Queers in the Dark

5 November 2016: 7pm: Queers in the Dark: The Skovlan Refugees

• GM: James Stuart
• Eli Eaton: Wester
• Gavin White: Candra
• Me: Grell

The GM explained that the idea for this hack of the (at the time not yet released) RPG Blades in the Dark came after running somewhere around 50-100 sessions of the game at conventions. He and the game's creator, John Harper, sat down and compared demographics for all of the sessions they'd run. With something like 2 exceptions, every single player was white and male, and the two exceptions were girlfriends of players.

There were two sessions of Queers in the Dark on offer at this Metatopia:

• The Coven of Cyphers, inspired by the Bletchley Park codebreakers
• The Skovlan Refugees, about a group of people coming from a Scandinavian-like place to the default setting, the city of Doskvol

The idea was to focus on:

• Family of choice
• Super gay
• love

Goals of this playtest were:

• Make something in pitch session which attracts non-dudes
• Mess with pattern
  • trong, queer relations
  • Makes these part of the game
• Break zero sum of power
• Does this make a good _one shot_ (not demo) game?

Doskvol is a fantasy city ringed with lightning towers. Ghosts possessed people, which meant that when someone died, the body was cremated. Not cremating a body was punishable by death -- unless one was really rich.

Ghosts were bought and sold on the black market, of course. The lightning towers of the city were powered by demon whales (I think) and kept ghosts at bay. Magic was powered by ghosts. The city was a trading hub, and my notes say something about how classes must be separated by distance. I'm not sure what I meant by that, beyond the obvious.

The PCs would be Skovlans, who were similar to the Vikings, according to my notes. They had come to the port city of Doskvol, landing on the docks as refugees from their homeland. My notes mention rails, but I'm not sure why.

At this point, I asked the GM if he'd heard of Ellen Kushner's Riverside tales and learned that he was her cousin (I think), which is to say yes, he was familiar with them. I thought Riverside would work well with the system.

We did not simply create three PCs. We created a dozen characters from two generations, making a complex relationship map, and only then picked which PCs we were going to be.

IIRC, in Doskvol, homosexuality was more or less tolerated most of the time, except when it wasn't, but I may be getting that wrong. In Skovlan, it was not tolerated.

As near as I can decipher my notes, before the flight to and arrival in Doskvol:

We started with a father and a mother, Una. The father was a rancher, the mother a warrior.

The father's best friend was a miner and had a male lover. It may have been a trio relationship between the three men, but I'm not sure after over two years.

The mother and the mayor's wife (Carill) were lovers. The mayor's wife had a kid, and the mother had two, but as far as I can tell, none of those were whom we played.

Candra was an outcast, pursued, and forced to live outside of town, and I think took they/them/their pronouns.

Grell was the woodcutter's child and an orphan. My notes say that Grell identified as a girl, but was confused, as teenagers often are.

Wester was the trapper's kid, also an orphan, and identified as a boy.

Grell chopped wood for the mayor's wife in return for food.

I think the following applied to Candra and Candra's mother, who I think was Una, or perhaps to the mother of Candra's lover:

Subtle interaction before to establish bond? Left back door open unlocked so I could visit her child illicitly. Emotional tenor of mother when reunited? A moment of relief and joy and hope and gladness.

It's possible that this applied to Wester, who would have been visiting Lauria, if I read my notes correctly. If so, I think Lauria was the child of the mayor's wife. I think Adlin and Candra were Una's children.

Candra's mother helped Candra survive, for when the villagers threw stones at Candra, she deliberately threw flint, making sure Candra would have something necessary to survival. See back door business above.

My notes say something Wester who either was or was with someone who was a kid of a witchy wife. My notes say:

lovers + wichy stuff
c. 1 year
Ancestors

We now had a fair number of people, but the GM explained that 5 were not with us. Only 4 others came to Doskvol with the PCs. We looked at our relationship map to decide who was with us and what might have happened to the others.

I think we decided that the father had turned Candra in, perhaps because the mayor's daughter was about to rise, though I'm not sure what that meant.

