The Long Shadow (Inactive)

Game Master Kiradia

Alright! Discussion is up, please report in and lets start with peoples preferences for crew. Top 3 with #1 being your favorite seems a good place to start. I have shared a new GFolder with the crew sheets and the crew creation summary under the Starting a Legacy GDoc. Please read over that as we start thinking of ideas for your crew. Crew creation is a collaborative project and it needs to be something everyone is happy with so please speak up with your opinions, its important.

I'm so excited to get started! :D

Starting a Legacy

Hey there everyone! Warforgedman here and this is my character that I'll be playing in this game with. Super excited to see how this turns out and using some ideas to for my own Blades in the Dark games I'm running in real life.

A little bit about me, I'm twenty-seven years old and have been doing tabletop games for almost ten years now and have been doing HTML chat-based roleplay for about the same time. I only started doing play by post games this October but have loved it. I live in Phoenix, Arizona here in the U.S. and will be moving to San Antonio to live with my girlfriend come this April. I've been DMing for about...two or three years solidly now, with a few failed attempts earlier than that. My favorite system is Savage Worlds, though Powered by the Apocalypse is coming up pretty hard upon it now. It is a pleasure to play with you all and thank you Kiradia for selecting me to play.

So I have three crews that I'm particularly interested in and I'm good for any of them honestly...

I'm a big fan of Bravos, Assassins, and Shadows. Bravos grabs me because it has a real "Gangs of New York" feeling to it. Extortion rackets, big slum brawls, and sabotages on enemy property feels neat and fun. I understand that it tends to make the game much more "combat" feeling, as Bravos naturally gravitate towards Assault plans more often than not.

I like Shadows because playing a beginning group of Thieves is pretty damn interesting and I think it is more involving of everyone's talents. Every group of rogues needs a heavy hitter, every group needs that extra sneaky guy, every group needs that grifter, etc. I really like the idea of us specializing in clandestine/covert operations, robberies, or sabotages if we decide to go that route.

I like Assassins as well because I think it combines the best of both worlds. It gives us targets to hunt and kill, we can develop a guild of dangerous assassins that way, and everyone's special talents still will have a focus.

As of writing this, I'm most interested in Shadows or Bravos. If I was to rank them, I'd put them as so.

1) Shadows
2) Bravos
3) Assassins

Alrighty then, let's get cracking! For the crew type, I'm a bit biased, since Hawkers plays to my character's strength. But, my choices for a crew are as follows:

1): Hawkers
2): Shadows
3): Cult

Alright, I guess a bit more about myself-

Twenty-Six, live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've been following tabletop gaming for close to nine years, but I've only actually been able to fall into a group and get to playing for about 3 years now. So, I have some experience, but I'm still very green compared to the people I play with. I've attempted to GM twice, this second time running a (now completely off the rails) Rise of the Runelords campaign which has achieved a relatively stable regularity in my group's schedule.

This is also my first play-by-post game. However, I'm a writer by trade, and I'm looking forward to playing a Face character, which I normally can't because I'm too socially awkward and can't think on my feet, but playing by post gives me much, much more time to deliberate before I speak. So. Yay!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing with all of you, as well!

Thanks so much for the selection! I'll get my profile updated soon.

About me: I'm a 30 year old web developer / comic writer in Boston. I've been playing games on here for about 4 years, and RPGs in general for two additional years (little bit of a late bloomer there).

As far as Crews, I'm thinking this:

1) Shadows
2) Smugglers
3) Hawkers

@Guts You are missing one point dot in your actions, what would you like it to be in? :)

So, recently Blades in the Dark was updated to version 8.1 and with it came a number of changes. Among them were updates to special abilities so I have updated the gfolders with newer character sheets and crew sheets. Those can be found at the top of the page with the game description now. Also, if everyone could follow what Guts and Dusky have done with their alias profiles that would be great.

Here's Saint's alias. I'll get a profile up for him asap.

I was looking forward to being Smugglers, but Shadows works for me, too. I can't see Sinjin going from helping his cousin steal corpses to sell to medical schools to teaming up with a gang of assassins. Bravos or Hawkers could work for him, but it looks like we're so far all in agreement on Shadows.

For linking these guys all up, I could see Guts having been some extra muscle for corpse-digging a time or two and/or Guts having used Eckerd as a way to get rid of inconvenient bodies.

Dusky seems easy to plug into a Shadows crew. He's a small time grifter, keeps an eye out for opportunities and could've worked with Saint and Eckerd at some point in the past- selling body parts or organs, probably.

Fog seems like kind of a loner? Maybe he worked with Dusky, who pulled him into this group when it became clear we didn't have a second-story man? Saint might have a bit of a rep as a street doc- maybe Fog's friend Ceres wasn't available or couldn't fix something and she reached out to Saint for help?

And maybe I'm just terrible at searching, but I don't see Ophelia Walker. What's her background? How does she plug into the crew?

Huh, Warforged I love your description of the Bravos and for whatever reason it made me go back and re-read that crew. I hadn’t had much interest in them previously but..I’d add them to my top three as well.
I’m most interested in the Shadows since the thieves seems to be the original idea behind Blades and the one that interests me the most. Bravos would be roughly equal in selection. My third pick would be for…probably Smugglers or Hawkers, I don’t know which really.

