Occult scores: Tell me about yours! How did you plan a score around “engaging a supernatural power?”
Occult scores: Tell me about yours! How did you plan a score around “engaging a supernatural power?”
Occult scores: Tell me about yours! How did you plan a score around “engaging a supernatural power?”
Whisper wanted to become a paragon of a forgotten god to gain power of the deity’s protection (immunity to poison and disease, including the supernatural one which polluted the fountains of u’duasha) via ritual bonding of their soul to the will of the god. The method was a day long meditation on precepts central to it’s membership to find it’s pocket dimension and glimpse the wonders beyond with the mind’s eye. I think i came up with some list of weird ingredients required before the attempt as well, or else they’d suffer a trauma when they “looked” upon that place.
Occult scores are by far (and I mean by an insanely large margin) the least common in my experience running and playing Blades. I think I’ve only ever run one, for a Cult crew: they had received a spirit bottle as a reward for a previous mission that contained the ghost of a former high priestess of their Forgotten God, but she was from so long ago that it was likely the spirit was somewhat feral.
So they planned to do a score to successfully extract and pacify her, with the method being a ritual involving fellow worshipers (their cohort of adepts and a few others they’d converted in their district) that they learned from an NPC servant of their deity.
Even though it took place in their own basement it was a fun score, I had consequences like lack of faith on some NPCs’ parts and even some outright betrayal and attempt to disrupt the ritual, as well as of course the spirit lashing out with otherworldly energies. Most memorable moment is probably when the crew’s Whisper leapt in the way of an attempted possession by the spirit on the crew’s Slide (as a protect maneuver, which doesn’t come up that often in my games for whatever reason), using his Warded special armor to resist the possession himself. It was his first session having the ability.
Walking as/through shadows to enter Silverwatch and steal evidence from the Bluecoats.
Traveling through water as water to pass quarantine and meet your contact.
Having your ghosts pulled from your bodies and smuggled into a party.
Turn into mist/crows/rats/eels/etc. to get into the well-defended Imperial armory.
Communing with a once-forgotten god and walking in its heart-realm to curry its favor.
Breaching the echoes of an old Scurlock estate destroyed in a fire, layer by layer, going deeper into the past, until you find the echo of an ancient tome.
Crossing the Black Mirror to destroy the insane ghost of a serial killer meshed with his victims.
Performing a group ritual to link the crew’s blood in preparation for an assault on the Billhooks, allowing them to share harm.
Cloaking the crew in the scent of a spectral pack, letting them to move through the Lost District umolested by the mad and starving dead.
Imbibing an alchemical that will fool the Deathseeker crows, ultimately granting entry into Bellweather crematorium after the crew’s corpses are retrieved.
Some are/could be seen as cleaving closer to other types of plans, but my opinion is be liberal with letting the coolness flow. I’ve seen a few instances of thematic overlap and simply enjoyed the options. 😊
Ben Liepis This is all really great! Thanks!
Blaze Azelski, you’re welcome. I just realized it’s a huge blob of text. I’ll space it out. 😬