So out of curiosity, has any of your crews sided with the Red Sashes in the starting situation? From what I’ve read here, it seems everyone has sided with the Lampblacks, as did my crew when I introduced them to situation tonight
So out of curiosity, has any of your crews sided with the Red Sashes in the starting situation?
So out of curiosity, has any of your crews sided with the Red Sashes in the starting situation?
My group did their best to play both sides against each other, but eventually they killed Baszo, and the Sashes took themselves out of the equation by going home to Iruvia, and Mylera remains friendly toward them.
Our crew leader was Iruvian with ties to the Red Sashes so originally they were on their side, but after a strange meeting (purely business you understand) and a hasty Devil’s Bargain she fell in love with Bazso Baz soooo it’s looking like we’re siding with the Lampblacks now!
The Darlings did. The Sashes told us a where a Lampblack shipment of Spark was and we snatched it up!
I had 1 table choose to side with Baszo. 3 sided with Lyssa & the Crows, either double-crossing Baszo at the initial meeting – or hunting him down and murdering him. My most recent group didn’t really use the starting situation at all – I cooked one up based on their backgrounds, crew type, and what they showed interest in.
So I would tend to agree.. but I think it has a lot to do with how the GM presents the starting situation too
Way back when I started, I think it was timidity with a new system and setting and method of playing (our first hangouts game, first time with BitD) and nobody really entertained the “we’re really here to kill Baszo!” option.
They didn’t side with him, but they decided to go ahead and hit the Red Sashes first. They didn’t have any love for either gang.
I’ve always like the Red Sashes more. I have a fascination with the occult side of Blades, so Demon-ruled duelists with weird drugs trumps coal-house Luddites, no matter how cool Baszo is.
My crew The Extinguishers killed Bazso with poisoned whiskey in the first session and have consistently beaten down what remained of the Lampblacks since. We’ve started turning the Crows and Sashes against one another with a slight tilt toward the Sashes, despite my disgraced duelist’s reputation. We aren’t much of a “territory” crew, though. More of a “Chaos is good for information sellers” sort of crew.
My crew pretty much immediately betrayed Baszo to the Red Sashes and are currently sitting at “best friends” status with them.
They didn’t appreciate the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” stance.
My crew attacked the Lamp Blacks, then made a faux alliance with Red Sashes to only use them as a diversion to draw out more Lamp Blacks.
The Nighthawks (a crew of Shadows) is working on dismantling the Fog Hounds and Lampblacks. The have favorable relations with the Red Sashes.
I’m going out on a limb in thinking John has a soft spot for the whiskey-loving Baszo, which may contribute to Lampblack love. 🙂
It’s not a very long limb Ben Liepis 🙂
In the game that I play in we took some turf off the Red Sashes before ultimately backing the Crows who have reinforced the peace… our focus has shifted tword the docks.
In the game I ran, the players double crossed Baszo and the Lamp Blacks and allied with the Red Sashes
Sean Nittner , I think John would come to my house and slap me if he heard my Baszo. lol
When I ran it, the players sided with the Lampblacks and then got pushed into an ultimatum with the Red Sashes to work for them and backstab the Lampblacks which they decided to do. In the end they were just pretending to be double agents for both sides while really double crossing both of them.
Everyone knows that John has a list of everyone who admits to fucking with Baszo, right?
Part of the tendency to side with The Lamp Blacks probably comes down to player expectations. That initial scene frame with Baszo screams quest giver to me. If players are used to hunting for the GM’s story it can be second nature to take Baszo’s side. The GM offered us a job – of course we should take it.
It works. It gets the Crew involved in planning a score right away and sets things off on the right note. That’s what makes the question such a lovely subversion of tropes. Even if the players are not quite ready to make those sorts of decisions yet it places the possibility in their minds. They can totally do that.
Tone probably matters a lot here. If you ask “Are you operating on good faith here or are you here to kill him?” the players are probably going to at least initially throw their lot in with The Lamp Blacks. If you’re all like “*So*, are you guys totally here to kill him? Will you at least hear him out?” there’s going to be a completely different sort of thought process going on. I imagine you have to really load the question to combat PC DNA. Obviously it still depends on the players.
My group sided with the Black Sashes. Then, almost immediately, framed them for a couple of jobs, and made it look like the Red Sashes set up the frame.
Now the Lampblacks and Red Sashes are doing their best to annihilate each other. My groups response is to carve out a patch on the fringes, promising protection against collateral damage from the war.
You know, a real crew would stomp the Red Sashes, Crows and Lampblacks to dust and take Crows Foot. Just sayin’. 😉
My current (and slow) play-by-post game group seemed to take an immediate dislike to ol’ Bazzer for some reason, but didn’t feel like trying to shiv the man in his own HQ in front of his own people. That they also started with -2 Status with the Lampblacks might have had something to do with this. Or maybe they just really hate Bob Hoskins, whose likeness I used to stand in for the the Baz.
I don’t know if they’re going to finally side with the Sashes, or maybe the Crows, but they sure don’t wanna play nice with the Lampblacks for some reason.