I’ll get a profile together for Fog after/during lunch.
---------------------------------------------
On relations with the other crew:
Guts There’s a lot of different paths here to have Guts and Fog intercept and interact in the past. First, its known that Skovlanders are a vicious, brutal lot. When planning to steal/rob from Langorn, Fog would have ostensibly wanted someone to bash down a door and ward off the crazed Viking to help him flee. Who better for this than another crazed, brutal, vicious Viking?
Now, the question would be…how would Fog even know of Guts? Sawtooth could be the answer. I’d envisaged Ceres as being a fair hand with a needle but maybe not a full-on doctor type. At least not initially. Possibly after her falling out with Fog, she decides to go more “legit” and seeks to become a real doctor. Sawtooth could be a mentor or teacher of hers.

Sinjin I actually think the best tie here would have been via Fog’s morbid vice. His vice purveyor is a mortician’s assistant who informs him of the newest noble-rumors on the very sick, nearly dead, suicidal or, in many cases, the recently deceased. I don’t know if a Vice Purveyor and another player’s friend can be the same person but it could be one of Blakely’s assistants?

Dusky Definitely sounds like the two of them could have worked on a job in the past as they have similar interests in the finer things and similar backgrounds. Since Dusky’s mother is an artist, maybe the two met when Dusky was out looking for a gift for her and stumbled across Fog selling one of his strange paintings on a street corner.

I think originally I was going to have that dot be in Command as well but I decided to put it into Wreck instead. Guts is surprisingly good at fighting and is surprisingly good at tearing things apart.

@Saint - I can definitely see that, Guts loves doing enforcement work and being the scary muscle. Perhaps Sawbones, my friend, made the initial connection when the whole group was all getting sorted together?

@Dusky - With how smooth-talking and risk-taking Dusky is, perhaps the two of them met at one of the fighting pits at the docks or something? Guts isn't a slouch at talking and having a good time and perhaps they had just a relatively merry time at it?

@Ophelia - I think these characters will likely not know each other until they're brought into the crew together. Ophelia is working with some arcane things and Guts is not in that side of life at all. I can see him having a lot of questions for her when they're working together, trying to learn what she does.

@Fog - That definitely works for me! Guts has a reputation of being the violent sort, having made it up to ten men beaten unconscious in the Rusty Wench before someone hit him in the head with a chair! Sawbones probably does do apprenticeships, it helps lighten the workload and let him focus on the real work he needs to do. He isn't really the friendly sort, real rough around the edges.

It definitely looks like our top thing is going to be Shadows. I think this will be pretty neat, there is a lot of variety that can be done when you're a group of thieves. So once Kiradia is back, we can move onto the deeper details of Crew Generation :D

Also! If people were wanting to have my info tags the way I have it set up on my profile, here is the how formatting for it and where to place it. Just change the * back into [ and ] respectively.

Race - Playbook: Cutter | *ooc*Stress: 0/9*/ooc* | Trauma: None | *ooc*Level 1 Harm: None/None*/ooc* | Level 2 Harm: None/None | *ooc*Level 3 Harm: None*/ooc* | Coin: 0 | *ooc*Stash: 0*/ooc*

Classes/Levels - *spoiler=Load 0/5*No Items Selected*/spoiler*

Shadows does look to be the go-to, Guts. We may as well brainstorm the other aspects while we're at it.

On Crew Stuffs:
Reputation: Daring or Subtle
Daring: The best jobs are also the most fun. They come with a good reward and can be conducted with a flair for the dramatic. If someone wants the job to make a statement, this group is perfect for the job.
Subtle: Are you sure that item was stolen and not just misplaced? Not a single lock was left unlocked, not a footprint in the dirt. The only guard on duty has gone missing and will never show up again. The group is known for meticulously covering their tracks.

Lair:
One vote for abandoned watch tower atop an ancient, crumbling wall. Bonus points if it was once a lighthouse located in The Docks

Hunting Grounds
Silkshore I’m not sure here. Artists and redlight district sounds like a place where there are people to be robbed and things to be stolen without being too high tier. Cassim was written with a burglary in mind but honestly Robbery seems better for a brothel district since there are different people to steal from? Burglary could be fun to steal some exotic art and become known as art thieves.

Special Ability
I like the idea of Patron. Cassim has no one in his history though. Any suggestions?
I also like Second Story and Everyone Steals. I feel like Pack Rats, Slippery, and Synchronized imply a longer, more intimate relationship between the characters that I don’t think is there to start.

Crew Upgrades:
Quarters: Making the lair seem a bit more homey (and secure?)
I have no ideas for the second one.

Favorite Contact:: Fitz – a collector of exotic art!

Edit: Thank you for sharing your profile information! Definitely helpful.

Reputation

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for not immediately going for Ambitious. It seems both crews that I am running for immediately latch onto that one the most and I'm intrigued to see what else we can do.

I like Daring quite a lot. We're a group that takes risks, aren't afraid to stare down a challenge, and we're adaptable and quick. We're a bit flashy but flashy and alive just shows how good we are.

