So XP. +4 for Desperate rolls. I'm put most of that toward Attune because that's probably where I made the most of those rolls.
Definitely addressed challenges with arcane power or knowledge. +2 XP there.
And definitely expressed beliefs, drives, and heritage more than once. +2 XP.
Didn't really deal much with vice or trauma in this one. Naty was pretty quiet. 0 XP.
Total of 8XP. With XP already in Resolve and Insight, I'll bump Attune to 3 and Tinker to 2. Dropping the one remainder into the playbook XP.
How much Coin did we actually get or did it all go for the Tier increase?
For downtime activities, I guess I'll mostly just be healing and indulging my vice this time around. For healing, do we still have access to that Tier 3 healer or was that just a one time thing from being in the mansion?
Sorry, lost a day due to work.
Jonah - the XP amounts look fine to me. To answer your question, yes the Coin from this score effectively is enough to bump you up to Tier 1, and the same goes for Rep which now resets to zero: more is expected of you now.
In terms of healing, I genuinely don't know what Sarah was planning with that Scurlock thing - whether it was intended as a weird one-off or the start of a different arc. Either way, I think the bonus healing was definitely a one-off. However, the new player I mentioned is (or was) thinking of playing a Leech with the Physicker ability which would give you all +1d on your healing rolls. They may have changed their mind since then of course but I would hold off on rolling for healing until they arrive, just in case.
I've reached out to Lolo's player and they're a no, for now, but may be interested later on. Is there anyone else you think would be interested? Or is three (plus the possibility that Doug is still around) a decent number?
Hey there, I'm the potential new player WW mentioned. Like he said my initial thought was a Skovlan Leech with the Physicker ability; specifically a former army doctor. She's currently running a small clinic primarily aimed at helping Skovlander refugees who can’t afford anyone else. Easiest way to introduce her would be for Jonah to know her, (either from the war, the clinic, or both), and call her in to check on Finraeth's injury to make sure it's healing well.
The other idea I have kicking around is a Serverosi Cutter loosely based on Eliot Spencer from Leverage. "Not to be Trifled With" would obviously be the first special ability. I was thinking his vice could be Stupor (bare-knuckle boxing), which IIRC is something Finraeth also used to indulge in. Maybe Finraeth calls him in to help protect the crew while he lays low?
I'd be fine playing either of these characters. It all depends on which set of abilities the crew thinks would be the most useful.
Ah, Leverage. ("What? It's a very distinctive show.")
Anyway, welcome on board. The advice "play the character that most interests you" is a horrible cliche but in this game it is true - the XP triggers for the leech and the cutter are so different (solve problems with technical skill/mayhem vs solve problems with violence/coercion) that you will effectively be playing a different game.
That's not to say that a leech won't encounter enemies that have to be fought, or a cutter won't encounter problems that need to be thought around, but the prevailing "flavour" of the game will be biased towards the problems that you most favour solving.
The other thing you need in this game is a long-term goal for your character - the game is a bit open-ended otherwise. It doesn't have to be an achievable goal; but if you have something your character wants to do, then I'm not just throwing random missions at you one after another. We're about to start Season 2, so this is a great time for a new character and a new start and a new direction for the crew.
Hope that's helpful.
XP-Wise, two of Casia's rolls were in Insight and the other two in Prowess, with none in Resolve, surprise, surprise. So 2 points in each.
Addresses her challenges with stealth and ... skirmish? Ugh. +1 XP.
Dealt with issues of vice/trauma? Oh, yeah. +2 XP.
Where to put that ...
With Fin staying out of the picture, I think I'll raise Casia's Skirmish by one. That will leave three points to drop into Special Abilities.
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Regarding Ever_Anon's incoming character ... I'm a huge fan of both Leverage and of Christian Kane's character, Eliot. But, that being said, another lady joining the group would really spin my wheels - and a healer to boot. So that's my vote.
But, as our noble GM pointed out above, it really comes down to what type of character you'd like to play.
Too late to edit my last post but you also need to do XP for your crew.
And: is it working for you playing Shadows? The last mission was much more about assassinate, but that was partly to do with settling scores with the man who killed your friend. If you want to do more of that sort of thing then we can swap the playbook out for Assassins, or if not then we can go back to doing the more typical heist type stuff that Shadows tend to excel at.
