First experience, in less than optimal conditions. Eight players, one cutter, one hound, two lurks, two slides and two whispers.
We lost around two hours creating the characters and crew. Had I known I would have so many players, I’ve made pregens. I should have made pregens…
We start in Baszo Baz office. “Only half the crew is inside, who’s talking with Baz?” Laxer the whisper steps forward. Weaver, Maxwell, Fwishi and Skava are waiting in the next room, surrounded by suspicious Lampblacks.
Mr. Baz makes it clear that they are young, and his gang can crush them anytime he wants. Laxer accepts working against the sashes, but needs something more substantial to trust Baz. The gang leader offers him two things: first his crew can walk away in two working legs each, second he can schedule a meeting with one of his informants to give them intel of the Red Sashes base. If the intel is worthy, they can trust him, if *the Wart break into the vault, they can start speaking business. Laxer asks for a minute to consult with his group.
Huddled at the table the five thieves discuss their possibilities, fully knowing that the lampblacks are watching them. Maxwell catches one of the lamps eye, a rough, scarred thug playing with a knife. She gives him the look, like saying “come pick me up if you dare”, the slide takes the call. Laxer goes back to the office, escorted by two of his crew and two of Baszo bodyguards. They accept the deal, and are escorted outside.
Meanwhile Maxwell and the thug go right into business, she takes him to a more private place, and Marco (Maxwell player) goes “I murder her”, confused I go along with it, having no idea where he’s going. He tests Murder, devils bargain: they will notice she’s missing, sticks a knife, four segment clock to get out unnoticed, he goes for a Finesse, not great only half clock. “You leave the room, but there are lampblacks all over the place”, we decide for a Deceive test, he will disguise himself as a lampblack, “the bearded one”, devils bargain: he’s followed. “Before I leave, I leave behind something red, so they think it were a red sash. Now I know where this is going. Tests Finesse, bad luck, 4 stress, but he gets away, discards the disguise and reunites with the full crew. The Wart now have -1 rep with the Lampblacks, and Maxwell is undoubtedly implicated. They hear shouting “We better run.”
The crew has mixed opinions, Maxwell wants to heat the war, with the sashes and lampblacks killing each other and leaving room for them. They had already chose bad rep with the Red Sashes, and now are down with both sides of the war. Not only that, but the meeting is only hours away.
They decide to infiltrate the sashes base, check out the building, and compare their notes with the info Baz’s informant gives them. Maxwell gives Fwishi the Lurk some coal to plant on the vault and incriminate the lampblacks of the theft.
They go for Deception, the method is: Skeeves the Slide, Mr. Morristone and Maxwell will disguise themselves as some posh noblemen interested in this new cult fad of the Path of Echoes. We declare that the temple is divided in three levels, the first level is a shrine open to the public. Exmuk the Cutter is waiting outside on lookout. They are greeted by a red dressed monk who’s guiding the regular parishoners. The farse is a 6 segment clock. They ask the monk for a full tour, we go for a Sway I think and Influence effect, devils bargain: since Maxwell is iruvian, the monk starts prodding for deep religious stances and cultural details, he has a full success and ticks 6 segments, the farce is complete. Skeeves distracts the talkative monk while Morristone (dressed as an old lady) start taking notes of the plans, covering it as writing poetry. We go directly for an Insight effect, devil bargain: some old bachelor starts chewing his/her ear. Half four clock to find an entry point. Maxwell finds a door behind a curtain, leading to the upper level. I think we go for a Feint, he climbs the stairs that lead to some kind of dojo, weapon racks cover the walls, we go for a Finesse test, devil’s bargain, one of the sashes enters the room from the upper level. Maxwell succeeds and sees an entrance from the garden that leads directly to the upper level, an entry points He leaves before being noticed.
Back with the crew, the thieves decide to infiltrate before going to the meeting. The idea behind it is stealing some of the treasure, escape, go to the meeting, steal less riches and present Baz the “second” loot. A little convoluted.
Laxer decides to Summon his former master for advice, he goes to the alley where he used to hang out (Master Travis had a life as a self imposed hobo). We decided he died five years ago, no he’s a bizzarre ghost that haunts the streets. Laxer spends 3 stress points and a cold mist start forming around him, we go for a Will resistance (since its the first time he summons Travis), a humanoid figure starts building itself from the thrash, body of boxes and food, hair of discarded mops and eyes of a dead cat. Master and apprentice reunite, and the spirit warns the Whisper about the temple: it is a lighthouse for ghosts in the area and holds the ghosts of powerful warriors inside some ancient armors.
With all this intel, they chose Infiltration, using the garden door as entry point. This mission is for Exmuk (cutter), Weaver and Fwishi (Lurks). Fwishi is on point, he tries to overcome the door with Secure, Weaver assists making a distraction for the patrol, we roll Finesse and has a bad result, two guards shout “Who’s there?!” before he gets to pick the lock, but Exmuk takes the effect roll with his Force: before the guards reach the Lurk, he knocks them out.
This is where we wrapped up. The first BitD game in Rosario, possibly the first one in Argentina. I have mixed feels. I like the system, but have a lot of trouble when asking for tests. Only one of the players had read the rules, so they don’t have idea when to roll either. BitD seems different in that there is a lot of fictional “set up” before the roll, and is a dynamic that I find difficult to get.
As I finish writing this AP I had GM’d another session, this time for 3 players. Went much more smoothly, and overall more positive, but still have the issue with the roll dynamics. When to roll. What’s at stake. When its Action and when its Effect. Tuesday night I have another table, I guess I’ll a lot sharper by then.
*(yep, that’s the name of the crew)
