Hey,

So with GenCon and RPG burnout because of it, we finally got around to playing Part 2 of Liars, Swords & Money. It was all about choices and how fighting an uber-secret evil conspiracy doesn't give you clear black and white choices. I was using this political backdrop to set a precident, and it seemed to work (though the one player always seems to look for the clear black and white computer game answer). As one of my players said afterwards, it is like when Mulder has to work with Krychek or the Cigarette Smoking Man for a greater good. Part One can be read here and the episode prior to that here.

Scene One: A New Faction Introduced
Humberto interupted a kidnapping attempt of Father Danya by three men. He yelled for help and drew steel. He quickly brought the one man down and engaged the second, while the third backed up against the wall with a knife to Father Danya's throat. Ruud arrived ahead of the rest of the protagonists and using his bow, fired an arrow into the hand of the hostage taker. Humberto slew the man he was battling and together they captured the hostage taker. He informed them he was working for the Merchant Council and that he was ordered to kidnap Danya.

The city watch was called and they arrived. Ruud made a foolish comment about the forbidden books that Father Danya was reading and got into an arguement with the watch. However, things got settled and the group decided that the next day they would go investigate the Merchant Council.

Scene Two: Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom
In the early morning, Humberto got a knock on his door (a 13 year old boy he made wet his pants). It was a message from Geraldo (their merchant ally) to meet him at his brother's estate. After breakfast, the protagonists went to Xavier's Estate. At the gate, they find out they are not on the list, but after 30 minutes of waiting they are escorted to the house to meet Geraldo.

Upon entering the room, Geraldo seemed surprised to meet them. He did not send for them and as far as he knew, neither did his brother. Shovan immediately says, this is a diversion so that they can make another attempt on Father Danya and they turn to leave. Then it hit. A large explosion shatters the building and everyone is knocked down. In the carnage, someone stops and takes the diary of the previous King's Hand from Ruud and says, "I'm sorry about this. I really am."

Once everyone is up and about (severly dazed of course) a man comes running up from the gate to speak with Xavier (who was organizing the search for survivors). At the gate the King's men were trying to get in to arrest the protagonists. Xavier says he will hold them off as long as he can to return the favor of saving Geraldo (Episodes 1 & 2). Geraldo then leads them out a side entrance to the compound where they are spotted by some guardsmen. After a merry chase into the South Warrens (think ghetto) they lose the guards and find themselves in an alley outside the Broken Mug Tavern.

Scene Three: Things Get Complicated
The angry band entered the bar to get a drink. They come to the conclusion that they need to find Hvinn, their smuggler friend, to try and get some answers. As they try to leave, they were stopped at the door by a man entering saying, "Ahh. I found you. Let me buy you a drink."

It turns out he was the one that set the explosion, his name is Inigo and he works for House Talvan.* He tells them that he can offer them a safehouse, help them find Lucian and an opportunity to work for his employer (aid Talvan in pressing his claim). He also tells them that the book and the family tree they found is proof of his employer's claim. He then leaves and tells them the location of the safe house (a plague marked house) and says to sleep on their decision.

Seeing this as a opportunity to lay low, they go to the safe house and begin to try and put everything together. Shortly after getting there a knock is heard on the door. After a bunch of shuffling they answer it. It is Oro ca Laravina and he is there as a representative from the Merchant's Council. The long and the short is that they want to hire the group for a gig (they are looking for Lucian too) in exchange for immeasurable wealth and to help them find Lucian. Leaves them food and drink as a measure of good faith and tells them to contact him (send a note to the Black Rose) when they have made a decision.

So the discussion begins. Which side will they choose? Will they turn themselves in to the King's Hand (who they got along with last episode) who Ruud favors since he is a king's man? Will they align with the rebel house who tried to blow them up and stole from them? Or, will they align with the Merchant Council, who tried to kidnap Father Danya?

They choose the Merchant Council and send the note. Oro arrives an hour later and tells them he wants two things in exchange for immeasurable wealth. One is to find Lucian (which they will supply men to them to help) and two is to assasinate the King's Hand, who is making trouble for them (a real kick in the pants this one). They pump Oro for information and don't get much (he is essentially a lawyer after all) and ask for more time (1 hour).

