GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Brian Trautman, Mike Ferdinando, Chris Czerniak, Greg Hellings
System: Blades ’68
Now and old hat at Strategicon Games on Demand I realized I didn’t have to run another game but I wanted to. Blades ’68 was the one I knew I could run even sleep deprived (up till 2:30 the night before talking to with folks and then awake for the 8AM lean coffee game design chat). And I’m so glad I did, this game was a hit.
Pitch
Daggertown. Twilight. The sky is a psychedelic swirl of colors. On the corner of Biringan Street and Carronade Road stands an old twelve-story brick building.
A figure is thrown out the top-floor window with a muffled bang. They fall backwards in a sparkling shower of glass, briefcase in one hand.
Which of you is falling through the air to the alley below?
On the other side of the broken window, the rest of you stand in a large penthouse loft. It is nearly empty — some furniture covered in canvas dropcloths, a desk and typewriter, a broken window, the twisted remains of a metal safe, a cloud of smoke.
And one more thing —the dead body of your contact, killed in the explosion and lying at your feet.
Your client sent you here for a simple job: pick up a package from a crime boss they couldn’t be seen associating with. Now the boss is dead, and it looks like you did it. You’ve been set up, but by who?
Greg jumped on being the one falling out the window. The effects of that would be come a bit more trivial once we finished creating characters, but I still applaud him for enthusiastic defenestration.
Shadows
Because I’ve run all for all the standard playbooks quite a few times, I decided to offer up some advanced playbooks (ghost/echo, time traveler, and vampire). I got one taker! Here’s the characters and crew we we made.
Brian played Victor Vexel the Echo (only fools believe in ghosts!). In living he worked in the Dagger Isle Civil Service before transferring to an academic appointment at Charterhall University where he advocated for accurate histories of the Daggerites and pushed back against fads and new trains of thought. He was found dead in his office but the klaxons never rang. Was he poisoned?
Mike played Vesper Haig, aka Domino, an Operative who was seen in a black catsuit in our opening montage. Domino worked for the Palace protecting Akoros from enemies without and within. She was however, an asset, and she knew it. Ultimately expendable, just like the rest of her crew. Her handler, confidant, and sometimes lover Karla, the Palace field agent. Karla had given her this job, sure to be an easy one.
Chris played Dance, a Swinger who trained in prestigious ballet house and started a performers union with her trusted friend and lover Three-Fingers, who betrayed her and left her with nothing for money and power. Since then she had been found by Nolburn who loved to watch her dance and supported her lifestyle as a patron of the arts and would-be lover.
Greg played Handy 4/16, of the Handybot 500 product line, an all purpose companion Hull owned and leased by Strangford-Michter Financial (SFM). Handy was Dancer’s companion, confidant, and sometimes clothes hanger. He cheerily served at her bequest, though part of his was remember who he used to be, and what he used to want for himself.
Together they formed a crew of Shadows called the Operators. The would get a call and then move into action, resupplying or falling back to their Echo Safehouse as needed!
We also established that the go-between was Vestine Keel, their client the Palace.
The Mission
As Handy is falling twelve stories straight down, the rest of you hear three things in quick succession. First, the dead body triggers the death radar, and a loud klaxon sounds — Section 6 will be here soon. Second, there are sirens in the street below and the sound of the front doors being booted open — the Bluecoats are here already, someone must have tipped them off ahead of time. Third, shouts of alarm from the Keel Twins members one floor down, and the sound of scraping chairs and running feet as they come to investigate.
Greg had picked Jet Propulsion as a frame upgrade (which took a lot of the danger out of the fall) but Handy was still surprised by the blast, so I wanted to see if he could right himself in time. The heels popped off his “shoes” and jet sprang out, but once of them jammed and so when the fired instead of gracefully landing, he spun in circles and crashed into the food stalls below. As he sat up from the the wreckage, half a dozen Bluecoats leveled their hand cannons on him. “Get up! Freeze! Don’t move” Show my your hands! Put the briefcase down! Don’t move!” The berated him with conflicting commands. He sat perplexed for a moment before saying “I’m property of Strangford-Michter Financial, who can offer both short and long term financing options…” and was promptly dragged away.
Upstairs, avoiding the threat of the Veretta Keel coming through the door the the 12th floor any moment, Dance leapt out the (conveniently already broken) window, threw her grapple into it and swung into the 10th floor…just below the the Keel Twins (or was just now a singular Keel?).
