Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports – Page 50

I played my first session of Blades on Monday.

The group set fire to a warehouse and Ulf Ironborn is ether:

Dead

Really annoyed with the group

Possessed by an angry ghost of a Bluecoat

So it went well. I post my full session reports on Who Dares Rolls so you’ll hear the gory details there soon enough. I just need to finish my AP report of Ghost Lines first.

So, I have recently begun to play Blades with my usual friday gang.

So, I have recently begun to play Blades with my usual friday gang. It hasn’t really taken off in the first session, especially because there are a lot of mechanics to wrap your head around. But I guess we are getting there.

In this first session we made characters and a crew, at least the basics, and did two scores. I am planning on using the quickstart situation with the crows, the lampblacks and the red sashes soon, but for now they were able to get a bit of a feel for the game without that.

The crew are shadows, mainly because of compromise. Some players where considering assassins, but some other players were concerned that this might result in an extremely dark game they were unprepared for.

In the first score they had a mission to recover a sigil ring from the estate of a Lord Phelps. It turned out there were very very few people in the mansion itself, but they had roped in via a high line and that very line had been discovered by a bluecoat patrol. And somewhere high up in the mansion the dear lord phelps was conducting some kind of occult ritual. I had clocks ticking for the bluecoat intervention and the progressing ritual, and I guess it was good fun. In the end they got the ring, clobbered the lord with a club and had to fight through a horde of dog corpses animated by spirits. Yet they didn’t really kill anybody and quite successfully ran away from the bluecoats as a group action.

In the second score I allowed for a bit more information gathering and planing, which, in hindsight, might have been a mistake.

They kidnapped a watchmaker and entrepreneur and it became quite bloody because they wanted to avoid witnesses. When they exchanged the man for a trove of silver on a bridge, they even had a sniper set up to kill the man, although, in the end, he survived badly crippled. So, basically successful, but bloody, high exposure etc.

They just very narrowly avoided a wanted level in that one.

I am looking forward to the next game tonight.

I guess there may be some bountyhunters or assassins hired by Mr. Pemberton the watchmaker looking for the scoundrels. Would it be ok to do a fortune roll on wheter they can find the crew’s hidden lair? I

I finally ran a couple sessions for a two-person crew of Shadows, consisting of the creepy whisper Lanette “Doll”…

I finally ran a couple sessions for a two-person crew of Shadows, consisting of the creepy whisper Lanette “Doll” Dahlinger and the surly Lurk “Longshadow”. They were hired by the Red Sashes to sabotage the Lampblack’s most profitable brothel by placing a ghost beacon. The initial meeting with the Red Sashes went very well from Doll impressing Mylera with her knowledge of what the strange, metal pyramid covered in runes was (the beacon). Longshadow scouted the neighborhood surrounding the brothel, as well as the inside by paying for their services. Doll visited her contact Nyryx. While asking Nyryx for the favor of scouting the inside of the brothel to find the best placement for the beacon, two thugs tried to accost Nyryx. Doll intervened by channeling the ghost field and going from creepy to outright terrifying. The thugs turned and ran without so much as a word. Nyryx returns and informs Doll there’s a weakness in the Wall (our name for the barrier between the living world and the ghost field) in the NE corner of the main office.

That night, the two break in through the attic and move toward the office, bypassing a guard while he was chatting up one of the workers. They argue for a moment whether to risk entering the office (there was a person inside) or place the beacon in the SE corner of an adjacent storage room. Doll, wanting the best result possible, wins the debate and Longshadow grumbles as they prepare to enter the office. Doll slowly opens the door just as a Lampblack gets up from his desk. Longshadow quickly lets loose a blunt-tipped arrow, knocking the Lampblack out cold.

Doll gets to work on opening the ghost door as Longshadow peruses the ledger and steals the earnings (2 coin). The Wall tears, revealing the cause: the tell-tale signs of a murder in the corner of the room. Doll smiles as she places the beacon.

Longshadow decides to frame the unconscious Lampblack with theft and places some eels (1 of the 2 coin) in his pockets, then pours spirits on his face and shirt and drops the bottle next to him. He also steals his rather fine pistol. After a critical result on a Fortune roll to see if the ledger will support the lie (it does so very well), the frame job is set. Doll activates the beacon.

At this point, Doll’s player did a flashback where she asked Nyryx if there was another nearby ghost door to escape through. There is one close and it’s mildly safe to get to. The crew enters the ghost field and Doll shuts the door. The two saboteurs escape right through the doors and walk out with nobody the wiser.

