We’re so fucked!

We’re so fucked!

We’re so fucked!

Originally shared by Robert Bohl

I played my second session of John Harper’s Blades in the Dark last night*. We had our first failed job. Our Whisper accidentally let loose a demon on Coalridge, and the Spirit Wardens were about to bomb the shit out of the district, killing lots of people. We went in with weapons designed to kill demons, which were summoned from the corpse of a slavers’ accountant that our Cutter created to need. We fucked up our engagement roll and wound up caught in the crossfire between demon cultists and the Spirit Wardens. We snuck out, and into a confrontation with the demon, which went utterly to shit, with two of the three in the team being left behind with the demon, and my Slide fucking off to safety.

This was a minorly irksome mission for me. There wasn’t much for my Slide to do. She did some recon and discovered an easy score that we could hit while we were in the district dealing with the demon, but we didn’t have enough time to get to it (so I kinda wasted everyone’s time looking for it, though I can follow it up later). I also went into this not knowing how bad it would be to face a demon, but I decided my character was willing to help out a former military buddy and current crewmate for a fuckup. But there was basically nothing we could’ve done about it, even if I had been of some use. Demons are powerful.

I overstate. I was of some use. I distracted the demon momentarily by pretending to be running from my friends, which got the Cutter a (useless) shot against it that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible. And at the end, I tried to Sway the demon to let the Cutter and me go, pointing out that he had the Whisper who was the cause of all this. He allowed me to run, but didn’t let me take the Charming (the Cutter).

So it’s weird. It was a little frustrating, but it was also an interesting story, and the frustration may have been perfectly right for what my character should’ve been feeling. And it puts us in a very interesting story position I have no idea how we’ll get out of.

(The image is my character portrait for my Slide, Willoughby, who lost both husbands and all her children to the war.)

* If you ever want to watch, we play on most Sundays in the evening (Eastern time) at https://www.twitch.tv/actualplay

Such a fun session

Such a fun session

Such a fun session

Originally shared by Robert Bohl

Last night, I played John Harper’s Blades in the Dark with my brother, with Judd Karlman GMing. We’re a group of smugglers known as the Wobbegong Crew* who used to be in the military during the Unity War. I’m gonna talk about my perspective of the events of the evening below; there’s a lovely twist, so read on!

For this session, we got offered a job to steal a boat from another smuggling crew, with whom we had no beef. This job came to us from a group of fancy-pantses called The Hive, who are like powerful old money criminal types. Even though we had no beef, we went for it, because it was just a theft job.

We started out with my ex-spy-cum-Slide, Willoughby, making a Gather Information roll. I met up with my drug dealer Bryl, who knew the Fog Hounds (our victims). Dressing up like a rich lady slumming it and cashing out her stash to ply the Fog Hounds, she discovered over the course of the night that they were anxiously looking for a reporter, trying to pass some information on to her. But they didn’t let slip what it was.

Come the end of the night, Willoughby decided she wanted to see what the boat they were going to steal looked like inside. She’d been flirting with one of the Hounds, Goldie, who really wanted to fuck her. She proposed this to him, and I rolled badly. He decides to go along with it, and has his crew follow us back to sabotage me and figure out what I’m up to.

My brother played Charming, an ex-Marine-cum-Cutter, had been leaving a bar and wound up seeing the crew trailing us. He follows, sees me slip inside the boat, then sees that they’re on to me and about to take me.

We go from Gathering Information to being in the middle of the job.

The minute we’re inside the boat, Goldie slams Willoughby against the bulkhead and pulls a knife on her, asking who she is. As he does that, Willoughby hears Charming start singing the sea shanty he uses when he’s on his crazy violent blood drugs that turn him into a relentless murder machine.

Willoughby tosses some knockout powder in a fake sachet in Goldie’s face, hauls him to the brig, and comes out on top, to Charming having murdered every single member of the gang (but Goldie), and also being severely wounded (gut shot, among other things).

We pilot the boat to somewhere quiet after dumping the bodies at sea (at Goldie’s request), and I get to talking to Goldie. I apologize, say I’d much rather have fucked him then stolen the ship when no one was around, but alas, his people were too smart, they cottoned onto me, and now everyone he loves is dead and gone and that’s that. I get him to tell me what’s going on, why his people were so worried and wanted to talk to the reporter, and that’s when we get our twist.

Turns out the Hive hired the Fog Hounds to smuggle Skovlander (my people’s) children for sale into Doskvol. I’m told they’re being sold for whatever one buys children for; there are all kinds of uses for orphan children in Doskvol. So the Hive hired us to get rid of people who found out too much.

