Estimated reading time: 20 minutes
Session played at: 2022-12-15
Published at: 2022-12-20
This is a GM-less cooperative solo Actual Play using the Sharp Knives & Dark Streets Microsetting and Solo ruleset for Savage Worlds.
The Microsetting 🔗
We are playing Sharp Knives & Dark Streets. It is a Microsetting and Solo ruleset for Savage Worlds by Zadmar, who was kind enough to send me a copy of it. This one shot module is set in the city of Stormgate, a city bustling with merchants and artificers. At night though, its rotten core reveals as cut-throats and thieves stalk the streets under the veil of darkness.
Do I even need to say that of course we'll be playing as a crew of such scoundrels? 🔪🤣
This session also doubles as an introduction to a friend of mine, who has never played Solo/GM-less RPGs, but has experience with GMing and playing in a group. The PDF comes with 9 pregen characters both at Novice and Seasoned ranks. To speed up character creation we read through the pregens and choose a character we fancied. My friend chose Isira the Cutpurse, I went with Misk the Swindler. Two Size-1 characters, making a charming group of outlaws if you ask me.
We will also useSince I had them for ages,
but never got
to use them much the SWADE Adventure Deck:
Isira: Contact
Misk: Turncoat
The origins of the crew 🔗
The PDF suggests to start with a SWADE Interlude for each character to see how they joined the crew.
Misk: He was looting some valuables high up in a window, he lost balance, fell into horse dung, got stuck in it and was eventually caught. He met Isira in prison.
Isira: She was sitting in her cell, when a goblin prisoner was dragged next to her. Their gaze connected. They immediately understood the mutual admiration they shared towards the arts of scoundrelshipYes,
it's a word now!
🤣. That night, Isira loosened the bars of the prison cell with her stashed away knife and they raced off together.
The mission and subplots 🔗
Let's roll the mission generator table! 🔗
The crew is hired to: Kidnap someone
Near or within: A house or mansion
While dealing with: A sorcerer or artificer
The client is a Noble who had one of their family members kidnapped by an artificer. They want their relative back, so crew must to do some reverse-kidnappingRescue missions are for the good guys.
High profile criminals deal with
reverse-kidnappings. 😄 shenanigans.
Subplot 1 🔗
Twist table: ⇾ a chest
Some extra loot maybe?
The secretive noble also tells of a chest full of loot in the mansion. They don't mind the crew robbing the artificer as long as their relative is saved. #ExtraMoneys
Subplot 2 🔗
Twist table: ⇾ a hooded person with a dagger
Looks like an assassin.
The artificer has an assassin under their mind-control device. If we can manage to destroy the gadget that controls him, we might be able to get him on our side.
Scene 1 🔗
As good professionals, the crew begins by doing some research on the streets. It'd be great to learn when it's best to infiltrate the mansion.
Let's practice some Oracle questions to better show my friend how solo games usually go.
How much does Misk's Outsider hindrance hinder him? 🔗
This is a scaled question that ranges from -2 to 0
Rolled a 1 ⇾ -2 ofc 😄
Misk: Ahh…Fuck those racists pale skinned bastards!
Can Isira help by loitering around and listening to what people are talking about? 🔗
Simple Question, Unlikely ⇾ No
Ok, Misk will be on his own. 😂
Misk
Networking roll
Persuasion d4-2: ⇾ 5-2 ⇾ 3
Damn you all! I bet if I were also an ugly human, I would have already gotten what I wanted to hear out of you…😡
❌ Scene Failure, Big Bad gets 1 VP.
Scene 2 🔗
With no luck on the streets, the party decides to snoop around the mansion.
Does the game throw us a curveball? 🔗
Curveball table: ,
Yes it does!
Introduce a new person, related to the primary subplot in some way.
Random People: ,
A fisherman, who is furtive/sneaky.
A man in fisherman clothes catches Isira's eyes. He is obviously trying to avoid detection, but he's failing so badly at it. What is he up to? Skulking around the same mansion that they are observing?
Misk, look at that fisherman! Everyone can tell he's up to something. What a moron!
- she giggles.
Isira
She supports her Stealth roll with Notice. The plan is to keep an eye on the guard patrol while approaching the fence, taking a close look at the courtyard.
Notice d6: ⇾ 4 ⇾ +1 to the Stealth roll
Stealth d10+1: ⇾ 18 ⇾ 3 raises 😮
Isira melts into the crowd and draws near the mansion gate without raising any suspicion.
