Author: david xabth

A few new questions: Can the PC’s resist consequences of Entanglement rolls?

Not To Be Trifled With and Sharpshooter: How long do these abilities last? For only one action? Watching Roll Play Blades, it appeared that they lasted multiple actions, even for the entirety of a battle. Is this generally true? If so, does the +1d/+1 effect/etc last as well, or does the PC need to push themselves again to gain that benefit a second time?

As always, thanks for the advice and answers.

Still more questions.

Yep, I’m back with a new batch of questions. I’ve collected a few.

1. Is finding a new vice purveyor a downtime activity? I can’t find a rule in the book that says so, but it feels like it would fall under the Acquire Asset activity.

2. How do some of the more abstract Claims manifest, and how would you go about turning them into a score (sometimes without destroying the claim)? For example, Bluecoat Confederates/Bluecoat Intimidation doesn’t sound like a physical location that can be raided, and even if it was it feels like you run the risk of battling the actual Bluecoats instead of the opposing faction. Would you, perhaps, have the crew run the opposing faction out of a territory? Or maybe track down the Bluecoat head honcho and “convince/bribe/blackmail/etc” him or her to switch alliances? I might ask the same about Informants. Cover Identities is another one. Is that a guy in a back room forging false papers, or something more abstract? How about Secret Pathways? Are you more or less just running off an opposing faction that guards those routes? There’s more, but I think you get my drift.

3. Do starting playbook supplies sort of resupply after use, or does the player have to acquire them again once used/lost/broken? For example, our Cutter recently used his Rage Essence Vial and then later broke his Fine Claymore in a fight against a hull. Do those items resupply out of the nebulous non-coin expenditure the crew is just assumed to use, or do they need to actively seek them out ala Acquire Asset? Should some of the pricier items cost actual coin?

4. Does actual coin play into the Luxury vice? I have a PC with the Luxury vice and he’s outfitting his apartment with some pretty swank swag. Should I be charging him coin for that stuff? That doesn’t feel quite fair, given that the rest of the PC’s are basically indulging their vices for free. And yet, that painting over his fireplace has got to cost something to make it Luxury. And how then does this play into Stash? It feels like, mechanically, they are totally separate, but at this point his lifestyle is quite beyond his fellow crew members. I’ve sort of funneled him into non-permanent vice indulgences (nights at the opera, museum visits, etc), but in the early game I did allow him to simply hand wave filling his little apartment with luxurious items.

Thanks for any and all advice. You guys are the best!

So does anyone else have any issues with the Slide ability, Like Looking Into A Mirror?

This thing just seems crazy to me, and potentially game breaking. I’ve got a Slide in my crew and he’s been eyeing this thing pretty lustfully and I’ve been dreading the day he finally decides to pull the trigger and take it.

This is a game of scoundrels, criminals, and bad guys, after all. Every other word out of every other mouth is a lie, and to suddenly have somebody who can just see through them all at will just seems nuts. I mean, I’ve got a plot line going right now with about two dozen NPC’s, all with their own agendas, and most of those agendas pivoting on deception, half-truths, and flat out lies. And that’s not even taking into account the PC’s who lie to the NPC’s and each other more than they tell the truth.

And all the sudden I’m gonna have this one guy who can see through it all? I’m worried that the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down and they’ll be no pieces left to pick up.

I’ve actually been using the Roll Play Blades crew as a faction in my game. If you’ve seen that series and remember, Lady Cataby took that ability toward the end of the show. I don’t think she ever got to use it, but I’ve had to take it away from her in my game because it would kill any chance for my PC crew to ever put one over on Cariless and Co.

So, what are your experiences with it? Am I wringing my hands over nothing?

I’m loathe to remove it as an option for the PC’s for a couple of reasons. I’m still relatively new to Blades and I don’t want to tinker too much with the system before I’ve seen it in action. And that ability made it past the play testers, so it must be there for a reason. Plus it feels kind of cheap to ax a cool ability option from the Slide. I’d try to replace it with something equally cool, but still, I think I’d be a little put out if I was the player.

