Author: Matt Horam

Just ran my first v4 session, and we enjoyed many of the new mechanics.

I struggled most with choosing effect levels, as recent posts by others have echoed, I usually end up choosing Standard effect because my default is “A success means you do all you’re aiming to do” but I can see that more complex actions would reveal more nuanced granularity of effect levels.

Anyway, best way to report what happened is to tell the story:

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Lord Scurlock had asked The Gentleman Bastards (a crew of thieves who operate out of the basement of a clock shop) to arrange an accident to happen to Mister Samiel T’Lor, an occult collector who lives in a modest 3-story tower in the unlikely district of Coalridge. He likes it there because it’s close to his place of worship and affords many opportunities to acquire strange artifacts.

Anyway, Scurlock wants his map of the Deathlands for some reason, and our crew decided to bluff their way into the front door under the pretence that they desired a patron to help Skovlan refugees into Akoros, sweetening the deal by alluding to the many occult items they would bring with them. Then they were going to rob him and burn the place to the ground, as usual.

An engagement roll based on standard preparations against intruders and protocols for handling strange men at the door gave us 2d, resulting in a 2 and a 1. The butler answered the door, his master was not at home. (I decided that not only did this make entry into the building more difficult, but that the recently paranoid chap activated certain defenses within his vault whenever he left the house).

Silver, our Slide, swayed his way into the parlour to wait for Samiel (due home within the hour) assisted by his Lurk and Whisper bodyguards (all three in disguise) looking generally confident and intimidating. The doors remained open, the butler constantly clearing his throat so everyone knew that everyone could hear everyone else.

Milos the Whisper flashed back to attempting a Dominant seance to have ghosts draw him a detailed map of the premises, but rolled a pair of twos. He then asked the spirits for just a simple location of the maguffin, and pushed himself, risking a migraine, which was about to eventuate as his lesser harm. He then rolled double sixes to resist the migraine and got out unharmed with the knowledge that the loot was in the attic.

The Slide then flashed back to having their savage gang of adepts creating a very specific (difficult) and dangerous (devil’s bargain) poison designed to be applied to his own skin so that shaking Smiel’s hand would give the chap a heart attack. Rolling the gang’s quality and getting a 5 meant that there would be some slow telltale symptoms during which time they might be discovered as the smoking gun…and that’s when Samiel broke out in a sweat and needed to sit down.

The butler was okay with the idea of ‘Arry the Lurk running down the street to fetch the local physicker, but rolling a Dangerous 5 meant that he was expected back in 10mins with a chap well known and trusted by the victim. The butler sent the Whisper downstairs to ask the cook for some water, rather than leave his employer alone and ill with strangers.

‘Arry returned with the physicker, who locked himself in with the patient and left everyone else in the foyer. As the symptoms intensified, and the water arrived, the physicker shouted to the butler that no-one was to leave the premises. ‘Arry and Milos were eyeballing the stairs to the upper levels, while Silver began to draw a stolen and defaced calling card from his pocket, hoping to talk his way out of the building by giving a fake address within their hunting grounds…

And that’s where we left it after about 45mins and a half-dozen rolls.