SUN PM: Lady Blackbird, a steampunk adventure in the Wild Blue [FULL, Accepting Alts]

madwabbit · 26th September 2009, 12:20 AM

(This will be the same game as the SAT PM session.)

Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium across the Wild Blue to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover: the pirate king Uriah Flint.

However, just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag.

Even now, Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the Imperial commander runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast, Cyrus Vance.

How will Lady Blackbird and the others escape the Hand of Sorrow? And if they do escape, what other dangers lie in their path?

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"Lady Blackbird" is a neat little self-contained "skyships and steampunks" short-arc campaign, with its own setting, pre-gen characters, and quick-play rules. The setting and characters are inspired by several movies, TV shows, and books, like Firefly/Serenity, Star Wars Ep. IV, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Treasure Planet, Dune, and so forth. The quick-play rules are primarily inspired by Clinton Nixon's "The Shadow of Yesterday," with many other nods given to games such as "Dogs in the Vineyard" and "Spirit of the Century"

It's a medium- to heavy-narrative game (equivalent to what might be expected of you to describe or perform as a character in a Dread game, and maybe just a little bit more) that uses a dice-pool system for conflict resolution and skill checks, in which a player tags their character's traits, talents, and other attributes ("Keys" and "Secrets") to gain bonus dice, which are then rolled vs. a target number set by the Story Guide (a.k.a. GM). It's very much like Hollow Earth Expedition (dice pool, target numbers) and Spirit of the Century (tagging character Aspects) in how it plays.

I ran this at the Sept. '09 Long Island Game Day, and it was successful beyond my wildest expectations. I'm sure the players there will agree with me that it was quite probably the most fun than any of us have had in playing a game in quite a while, and I fully expect that this session will be the same.

The game will be open to six players:

Dramatis personae:

1) Lady Blackbird (alias: Natasha Syri), an Imperial noble in disguise, escaping an arranged marriage so she can be with her lover, the pirate king Uriah Flint.

2) Naomi Bishop, former pit-fighter, bodyguard to Lady Blackbird

3) Cyrus Vance, an ex-Imperial soldier turned smuggler/soldier-of-fortune, Captain of The Owl

4) Kale Arkam, burglar and petty sorcerer, first mate and mechanic of The Owl

5) Snargle, a goblin, sky-sailor and pilot of The Owl

6) Jeremina Hyssop, a mystic's apprentice on the run from a crime she can't remember, a stowaway on The Owl

SLOTS:

1. Psion
2. Quinn Harlech
3. Mrs. Harlech
4. DaveTheGame
5. GeeksDreamGirl
6. Queen_Dopplepopolis

Alt 1. Jasmine
Alt 2.