Le vendredi group

We had our first session with my in-person group and the Motif fit like a glove!

The players rolled three peasants and a bourgeois:

  • Baptiste, the most unfortunate impoverished filou I’ve ever seen.
  • Chandler, another filou, homeless but unbroken.
  • Pier, a middle class factotum.
    And
  • Jean-Luc Beaulieu, a young bourgeois soldat: coward, dumb as a rock, and deadly as sin (+3 STR, +2 DEX!)

Ther group was on fire. They came up with a great idea to link their characters: Baptiste, Chandler and Pier were employees of the recently deceased Maître Beaulieu. When his only son—Jean-Luc—returned from the front, they found an incompetent brute only fit for war. The peasants decided to band together in assisting his new employer before he completely ruins his family state: "We won’t let the Beaulieu name fall in disgrace."

We’re currently testing the Illumination of Monsieur Faucher (you can check it out here!), starting the session candlelit, conspiring around the table to decide who will they deliver the necromancer to.

We wrapped up with the characters sneaking past the enraged mob, ready to walk through the cemetery gates.

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I love that motif!

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Last Friday we got our second session running!

The group was able to explore the Cemetery, extract M. Faucher, avoid a barrage of pistol fire at the hands of Colonel Antoine Rovere and flee to the streets of Paris with the necromancer in tow.

By the end of the session the PCs had spent 3-6 Mortal Coil each, and the Exertion table was unforgiving. I don’t feel we used this well. I fear one of these things are happening (or both!):

  • I ask for too much rolls (this happened to me the first time I started running BW too!)
  • The players fear failure too much, and see MC as disposable.

Anyone has thoughts on this?

We finished the session with Jean-Luc securing M. Faucher and the Skull of Andreas Vesalius back at his flat in the Latin Quarter. Now it’s a matter of deciding who deliver the necromancer to, the Provost of Paris, the Provost of the Merchants or the mysterious Madame de Chevreuse!

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Wait wait, you’re not supposed to roll until the end of the whole adventure!

And spending 3-6 MC each in a night is a recipe for certain death at the end of this endeavor. However, let them! This game isn’t about living a long life, it’s about burning brightly in the moment.

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We rolled after they escaped the Cemetery. My concern is that I’m asking for too many skill rolls in general.

Was that the end of the adventure? It doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like there’s more for them to do.

Most definitely, but we set for a contained, 3 to 4 session run. Once they deliver M. Faucher, we will probably play off the season (some PCs got 3+ months of downtime) to finish this test run. That way I belive we get to see a little bit of most mechanics (Skills, Duel of Wits, Combat, Mortal Coil and Wealth and Reputation).

Maybe I rushed the Exertion roll, I’ll tell the guys to postpone it until after they deliver the necromancer, they may even have the opportunity to invoke their motif!

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We wrapped up the Illumination of Monsieur Faucher last Friday in swindles and cons.

The group decided to deliver the necromancer to la Madame de Chevreuse at the Port St. Michel.
After interrogating M. Faucher, Chandler picked the skull off the necromancer’s satchel.
The group boarded Mme Chevreuse’s carriage, with our two filous forging a pass signed by the Provost of Paris to exit through the city gates.
They traveled to an inn in the outskirts of Paris. Chandler swindles M. Faucher to sign off his property in exchange for Andreas Vesalius skull (little did he knew that the necromancer had no home and was way behind his rent!).
Once inside they settled their payment with the noblewoman, earning the promise of future work after a satisfying report. Meanwhile Baptiste broke into the carriage to steal her ivory fan.
Walking back to Paris Baptiste convinced Jean-Luc to buy this fancy fan he recently found, gaining an extra Wealth rating on top of their reward.

Back in the city Jean-Luc decides to treat himself for a successful enterprise by purchasing a fancy hat.
The filous went to ransack M. Faucher’s apartment only to find Antoine Rovere and his mob tearing up the place. They were recognized by the Colonel. Baptiste got lost in the crowd, but Chandler had to confronted the veteran and one of his men. After a tense interrogation the filou bolted, with Rovere fast at his heels. The filou had to spend Mortal Coil to escape from his grasp.

We ended the session by rolling on the Exertion table (for reals this time) and reviewing experience. They got just a couple experience points, Baptiste cashed his optional advancement checkbox after helping the Noble faction. Since Chandler declared that he would become a passeur at the start of the session, he gained all the benefits of his newfound lifepath.

The party will lay low the next 3 months, recovering from open wounds and satiating their carnal desires. We will probably wrap this game next session with seasonal Rep and Wealth for the moment, until I get to lay out their next adventure (of which I have a couple ideas running around in my head :wink: :wink: ).

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