles, Armory gear and access to parts of the city. Blackwood deliberately hides work that is above your current rank, so the Jobs board can change after a promotion.

The rank ladder

1. Civilian
2. Evacuee
3. Recruit
4. Runner
5. Scavenger
6. Courier
7. Watcher
8. Operator
9. Handler
10. Specialist
11. Custodian
12. Overseer
13. Asset
14. Controller
15. Ghost

The four districts

• Ashfall District: burned homes, alleys, wrecks and the place every new operator starts.
• Gravesend Ward: hospital ground, tunnels, medical stores and old records.
• Ironhaven: docks, yards, freight and the player Market.
• Northwood Exclusion Zone: forest, checkpoints, labs and some of the roughest work in the city.

Travel

Open Districts and pick somewhere else. Every other district is one trip away. You do not have to crawl across the map one square at a time.

Walking is the cheap slow option. The service line and hired transport trade more cash for less time. If you have a suitable ride on the street, you can drive for free.

Driving can go wrong. You can stay where you are, get hurt, add Heat and wear the ride down. While travelling, street work stays locked until you arrive.

Entry gates

Some districts may want a certain rank or an access item. The district card tells you what is missing. If an access item is needed, keep it in Stash. Entering does not use it up.

The three readings

Every district has three shared 0–100 readings. Threat is patrol pressure and attention. Supply is useful stock moving through the area. Contamination is G-strain pressure.

Threat can creep upward, Supply can fall and Contamination can rise while the city is left alone. Successful work can move them back the other way. These are district readings, not personal stats.

Named condition

The three readings are folded into one quick district condition. The default names are Holding, Strained, Lockdown, Starved, Breach and Collapse. The condition is there to tell you what kind of trouble is winning without making you read three numbers every time.

Jobs and Boost vehicles can have condition windows. A shortage Job may only appear when Supply is low. Outbreak work can appear when Contamination rises. Rare hardware can enter the Boost pool when Threat or Contamination is high enough.

Why the readings matter

• Threat: can change available work and, when its street bite is enabled, make failed runs harsher.
• Supply: can change which Jobs or vehicles are available and can raise or lower item-find odds.
• Contamination: can unlock outbreak work and can add extra failed-run pressure when that rule is enabled.

Successful Jobs, Boosts, Protocol Contracts, Street Raids and faction Supply Runs can all change the district. Travel can help a community response when its current stage asks for movement.

Community response

A bad district can open a shared community campaign. The card shows the current stage, the shared point target, time left, which actions count, your contribution and your faction contribution.

The whole server works on the same stage. One operator might run Jobs, another moves through the district, a Street Raid team clears a route and a faction lands a Supply Run. If the stage accepts those actions, they all push the same bar.

Clear every stage before the clock closes and the campaign applies its success changes to the district for everyone. Miss it and the configured failure changes land instead.

Rewards and credit

Campaigns can set a minimum contribution needed for the completion reward. You do not have to be first on the board. Meet the threshold and, on success, the configured cash and XP are paid to you. Protocol sends an outcome packet when the response closes.

Operator and faction totals are tracked separately, so factions can see what they added without turning the event into winner-takes-all.

Jobs

Jobs only shows work you can actually do at your current rank and location. A Job card tells you the payout, XP, odds, risk and what it needs.

Failing can cost HP or put you in a Protocol van. Some Jobs need a certain vehicle already on the street. Some only appear inside a particular Threat, Supply or Contamination window. Item finds can also improve or worsen with the district's Supply reading.

Immunity mode

New operators start on Immunity. Jobs and vehicle boosts spend the Immunity number in your HUD. It fills back while you wait, even if you close the game.

If you do not have enough Immunity for the next action, the button waits until enough has grown back.

Cooldown mode

If you prefer the older PBBG style, open your own operator file and change Street pace to Cooldowns. Jobs and boosts then use their own timers instead.

This choice only changes Jobs and vehicle boosts. Travel, chopping, Hunt, Raids, Clinic and Quarantine use their normal waits either way.

Random Boosts

Boosts is an old-school random pull. You do not choose the exact car. Your district, rank and the current District Condition decide which vehicle templates are eligible, then their street weights decide what you actually hit.

Rarity runs from Common through Uncommon, Rare and Scarce to Black File. Vehicle Intel can weight the district toward rarer metal for a while, but it never guarantees a particular ride.

Your Garage

A successful lift lands in Garage as an individual ride with its own Heat and Condition. Your garage has a capacity. You can buy permanent extra bays up to the configured limit.