What does Isira see? 🔗
Complex question:
Technology
Due to all the raises, does she find anything else? 🔗
Simple question, Very likely ⇾ Yes, and…
Complex question:
Trust
Isira witnesses a display of heavily guarded technlogical artifactsTechnology. Seems like the majority of the guards are concentrated around them. Hopefully other entrances to the mansion will be less surveilled.
Additionally, the obviously-not-a-fisherman-but-dresses-like-a-fisherman person is also staring at those things.
As she's about to turn and go back to Misk, she recognises someone among the guards. It's an old friendTrust, who owes Isira his life…from the days when he was also doing not-so-honest work.
✅ Scene Success, we get 1 VP.
🥳
Scene 3 🔗
Expectation: We go and interrogate the fisherman to learn what he's up to.
Curveball table: ,
Actively advance the story in some way. The scenario change is negative for you.
Twist table:
Crow ⇽ We'll get to that a bit later.
The situation turns into a dangerous Quick Encounter (Fighting) instead of a simple Interrogation.
We follow the man into an alleyway and approach him, but he seems to have expected us and attacks. 😱
How strong is he? 🔗
| 1d4 | Class |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic Warrior |
| 2 | Advanced Warrior |
| 3 | Basic Mage |
| 4 | Advanced Mage |
1d4 ⇾ 1 ⇾ Basic WarriorPhew!
😅
He's alone, so we have the Gang Up Bonus against him
Isira
Fighting d6+1
⇾ 5
Misk
Fighting d6+1
⇾ 14, 2 raises 💪
Do we manage to capture/immobilize him for questioning? 🔗
Simple Question, Very likely due to 2 raises ⇾ Yes, but
Random Event Table:
Serpent Cultists
Complex question:
Rejection
As he is detained and they would start the interrogation, out of nowhere, a couple of Serpent cultists walk up to them. The sight of their predatory pupils leaves them paralyzed. These cultists are always trouble…
They mumble something and one of them observes all three from an uncomfortably close distance.
Cultist
Pff…It's a pity my brothers.
- he shouts to the group and begins to walk back - These are just some low-life scumRejection, not the ones we're after. We've wasted enough time, killing them would only delay us even further.
✅ Dangerous Scene Success, we get 2 VPs.
Scene 4 🔗
Now they can interrogateNo curveballs this time. 😄 the fisherman, for real.
Misk and Isira are debating on how to make him talk. Isira searches the tied up man. She finds a crow badge inside his pockets but he refuses to speak.
Does the fisherman have anything else on him? 🔗
Simple Question, Maybe ⇾ No
Misk
Enough of this!
- losing his temper - I will make you talk by pulling each of your nails out and shoving them up yourRuthless Hindrance… !!! 😡
Repair support d8: ⇾ 21 ⇾ 3 raises
Performance d6+4: ⇾ 15 ⇾ 2 raises
He grabs a few rusty gizmos and assembles them into a makeshift nail pulling contraption. And then of course, explains how he will go about the procedure.
Acting tough seems to have convinced him to talk.
We need some extra context, so we indulge in random table rolls: 2 Complex Questions, 1 Random Place and 1 Twist.
Complex Questions: ,
Anger, Infromation
Random Place: ,
Armory, Modern/Stylish
Twist Table:
Castle ⇾ Involving the mansion?
The man tells of a room in the mansionModern Armory that holds the device that controls the assassin. Turns out he attacked us because he thought we worked for the Artificer and were about to kill him.
We also learn that the mind controlled assassin is a member of his group. They call themselves the Crow CrewLMFAO LOL 🤣. He's working on setting him free.
He might prove useful to us in the futureThis is not foreshadowing
- Misk murmurs to Isira.
NOT at all! 😄.
✅ Scene Success, we get a VP.
Scene 5 🔗
Let's get inside the mansion!
Does the Fisherman come with us? 🔗
Simple Question, Likely ⇾ Yass!
As the night casts its shadows over the streets, we meet the FishermanWe know he is not a real fisherman,
but the name stuck at this point. at the rendezvous point. As agreed, he'll head to rescue his comrade, while we also go for our own primary goal.
We still have no clue about the whereabouts of our target, this is something we'll need to find out from the inside.
We will handle this scene as a Dramatic Task.
Without much finetuning, we went with a Difficult task with 4 rounds. As for the Success Tokens, they are split into 3 Stealth and 3 Knowledge Tokens.
The crew must move unnoticed and learn where their target is held.