I talk Goldie into realizing that we’re pissed too, and didn’t know what we were set up for, and we’re not going to let this stand. I have the ability to see if anyone’s lying (can’t not tell if they’re lying), so I wait until I’m sure he won’t come back at us, and let him leave. We deliver the boat, and agree to improve our relationship with the Hive so we can eventually stop this kiddy smuggling.

What a satisfying twist!

Now, a note on violence.

In the first session, I found us in a situation where we were ushering some people off a boat, and the most-expedient and only-reasonable way to achieve what we needed was to murder some people. So Willoughby did. Without thinking about it. Then she took a few weeks off, getting drunk and high and dealing with it.

This time I figured something out. Willoughby’s attitude is violence should be avoided, until it can’t be. Then you do it as quickly and cleanly as you can. People go from being people to being something that needs to be done.

It’s chilling and feels very right to me. I’m very excited to develop this character.

Speaking of which, she can already tell who’s lying and who isn’t, and this session, she gained the ability that when she Sways people, they will forget about it in time. She’s becoming a scary motherfucker. I love her.

Stand-out moment for me: Willoughby has lost both her husbands and all of her children to the Unity War. At some point in the interrogation, Goldie started to blubber and lose it that everyone was gone. Willoughby got hard, quick. “Listen, buddy, you’re not the only one to lose everyone and everything that matters to you. There’s a lot of that going around. So now, take what time you need, accept that this is the world you live in now, and let’s move forward.”

Thanks, Jay and Judd, and also John, for the game.

* Named after a shark that camouflages itself in seabeds

https://githyankidiaspora.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/the-fog-hound-job/

Judd Karlman GMed an excellent session for us on Twitch via Roll20 (or Roll20 via Twitch?).

Judd Karlman GMed an excellent session for us on Twitch via Roll20 (or Roll20 via Twitch?).

Judd Karlman GMed an excellent session for us on Twitch via Roll20 (or Roll20 via Twitch?). I want to write more about this later, but check out the video. (Note: It’s not really a video until the end; it’s a static shot of our faces and audio of us.)

I will say one thing: I’ve always been down on online play, but this session both taught me why I feel that way, and showed me how I can enjoy it. If I have an established roleplaying rapport with people, the problems I have online fade away. I introduced both of these guys to RPGs back in the mid-80s, and have played uncountable sessions with both of them. So it worked.

And made for a great birthday present.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/157961882

I hope I’m using this Community right. I’m just really excited about this character and want to share her. :)

I hope I’m using this Community right. I’m just really excited about this character and want to share her. 🙂

I hope I’m using this Community right. I’m just really excited about this character and want to share her. 🙂

Originally shared by Robert Bohl

My character for a game of John Harper’s Blades in the Dark we’re gonna play this Sunday. I love this lady. She’s part of a smuggling crew of ex-military people, called the Wobbegong Crew (named after a camouflaging shark).

Willoughby (Serena), also known as the Crow, formerly Cpt. Serena Willoughby, of the Imperial Emissary Academy (a spy school)

Grew up as a Skovlan refugee in Duskvol, lost her parents young, got snapped up by the Academy before her accent went away and raised to be fervently patriotic. Was a very effective spy in the war, but resigned her commission when she found out something horrifying. Her life was always tough, since she was born with the mystic ability to tell when people were lying. Knowing this, her superiors mostly delivered her orders written, or via catspaws, so their deceptions weren’t revealed. She won’t talk about what she learned, or what made her revoke her commission. But she lost her husbands and children to the war, and after resigning, starts in the process of drinking and drugging herself to death. She got the job with the crew to keep her in substances and what little food she takes in, but she’s quickly finding herself reacting (unwillingly, almost) to the camaraderie of working in a unit with people. Maybe she’ll even want to save herself some day, thanks to them.

Playbook: Slide

Heritage: Skovlan, War refugee turned government tool

Background: Military, Spy in the war against her own people

Action dots:

Insight: 1

• Study: 1

Prowess: 2

• Finesse: 1

• Prowl: 1

Resolve: 2

• Consort: 2

• Sway: 2

Special ability:

Like looking into a mirror

You can always tell when someone is lying to you.

This ability works in all situations without restriction. It is very powerful, but also a bit of a curse. You see though every lie, even the kind ones.

Sly friends and rivals:

Friend: Nyryx, a prostitute. I grew up with her on the orphan streets. She’s another Skovlan, and doesn’t know what I’ve done. She’s worried about my over-partying, even though we party together.

Rival: Byrl, a drug dealer. My drug dealer. I’m an annoying, demanding customer who’s not above forcing him to help her out with her needs.

Vice: Stupor, Willoughby is in a constant drive to obliterate her mind and not think; she thinks too much

Looks: A woman, bony and dark, with long, thick hair. She’s got a weary gaze, when it’s not bleary, but she can turn on an affable, open side when necessary.