Scum... and Villainy!

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Scum and Villainy is the science fiction adventure member of the Forged in the Dark family of games. If you've played Blades in the Dark, the system is almost identical; the few differences nudge it away from the grimdark steampunk grit of BitD and towards a looser, cinematic, more swashbuckling play style. Like BitD, Scum and Villainy encourages roleplaying: you're not required to RP, but it can bring you both mechanical advantages and XP.

So, this is an interest check! Knowledge of the system is not required, but you'd have to be willing to to learn it (obviously) and also to commit to posting regularly and committing for at least the first episode (probably 4-6 weeks in RT). If that sounds potentially interesting to you, chime in!

Oh man, I would fight any number of wild animals to play in Scum & Villainy. I'm a huge fan of Blades in the Dark and while I have the book for S&V, I haven't really used it that much. I would love a reason to change that.

Oh man, I would fight any number of wild animals to play in Scum & Villainy.

No beastfighting required! Just find a friend or two.

I'm tentatively interested in trying this out. I've never played BitD or this one, but I am willing to learn.

As long as you read the book a bit, it isn't too hard. The cooperative style is very fun and I think everyone loves a good space opera.

I'm tentatively interested in trying this out. I've never played BitD or this one, but I am willing to learn.

Wow. Are you sure you'd have time? You're doing a lot of stuff! We'll be glad to have you, if you think you can...

Yes, it's a fun system. It's simple in concept -- d6s only, you build dice pools. But there are some depths. (The flashback subsystem is a particular favorite of mine.)

Scum and Villainy adds a few twists. Your ship is almost like an NPC -- it gains experience, and can be upgraded a bunch of different ways. Before the game even starts, you pick a general focus for your crew, i.e., are you (mostly) smugglers, or bounty hunters, or plucky rebels against the Galactic Hegemony. Which one you choose determines your starting ship. And so forth.

Yes, the "flavour" you pick hugely influence the game as a whole: if you go smugglesrs, you're playing Firefly, if it's up against the Hegemonony you're moer Star Wars and if you pick the third option you're plaing bounty hunters and I don't have a refrence for that.

(I'm not dotitng in to join recruitment, btw, just to follow along - although if you end up a player short, I'd happily jump in!)

I am tentatively planning on running this for some friends. I would love to get a chance to play. The game looks great.

Well, that's a yes and two maybes... Anyone else out there?

That is two for yes and two maybes. I think we almost got a crew going with what we got if the maybes want to make the right/correct decision.

Excellent!

I too have dabbled in the controlled chaos that is BitD and would love a chance to combine that with some hi T3cH madness!

I am a yes. Sign me up capt.

Wow. Are you sure you'd have time? You're doing a lot of stuff! We'll be glad to have you, if you think you can...

Sure, I'll take the plunge and say yes. Let's try it!

Hm! Okay, looks like we have four!

1) There's still room for a fifth, if someone is interested.

2) Before anything else: y'all have to decide what kind of group you're playing (which determines what kind of ship you have). The options are Bounty Hunters, Smugglers, or Rebels. Those aren't locking you in -- Smugglers can take bounties, Rebels can smuggle, anyone can do anything -- but they do set up the general tone of the campaign.

Maybe everyone chime in with a first and second choice?

1) Smuggler
2) Bounty Hunter

1) Rebels
2) Bounty Hunters

Doing the smuggler shtick in another game, so I will say:

1) Rebels
2) Bounty Hunters

Waiting for our last player to express a preference (and anyone else who wants to join).

Meanwhile -- character creation in S&V is pretty straightforward, so feel free to jump in with that. It also encourages you to set up RP hooks right from the beginning, so feel free to tease those out. You are /not/ required to have detailed backstories -- you can if you want to, but you can also leave a lot of blanks to be filled in later...

Currently deciding between Mystic, Pilot, Scoundrel, or Stitch. I’ll make a choice and get my character sheet done tomorrow morning.

I am definitely wanting to be the Mystic. I have an idea brewing that I'll put to form soon!

