Tag: G. Michael Truran

Last night I had the opportunity to experience Blades in the Dark as a player for the first time (I’ve GMed it a ton though). In appreciation, I made beef-and-onion hand pies for the group.

We decided to create a daring duo of Bravos.

I played D’ruva Hakan (alias: Salt), an Iruvian Hound with a psychic link to his hunting pet, a cunning desert cat called Sand (imagine a mastiff size sphynx cat).

My friend Sam played the role of Ralf “Silver” Williams, a Skovlander Leech who secretes Quicksilver from his skin.

We wound up with an interesting mix of faction statuses. An initial dip in reputation with the Bluecoats turned to a net +1 after we determined that Conway, a crooked Bluecoat, was our crew contact. As a result, Ulf Ironborn took a disliking to our gang for a net -2. We decided that our hunting ground is on the doorstep of the Lampblacks, to Baszo’s chagrin, for a -1 with the Lampblacks.

We started the session getting called in for ‘the talk’ with Baszo. After managing to convince Baszo that we weren’t averse to causing problems for the Red Sashes (a lie, since Salt would prefer not to mess with his countrymen), we made a beeline for our contact to see if he had a lead on any openings in the Lampblack’s defenses.

We learned of a rumor that the Lampblacks were going to make an attempt on Mylera Klev’s life at a hookah bar run by the Sashes. So, we hatched a cunning plan to ‘rescue’ Klev and ingratiate ourselves to the Sashes.

We planted our Elite Thugs in the bar to cause a disturbance at the moment of the assassination, ensuring that the Sashes would be handicapped dealing with the assassin, and Salt and Silver took up positions to come to Klev’s defense instead.

The plan worked like a charm, with Silver incapacitating one assassin with drown powder while Salt used his unusual weapon, a bullwhip, to trip another assassin into crashing down on the bar, discharging his blunderbuss into a third assassin. The fourth, and last, Lampblack surrendered after Salt drew his pistols on him, commanding him to stand down.

In gratitude, Mylera Klev gave us a tip on a juicy claim held by the Lampblacks and promised future rewards for loyalty and assistance.

During downtime, Silver filed a police report with our contact to reduce heat and Salt indulged is vice: obligation to the Iruvian Consulate. Salt is, in addition to an ambitious criminal, an ex-military spook doing intelligence work for the consulate. A deniable asset that the ambassador can write off when captured by Imperial authorities.

Also, the hand pies were delicious.

So, my Monday night group trades off GMing week to week. Mostly 5E DnD, but I just started running Blades in the Dark about a month ago. One of the other GMs is running a DnD game that probably would have worked better as Blades: it’s a campaign about demihuman resistance fighters acting against a human supremacist gov’t. Last night, after wrapping up some loose ends from our last session, he broached the idea of making a Blades style crew sheet for the party and their resistance network. Sounds like we’re porting over long term project clocks, faction rules, and are going to use Blades style crew advancements to manage party XP.

I just started running Blades in the Dark for a third group (because I’m a madman), and someone finally bit the hook and made a Mate! I’m excited to see how this band of Shadows deals with having a mischievous little juvenile delinquent along for the ride.

Blades in the Big Easy, Episode 2

Quick refresher, our intrepid band of Smugglers are:

-Merresh Jeshahn, an Iruvian Slide

-Sheha Gorat, a Tycherosi Cutter

-Unna “Madame Moon” Helles, a Dagger Islander Leech

-Murdock “Scales” Deepscourge, a Skovlander Whisper

And, introducing:

-Gideon, a hunchbacked Akorosian Hound

Quick recap: last episode the crew did the Blood in Crow’s Foot starter. Bazso hired the squad to move a spirit essence distilling rig to the docks, just after Bazso’s own men ‘liberated’ it from the Red Sashes.

For episode 2, I explained how claims work and indicated that there were two immediate options: Turf in the form of a watering hole frequented by the Gondoliers (who the crew have -2 status with), or a Luxury Fence controlled by the Red Sashes (who the crew are still at 0 status with). The crew opted to go after the Luxury Fence, a wine merchant named Rickard LeNez (table joke: Ricky the Nose) who uses his business as a front to move stolen paintings and high end spirit essence.

Gathering info, the crew discovered that a) LeNez has a mistress he puts up in Silkshore b) LeNez’s main source of profit was acting as a middle man for the Red Sashes’ essence trade, which is currently disrupted and c) the Lampblacks are also currently interfering in LeNez’s legitimate enterprises.

The group developed a deception plan to have Unna hit LeNez with trance powder while he’s on his way to see his mistress, then have Merresh and Murdock step in to ‘save’ him from being drugged. LeNez’s good favor earned, they’d have a moment alone to deliver an offer the merchant can’t refuse.

Complications entered the plan when LeNez was accompanied by two Red Sash bodyguards. Unna managed to push herself to hit all three with trance powder. Merresh managed to finesse all three into an alley, where Sheha and Gideon quickly dispatched the Red Sashes (in a non-lethal and only mostly crippling fashion). The crew than managed to calm down the drugged LeNez and leverage their dirt to win him over.

Highlights:

-Gideon, our new player, managed to get a ton of great info from his friend Steiner, the assassin.

-LeNez initially refused the offer, terrified of Melara Klev’s revenge. Merresh retorted by saying “we also have friends in high places” at which point Gideon, concealed on a rooftop, put a crossbow bolt precariously close to LeNez’s personal bits.

-Murdock, whose enemy is Lord Scurlock, started a long term project to learn more about vampires.

-Unna, Sheha, and Gideon hatched a plan to reduce heat by spreading rumors about a fictitious gang composed of the crew’s rivals. They managed to knock their heat down to zero, but I started a campaign clock called “Self Fulfilling Prophecy.”

Other Thoughts

-I may be guiding the crew to do more set up and legwork before scores than the game really requires, but I think it really delivered a quality session.