Vincent examined the body of Veretta. With his weak manipulation of physical he jerkily flapped open her jacket and nudged a black book from her breast pocket. With effort he was able to flip it open and see that her intended payment was supposed to come that night at a dead drop in the Lion’s Den, a Silkshore cafe nearby. He was hidden in the resonance field. A disturbing chill for anyone who passed by, but certainly not an obvious target.
Which left Domino all on her own. Great, thanks crew! She ducked under a drop cloth to hide and listen in on Veretta and the rest of the Keel’s muscle. There was a howl of rage that rivaled the earlier klaxon when Veretta saw the body of her sister on the ground. She barked orders “The Operators betrayed us and I want their heads. They can’t be far. Find them and bring them to me!”
Her crew did a perfunctory search of the room and just as Tonk, one of the Keel hitters, was about to lift up the dropcloth Domino was hiding under Veretta chided him for wasting time “Get moving!” Domino was just about to climb out when she paused at the sound of gentle sobbing. She waited a bit as Tonk said some private words to Vestine. “You gave me a chance when nobody else would. You brought me up and gave me a home. I was such a coward that I never told you how much I loved you Vestine.” There was another shout from down the hallway and Tonk set out to search the floors below. Phew.
Dancer got moving quickly. She had inadvertently broke into St. Ibara’s Apothecary and the proprietor was courting the till for the night. With not time for pleasantries she grabbed a hat from the hat rack, bolted out the door and blended in with the other building inhabitants who were evacuating. Just as she got to the bottom she heard a call from up the stairwell “Dancer!” Reflexively she looked up to see Veretta Keel staring daggers down at her, but it was too late. She slipped outside just in time to see Handy being loaded into a Bluecoat van and being driven off.
Handy, for his part was all compliant as the Bluecoats put him (and the briefcase) in the back of a van. There was a festival crowding Biringan Street so the large autopod had to move slowly through them. Music, fireworks, and joyful people were a sharp contrast from gloom of the Bluecoat van. However, what the Bluecoats didn’t know was that Handy handily had an electro-blade built into his arm, which he used to cut right through the autopod door an escape. When the heard the cutting the Blues jumped out to stop him, but with Danger’s help (she had come running after) they disappeared into the festival.
Meanwhile Domino put on her perfect disguise of Superintendent Clermont and sauntered down the elevator and stepped outside nodding as Bluecoats passed with deference. Vincent followed behind her in spectral form. In front of the building Sergeant Vran cursed the bureaucracy of having has captain yelling at him to rush two squadrons there and a Superintendent asking him why he was there. “Look ma’am. No offence but I’m just doing my job. A tip came in that some big deal was going down and the captain told me to move on it. Some who called themselves Agent #2, whatever that means. If you want to know more you can head down the the 11th precinct and ask the eggheads where the call came from.
Vincent and Domino peeled off from the Bluecoats to call a contact of their own Vera, the switchboard operator. She heard about the call, all the staff were taking about it, but didn’t know where it would come from. She put Domino on hold while one of her guys looked it up. However, as they were waiting she got another call, this time for Dancer. “Dancer, I’m talkin to Domino right now. What’s going on?” She connected the crew, but listened in, as they shared what they knew and agreed to meet up. Vera cut back in “Okay, I found where the call came in front, it’s a government office in Chartherhall, but it’s close this time of day and not many people should have access to it. I’m going to do some more research to—” Domino, seeing that their friend was about dig into something dangerous cut her off “—Vera, let us handle that. In the meantime can you keep your ear out for any more news?” She had curbed Vera’s interest for now, but it took to long their favorite switchboard operator might make the wrong connection!
The group retreated to their Echo Safehouse, where Vincent appeared just as he did in life. They had two leads (the call and the drop) but didn’t know anything about the package itself. With some time and quick moving digits, Handy Cracked the combination lock on the briefcase and began to open it when the borders of the safehouse warbled and Vincent felt a horrible distortion and threatened to dissolve his essence. They only got a quick look before Handy slammed the case shut, but what the found inside was a miniature (and active) bubble generator!
Lions Den
Inside the Lion’s Den, a late night cafe, a beat poet was speaking truth to power as patrons (mostly students) snapped along. A stage manager sat backstage smoking and the excited chatter of sophomoric passion and philosophy filled the cramped cafe.
Handy was instantly swarmed by students who wanted to fight for his rights, ask him his thoughts, and shower him with affection. NONE of this was what he wanted so he did all he could to extricate himself.
Vincent, jealous of the amorous attention the embodied Handy was receiving noticed that this space had another resonance echo present. A thoughtful looking figure who was watching the backstage intently. Vincent chided the overly simplistic ideologies of the students but the man (who we later learned was Agent #2) said in a Skov accent that it wasn’t his place to judge their beliefs, he was just please they were questioning the “truths” they has been sold.