If you give me a lead for what you want, I'll try and follow it; mostly.
The talk about XP reminds me: will my character start with any additional XP and if so how much? I believe Min was given the choice of either an extra ability or two bonus dots, but that was a couple missions ago.
Oop, yes that is a good reminder, thank you. I think given the XP now accumulated, you get one extra ability and two extra dots. That should get you to the same "level" as the other characters.
(Ever_Anon here.) I've decided to stick with the doctor and she's mostly ready to go. Her short-term goal is just to earn enough money to keep her clinic going. Longer-term she'd love to take on apprentices, maybe even open a medical school.
I took Alchemist as her second ability, which starts her with one special formula already known. I want that to be a pain killer which allows people to ignore Harm penalties for an hour or two. What's kept it out of common usage is that ignoring pain makes it easy to injure yourself further. Maybe mechanically if you would suffer more Harm while under the effects of the drug, you take -1d to Resist? Does that sound reasonable?
I also wanted to get people's opinions on a backstory complication I thought might be interesting. I was looking at the player’s kit for more world-building info and noticed Hutton was listed as a Vice Purveyor. (“Obligation: Hutton, Skovlander Refugees/Revolutionaries, Charhollow.”) This got me thinking. What if Ranna needs a new crew now because she was previously working with the Grinders? Hutton might have been funding her clinic even if she wasn't a full-fledged member, just because doctors are rare in Doskvol and it's good to have one on the payroll. If people don't think that would be fun to play around then I'll change that part of her backstory to have her working as a freelancer instead.
I like that! Reading your background, you've certainly bought into the grimdarkiness of the setting - well done.
Your painkiller looks balanced to me and will certainly be useful for when people start taking level 3 harm which is otherwise incapacitating (you can act, but only if you push yourself which costs 2 stress).
I love the idea that she has worked with the Grinders and now washes up, somehow, with the Dusk Mites. Let's take that and see where it leads us.
I'm good continuing to play Shadows. I think the fact that the last mission was a bit 'out of character' for our crew is fine and kind of fit the session ending finale feel.
For Crew XP:
Execute a successful espionage, sabotage or theft operation. As stated this was more of an assassination, but a case could be made that we also sabotaged the Grinders pretty darned good. Still not a mission specific to those choices so +0XP.
Contend with challenges above your current station. Yep, definitely did this multiple times. +2XP
Bolster your crews reputation or develop a new one. Seems like this is a yes with the growth in Tier. +1XP
Express the goals, drives, inner conflict or essential nature of the crew. I think a multiple yes for this one. +2 XP
Total of +5 XP
I'm not sure where the crew XP was prior to this. If I get a chance over the next few days I'll try to dig back and find out.
Ranna: From a 100% selfish viewpoint I am totally glad you decided to go the Leech route. Jonah will be partaking of your skills soon I'm sure. :)
Whether or not we ran into each other during the war years I'm open to either way. I could see something like maybe while Jonah was working undercover, behind enemy lines you were able to pass along a few supplies or provide quick treatment for injuries. Something that would risk your position with the Imperials. He would know that you weren't a traitor like so many others think. Also opportunities for conflict there as his orders and methods often led to a lot more people (some innocents) for you to treat and deal with. Just ideas. We can also leave it as having never met at all.
Whether or not we ran into each other during the war years I'm open to either way. I could see something like maybe while Jonah was working undercover, behind enemy lines you were able to pass along a few supplies or provide quick treatment for injuries. Something that would risk your position with the Imperials. He would know that you weren't a traitor like so many others think. Also opportunities for conflict there as his orders and methods often led to a lot more people (some innocents) for you to treat and deal with. Just ideas. We can also leave it as having never met at all.
That sounds perfect! I’d definitely prefer to have some background together; it makes it much easier to justify her joining the crew. I like the possible tension you brought up too. Ranna would have been pretty conflicted about some of Jonah’s missions. She doesn’t like innocents getting hurt but would have seen the necessity. There’s also some guilt on her end for not doing more. Plenty of emotional trauma to play with :)
Jonah, thanks for tracking crew XP - it's something I need to take on now that I am properly running this game rather than just getting to the end of the score. I will take a look over the weekend.