Instead of Subtle, I also like Professional. We come in and we get the job done. We tie up our own loose ends, we make sure things don't fall back on our client, and we move like we should.

Lair

I too love the idea of a crumbling, ancient watchtower. Multiple levels, a semi-broken stone staircase, rumors it is haunted. Seems like the place to be. I think the location of our tower should be somewhere in Crow's Foot, puts us at odds with a lot of local gangs and that district is basically alongside almost every other district as well.

Hunting Grounds

I personally do like Silkshore quite a bit, though I'm running my one game in that location and would like to try branching out some more. My personal choices would either be Nightmarket or Brightstone. The former is the major location for all goods, deals, and contraband items throughout Duskvol. It is also where the Gaddoc Rail Station arrives with both cargo and people from around the Empire. The latter is the home of the wealthiest and most noble of bloodlines. Lots of power plays, crimes, and dramatic heists to pull off in there.

As for what our favored kind of operation is, I think Burglary or Espionage. I like Burglary because, again, everyone's skills can be used in one way or another for it. It is just too awesome not to.

I also like Espionage because it pulls us slowly but surely into the power plays and struggles of the other factions of Duskvol. You need some kind of incriminating evidence taken or planted? We're the group for that. A group of spies is very appealing.

Special Ability

I am personally for "Everybody Steals", which is where we all get one additional action dot for either Prowl, Tinker, or Finesse and it allows those skills to go above 2 for character creation. More points means more dice, more dice means better chance of success with less stress accrued. Also, with a point of finesse, I'll have a Prowess of 4 and that makes me incredibly giddy for getting into fights.

I think Patron and the others should come later, after we have increased our tier and gotten a name for ourselves. Of course, our Patron could also be the one that brought us all together...

Upgrades

I am also a fan of Quarters, means that if anyone wants to get at us, they have to find us first!

As for the second possible upgrade, I'm considering either Thief Rigging so we have more item space to use, Secured so that our place is locked down and hard to enter, or taking Quality something. Depends on our focus really for that last one, all of them are good.

Contact

I'm thinking either Adelaide Phroaig or Amancio. I like having a noble as a contact because they are vindictive as hell and will be quite the source for good finds amongst the elite. Amancio is an expert middleman, finding good clients and getting us the job for a small finder's fee to the client. He'll likely give us a wide breadth of work.

Alias is up! And I've added a bit more info to it as well.

Character Relations

@Fog - I think Fog and Ophelia will get along quite well - with Fog interested in Ophelia's life continuing to spiral a bit out of control with her growing obsession with the spirit world. It might also be interesting if Fog was at the scene when Ophelia's husband died - what do you think?

@Ophelia - I think these characters will likely not know each other until they're brought into the crew together. Ophelia is working with some arcane things and Guts is not in that side of life at all. I can see him having a lot of questions for her when they're working together, trying to learn what she does.

I think that makes sense. We're pretty much polar opposites in our upbringings, so not having met before makes sense. I think we'll be able to have some fun with that - Ophelia may look down on Fog at first.

Still need to read up on the others...

Crew

Reputation - I'm into Professional and Subtle. Daring is also interesting - I sort of like the idea of us biting off more than we can chew, being these sort of underdogs, never afraid to back down from a challenge.

Lair - I'm super into the abandoned Lighthouse idea. I also really like the half-sunken grotto in the maze-link underground canals idea, as well as the junked rail-car. All of those sound really thematic and fun.

Hunting Grounds - I like Nightmarket the most. Silkshore is a close second. Espionage is my favourite here. Then Burglary.

Special Ability - I like Everyone Steals and Patron both, but I think Patron has more interesting story hooks, so I'm there.

I think that makes sense. We're pretty much polar opposites in our upbringings, so not having met before makes sense. I think we'll be able to have some fun with that - Ophelia may look down on Fog at first.

I am going to assume that was directed to me since Fog was above. That totally makes sense, Guts looks and acts like a docker and Skov would act. It'll be interesting to see how they relate and work together. Eventually...I want to pick up Ghost Fighter because fighting Ghosts with your bare hands is amazing. Maybe she'll help him design and perfect the arcane runes he gets tattooed on his knuckles?

Crew: I take some issue with Subtle, because all it takes is one or two screw-ups to tarnish that reputation, and I don't trust myself enough to pull jobs off flawlessly. Daring and Professional I can definitely get behind, though. For our preferred job type, I'd say either Burglary or Robbery, depending on the area, but I think Espionage would use the whole group's diverse skillset most effectively.

Lair: Yeah, an abandoned watchtower would definitely mesh well with daring. And it has the benefit of sounding like the most easily defensible, as well.

Hunting Grounds: As finders of misplaced valuables and/or secrets, I feel like Nightmarket would be the best place for a Daring or Professional gang to get their foot in the highly-priced, heavily-secured door.

Special Ability: I'm honestly surprised that nobody has even mentioned Slippery so far. It's so good for a gang of sneakery deakery thieves. We can both decrease our Heat more efficiently and avoid any catastrophic entanglements (like, say, us or one of our contacts getting arrested). I'm betting everything on Slippery.

