Author: Travis Heldibridle

Session 5: The Coalridge Job

A confidence game to get a burgeoning workers union to buy medical supplies that the group could then take to supply their own infirmary went south when riots broke out and cornered them in the wrong part of town.

The Hound manned a snipers nest on top of a burning building, with some laborers he armed with molotov cocktails. He made a daring escape across the rooftops. He stressed out and took the first point of trauma in our game after declining a devil’s bargain that the laborers wouldn’t make it out.

The Leech ended up performing a desperate amputation in a fishing boat to save the life of the union leader they needed to keep their scam running.

They ended up getting the supplies, and everyone assumes they just burned in the fire.

Session 4 (the cult heist)

So the crew finally went on the heist to steal the finger bone of the trigger finger of a saint of a forgotten god (Leviticus the Unforgiving, a deity of craftsmanship and discipline) from a cult of gunsmiths.

They entered through the front door, pretending to be cult members, but rolled a 3 for engagement. They were greeted by a Hull (they’ve never actually seen one before) who was baring down on them. Their disguise wasn’t going to work. The whisper managed, desperately, to Attune and provide a satisfactory spiritual identification.

They then decided to rummage through the front offices of the old factory to try and find out where the relic was stored. I didn’t really intend for this to result in anything useful, but the Hound rolled a crit and I felt compelled to have it pay off. They found a manifest, instead of a map, that indicated items of importance were stored in a basement vault.

They explored the factory floor a little, but there weren’t any finished weapons here. Just various parts of guns.

They found a locked door in the basement. The cutter decided to wreck it… and he did, although his consequence was a desperate situation. An ancient spirit in the vault (a loyal priest from before the god was forgotten) manifested and charged the group in a frenzy.

The Hound blasted the spirit with electroplasmic shots from his pistols, and the Cutter followed through with his huge mace and the Ghost Fighter ability. He hasn’t had a chance to shine in a bit, so I took the liberty to really elaborate on this attack. His mace frosted over and arcs of electricity trailed behind it as he swung through and destroyed the spirit.

They looted the vault and then escaped via an explosive charge they set (in a flashback) to blow a hole in a basement wall to give them access to the sewers.

Their entanglement, in downtime, was the Unquiet Dead.. the death of the ancient spirit has upset a balance which is going to come back on the crew as a complication in an upcoming score.

I still have a lot to learn, and still feel the need to build “meatier” scores, but this was the most fun I’ve had with the game to date.

Session 3 got cut short, so not much to report.. but I’ve given two session recaps that were marred with self-doubt and trepidation. I feel it’s time to correct that.

I’ve been easing my players into the mentality of the game, and the differences between this game and the traditional games they’ve played. Tonight I broke that door down and handed a lot of creative control over to them.. and it was GLORIOUS. I think they enjoyed it, and I know this was a much more positive game experience for me.

In order to gain a loyal fence (a claim), who collects weird artifacts, the crew has decided to burglar the sanctuary of a forgotten god cult. This was a god of craftsmanship who was forgotten due to, and who’s crafts were corrupted by, industry. This specific cult is made up of gunsmiths (so we’re going to be shooting on this score), and the crew intend to rob them of a saint’s trigger finger.

That sounds like so much fun, and I might not have come up with it myself. I’m crushing on the power of collaborative storytelling right now.

Second session down. I heart this game, and on paper it all makes so much sense to me, but I’m feeling a little ..unmoored.. in play. The flow of play feels a little lacking in places (my fault, not the game’s), as I try to connect scenes and come up with a stream of compelling consequences (these guys roll low ..a lot). I’m hoping this is just a “comfort with the game” thing that I’ll ease into with exposure.

As for the content of the session. I’m using the Crow’s Foot arc for the first season. Our first session saw the crew stealing the stash of the Lampblacks for the Red Sashes in return for a promise of (probably contested) hunting grounds in the district. This time the crew was approached by a mysterious stranger (deduced to be a member of The Hive after some legwork) to plant a strange artifact in The Crows’ base of operations. The Hive is using disposable assets, already in play in the district, to try and find out more about Roric’s death.

We had 9 Heat, and rolled an Arrest for entanglements. This played out as the bluecoats showing up shortly after the crew received payment and “taking their cut,” which turned out to be most of the haul.

Positive Notes

• I talked a little less this session. I asked more questions and tried to start to acclimate the players to the idea that they have some control over the story, setting precedents, and exploring their characters’ flaws.

• We made a lot of very desperate rolls, so they’ll be able to experience some character growth by the end of the next session which I think will invest them further.