When Oro returns for a third time, they tell him they will do it. They really don't want to assassinate the King's Hand, but they felt they had no other choice (gotten in too deep). He tells them he needs some time to set up a safe location to move them to (one of his men got his throat slit while babysitting the house) and leaves.**

Scene Four: Another Faction, You Have Got to Be Kidding Me
Later that night they hear some scuffling outside the door, a gurgle and then a knock. It is Inigo. He knows about Oro's visits, claimes that the alley ambush (last episode) was orchestrated by either the King of the King's Hand and asked them once again to aid his employer. He also mentioned that they are being watched by other men (not Merchant Council men) from across the
street.

They figured, what the hell, lets ask them in to get their offer. It turns out to be an ambush. Swords flash and bolts rain down upon Humberto and Shovan. Ruud pulled a slat out of the boarded up window and killed the snipers while Shovan cut down the two remaining in the street. They find a note with the name of a Tavern (The Black Gull) and a man (Hapka). Deciding not to get side tracked they left with Inigo to go meet Vorno Talvan and see the proof (they hadn't really studied it before).

*House Talvan and the current king (of House Rudolvan) are cousins. Rudolvan inherited the throne a few years ago, but Talvan claims that they are the rightful rulers. They are on the verge of open war.

**They let slip about the book (which they found at Lucians which got stolen by Inigo) to Oro, but he had no idea what they were talking about. The Merchant Council is interested in Lucian for some other unrelated reason.

On a whole it worked out nicely. They caught on that none of the three sides is really very good or very evil, so it came down to choosing the lesser of two evils. Ruud had the hardest choice because he had a good relationship with the hand and his father (prior to being killed) was one of the king's huntsmen. He ultimately decided that his loyalty was to the throne itself and that if Talvan was the rightful heir, he should be in the throne.

Keith

Hello,

I have shamefully failed to participate in Conspiracy of Shadows discussions since GenCon.

Here let me say: this game is excellent. I really like it, although there's a possibility of conflict of interest there, as CofS is clearly a Sorcerer spawn - a leaner, meaner, specific-setting version. Its mechanics are different enough to be different rather than just a spin, so it's definitely its own grown-up spawn. I regard it with a kind of awe.

Keith, one reason I've had a hard time responding to your threads is because you're only presenting transcripts. The characters do this, do that, and then do the next thing. It's not an account of play, which is really what we need to see to appreciate what the game is about.

Here are my questions which are designed to showcase how the game works.

1. Please describe the process of creating one of the supernatural menaces in the scenario.

2. Give some examples (not all) of the positive and negative descriptors among the characters, and how they were used during play.

3. Did anyone get a really rockin' series of successful rolls? How did that affect the outcome of that particular conflict? Did any NPC get such a series against the player-characters?

4. What is the nature of the conspiracy? Can you list its features just as you require them to be invented by the GM in the scenario preparation section?

5. Which ethnicities and national origins are represented by the player-characters? Did your players play "toward type" as described in the book, or do some tweaking to individualize characters as distinct from the common perception of their ethnicities?

6. Which moments during play were real payoffs for you as GM? Why?

Finally, what are you proudest of in the book's content? In which you say, "Yeah, I wanted to say that, and damn, here it is."

Best,
Ron

Hey,

Oh man is this going to be long.

Ron Edwards wrote: Here let me say: this game is excellent. I really like it, although there's a possibility of conflict of interest there, as CofS is clearly a Sorcerer spawn - a leaner, meaner, specific-setting version. Its mechanics are different enough to be different rather than just a spin, so it's definitely its own grown-up spawn. I regard it with a kind of awe.

Ron Edwards wrote: Keith, one reason I've had a hard time responding to your threads is because you're only presenting transcripts. The characters do this, do that, and then do the next thing. It's not an account of play, which is really what we need to see to appreciate what the game is about.

Ron Edwards wrote: Here are my questions which are designed to showcase how the game works.

1. Please describe the process of creating one of the supernatural menaces in the scenario.

Ron Edwards wrote: 2. Give some examples (not all) of the positive and negative descriptors among the characters, and how they were used during play.

Ron Edwards wrote: 3. Did anyone get a really rockin' series of successful rolls? How did that affect the outcome of that particular conflict? Did any NPC get such a series against the player-characters?

Ron Edwards wrote: 4. What is the nature of the conspiracy? Can you list its features just as you require them to be invented by the GM in the scenario preparation section?

