I promised to run Hives of Scum and Villainy for a small con coming up at the end of this month.

I promised to run Hives of Scum and Villainy for a small con coming up at the end of this month.

I promised to run Hives of Scum and Villainy for a small con coming up at the end of this month. So as a stopgap, here’s what I have made, until the official-unofficial version comes out.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m522offapzlgmxe/AABYz-qvfRyYgE_GsaAYpHCEa?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m522offapzlgmxe/AABYz-qvfRyYgE_GsaAYpHCEa?dl=0

Whilst searching for ‘backdrops’ as a means to pimp the con playtest kit I bring along, I stumbled across Mister…

Whilst searching for ‘backdrops’ as a means to pimp the con playtest kit I bring along, I stumbled across Mister…

Whilst searching for ‘backdrops’ as a means to pimp the con playtest kit I bring along, I stumbled across Mister Mourao. This guy’s stuff is so amazingly ‘out there’ but applicable for Blades.

The crazy framing and Escher-esque design elements give a strange zoomed in effect, that dare you to dive right in. Like choosing what sort of heist the next score will be and then rolling engagement and going for it!

The possibilities for washes and colour are obvious, and I plan to print a few off and just have them lying on the table with some colour pencils for folks to doodle with whilst playing – if not to choose as a scene framing tool or narrative positioning as we ‘make maps like crazy’.

I Love this stuff, hope its of help to someone.

http://blog.mistermourao.com/tagged/daily-drawing

Gosh.

Gosh.

Gosh. It’s kind of hard to make a playlist for Blades. It’s really easy to make one that does dark, criminally stuff well. Furnace Room Lullaby is all about that shit. It’s harder to find music that “paints with a haunted brush” and “surrounds the listener in industrial sprawl”.

If any of you have found any good songs, throw them at me. I’ve had a little bit of luck recently with delving into witch house music. Best artist I’ve found so far is “Bruxa”.

Obviously this isn’t how the ghost lines work (right?) but it’s still terrific!

Obviously this isn’t how the ghost lines work (right?) but it’s still terrific!

Obviously this isn’t how the ghost lines work (right?) but it’s still terrific! Maybe there are lines running at the bottom of some of the canals and this is an exclusive means of travel on top of barges/gondolas?

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/04/05/daddy-long-legs-brighton-%D0%B0-unique-unusual-railway-existed-1896-1901-2/

All right, I’m gonna try to post an “actual play” post.

All right, I’m gonna try to post an “actual play” post.

All right, I’m gonna try to post an “actual play” post. 

The Crew: The Coffin Street Killers (Breakers)

HQ: Abandoned mortuary and coffin shop in The Drop.

Members In Good Standing: 

Timothy “Tiny” Happ, an enormous Skovlander, addicted to the dice and hurting people, not necessarily in that order. A Cutter.

Punchinello, a grim and silent Akorosi, with a weakness for the bottle. A Lurk.

Menti, Iruvian Swordsman, formerly of the Red Sashes. Hates cats. A Cutter.

Jenner, Skovlander safecracker. Obsessively collects masks, wearing a different one each score. A Leech. 

All right, so first off, Breakers can be really hard to GM for, because all their scores tend to go downhill really fast. These are not stable people. Two Cutters is a lot of violence. Also, I just have to thank the wonderful person in this community who who suggested that a cohort could be a pack of fighting dogs. Thanks a bunch. They decided to take them in addition to the thugs they got for free, so manpower was not an issue. I should have known something was wrong when the first discussion they had was “Who do we go to war with first?”. 

They decided that the Fog Hounds looked a little too big for their britches, so they decided to try and make their bones by seizing one of their gambling operations, a dice game run by Rufus Spogg. They raided the place, but do to bad placement and communication, they attacked at the worst time, namely, when an entire squad of Bluecoats raided the game, intent on gaining the profits of the illicit operations. The two sides clashed amidst the startled gamblers, and culminated in the murder of a Bluecoat Watch officer named Tom Shandy by Tiny Tim, who chopped off one of his arms. There was a hilarious tug of war over the cash box, and money spilled everywhere, adding to the chaos. The crew made a break for it, with the dogs scattering to the back alleys, having been weakened by last ditch gunfire from the Fog Hound guards. They regrouped at the coffin shop, licking their wounds (love the recovery rules, by the way).

Downtime

Everyone tried to recover, taking advantage of their physicker friend, Mr. Scissors (don’t ask). Tiny Tim gathered information using Wreck (“Tell me or the vase gets it!) trying to find info on Fog hound activities in the surrounding area. Punchinello tried to reduce heat by talking with his Bluecoat contact, arranging to pay the widow of the officer blood money, somewhat easing pressure from the law. Menti indulged his vice, visiting his favorite cigar shop. Jenner started a long term project to create poison bombs for the next stage of their war. 

Good session, a lot of fun, these guys are not sneaky or subtle at all, compared to the other group I have played with. 

Best Line of the Night: “Hey, Don’t be afraid to be the first to resort to violence”.

So I’ve been replaying through the Knife of Dunwall.

So I’ve been replaying through the Knife of Dunwall.

So I’ve been replaying through the Knife of Dunwall… The meatjack mission has given me much food for thought (pun intended with aplomb!).

The whole leviathan ‘processing’ subplot of the game is so ripe for scoundrel fiction. I’m definitely including the meatjacks as a faction in our game.

What with John Harper’s new building profile art, and me re-playing Dishonoured and Stuart Robertson posting awesome…

What with John Harper’s new building profile art, and me re-playing Dishonoured and Stuart Robertson posting awesome…

What with John Harper’s new building profile art, and me re-playing Dishonoured and Stuart Robertson posting awesome stuff about paper mini ‘Theatre’… https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-eKCNNk8TgnE/Vv3BBHL1INI/AAAAAAAABHs/Luoxt5PjVCsCFz8QSLzLnZ7Q9R04sOavw/w812-h834-no/c7f929b8-877a-42e7-b8a8-f58064bced41

I was inspired to try and combine these ideas. So something along the lines of these thugs, turned into paper minis and then using John’s Backdrops to ‘set the scene’ for a score. It may also help in a fictional positioning sense.

Anyways, just ideas. I’ll try and mock something up for Ettin Con.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dishonoredvideogame/images/0/0c/2_concept_art_thugs.png/revision/latest?cb=20140406200454

So, we tried out a session with v6 and overall we had a blast.

So, we tried out a session with v6 and overall we had a blast.

So, we tried out a session with v6 and overall we had a blast. The expected snags of everyone getting used to something new, but a success I would say.

The one bit I, as GM, struggled with is dtermining effect. I read the examples and think, “That makes sense”. However, for some frustrating reason when we played it didn’t click as well as I thought it would and I kept having to re-read those pages. I felt like an idiot!

Is there any advice somebody can give me? I see the genuis with it but for some reason adjudicating effect is eluding me.

Oh, John, one other bit: on the Lurk playbook it lists “Darksight mask” but in the equipment section it’s “Darksight goggles”. It’s beyond minor, but I figured you’d want to know.