Domino sauntered backstage, now wearing a beret and miniskirt, she fit right in. When she found the locker that was supposed to have Veretta’s payment, she noticed that it was also trapped to explode. She went about bypassing the trap when the stage manager cleared his throat “Young lady, I’m sure this is your sisters locker, or you just forgot the key, or you’re picking something up for a friend, but these are good kids here, please don’t take from them.” Domino turned on the charm and assured him she was leaving something (showing the decoy briefcase she brought).
Meanwhile Dancer decided to take some pressure off Domino by taking the stage and out performing the the poet that was there. It was risky, but her words were fire and soon she had the audience in rapture.
Domino bypassed the alarm, placed the suitcase in the locker, took the stacks, and walked away.
Agent #2 departed from Vincent and floated back stage to pick up the contents. Or what he thought was the contents.
Handy, who had finally escaped to a dark corner of the cafe, found that he had a companion hiding beside him, the woman he didn’t know well, but recognized from setting with Domino. Karla? They had the approximation of a conversation as both had their attention elsewhere.
Dancer, to create maximum cover and chaos invited Handy onto the stage, which excited all of the students. She asked what he felt, what he believed, what he truly wanted. Handy stood silent for a moment before addressing the audience “Strangford-Michter Financial offers a variety of extended warranties on all their products including Handybot 500 models such as myself. The advantage of a warranty—” And he was quickly booed by the students whose hopes he had dashed. Chaos and shouting filled the cafe.
Meanwhile Agent #2, realizing he had been duped, sought out the real case (he seemed to have stronger influence over the physical world than Vincent). He went for the briefcase and Vincent tackled him! The case fell to the ground and popped open. The wrestled beside it as the bubble energy tore apart the fabric of their reality. Vincent asked “Why should you have have such a thing” and Agent #2 responded “Why should not everyone? You Akorosi hoard all wealth and power for yourselves. This should belong to everyone!”
As this spectral battle was happening, Domino spotted Karla in the shadows and locked eyes with her. In that moment realized she had set him up by the one she loved the most [Yep, I had a characters up-tick connection betray them, I’m terrible!]. “Karla, how long have you worked for the USC?” she asked in disbelief.
Karla dopped her affected Akorosi accent and said in her native Skov, “Beautiful Domino, I have always worked for the USC.”
We cut away as the Palace spy had to decide to follow her mandate or her heart.
Thoughts on the Game
Wow, what a killer game. It felt very spy vs. spy. I also struggled a bit to mane sense of it. I had no idea why they were setup or by who, but in the end it seemed the only answer the the most heartbreaking one…and Mike (who played the betrayed Domino) loved it. He was pretty sure she was going to switch sides and become a double agent! For the future though, I think the Cold Open would benefit from a short list of possible reasons for the setup. Just something for the GM to fall back on if they aren’t sure or riff on.
I only now realized that the Ghost/Echo playbook doesn’t have contacts, which made the character feel a little isolated from the rest. The intent is for someone to become a Ghost/Echo rather than start as one (same as Blades) so I think in the future, I’ll just ask what playbook were you for a one shot and then pitch an up and a downtick contact. In this vase I think Vivncet was an intelectual so I would have pitched him Ackhurst the fired professor and Penny, the debauched theorist!
Chris asked a great question that I think we should address in the text. In our Cold War (1947–1991) the big threat was “the bomb”. Everyone knew about and feared the possibility of a nuclear attack and “the bomb” was frequently on our minds. So what is the big threat that Akoros believes USC (or another separatist nation) can bring to bear? My first instinct was destroying the Bubble, that feels pretty apocalyptic. I think (as we saw in this game), just desiring Bubble technology poses a deadly threat. If someone else knows how to build one…they also know how to destroy one!
The other threat in the west was the “evils of communism” which was used with a broad brush to condemn any beliefs or movements that were threatening or inconvenient. The danger from within! I think codifying USC (or Iruvian) sentiment into a word or phrase that the Crown demonized would capture that same sense of paranoia and mistrust.
Agent #2 would have never identified himself over the phone, or if he had, it wouldn’t have used that name, but I was scrambling to think of who placed the call and that’s what came out so I went with it. In the end it worked out alright!
In both times I’ve run this, I’ve never offered the options for the briefcase to have cash or product. Those just aren’t compelling enough for me. Last game they went with a contained resonance entity and this time it was an experimental piece of technology.
Faction business cards continue to be my most useful (and compact) prop. I love them!