Sign me up for muscle or mechanic

Well who am I to set up a tie? Rebels it is!

Still looking at characters.

Plucky band of rebels, you are! Smash the Hegemony!

I've settled on Stitch for my playbook. Character sheet to follow later today.

I believe the basics of my character are in place now. Doctor Deidre Dawkins, reporting for duty!

The starting scenario for this is the jailbreak on page 143. If you survive, the end point there is to get away in a ship.

Why you're in jail, who put you there, whether you know each other, whose ship that is... all open atm.

I believe the basics of my character are in place now. Doctor Deidre Dawkins, reporting for duty!

Doctor D! Okay, note that the I'm A Doctor ability makes you the final emergency backup -- when all else fails, you can always get two dice, even if you don't have a single dot in that action.

Also, the Doctor action is huge. It includes "attend to the needs of another by lending aid and comfort" but also "you look scientifically at the world". That's pretty much all the SFnal bafflegab stuff. So, a little bit of Doctor Who, as it where.

(Doctor overlaps a bit with Study, but then all the actions overlap with each other some. In PF1 terms, Doctor is Heal plus most of the Knowledge skills. Study is more Perception / Sense Motive, with a side order of Gather Information.)

I have the basis of Sun Li Tao, also known as "Hex", set up. My idea is that he was a farmer on Amereth who was exposed to a Way artifact that opened his mind further than one without training would. The Church of the Stellar Flame detected this and basically burned his idyllic home to the ground. Looking for vengeance, he was rescued by Horux, a Nightspeaker, who began to teach them their ways. Sun Li was okay with it until he came to realize how vicious they were in pursuit of power and broke away. I'm not sure if I want it to be that his mind, in training, met something that seeks to stop the Nightspeakers and exposed him to the truth. I imagine he was captured later for having illegal artifacts on his person and secured away after he reacted poorly to them trying to take him in.

The whole concept basically comes from an idea I always liked in Star Wars of having a Sith that had a "Wait, we're the bad guys" revelation halfway through training. This new entity his mind contacted has put him on a new path but it is very easy to just destroy obstacles in front of him rather than try to solve it. Our ragtag group will help him develop into a better person and he'll provide information over the weird stuff.

Horux, his former teacher, is angered by his student's betrayal. It was a very Vader-Starkiller idea where Horux wanted him to grow powerful enough to overthrow the current leadership and now, that is impossible and his standing is threatened by his delinquent student.

Rye, the unrequited love, was a fellow farmgirl on the planet when the Stellar Church began to cleanse the area. They had a beginning love when everything went terrible and I was hoping that maybe, she leads a resistance cell of her own against the Hegemony since it did nothing to aid them after their lives were destroyed.

Hex is being held until the Church of the Stellar Flame can pick him up on the prison ship. Then he will likely be interrogated, tortured, examined, and have any useful data collected before being eliminated as a danger.

Build-wise, I plan on going a mixture of Mystic-Muscle focusing on getting close to folks and kicking ass. At least, that is the plan.

Potter is a hacker and all around handy man. He is a data -thief, and a good one his primary fence is Juggler an information broker from SB-176.

One of the first things that Potter did was to scrub himself from the infosphere, but that does not mean that no one is looking for him, his father is Governor Duncan Ramus, the Shrike of Iota. Potter is pretty sure the old man thinks him dead and takes pains to keep it that way. The Shrike does not like losing.

Potter got nabbed when one of the crew he was running with got drunk, picked up and flipped, for now Potter is pretty sure that his cover id will stand, but getting off this ship before they get to civilization is a priority.

Among the listed gear for the Mechanic are (Small drone & Genius pet.) Could I instead have Virtual Intelligence(VI) program runs in my Datajack and can help me?

I have the basis of Sun Li Tao, also known as "Hex", set up. My idea is that he was a farmer on Amereth who was exposed to a Way artifact that opened his mind further than one without training would. The Church of the Stellar Flame detected this and basically burned his idyllic home to the ground.