I like the suggested previous interaction between Ranna and Jonah. My suggestion is that Finraeth takes a turn for the worse and Jonah sends for her help; the fact she works for the Grinders would explain why he didn't involve her before. There might still be trust issues, or not - that's what we play to find out :)
Plenty of emotional trauma to play with :)
Tell me you're playing BitD without etc.
Heads-up: I've had interest from another player who is potentially considering playing a Spider. You'll know more as and when I do.
Regarding the Grinders: do people think it's more interesting for Ranna to know about the Dusk Mites involvement already or for her to think it was the Silver Nails? My personal inclination is the latter; otherwise things will probably just get hashed out immediately.
The Dusk Mites put together a reasonable disinformation campaign to try and get the Nails and Grinders to go to war with each other so I think it's unlikely Ranna would know how involved they were. I for one certainly think it's more interesting if there's stuff she doesn't know, but it's in my interest as GM to say something like that ;)
With that said, the Grinders and Dusk Mites were already at war: the conflict started because of a skirmish that escalated when Lolo shot dead Hutton's daughter and Hutton had Dary murdered in retaliation. How much of that impinged on Ranna's day-to-day life is up to you to decide. (You may of course know all this already if you've read the gameplay history.)
Also, are you ok posting in-game or would you like me to give you an introductory lead-in?
That works. I think she'd know about Hutton's daughters death and that the Grinders went to war with the Dusk Mites, probably not know that they killed Dary, (doesn't seem like the sort of thing she'd be told about), and have no idea about the Dusk Mites being behind the war with the Silver Nails.
I'll write up an introductory post in a bit.
@Jonah - great post. In case it matters, I think Ranna's clinic is in Charhollow district rather than the docks.
... and of course Casia heads off on a (possibly) multi-day bender just as the RP possibilities step up. XD
The potential drama and tension that can be produced from it, though, might make up for the loss. Once Ranna is brought into the fold and finally meets Casia, Ranna's view of her may be colored by the fact that while her brother was sick and dying, Casia was off getting drunk.
Yeah, nothing like guilt and self-recrimination to improve one's view on life. ;)
I just posted suggesting someone fetch Fin's next of kin, so Cinna can bring Casia to the clinic and get her involved. Assuming she's sober enough to walk, of course ;)
@Jonah - great post. In case it matters, I think Ranna's clinic is in Charhollow district rather than the docks.
Oops...sorry, I just thought 'Grinders' and assumed docks.
Ciao everyone.
I'm the Spider WW mentioned (and I'm here at his invitation so blame him if you have arachnophobia!). Never played BitD before but I've skimmed the discussion thread and will try to read the gameplay over the (long) weekend.
Is there anything in particular I need to/should know either about the story or the mechanics? Thanks to WW's summary above I have some idea of what's been going on! :)
Welcome.
Given the drama at the moment I would hold off on bringing you in anyway - one new PC at a time, I think.
In terms of what to know about the game, honestly the first few posts from Sarah on pages 1 & 2 of the discussion thread are a great distillation of the game and what it's about.
Basically: forget everything you know about d20-based gaming and never roll the dice unless you mean it. Also, you never roll the dice until you've described what you're doing and what you want to achieve (the "Effect"). You'll then be told what "Position" you're in which defines how badly wrong things can go. You might be offered a Devil's Bargain, which gives you +1d6 on the roll in exchange for something definitely going wrong.
@Everyone: just a heads-up that I have a major family event this weekend so might not post much again until Monday.
Jonah, thanks for tracking crew XP - it's something I need to take on now that I am properly running this game rather than just getting to the end of the score. I will take a look over the weekend.
Okay, from what I could quickly track it looks like we should have 20 Crew XP total.
5 XP from our initial early double score.
5 XP from the job at Hutton's house.
5 XP from the Hutton's daughter's ghost job.
5 XP from killing off Hutton.
So that would fill the crew XP track twice.
Update: travelling today and tomorrow, I will post as I can. Back to normal on Wednesday.
If I'm reading the rules correctly anyone who Recovers this downtime can roll 4 dice. (3 for Ranna's Tinker skill + 1 extra for the Physicker ability.) May your healing clocks be filled!