They exit the ghost field in an alley but as an Attunement consequence, it’s past curfew (due to worker riots) and two Bluecoats see them exit the alleyway. Doll’s player decides to spend more loadout to support the excuse they’re hunting ghosts (which you do at night, of course). The officers don’t buy it, so Longshadow steps in and offers them a bribe (the 1 coin he stole) and things go well. The officer notices the pistol as well, so Longshadow says, “Here, take a look for as long as you want…” (the player said exactly that!). The Bluecoat gives a knowing nod at the sweetened deal and offers to escort them safely out of the district.

The crew returns to their lair (a basement vault in an abandoned bank, inaccessible from above due to the collapsed structure, with entry through a breached wall to the sewers), rests, then visits Mylera in the morning. She is more than pleased and makes sure they know the Red Sashes have more work, if interested. We ended after the post-score phase with the crew 4 coin richer and two ticks away from a crew advance. They cleared most of their stress and made solid headway on their playbooks.

It was a great time!

The Dead Setters fight a demon on a boat in The ‘Game Over, Man!’ Caper.

The Dead Setters fight a demon on a boat in The ‘Game Over, Man!’ Caper.

The crew and Ulf Ironborn headed out to sea, hiring the smuggling ship Insider Raiding to rendezvous with the Colossus (their stolen state-of-the-art leviathan-hunting prototype vessel) and retrieve Ulf’s family (his wife Arika, his sister Yan, and his son Alf) where they had been stashed while the Setters dealt with Lord Strangford. Captain Minos and the cohort of exhausted, terrified rovers clamored for help as soon as the PCs came aboard. Something was taking the crew and stalking the ship for victims. Minos estimated about a quarter of his men were missing or dead (2/8 on a clock), although Ulf’s family were still alive, kept under guard in his own quarters.

This situation came about due to a Demonic Notice entanglement on their way back from Skovland a few sessions ago. I rolled on the random demon table and got keywords like amorphous, gears, and savagery. I was also one of the few sad people who saw the Jamie Lee Curtis movie Virus in the theater.

An Assault plan went awry with double 1s on the engagement roll. A sudden storm enveloped the sky, capsizing the Insider Raiding! They couldn’t evacuate Ulf, his family, or their beleaguered cohort of rovers! They’d have to stick together to hunt this creature, but a poor Hunt roll meant the demon found them first! It tried to crush several crew by tearing a pressure door off its hinges and using it like a trash compactor in a narrow hallway, but Rook the Cutter took the hit and burned his armor. The demon opted to hit and run, tearing through to an upper deck and collapsing a stateroom down into the gap. The glimpses the PCs got were of a vaguely simian shape, all massive hydraulics connected with human meat and sinew, pumping oil, electroplasm, and blood through pipes and arteries.

Ulf saw the thing and immediately headed for his family. Rook tried to cajole the Skovlander into working together and destroying the entity first, but Ulf would have none of it. I asked Rook’s player if he’d be willing to go to a fight over it, because that’s what it would take to stop Ulf, but Raven compromised and went with Ulf. Party: split!

Each team found evidence of other creatures and remnants of hapless crew as they went. Spider-bobcats, fashioned from clockwork and meat, or headcrab-like vent-crawlers, all human hands with shaving razor fingers, clamped down over ruined skulls and corpses stripped of useful parts.

Rook and Deemo the Leech took the rovers on the hunt for the demon and critted! I decided that they would get the drop on the demon in the most advantageous location – the reactor room. With limited effect, Deemo surveyed the situation and couldn’t find any specific “silver bullet” weakness, but Rook, a Tier III monster with Brutal, a fine heavy weapon, and Not to Be Trifled With, waded in and started whooping ass with his railjack hammer. If you have the right stuff, sometimes you can knock over the stone tower with a hammer.

Meanwhile, Ulf and Raven made it to the captain’s quarters and found… corpses and the signs of a struggle, but nothing had been able to get through the sturdy door. Clearly the demon hadn’t constructed its behemoth body yet. The only snag was that Ulf’s family weren’t sure it was him! They said the creature was taking people and maybe it was trying to trick them. Raven managed to sway them, however, and Ulf was finally reunited with his family. The storm would destroy any lifeboats, though, so they weren’t out of the fire yet. No escape. They headed below decks to reunite with their comrades, deciding safety in numbers was better than going it alone.