If the garage is full, make room, buy another bay or use the Boost option that chops a successful lift on sight instead of storing it.

Street, Bay, Heat and Condition

Press Street to equip one ride. Press Bay to put it away. Only the ride on the street gives its driving and special effects.

Heat runs from 0 to 100. Jobs, driving, Hunt and an owned wheelman ride in a Street Raid can add Heat. A stowed ride cools over real time, and Clean plates removes a chunk for cash. At 100 Heat, Protocol seizes the ride.

Condition also runs from 0 to 100. Street use wears a ride down, bad runs hurt it harder and poor Condition cuts driving odds. Repair restores it in the Garage. At 0, the ride is wrecked.

Why rare rides matter

Vehicles are not just different chop prices. An equipped ride can alter district-hop time and odds, Job cash, Hunt evasion, Hunt search time, Clinic early-out cost or how quickly the ride gains Heat. The Garage card tells you exactly what that vehicle does.

Street cash

Street cash is the money you are carrying. You spend it on travel, gear, Market buys, searches and other paid actions. It is also the money another operator can take through Hunt.

Vault

Vault is your safe money. Hunt cannot touch it. Depositing takes a small fee. Withdrawals do not.

Money left in the Vault can earn interest over time. The page shows when the next interest tick is due.

When the Vault is locked

Clinic, Quarantine and Travel stop deposits and withdrawals. Your balance is still there. You just cannot move it until the lock clears.

Armory

Armory sells the gear Protocol currently allows you to buy. Rank can lock stronger kit.

• Weapons: you carry one. Buying another replaces what you are carrying.
• Vests: you wear one. They reduce damage.
• Herbs: bought and used immediately to restore HP.
• Shots: bought and used immediately to restore Immunity.

Ammunition is not sold from the normal Armory rack.

Stash

Stash is your item locker. Finds from Jobs, Raids, Contracts and other work can land here. You can equip stored weapons and vests, use Herbs or Shots, keep ammunition, or hold access items and other pieces.

Parking an equipped weapon or vest puts it back in the locker. Dropping an item from Stash destroys it, so check the quantity before you confirm.

Stash can be switched off while a build is being tested. If the page is not available, your items have not magically vanished.

Ammo and access items

Guns used in Operator Hunt can need ammunition from Stash. Melee weapons and fists do not. The Hunt page tells you what your current weapon uses.

Access items are keys or passes for content that needs them. A district entry pass only needs to be in Stash. It is not consumed by travelling through the gate.

Why they appear

Assignments only appears in the menu when you have a file waiting. That is why the menu item can come and go.

Assignments can be tied to rank, district, time, Threat or other parts of the game. They may ask for Jobs, travel, finds, vehicles, Contracts, item turn-ins or a mixture.

Accepting and finishing

Some files begin immediately. Others need you to press Accept Assignment. If a file has a timer that starts when you accept it, the page tells you before you press the button.

Progress updates as you do the listed work. Item objectives can show a Turn in button when you have what the file wants.

Finish the required objectives and the reward is paid when the file closes. If a timed file lapses, you can dismiss it from the page.

Joining or founding

Open Faction. You can apply to an existing faction, accept an invite, or pay the founding cost to create your own. You can only belong to one faction.

Roles

• Leader: controls the faction, roles, vault withdrawals and Supply Runs.
• Lieutenant: can recruit, withdraw from the faction vault and start Supply Runs.
• Recruiter: handles invites and applications.
• Member: sees the roster, can add cash to the faction vault and joins the faction's shared results.

Faction vault

Any member can put street cash into the faction vault. Only the Leader and Lieutenant can take cash back out.

This is not your personal Vault. They are two separate piles of money.

Supply Runs

Supply Runs are faction jobs. The Leader or a Lieutenant starts one and the live roster is included. Members do not need to press Ready or stand in the same district.

A successful run pays XP to the people involved and puts the cash into the faction vault, not everybody's pockets. It can also drop items.

If a district community response is open and its current stage accepts Supply Runs, the commander also adds that run's configured campaign points. Those points count toward the faction total too.

If it fails, the wait still counts. Only one faction run can be sitting at a time.

Leaving

Ordinary members can walk out. That can trigger a parting Hunt, so HP and street cash may be at risk. Your personal Vault is safe. A Leader can hand over control or disband the faction instead.

Forming a raid

Open Raid and choose a job in your current district. The leader picks two to four seats and chooses how the payout will be split.

