Hello there everyone! Been awhile since I last posted but I am all moved in here in San Antonio and have been loving the change. We have two games set up here after a cursory look into Cults but found that it didn’t fit.
My Sunday game, which so far doesn’t have a name, has just finished up character creation, crew creation, and we did a bit of character development since a lot of the players are new to gaming in general. I’m pretty excited about the group that we have assembled and the stories we can potentially have from it.
Our first character is Tiros Daavas, a Skovlan Cutter who served as a soldier within a prestigious strike force before the war’s end. He forged his papers to enlist early, following his big brother’s footsteps in the war. Honorable and with a built-in sense of camaraderie, he has headed to the Dusk to try and track down his brother who went missing during the war. He isn’t an innocent man though, having sacrificed one his squad-mates to survive the Unity War and had been involved with other missions that were less than legal or honorable. This has led to him being caught in clutches of Grace, the extortionist, who uses his crimes as leverage to get him to do what she wants while also saying that she has information about his brother that she’ll divulge…when he deserves it.
Next is Arvos Morrisson, the only Duskwall native within this beginning band of Assassins, is the Akoros Spider. A normal boy within Crow’s Foot, his life was changed when he was hidden away by his family and bore witness to a terrible occult ritual that butchered his family. Sent to Strathmill House, he served as a courier and eventually found his way into the life of an information broker. He serves as the main connection for the Assassins, having brought them all together in order to eventually ascertain who killed his family and exact terrible vengeance. An anarchist at heart, he hopes to make those who support the status quo burn one day. He is pursued by Jeren, an archivist within the Bluecoats who is the Sherlock to his Moriarty. A professional rivalry has sprung between the two men, one that could’ve been a friendship if it wasn’t for them playing on opposite sides.
Our group’s Slide is a young woman by the name of Sagira “Vixen” Ghrey, an immigrant from Iruvia who found herself enamored with a local thug and folk hero by the name of Baszo Baz. Helping him to secure his place of leadership within the Lampblacks, Vixen toyed around with his greatest competition and led him astray. The ploy was a success and Baz’s rival, Harker, was sent to Ironhook for life after being framed for murdering an Iruvian diplomat who had ties with the Red Sashes. Little do either of them know though that Harker has been making the most of his time, creating his own network of thugs and scoundrels within Ironhook. He hasn’t forgotten who has put him there and he’ll have his day soon enough…
Our last member is a Tycherosi by the name of Adric Kross, a self-taught Whisper with an eye of vengeance for his friend’s sake. His friend, another Tycherosi named Nyrix, both learned the art of the Whisper with each other’s help. Drunk on their newfound skill, the duo summoned and bound a demon by the name of Setarra. Asking for ways to greater power, Setarra led them on a dark path and eventually betrayed them both which led to Nyrix’s death and Adric barely surviving but able to protect his friend’s body and spirit. With Adric’s help, Nyrix has grown into a competently powerful spirit and the two seek out ways to destroy or re-bind Setarra for their own ends.
Another member of the group, a Hound, is still waiting to be made but the group decided on playing a group of Assassins that lurk within an abandoned cistern underneath Six Towers. Professional, calm, and willing to take nearly any work, the group is aligned oddly enough with the Spirit Wardens. After meeting with and working for an “open-minded” Warden by the name of Exeter, they have entered into mutual partnership; the crew gains to powerful influence of one of the city’s major factions and the power that a Spirit Warden wields while Exeter has his own personal scalpels with which to cut away obstacles in his way and enemies with too much power or influence for the Spirit Wardens to fight.
Little does the crew know that this powerful ally also comes with a dangerous enemy. The few targets they have killed for Exeter, innocuous as they seem, have been members of the Unseen. And the Unseen will not have any threats stand in their way of taking control of Duskwall.
Specializing in sending brutal, violent messages and operating within the prestigious section of Charterhall known as Clerk Street, this ragtag band of Assassins has their work cut out of them. Only one way to go though; forward…day by day…one body at a time.
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With the last character generation I did, which was a Cult, I was a little too hands off of it and it led to characters not really meshing and the Cult addition feeling very tagged on. So for this one, I went about things in different orders and also was a lot more active in suggestions and ideas that I had and bounced them off the players.
Instead of making characters first and then the crew, I went in reverse and made the crew and then the characters. I think it helped people decide better on what kind of characters that they wanted to be and making the Crew helped mold the smaller details together more.
We’re all using the PDF still and I made sure to make players answer the questions that their playbooks and what the crew playbook asks. We also used the 10 minute character background process, which led to some of the excellent story hooks and goals that the players now have. Here is the link if anyone is interested.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?91813-10-Minute-Background
I’m excited to use this process again come this Saturday, when my roommates and I will be restarting the group and seeing how things go. Sunday will be the next session of this game, where the Assassins will be aiming to kill off a Junior Inspector who has been poking his head too much into the business of the Bluecoats.