The demon had a clock going for corrupting the Colossus’ reactor, plus a small group of its “helping hands”. I didn’t get cute with consequences or positioning, just doled out harm (which was absorbed by armor and then by masterful resistance rolls) and desperation. The Dead Setters had dealt with monstrous enemies before and they dealt with this one now, wrecking the construct with railjack hammer, alchemicals, and electroplasmic bullets. But – but! – it managed to deal actual harm to Rook before its corporeal form was trashed. I know Rook had taken harm before, but probably not in the last 9 months or so. Small victories. 🙂

Deemo used Alcahest to make stripping the body horror out of the ship’s engine easier, then got to work actually fixing the reactor. The rest of the group scoured the vessel for any leftovers, but soon found that the entity’s presence, while divested of its corporeal assets, was still haunting the ship.

We had to break there, but overall this was a success in terms of tone. I feel that while the actual combat felt a little light, I was able to provide some good complications in the storm, Ulf breaking ranks, his family’s initial mistrust, and the lingering danger still to come.

#heestcomplete

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 49 (January 11 2017)

Flashback – One week ago:

The crew is at the Bucket when they receive an expertly written note via courier:

~~——————————————————–~~

To: Constance, Chief of the Porcelain Dolls, Crow’s Foot, Doskvol, Akoros

Circumstances have aligned themselves in such a manner that I find myself once more within the confines of this great city.

I hereby request the honor of your company, at a time and place of your convenience, to discuss the well-being and education of Aleira Baz.

I can be contacted at the Altamont Hotel in Brightstone. Please respond forthwith.

Sincerely,

Mylera Klev, First Sword of the Royal Academy of the Red Sash

By the grace of His Excellency Hassan the XVII, Sultan of Bright Harbor, Iruvia

~~——————————————————–~~

Everyone knows the Altamont Hotel, although none of them have ever been there. It’s spoken of with the same hushed tones of awe as the Waldorf Astoria. Constance gets as dressed up as she can and brings Gloves with her to the hotel.

The Altamont is easily as large as City Hall, but much more extravagantly decorated. On its marble facade are dozens of statues of various figures in the empire’s history, including the Weeping Lady and the Immortal Emperor himself. Once inside, they are dazzled by the sheer size of the lobby. Gloves leads Constance over to a reception desk, and they ask for Mylera. The clerk checks a ledger, sees that they are expected, and has someone usher them into the dining hall.

Mylera sits alone at one of the dozen large dining tables, dressed more elegantly than ever before. Constance makes a point of coming right up to her to shake hands, and Mylera takes it in stride. They sit, and discuss Mylera’s intention to bring Aleria back with her to Iruvia, to begin her education. During this, a lavish meal is served. Constance charges Gloves with sending a crow to the crew to retrieve the girl immediately. By the time they’ve finished their meal, Prichard and Aleira arrive (also as well dressed as they can manage). Constance introduces them, and Aleira mentions that her father used to call Mylera very bad names. Dessert is served, slices of cake with very elaborately crafted icing, which leaves Aleira (and Constance) unsure of how to proceed. Gloves saves the day by showing them the correct fork to use. Prichard informs Constance that Aleira’s luggage has been sent to Mylera’s suite. Mylera is set to depart for Iruvia on the morning train. Aleria says goodbye to Uncle Albert (Prichard), and as Constance is walking out, Mylera is seen conspiring with Aleira to order seconds on the cake.

Interlude:

Back in the present, the morning paper reveals that Luther Curtis was found dead on his boat. Constance is concerned, as this is almost certainly evidence that Ellsworth is still alive and active. Before anything else can be done in that regard, Gears arrives with a message sent via crow from Sabine Lyness, addressed to him, but asking that Constance visit her office when convenient.

Constance and Gears head across the bridge to City Hall, and are ushered into Sabine’s office. While Gears’ attention is once again drawn to Sabine’s collection of clockwork sculptures, Sabine addresses Constance. She notes that Constance is healing quite rapidly from the event at the boxing club. Constance says that Sabine is always welcome at the establishment.

Getting down to business, Sabine expresses her intention call in the favor the Dolls owe her for her assistance in getting Lady Drake appointed. She mentions that her uncle Kobb Lyness has been more than a passing inconvenience. After the death of her grandfather, Kobb managed to squander his portion of the family fortune, and made a habit of selling off his father’s work to anyone who cared to show any interest. As a result, Sabine has had to expend no small amount of time and effort to reacquire the pieces that now grace her collection. In short, she wants Constance to do something productive with Kobb, she doesn’t much care what. Boxing club, the Moon’s Daughter, or any of Constance’s other business concerns. It becomes clear that Sabine either doesn’t know about the Dolls’ extralegal activities, or is very carefully not mentioning them. Constance asks why she cares, and Sabine responds that Kobb is still family, and she still holds a fondness for him, despite his efforts to vex her at every turn. A debt is a debt, so Constance agrees. Sabine gives them an address where Kobb can be found, and a letter addressed to him directly. She also mentions that there are certain of her grandfather’s pieces that have not yet made it back into her possession, and she hints that she will pay handsomely for any assistance in that regard.