If memory serves (and it may not because it's been a while since I read that part of the rulebook) your special ability means everyone gets +1d regardless of whether you're helping, but they only get the benefit of your Tinker skill if you spend Downtime action(s) assisting them. I would need to re-check.
@everyone, thanks for bearing with me although there's some great RP going on anyway, this game basically runs itself. I'm posting now.
So, Finraeth lives but will take time to fully recover - he's out of action as far as taking part in scores is concerned, but is available if you want to interact with him for RP purposes.
Now that Ranna is introduced, we need to bring her into the gang properly. My suggestion is that she raises the question of payment: she did just save the boy's life, after all. Ranna - you mentioned being low on supplies, maybe you know where there's a store of drugs that could be burgled? Obviously Ranna would have to go along as she's the only one who recognises what she needs, and maybe there's enough valuable medicine there to make a score out of it for the Dusk Mites. After a heist like that, Ranna is part of the crew whether she likes it or not; and she may find she likes it.
Let me know what you think.
Regarding Recovery, I had a chance to look at the rules again. On page 155 it says, "Recovery is like a long-term project. Your healer rolls (Tinker for a PC with the Physicker special ability or the quality level of an NPC) and then you mark a number of segments on your healing clock...Note that it’s the recovering character that takes the recovery action. Healing someone else does not cost a downtime activity for the healer."
I like your suggestion of how to bring Ranna into the gang. How do people feel about the suggested burglary being a store that's either allied with or a part of the Silver Nails? Ranna wouldn't have any qualms about stealing from them and they'd probably have a lot of good loot. However that is a Tier III faction so it would be more dangerous than, say, a random apothecary.
This could also be a great opportunity to bring in our fourth crew member. Maybe Luce has used Ranna's clinic and they've become friends? Luce could even be the one that told Ranna about the potential score. Wanting to increase their chances of success, Ranna suggests bringing Luce in as an ally.
Regarding Recovery, I had a chance to look at the rules again. On page 155 it says, "Recovery is like a long-term project. Your healer rolls (Tinker for a PC with the Physicker special ability or the quality level of an NPC) and then you mark a number of segments on your healing clock...Note that it’s the recovering character that takes the recovery action. Healing someone else does not cost a downtime activity for the healer."
Fab, thanks for finding that section so I didn't have to :)
I like your suggestion of how to bring Ranna into the gang. How do people feel about the suggested burglary being a store that's either allied with or a part of the Silver Nails? Ranna wouldn't have any qualms about stealing from them and they'd probably have a lot of good loot. However that is a Tier III faction so it would be more dangerous than, say, a random apothecary.
This could also be a great opportunity to bring in our fourth crew member. Maybe Luce has used Ranna's clinic and they've become friends? Luce could even be the one that told Ranna about the potential score. Wanting to increase their chances of success, Ranna suggests bringing Luce in as an ally.
This is good. I'm still thinking on how to bring Luce in but the main thing is to get the ball rolling so we aren't standing still for too long. With that said, I don't think everyone has completed downtime yet.
Downtime actions: Indulge Vice and Recover. It looks like Ranna makes the healing roll so I'll roll for Stress Relief.
Whew. Back up to 7 stress.
I've got a pretty busy day today, but will try to get a post up by this afternoon.
Unlike hit points which count down, stress counts up - it's something you accumulate, so lower is better :)
Huh...I guess I've been tracking it backwards all this time. So instead of 1/9 I was actually at 8/9, so now would be at 2/9. Correct?
Looks right to me.
Um. Hopefully this isn't indicative of how I'll roll in the future? If you spend a coin to improve the result at least you'll fill your clock.
I'm so sorry.
Casia will utilize the same activities that Jonah will engage in, i.e. Indulge Vice and Recover. We've previously hand-waved Stress reduction in the past, so I might need a little clarification on this one.
Vice Indulgence requires a roll against your lowest attribute. You then reduce your Stress level by the highest die. Clearing more Stress than you have means the character overindulged.
Casia's lowest attribute is clearly Resolve at 0. For normal rolls, that would mean that she rolls two dice and uses the lower of the two.
In this instance, though, that feels ... counter-intuitive.
Any thoughts, GM?
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On a different note ...