...

...But if I have to choose another, I'd say Everybody Steals and Pack Rats.

Upgrades: Quarters would be nice, yes, and once we get Secure, we will have an un-find-able, impenetrable fortress on our hands (but that's a low priority now unless we reeeeally piss someone off with our first score). I'd say Underground Maps & Passkeys would be my priority, for purposes of more effective getaways, followed by Carriage House for the same reason, Quality Gear for better lockpicks and ropes, and Thief Rigging just because.

So, to recap:
1. Maps & Passkeys
2. Carriage
3. Gear (Quality)
4. Thief Rigging
5. Quarters

Contact: Probably Amancio, a deal broker, since we'll need all the help we can get getting hired at our level, followed by Fitz,a collector, for fencing valuable esoterica.

Great start on forming a crew guys. Glad to see so much collaboration. So, right now I've got a document with everyones choices and options so far. That can be found HERE.

Just based on the most popular options, we are looking at this kind of crew:

Shadows, who are Professional, with a lair in an old crumbling abandoned Watch Tower overlooking the Docks, hunting grounds
in Nightmarket far away from the lair you keep your stash hidden in, a preference for Espionage, and the BLANK special ability.

No real consensus on the special ability choice or the crew upgrades yet but its a good start. I think at this point it would be useful to lock in a choice for Crew and go through this step by step, so I've setup a voting system here.

Building the Shadows

Please fill this out so we can get a full gauge for everyone's interests. I'm not going to demand that we follow the results of this form to the letter but I think it will help focus our thoughts.

Alias is up! And I've added a bit more info to it as well.

Character Relations

@Fog - I think Fog and Ophelia will get along quite well - with Fog interested in Ophelia's life continuing to spiral a bit out of control with her growing obsession with the spirit world. It might also be interesting if Fog was at the scene when Ophelia's husband died - what do you think?

I love it! I had been brainstorming on Ophelia but hadn't come up with any good ideas.

Crow's foot definitely puts us into a cool situation for conflict, I can get behind that!

As an aside, Espionage could put us at odds or as allies with the Wraiths faction, so that could be fun. I'd put it on par with Burglary..hm.

I do like Brightstone, Fog hates him some nobles and would love to pilfer from them. Or blackmail them. I'll change my vote to that! However, Nightmarket might be a better choice as a "just starting out" gang.

Slippery looks interesting as an ability but..part of me wants to get into trouble. I want to see someone arrested! I will change my vote to Passkeys though, a good getaway sounds fun.

Ugh...Crew name. That's a...that's a thing.

Anyone have any good suggestions?

I left it blank on the survey. I think(?) it might be a bit easier to come up with when we have the other stuff ironed out.

Just based on the most popular options, we are looking at this kind of crew:

Shadows, who are Professional, with a lair in an old crumbling abandoned Watch Tower overlooking the Docks, hunting grounds
in Nightmarket far away from the lair you keep your stash hidden in, a preference for Espionage, and the BLANK special ability.

I'm good with this. Everybody Steals would let Saint boost his Tinker to 3- no trap is too subtle, no lock too tough to stop this guy.

I kind of wonder how a bunch of nobodies get into the espionage game, though. Does anyone have something in their background that hooks us in?

Saint, Guts, Dusky, and Fog look like they sorta know each other through mutual friends and maybe having worked together a time or two via said mutual friends.

For Ophelia- Riven was a professor at an academy. Could he have been a professor in a medical school? If so, he could have been Saint's professor. Oh, wait, he was a lawyer. Should've kept reading.

Still, he (or both Ophelia and Riven) could have known Saint's parents professionally or personally- Saint's mom is a doctor and his dad is an apothecary. They're tradespeople, but well off, and could have run in the same circles as Ophelia and Riven. There's some possibilities there.

Guts Now, the question would be…how would Fog even know of Guts? Sawtooth could be the answer. I’d envisaged Ceres as being a fair hand with a needle but maybe not a full-on doctor type. At least not initially. Possibly after her falling out with Fog, she decides to go more “legit” and seeks to become a real doctor. Sawtooth could be a mentor or teacher of hers.

Sinjin I actually think the best tie here would have been via Fog’s morbid vice. His vice purveyor is a mortician’s assistant who informs him of the newest noble-rumors on the very sick, nearly dead, suicidal or, in many cases, the recently deceased. I don’t know if a Vice Purveyor and another player’s friend can be the same person but it could be one of Blakely’s assistants?

This is interesting. Guts has a medical-type friend, Sawtooth, and Fog has a medical-type friend, Ceres, and Saint is a Physicker and the Victorian equivalent of a med student. And they're all shady to a greater or lesser degree. It would make sense that Saint, Ceres, and Sawtooth all know each other. Probably Eckerd, too, since his job is to procure bodies who otherwise can't legitimately get one.

And it makes sense to me that Fog at least knows Eckerd well enough to use him as a source. Maybe they use the same sources to find out about the recently dead (soon to be buried, in Eckerd's case).

Sorry if it seems like I'm harping on backstory, I'm just trying to figure out why these people would trust each other enough to work together in a dangerous profession.