What do you think?

Question: Say a scoundrel’s two first level harm boxes are full. Then he takes second level harm but he wants to resist it. Normally he’d resist and the new harm would drop to first level, but those are full, so it has no place to go. What’s the ruling on this?

TIA.

And yet another question…

I imagine this has been answered many times, but I’ll hope for your patience.

Why do the authorities not question the ghosts of murder victims about the identity of their killers?

I understand that the Spirit Wardens cremate bodies asap because they don’t want ghosts running around, but it seems like, in the case of an assassination or something similar, that they, or the Bluecoats/Investigators, would have a few Whispers on hand to wrangle the victims ghost and compel it to tell them whodunit.

Is there a mechanical or lore reason why this doesn’t happen?

A question about ghosts.

How does a ghost possessing a PC work? Does the ghost just attempt to possess and the PC resists? Likely with Attune? Does the ghost possess the PC indefinitely until it’s challenged (when it eats the PC’s life essence, etc.)? Is the draining of life essence reflected in physical harm or stress/trauma?

Can a ghost attack physically, or in some other way than possession? Somewhere in the book it mentions that ghosts take limited damage from physical attacks, but that infers that they take SOME damage. So is that perhaps zero to one harm? I understand that NPC’s (including ghosts) don’t have hit points, but EFFECT has some effect on them, no?

I haven’t introduced ghosts to my crew yet. They haven’t had a Whisper in the ranks so up till now I didn’t know if they could even harm a ghost. They recently got a Whisper though, and so of course I’d like to add more of the supernatural element. I’m just not sure how to adjudicate those elements.

A question: During our session the other night a situation occurred in which the crew were in one boat and their targets were in another. While they were still well apart from each other, one of the NPC targets pulled his pistol and took a shot at one of the PC’s.

I wasn’t immediately sure how to adjudicate it. None of the PC attributes seemed to cover a dodge type action, so I wasn’t sure what to have the PC roll. Should I have just had the NPC automatically hit and then let the PC resist? What’s the correct call here?

A couple of questions:

1. Is there a place that specifies which districts each faction operates out of? I know some of them denote a specific turf under their details, but some do not. I’m wanting to introduce Ulf Ironborn as a potential client for my crew of assassins, but I’m wondering where I can find his HQ (The Old Forge Tavern). I’m happy to set it down anywhere I need it if that’s the expectation, but if there is a specified district that would be helpful. For that matter it would be helpful to know which factions operate where as the PC’s enter those areas.

2. I’m still having a little trouble grasping factors with regard to Effect. If I understand correctly, the default Position/Effect is Risky/Standard. So any given factor (Potency, Quality, Tier, Scale) would move the Effect up or down. I know that Tier can be greater than 1, but can Potency, Quality, or Scale be higher than 1?

Some examples: A Tier 1 PC comes up against a Tier 2 Red Sash. That would set the situation at Risky/Limited, correct? If the Red Sash has a fine weapon, that would further drop the Effect to Zero? Do the factors effect Position at all, or just Effect?

Example 2: Same situation as above, but now the PC uses Not To Be Trifled With. Would that give him Potency vs the Red Sash, effectively bumping him back to limited Effect?

Example 3: Carrying on from example 2, now the PC pulls a fine sword of his own, bumping the Effect back up to Standard. But then four more Red Sash gang members show up. So that’s 1 vs 5, but the PC is using Not To Be Trifled With, so he’s still on equal footing with them, so no change, right? Still Risky/Standard? What if another two guys show up making it 1 vs 7. Would the Scale then drop the situation back down to Risky/Limited?

Oh crap, I’m just re-reading the example on page 29 where a single PC is facing off against a large group and it looks like Scale DOES affect Position. I’m having a hell of a time with this. Any advice would be most welcome.