GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Phillip LaRose, Alice, Joe, Tim
System: Blades in 68′
My final donut of GoPlay and also my final game (we had an incredible dinner that I knew was going to take up my evening slot). One more game of Blades, this time with character sheets printed from the GoPlay printer, accidentally double sided, which meant some playbooks were only available to play either one, but not both. Fun times.
For the 4th game I dug even deeper into the friends lists to populate the game. Nearly everyone came off that list. We also had the most internal player tension between our Intellectual who “owned” a sparkcraft find and the Hull that was fighting for it’s own freedom. We also had a radical that was truly not a a good person, they put everyone around them in danger and didn’t care (most of the time) if they got hurt, Exciting times ahead.
- Svetlanna “The Fox” (Swinger) who drove fast and played harder. She had forgotten murdering someone and saying “it isn’t personal, it’s just business” which couldn’t be further from the truth. In her future she glimpsed a cut on a her face that would soon leave a scar.
- Villy Gareth “Li” (Radical) who had led the Rail Jacks into a riot that ended up getting people killed and ending their careers (thankfully forgotten). In the future she saw herself covered in someone else’s blood. Villy had a headplate that was attached when Section 6 was in the process of transferring her soul into a Hull but she broke free. The apparatus still attached.
- Hull #157 “Hardware (Hull) who is owned by the SCORPION syndicate. Hardware’s past was all a mystery, but one glimpse would come into play: being part of a guerilla socialist movement. In the future Hardware saw themselves dressed, wearing a jacked with a red star.
- Karter Burne “Trace” (Intellectual) owned a OLEK, a small hovering sparkmind construct which he treated as an object, in part because he had forgotten the spirit that he forced into the creation to animate it. And in his future he glimpsed being accompanied by a new construct altogether.
Highlights of the game
- Li throwing a gravity anomaly bomb at the roadblock so that Svetlana could race her Autopod “Hare” just underneath it. Conveniently Li was also caught in the blast and so she flew up and came crashing down on the hood.
- Svetlana avoiding hurting protesters by everyone tipping to one side of the car and getting it to go up on two wheels. Li (who was on the roof) was lost along the way, but they got the entire protest between them and the authorities.
- Li going all in to turn the student protest against the Bluecoats and march them over Candle Street bridge into Charterhall. Then having a flash and remembering how she led the Rail Jacks to riot and how it just made things worse. She tried to stop the protest before before shots were fired on them but it was too late, several protesters were killed right in front of her, covering her in blood.
- On the other side of the protest the students wanted to humanize Hardware. One of them put their jacket on Hardware. A jacket with a gold start, later made red by a bloody hand.
- Svetlana getting pushed over the edge with the final chase through the protest. She had done everything she could to prevent them from being hurt and then Li lead them right into a blood bath. She went from Confident (Key) to Insecure (Deadlock) and was only bolstered by getting fucked up with Revel, her dealer.
- Meeting up in the Velvet Veil with Penny the Debauched theorist (Karter’s lover) to put together a deal with the Tomorrow Project. Penny knew about their secret project and said too much. Later that would cost her!
- Hardware looking like he “heavy” to show Penny they were serious. Svetlana appearing form a back room and rejoining the group like nothing had happened.
- Karter trying to keep things cool with Lord Dalmore who was offering a pittance (two stack) before the ambush. He tried to parlay a fellowship with the Tomorrow Project, but Dalmore was unconvinced that he would do anything but sabotage the Catalyst Engine (dice just weren’t in Phillip’s favor).
- Dalmore holding a gun to Penny make sure the scoundrels didn’t try to double cross him and then, when they inevitably did get violent, Dalmore didn’t flinch. I hope Penny made it out okay, gut wounds are terrible.
- Everything going south in at the end. Li dropping a anti-sparktech pulse grenade to evade the Tomorrow Program’s ultrasonic suppression devices, but in doing so deactivating Hardware. As Trace ran out, he had to decide what to run with: Hardware (deactivated), Penny, the Alluvium, or the Stacks. He only had two hands! He tried to save Hardware by transferring the spirit into the Alluvium canister, but when that failed he grabbed Penny and the Alluvium and ran. We’re left unsure if Hardware’s spirit was accidentally transferred into OLEK or not! Li was alive, but with so much blood on her hands. Svetlana was really the only one who made it out “okay” and even she was deadlocked.
- Despite this job going horribly and there being so many awful consequences the players all seemed to have a good time. Huzzha for fun even in failure.
- The clocks in the Alluvium Affair (4 clock for the Authorities, 6 for the Autocycles chasing them, 6 to find a buyer) and a difficult challenge (getting through the roadblock) really makes for a nicely tuned 3-4 hour game. In ever slot we finished on time (or early) and had very satisfying conclusions. I also skip crew creation for con games (they are just general scoundrels without a particular crew type), which speeds things up some, but I think this starting situation is genuinely a perfect fit for a con slot. Huzzah!
- Pretty universally folks loved the props. I think they did a lot to say this is “not Blades in the Dark” and they were just fun to zoom around and use for positioning. I forgot how much I enjoyed props!