For upgrades and special abilities and such, I don't have a lot of information about the various things. From a story perspective, along with our deal broker contact we could probably use a Patron to justify us being in the Espionage game. Everybody Steals seems like a better SA to start with, but Patron makes sense from a non-mechanical viewpoint.

Workshop sounds like something Saint would be interested in, and a Boat seems like a stealthier way to get around the city than a Carriage, and Gear and Tools both sound good, but I'm not sure if there are mechanical reasons to get one over the other. Basically I'm saying I don't really have insight into the Crew upgrades, so I'm good with Dusky's list.

.. I'm honestly surprised that nobody has even mentioned Slippery so far.

I'm with Fog on this one, I really like it myself but I like the idea of trouble. One of the things I remember reading in the book is to really embrace the Scoundrel's struggle, to fall in love with trouble and things happening. I can definitely see it being something that we get in the future, maybe even soon.

I'm still going with Everybody Steals because it helps solidify us as a gang that is good with theft. All of us will have something that makes us good at what we do and can help explain why someone would be willing to trust us doing the espionage work.

The thing to keep in mind is that we're a new crew but we are all professionals. We're all damn good at what we're doing. We're just fighting the overwhelming odds, is all :D

As for a name...I did suggest the White Gloves gang or something like that. It was a "off the top of my head" kind of thing. I'd like to see what we naturally grow into in the world.

This is interesting. Guts has a medical-type friend, Sawtooth, and Fog has a medical-type friend, Ceres, and Saint is a Physicker and the Victorian equivalent of a med student. And they're all shady to a greater or lesser degree. It would make sense that Saint, Ceres, and Sawtooth all know each other. Probably Eckerd, too, since his job is to procure bodies who otherwise can't legitimately get one.

And it makes sense to me that Fog at least knows Eckerd well enough to use him as a source. Maybe they use the same sources to find out about the recently dead (soon to be buried, in Eckerd's case).

Sorry if it seems like I'm harping on backstory, I'm just trying to figure out why these people would trust each other enough to work together in a dangerous profession.

Hashing out backstory is part of the fun and we can always develop it as we go too.

I like the connection of sketchy physickers knowing one another. It makes sense. Eckerd and Cassim having the same "source" for corpses also lets them tie in.

Not sure if anyone has a good background for being the "lure" to pull everyone together. Cassim and Dusky seem like the two best for that role--possibly in concert. Maybe they pull a job together and decide they need a more stable crew to back them. Who do you need? Why someone Weird (Ophelia), someone Medical(Saint), and someone Violent(Guts) all make perfect sense to back up the skills Dusky and Fog already have.

Name Brainstorming:
I know, I know, other details first should lead to a good name. But I'm at work and bored so I figured I'd throw up some ideas. Some are tongue-in-cheek, others are more gritty/serious. Kind of depends on the themes and attitudes of the characters. Fog is very much a sarcastic type who likes to think he's witty (he's not).

White Gloves
The Thorns
Dawn Crew
Foghorns
Black Lanterns
Night Lights
Dusklights
The Gossip Boys
The Gossip Mob
Info Marketeers
The Clerks
The Kings (Or Queens)
The Quiet Words

I like the White Gloves, the Thorns, and maybe something like the Crow's Foot Queens or something like that. Good name brainstorming, it is always the hardest part of these things.

As an aside, it doesn't seem as if the crew playbooks are accessible at the moment.

I blanked on a crew name as well, and just offered The Shadows of Crewe Street off the top of my head. In all honesty, both me and my character think forming a crew and then naming ourselves is all rather gauche. A nickname is something you earn, not something you come up with. I'd rather we acquire one through reputation and hearsay rather than tell all our clients what we named our super cool super secret club (no one girl allowed!). No, Dusky (and I) believe that the attribution of a nickname is a sign that we've legitimately rose out of the ranks of obscurity and made it as a notable crew of scoundrels.

...(also it saves us from having to come up with one.)

I'm willing to concede Slippery as a skill, on the condition that I reserve the right to be smug on one occasion in the future, when the heat really piles up OR we have a particularly crappy entanglement.

I will, however, more vehemently argue against taking Patron as our first Ability. It is undeniably useful, yes, and arguably necessary after a certain point...but not at tier 0. Rep is gained at an agonizingly slow rate, and I think it's near impossible to move up a tier without the crew leveling up at least once in the interim. And while that does mean we can start taking all the cool stuff after leveling up...I'd rather take something more immediately useful, and take Patron as a second or third upgrade once moving up a tier becomes a concern. If it's a matter of wanting someone to take an interest in the crew and give us work...something tells me that'll happen anyway. It may not be with an independent party, but we do start out with a good/not bad relationship with one of the factions, plus we have our individual and crew contacts. We can do just fine without one (until we need to start spending enormous sums of money, anyway).

