Here’s the synopsis of my first game GMing BitD. Introducing The Fugue Men:

Here’s the synopsis of my first game GMing BitD. Introducing The Fugue Men:

The crew is:

A. Fix, a Leech (Saboteur). Fix is a Skov refugee from an artisan family. Vice is Pleasure from fermentation.

B. Fuzz, a Slide (Cloak & Dagger). Fuzz is a Dagger Isles orphan previously labouring in Waste Management. Vice is Weird drugs.

C. Fingers, a Lurk (Infiltrator). Fingers is an Akarosian ex-locksmith’s apprentice. Vice is Gambling

D. The crew are Shadows, with a Grotto Lair in Coalridge and Burglary Hunting Grounds in Nightmarket. They paid off the Wraiths for their hunting grounds, are at +1 with the Lampblacks and Dimmer Sisters, -1 with the Reconciled and -2 with the Red Sashes.

I used a variation of the War in Crow’s Foot start, whereby Baszo Baz asked them to obtain a formula for a new drug from the Red Sashes Master Alchemist. I proposed that the Alchemist was arriving at Gaddoc Station, and would be traveling back to the Sword School via gondola, with a side trip to visit his love interest, an actress in Silkshore.

The Fugue Men decided to pose as Gondoliers at Gaddoc Station and entice the Alchemist (with bodyguard) into their gondola, piloted by Fingers (in disguise). The plan was to waylay him enroute. Fix rigged the gondola to start sinking, with a Crit role in a flashback, which threw the bodyguard in the river. Fix and Fuzz (also in disguise) pulled up in a second gondola offering rescue to the Alchemist. Fingers helped move the luggage over and jumped aboard the second gondola. The bodyguard was left hanging to the sinking gondola with assurances that ‘help would come soon’.

Fix then dosed the Alchemist with Standstill poison (using a desperate Wreck action). This was the only roll of the session that wasn’t a 6 or crit (??). I offered up two consequences, one was the volatile nature of Standstill (level 1 harm, resisted) and the other was that their disguises were wrecked in the scuffle.

They then took the Alchemist off to search his luggage for the formula and other loot, leaving him paralyzed, tied to a dock and looking to have been robbed.

We then had some downtime with mostly training. Fuzz also removed Heat by disguising himself and spreading false rumours around the area. I gave Fuzz a bonus die for his Cloak & Dagger ability.

I’d love to hear peoples thoughts on our first attempt and I also have some specific questions to throw out. The players rolled really well this session, and starting with no stress allowed lots of pushing and helping. I actually thought it was good that they got to be bad-asses for the first session. One mistake I made was that I forgot to apply the Alchemist’s higher Tier, I should have reduced effects, and I didn’t. I suppose that would have made things a lot tougher. I did realize this near the end and considered it for Rep and XP.

Was allowing Cloak & Dagger during Heat reduction (disguise to deflect suspicion) legit?

I decided that since Lampblacks are +1, and allied with the Gondoliers, and Baszo Baz asked them to do this, and is a friend of Fuzz… getting a couple of Gondolas and ‘uniforms’ was no problem. I also decided that none of this score activity affected Faction Status? Does this seem right?

I’m struggling to imagine how this crew, Shadows in Coalridge/Nightmarket can gain ‘Turf’ and ‘Informants’ in such a way that they are taking them from other Factions. What is Shadow Turf? They don’t need Corners and I don’t imagine this Crew out pick-pocketing in the streets. Why can’t Informants inform multiple clients?

Finally, I’m curious what other Factions folks might suggest I create. A lot of the underworld Factions are either heavily tied to Crow’s Foot, or not particularly relevant to how I see this Crew at the moment. What other Factions have people created for their games? What twists of existing Factions am I not seeing?