Candra's lover, Lintia, stayed behind. My notes say:

cold feet
never got to stay behind

I'm not clear on whether that was a question about whether Lintia got cold feet and we decided Lintia had gotten killed or whether Lintia got cold feet, but someone else didn't get the choice.

The father's best friend's lover was hunted down by a mob and killed. The father's best friend stayed behind, heartbroken.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the living Skovlan refugees in Doskvol were Candra, Grell, Wester, Una, Lauria, Adlin, and Carill.

A series of questions came next.

What did they miss most about their homeland?

• Candra missed Candra's first love.
• Grell missed the smell of nature.
• Webster missed that one could trust people to at least be honest (even if that meant honestly trying to murder one).

What were they currently doing in Doskvol?

• Webster was hooking up.
• Candra was in a house full of riches.
• Grell was breaking illegal cargo.

What 5 problems existed? Of these, "1 doesn't", which I think meant that it didn't currently exist or was currently under control or in any case, wasn't one we needed to look at this session.

1 was "going to be" a problem, but right now, none of the PCs knew how to deal with it. They did, however, feel responsible for the other 3.

Candra: There's not enough food to get fed regularly

Wester: We have no turf

Grell: There's an attempt to unionize the brewery (where Grell worked)

And then, there were the gangs. No one had any idea what to do about those. This just hadn't been a thing back in Skovlan, not as such.

Wester couldn't bear to lose Lauria. I think Lauria may have been dead -- certainly, someone was, and the Skovlans were not about to cremate them, regardless of the laws. So yes, we had a fourth problem we decided to inflict upon ourselves.

Candra couldn't let Adlin know that Candra loved Adlin. Adlin blamed Candra for everything. Adlin was naive and vengeful. My notes say "(Hunger!)" which may simply add to the description of Adlin or may be a technical term. I've not yet read the rules, so I don't actually know.

Grell would do anything for Wester.

Carill had been withdrawn since the death of (presumably) Lauria. How were the Skovlans hiding the body? Probably in one of the beer kegs. My notes ask "Killed by Sagles?" I'm not sure who or what that is, but in any case, the Skovlans didn't know.

I added a connection between Adlin and Grell, and what I thought was sort of feeling my way Gavin said made complete sense and explained how things looked from Adlin's point of view.

When everyone was hanging out in the woods (likely in hiding before getting on a boat to Doskvol), Adlin made a move on Grell. Specifically, Adlin kissed Grell. This confused Grell, who fled.

Since then, Grell kept trying to talk to Adlin about what had happened, but the words wouldn't come. Grell was shy and confused.

From Adlin's point of view, however, Grell had rejected Adlin and the start and stop attempts at conversation were Grell rubbing it in Adlin's face.

Eventually, Adlin took a swing at Grell, who didn't hit back. Adlin thought that this was Grell mocking Adlin for being small.

Each of us now came up with one thing that their PC thought made them beautiful. The other two came up with what their PCs thought made the other PC beautiful -- information that PC didn't have.

In other words, Wester thought it was their smile that made them beautiful, unaware that Grell thought it was their loyalty and Candra that it was their big heart.

Candra thought they had beautiful eyes. Wester thought Candra had deep wisdom, while I said that Grell thought Candra had beautiful hands. This was my feeling my way, wanting to pick something physical here because I hadn't picked something physical for Wester. Again, one of the other players noted that this fit perfectly.

Eli: Yeah we have calloused hands.

This had not occurred to me, at least not consciously, but it made sense. Grell was a woodcutter, Wester a trapper. Both lived in the woods doing manual labor. Candra hadn't, and would logically have smooth hands.

Grell thought their profile was beautiful. Wester was drawn to Grell's androgyny, while Candra considered Grell buff.

My notes next say:

Start with blank sheets for this + fill stuff in as it comes up.
Questions -- on papers.
Family and not a traditional family
Cards

I'm not sure if that summed up what we did or described what we were about to do.