Also, when filling out the form, I came to the conclusion that Burglary would use all our skillsets more than Espionage would. It's not necessarily a matter of getting jobs despite our position, since we currently have the advantage of being unknown, which is incredibly useful to some high-profile clients, but when I pictured Espionage and spying in my head, I realized that all of the parts that aren't Social scores and don't involve eavesdropping in public are essentially Burglary. Mind you, Burglary isn't inherently theft- Burglary is the act of unlawfully entering secure, private property. There are many, many different ways to unlawfully enter a building, and many different reasons to be doing so (although like 90% of the time it's to steal something, yes, but there's still a bunch of other reasons!). If anyone still wants to do the whole eavesdropping/document stealing/evidence planting chicanery that goes into Espionage, there's no reason why we couldn't specialize in that sort of thing. After all, I'm sure that certain secrets are as valuable as gemstones in Duskwall, and those secrets are more often than not behind closed, locked doors...

Now, as for Robbery- the difference between Burglary and Robbery is that Burglary is breaking & entering, while Robbery is theft by force or violence. It seems to me like Robbery is intended for a group that wants to be a bunch of crazy cattle-rustlin', bank-robbin' heisters, while this group seems to be leaning more towards a subtle (or...professional, or whatever), meticulous bunch of capering larcenists. Hence, Burglary.

I'm willing to concede Slippery as a skill, on the condition that I reserve the right to be smug on one occasion in the future, when the heat really piles up OR we have a particularly crappy entanglement.

I am fine with that. One good, smug moment will be excellent. I look forward to the trouble we deal with.

As for names, I'd like it to happen organically but I'd also like for us to have a bit of input in the selection process. Maybe voting and we trust in Kiradia to let the name develop naturally?

I agree with Burglary, which says something since I'm the guy who is the major-violence dealer of the group. I like Guts specializing as "the muscle" and the "impromptu problem solver" for the group. He can man the get away vehicle if we take Everybody Steals and I take Finesse for him.

Every burglary needs someone to bust in and save the sneakier types.

And letting a name grow organically would work with me.

Feel completely free to be smug the first time someone gets locked up or otherwise roughly entangled. Fog may have no desire to see iron bars, but I am more interested in a hectic, scoundrels having a rough-time environment. The book does a great job selling the whole "Embrace Trouble" parts of the game.

Okay, I have a complaint. You guys all take to long to post and write and stuff. The stress and desire is killing me.

I kid, of course, I'm just stupidly excited for this game is all. I'm running Blades in the Dark twice a week and hoping to leave seeds of GMing where I can. This is likely the best chance I have of actually playing Blades in the Dark.

Alright scoundrels! I have not been idle. Taking in your guys responses to the google form I have crafted a gsheet with our current characters and more importantly the type of initial crew we will be running with. This sheet will serve as the official sheet for our campaign. Reading back and forth between crew relationships and the area you guys want to play in is forming a good start for the campaign.

You guys can find the sheet HERE: The Long Shadow Crew & Character Sheet

@Ophelia: You are missing your 7th dot as far as I can tell, let me know what it is so I can update your character sheet.

@Everyone: So, from this point, I want to know everyone's general approval of what we've built so far. Assuming we're all in agreement on this, I can move forward with crafting the first gameplay post and we can finally dive into the game!

I'm also in the process of building a general diagram of your character's relationships so I can keep track of them. This is some juicy stuff so far and I'll definitely work to incorporate it into the general story.

Finally, I'm fine with the name of the crew forming organically which is why it was an optional question for if someone had a definite opinion on what it should be from the get go. Just another fun thing to figure out as we play. :)

Whoa, those sheets look awesome! Is there a second upgrade missing from the Crew sheet?

Let me think about my 7th dot for a bit, I'm not super sure what I want to go with.

I'm really excited with what we have.

There is a second upgrade missing, it was a three way tie between Quarters, Thief's Rigging, and Secure. So an informal second round of voting should take care of that... So, what should our second crew upgrade be? We also need to settle on exactly where your lair is. You guys are keeping it pretty far from your hunting grounds which is interesting but... Crow's Foot? The Docks? Six Towers? All were suggested, Six Towers would definitely be a lot closer than the other two.

Well. I've said it before, but I'll make an official declaration, I suppose.

ahem

Fellow scoundrels. I hereby do formally submit my argument for the changing of our specialty from Espionage to Burglary. I present Exhibit A, on the record from earlier:

when filling out the form, I came to the conclusion that Burglary would use all our skillsets more than Espionage would. It's not necessarily a matter of getting jobs despite our position, since we currently have the advantage of being unknown, which is incredibly useful to some high-profile clients, but when I pictured Espionage and spying in my head, I realized that all of the parts that aren't Social scores and don't involve eavesdropping in public are essentially Burglary. Mind you, Burglary isn't inherently theft- Burglary is the act of unlawfully entering secure, private property. There are many, many different ways to unlawfully enter a building, and many different reasons to be doing so (although like 90% of the time it's to steal something, yes, but there's still a bunch of other reasons!). If anyone still wants to do the whole eavesdropping/document stealing/evidence planting chicanery that goes into Espionage, there's no reason why we couldn't specialize in that sort of thing. After all, I'm sure that certain secrets are as valuable as gemstones in Duskwall, and those secrets are more often than not behind closed, locked doors...

In closing, I would like to disclose, for the record,+ that I would have no problem playing an Espionage campaign, if the party agrees. However, I believe that Burglary suits the group better.

