Category: Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports

Bone Street Krew Week 2.

Bone Street Krew Week 2.

Bone Street Krew Week 2.

Episode 2:

Overall: The players form a vague plan and thanks to one good roll manage to get away with it… kinda.

Mission Summary: The gang decide to go check out the job Bazso has to offer, Bazso has a traitor in his midst, leaking information on their war with the red sashes, and he needs some contractors who aren’t emotionally invested to find proof and make an example of the traitor.

Specifically with this week after week 1 the players were going to have to deal with the idea of just having more mission parameters they have to follow in order to keep “clients” happy and satisfied with their job. I toyed with the idea of just giving them a group with a traitor in it and having them actually suss out the traitor themselves, but after a really long week 1 session I wanted to show them a faster paced mission so I had Bazso tell them who the traitor was and just demand that they get proof as part of the job. In between weeks I decided I’d use the fortune roll to determine what (if any) proof was available, another terrible engagement roll later and the Krew was unknowingly left with no tangible evidence on their target, On a 6 they would have been able to see the Red Sashes ready to give Owens a fake Iruvian passport to start his new life, before having to do anything, 4-5 the Red Sashes would have had the passport on them but they probably would have had to fight or life it off of them, 1-3 (what they rolled) and the Sashes don’t have any proof on them and are changing the terms of their deal forcing Owens to lead them to his team mates homes and help them off Bazso’s A team one by one, which could have ultimately provided its own proof. The players decided in “planning” that they’d just spend some stress flash back to securing some Red Sash paraphernalia and then create evidence if they didn’t find any. They jumped the gun a little on killing Owens and getting Bazso but in the end they managed to get the rolls necessary to forge up some flimsy fake proof and convince Bazso it was enough to work with.

I planted some other character stuff around too, Mattias our “holy weapon” assassin has a personal vendetta with followers of the forgotten gods as he views them as somewhat of Blasphemers, Bazso being a secret member of the forgotten gods cult felt like a really great antagonist in a lot of the scenes here even though I haven’t made up my mind how much of that is just because of the way Whiskey loving charmingly abrassive Bazso plays off of Somber Sober Mattias vs there being a deeper subconcious religion tension between the two, but it ended up working out and being built anyways so that was pretty cool.

Rule fumbles and issues:

* This week I tried to push the use of clocks as consequences a lot more, I feel like I struggle a bit deciding what an appropriate clock size should be for some things as all of the “only relevant this mission” clocks went uncompleted, but that could very much just be because they did well enough.

* Forgot Crew Xp. I did it in between sessions 2 and 3.

* Still do Vice rolls wrong this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtVCoIF2lzQ

Looking back, I realized it has been a year since I ran an open table game for the community.

Looking back, I realized it has been a year since I ran an open table game for the community.

Looking back, I realized it has been a year since I ran an open table game for the community. Here’s a snippet from a play report from that game. The gang was sneaking into a heavily secured warehouse to steal a shipment of souls from the Iruvian strongroom inside. (He rolled a success with a complication. I seem to recall it was harm to his psyche.) This was version 3f, by the way.

“Oak focused on the bluecoats to see if any of them were possessed, and he detected one in a patrol. However, he also accidentally tuned in to see the supernatural protections on the warehouse, and they unsettled him. The interior was painted in undying leviathan blood runes, iterations of the name of a leviathan. Any spirit not in a physical form (like riding a body or trapped in a crystal) would evaporate in here, vanishing into the endless hunger of the leviathan that corresponded with the name, deep in the Never Sea elsewhere.

“The name was painted up like ribs, filling the warehouse with supernatural pressure; maybe this is the air that the leviathan was breathing out in the deeps. The level of collusion with a demon was distressing, as were the implications of the symbols that burned themselves into Oak’s mind.”

The Bone Street Krew episode one.

The Bone Street Krew episode one.

The Bone Street Krew episode one.

