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AU Friday: Valicer In The Dark -- Character Playbooks

My Valicer In The Dark AU (where I put Victor, Alice, Smiler, and related characters into the setting of Duskwall from Blades In The Dark) also features in my upcoming Valicer PolyShip Week shenanigans, so I figured now was a good time to remind you of its existence and give you some more details on it -- specifically, a look at what I’ve come up with for the various “playbooks” (the BitD equivalent of a character sheet), both individually for Alice, Victor, and Smiler, and communally for their crew! Here is how my little gang is all statted out --

Alice:

Playbook Type: Cutter (the hard hitters and melee fighters)

Heritage: Akoros, born in Duskwall – daughter of the late Dean Arthur Liddell of Doskvol Academy (College of Immortal Studies)

Background: Labor – former dogsbody of the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth

Point Spread:

Insight: Hunt, 1 Study, Survey, Tinker

Prowess: Finesse, 1 Prowl, 2 Skirmish, 1 Wreck

Resolve: 1 Attune, 1 Command, Consort, Sway

Cutters automatically start with 2 Skirmish and 1 Command -- Alice is decently good in close-quarters combat (a combination of all the mental practice in Wonderland and genuinely having to scuffle with some overly-forward folks in Charhollow) and has a little experience in getting people to listen to her (we’ll say it’s from wrangling the kids in Houndsditch). She got four dots on top of that to assign in other places -- I gave her a bit of Study to reflect her background as the daughter of a respected college dean; a bit of Prowl because she’s learned the value of moving quickly, quietly, and skillfully; a bit of Wreck because she can really smash things up when given enough provocation; and a bit of Attune because I suspect Wonderland actually makes her a little more sensitive to the arcane forces within the city (her hallucinations sense things before she does).

Starting Special Ability: Not To Be Trifled With – can push herself to perform near-superhuman feats of physical force or take on up to six people without penalty (like fighting off a bunch of Bluecoats trying to wrongfully arrest her and her new friends for murder).

As for future special abilities, from the Cutter playbook I already have in mind Vigorous, which allows her to heal faster and better (since I already have her healing surprisingly well as a headcanon in general), and Bodyguard, which gives her +1 die to resist any consequences while protecting a teammate, and +1 effect to any rolls regarding gathering information about potential threats (Alice takes protecting those she cares about VERY SERIOUSLY). I’m also going to borrow one from the Lurk playbook (the sneaky-sneak ones), The Devil’s Footsteps, which would allow her to push herself to perform superhuman feats of athleticism or dart around in such a way as to get her enemies to attack each other (which would handily cover her quad-jump in Wonderland!).

Friend and Rival:

Friend: Nan Sharpe, the madam of the Mangled Mermaid brothel in Silkshore – practical, a bit hot-headed, and with a low opinion of most people, she encourages Alice to keep her head in the real world

Rival: Pris Witless, former nurse at Rutledge and current drunk in Charhollow – nasty, servile, and a slave to the bottle, she has extorted Alice for money in the past by threatening to spread rumors that Alice herself was responsible for her family’s death

Vice: Obligation – to her former Houndsditch charges in Charhollow, and to Nan Sharpe; Alice indulges by checking in on them and helping them out when she can.

Special items:

Fine hand weapon: One load – at the very start, this is a good-quality kitchen knife that Alice took to carrying around for protection; shortly after they form their crew and get his stuff back, Victor commissions a more exact replica of her Wonderland Vorpal Blade for her, which she cherishes dearly

Fine heavy weapon: Two load – I’m still figuring it out, but this HAS to be a Duskwall-appropriate version of her Hobby Horse from A:MR

Scary weapon or tool: One load – this should probably be a variant on the Jabberwock’s Eye Staff?

Manacles and chain: Zero load – Alice maybe steals these off one of the Bluecoats who tries to arrest her, Victor, and Smiler for the murder of Barkis? (Or I might change it out for the nice lockpicks the Lurk gets. Either one!)

Rage essence vial: Zero load – Ragebox/Hysteria mode in a bottle! Just stay out of her way

Spiritbane charm: Zero load – she probably had this from the start, as all smart citizens of Duskwall have one

Victor:

Playbook Type: Whisper (the ones most able to deal with the ghosts and arcane threats)

Heritage: Akoros, born in Duskwall – son of William Van Dort, owner of Van Dort Fish

Background: Trade/Noble – son of VERY RICH cannery owner from Nightmarket

Point Spread:

Insight: Hunt, 1 Study, Survey, 1 Tinker

Prowess: 2 Finesse, 1 Prowl, Skirmish, Wreck

Resolve: 2 Attune, Command, Consort, Sway

Whispers start with 2 Attune and 1 Study -- Victor is quite sensitive to the arcane and the ghostly thanks to his experience with Emily, and he’s a bookish sort. For his other four points, I gave him a bit of Tinker (to go with my headcanon that Victor does like to fool around with mechanisms and such from time to time); a bit of Prowl because he can be quite sneaky and slippery when he wants to be (he kept out of sight of Emily for a good while in the Land of the Dead in canon); and a good amount of Finesse because that seemed to be the action that went best with his canonical skills of being an accomplished pianist and artist (”dexterous manipulation” and all that).

