On a tangential note, thank you John Harper for introducing me to The Lies of Locke Lamora.  I’m halfway through and…

On a tangential note, thank you John Harper for introducing me to The Lies of Locke Lamora.  I’m halfway through and…

On a tangential note, thank you John Harper for introducing me to The Lies of Locke Lamora.  I’m halfway through and this book is MAGNIFICENT. 

For some reason my local library shelves it in general fiction rather than SFF – so I never would have found the book without it being mentioned as an influence on BITD.

I’m really liking what I see here, apart from the blah *World-ism of calling things “Moves”.

I’m really liking what I see here, apart from the blah *World-ism of calling things “Moves”.

I’m really liking what I see here, apart from the blah *World-ism of calling things “Moves”.

I’ve begun setting up the framework and scope of a hack of Blades that’s a version of “The West Marches” campaign…

I’ve begun setting up the framework and scope of a hack of Blades that’s a version of “The West Marches” campaign…

I’ve begun setting up the framework and scope of a hack of Blades that’s a version of “The West Marches” campaign and a bit of Darkest Dungeon PC game.

PCs play as various oddfolk, screwballs, and peasants who venture out into wilds in search of treasure in wilderness full of fairy-tale/occult mystery. 

I imagine this small town’s services as different factions the PCs can help improve and foster connections with through coin and quests.  Which is a good thing because adventuring is stressful and they’ll need to blow off steam at the inns, brothels, temples and more!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12HWLclV7B1Pc5IDrtcVBD9I7g8lMVauJO3hCUb9bkws/edit#

Like I said- it’s barely a zygote right now, but it’s fun! 

Here my report, sorry for my english, who is obviously not my natural language.

Here my report, sorry for my english, who is obviously not my natural language.

Here my report, sorry for my english, who is obviously not my natural language.

First Session for me and my friend – 9:00 hours to create the characters, the crew and playing 2 missions.

My players chose the cultists crew template. They have decided to play old wandering souls who have found a way to possessed some Deathland Scavenger and found a way to trespass the Duskwall borders.

Half crazy, they think they are The Old Death God’s servants, their big project is to rebuild the gates of death and find a way to allow the souls to find the path to oblivion . They consider the souls disintegration with electroplasmic tools an error and a folly.

They have chosen as Patron Skurloc the vampire necromancer, decadent noble form Duskwall, who live in the mansion at the southern end of the Crow district.

the characters are: A Hound / a Lurk / a Whisper

First mission: after agreeing to serve the lampblack, they were send to steal a list of Bluecoats informer who have infiltrated the lampblack. They have chosen a infiltration plan into the local Bluecoats city watch station.

Highlight: when the Whisper disguised himself as a Bluecoats and diverted the attention of some guards, to give an escaping opportunity to his two fellow crew members.

Secret discovered: The cult of the “Path of Echoes” natural enemy of their faith, seems to have followers in Bluecoats and in the Red Sashes.

Second mission : Skurloc who lost control on the Crow since Roric death, asks the PCs to infiltrate Crow’s headquarters and put three Spy Ward to allow him to spy Lyssa and her minions.

The PC succeed in placing a ward at the HQ Gateway, in the meeting room and in Lyssa’s chamber.

Highlight: the Lurk who uses his Silence vial in front of Lyssa’s door, which allowed the Hound to blow its lock with his gun and shoulder ( in total magical silence), then the Whisper to put his ward while Lyssa was sleeping in the same room.

Secret discovered: Lyssa is currently recruiting from the Skovlander refuges to rebuild her gang, in exchange she close her eyes on their political scheming and uprising project against the governor in place.

the systems have worked fine for me and my players, it does very well what it is supposed to do. I tried to roll separately for the first mission, and roll in the same time the action and effect dice for the second mission. And it is clearly better to reduce the numbers of rolls.

I had a problem with the way to manage trauma. All my players took 1 trauma point during the session. It happened during a mission and I do not know how to handle this. Does the PC have to”disappear” from the mission or continue, having just lost “1 life”. It was hard to put a PC out of play when the full team was still in an enemy building.

Countdown clocks are your friends

Countdown clocks are your friends

Countdown clocks are your friends

So, between GMing and playing this game, I had the chance to play it five times already. During the first sessions, I found something hard to figure out : how to come up with interesting dangers. Since dangers cannot prevent a PC to succeed in her action, finding a good danger to face is not always easy, in my opinion.

But something occurred to me: the danger doesn’t need to be obvious, offscreen is good too. Let me explain.

Last session, a PC was trying to circumvent a locked door in a mansion by jumping from a balcony to the one of the room he was trying to gain access to. So, a risky position, given that he had no rope and was not willing to spend stress on it. As a danger, I could not say that he’d fall, since that would entirely prevent him from passing the obstacle. I first told him that he could twist his ankle, but both my players and I found it kinda lame. So one of my players came up with that a patrol of guards, passing nearby, would notice something is afoot and would eventually barge in to investigate. We all agreed and I gave their arrival a 4-segments clock. For the next actions the PC would have to make, I told them that they could take too much time: the danger would be me ticking one of the segment. It clearly accelerated the game and put the pression on all of us.

Whatcha all think ?

In looking through the quick start, there’s something that I just assume my group will change.

In looking through the quick start, there’s something that I just assume my group will change.

In looking through the quick start, there’s something that I just assume my group will change. It’s fast and easy, and makes sense to me, so I haven’t thought to mention it.

The quickstart suggests doing experience for a session at the beginning of the next session. The most obvious reason not to do it that way is because even in a stable group you may not have the same people at every session. So you play, but you don’t get experience if you don’t show up the next time. Or, people who do show up for the first time (or missed last session) can’t participate in the discussion of what you did last time.

Also, time passes and people forget. Even a week later, they may not remember who did what last time. No, experience really needs to be handled at the end of the session.

I could see doing down time at the beginning of the next session.

Is there a crucial point I’m missing?