Kyle Cantrell – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

I think my favorite bit of Blades in the Dark just might be the Lights in the Darkness section on page 240 that…

I think my favorite bit of Blades in the Dark just might be the Lights in the Darkness section on page 240 that deals with how citizens mark the time, the strange refraction of the moon as it passes through the night sky, and the eerie stars visible from beneath the inky seas. Very evocative and cool, and pushes all my geeky world building buttons.

But I’m having a Lethal Weapon moment trying to work out the details of the timing structure. Does the”first hour” start at the same time when dawn occurs or does the first hour kick in an hour after dawn? In other words, if I were looking at a Doskvol clock, would dawn occur at 1 (the first hour) or at the preceding 12 (the hour of smoke)? Or are there 26 hours in a Doskvol day with dawn and twilight added into the mix?

So it’s possible that I might’ve mentioned casually to my daughter that Stras Acimovic may have created new…

So it’s possible that I might’ve mentioned casually to my daughter that Stras Acimovic may have created new character sheets for her and her friends. And it’s possible that she took the statement to heart (not to mention a bit too literally) and proceeded to email her friends about it, thereby generating an uproar of Omigawds!!! along with an unconscionable amount of emoticons. It’s also potentially true that this activity proceeded for days and days.

I can neither confirm nor deny that Stras, John LeBoeuf-Little, and of course John Harper have attained the rank of superhero rock stars in the minds of a small gaggle of gamers. It is my fervent hope that, should this be the case, that you folks will use your power for the forces of good. With great power comes great something-or-other.

Just thought you’d like to know.

Been meaning to write this up for a bit.

Been meaning to write this up for a bit. Over the holidays, I was blessed with the opportunity to run a one shot game for my daughter and a few of her friends. A whole gaggle of 7 to 9 year old girls. With the latest Star Wars out in theaters, the plan was to play Scum & Villainy with a ragtag group of rebels on the run from the Empire. The girls, it turned out, had other plans…

Me: Now the game we’re going to play is called Scu–

Gaggle 1: Oooh! Is this like steampunk?

Me: (blinks) … steampunk? You know steampunk?

Gaggle 2: Well yeah, steampunk is cool because (long excited list of reasons).

Gaggle Chorus: Yeah! WE LOVE STEAMPUNK!

Me: …

Gaggle Chorus: (a sea of hopeful, expectant gazes)

Me: …

Me: Why yes, that’s exactly what this is.

Gaggle Chorus: (cheers)

That was, of course, the only acceptable answer to be given. So instead of a starship, the girls commanded a flying wooden ship powered by sails. Instead of planets, floating islands hovered above dangerous jungles dotted with mysterious Precursor ruins. Robots replaced with clockwork automatons. Instead of mechanics, pilots, speakers, and whatnot, they assumed the roles of engineers, naval officers, and ambassadors in service to the Queen while secretly operating in hostile lands.

The starting scenario was a mixture of Scum & Villainy and Lady Blackbird. A colleague, discovering a mysterious Precursor artifact, needed help in transporting it back to the Queen. Unfortunately, during the handoff they were all captured by a ridiculously large dirigible brimming with imperial clockwork soldiers. The group’s mission: escape the brig, free their ship, and return to the Queen with artifact in tow.

As might be expected, the game was loud, chaotic, and loads of fun. This was the first role-playing game most had ever played before, and thus I played rather fast and loose with the rules, to the point that you would have needed to squint and turn your head sideways to see the resemblance to Blades in the Dark and Scum & Villainy.

But it was a raging success! The young ladies were really engaged the whole session and seemed to have a fantastic time escaping the clutches of their evil automaton captors while racing to freedom in their flying sailboat.

So while I can’t commit to saying we played a proper game of Scum & Villainy, it was the seed that produced a wonderful afternoon for a gaggle of gamers-to-be. Much fun was had.

I may get the privilege over the holidays to run a version of Scum and Villainy for my daughter and a few of her…

I may get the privilege over the holidays to run a version of Scum and Villainy for my daughter and a few of her friends, all in the 8-9 year old range. One thing I am looking at is changing the theme of Vice to something a little more age appropriate so that my little gaggle of players aren’t running off on drunken binges, gambling their credits away, or seeking oblivion in the abuse of drugs in order to heal their stress. 🙂

Any ideas on what to reskin this as?