So, the first session with Blades in the Dark was played …. and my players (and they themselves) surprised me! We did not start with the choice of characters, we chose the crew first. After much discussion, they have opted for the Hawkers. Okay, we thought of gambling and brothels at the beginning, but then one of the players read the Special Ability “Ghost Market” and they decided to go with it. An absolute game changer in my opinion ^^
So now the “problem”. The Ability states that the crew has found a way to develop and sell a “product” for ghosts and demons. At the end of the session, the characters had developed and built a machine that absorbs the essence of life from fresh corpses and processes them into a liquid. That spirits and demons have an interest in something like that is out of the question for us.
Now my two questions:
1. The Ability leaves open how this new clientele pays. The first idea of me and my players was that consumers pay with services, meaning information and services (perhaps similar to summoned spirits at Shadowrun). That this does not always bring positive effects is already provided by the game mechanics and philosophy. Do you see any other ways to pay for this liquid? What do I overlook?
Another option that I would find fitting would be to create a Progress Clock which fills up every time the product is sold. As soon as this clock is filled – the spirits / demons in Duskwall have neatly “fueled” – something happens for the setting eminent. I do not have a real idea of it yet.
2. How would you handle the production and sale of the liquid from the game mechanic? We imagined that we would handle this process as a downtime activity. In general, we would like to handle this rather roughly, so we do not want to worry about things like the amount of liquid produced, etc.
The current prototype of the machine was designed quite crude, which is why a litter on this activity in principle assumes a risky / desperate position. If the machine is improved later, that could of course develop in favor of the characters. We have not talked about the effect level yet because there was no room for it and we are not very familiar with the system yet.
What ideas would you have to implement?
This question is relevant to our campaign as well.
Could the ghosts and/or demons pay in favors? Think about it in terms of a single use magic item – set up a progress clock as a long term project to brew enough of the ghost punch to trade for a specific ghost or demonic action. Perhaps the crew could even devise a way to transfer the favor so that they could occasionally turn the favor into coin. Plus, in true BitD style, the ghost punch is highly addictive, so the ghost or demon is very inclined to make good on the favor because they need to keep their source of the good stuff!
About 1. Another more simple approach for payment is that a ghost knows the location of a hidden treasure meaning coin. May be a bit boring and not too often repeatable before it got reaaaally boring.
About 2. Good Hawkers inspiration are the Bloodletters. They have a cohort of thugs who are tending the “tatoo parlor” where the product is sold. With this approach you have story / spotlight on your cohort from time to time (and a good opportunity for complications) and the PCs are free to do their thing. Maybe a cohort of adepts for the production of the ghost liquid? Could be improved by a cohort of thugs to provide the raw material = body snatchers.
For me, “Ghost Market” tags a strong desire to engage with all kinds of supernatural craziness. Branching off of that could mean favors or simply being known as “those crazy fucks who run that demon brothel” or whatever; it really depends on how deeply your players want to engage in the supernatural.
As far as favors go it can get pretty broad, as ghosts, demons and magic bring a huge range of potential things. Are they almost cult-like and satisfy the dark urges of demons through an elemental sauna of sorts? Do they let ghosts enjoy life again as the skin-ride fornicating brothel-goers? Is there a ritual-drug that let’s ghosts be “human” for a time? Etc.
Payments could be the siphoning of secrets from the ridden living, which is a thing we did in a Hawkers game. Demons might pay in powers, favors, secrets or precious components to fuel magics. A ghostly payment could be lending a slice of their existence to shield the living from other ghosts (much like wearing zombie guts in The Walking Dead) or empowering the living to resist the fear of supernatural entities. Heck, maybe the payment becomes another product, as many would pay well to use something that would protect them from ghosts, fear or even untether their soul to experience death for a little while.
I would give the players some examples of “favors as payment” and then let their imaginations run wild. You can balance it by using project clocks to show how long it takes to produce enough of the product to get the desired favor.
Thank you all for the good advices/ideas!!!
I will discuss this with my players!!!