Seats include Wheelman, Shooter, Lookout and Breach. Wheelman and Shooter can use their own car or weapon where the run allows it, or pay for a hired kit. Other seats use the run's hired kit.

Starting

Fill every seat. Everyone presses Ready. Then the leader can start the raid. Everybody needs to be in the district and clear of Clinic, Quarantine and Travel locks.

After the raid

The run pays its split, gives XP and can drop an item. Results also land as a Message packet. If the district's current community-response stage accepts Street Raids, every seated operator contributes campaign points to the same shared target. Raids have their own wait before you can stage or join another.

Operator Hunt

Hunt against another operator is optional player-versus-player combat. Both operators have to be opted in. You can change your Hunt choice on your own profile, but after changing it you wait 24 hours before changing it again.

Pick a callsign and pay for a search. Cheap searches are slower and less reliable. Dearer searches are quicker and more likely to find the target.

A successful search gives you the district the operator was in and a limited time to act. Travel there. The target must still be on the street in that district. Clinic, Quarantine, Travel or moving somewhere else can kill the ping.

Striking

A located target does not hand you their HP, weapon or vest. You have to decide whether the strike is worth it.

Guns can spend ammunition from Stash. You choose how many rounds to commit. Fists and melee weapons skip ammunition.

A wound can steal some pocket cash. A killing strike takes the remaining pocket cash. The target's personal Vault is never part of the take.

The early Hunt seal

Through Recruit, new files have a Hunt seal. A strike that would normally close the operator sends them to Clinic instead. You can drop that seal from your profile, but you cannot put it back.

Protocol Contracts

Protocol Contracts are not other players. After enough successful street work from Recruit onwards, Protocol can decide to send one to you. It is a chance, not a guaranteed reward after a fixed number of clicks.

Search for the contract, travel to the ping and strike. Contracts do not use your ammunition. A win pays cash and XP and can drop an item. A miss can hurt or send you to Clinic/Quarantine, but it cannot kill your operator.

Contracts can stay live even while Operator Hunt is switched off.

Clinic

Bad damage from Jobs, thefts, Raids, Contracts or Hunt can put you in Clinic. The timer is your drip. When it finishes, you leave with your health restored.

If the Clinic offers a buy-out, you can pay to walk early. While admitted, street work, travel, Vault and Armory actions stay locked. Forums and Messages still work.

Quarantine

Some failed work can bring a Protocol van. That puts you in Quarantine for a random stretch.

Another operator standing in the same district can try a break-out. Every failed attempt on that same lock improves the next chance. If the rescuer fails, they can end up in Quarantine too.

The number beside Quarantine in the menu is other operators in Quarantine in your current district.

What locks stop

Buying

When the Market is open, listings show the item, quantity, seller when that is visible, price and how long is left.

Purchases use street cash. There may be a buyer fee on top of the listed price, and the page shows the total before you buy.

Selling

List an item from Stash, choose the price and how long to list it. A listing fee is paid up front from street cash.

The item leaves your Stash while listed. It comes back if you pull the listing or the timer expires. If it sells, you receive the listed price. The Market page tells you whether the listing fee is refunded when a listing expires or you take it down early. Expired listings also send you a Message.

Ammunition can be listed in quantities rather than one round at a time.

Forums

Forums are the public boards. Factions can also have their own boards. Clinic, Quarantine and Travel do not stop you talking.

A mute does. If your file is muted, you cannot post, send private Messages or change your file mark until the mute clears.

Messages

Messages is private mail between operators. Protocol also uses it for rank packets, Contract notices, Raid results, Supply Runs and other game events.

Unread mail shows as a number or gold mark until you open Messages. You can block another operator from their file or from Messages.

Operator files

Operators lists live files and a separate Closed list. Open a file to see what that operator has chosen to show.

Your own file lets you set a face, banner and mark, hide parts of the file from visitors, choose Street Pace and manage your Operator Hunt choice.

Other operators never get a free readout of everything you carry. Some information is hidden by the game and the owner can hide more.

When a file closes

Normal Job, theft, Raid and Protocol Contract damage does not permanently close your operator. Those failures can hurt you or send you to Clinic.

Operator Hunt is different. Once the early Hunt seal is gone, a strike that drops you to zero HP can close that operator file.

What stays

A closed callsign stays in the Operators directory under Closed. Your account, mailbox and Network history remain. You can start a new operator from the closed-file screen.

The new operator is a fresh game file. Do not treat your old Vault, garage or gear as an inheritance.