theMalkavs – Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

Hey!

Hey! After reading some posts I wanted to know, just for fun: What are the name/s of your crew/s? and aren’t they great names for a rock band?!

I’m always the GM, so I didn’t get to name any of these, but all my players have awesome name ideas:

The first group I GM’d were called The Navel Warts (great name for a punk rock band), #theWarts for short.

My longest playing group (we went through all the QS iterations!) are #theMalkavs (maybe a geeky indie rock band?).

We had a one-shot session with some friends that were named the Elbow after their weapon of choice.

But my favorite crew name by far is #theNarrowStreetGentlemansClub

Let’s see yours!

Just came from testing the new rules with #theMalkavs

Just came from testing the new rules with #theMalkavs . Adapting the already advanced character took most of the session but we got to an score. There was a poor reception with the new playbooks, specially from the Lurk (she wants her Shadow armor back!), she says now it feels like she’s playing less Garret and more Assassin’s Creed. The new item list was poorly received too.

The session itself ran smoothly, and even though I was hesitant with executing the rules I think they worked great.

NOW QUESTIONS:

How do fine items work? We had them give away +1 effect level.

How do Ritual special ability work? for now I had the Whisper make a test against a clock to research and create supernatural effects.

How do quality and potency work We used for +1 effect level. If so, How do I measure a contact’s quality? Also: Do quality, potency and scale interact with each other or are treated independently? Meaning that if I have a PC with potency in beating guys up facing a gang with scale over him do both modifiers cancel each or only one affects in any given situation.

Crews have no more effects nor attributes How do I handle attacks to their lair and turf, and how do they use their gangs? It will be important once they start claiming territory.

Overall I liked the new rules. We didn’t get to use the harm, though.

Questions from last session!

Crew Effects and Teamwork: the Red Sashes are trying to find #theMalkavs ‘ hideout, I ask for a Lair test to resist, and tell them they can ?Backup: Assist as a regular test. Is it ok? How could I use Teamwork rules on these situations? Would it be ok to have a character face the effect or setting up?

Downtime tests and Teamwork: using the first QS rules when two or more players want to take the same Downtime test you either:

* Both characters take the downtime option and we test it separately (example: Salik and Skass reduce heat).

* Both characters take the downtime option and we test it using Teamwork (example: Skass reduces heat, Salik assist him).

Now tests are a little different, so I don’t know if this approach still applies. I find this especially weird when dealing with long-term projects, since they tend to advance a lot faster.

Are we managing it well? Am I cheating them out of downtime tests asking a character on forfeiting his test to assist another? Or tests are meant to be taken separately?

Some questions after a session with #theMalkavs :

Since Vice is an effect roll, can they add item die to their downtime vice roll?

The thieves crew took Chosen by Blood ability from the kickstarter Cultists example crew sheet. This sample is from before the resist/effect differentiation does the bonus die applies to both effect and resist rolls now?

Some illustration I made to practice on a tablet.

Some illustration I made to practice on a tablet. Completely amateur, specially on digital, so don’t bash me too hard.

Nienna the Lurk (played by Mariana), one of #theMalkavs , using her shadow vials and sneaking out with some noblewoman jewels.

Yesterday we had a neat session with #theMalkavs

Yesterday we had a neat session with #theMalkavs . I came up with some observations I’d like to post later, but for now questions:

This one needs a little context:

Nienna the Lurk had a bad streak of action rolls, going from controlled to risky, from risky to desperate and from desperate to desperate again but then Mariana decides to use Nienna’s silence and shadow vials on this last re-roll. I rule that since the situation changed (now she’s in a totally darkened and silenced room) the position changes upwards to risky (instead keeping with desperate again). Is this valid or am I stretching the position rules too much?

This is hard to explain. Lets say a score stretches two sessions:

When taking the character advancement questions, do you tick advancement for situations that came up in the previous session and were already ticked or the character already got all they could from those situations and would only advance from new challenges?

I’d say that they can only tick once for every situation they meet on any particular score, the idea is that the advancement questions try to have the players pushing their character to new adventures and dangers.

Crew advancement: can an enterprise count as an score and as a sidejob? the Malkavs had an entanglement that had them give a favor to an Inspector and wound up stealing some valuables on the side, so I rule that it was both when advancing the crew. Valid?

Diego found a game bug! Or not, but definitely something exploitable:

Salik, the Hound takes the Detached special ability (-1d to an action roll to clear 1 stress). Now he can test an untrained action with only 1 die (instead of taking the worst) + clear 1 stress! Ultracombo!

#theMalkavs

Sketching some ideas for the next score. Watch out #theMalkavs !

Sketching some ideas for the next score. Watch out #theMalkavs !

In our version of Duskwall…

In our version of Duskwall…

I love those creative spaces Harper creates for groups to fill, making every game unique. So I wanted to ask you about those little details that make Duskwall your own. Care to share?

In our version of Duskwall…”

* Red Sashes have an “eastern” look, the Temple of the Path of Echoes have a pagoda-like architecture and the duelists live in a “dojo” but they use more middle eastern outfits and duel techniques.

** Each “dojo” is protected by an ancestral sword that holds a sliver of each swordmaster that has wielded it ( #theMalkavs stole one).

** The Temple of the Path of Echoes is protected by armor animated by the spirits of brave iruvian warriors bound by ghost locks.