The idea was to have some establishing scenes with problems. We would then figure out what we would _do_, hopefully pushing towards a Heist, as Blades in the Dark is very much a Heist game, if I understand correctly.

This cycle would be repeated 2-3 times (or at least, it would if we'd had more time. We had a 3 hour slot). After that, the problem which we didn't pick and the extra problem we added, the ghosts-in-training, would explode if it had not been dealt with.

Given the time constraints, the GM told us to think of this as A Small Taste of Blades.

Mechanically, he said, the entire game is one is 1 Powered by the Apocalypse move: Act Under Fire. But instead of a 2D6 roll for the move, we'd roll a variable number of dice, generally 1-3, and look not at the total, but at each individual die. For each die:

• 6 success
• 4-5 success with complications
• 1-3 fail

I think the idea was to look at the highest die? Again, I'm a little vague on the details.

If we had to roll in a situation where we had 0 dice, we would roll 2 dice and take the lower one.

There were 12 skills, divided into 3 groups of 4 stats each:

• Insight: Hunt, Study, Survey, Tinker
• Prowess: Finesse, Prowl, Skirmish, Wreck
• Resolve: Attune, Command, Consort, Sway

We had 8 dots to put into the skills, but could put no more than 2 into any one skill. IIRC, we had no free dots, so default for a skill was 0.

Wester's skills: Hunt, Prowl, Skirmish, Wreck, Consort, Sway

Candra's skills: Hunt, Prowl, _Sway_, Skirmish or Wreck, _Tinker_, _Study_ (I don't know what the underlining meant, or which of Skirmish or Wreck Candra wound up having.)

Grell's skills: Hunt, Study, Prowl (2 dots), Skirmish, Wreck (2 dots), Command

In addition, I noted my Load as 4. A large weapon took 2 boxes. A light load was 3. A medium was 4 and might draw suspicion. I'd crossed out 2 for a light load and 3 for a medium one, and crossed out a line about a heavy load being 5 and making it look like one was a thief stealing stuff. I don't know if this was me correcting something or if Grell could carry a heavier load than usual or if it meant something else altogether.

Grell's Vice is listed as Weird. Apparently, one's Vice is how one blows off stress.

There's a row of 9 stress boxes I drew, with Xs through 3 of them, possibly because I was only supposed to have 6? I'm not sure. The bottom of the page says "6 -- highest stress die" and somewhat higher is a crossed out note saying "Level 2 harm" above uncrossed out "-1d", which may have resulted from some damage Grell took later in the session.

I've no idea what relation all of the above has to current actual character creation, as this game was a) before Blades in the Dark was completely finalized and b) a hack of the usual Blades rules that existed at the time.

Wester thought about tackling the problem of a place to live and the ghost problem. Wester decided to try to suss out a good person to go to.

GM: The night market where you can get anything -- and they're not going to ask what that anything is -- it never helps to ask.

The night market is apparently so named because it is always night there. Wester caught a pickpocket and threw the culprit into a roll of something softish. My notes say:

Controlled
Risky
Desperate

I don't know if that referred to Wester or the pickpocket, but I think to Wester.

Wester searched the market to find someone who could help with the ghosts. 1 dot meant Wester got 1 die. Taking 2 stress earned another die.

It's also possible to get an extra die with a Devil's Bargain. In this case, that would mean Wester would have to be explicit and say outright that they had a body.

The player rolled 2 dice, but the result was fail badly.

Misunderstanding what Wester wanted, a vendor offered charms for loved ones.

Wester: I'm actually asking for someone who's passed away.

Vender: I'm so sorry -- things to take memories away...

She pulled the vial she'd been offering back.

Wester: I'm thinking of something that will let me keep memories of deceased with me.

Vendor: Speak more clearly.

Wester (mild): I'm looking for something that would keep the essence of her memory.

Vendor (shocked): I am not the right person to ask -- why would you even ask me?

Stymied, Wester returned to the family. They were in the slums, using a tattered canvas left behind by some previous group, wedging a tarp into the window to keep the draft out. And of course, there was the barrel.

