Wrapped up a 6-session campaign at the FLGS on Thursday and finally got a chance to document it today.
This was my first time running Blades and I’ve officially fallen in love with this game. It seemed to take about four sessions for the meta-play to subside. There was a lot of worldbuilding info and system mastery to overcome, but by the time everyone cleared that hurdle the roleplay and the mechanics really started to sing together.
In a lot of ways, this campaign felt like a prequel to their story as a Hawker crew. We didn’t know how to approach “vice dealers” (that was part of the worldbuilding puzzle we had to solve), but by the end of this first (and probably only) season they’d established a product with a backstory and some very reliable customers. With these details, I can think of about four different directions the next season could go and all of them scream “Hawker Crew.”
How far in did the “crew identity” solidify for other folks? Does it always take a season or so, especially for campaigns played by people who have already internalized the rules?
Originally shared by Eli Kurtz
BLADES IN THE DICE DOJO
A Glimpse of Better Days
Part One: One War Ends
After Molerat (PK Sullivan), Redeye (Marshall Jacobson) and Clive (Scott Danielson) survived the Deathlands, the Rail Jacks make good on their word: they’ll meet with the Eye and Pestle to discuss ceasefire terms. The Red Sashes, now close allies with the Eye and Pestle, agree to host the meeting on neutral ground.
Agreeing to meet so soon is conspicuous to say the least, so Redeye tails the Rail Jacks on their way to the meeting. Thanks to Molerat’s ghost field lens, Redeye learns the Rail Jacks are in a desperate position: they want to unionize but the Eye and Pestle has unwittingly foiled them at every turn. Several Rail Jacks died when they lost the Quickbane shipment. They tried to buy an alternative from the Lampblacks but the Eye and Pestle brought the building down around them. Desperate, the Rail Jacks approached their rivals, the Gondoliers, only to pick up product laced with Spark. The Rail Jacks’ numbers have dwindled, their plans have been thwarted, and many of the survivors are now addicted to a second-rate substitute. A union is a far-off dream.
War is not the only woe facing the Eye and Pestle. News (Eric Simon) hears from Nyryx that a lot of her prostitute friends are Hollows since the rash of possessions. The unrefined Quickbane they’ve used to drive off the ghosts has cost many prostitutes their lives. And there are rumors that there are only more ghosts on the streets. Through a variety of disguises over several days, News canvases the entire city to connect all the dots they’ve spied over the past month. The revelation is dire: the Lampblack-Red Sashes war fills the streets with ghosts. So many prostitutes are Hollows. And worst of all, Roric’s ghost lies in wait to seize a Hollow, become a vampire, and exact his revenge on all of Crow’s Foot.
While Crow (Graham Ziolkowski), disguised as a Bluecoat, secures the streets around the Red Sash Sword Academy, Molerat whips up twice as much Improved Quickbane as they stole. Finally, they sit down in Mylera Klev’s meeting room with the Rail Jacks. News makes a flashy entrance wearing his Tangletown disguise, then outmaneuvers the Rail Jack Quartermaster with aplomb. He’s such a skilled debater that he angers the Quartermaster, and things might come to blows if not for an intimidating action from Crow (and, y’know, every one of the Red Sashes). The final terms are better than anyone hoped: the Eye and Pestle agrees to supply the Rail Jacks with Improved Quickbane at a reduced price, they’ll give the first shipment for free as a gesture of goodwill, and the Eye and Pestle can keep a stock for what is certain to be ghostly chaos in the coming days.
On their way out of the meeting room, Mlyera Klev stops the crew. “I’ve done you more favors than I can count,” she says. “It’s time to pay me back. The Lampblacks are moving on us any day now and our numbers are dwindling. We need extra muscle, and you’ll do in a pinch.” The Eye and Pestle has no choice but to agree. Over the next 24 hours, each scoundrel in the crew frantically preps for the ordeal ahead.
Part Two: Another War Begins
With almost no time to spare, the Eye and Pestle makes some frantic preparations for the coming storm. They’ve got to help the Red Sashes defeat the Lampblacks once and for all, but they’ve also got to save the people of Crow’s Foot from a looming ghostpocalypse. With a load of Quickbane blow darts and a cadre of Skovlander revolutionaries to shoot them, the crew sets up a fortified position within the Red Sash Sword Academy.