They find Kobb in a flophouse in Charhollow. After giving him a moment to dress, Constance gives him the letter from his niece. In it, Sabine berates Kobb thoroughly, but advises him to straighten himself out and he can still make something of his life.

Constance brings Kobb to meet the rest of the crew. Everyone is introduced, and Constance immediately sets the task of engineering a profitable job for the crew. She essentially makes him chief for the duration, but he has 48 hours to turn a profit, or he will be dealt with (Constance’s penchant for throwing people out of windows was mentioned).

Kobb chooses as his target a clockwork bird made by his father, that was sold to Dacio Fantin, a low-level thug in Coalridge (Tier 0). If the crew can retrieve it and deliver it to Sabine, she will certainly compensate them accordingly. Whatever else the crew can steal from Dacio in the process would be pure profit.

* Shade will talk to Fitz, and Gears will talk to Basran, to see if either of them knows of anyone trading in these items.

* Kobb will feel out the other gangs in the area, to see what their relationship with Dacio’s crew is like.

* Kamali will case Dacio’s residence to get the general layout.

* Gloves will talk to Dacio to get a sense of his financial situation.

Notes:

Kobb is a new PC. When the player said he wanted a character that had squandered his family fortune and whose father had been a brilliant scientist, I knew exactly who to tie him to.

Also, I had prepared an actual handout of Mylera’s invite this time around.

http://www.burnafterreadingpress.com/news/wp-content/uploads/Invite.png

#dontmesswiththedolls

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 took a page out of John’s Book for my most recent game of Blades (following John’s lead is always a good idea),…

I took a page out of John’s Book for my most recent game of Blades (following John’s lead is always a good idea), and did a flash forward and started a ‘season 2’. It all worked out very nicely both because our last session the crew became Tier 1, and it was also 3 months ago before my daughter was born.

So in the time we skipped, the cult has discovered the secret to making synthesized leviathan blood (they worship leviathans and don’t want them to be hunted, also want to get rich, and one member has a person grudge against a noble family who is a key played in the blood trade). So the game has changed from wanting to secretly get the resources and supplies needed to create the blood, to trying to get a factory up and running while the city’s elite try to crush them for threatening the source of their wealth.

In addition the Cutter is wanted by the military for the murder of some officers in season 1, and the heat has been increased.

The Whisper has discovered a ritual to bring her demon lover back from the dead. (It involves sacrificing 100 people, 90 of which must be strangers, 9 must be friends, and 1 must be someone she loves who loves her in return).

The Lurk has been identified by a powerful noble family as the hidden thorn in their side from season 1, and started to retaliate. The first session was actually a rescue mission, preventing his lady-friend from being kidnapped and interrogated. It was awkward because the person hired to kidnap the Lurk’s lady(Mercy the cold killer, the Cutter’s contact) was Ulf Ironborn who is the Cutter’s lover. Hearts were broken.

The Leech has been kidnapped and is being held hostage by an unknown group, but it’s probably related to his investigation into his brother’s murder. The Leech’s player ended up playing a Hull with a mysterious hidden master that contain’s the Leech’s brother’s ghost. Unfortunately he doesn’t know who his master is, or who killed him, but he’s been given the mission to find his brother.

It was fun to snap my fingers and tie up a number of loose threads and then start a bunch of new ones. I got to ask the players what stories they were most interested in from season 1, and discard the rest, ensuring an action packed season 2.

Took me a while to finish writing this one, sorry about that Shepherds fans!

Originally shared by Kyle Greene

Took me a while to finish writing this one, sorry about that Shepherds fans!

This week we not only pulled off a smuggling operation, but we also went to court!

https://youallmeetinatavern.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/the-good-shepherds-session-8/

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 48 (January 04 2017)

While Kamali is in Silkshore, Constance and Gears go to visit Emmet Taylor at his home in Dunslough. On the way, she asks him about the nature of his work, asking if it’s his intention to raise the dead. Gears explains that he wants to learn how the body works, and how to replace the body with metal (either in part or in whole). Constance advises him to let Kamali assist him.

At Taylor’s house, they are confronted by a Bluecoat guard at the front door. After some resistance, she convinces him to go speak to Taylor on her behalf. After a few minutes, the guard comes back and ushers them into a waiting room.