Ron Edwards wrote: 5. Which ethnicities and national origins are represented by the player-characters? Did your players play "toward type" as described in the book, or do some tweaking to individualize characters as distinct from the common perception of their ethnicities?

Ron Edwards wrote: 6. Which moments during play were real payoffs for you as GM? Why?

Ron Edwards wrote: Finally, what are you proudest of in the book's content? In which you say, "Yeah, I wanted to say that, and damn, here it is."

Hi Keith,

Let me try to explain positive and negative descriptors in this game. Correct me if I screw it up.

1. Every skill and every attribute has one and only one descriptor. It is unequivocally either positive or negative.

2. If it's positive, the score gets a bonus die when in the appropriate situation ("with my father's sword," etc). Very straightforward.

3. If it's negative, the score is used at its base value (not penalized for the negative descriptor! important).

4. For every negative descriptor across your character sheet, you get a die in your "Destiny Pool," which is best understood as an expendable pool of free-floating bonus dice to be used whenever/however.

So it's actually pretty simple - the positives make your score "one higher," and the negatives give you some role-playing fun and increase your bonus pool. It's a cross of Everway and Over the Edge.

Quick questions, 'cause my book is currently in the hands of one of my friends (who'd be very well suited to run it for us). The Destiny Pool gets used up, right? How much, in your experience of play - is it really limited?

Also, let's say my character has the negative Fortitude descriptor that one of your players' characters has:

Humberto (Fortitude): Tends to suffer from nausea when encountering blood.

Hey,

Ron Edwards wrote: Quick questions, 'cause my book is currently in the hands of one of my friends (who'd be very well suited to run it for us). The Destiny Pool gets used up, right? How much, in your experience of play - is it really limited?

Ron Edwards wrote: Also, let's say my character has the negative Fortitude descriptor that one of your players' characters has:

Humberto (Fortitude): Tends to suffer from nausea when encountering blood.

What's to stop him from spending a bonus die every time he uses Fortitude, blood or no blood? In other words, the same positive effect of having had a positive descriptor, but without the positive descriptor's limited-circumstance application?

Best,
Ron

Hello,

Ah! So if I had Fortitude 5, with that negative descriptor, here's what I'd be rolling.

a) Five dice to check or use Fortitude when no blood is involved

b) Five dice + penalty die to check or use it when blood is involved

c) No situation in which I'd roll five dice + bonus die (unlike another score which has a positive descriptor)

Got it.

You're familiar with my books and with the various writeups I've done for HeroQuest (then Hero Wars), Sorcerer, Little Fears, Violence Future, Le Mon Mouri, and other pretty hard-hitting games. Have you had any experiences with Conspiracy of Shadows which include over-the-line material for the players - and then they go ahead and embrace the new level of self-revelation to one another anyway?

Best,
Ron

Ron Edwards wrote: Ah! So if I had Fortitude 5, with that negative descriptor, here's what I'd be rolling.

a) Five dice to check or use Fortitude when no blood is involved

b) Five dice + penalty die to check or use it when blood is involved

c) No situation in which I'd roll five dice + bonus die (unlike another score which has a positive descriptor)

Ron Edwards wrote: You're familiar with my books and with the various writeups I've done for HeroQuest (then Hero Wars), Sorcerer, Little Fears, Violence Future, Le Mon Mouri, and other pretty hard-hitting games. Have you had any experiences with Conspiracy of Shadows which include over-the-line material for the players - and then they go ahead and embrace the new level of self-revelation to one another anyway?

Best,
Ron

Oops! Right. I forgot the 2d6 and skill. For "score," just read "dice total." Cool, I'm on it.

Here's another question: what about pacing? It seems to me that you're going kind of slowly, but then, I do the same when people really start getting into the NPCs and into one another's characters.

So have you introduced NPCs who are apparently extremely compelling for the group, including yourself? Who are they, and what major decisions have they been involved in somehow?

Best,
Ron

Ron Edwards wrote: Here's another question: what about pacing? It seems to me that you're going kind of slowly, but then, I do the same when people really start getting into the NPCs and into one another's characters.

Ron Edwards wrote: So have you introduced NPCs who are apparently extremely compelling for the group, including yourself? Who are they, and what major decisions have they been involved in somehow?

Best,
Ron