Lady Blackbird, DexCon 2009
Lady Blackbird, Saturday, 8-Midnight
GM: Jeff Collyer Richard Flynn: Lady Blackbird Me: Kale Arkham Julian Lighton: Naomi (bodyguard) David Braslow: Cyrus Vance Jennifer Wong: Snargle
This is a free game by John Harper, available at http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/. It has a fixed premise and pregenerated PCs. The rules are part Solar System / Shadows of Yesterday, but one rolls multiple d6s, and any die rolling 4-6 generates a success. One spends dice in play, but can refresh dice with a Refreshment Scene. This involves a soliloquy or aside or anything else that is character development, as opposed to plot. Players can also add a helping die to another player's pool if they can narrate how their PC is helping.
I'm not entirely clear on how Conditions work. They're things like Wounded, Angry, Lost, and so on. Jeff said that they are not mechanically affecting and that one needs to roleplay. But, my notes also say that Conditions take dice away.
Player: What about Dead?
Jeff: Dead is only Presumed Dead.
Characters and premise: In a science fiction setting (space opera flavor), Lady Blackbird is fleeing from an arranged marriage, hoping to find her old lover, the leader of a massive pirate fleet. She is accompanied by her bodyguard, Naomi, an ex-pit fighter. The two are aboard the ship of Cyrus Vance. Cyrus's crew consists of Kale Arkham and the alien Snargle. But, Cyrus's ship has been captured, and soon, the papers he has will be proven forged. The PCs are in the brig of the Heart of Sorrow.
And from there, most of the decisions are in the hands of the players.
Snargle: So... Captain, what is the plan?
Lady Blackbird: Yes, Captain, what is the plan?
The captain pondered.
Cyrus: I hope you know that you have a certain effect on me.
Lady Blackbird: Captain, this is hardly the time!
The captain explained that he meant that the lady could pretend to be a prostitute, and he more or less her pimp. Lady Blackbird agreed, but wasn't sure how to go about this.
Lady Blackbird: Naomi, if I were you -- but beautiful -- how would I entice common men?
Captain Hollis now approached the brig.
Julian: How many guards are there?
GM: How many guards _are_ there?
Julian: Four and the captain.
The captain wasn't buying the original cover, and I don't think he was buying the brother story either. But, Naomi did some cinematic fighting, banging guards' heads together and the like.
I don't remember if Captain Hollis were taken prisoner at this point or not, but the PCs certainly had some NPC prisoner.
Cyrus (I think -- either him or Naomi): I'll just snap off one of those fingers till he leads us the right way.
Snargle: Oh, can I eat those?
Cyrus: Yes!
Cyrus did something that we thought was very cool.
Snargle: Snargle wonders why you didn't do this before.
The captain suggested everyone escape through the service ducts.
Lady Blackbird: I don't know -- sounds kind of -- dirty.
Cyrus: Well, we wouldn't want any undue hardship.
The group fought or snuck its way to the docking bay, where Cyrus's ship, the owl, was being held. Lady Blackbird tried to Be Supportive as they fought.
Lady Blackbird: Marvelous! Marvelous! (applauds)
Naomi got separated from the group, and Snargle got to the ship first.
Cyrus: So yah, I gave the _goblin_ the keys to the docking bay...
Snargle: Oh yeah! Let's spill fuel everywhere!
The captain tried to get the lady into the ship.
Lady Blackbird: Naomi is my_ responsibility, and I will _not_ leave without her! So... _do_ something about those ships!
Cyrus: Hey, you're the one who throws friggin' lightning!
Naomi was fighting her way through guards.
Richard / Lady B: I've seen her do this before. There are like 30 guys there, so it'll take her a few minutes.
I think Naomi took Captain Hollis's personal ship, and Julian spent five advancement points to get Naomi the ability to fly the ship.
Cyrus: All right! Now that your friend's taken care of, let's get on the ship!
Snargle: Snargle! Ship! Snargle! Ship!
Lady Blackbird: She's not my friend! She's my responsibility!
Someone: That's mildly psychotic.
Someone else (Julian?): Are any of us _not_ mildly psychotic?
So, the PCs got away, and had a prisoner, Captain Hollis. Kale took the bracelet Hollis was wearing, and we decided that it had a homing beacon in it, unbeknownst to the PCs.
Hollis tried to convince Cyrus to switch sides, talking about the advantages of his own position.
Hollis: _My_ cabin has a fully stocked bar.
Cyrus: Does that make you a better man?
Hollis: Perhaps not, but it makes me a more comfortable man.
Cyrus tried to protest that his own position was better.
