Which factions?

I’m curious, what is your favorite faction in Blades or hack? And why?

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I like the Billhooks a lot - the butcher motif, the brutality, the dogs, the central dynamic of Tarvul being in prison and his two children vying for control of the gang. I think they’re great for a second-season foe.

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Dimmer Sisters. So much potential for weird mysterious stories. They make great friends or foes or both.

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Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh.
There’s just so much you can to with this faction. In my current game they do all kind of secret society shenanigans. It’s so much fun. And I just have a thing for fanatics =)

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Ulf Ironborn, because in my game he was Zangief but also kinda like the Punisher, and he ended up being rivals then frenemies and finally badass handshake BFFs with the crew’s Cutter.

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I have to admit some bias toward the Red Sashes. I just like them a little better than the Lampblacks.

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The Silver Nails–perfect for stirring up trouble in the middle of a campaign. Tier I or II and the crew finally think they have a handle on how Doskvol “works,” until they meet a bunch of ghost-fighting cavalry who largely don’t care about the day-to-day of the city proper.

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They’re definitely the more interesting faction. And yet it feels like every other campaign story I hear ends with the crew blowing up their HQ…

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The Circle of Flame- the one clock they have has a lot of really cool possibilities and implications for what/who Kotar is and what the Circle’s ultimate fate in relation to Kotar maybe. Also I love the Seven as leaders, something amongst them for most characters to interact with.

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I’m super intrigued by the presence of the Ink Rakes (especially as inhabitants of the Docks). Whether the crew is violent, political, or whatever, I can think of a bunch of fun ways to make a bunch of newspaper people allies or enemies.

Also I’ve always wanted to play a game with the Gondoliers. They’re oddly similar to the headcanon I built up around the Vivec gondoliers in Morrowind.

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My favourite faction is always “the one that’s relevant now” :smile:

Since I’m playing the Glow in the Dark hack that’s the Free Radicals, atm. Managed to do a bit of diplomacy with the players through their leader today. It’s hard to portray a psycho that’s also kinda desperate and actually needs help but can’t look weak asking for it :sweat:

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I love your Mister Rad. The Free Radicals owe everything to two inspirations: King Radical from Dr. McNinja, and the Junkions from Transformers the Movie.

And American Gladiators. Three inspirations. And also those dirtbike raiders from Fury Road. And the X-TREEEEME douchebros from Harold and Kumar. I’ve lost count.

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A usual I’m borrowing/stealing all my pictures. That guy is a performer, cosplayer, participant?.. Whatever he is he was at Wasteland Weekend as “Pez, Brother of Wez” apparently…

If we’re talking “vanilla” Blades I think my favourite would be the Gondoliers. Grey-area ghost hunters and cab drivers in one? Golden. And there’s a lot of images of Venice at night that are great for building mood in your Roll20’s or Discord channels :kissing_cat:
Just google Venice in the Dark

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Also, shout-outs to the Brigade, who don’t get a full write-up as a faction but protection-racket firefighter thugs are a lot of fun. And you get to pull on this kind of visual reference:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowery_Boys#/media/File:Harvard_Theatre_Collection_-_Chanfrau_as_Mose,_TS_939.5.3.jpg

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