The GM asked how Wester looked, and I think this was grimmer than usual. Carill looked up at Wester, and the two, I think, pointedly didn't look at or discuss the barrel and its contents.

Meanwhile, Candra was looking to make more money. Stealing was a possibility. And of course, rich diplomats always had need for those who could carry messages or run errands discretely.

Candra was dirty.

GM: Still dirty? Even working in a fancy house?

Candra: Sh*t! Yes -- yes -- the coal bin.

Candra was approached by the head of the servants, Mr. Dalmore.

Mr. Dalmore: Candra, right?

Candra: Yes, Mr. Dalmore?

Mr. Dalmore: How's the work going?

Candra: It's dirty... and therefore rewarding?

Mr. Dalmore: "Therefore rewarding, sir."

Candra: Therefore rewarding, sir!

I don't think Candra was being at all coy or ironic. I'm pretty sure that, for whatever reason, Candra sought out the dirty work.

The coal bin was outside the house. Mr. Dalmore brought Candra inside the house for the first time -- through the servants' entrance, down to wine cellar.

Mr. Dalmore: Please wait here. Please don't disturb anything.

He left. Candra dutifully sat on the floor, and while awaiting Mr. Dalmore's return, studied the room.

Mr. Dalmore returned with the lady of the house. She was dressed in a flowing white and blue gown with what my notes call "Crisscrossege" around her body. This may mean a fancy corset or simply criss-crossing ribbons. She also had super black hair one could get lost in.

Lady: This is the coal bin servant?

Mr. Dalmore nodded.

Lady: Good. You may leave us.

He did.

Candra: My lady.

Lady: Your voice catches. Be at ease.

She explained that she had need of someone discreet to help with something.

Lady: Us diplomat wives need to do something to pass the time.

Candra: Anything. So long as I don't have to clean up.

Lady: I am pleased to find you so dedicated to my service and you will be rewarded for it. There is a man who filed a claim against our family, a trumped up accusation of improper dealing with my father's estate. He needs to be dealt with and it needs to look like something else.

I'm not sure who said, "I know some of the inspectors." It seems an odd thing for Candra to have said, but not impossible.

Lady: Do you happen to know anyone who might happen to deal with the situation?

Meanwhile, Grell was very confused about the talk of unions and unionizing. The foreman explained that people trying to unionize were just troublemakers. Now, if Grell might happen to make the most annoying of those troublemakers disappear, things would be much better. And hey, there would be an empty house Grell and the rest of Grell's family could move into. The foreman told Grell where it was, urging Grell to just take a look at the house and think about it.

At this point, my notes say

1/6 plans
Assault
Deception
*Stealth (-

Occult
Social
Transport

I think this meant that we were trying to figure out what to do, had one of 6 possible plans, and were trying to figure out which skills to focus on. If so, stealth seemed to be a preferred option.

The ghost was the most important problem to deal with, but also the hardest (and we looked at just how much time was left in the slot at this point).

Someone: And we have 2 murders to plan!

After not too much thought or dithering, we settled on helping Candra's patron. After all, this was a kind, older woman whose family was being "persecuted by some older dude"!

And thinking about the relationship map we'd woven, it makes perfect sense that the three would see things that way. Candra's mother had been not entirely unlike the lady. Wester wanted to help Carill, the mayor's wife, and Grell was clearly used to working for older woman at whatever physical labor they might need.

We made a simple outline of our plan:

• Fine an entry point for infiltration and get in
• Make sure the quarry is in his home
• Secure all exits
• Burn the sh*t down

For the entry, they chose to go through the sewer. There was a standard lock on the sewer grates. My notes say something about 1 die at this point.

For the engagement roll, we got a 2, indicating a Bad Outcome: the opposition turned the tables on the intruders.

The light flickered on. 2 guards, lean strong types, were waiting and attacked.

If I recall correctly, I got an extra die from taking 2 stress, and perhaps one more for a Devil's Bargain, likely involving someone yelling out a warning. I got a 4, meaning a success with a complication.