Hollis: Yes, it's terrible to eat three meals a day, sleep in a feathered bed with a pillow, command one of the most powerful ships to fly the sky. It's a terrible trial!
Snargle and Kale had refreshment scenes. Snargle was snapping his (?) fingers, doing magic. Kale was frowning over the engines, polishing them, and watching wistfully as Naomi went back into her cabin.
The Owl landed, I think at Haven, where Cyrus hoped to find someone who could tell him the secret of how to fly through the Remnants and reach the hidden pirate base where Lady Blackbird's lover, the Pirate King Uriah Flint, kept his secret fortress. He ignored Snargle's protests that Snargle knew how to get there.
Lady Blackbird was quite interested in the planet.
Cyrus: Perhaps I could show you around town.
Lady Blackbird: That would be... acceptable.
Julian / Naomi: Of course, Naomi is coming with you.
Richard / Lady B: Of course.
David / Cyrus (to Naomi): I glare at you.
On Haven, there were pit fights, where gladiators fought each other. Did I mention that Naomi used to be a slave and a pit fighter?
Cyrus: Ah, excellent! Pit fights!
Naomi (through gritted teeth): I'm sure.
Meanwhile, Hollis tried to get Kale to switch sides. After all, he could be working on a ship with bigger engines!
Kale: So how big are these engines?
Meanwhile, on Haven, Lady Blackbird began to realize something.
Lady Blackbird: The people who work here are pirates...
GM: Not so much on Haven -- Union workers, sort of legalized piracy
Cyrus decided to go to Brother Maul's Pitfighting Ring.
Lady Blackbird: Actually -- just for tonight, I think I should mingle with the common folk.
Naomi: My lady, I must object.
Cyrus: If that's what the lady wants, that's what the lady gets!
Naomi: Yes, m'lady!
Cyrus tried to find out who might know the way through the Remnants.
Someone (about Cyrus): Captain, is he?
Lady Blackbird (soto voce): Oh! Pick another alias, captain -- you're a pirate captain!
He decided to use the name Mario Walker.
It turned out that Captain Soto had the information they needed.
Cyrus (lying): Of _course_ I know him!
Meanwhile, Kale accidentally let slip that Cyrus had a secret mission.
Captain Hollis: _Secret_ mission?
Kale (whoops!): _So_ secret I don't know what it is!
Julian: Ah, not a complete moron! Just a bit or a moron. But who here isn't?
Kale thought about Hollis's offer.
Kale: There's just one thing missing.
Hollis: What could be missing? A job? Three meals a day?...
Kale: A captain one respects enough not to betray or stab in the back!
GM: Well played!
I think that was probably the high point for Kale, although I continued to enjoy the game very much.
I forget the context, but someone said of Snargle: He's not snargling!
We all knew, at this point, that things were moving towards a pit fight. Naomi was, after all, an ex-pit fighter, determined never to so demean herself again! But, the way to get the information they needed obviously had to involve a wager on pit fighters!
Cyrus: I could go in there myself and take a few bruises...
Julian: Snickers from Naomi.
Naomi did not take kindly to the suggestion that she enter the pit and fight.
Cyrus: I hate to remind you, but I am the captain, and I have the power to order you to do so.
Naomi: And I have the power to rip out your spleen.
Cyrus -- er, Mario Walker, introduced himself to Captain Soto, explaining that they had met, er, a long time ago.
Captain Soto: A long time ago?
Lady Blackbird: Ah! Captain, this Captain Soto is even more dashing and handsome than you described!
Either Captain Soto's head was turned with this flattery or he decided to go along with it. Cyrus / Mario offered a trade: the way through the Remnants to the pirate base in exchange for the override code on Captain Hollis's ship.
Captain Soto: An honest trade! Your wit slays me -- so droll!
Cyrus: A trade. As always.
Snargle was furious. Hadn't he already told Cyrus that Snargle knew how to get there?
Snargle: Maybe you should listen to your _crew_ rather than your _manhood_!
Lady Blackbird: I do not understand the wager. Why do we simply not trade the codes?
Cyrus convinced her that it had to be done this way. Lady Blackbird told Naomi that it looked like, much as she might wish otherwise, Naomi needed to take up her old profession one more time, defeating the opponent in order to win the codes.
Lady Blackbird: If you wish, just imagine him with the captain's face.
Naomi acquiesced, though whose face she was picturing is up for conjecture. Certainly, this was a turning point in her relationship with Lady Blackbird. The players realized it. Naomi realized it. Lady Blackbird, of course, did not.