Starting Special Ability: Ghost Mind – always aware of supernatural entities in his presence, +1d to gather information on the supernatural (Victor got this from being yanked into the ghost field by Emily and forced to stay there for an entire day and a bit; he finds it both helpful and worrying).

As for future special abilities, from the Whisper playbook I know I want Strange Methods, which gives him better results when inventing or crafting anything with arcane features and gives him a free special formula (I’m using this to cover him figuring out how to infuse insects, in particular moths, with electroplasm so as to create glowing versions that can help grow crops), and Warded, which allows him to expend the “special armor” box on his sheet to resist a supernatural consequence or help push himself when fighting against or using arcane forces (I’m picturing this as a special coat he makes with Elder Gutknecht, with all sorts of strange glyphs and symbols on it). And once again, I’m also tempted by something on the Lurk playbook, Ghost Veil, which would allow him to push himself to partially shift himself into the ghost field for a few moments, becoming shadowy and insubstantial (and able to increase the effect -- like become invisible, float through the air, and make it last longer -- if he takes more stress -- because come on, that’s just COOL, and does cover him being part of both the real world and the ghostly one well).

Friend and Rival:

Friend: Samuel “Bonejangles” Thatcher, an entertainer who also makes a living as a Whisper removing spirits from houses – showy, friendly, but with the ability to hold a grudge, he actually knew Emily in life, and when he learns Victor helped her get revenge on her killer (even at the cost of her ghostly “life”), he is only too happy to give Victor a hand with Whisper-related stuff

Rival: Nell and William Van Dort, Victor’s parents – conceited, determined, and less socially adept than they think they are, they are furious with Victor for “ruining a good marriage” and “running off with some strangers from the wrong side of the tracks” and determined to drag him back home and bring him to heel

Vice: Weird – Victor studies the strange and unusual now under the tutelage of Elder Gutknecht, the Reconciled spirit whose former house they are now using as a lair in Six Towers; he indulges by having lessons with Gutknecht and doing meditation exercises and the like.

Special items:

Fine lightning hook (collapsible): Two load – Victor gets this strange collapsible rod with an electroplasmic loop on the end from Bonejangles as he’s trained in the ways of capturing spirits

Fine spirit mask: One load – Victor makes this himself, using the wings of dead moths and an old masquerade domino mask; the wings twitch and his eyes glow with ghostly pale light whenever he’s using it

Electroplasm vials: Zero load – Victor gets a LOT of these from just picking up after the ghosts in Six Towers, and he mostly uses them in his experiments to infuse insects with the stuff

Spirit bottles (2): One load – also from Bonejangles, to go with the hook and hold captured ghosts

Ghost key: Zero load – a gift from Elder Gutknecht, to open ghostly doors around the city?

Demonbane charm: Zero load – either from Bonejangles or Gutknecht, to help keep him out of sight of even more dangerous supernatural entities

Smiler:

Playbook Type: Sleech (Leech (tinkerer and chemist) with some Slide (smooth-talking manipulator) elements)

Heritage: Akoros, born in Duskwall – child of Dr. Kellard Kelman of The Sanctuary

Background: Underworld – good little cultist, relatively-newly-established drug dealer

Point Spread:

Insight: Hunt, Study, 1 Survey, 2 Tinker

Prowess: Finesse, Prowl, Skirmish, 1 Wreck

Resolve: Attune, Command, 1 Consort, 2 Sway

Smiler ended up being a little hard to stat out for me because of their combined status as a Slide and a Leech -- I wanted them to be the “tech person” of the group, while also being the most charismatic one. I ended up solving the issue by simply combining the starting stats of a Leech -- 2 Tinker, 1 Wreck -- with the starting stats of a Slide -- 1 Consort, 2 Sway. The remaining point I put into Survey as that’s the one that felt appropriate for “reading a room” and figuring out what people might want -- plus it wasn’t a stat Victor or Alice had, so it helped fill in a little hole in their skill set there!

