I finally ran a couple sessions for a two-person crew of Shadows, consisting of the creepy whisper Lanette “Doll” Dahlinger and the surly Lurk “Longshadow”. They were hired by the Red Sashes to sabotage the Lampblack’s most profitable brothel by placing a ghost beacon. The initial meeting with the Red Sashes went very well from Doll impressing Mylera with her knowledge of what the strange, metal pyramid covered in runes was (the beacon). Longshadow scouted the neighborhood surrounding the brothel, as well as the inside by paying for their services. Doll visited her contact Nyryx. While asking Nyryx for the favor of scouting the inside of the brothel to find the best placement for the beacon, two thugs tried to accost Nyryx. Doll intervened by channeling the ghost field and going from creepy to outright terrifying. The thugs turned and ran without so much as a word. Nyryx returns and informs Doll there’s a weakness in the Wall (our name for the barrier between the living world and the ghost field) in the NE corner of the main office.
That night, the two break in through the attic and move toward the office, bypassing a guard while he was chatting up one of the workers. They argue for a moment whether to risk entering the office (there was a person inside) or place the beacon in the SE corner of an adjacent storage room. Doll, wanting the best result possible, wins the debate and Longshadow grumbles as they prepare to enter the office. Doll slowly opens the door just as a Lampblack gets up from his desk. Longshadow quickly lets loose a blunt-tipped arrow, knocking the Lampblack out cold.
Doll gets to work on opening the ghost door as Longshadow peruses the ledger and steals the earnings (2 coin). The Wall tears, revealing the cause: the tell-tale signs of a murder in the corner of the room. Doll smiles as she places the beacon.
Longshadow decides to frame the unconscious Lampblack with theft and places some eels (1 of the 2 coin) in his pockets, then pours spirits on his face and shirt and drops the bottle next to him. He also steals his rather fine pistol. After a critical result on a Fortune roll to see if the ledger will support the lie (it does so very well), the frame job is set. Doll activates the beacon.
At this point, Doll’s player did a flashback where she asked Nyryx if there was another nearby ghost door to escape through. There is one close and it’s mildly safe to get to. The crew enters the ghost field and Doll shuts the door. The two saboteurs escape right through the doors and walk out with nobody the wiser.
They exit the ghost field in an alley but as an Attunement consequence, it’s past curfew (due to worker riots) and two Bluecoats see them exit the alleyway. Doll’s player decides to spend more loadout to support the excuse they’re hunting ghosts (which you do at night, of course). The officers don’t buy it, so Longshadow steps in and offers them a bribe (the 1 coin he stole) and things go well. The officer notices the pistol as well, so Longshadow says, “Here, take a look for as long as you want…” (the player said exactly that!). The Bluecoat gives a knowing nod at the sweetened deal and offers to escort them safely out of the district.
The crew returns to their lair (a basement vault in an abandoned bank, inaccessible from above due to the collapsed structure, with entry through a breached wall to the sewers), rests, then visits Mylera in the morning. She is more than pleased and makes sure they know the Red Sashes have more work, if interested. We ended after the post-score phase with the crew 4 coin richer and two ticks away from a crew advance. They cleared most of their stress and made solid headway on their playbooks.
It was a great time!
Wonderful! Did the players decide on the sabotage from the quickstart brief? Or roll for it on the score tables? Cool complications off failure too. Great AP Ben 🙂
Thanks! After reading some seriously great AP, I was actually kinda’ shy about posting it, so I appreciate the feedback.
As far as how the score was generated, the players chose “sabotage” as their favored job type, so I used a slightly modded version of the QS as a score they found. They did some (quite a bit, to be honest) digging on who wanted what done and decided to back the Red Sashes. I was surprised how long they debated which gang to support! They even wanted information on the Crows and how backing each gang might affect Lyssa’s hold. I was very happy with their investment and creativity.
As a shameless plug, Doll’s player is now my wife! We were married on the 12th and words can’t express how blessed I am. 🙂
Congrats on your Wedding Ben Liepis!
Great adaption of the quickstart sitch by the players too – I like that a lot.
In the next session, I suggest REALLY cutting short any planning the players start indulging in and encouraging the players to just choose a plan type and smash cut to the engagement roll. It is a real feature of the system and makes for excellent grist for flashback scenes that will then ‘fill in’ the groundwork and planning for the score.
Thanks you. I couldn’t help but mention it. My wife is my bliss, my muse and the best friend I’ve ever had. The world is a better place with her in it.
Oh, they didn’t dally on planning and engagement, it was digging for dirt on who they wanted to work for before even getting an offer, as well as learning the detail. The first bit made sense to me based on the characters being cautious new players on the scene, as well as the actual players learning the world. When it came to the score itself it was “You’re at the attic window…” and I since rolled a critical on the engagement roll, it became “You enter the attic and move easily to the door across from where the office is…”, as well as fewer guards.
The parts where they scoped things out pre-score were to provide the detail. Each had an idea and we went with them so they could practice with the rules and have individual opportunities to shine. It was really just one roll a piece with cool flavor from results.
Still, if that goes against the grain, please let me know! I want to learn how to run the game better. I would love any advice you have, especially where you might see potential bad habits and pitfalls in the future. Thanks again, Nathan!
Nah! That sounds right on! Keep us up to date with the APs, they are most enjoyable to read🙂
Thanks, bud. Do you post APs? If so, I’d be keen on reading them.