"The Bloodsmith's art is without peer in Shanri. The smith takes Orichalcum, blood, sweat and creates Doom itself, like none other but the Sorcerer Kings of old."
- The Thousand Dooms of the Bloodsmith
We were done with the character and looking over how Pete could spend his 5 extra points at the end. There are all kinds of nifty options - making vassals better, improving suaven devotion, more aspects, etc. I'm skim-reading out loud the various sorcerous rituals he could have because he's a Serpent with a bit of an artistic bent to him, an interesting guy with Courage as his weakness.
I noticed that if he had the Blacksmith aspect, and the Bloodsword and Orichalcum rituals he would be able to forge his own Bloodswords and Orichalcum weapons/artifacts/whatever. That is 3 of his 5 bonus points, a big honking chunk of the last bit of his resources to put in that direction.
Upon re-reading the book later, I read that the Orichalcum ritual is not available to be learned by season actions nor character generation. It can only be learned (stolen) in play. But, honestly, fuck-it.
Maybe it will be a big deal, even a secret that he was taught how to do this. We'll discuss it. I like the idea that his father saw his passion for smith-work and taught him the ritual, against the statues of the Senate and the Earl of House Serpent (Pete, any thoughts on the matter? I kinda like that your dad, a master bloodsmith, broke the law to teach you...thoughts?).
When we were done with the character, I asked Pete if there was anything in particular that bound the barons in his neighborhood or the barons under the duke who ruled them. He looked over the domains in his province and decided that his castle overlooked a river and I suggested that the river led to the capital, the Hub of All Revenge and at the river-mouth was the duke's city. Somehow, we talked a bit about his nearest baronial neighbor and I thought it'd be a good chance to give the dice a shot.
Wisdom risk to learn about the nearest baron. I gave some details as I like to give the players some bones to build on before an information-based risk like this.
The bones:
* She is Jorja Burghe of House Bear.
* In her last duel, she disarmed her opponent, dropped her sword and broke both of his arms.
* She is married to a famous House Fox artist, often in the capital writing critically acclaimed opera.
So, Pete gathered his dice for his Wisdom and his relevant aspect and rolled above 10 with 4 wagers:
* She is a gourmand.
* She has her sights on the ducal seat for herself.
* More cunning than she lets on.
* Her spymaster was bought out from under her recently.
I added in that the ducal seat is currently held by her own father.
I jotted down some notes on the other barons:
* Baroness Jorga Burghe
* An old wolf
* His eldest sister
* PC
And we're ready to roll. Houses of the Blooded seems like a good fit for a solo game. You can't make a character and come away without a web of names and situations.
We've got a bloodsmith, someone who can make bloodswords and create orichalcum. He is unmarried. His neighbor is considering trying to take on the duke, her father. He has an unexplored ruin in his domain. Yeah, there's a game to be had here, without a doubt.
I will post up the character details later. Questions and comments very much welcomed.