Starting Special Ability: Alchemist – when inventing or crafting anything alchemical, they get +1 to the result level, and they start with one special formula already known (this is what pushed me to fully commit to combining the Leech and Slide playbooks, as I really wanted this for them -- it went well with their “drug dealer” backstory for this verse, and allowed me to start with them knowing how to make, what else, Joy Serum! XD)

As for future special abilities, I already know that I want Physicker from the Leech playbook, which would allow Smiler to act as the team doctor, tinkering with bodies to treat wounds and study maladies (allowing everyone to get +1d to healing rolls -- and healing is TOUGH in this game, so you want as many as possible!). And from the Slide playbook, I have in mind A Little Something On The Side, which gives them extra stash (personal cash) at the end of each downtime phase, to represent their continued sales of Joy Serum when they’re not doing jobs with Victor and Alice, and Mesmerism, which allows Smiler to Sway someone and then make them forget it happened until the next time they interact, which -- well. Part of The Smiler’s whole deal is hypnotism and controlling people, is it not? So yes, appropriate.

Friend and Rival:

Friend: Matthew and Carol Alton, their parents in the Advocates cult – cheerful, helpful, and totally devoted to their god, they are only too happy to lend a hand to their adopted child and their new friends (even if sometimes that hand is in the form of trying to get said friends to become Advocates and worship Mar-Mal)

Rival: Robert “Big Bob” Wickerman, a rival cultist – stern, hot-tempered, and charismatic, Robert leads the up-and-coming Beornen cult, which worships him as the mortal shell of their god and considers modern technology (in particular the use of electroplasm to create electricity) to be the source of the world’s ills. Bob and Smiler in particular hate each other because Smiler successfully hooked a few of his Beornen on Joy Serum, and Bob responded by trying to set the Advocates’ headquarters on fire

Vice: Pleasure – to seek happiness is worship unto Mar-Mal, and Smiler is a master at finding something to enjoy no matter where they are; they typically indulge in Six Towers by visiting Chef Roselle’s Golden Plum restaurant, where they regularly dine (and treat Victor and Alice) using the profits of their Joy Serum trade

Special items:

Fine tinkering tools: One load – a gift from their parents to help them with their crafting; contains tools appropriate to work on most spark-craft devices, and some basic chemistry kit stuff (vials, tubing, test strips for different substances)

Bandolier: One load – a strap of leather with pouches for three alchemical concoctions, which Smiler uses to store useful potions and such

Blowgun and darts, syringes: Zero load – Smiler had the syringes already for people to use to inject Joy Serum; the blowgun and darts come later for sneakier druggings

Gadgets: Up to three load – Smiler starts off with two they’ve made/adjusted, each at one load: a collapsible black-white-and-yellow spiral disc that spins when you activate its electroplasmic “battery” (Smiler uses this as a hypnotic focus for anyone they feel could benefit from a bit of trance), and a suitcase with fold-up legs and pull-out displays (Smiler uses this to carry their samples of Joy Serum and syringes and hawk them to the masses – it’s basically a traveling salesperson’s case)

Fine clothes and jewelry: Zero load/two load (if carried as a separate outfit) – this is actually a result of them stealing Victor’s stuff back; Smiler admires some of his clothes, and Victor promptly says “take what you want and have it redone to fit you.” So Smiler does and gets some fancy suits for fancy times

Spiritbane charm: Zero load – again, just standard issue in Duskwall

Crew:

Playbook Type: Shadows (the saboteurs, spies, and thieves), with maybe a bit of Hawker (the sellers of things) on the side

Name: The Three Pillars (I think Victor literally just blurts this out when asked by another gang, inspired by the fact their lair is in Six Towers and there’s three of them, and they roll with it)

Reputation: Tier 0, Rep 0, seen as Strange (they are a bit of an odd bunch)

Lair: “Gutknecht Bend” in Six Towers, the old home of one Elder Gutknecht, a former Whisper who, near the end of his life, found the secret to leaving his mortal shell to travel like a ghost. . .only for his physical body to die while he was out wandering and be taken away by the Spirit Wardens. On the plus side, his out-of-body experience seems to have helped him keep his sanity and become a “Reconciled” spirit instead of falling to the madness for life essence. The lair consists of an old boxy building with a right-triangle roof that served as Gutknecht’s living quarters, and a slightly-crumbling tower attached to said building with his library, workshop, and pet ravens at the top.