* The Leaky Bucket is a neutral ground for all factions to share. It’s also a melting pot for people around the isles to gather, iruvian lanterns hang beside sevorian witch-candles and electric lights. Currently the tavern is composed of three different buildings, one original and two annexed. Its neutrality is sponsored by the Crows.

** Only has female waitresses.

** It is owned by Lorette.

** It has an exclusive gambling table placed under a stuffed crow.

** It’s the only area where prostitutes can work independently inside Crow’s Foot, otherwise they work for the Lampblacks or else…

* All spirit masks look the same, making it hard to recognize Whispers.

* There is a secret net of canals under Crow’s Foot only Gondolier knew. A crew of smugglers working for the Lampblacks have stolen a map picturing this net. The Hive have purchased another map from the Gondoliers, and are pushing for complete hold.

** After midnight the spirits start haunting the waters, and a Whisper is needed to navigate safely the hidden canals.

** Duskwall waters are filled with the bodies. Thousands of spirits dating before the Cataclysm plague the depths but are bound to the water. Falling to the canals is a death sentence. Bodies disappear never to be seen again.

** With the help of the Gondoliers the Hive has set a series of secret caches in the crypts below Crow’s Foot, that can be accessed though the abandoned canals below the city and some sewers.

* Hive workers can be identified by their yellow girdles.

* Iruvia has (or had) a royal family. The old painting #theMalkavs stole numbers at least 20.

* There’s a haunted library at the end of Narrow st.

** it stores ancient documents from the first days after the Cataclysm. The Grimoire of Saint Vestine is among them.

** the Grimoire holds the spirit of St. Vestine. Thanks to #TheWarts It is now in possession of Vladimir Kristov, a successful historian and novelist.

** It is run by six possessed librarians occupied by five spirits. They can be recognize by their height, grey robes and beards and blue fire lamps.

** it is warded by runes that alert the whisper librarian.

* the City Watch won’t bring order to Crow’s Foot until the war between the Lampblacks and Red Sashes ends, making it a haven for criminal pursuits.

* the Wester Family, a low ranking noble house with people on the Council paint themselves as extravagant and occult.

**Lady Remira Wester stages illegal seances with smuggled electroplasm, charging a fee to any noblemen who wants to take part on their depraved parties.

**All noblemen are talking about the mysterious Madame La Mort (actually #theMalkavs disguised as medium performers) and the last seance at Remira’s house where the murderous spirit of Lord Veleris Wester manifested and threatened the guests.

***Lord Veleris is pissed.

** Lord Veleris has being enslaved by Lovelia the Whisper and now acts as her personal murder-ghost.

** Now with proof Inspector Morlan can raid Lady Remira’s house and bring her decadent clients to justice.

* Inspector Emeric Morlan is bound by bureaucratic red tape. The Wester family has some important connections among judges and councilmen. There is a trial waiting for happen.

* #theMalkavs discovered that the Morlan family has some kind of grudge against the Westers.

* There’s a ghostly information net that Whispers can consult, not too different from eavesdropping rumors. The dead can talk.

** Using this net opens up your mind to any ghostly influence up there. You are easier to find by vengeful spirits in there.

* Being attacked by ghosts deals both ethereal and physic damage.

** Lovelia has a beautiful frostbite scar on her chest to show it. Whispers can be recognized by this kind of marks.

* There is a race of Time Daemons charged with regulating the time flow in the material world. This are atemporal beings, invisible to most humans. Not inherently evil nor benign.

** Time Daemons are depicted as lions wearing iron crowns.

** One of these demons occupies an ancient mausoleum in the city graveyard.

*** The trapped time-daemon reached out to Nienna, warning her of dark times to come, implying that there is another time-daemon on the lose and alerting her to keep an eye for the house of clocks.

* There is a Deathland Scavengers warehouse on Crow’s Foot stacked with haunted items and rogue spirits.

** the Deathland Scavengers brought an idol from the Brokend Lands that holds a daemon, it is now trapped by a seal drawn by a whisper of #theWarts

* the seal was designed by Roethe, a demon in disguise, and can be only broken by him.

** there is a possessed broken-wolf on the lose. It became known as “The Wolf of Crow’s Foot.”

* Acaste, high priestess of the Forgotten Gods thinks that this wolf is a servant sent by the Lord of Beasts to empower the cult and is trying to capture it.

* The wolf is actually possessed by numerous ghosts. Warped and corrupted it haunts the streets of Crow’s Foot.

* The cult of The Forgotten Gods is a syncretistic religion that merges divinities, spirits and gods from before the Cataclysm.

** It is mainly a death cult, focusing on the those elements of the old religions. There is no single God of Death, but all gods are different aspects of death itself.

** The cult is run as a matriarchy.

I will update this post after more play.

Questions after the third session (first one with #TheMalkavs ):

Can a character assist a leading companion?

One of the players argued that since they were all testing, they were already “assisting” the test. I argued that his character not only was testing following the lead, he was going an extra mile and assisting his companion, which caused him stress.

Was it okay to let them loot the Red Sashes vault, leaving with 3 art pieces (2 Coins each) and a heirloom sword (fine item, 4 Coins)? It “stacks” with the Coins gained after a score, right?

I actually want to have them test something, like Resources to have Amancio fence the art pieces for them, but again, I’m not sure if you can actually “loot” stuff in game.