Casia has a number of injuries that should probably be healed up via our new healer. Considering the self-destructive mood she's in right now, though, I can't for the life of me come up with a valid reason for her to ask for healing.
Perhaps Fin recovers enough to notice the battered state that his sister is in and demands that Casia do something about it?
[dice=Healing for Jonah]4d6
Um. Hopefully this isn't indicative of how I'll roll in the future? If you spend a coin to improve the result at least you'll fill your clock.
I'm so sorry.
Heh...no worries at all. The RNG seems to know when Jonah is making healing rolls. I think I got something similar the last time. But yes, I will spend that Coin. :)
So level 1 harm goes away. Level 2 Broken Ribs drops to Level 1.
@Ranna: wow. 4d6 and nothing higher than a 3. Welcome to the game :)
@Casia: AFAICT, you have it right: roll 2 dice and then reduce stress by the lower of the two rolls. It means (amusingly) you're less likely to overindulge but you're also less likely to clear all your stress, which means you're more likely ultimately to end up with Trauma.
Re Casia's injuries: I didn't see Ranna giving Jonah much choice about being treated when she noted his injury. She strikes me as fairly no-nonsense, and enough older than Cas to big-sister her into submission (although it's Ranna's character, so ultimately her call on how you all interact).
EDIT Level 2 Broken Ribs becomes Level 1 Cracked Ribs, I think.
Well then, here goes ...
Wow. That surprises me. Casia clears her Stress and doesn't overindulge.
That just doesn't seem right. XD
Did you *really* only have 3 stress?! I was being too lenient...
Another way to bring Luce in if it's on the card would be "hmm, I know the Silver Nail's have a supplier but we'd need more intel".
Luce works for/with her friend Salia, an information broker - so if you went to Salia looking for info and she takes a look at Jonah and says "you guys really don't look like you're ready for something like this, but I've got a friend who can help for a cut" then that could work? Luce can even do a little audition for you all if you'd like?
Like I said, this game basically runs itself :)
Luce's suggestion works for me, I suggest we go with that. There's a little bit more downtime we need to do; and by we, I mean I. I'll get it done tomorrow.
Significantly better. I'll have a post here shortly.
That will put Casia back to fully healed. Thanks a bunch. :)
Alright, so finalising Downtime (sorry for the delay)
The Sashes and the Lampblacks each gave you a territory: take a look at the Shadows crew sheet for possible options and decide what you want to have. You also have XP advances for the crew, so you need to decide what to do with those.
Rep resets to zero as you are now Tier 1 (weak hold).
The next thing to do is look at Heat you accumulated with this score. The infiltration itself was smooth enough, but Casia set off a bunch of fireworks across the district and you ended up with Hutton possessed by a ghost and having to be put down by the spirit wardens when you ran away. That's 4 Heat, +1 because it was hostile turf, +1 because you were at war at the time, and +2 for dropping bodies. 8 Heat total. That puts you to Wanted level 2 and clears your Heat back to zero. The Bluecoats are now looking into you a lot more closely.
Relations are mostly unchanged, although the Silver Nails have found out about Fin's involvement in the hit on them. Their assumption - for now - is that you were paid by the Grinders to do it, and business is business but still. They have bigger fish to fry - for now - but you are at -1 relations with them.
Interesting. I will get that posted up in gameplay shortly.
Are the territories we get from the Sashes/Lampblacks the same as Claims? If so, my vote would be for Informants and then either Loyal Fence or Infirmary. (Unless we'd rather claim a Turf to make future level-ups faster.)
For the crew XP, I'd like to request a workshop as one of the two upgrades. Maybe a special ability as the other? Synchronizer looks pretty good.
Sorry, yes, I'm using the wrong terminology. Claims is the word I should have used because Turf is one possible claim. My bad.
EDIT and I see I didn't even call it turf, I called it territory. Confusion reigns.
I've got a post ready that will set us up for meeting Luce, if that would be okay to do?
Yes but please put some dates on your posts so I can track the timelines :)
I'd second the workshop upgrade. Then maybe either quarters, secure, or a quality upgrade.
For the special ability, I agree Synchronized looks like the best choice at this point. Maybe Pack Rats if we want to focus on getting some items and assets.