Me and a couple of my friends decided to start a blades game, I really wanted to play one but only have enough time for one game and couldn’t find one to join so I just ended up Gming this one for my friends instead. First episode was pretty smooth, there are some things I know I fudged up and have fixed/are going to fix in subsequent weeks, but here’s the more report part.

Player Backgrounds: Mike/ YoFizz our veteran youtuber has been doing youtube content for years and years at this point including a brief pathfinder game recently and some offline experience in DnD.

Eric & Alex, our 2 newbies, neither of who have every played a rollplaying game before in their lives. They’ve watched some of Mike’s DnD game but have never actually played anything themselves.

Character/Crew Creation notes and thoughts:

We didn’t record any of this we did it mostly over a few days on Discord via text so there isn’t a reference for it. The biggest hurdle was pushing what Fiction First meant and how that hanged the game, how loose mechanics are and that the players have to decide things. The “what’s a sentinel?” or “who is this guy” popped up quite a few times, but eventually it got through that they get to define it.

The “problems” came with the Contacts and Friends/Rivals and how much of a rival or antagonist someone is how much to tie them into the setting vs tying other things. Eric made a character with a great backstory and strong ties to Ulf setting himself up for some great future encounters with the character but then still has to go back and pick a “rival” contact. Alex goes through his contacts and makes his rival contact someone he’s pretty much going to want to hunt down and kill at some point, so figuring out how to balance that aspect with them being an actual contact is going to be really interesting. Not impossible, but muddy at first.

The Good Ol Heritage/Background problem. This is a thing i’ve struggled with every character I’ve made and now see my characters kind of struggling with. Everyone’s so familiar with picking a DnD race that it’s hard to explain “yeah you’re kind of picking a race but they’re all super vague and you’re kind of going to set the entire tone for the way the race an those people interact ” and then the “make up a background. Okay, you’ve got a really cool story background how does it fit in with this list of things?” So really I just kinda let them make up backgrounds and ignore the list if they wanted to and if we’re in a situation where their background is relevan to whats going on I’ll just give them the increased affect, seems to be the intended result without limiting it to the list anyways.

Besides those things Character and crew creation was pretty good.

Episode 1:

Overall: Complication Engagement roll + bad rolls = hillarious comedy of errors.

Mission Summary:

So I didn’t start with one of the specific predefined starting points, instead I gave each of the 3 players a potential lead on a job because I wanted them to come at this from a character perspective straight off the bat but to have options, I thought my two new players might struggle with the openness of just “Hey crew pick a job” so this way they all have 3 options that they can choose to share or hide (I like asymmetrical aspects) and communicate as a group their thoughts on the leads and figure out what to do without feeling lost in the sandbox. Mike (Thursday) took charge as I kind of figured he would because he was the most experienced and comfortable, I made up a newspaper article as a bit of character creation pre established lore because Thursday has a bit of a tiff with the Ink rakes and likes to steal and destroy newspapers, so I knew that would be an easy way to plant a story lure, then just tailored it to her backstory a little bit and included one of the accepted crew negative Factions (Lord Scurlock, and a hint of another thing tying into the Bloodletters game (I like it, it adds cool lore and characters to include them so I did). Thursday pushes the mission and our crew of assassins decide their first mission is a pro-bono community oriented mission: Kill Cyclops.

The Engagement roll happens and there’s a complication, I decided to go a bit all in on pulling the Bloodletters into the world as flunkies of Scurlock at this point, so I decided that the complication was going to be some suspicious bait in the form of the mysterious unknown Oskar Scurlock showing up well before Cyclops ever wood. The impatient and proactive Skovlan warrior takes the bait signalling for the take down of Oskar in the absence of Cyclops himself. This eventually leads them on a loud flashy chase across town resulting in many bad rolls and fumbles as our Hound and Cutter struggle to keep up and track the more nimble and fleet footed Oskar and Thursday (lurk). Eventually Thursday corners Oskar and hesitates trying to let the rest of the team catch up and I decide to go ahead and unleash a Tempest on her and introduce her to the less mundane world of Blades in the dark. After being thrown across the street twice with her crew unable to catch up Thursday herself, the least lethal member of the team by far stumbles across Cyclops now tasked with rescuing Oskar at all costs and managed to accomplish the ACTUAL mission and kill Cyclops, but this time however the bloodletters loyal crew of dock workers and ex-sailors have managed to get in a position where Thursday isn’t going to be comfortable hanging around she bails, as Mattias and Sigbjorn manage to find the sight the (rightfully) frustrated Skovlan at this point launches into an attack despite not being in a position to at all, luckily in part for them the crew’s orders are to get Oskar out of there safe and sound, and they leave a few thugs to stall our “heroes” out while Oskar escapes. Thursday manages to pocket all the mission gold for herself (and I love it, go asymmetry and character choices) and the crew heads home never once thinking about doing anything about the body (this will be fun later).

