Scallywags: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Finesse, Scan, or
Vault (up to a max rating of 3)

Devil’s Own Luck: Each PC gets +1d to resistance rolls

Fast and nimble owing to a distinctive design, Memelesi (meh-meh-LEH-see 'payback') began life as a fifth-rate frigate of the Valdesian Navy. Her figurehead is a stylized depiction of the goddess of just retribution in her sea-nymph form. Acquired by the player-crew whilst on a post-refit shakedown cruise after overwhelming the skeleton crew via a lightning-swift boarding action. Believed to have been lost at sea with all hands, it is considered a ghost ship by Valdesian sailors. Well-maintained, it has a complete set of Valdesian Navy flags and pennants.

"Describe your crew"

The crew of the Memelesi are veterans of the sea. They know their way around a ship, and don't need anyone holding their hands when a storm hits. On the other hand, they're sailors through and through, meaning they've a fondness for grog and women (or men... or both!), and can't always be counted on to be sober when it's time to leave port.

(Rovers, Independent, Wild)

"Assign Crew Upgrades"

The Memelesi has undergone some improvements since coming into our possession. As pirates, we have to be prepared for anything, whether it be fooling a naval patrol or taking down a rival pirate ship.

While out on the sea, we crossed paths with the legendary ghost ship, The Maelstrom. We managed to safely navigate the storms that follow it, and impressed by our skill, they taught us the secret of binding sea spirits to the very wood that a ship is built from, making it sturdier and more resilient to damage.

No pirate ship is complete without its cannons. But sailing about with armaments like that is a good way to attract attention. So our crew staged a little heist, and stole the blueprints for concealed gunports from another up and coming pirate crew, The Falcon. They didn't take too kindly to that, but who cares what they think?

(Quality Hull, Hidden Cannons, +1 with The Maelstrom, -2 with The Falcon)

And in other news... Vermillion the Swashbuckler, at your service, ladies and gents!

Opened the thread Aboard the Memelesi. It is basically a pure RP thread for now, until we get everything sorted. You can post there, RP and get a feel for each other's characters. After we are ready to begin in earnest, you'll get some options on what to do next.

Anyway, everyone, please write a short character description like La Bella Donna and Vermillion have and finalize your playbook and character sheet. If you need help with anything, just ask.

Also, it's been a while since Player5 posted...

Character description expanded to include forms of address for someone whose proper name no one knows. (Just call her 'Milady' or 'Ladyship' and no one needs die before their time.) Do we have an actual character sheet, or just blank space to jot things down? All I have is blank space.

I couldn't manage to find any RPOL-style character sheet for Blades in the Dark, but the others have made their own simple ones. So, I guess I could paste someone's sheet to yours and you just modify it for your character.

In reply to The Admiral (msg # 34):

I just ported the complete playbook text into my character sheet. Would greatly help to have text-wrap enabled, by the way. I can't activate that myself.

It should be on now.

So, in order to finalise the Crew Creation part, Jaabir, could you do the "Choose a Favorite Contact" part in the Crew Creation instead of Player5?

Sorry, folks, for going AWOL out of the blue but two days ago our landline was "operated" on by an idiot construction crew.

I've done the "Choose a Favorite Contact" part but I see we have Player 5 with us again, so I will wait and defer to them, unless told otherwise.

Glad you made it!

Jaabir, please do that part so we can move along.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:26, Mon 30 Oct 2023.

Sure thing:

We go in with this businessman, Trelawney. He's quite
respectable-like. At least that's what his business partners think! We
scratch his back with coin and booty, and he scratches ours with
cannons, gunpowder, and other bits and bobs since he's got it in nice with the
Redcliffe Company. I don't know who else he has dealings with, but
he must have messed with the wrong man 'cause he's got them mange
riddled do-gooders, the Hangman's Noose, on his back.

Favorite contact:
Trelawney, a businessman

Factions:
+2 Redcliffe Company - gunpowder and cannons
-2 Hangman's Noose - do gooders

Alright, so, the crew playbook is basically complete.

How about you guys, how do you want to start? Hunting for ships on the sea or go to the nearest port and search for opportunities?

And please, post in the Aboard the Memelesi thread if your character is complete.

Posted something as requested, but I feel I'm still missing some information. Who is the captain of the ship? Quartermaster? First mate? How big is the crew of the Memelesi? Apologies if this was already covered somewhere and I missed it somehow.

You are a "Tier 1 gang" in Blades in the Dark sense and start with a crew of people that's big enough to crew your ship, so quite a lot of people (let's say about 50). As for the positions, well, that's up to you to decide, but the command structure is not that rigid in these games. Essentially, the player characters are all "officers" in the crew and decide on what to do together, maybe with some input from the crew.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:24, Tue 31 Oct 2023.

Hey gang, sorry to say but I think I'll have to bow out. I've been slammed with work and it doesn't seem like it'll be letting up any time soon. Thanks for the opportunity and happy gaming to all!

Meanwhile, I've just joined up! Let me review the information so far and figure out what I'm going to play...

Sorry to see Vermillion go, but welcome "Player B"!

And Player C! Hi, everyone, I'll be playing Carina aka "The Devil's Daughter", exiled Sallician noble and Swashbuckler.

No longer PlayerC, now you have your proper character name!

I'll probably remove Player5 if they don't return by Friday.

Anyway, kinda busy this week, so we'll start in earnest at the start of next week. For the new players, if you need help with character creation, let me know or ask one of the other players for help with it.

In terms of the basic system, I'm all good. Is there any common wisdom of importance, though? Like "you don't want any of your resistances to be below 2, even if it means lower starting scores" or "always go for options that let you get stress back. It's super important."

The philosophy of Blades in the Dark (and similar games) is that the story is primarily about The Crew, the characters are (to a certain extent) expendable and it's basically inevitable that at a certain point, they will either die or be forced to retire due to too much trauma. Also, there's some mechanics that temporarily remove your character from play, like overindulging your Vice can cause them to get lost, so be prepared to have a backup character idea in mind to play in the meantime until your character returns.

Anyway, for common wisdom... well, making good use of Downtime actions is very important. So be sure not to discount that part of the game. Another one, flashbacks are important, make sure to use them and understand them. The way the game is structured is that you as players don't do much planning beyond choosing an Approach and then use flashbacks in the game to flesh out how you totally planned out the heist beforehand when it becomes relevant.

Also, don't forget that you can use the Special Abilities during flashbacks. Including stuff like: If you perform some kind of hostile action against someone who doesn't expect it from you, gain +1d to your roll. It's great to just narrate a flashback that's setup precisely in the way so you can use your special ability without any setup needed beforehand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:57, Wed 01 Nov 2023.