I’ve recently finished reading the book “three parts dead” by Max Gladstone. It’s a book about a junior associate at an international necromancy firm that is hired to resurrect a dead god. Long story short: it’s amazing. I’m doing a Blades hack inspired by it named – “Laws of the dark”.
Here’s some introduction for the books from the author’s website (http://www.maxgladstone.com/the-craft-sequence/):
“The God Wars ended, and we’re living with the world they left.
I write the Craft Sequence series of books and games, set in a postindustrial (and post-war) fantasyland, where black magic is big business, wizards wear pinstriped suits and conduct necromantic procedures on dead gods, and day-to-day commerce rests on people trading pieces of their souls for goods and services. The Craft Sequence books are legal thrillers about faith, or religious thrillers about law and finance. Plus there are hive-mind police forces, poet gargoyles, brainwashing golems, nightmare telegraphs, surprisingly pleasant demons, world shattering magic, environmental devastation, and that deepest and darkest evil: student loans.
So, they’re pretty much like real life!”
The characters would work at a small wizard firm: find customers, win lawsuits, uncover and plot conspiracies, consort with dead gods, weave starlight and flay their enemies to prove legal points. You can expect to play necromancers, priests, accountants, shape shifting abominations, detectives and demons in pursuit of power and truth.
The basic action list I have right now is built from three attributes: Logos (reason and knowledge), Pathos (emotion and prowess) and Ethos (social standing and skill).
Ethos:
Bond with other socially and casually
Bind powers, beings and legal documents and agreements
Bluff others with lies, truths and everything in between
Blend unnoticed in the crowed or the envierment
Pathos:
Convince others with passion and rhetoric
Command cohorts in action, or fear in enemies and bystanders
Clash with enemies in battle
Commune with godly or otherworldly powers with conviction
Logos:
Deduct the truth from documents, persons or the envierment
Debate legal and magical matters with reason and logic
Device magical or physical constructs to do your bidding
Dissect the living or the dead with precision and skill to kill, hurt, learn or heal
so… what do you think?
I am a fan. Although Twin Serpents Rise was probably the best in the sequence by a long shot.
I’d go with ‘Deduce’ and ‘Devise’ in the last set – and question what the attributes are used for.
Overall it seems interesting though.
thanks Stras Acimovic. after some thought, that my revised action and attribute list (some playbooks are the next step):
Ethos: is used to resist social and magical consequences with your reputation and resolve.
Bond with other socially and casually
Bind powers, beings and legal agreements
Broadcast to the masses through speeches, announcements and the written word
Blend unnoticed in the crowd or the environment
Pathos: is used to resist physical and emotional consequences with faith, passion and prowess.
Convince others with passion and rhetoric
Command cohorts in action, or fear in enemies and bystanders
Clash with enemies in battle
Commune with godly or ungodly powers with conviction
Logos: is used to resist consequences from misdirection, bureaucracy and bullshit with logic and insight.
Deduce the truth from documents, persons or the environment
Debate legal and magical matters using reason
Devise magical or physical solutions with the Craft or technical knowledge
Damage structures, persons and spellcraft with precision and skill