Quickie: Bodies must be destroyed in electroplasm to prevent spirit release, but what happens if the corpse is…
Quickie: Bodies must be destroyed in electroplasm to prevent spirit release, but what happens if the corpse is irrecoverably burnt in a normal fire?
“We used to be her street rats…”
“We used to be her street rats…”
Origin story for BitD.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-yorks-first-female-crime-boss-started-her-own-crime-school
Has anyone played solidly with a Breakers crew?
Has anyone played solidly with a Breakers crew? So far it seems to be the least popular on the boards. Very interested to hear your stories!
19th Century London by Gustave Doré. Some really creepy imagery from what was an eternally foggy city.
19th Century London by Gustave Doré. Some really creepy imagery from what was an eternally foggy city.
http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/london-illustrations-by-gustave-dor
On the subject of travel.
On the subject of travel.
How often do people get attacked by spirits outside of the lightning barriers? We’ve gotten hints of Scovlan refugees, we know there was (is?) a war, we’re to presume the empire is still held together as a whole and that means trade, travel and bureaucratic measures to ensure all this is controlled.
If it’s insanely risky to step out of the barrier – how does anything get done – how does trade happen, how do messages get about and how to wars get fought?
“Don’t expect realism here” aside, a gang of smugglers are all about circumventing and profiteering of the above problems. So how does it work in your world?
On the subject of dinnertime.
On the subject of dinnertime.
Given that one “should not look for realism here” – what do people eat in your Doskvol?
We know there is little light, but I don’t imagine everyone living off mushrooms, and the river would be overfished by now.
I figure long term project clocks give whispers and leeches a lot of ability – so could there be trees that have been alchemically enhanced to have bigger leaves that absorb more light and eventually produce small fruit?
Could there be ‘grow houses’ filled with artificial light to get expensive vegetables to the rich? Can some weird chemicals treat soil so that it produces extensive (if bitter) weeds for livestock feed?
How do fishermen go out beyond the field to trawl the seas? I’d think it’s as noble a duty as hunting leviathans.
What do your Doskvollians (Doskvolites? Duskies? Doskvolers?) eat come dinnertime?
Stealing expensive food can be an interesting score for thieves, and importing rare spices great for smugglers. The idea that hawkers have a turf dedicated to the dissemination of citrus fruit rather than drugs can be interesting.
Scurvy is a bitch.
The ideas your players come up with are never as outrageous as real life.
The ideas your players come up with are never as outrageous as real life.
Gang concept up for grabs.
Gang concept up for grabs.
I was doing a little research on infamous gangs and I came across a reference to ‘The Bowery Boys’ who (in some references) allege they dressed in elegant clothing and held legitimate employment as printers, mechanics and other apprentice tradesmen by day, before pursuing violent activities at night. Wiki places them as ex-firemen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowery_Boys).
I like the idea of a small gang who own a printing press that covers the usual news but also caters to the lesser traders and common-folk of a specific district. They’ll have the one decent correspondent who goes to all the weddings, galas, and other fetes collecting rumors, gossip and interesting bits of news. That’s when the printers then turn thieves and go rob these people and seem to have the story reported well before anyone else.
Lady Pemberton just debuted her new sapphire necklace at the Humpreys wedding? Is Crutchley bragging about the new impenetrable vault his bank has just constructed? Did you see what price Modesto’s “Ode to Drunk Lair” oil fetched at auction?
Advance the reputation of the paper and get invited to more houses, explore them, and visit them when the lights are switched off. Expand your distribution, dig up scurrilous rumors about important magistrates and bluecloaks and shatter the careers of those in your way.
Toss in the Runagate Rampant from Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or the lighter Ankh-Morpork Times from Pratchett’s The Truth’ and check out a few of these as well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_newspapers
Blackfinger Boys?
Hey all
Hey all,
A bunch of questions, mostly to clarify things in my head. Thanks for any contributions!
COMBAT
1. A PC moves to attack an NPC. Is this resolved in a simple roll or with a clock? If a simple roll, how do you determine the difficulty of the action roll?
2. Say this was a bar brawl instead. A group of five thugs has surrounded the PC and the PC decides he’s going to make an example of them and wants to go lethal (so they fight with death in mind as well): is this resolved with a simple roll by the player on each opponent, a clock or a simple on all at desperate?
EFFECT
3. P5 suggests the effect of the roll is determined beforehand, but seems to lean towards an arbitrary position chosen by GM and/or player. Now in a scenario where players are not eager to suffer consequences and go straight for the insta-kill (unlike the the example set by the excellent Bloodletters AP) – is there some default stance a GM can use without having to be the one to pull the players back?
4. Obvious but while I have the mic – Do the “ticks” in the effect levels box on P10 refer to ticks you make on a clock?
CLOCKS
Faction clocks: “When the PCs take downtime (page 20) the GM ticks forward the faction clocks that they’re interested in.”
5. Does this mean nothing else moves until the players interact with it?
6. With the above in ming, the given scenario is that the players are working for/with the Lampblacks vs the Red Sashes. Both factions have “defeat opponent” as a clock – how do you trigger the rivals? Is this done via GM fiat, with a narrative – or by a fortune die? And how would you judge the effect offscreen?
-B