Thank you.

As for the second upgrade, I pick Thief's Rigging.

I will now present my other argument, for Thief's Rigging over the other two.

We're tier 0 at the moment, and practically unknown, outside of a handful of people, but only people who we know, and that's like counting your mom as a fan of yours. We're at the very bottom, sorry to say, but there is a silver lining: we really aren't worth going after. Right now, at the outset, we have people who don't like us, sure, but nobody has any reason to attack us on our own turf. And even if they did, we already get a Lair upgrade standard- Hidden. So they'd have to find us first. I suggest we save Secure and Quarters until we've made more enemies.

As for our Lair's location, I was the one who picked Six Towers, not only because it's close to Nightmarket, but because it's on the edge of Duskwall, where there might logically be walls with watchtowers, and the district as a whole is abandoned and derelict, so it made the most sense to me.

I'm definitely in agreement with Thief's Rigging - that was my first choice for an upgrade. As far as Burglary, that's certainly a compelling argument... I'm on board with that change. I also like Six Towers for being close to our hunting grounds. The dereliction makes sense, too. I also do really like The Docks.

I thought our Rep was Professional, not Daring?

I understand Quarters and Secure. What does Thief's Rigging do?

Between Espionage and Burglary, I feel like Espionage has more long term possibilities, opening us up to political shenanigans. It seems to me that Espionage could encompass Burglary missions but the reverse isn't true. Then again, I don't have the rules so maybe it's not as flexible as that.

I'm fine with Six Towers.

I think a name should occur organically, too, but I honestly like The Long Shadow.

@Ophelia, any input on how Ophelia might know these guys? Though they're not all BFFs or anything, the guys all have friends in common and may have worked together in the past. What about Ophelia?

My suggestion was that she might know Saint's parents, but that doesn't get her into the shady side of things. We're using Eckerd for a lot of connections, but it might make sense if she's delving into talking to spirits that Ophelia might have contact with Eckerd and/or Fog's source for news of the newly dead. Thoughts?

I get the impression that the specific job type chosen is fairly flexible and we can change it as we go, right? If so, I also vote for Burglary. It does combo very well with Thief's Rigging which lets you carry 2 free load worth of tool or gear items.

I'm also okay with Six Towers. Especially if we snag one of the derelict and abandoned Towers themselves.

@Saint: I'm good with either professional or daring. Although we should probably choose, because while there is some overlap, sure, I feel like they imply two very different crews. Since we don't have a lot of combat-focused characters, and since the crew is very diverse, A-Team style, I'll put my money on professional.

Thief's Rigging lets us carry up to 2 Load's worth of Gear or Tools items for free. What does this mean? Well. From a mechanical standpoint, there are 4 items in the game that count as gear or tools- Burglary Gear, Climbing Gear, Demolitions Tools, and Tinkering Tools. With 2 free load, you could take Burglar Gear and Tinkering Tools (1 load each), or Climbing Gear (2 load), or Demolitions Tools (2 load). If you're a fancy schmancy Lurk with your Light Climbing Gear, this also applies to that. Anyway, if we're doing something subtle and need to blend in by taking a light load, this could help us out a lot.

Mechanically, we can take whatever jobs we want and at any point we can plan whatever score we want, there's no limitation on how you operate or what you do. However, if you do your preferred job type on your hunting grounds, you get a bonus die to gather information and a free downtime activity for preparation. The game defines Burglary as "theft by breaking and entering", and Espionage as "obtain secret information by covert or clandestine means". Since both involve taking something by being sneaky and illegal, there's a lot of potential overlap between the two.

Anyways, if you have any other questions about rules or how things work, don't be afraid to ask!

I thought our Rep was Professional, not Daring?

I believe when it came down to it, that more votes went to Daring. I voted for Daring because I was concerned that it might be easy to lose the reputation of Professional early (plus I like the idea of us biting off more than we can chew). But I'm honestly a fan of either, and can certainly work with either.

@Ophelia, any input on how Ophelia might know these guys? Though they're not all BFFs or anything, the guys all have friends in common and may have worked together in the past. What about Ophelia?

My suggestion was that she might know Saint's parents, but that doesn't get her into the shady side of things. We're using Eckerd for a lot of connections, but it might make sense if she's delving into talking to spirits that Ophelia might have contact with Eckerd and/or Fog's source for news of the newly dead. Thoughts?

I think a big part of it for Ophelia getting in is going to be needing money - with her husband having died, her on the verge of losing her job at the university, and her family cutting off ties with her, she's spending more time and money than she actually has with trying to learn more magic, and it's going to catch up with her. I'd sort of like to open her character there, without necessarily having worked with any of you before, but I'm not really sure how established we're all meant to be with each other.

That said, I definitely like the idea of knowing your cousin / parents - perhaps our families are old acquaintances? I'm not sure how old you imagined Saint being to suggest we knew each other as children or anything, but at the very least exchanging pleasantries around town seems like a place to start.