On Flashbacks 🔗
We were a tad bit unsure how to go about Flashbacks. Can you initiate a Flashback after you rolled and saw the results? There are pros and cons for both sides. For our game, we allowed declaring Flashbacks after you already rolled and saw what you got.
Round 1/4
Isira
K of ♥️
Stealth d10 ⇾ 6
She spends a Benny for a Flashback.
Twist Table: ⇾ Mask
She puts on a uniform she scavanged a few days back. It remotely resembles a guards' uniform. A little something to give more bulk to her frail silhouette.
Stealth with Flashback: 6+2 ⇾ 8
2 Stealth tokens.
Round 2/4
Misk
K of ♦️
Stealth d6 ⇾ 3
Spends a Benny ⇾ 15 ⇾ 2 raises
Misk navigates behind the guards like a ghost.
We have all 3 Stealth Tokens!
Round 3/4
Isira
7 of ♠
She makes it to her old friend, the guard who owes her a lot. She inquires him about a certain "guest" in the mansion.
Isira gets +2 to her Persuasion roll due to his debt to her.
Persuasion d4+2 ⇾ 5
That's another precious💍 Success Token!
Round 4/4
Misk
9 of ♠
He uses his Athletics skill to crawl through the air vents system and look around with Notice. Athletics, in a way supports the Notice roll, since the more storeys he can cover, the more he can see or hear.
Athletics d6 ⇾ 5 ⇾ +1 to Notice
Notice d10+1 ⇾ 6
He spends a Benny for a Flashback.
Twist Table: ⇾ Screaming person
Being a crafty one, he brought a makeshift listening device from their safehouse. He'll use it to spy on every whisper.
Notice with Flashback ⇾ 6+2 ⇾ 8 ⇾ 2 Knowledge Tokens
We have all 3 Knowledge Tokens!
In the above scene I forgot about Misk's Alertness Edge. It would already have given him a +2 and there wouldn't have been any need to spend a Benny on a Flashback.
Anyways, such mistakes are part of the game so it also made its way into the Actual Play.
Isira and Misk maneuvered like shadows around the mansion. Listening to the servants' gossips, spying on guards, pulling strings with old acquaintances and peeking around corners with repurposed gadgets? They have it all in their pockets!
Umm, so where _is_ the noble? 🔗
Random Place:
Library
Upon finishing snooping around, Isira and Misk meet up at the agreed checkpoint. They share what they gathered and narrow down the possible locations to the mansion's library room.
It has to be it!
Woot!
We succeeded at a Difficult Dramatic Task!
🥳
✅ Scene Success, we get 3 VPs! 🤘
Scene 6 🔗
Expectation: The party heads to the library room.
Curveball table: ⇾ Nothing
It is a Quick Encounter to make our way to the library unnoticed. This is not a dangerous Encounter, but if we fail, it may turn into combat.
Isira
Stealth d10-1 ⇾ Fails twice
Spends 2 BenniesWe are slowly running out
of Bennies. 😄😅 ⇾ 6
-1 penalty for having already used Stealth for Quick Encounters.
Misk
Stealth d6 ⇾ 7
Both Misk and Isira successfully get past the guards and they reach the library room's door.
✅ Scene Success, we get a VP!
Scene 7 🔗
Expectation: The crew goes in, takes the hostage and leaves.
Curveball table: ⇾ Nothing
Isira
checks the library door for traps.
Thievery d8+1 ⇾ 8 ⇾ 1 raise
+1 bonus from Thief edge.
Is the door trapped? 🔗
Simple Question, Maybe ⇾ Yes
Yes it was trapped, but since she got a raise we ruled that she disarmed it with ease.
What do we see as we step in? 🔗
Complex Question
Deception
As they step in, they realize the whole room is empty. Something's amiss…
Does Misk sense anything via his infravision? 🔗
Simple Question, Maybe ⇾ No
They decide to search the entire room, particularly looking for secret doors.
Isira
Thievery d8+1-1 ⇾ She fails
-1 penalty for having already used Thievery for Quick Encounters.
+1 bonus from Thief edge.
Misk
Notice d10+2 ⇾ 6
He finds something interesting.
Let's get some details on what he found. 🔗
Twist Table
A bloody dagger
Misk sees a strange, blood-dripping daggerYet another
definitely-not-foreshadowing
moment. 😄 that is stuck between two books. On closer inspection, the dagger turns out to be a secret latch.