Hunting Grounds: AKA where the gang do most of their crimes...which is still being determined! Their first scores would take them to Charhallow to find a way to kill Bumby without leaving a ghost (or possibly just get evidence of his crimes to one of the famously incorruptible Inspectors in the Bluecoats; everyone WANTS to kill him, though), and to Nightmarket to steal Victor’s stuff from his house. Given I want them to be kind of heroes of the little people, though, I suspect they’d end up doing a lot of stuff in Coalridge, the industrial neighborhood, aiding the factory workers in fighting against cruel foremen and union busters.

Starting Crew Special Ability: I had a tough time deciding on this one at first, but after some consideration (done while writing this up, ironically), I’ve decided to go with Pack Rats, which turns the lair into a jumble of (possibly stolen) items and makes it easier to acquire an asset outside of scores (you get +1d on the roll) -- that feels appropriate for Gutknecht’s mess of a library in the movie!

As for future upgrades, Ghost Echoes is definitely on the list -- Victor learning a ritual to allow them all to see and interact with the ghost field of the city just feels like a natural progression of his Whisper training under Gutknecht! I also like the idea of them becoming Synchronized, which allows them to do a group action together and count multiple sixes from multiple people (like, both Smiler and Alice get a six) as a critical success, meaning they do even better when they work together. :) And from the Hawkers sheet, I’m tempted by Ghost Market for Smiler’s Joy Serum at some point -- figuring out how to prepare it so ghosts and demons can use it seems like an interesting project!

Starting Crew Upgrades:

Hidden – Elder Gutknecht’s house is not easy to find in the tangle of abandoned buildings in Six Towers, despite being relatively distinctive – Gutknecht kept it well-warded in life, and in death his presence has kept out the squatters, who tell people to avoid it (ironically, they’re warning people away from the one building in town that has a guaranteed friendly ghost in it). It’s a good hiding spot for three people accused of a very serious murder!

Training: Prowess – Upon being informed of their situation, Matthew and Carol Alton and their fellow Advocates were only too happy to help Smiler, Victor, and Alice hone some of the skills necessary to be a successful crew, such as how to handle things dexterously, how to move unseen when necessary, how to defend themselves in a fight, and how to destroy what should be destroyed. (In mechanical terms, the gang earns 2 XP instead of 1 when they train the “Prowess” XP track, related to these skills: Finesse, Prowl, Skirmish, and Wreck)

Cohort: Expert – Elder Gutknecht himself, who serves as their arcane expert and a teacher for Victor. He is an Occultist (being the ghost of a Whisper), is Tier 1 in quality, has the edge Independent (can be trusted to make good decisions on his own), and the flaw Principled (he has a personal code of ethics he won’t betray).

Workshop – Elder Gutknecht’s old lab and library – contains a number of interesting books on the occult, a well-appointed chemistry set, and a gadget-making bench. (And many many ravens.)

As for future upgrades, the first one on the list is Quarters, which...okay, technically the gang lives in the house before they get this upgrade, but it is far from comfortable. Getting the Quarters upgrade in this instance means they’ve finally cleaned up the house to a more decent state and have gotten themselves nice mattresses and such to sleep on. The Secure upgrade would also be a good idea -- putting actual locks on the door to start, and maybe helping Gutknecht upgrade his old wards once Victor’s skilled enough. And having the crew figure out Thief Rigging to give themselves two free load slots to carry around tools and gear would be handy too!

Favorite Contact: Ms. Plum, owner and cook at the Ball & Socket Tavern, a drinking establishment on the edge of Six Towers; popular among Whispers (Victor’s friend Bonejangles is the entertainment there). She’s a friendly sort and willing to pass along information she may hear, or direct them to people who may need their help.

Faction Relationships: I haven’t fully figured this one out yet, but I know the main relationship that they would have --

The Advocates: +1, Friendly – The Advocates are the worshipers of the forgotten god Mar-Mal, the Unending Smile, and Smiler is a member in good standing among their ranks (as is to be expected, given they were adopted by two members after running away from Kelman). They are only too happy to give a bit of aid to them and their new friends, especially if said new friends can be persuaded to join their ranks.

As for others, the Beornen of Wickerman would naturally be unfriendly, as would the Bluecoats. However, there’s a group of disgraced Bluecoats, called the Gray Cloaks, who hang out in Six Towers as well, looking for evidence to clear their names of a crime (burning down a watch house containing important documents in the case against one of the leviathan hunters) -- the Three Pillars might be able to forge some sort of alliance with them in the future! And of course I’m thinking I have to add the other Alton Towers coasters in at some point (preferably all as part of cults and secret societies of their own). It’s something I’m still working on!

Whew -- lot of information there, huh? But I hope you find it helpful for understanding what these versions of Victor, Alice, and Smiler are like. I mean, if nothing else, maybe it’ll inspire someone to take a look at Blades in the Dark...

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