A few minutes later, Lord Taylor himself comes into the room. Constance introduces herself and Gears, and explains that they are acquaintances of Lady Drake. Taylor expresses some distaste at the mention of her name, and Constance asks for clarification. He corroborates Lady Drake’s story, that he feels she was responsible for no small amount of financial loss due to her influence over her late husband’s business decisions. He states his belief that women are over sentimental, and thus unsuited for business. Constance does a fantastic job of keeping her cool. She expresses her differing belief that what’s important in business (and governance) is the proper application of authority, looming just a bit while she does so.She and Gears manage to pique Taylor’s interest by mentioning the boxing club, as well as an offer to get in on the ground floor investing in the Skovlan shipping company, and thus secure his vote for Lady Drake.

On the afternoon of the vote, news quickly circulates that Lady Naria Drake was appointed councilor for Charterhall. In addition, Ward Kirkham was appointed councilor for Crow’s Foot, and Vincio Caserta was appointed councilor for Charhollow. The councilors who voted for Lady Drake are Ettore Rodia, Kent Hansen, Sabine Lyness, Tobias Norgaard, Kabeer Wakim, and Emmet Taylor.

Invitations are sent to Lady Drake and the councilors who voted for her to attend a private event at the boxing club that evening. Gears takes some time to make a brooch out of metal in the shape of a rose, and sends it with the invitation to Sabine.

That evening, everyone gathers at the boxing club. Lord Rodia, Lady Drake, Lady Lyness, and Lord Taylor show up. Lord Wakim sends a well-written note politely declining, Lord Hansen sends a terse note indicating simply that he’s busy, and Lord Norgaard doesn’t bother sending a note at all. Lady Drake promises to have some choice words with Arnold Beckham and Alda Monaghan at a later date.

Constance spends the majority of the evening watching the interactions between the councilors, and eventually ends up getting a good sense of which ones get along and which ones don’t. It’s made difficult by the fact that on the face of it, they are all very polite and cordial to each other.

After the scheduled roster of fights is over, Constance takes off her jacket and has Gloves announce that she is challenging all the boxers at once. The six men take to the ring, and Constance manages to take them all down (including Sam, the proprietor of Sam’s Pub, and his nephew), but not before she suffers a broken nose and collarbone.

Aftermath:

Rep: 5 (for dealing with the Doskvol City Council)

Heat: 1 (there was the barest minimum of illegal activity involved)

Coin: 0

Entanglement: Rivals. We’ll see what happens with the Ink Rakes next session.

Downtime:

Constance reduces Heat, and Stress. She also spends Coin to Heal, allowing Gears to take care of her broken nose and collarbone.

Gears: Finishes the project to mount the cannon on the cart. We also start up a couple of new projects. There’s an overarching project associated with his Vice, tentatively called “The Big Idea”. Each segment on this clock represents a smaller 6-segment clock that will cover one specific aspect of his obsession. We’ll work out exactly what those are when he gets to them, but they’ll be things like “Fashion a clockwork body that is capable of autonomous movement”, or “develop clockwork hands with sufficient dexterity to rival those of a human”, and so on. The ultimate end goal is the invention of a Hull (which don’t exist yet in my campaign, except as myths and legends from previous lost civilizations).

Kamali: Heals the psychic damage from being shot in the face by a ghostly pistol several sessions ago, and Trains Prowess.

The Moon’s Daughter and the boxing club generate a total of 12 Coin (it’s nice to be Tier 2).

Notes:

I’ve implemented the Healing house rules mentioned earlier in this community. Instead of the normal 8-segment project clock for healing Rank 2 and 3 Injuries, I use a 4-segment clock. When you take an action to Heal, completing the clock drops the Injury by one Rank. A Rank 2 Injury becomes Rank 1 (and thus will heal automatically on the next Heal action), a Rank 3 Injury becomes Rank 2 (and thus starts another 4-segement healing clock). When an Injury drops in Rank, reword it to reflect that some healing is happening (broken nose becomes bruised face, etc). The practical upshot of this is the Rank 2 Injuries take less time to heal than in the normal 7.1 rules (one 4-segment clock and an additional action vs. one 8-segment clock), and Rank 3 Injuries take slightly more time (two 4-segment clocks and an additional action vs. one 8-segment clock).

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Charter Restored

The Charter Restored

Doing jobs and garnering favors from the professors, the DSS was saved!

Players: Karen Twelves, Adrienne Mueller, and Eric Fattig

http://www.seannittner.com/actual-play-the-charter-restored-1102017/