They pull it and the book case reveals a descending stairway. The crew goes down.
During game, we felt this scene was kind of ambiguous, so neither side got a victory point.
Scene 8 🔗
Expectation: This'll be the final showdown
Curveball table: ⇾ Nothing
Let's roll a few more tables to spice things up:
A Random Event
2 Twist Tables
A Complex Question.
Random Event: ⇾
Shocking news
Twist Tables: ⇾ ,
A machine/automaton and A message on the wall
Complex Question: ⇾
Punishment
As our heroesOr rather, antiheroes? walk down the stares into a secret room, they find a message on the wall.
Shocking news!
It is from none else than their client! As explained in the letter, the crew angered him in the past and this is his twisted way of taking revenge on them.
As Isira and Misk were to turn and leave in a hurry, the chilling sound of cogwork machinery hits their ears.
A Clockwork Automaton has activated and is leaping towards them!
😱
We use the Contact Adventure Card.
The Fisherman and his Assassin friend unexpectedly joins the crew. They somehow managed✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
#AdventureCardMagic
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ to find them.
🐟erman
There you are! We were looking for you guys everywhere!
Isira
At the perfect moment! 😊🤣
Does the automaton get a surprise attack? 🔗
Simple Question, Very likely ⇾ Yes
Who does it target? 🔗
Tossing a coing ⇾ Misk
Automaton
Shooting d8 ⇾ 4 ⇾ Hits!
Damage 2d6 ⇾ Snake eyes
The bolt makes a hole in Misk's hood.
Misk
Hey! You think it's so easy to steal another hood as nice as this one?!
Surprise round ends. Combat begins
Isira
K of ♠
Emboldened by the amount of luck on her side, she jumps straight at the automaton with her knife.
Fighting d6 ⇾ 3 ⇾ Benny ⇾ 4
Her knife uselessly bounces off the polished brass.
Automaton
J of ♦️
It strikes down on Isira with inhuman precision.
Fighting d8 ⇾ 10 ⇾ A raise
Damage d12+d8+d6+2 ⇾ 26Holy sh…
🤣🤣🤣 😳
5 raises, 5 wounds 😳
Isira
Spends her last Benny to soak.
Vigor d6 ⇾ 3 ⇾ A fail 😳
It all happened too fast. At one moment, Isira was darting towards the Automaton. And now, she is slowly yet peacefully sliding down the ruby-colored blade.
😳😳
Witnessing this, are the Fisherman and co still willing to fight? 🔗
Simple Question, Very unlikely ⇾ 6 YesThis is incredible, lol!!
By some miracle, the Crow Crew stays. Who knows what reasons drive them?
Crow Crew
7 of ♦️
They charge and distract the Automaton.
#Handwavium
We use the Turncoat Adventure Card.
Misk
7 of ♣️
No matter the determination of the Fisherman, Misk is not having it…not at all! He just witnessed the massacre of Isira. 😳 But he has an idea!
Hey guys could you please keep that machine distracted a bit longer? I'll go and look for something big to smash that thing for good. You got this! Keep doing what you're doing, will ya?
Crow Crew
For sure comradeTurncoat Adventure Card! 💪
Goodness gracious, what a bunch of flipping idiots
- he thinks to himself - I need to get out of here NOW!
Misk runs up the stairs as fast as he can. He's back at the library room now.
He turns, slams the secret door, bars it and breaks off the latch. He does everything within his powers to make sure that damned thing stays down there.
❌ Scene Failure, Big Bad gets 2 VPs.
Adventure Card Clarification 🔗
Editing Yohtzee here.
We completely misread the text for the Turncoat Adventure Card. It explicitly says "you convince a foe", while the members of the Crow Crew were clearly not our foes.
Anywho, at least it lead to a hilarious scene ending. 🤣
Scene 9 🔗
Curses! That extra stash of gold must have been another lie too. I'm leaving this rotten mansion immediately.
Leaving the mansion is a Dangerous Quick Encounter.
Misk
Athletics d6 ⇾ 22 ⇾ 4 raises
He ran, jumped, climbed, and finally launched himself out of a window like a cannon ball.
The two trusting fellas must have died a gruesome death. But it doesn't matter for Misk. He managed to live another day.
✅ Scene Success, we get 2 VPs.
It's a pity what happened to Isira…
Sheesh…😞…It'll be a pain
getting used to a new partner…
Misk
End of the Adventure 🔗
Session played at: 2022-12-15
Published at: 2022-12-20
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