Rule fumbles and issues:

* Way too many controlled situations because I was thinking of them as the default, corrected this in episode 2.

Gave people too much stress for teamwork rolls, realized this in between sessions and recounted them up and adjusted them correctly.

* I struggled with consequences a lot and pushed them to desperate a lot instead of finding other complications, and I think I may have double dipped a time or two and did a consequence and a drop. But to be fair they failed A LOT.

* Probably made them roll prowl a bit too much, but to be fair they’re the ones who wanted to traverse the rooftops to chase Oskar.

* Forgot Crew Xp. We forget it episode 2 as well, I did it in between sessions.

* We did Vice indulgence rolls wrong (also wrong in week 2 and week 3) because I didn’t read the rule book all the way and thought I knew what the macro did but didn’t. Not a huge deal in the end, but whatever.

* Didn’t really explain how armor was used during the game and it put Sigbjorn (Eric’s character) in a much worse position than he probably should have been so I helped him out between sessions and tweaked the injuries a little bit.

If anyone actually watches the entire thing (over time is probably how i’d recommend) let me know anything else I messed up or could have done better. We’ve played twice since then and they’ll be up and i’ll post about them and the changes we’ve made as well but there could be other things i’ve missed and ways to improve that I haven’t thought up yet for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJBSVW_H8uI

#glowinthedarkrpg Our first real play session!

#glowinthedarkrpg Our first real play session!

#glowinthedarkrpg Our first real play session! Okay, this is a recap of our last 2 hangouts, but combined it’s character/crew creation and part of a first run (my substitute for score).

I run vanilla Blades every tuesday, and have 2 players from that game in my Glow in the Dark playtest. Joining them is a longtime friend from Texas who hasn’t played any Blades or PbtA or really much of anything in a while. I’ve known all of them for more than half my life, so their tolerance for my gaming shenanigans is high.

They opted for a Dealers crew, citing the Raiders as “too bad guy-feeling” and the Shepherds as too weird to start off with. Relics was a strong choice, though, and there was some dithering that was finally solved when they decided the Dealers were actually the most likely to be involved with building up some sort of civilization. Cool.

Survivor-wise, we ended up with:

Johnny Tabernacle, the Leftover: Born on a moon base, Johnny T evacuated to the ruined Earth once the base’s supplies ran out and the colonists turned to cannibalism. This means I can have moon cannibals follow him down to the wasteland. Perfect. Played by Matt Damon somewhere between the Martian and Interstellar.

Lt. Dan Halen, the Reaper: Originally part of the Last Cavalry, Dan was betrayed by his unit and left for dead. He joined the Third Rails while he bides his time for vengeance. Interesting point: the crew didn’t take faction status with the Last Cavalry, so that indicates this rivalry is narrowed down to just Dan and his old unit, Kill Bill style.

Ol’ Zeke, the Junker: Zeke ran afoul of the Iron Maidens, a power-armor gang running out of a derelict women’s prison. Between Johnny T and Zeke, the Third Rails got the old metro line running that serves as their hidden convoy base.

That’s right, their crew lair is both Hidden and a Convoy. An old metro line made a lot of sense, and because they’re Dealers we said the line meets up with an underground mall called Prism City.