Snargle tried to interfere in the fight, invisibly, I think. Lady Blackbird grabbed both envelopes when everyone was distracted. The lady, Naomi, Snargle, and Cyrus returned hastily to the Owl, whereupon it was up to Snargle to get them off planet in a hurry. Snargle wasn't sure how much Snargle wanted to do this. After all, no one trusted his piloting skills!
Cyrus: I _do_ trust your pirating -- er, piloting skills!
Kale: You're the best damned pilot on the ship!
Snargle: It's true! You _do_ need Snargle. (pause) But, I don't know if you really _like_ Snargle!
I think Lady Blackbird kissed him at that point, on the cheek.
Snargle: I turn blue.
Kale: Oy! Turn yellow!
The dice, however, were still against us. Lady Blackbird took a hand, using her magic.
Kale: Milady! You'll get your hands dirty! Naomi! She'll get her hands dirty!
Naomi: My lady's hands are as dirty as they can get.
At some point there was a need to bluff the ship's way past some military outpost or other. There was a question of what rank the captain should pretend to be.
Someone: Say you're a lieutenant colonel. Nobody gets to talk to them so they won't know who you are.
Someone suggested we say we were experts in a variety of criminal acts of destruction.
Julian: Yeah, you've created enough.
I forget the context of the following:
Someone: Oh the key of sarcasm is in heavy use.
Someone: It's the military.
There was another attack on the ship, I think. Certainly, there was something that had Naomi trying to either leave the ship or bundle Lady Blackbird into an escape, although whoever was in that escape pad left, as it became unnecessary. But, it was necessary that Captain Hollis be sent away before the ship reached the base in any case, or so Naomi reckoned. So, she broke down the door to the room where he was being held and marched him into an escape pod.
Naomi: My lady gave her word you'd be safe. So I will make sure you are -- even though she won't.
Someone: It's about time we got off this damned rock.
As they neared the pirate base, Cyrus, who was secretly in love with Lady Blackbird, tried to find out just how close she was with Uriah Flint.
Cyrus: An old lover?
Lady Blackbird: Captain, please! Let's keep this conversation appropriate.
Snargle: What's a lover?
Kale: Snargle, let's you and me have a talk.
Kale explained the concept of "lover" to Snargle. Snargle told Kale more than he ever wanted to know about the mating customs of goblins.
GM: Anything else before we get to the Remnants?
Me: A stiff drink for Kale to forget some of what Snargle taught him.
Quote whose context I forget:
Ah, dear Spare Particus!
You do love your spartan quarters.
The ship landed on the pirate base. Cyrus said that he was Captain Mario Walker, with a delivery for Uriah Flint. Everyone disembarked, Lady Blackbird after much dissatisfied restyling of her hair.
As the crew started trying to work their way towards explaining why they were there, a woman recognized Natasha, aka Lady Blackbird. It was a fellow noble, Lady Moonbeam, dressed as a pirate. She was delighted to see Lady Blackbird and asked why her friend was here.
Lady Blackbird: I've come to see Uriah.
Lady Moonbeam: You mean my husband?
Julian / Naomi: I would do the face palm except I need my hands free for killing things.
Uriah himself was not actually on the base. We decided that now was the perfect time for the Imperial Fleet to arrive, drawn by the beacon in the bracelet that Kale had looted from Captain Hollis. The PCs never made the connection, although the players all knew what had happened.
Lady Moonbeam: You brought the Imperial _Fleet_ here?
She was furious, convinced that this was deliberate. She and Lady Blackbird threw lightning at each other. Naomi did not seem able to protect her mistress.
Someone: Worst bodyguard ever!
Julian / Naomi: My heart doesn't seem to be in it.
Lady Blackbird kept throwing lightning with a single minded cold fury, until Lady Moonbeam fell dead. All heck broke loose.
Cyrus: Snargle! We need you!
Someone (about Uriah): At least you know he's not here any more.
Someone: Good riddance.
Cyrus managed to hustle Lady Blackbird back onto the ship, and Snargle prepared for takeoff. Naomi walked away from the ship, joining the pirates preparing to fight against the Imperial Fleet. Kale called after her, but she did not answer. Looking from her to Cyrus, he finally chose to go with Cyrus.
Jeff told each of us to say what happened to our characters. I forget what happened with Snargle. I think he stayed with the Owl. Lady Blackbird stayed on board the Owl, with Cyrus still quietly in love with her. She was very humble, obeying the captain's orders, because she knew that it was because of her that he was a fugitive from pirates and Imperials alike, but she did not recognize or return his feelings.
Kale stayed with the Owl, asking after Naomi in every space bar.
Julian: He hears about her taking on an Imperial battalion single handedly. This was the last time anyone saw Naomi. Or the battalion.
And there, we wrapped.