Grell buried an axe in one of the guard's shoulders, which my notes call "level 2 harm". But one of the guards plunged a sword into Grell, doing 3 harm. Grell could use Prowess here to resist. I think I tried that, but got a 3, a failure.

Wester attacked with a "badass knife". My notes say that one box + stress was involved.

Guard (not entirely believing the attackers are that dumb): You do not want to mess with the Red Sashes.

The guards were Red Sashes, and whatever that meant -- well, the trio of intruders didn't actually know what it meant. After all, they didn't really understand the gangs of Doskvol.

My notes say that Wester could ask for help and that this was 2 stress. That I more or less understand, but I'm not sure what "1 stress + expose to cause harm" meant.

Regardless, Candra helped, distract the guard by chucking the lock at them. That involved 2 dice, one of which came up a 6 for a success.

Someone (likely Wester?) You're a show off.

Wester tried to go under and up with the knife, aiming for the throat. The guard shifted enough to take the blow on a shoulder.

I think the guard tried to parley at this point.

Candra: No. Anyone who sees us _has_ to die.

This involved Candra using Prowl to try to ambush from behind, using a hunting knife one handed, the same knife with which Candra had left their Skovlan town.

Candra was taking a risk, trying to do things fast, but was being cautious in the actual blow, if I understand my notes. I think this had to do with what mechanical bonuses and penalties were in play.

A push was involved, i.e., taking 2 stress, which narratively meant throwing dirt from the floor at the guard. The player declined to take a Devil's Bargain.

Either Wester or Candra got a 6, a success. Whoever it was described killing the guard as "Like I'm killing a deer that I've just cut down."

The 2 guards were dead and the intruders started sneaking, looking for a way up. There was a six segment time clock, which meant that if all six segments were filled, the target would escape.

They reached the main floor, which had _so much STUFF_! This included a music box showing 7 sisters around a tower under glass. It was beautiful. (I don't recall if I noted this because one of the PCs took it or if it was something the lady had told Candra she's like to have back.)

The intruders ran up the stairs to the third floor, where the bedroom was locked. I used Grell's Wreck skill to break down the door, getting a 6 for sweet success.

Inside the room was an obviously well to do guy. There were tattoos across his arm, but not in any design that the PCs recognized. I think he had a night gun, whatever that is.

The man turned to the intruders and said, "She wants me dead. Don't try to lie to me."

He was trying to leave and seemed poised to dash out the window. The intruders indicated they might be willing to allow that, so long as they got whatever paperwork they needed. Or at least, some of the intruders did.

Wester: I have a better option for you.

This may have involved a roll using Sway. 2 dice were involved, and perhaps Help and a Devil's Bargain. Someone, again probably Wester, I think threw the man his weapons. Tinkering tools were perhaps involved as well? In any case, a die came up 6, a success.

Candra: After he picks up the stuff, I kill the sh*t out of him.

And a 6 made that happen. And here, of course, is the dark side of this close knit family's loyalty. They'd committed to Candra's patron. Candra had said no one who saw them on this job could survive.

Now, the next step: Burn the place down and GTFO (Get The Heck Out). This involved an oil flask and possibly alchemical ingredients. Whoever made the Wreck roll got a 6, so the fire was set as planned.

And there we broke, as we were out of time, and at least one of us had a 10pm game.

Me: I would watch the f*ck out of this.

That was the general consensus. The three PCs were not nice or good. They were hot, and they were loyal, and sometimes that's enough for a mesmerizing show.

From a gaming point of view, before the heist even began, we knew these characters. We knew where they were from, and we were rooting for them. We were fans even when they did awful things. It was about which things they chose to do and why.

Admittedly, it didn't hurt that no one in the session was morally better than the PCs. It's possible that I could accept killing an innocent from this group after spending more time on their adventures, but for this one shot, killing foes who would have surrendered, who were in genuine fear for their lives, and who were, at best, morally grey, was quite far enough.

And even there, I could totally see other people refusing to watch the hypothetical show and not wanting to play this kind of game. It rested entirely on the emotional connections we'd built earlier, which is something I am going to have to ponder.