I’ll recap the first play session later, but so far things have been promising. I haven’t gotten a lot of specific feedback yet, but then again we’ve only just started.

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 34 (September 08 2016)

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 34 (September 08 2016)

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 34 (September 08 2016)

Shade latches the front exit of the Cat & Cradle, and turns to see the bartender flying through the air and crumpling against the far wall like a rag doll. Having gained everyone’s attention, Setarra begins questioning everyone with her Vulcan mind-meld trick regarding the death of Joshua Gleeson (the man in the barrel). She gets through three or four of the patrons without incident. When she approaches a sharp-faced man in the back corner, he says he’ll tell her what she wants to know. She reads his mind anyway, nods once, and then drags him into the back room and closes the door behind her without a single word. Shade and the rest of the bar can hear as the man yells, then pleads, then screams, and then the scream is cut short. Setarra returns from the back room looking much calmer. She apologizes to the bartender and sends him back to work, but advises him to keep a better eye on the goings on in his establishment.

As Setarra and Shade leave, she explains what she learned from the man. Her contact was murdered by the man and his friends, apparently over the matter of some money. They continue to look for someone to round out the staff for the back room at the Moon’s Daughter. They head to Coalridge, but again Setarra is unable to locate the person she’s looking for (another 3 on the Hunt roll). They head back to the bridge and take the stairs down to the underpass at the water’s edge. She removes her shoes and sits down, dangling her feet in the water of the canal, and closes her eyes. After a minute, she gets up and puts her shoes back on, informing Shade that someone is deliberately attacking her contacts. She implies that whoever it is, they’re above Shade’s power level, so there’s not a lot he could do to help at the moment.

They continue on to Barrowcleft, where they meet an old man sitting on a park bench, feeding breadcrumbs to some crows. He introduces himself as Giuseppe Coré, and he and Setarra trade some affectionately pointed banter. When he shakes Shade’s hand, it becomes apparent that the man’s frailty is an act. When Shade attempts to examine him with Attune, he is unable to get a read, but Guiseppe picks up on the scrutiny and politely asks him not to pry. Shade gives his pitch, and Guiseppe is definitely interested, and so will meet with Constance at the Leaky Bucket in the morning.

They return to Crow’s Foot, to the alley that Shade was supposedly found in when he was carted off to the crematorium. Setarra helps him Attune, and rewind time to the point Shade and Jezelle entered. They looked like they were drunk (or possibly poisoned), and stumbling around a bit. There was a blinding flash of light, and they both collapsed. Setarra knows of a number of entities that could produce such an effect, so it’s hardly distinctive, but promises to look into it. She abruptly but politely bids him goodnight, and departs for Nightmarket. What she has noticed and Shade has not is that Kamali is skulking around on a nearby rooftop.

Once Setarra is gone, Kamali drops down from where she was watching the exchange, not wanting to get anywhere near the demon. He tells her about the mystery he’s trying to solve, and shows her the spirit bottle (which still rattles occasionally). Kamali successfully Attunes, and is able to see inside the bottle to perceive the angry ghost thrashing around inside and attempting to smash the glass. She leads him back to the factory.

Once in the workshop, Kamali brings out her Blue Cloud gear and takes a small hit, and sets out a notebook and charcoal, before manacling herself to a gurney. She points at Shade’s spirit bottle, and then to her open mouth. Shade, never being one to shy away from new and exciting experiences, shrugs and opens the bottle, keeping the spirit hook handy just in case.

I put it down to a Fortune roll to decide if Jezelle’s ghost had the ability to possess someone. I told them that if it didn’t, it was simply going to attack. And there’s Kamali all chained up. However, we get a 5 on the roll, so out of the bottle the ghost comes, and zips straight into Kamali. Jezelle then takes that opportunity to start thrashing around and buckling against the restraints, managing to get up off the gurney and drag it a few feet at one point. Kamali herself experiences the sensation of being pushed aside, and from that point on she’s a passenger, able to see, hear, and feel, but unable to exert any control over her body as it twists and struggles.