I don't know that I'd have a reason to be interested in the newly dead, though - unless the circumstances of my husband's death were strange and I'm having Eckerd keep an eye out for similar events in the future? I haven't really given a lot of thought to the murder itself, so we have a lot of flexibility there. What do you think?

For everyone's question; the operation we choose it what we excel at currently. It doesn't mean we won't do the other ones or even things that aren't on the sheet. This is a dark and gritty world and occasionally, we're going to have to just kill someone.

Think of it more as a way to narrow us down. Instead of being "we're a group of scoundrels", it is now "we're a group of daring shadows who are hidden within an old, crumbling tower in Six Towers. We're burglars, able to break in and out nice and easy and make our nefarious trade within Nightmarket." It helps focus us in more and gives a stronger identity to who were are and what we do in the fiction.

I am for burglary myself as well. I think it fits all of our concepts the best and will have the widest range of jobs. Perhaps as we grow bigger and more involved, Kiradia will bless us with a change if we wish. The rules are very "whatever the GM and players want" which is a thing I love.

I would love to be in Crow's Foot, since a lot happens there, but Six Towers is pretty neat. A lot of occult going-ons and sneaky things for sure. I'm good with Six Towers.

Keep in mind, the "Six Towers" were the original castles -way- back in the day when Duskvol was first founded by the original nobles. They're not towers persay, but maybe ours is like...a remaining part of one that has crumpled into disuse. I think only two of the original six families still occupy their homes there.

Just so everyone is aware, you don't really select gear in this game. When you go out on a job, you select what kind of load you're carrying. Out of that load number, you select your items and they take up load space. Any item with boxes alongside it take a number of load equal to their boxes. Items in italics have no load and can be brought whenever. You only mark off the box when you need the item.

1-3 load makes you a bit quicker and you look like a normal citizen. 4-5 and you look like you're a scoundrel. 6 makes you look like an operative, going in for a crime. 7-8 means you're over-encumbered and can't do anything outside of moving slow.

All in all, Thief's Rigging gets us two load for free for items we may need through the mission. It is super handy.

@Kiradia - I am going to be taking Finesse as my extra dot for "Everybody Steals". This really solidifies the image that Guts is the physical engagement guy of the group. That and he can take an absolute bruising and generally keep fighting (since I got 4 dice to resist physical-based issues)

EDIT: Truthfully, for background info and motivations and such, a lot of that is going to be built through roleplay and ooc discussion in game. This game thrives on meta-discussion, we all have an equal part to play in it. At least, that is what the book suggests to do.

@Dusky: Cool, thanks for the explanation. Thief's Rigging sounds good to me, and Burglary makes sense, especially for a beginning crew. Starting as burglars and eventually getting asked to covertly obtain information makes sense. I'll vote Thief's Rigging and Burglary, too, then.

@Ophelia: If she's in her mid-30s she's probably about 10 years older than Saint. I'm figuring low 20s for somebody who's studying to be a doctor. Same for Eckerd- they grew up together, so low 20s for him, too. I can definitely see Ophelia and Riven knowing his parents, though. Family acquaintances sounds good to me, maybe even friends? His parents might be another 10 years older than Ophelia, but mid- to late-40s isn't too far off from Ophelia's mid-30s. Apothecary/doctor/lawyer/professor types would all be well off but not noble, so I could see them running in the same social circles.

That would be an interesting hook for Ophelia. Saint's been running a side business out of his dad's back door for extra cash; maybe Ophelia caught wind of it and asked if he thought there was any way for her to make some extra money, too. I could see that if she's starting to get desperate.

Double post.

As for what our reputation is, I can see Professional honestly. Yeah, Guts is a violent man but he was raised and trained that his violence has a purpose. He enjoys breaking people down but he does it when he needs to. He only indulges his bloodlust at the Rusty Wench, when he relaxes by breaking people's faces till someone breaks his.

My official vote for Reputation is Professional.

@Kiradia - I am assuming that you're taking care of faction relationships and such then? I'm super interested to hear who likes us and who doesn't :D

It sounds like there is consensus on Thief's Rigging and Burglary.

I hear two for Professional. I think both Ophelia and I still lean toward Daring. Saint you got to break the tie!

Also seems like there's three votes for Six Towers?

...Sorry for completely altering the results of the survey you had us do, Kiradia!

I'm for Professional, too.

And Six Towers, if you weren't already counting me.

Also, it occurred to me that my explanation for Thief's Rigging was a little one-sided. Just so everyone is informed of what they're picking it over-

Quarters: Your lair includes living quarters for the crew. Without this upgrade, each PC sleeps elsewhere, and is vulnerable when they do so.

Secure: Your lair has locks, alarms, and traps to thwart intruders. A second upgrade improves the defenses to include arcane measures.

Just felt like I should have elaborated a bit in my above argument, in case anyone not in the know would have disagreed with me. Anyways, my mind is now at ease. We'll get these upgrades at some point, and it will be awesome.

-sits excitedly in the dark, works on sharpening all of my knives-

So, this might be asking a lot, but I noticed on the Leech sheet there's a bunch of alchemy items at the bottom of the page. Is there any way somebody could excerpt the descriptions of those things from the PDF for me?

I will try to have something for you soon. It will take a bit. <3