Things go well at the start. The crew advances into the neighborhood to set up a forward base crackling with electroplasmic energy. The plans are almost foiled by some Lampblack arsonists, but Crow and the Skovlanders make quick work of them. News slinks off to find Baszo Baz and settle their longtime grudge while Molerat and Redeye regroup back at the Sword Academy. In these first triumphant hours, they all realize that as much as one tenth of Crow’s Foot has been turned into ghosts. The numbers are daunting.
Molerat decides he’s going to retrofit a massive ghost EMP to the radio tower of the Sword Academy, but he needs parts to do it. Redeye hunts them down, but when he arrives he finds his rival, Casta, hell-bent on settling their score. Crow and the Skovlanders terrorize their way down the streets, fighting off super-powered Crow gangsters and telekinetic ghosts alike. If not for a vial of rage essence, our Tycherosi Cutter, Crow, might have fallen to the horde. But because of the rage that vial contains, News finds a fury-blinded friend wreaking havoc between him and his quarry. All the while, inhuman screams echo across the district from the top of Crow’s Nest tower. Roric is clawing his way into a mockery of life.
News sneaks up on his feral friend Crow and calms him down with a dose of Trance Powder. Disguised as a Lampblack, he walks right up to Baszo and reveals himself, only to bungle an assassination and get pinned down in a firefight with a squad of Lampblacks. He tries everything to get at Baszo, but eventually the stress overwhelms him and he flees into the night.
Crow rouses from his twice-drugged slumber and scales the battered Crow’s Nest tower in search of whatever evil lies at the top. Neither gangsters nor ghosts stand in the way of his armored Tycherosi might.
Redeye grabs the parts they need for the ghost EMP but Casta is hot on his tails. He’s been wrapped up with criminals and revolutionaries, and Casta wants the bounty on his head. Not even a well-placed string of traps halts her advance as Redeye flees through the streets. Eventually he strikes up a deal: let him deliver these parts and save the District, then he’ll turn himself in to her without a fight. Casta agrees with a cruel smile.
With the final parts, Molerat completes the EMP and climbs to the roof of the Sword Academy. Using Rail Jack electro-hooks they stole so many weeks ago, Molerat makes himself into the catalyst. Green lightning courses through the gear on his back as the EMP rips open a spirit well that reaches to the borders of Crow’s Foot. For a moment, everyone in the district sees a glimpse of days gone by: green fields, blue skys, and a strange burning light pouring down upon everything. But then the moment passes, the spirit well collapses, and drags every spirit in its reach back into the ghost field.
Every spirit except one. In the highest chamber of the Crow’s Nest, our Tycherosi Cutter is locked in combat with Roric’s super-powered ghost and the tortured, half-machine body of Lyssa that Roric seeks to inhabit. Crow is unstoppable, and Roric’s defenses falter just as the spirit well collapses. Crow vaults high and slashes down with such force that his Tycherosi greatsword cleaves through Roric’s spirit, Lyssa’s ruined body, and the floor beneath their feet. Only his incredible armor saves Crow from certain death. Only his armor left a pathway open toward the last enemy that shall be faced: Baszo Baz dies as the demon warrior’s hands. That’s two News owes to Crow now.
Part Three: In Proper Business
After that hellish night, Redeye goes to Ironhook Prison to serve out his time. Crow finds himself the de facto leader of the Crows, their numbers swelled to impressive size and then slashed in half by all the Hollows created in the aftermath of the ghost EMP. In addition to producing Improved Quickbane, Molerat begins work on an antidote for the Rail Jacks who are still addicted to the Gondoliers’ substitute goods. News, gone soft by his disgrace on that fateful night, takes a while to reckon with the notion that he can’t do it all. Maybe finding new clients for the Eye and Pestle is enough for now.
With their leader dead, the Lampblacks can’t hope to withstand the might of the Red Sashes. The gang disbands, and for many of them it is a painful echo of the day they lost their old jobs to the electrick lightposts. Only the lucky, the powerful, or the rich get a happy ending in Doskvol.
The Red Sashes and the Eye and Pestle continue a close partnership but the well is poisoned. As the new leader of the Crows, Crow the infamous Tycherosi Cutter can’t help but be a threat to Mylera Klev. They’re allies for now, but how can she be sure this violent swordsman won’t double cross her? It is a bridge destined to burn.
This is what awaits the Eye and Pestle as this endless night continues in this city of endless sorrow. They have a foothold for now, a glimpse of better days, but will they be ready when the next storm comes?