Mm hm, good, good. I'm thinking the CSF has an Inquisition, you know? The Brotherhood of Gentle Correction, or some such.

Looking for vengeance, he was rescued by Horux, a Nightspeaker, who began to teach them their ways.

Mm hm, good, good. The Nightspeakers also seem like a very fun organization that is also strongly goal-oriented.

Horux, his former teacher, is angered by his student's betrayal.

Okay, so... here's a thing I'd like to try. This is a narrative-driven, collaborative fiction. I'll throw things at you, and we'll roll dice, but a big chunk of it is building a world together.

So, now and then I may offer a chunk of worldbuilding or backstory for your consideration. If it starts with an *, that means it's optional -- you don't have to buy into it. You can accept it, reject it, or amend it, as you prefer. So, in this case:

*Horux is a nightmare, a true master of the Dark Way. There's a reason none of his students have ever rebelled: he would crush them, slowly and horribly. How you got away is a whole story in itself, but you have annoyed him, and what's more, you have slightly embarrassed him. Maybe he'll have other priorities besides tracking down his wayward apprentice, but... don't start any long novels.

Mm hm, good, good. I'm thinking the CSF has an Inquisition, you know? The Brotherhood of Gentle Correction, or some such.

Mm hm, good, good. The Nightspeakers also seem like a very fun organization that is also strongly goal-oriented.

Indeed! I think a big character goal is for him to meet other Mystics from other orders and sects, start to try and really coalesce everything into a singular idea of how he wants to move forward.

*Horux is a nightmare, a true master of the Dark Way. There's a reason none of his students have ever rebelled: he would crush them, slowly and horribly. How you got away is a whole story in itself, but you have annoyed him, and what's more, you have slightly embarrassed him. Maybe he'll have other priorities besides tracking down his wayward apprentice, but... don't start any long novels.

That sounds perfect to me! Horux is an exceptionally dangerous Nightspeaker and a master of the Night Voice which can rip away the Way from an area for a time. He can fight on a level of a small gang like any of the others, he just has generally been politically outplayed by the current leader and her loyal followers.

I'll have more of a backstory for Dierdre tomorrow, was short on time this morning.

Among the listed gear for the Mechanic are (Small drone & Genius pet.) Could I instead have Virtual Intelligence(VI) program runs in my Datajack and can help me?

Here are my thoughts offhand. Let me know if these work for you!

*AIs are categorized a bunch of ways. Here's one: Category (I) are not conscious; they can pass limited Turing Tests but are pretty clearly just expert systems. They're everywhere. They're property, no legal rights. Category (II) are just barely below human-equivalent (and may be quite superior in some ways) and have limited self-consciousness. In some jurisdictions they have limited legal rights, comparable to pets. Category (III) have full consciousness; depending on where you are, they may be recognized as human, or not.

*Your VI is Category II. You made him by grafting your middle school tutor -- a near-human expert system designed to be a teacher and companion -- onto some very powerful hacking software. His name is Mr. Beeba.

*The good news is, he can give you +1d on hacking sometimes. The less good news is, the graft process left his personality a little unstable. His default is kindly and a bit academic. But sometimes (like when you roll consequences) he may suddenly... jump out of the groove, for a little bit.

Welcome aboard Mr. Beeba, make your self at home over in my Wernicke's area.

I'll have more of a backstory for Dierdre tomorrow, was short on time this morning.

You certainly can, but don't worry too much if you don't. This is definitely a game where you can fill in stuff later!

Mechanic, Mystic, Stitch... okay, we're almost ready to roll; I think we'll likely start play tomorrow. Meanwhile feel free to look at the starting situation on page 143 and come up with anything you want to add/. (If you really want to go nuts, check out the ship creation rules and get a head start on putting the beast together.)

So I took a look at the Firedrake and I began to consider what would work best for our ship and the situation on how it got there...

I am thinking for Ship Qualities, we take an additional Hull and Comms. The former makes our ship a bit tougher, the latter means we can communicate long-range and grab a false transponder. They're not the most exciting choices but I think they're the best bet.