And that’s when Shade hears Kamali’s voice for the first time (and Kamali herself hears it for the first time in years). The first thing out of her mouth is a string of obscenities. Kamali finds it odd, in that it’s her voice, but not her accent, as Jezelle is Akorosi. Jezelle is pulling so hard against the manacles, that they’re cutting into Kamali’s wrists, but she manages to Resist the harm (especially with a helping die from the Blue Cloud). Eventually she calms down enough that she can converse coherently. She demands to know where she is, and Shade explains the situation. There’s a bit more back and forth, and eventually she breaks down in tears.

Shade asks for her help to piece together what happened in the missing three days. We end up working backwards, Memento-style, from the alley. When he asks what’s the last thing she remembers she talks bout being in the alley with Shade. For some reason they couldn’t stand up properly, and they knew that something was very wrong. Then a blinding flash of light, and that’s all. Further back, she remembers accompanying Shade as he went bar-hopping, in Nightmarket, Charterhall, Coalridge, finally ending up in Dunslough, at the Devil’s Tooth. There were some Skovlanders there, and they seemed to be celebrating, something about a feud. There was a woman Jezelle didn’t know, who greeted Shade like an old friend (and called him by a different name), and insisted that the both of them have a drink with her. He asks her to describe the woman, and she mentions a tattoo on the woman’s neck. She reaches for the charcoal, and draws a symbol. Shade recognizes it immediately, and knows the woman can only be Quellyn, an old rival of his. He didn’t consider their falling out to be serious enough for her to want him dead. It still doesn’t answer the question of what happened in the alley.

Jezelle says she doesn’t want to hurt the girl, remembering everything that Tocker put her through. Shade gestures to the bottle, but Jezelle shudders at the thought of going back in. Shade feels that he has enough control over the situation to allow her to simply exit Kamali’s body. Shade continues his conversation with her, but Kamali, now back in control, can’t see or hear the ghost, until Jezelle touches her on her shoulder, startling her. Jezelle apologizes, and looks like she’s about to break down crying again. Kamali wryly runs her dagger through Jezelle’s midsection, which of course passes right through her. This is enough to at least get a smile. Kamali indicates that Jezelle can use her any time she needs to, but Jezelle is reluctant to take her up on that offer. Shade makes a deal with Jezelle; if she can assist in solving the mystery, he will introduce her to some people who can help her deal with her new state of being. Jezelle agrees, but says she needs some alone time. Shade offers the bottle as a place she can rest, but promises to leave the lid open.

Once Jezelle is gone, Kamali heads back to her room (while Shade is in the middle of a sentence), retrieves a big heavy leatherbound book, and slams it on the table and points at Shade. The text is in Iruvian, but the hand-painted color frontispiece makes it clear that it recounts the story of how a powerful demon once became a prince of Iruvia.

Notes:

Another bonus session. Boots’ player wasn’t around this time.

Setarra’s abilities were much less subtle now. On several occasions, Shade’s player said “ooh, I want to learn that”, to which I said “That’s not something that can be learned.” The truth of the matter is that a ritual can be researched to replicate nearly any effect, even innate demonic abilities. It’s just a matter of finding a source.

Jezelle may very well have been the only genuinely nice person in all of Doskvol. No wonder she was a victim. In her current state she’s certainly a candidate for the Reconciled, but Shade is a bad influence.

This was supposed to be a quick pickup session, as Gloves & Boots’ player wasn’t available. As it turns out, what we ended up with was some seriously deep story and quite a bit of background info on some previously sketchy NPCs.

We had a short discussion afterward regarding the multiple PCs thing we’ve been doing (what Ars Magica referred to as “Troupe Style”). While in general it’s worked out well, especially for such a small group of players, this session illustrated the benefits of focusing more tightly on a smaller number of characters. In other words, what we gain in breadth, we lose in depth, as it were. I’m not saying either method is better than the other, just that we need to be aware of the differences in play that these kinds of decisions will engender.

#dontmesswiththedolls