Blackjack (Spoilers)

[Lanathar]

Hi Everyone

I am interested in how people's groups responded to Blackjack? Notably did anyone try to work out who it was? Did people's players work it out straight away? Did anyone have players who made really 'out there' guesses

I am hoping to try and muddy the waters a little bit. I should be able to help this by "casting" various NPCs with some reasonably well known actors even if they are minor.

(Actually struggling with Vencarlo himself as Anthony Hopkins with his Zoro hair is too much of a giveaway)

My thoughts on who the players could think it is based on the first adventure (with perhaps a little tweaking by me to confuse things):

- Vencarlo (of course)
- Grau
- Amin Jalento (rapier wielding noble)
- Cressida (if they take note of / are exposed to her desire to keep Trinia away from the queen)
- Sabina (in the execution she her face is covered)
- Marcus Endrin (going to bring him in early complaining about the queen as someone on here suggested)
- Neolandus (everyone will know he has fled)
- Perishial Kalissreavil (going to bring him in as there is an Elf PC. Also the stories of how long Blackjack has been around for aids this one)

Or is this "mystery" supposed to be really obvious to players (if not PCs)

[FadetoBlack]

:

We're halfway through book 1 in my group. My PCs have met Vencarlo and heard rumors about Blackjack but no one has put things together yet or tried to figure it out.

To me it seems like they'll naturally figure it out sometime in the beginning of book 2 when Vencarlo asks them to help out the woman Blackjack saves. If not then, they can wait till book 3 when they'll find the Blackjack outfit in Vencarlos house. If they don't get it early, there's no need to push it. It can be a mystery that goes on for a while as written.

[Mechalibur]

Oddly enough, my players didn't even attempt to figure out who Blackjack was. They thought he was just some guy instead of a previously established character.

[Seren]

One of my players is a travel domain cleric who got her hands on boots of striding and springing, so she just followed Blackjack after he rescued Trinia.

The party waffled a long time during Blackjack's duel with Sabina, before intervening, and so he was in rough shape and so in no shape to make her stop following him.

My players are also huge metagamers. As soon as I introduced Blackjack (via the Korvosan Post) and Vencarlo, they jumped on that and figured it out.

[Lanathar]

Seren wrote:

One of my players is a travel domain cleric who got her hands on boots of striding and springing, so she just followed Blackjack after he rescued Trinia.

The party waffled a long time during Blackjack's duel with Sabina, before intervening, and so he was in rough shape and so in no shape to make her stop following him.

My players are also huge metagamers. As soon as I introduced Blackjack (via the Korvosan Post) and Vencarlo, they jumped on that and figured it out.

I fear my players will be pretty good metagamers hence why I want to try and create as many options as possible as mentioned in my post.

But I would think the swagger of Vencarlo will immediately make people think "Zoro".

Which duel with Sabina is this? Is that part of the rescue? Or have I not quite read far enough?

[Seren]

Lanathar wrote:

Which duel with Sabina is this? Is that part of the rescue? Or have I not quite read far enough?

I just re-read my notes from running the first book; that was something I added during the Blackjack rescue. I had Sabina and Blackjack duel each other to a stalemate as a way to force the PCs to take a side.

Additional background: I ran the Trial of Trinia Sabor over a session.

First, the PCs got the docket; a long list of obviously trumped up charges in addition to the murder.

Next, Xenobia Zenderholm was forced to recluse herself from the trial because it was discovered that her family's docks received the shipment of paints that Trinia had used to paint the King. Instead, a random Ileosa supporter was tapped to run the Trial of the Century. His previous posting was a lower court that dealt with violations of the rules about how fast carts were allowed to move (read: Traffic Court).

Then the PCs met Trinia's court-appointed attorney. It seems as though the Queen only gave a small donation to the temple of Abadar to pay for the public defender, and so they got Ishani Dharti. The church of Abadar will only supply a lawyer in line with the donation made for their defense, even when the lawyer in question is completely out of their depth. (forshadowing the severe dickishness of the Church during the plague).

The PCs spent most of a session running around doing things to boost their case: Tapping Zenobia to help shore up the defense (she was upset at the fact that she was basically forced out). Getting made up evidence thrown out, etc.

They got all charges dropped but one that carried a penalty of 30 lashes. It hadn't been enforced in years, but it was still technically on the books. So that's what Blackjack rescued her from.

[ultimatepunch]

My group figured out who Blackjack is toward the end of book one.

[White Hilt]

Having just run the end of Book One and the beginning of Book Two, my group has suspected Vencarlo, but, surprisingly, immediately dropped their questioning when Vencarlo treated it as something ridiculous.

[Skeld]

My players picked up one of the rumors concerning Blackjack. Later that session, they met Vencarlo for the first time. If aNY of them had suspicions about Vencarlo being Blackjack, they haven't said anything yet.

-Skeld

[FedoraFerret]

Kroft: And this is Vencarlo Orsini, a good friend of mine and an outspoken critic of the queen.
Shaman player: I bet he's Blackjack.

I know for a fact he didn't read ahead so I was very confused about this guess. Fortunately I was able to throw them for a loop later when, since no one in the party was a suitable Blackjack candidate (either too lawful, too not-good, or Shoanti and therefore not really invested in Korvosa's long term safety), their next meeting with Blackjack in Book 3 was actually with his newly trained replacement, Trinia Sabor.

[Lanathar]

FedoraFerret wrote:

Kroft: And this is Vencarlo Orsini, a good friend of mine and an outspoken critic of the queen.

Shaman player: I bet he's Blackjack.

I know for a fact he didn't read ahead so I was very confused about this guess. Fortunately I was able to throw them for a loop later when, since no one in the party was a suitable Blackjack candidate (either too lawful, too not-good, or Shoanti and therefore not really invested in Korvosa's long term safety), their next meeting with Blackjack in Book 3 was actually with his newly trained replacement, Trinia Sabor.

What knowledge did they have of Blackjack by that point?

From memory it would only have been rumours and background knowledge surely?

[fireshade]

My party hasn't tried to figure it out his real identity, but there were a few instances where Blackjack has come up in conversation and the reaction was "If it's Orisini, I'm going to punch him in the face." They found Orisini's hidden chest, but they couldn't open it, and none of them are really suitable Blackjack replacements, so they may never learn the truth.

[FedoraFerret]

Lanathar wrote:

FedoraFerret wrote:

Kroft: And this is Vencarlo Orsini, a good friend of mine and an outspoken critic of the queen.

Shaman player: I bet he's Blackjack.

I know for a fact he didn't read ahead so I was very confused about this guess. Fortunately I was able to throw them for a loop later when, since no one in the party was a suitable Blackjack candidate (either too lawful, too not-good, or Shoanti and therefore not really invested in Korvosa's long term safety), their next meeting with Blackjack in Book 3 was actually with his newly trained replacement, Trinia Sabor.

What knowledge did they have of Blackjack by that point?

From memory it would only have been rumours and background knowledge surely?

It was just what he'd read in the Player's Guide.