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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 9251602" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Alright, let me see if I can grab some of the relevant particulars of this particular game and I'll throw out the primordial ooze of my thoughts on where my brain should/would be at the outset of play and developing situations.  This is not character stuff.  If I got into Rivals and Friends and Vice Purveyors and the thematic material/premise at the core of each character, this post would take me way longer than I'm willing to devote to it right now!  Anyway, this is the very outset of play...this got updated quickly (and significantly in all directions) after the first few sessions:* Assassins that lair in a Nightmarket orphanage.  Orphanage is both a front/strategic location for staging operations and a legit and sympathetic interest for the characters; they were all orphans who grew up there.  In northern Nightmarket and right on the border of Charterhall and Six Towers so (a) Imperial Military will be a presence for the Gaddoc Rail Station, (b) vagrant, gang, and supernatural threats and influence from Six Towers, (c) city governance/university/Bluecoat patrols.  Also near tailor, dog track, parks so scenes there.* Outright Crew Enemies or enemy prospects at outset of play due to setup affiliations:The Billhooks:  A tough gang of thugs who prefer hatchets, meat hooks, and pole arms.  Just straight savages.  "Hills Have Eyes" and "Leatherface" sort of mutant serial-killer quality here.  Murder-for-hire (or just sheer mayhem) puts them at-odds with the Crew...and basically anything that moves.  However, relevant wards (Barrowcleft - farming/breadbasket - and Coalridge - labor, machining, distilling, mines) don't put them at turf-odds with the Crew.  Going to be other situation/stuff that makes them clash...or the Crew bringing the fight to them.The Wraiths:  Thieves and assassins that would put them in competition with the PC Crew for assets, turf, clients, rep.The Silver Nails:  A company of Severosi mercenaries who fought for the Empire in the Unity War.  Renowned ghost killers.  Notably hostile w/ Crew ally The Circle of Flame (they compete for relics/resources with these antiquarians) and Crew friend's org; Exeter the Spirit Warden...however, Exeter seems like a double agent or giving them intel on TSW's doings and moves...so who knows what TSN's relationship with Exeter might be (if any)?The Lampblacks:  The former lamp-lighter guild, turned to crime when their services were replaced by electric lights.  At war with Crew ally The Red Sashes (due to competing drug trade, clients, turf, and escalated skirmishes).  Crew are going to be forced to choose a side, real quick; TRS's leadership is militant about this.TBD Spirit Wardens ("Ghostbusters") or Church of Ecstasy (State Religion).  These two are enemies and this could turn any which way due to Exeter, due to PC spirit trafficking, due to Forgotten Goddess veneration.  Who knows?* Outright Crew Allies and Friend:Exeter (Friend):  A Spirit Warden who is effectively "unmasked" to the Crew because he was an orphan with them.  He gives them info on all things TSW including logistics, patrols, infrastructure, etc.  Great for the Crew now, but very dangerous for Exeter and apt to become a problem any number of ways.The Red Sashes:  Originally a school of ancient Iruvian sword arts, since expanded into criminal endeavors; duels, drugs, danger.  Aforementioned war with The Lampblacks is going to draw the PCs/Crew into it; pick a side.The Circle of Flame:  A refined secret society of antiquarians and scholars; cover for extortion, graft, vice, and murder.  This high Tier group brings lots of angles for clients, situations, access to locales, demands, and "offers you can't refuse."[HR][/HR]Again, this isn't even getting into the PCs Friends, Rivals, Vice Purveyors and the thematic material embedded in their Backgrounds/Playbooks.  So you have a gang of situation, competing interests/motivations, clash-material, interesting locales, avenues for escalation right off the bat.  And by session 2 things were already exploding and off in different directions from this collision of Crew-build + native setting primordial ooze.Duskvol and the immediate setup of the game is a "conflict & situation-rife sandbox."  Its a powderkeg.  And it goes boom pretty quickly.</blockquote>

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