For special abilties, the big ones I find most interesting and makes the most sense for our characters could be Forged in the Fire, Natural Enemies, Just Cause, or Hearts & Minds.

Forged in the Fire giving us an additional +1d to resist anything is awesome and can make sense if all our characters come from harsh experiences and backgrounds. Natural Enemies would be useful to make sure that jobs against the Hegemony have a better chance at starting at well and encourage us to pick a fight against them to get that crew XP. Just Cause lets us play tragic good guys that make the tough decisions to their own detriment. More XP for the Crew means we level up faster and grow stronger quicker. Hearts & Minds is a good pick because anything that gives you free action ratings is just good overall. The social skills there will be useful for everyone in one way or another, especially because I don't think any of us made particularly social characters so far?

As for ship/crew upgrades & modules, I think we should definitely get a fake transponder as soon as possible. Being rebels means we are going to be consistently pissing off the Hegemony and will be gaining Wanted levels all the time. Being able to bypass some checkpoints will save us trouble. For the second option, I think we take the Landing Bay so we have somewhere safe and secure for our shuttle and can work on acquiring fighters and more shuttles as needed.

For our ship contact, I have an idea. Barring any additional players or adjustments on anyone's sheet, we don't have a pilot at all. I am thinking that Tiko Lux, a hotshot pilot could be a good choice. Perhaps he was a bit of a maverick and kept disrespecting the Hegemony's "good name" and so a crime was invented to discharge him and arrest him. If we get a pilot of some sort, I am fine for any of the others.

I almost forgot! Our crew reputation! I am unsure what reputation will fit us all the best. I don't think Brutal because Sun Li Tao is trying not to be that. Strange and Subtle don't seem as fun either, the former doing its best with a group familiar with the game rules and the latter wanting us to be too safe. I want to really fall onto the space opera, swashbuckling, adventure side of things thematically. I think Daring or Ambitious could be fun!

I'm fine with the Ship Qualities suggested.

Deirdre has some minor social skills, but it's not her focus. Depending on what playbook our fourth player chooses, I think Hearts & Minds would be a good choice. If they are socially focused, then Forged in the Fire would be my pick.

I like Tiko Lux for our pilot, and Daring for our crew reputation.

***

As for brief backstory, Deirdre is the daughter of a minor noble in the Imperial government. She attended a highly prestigious medical school, but while pursuing her doctorate, she was exposed to various "radicals," including her on-again/off-again lover, Juda, who opened her eyes to the true cruelty of the Hegemony. After graduation, she used her position as a medic to move throughout the clusters and provide surreptitious support to the rebels fighting back against the government. Unfortunately, her cousin, Ditha, learned of her treachery and sold her out to the authorities. She now languishes in prison, but she has vowed that if she is ever able to escape, she will take her fight against the Hegemony out of the shadows!

I got a DM from our fourth player, Atlas -- he's having some difficulties, which should resolve within the day.

Okay, going to open up gameplay and discussion. Let's do discussion of the setup over there. Come along and dot in!

Mechanic, Mystic, Stitch...

Muscle.

He was once in the elite special forces of The Empire. A true die-hard and a master of his craft, he advanced Liberty in many corners of the galaxy, at the barrel of a blaster, shoulder-to-shoulder with the brothers of his craft.

Then something happened. He doesn't talk about it much, but hints gleaned in the early hours after many pan galactic gargle blasters indicate that death was involved--death, so long his friend, betrayed him, and showed him a new perspective.

He has shown his loyalty to The Cause on numerous occasions, so the purity of his conversion is no longer in question, and one needs to understand that when he rumbles "While the enemies of the The Emperor still draw breath there can be no peace," try not to take it personally.

That's just how Brother Aterro is.

Heh. I used this alias before in my last foray into BitD. Figures I should give it another spin!

This is looking fun - if you guys decide you need a pilot, let me know :)

Muscle.

[...]
"While the enemies of the The Emperor still draw breath there can be no peace,"

Wait, you're a plucky rebel now. (FREEDOM, he said, unlimbering his gun.)