Character, Crew, and World Creation

I feel like Crow's Foot is the most interesting district to me, but I'm wondering about how a small gang like us would be able to find a foothold in a crime/law ridden area like that.

As for opportunities, I think that for my character, ones which involve the discovery of new information are some that would work well to weave into his unknown motive. Basically, seemingly unrelated incidents are actually end up related not only to each other, but to Kristov's motive. For example, the identity of the master assassin's last target is one that I would be initially interested in pursuing, while stealing an exotic pet would generate less initial interest unless some interesting information is uncovered while doing the job.

I can do that.Sounds interesting. If others like it we can start with that.

Sounds good!

OK, let's go with that one.
A benefit of a Job like this is that it would span many Districts, so we don't need to worry about your Hunting Grounds. This can serve as an introduction to the Districts, and introduce some NPCs you care about (maybe to be potential targets?).
A 'mystery investigation' Job might also take a while, and you may have to do some other Jobs at the same time (maybe to earn some money, maybe to uncover clues). These other (side?) Jobs can serve to define the Hunting Grounds.

I will post about the Factions bits from the other choices once I can get back to my notes (or the book), then we can start.

Faction Status
If we don't start knowing where our Hunting Grounds are situated we also don't know which Faction will be impact by your moving in. We will learn this when we settle on a District and area. You might not have the option of paying them for the inconvenience, it will depend on your remaining starting Coin, not the Coin you have when then decision is made.

I had The Lost in most of these lists, but have removed them since that was based of the assumption you were starting in Coalridge. They might not care about you or your choices if you are elsewhere. This means they start neutral, you can always get them to like you by helping them later.

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You start with 2 Coin (a not-insubstantial amount of money). You have the option of spending up to 4 Coin to change your Statuses with some of the Factions affected by your Crew Creation choices at the start (with 2 Coin you can only do half). What you don't spend you get to keep, giving you more options at the start, but in a less friendly world.

Faction Statuses change with most Jobs, and most Jobs provide Coin. So these are just starting values.

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For each of these options, remember you can always choose to have the Status change be with the Shadowy Cabal, but you probably can not throw money at them to make them like you more (convince me otherwise:).

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Favorite Contact: Amancio.

-1 Status:
The Fog Hounds (i): A crew of rough smugglers looking for a patron.
• Jealous. They were wooing Amancio before you came along. They don't like being rejected (then again: who does?).

+1 Status:
Ink Rakes (ii): The journalists, muck-rakers, and newspaper publishers of Doskvol.
• Trying to bring Amancio down, but nothing sticks. They are hoping a new Crew will cause waves and attention, thus unearthing Amancio's secrets. They are therefore keen to help you and get in your good graces.

Feel free to swap these, with the Ink Rakes being your enemies (small-time) because of your association, and the Fog Hounds being friends with Amancio and therefore on your side.

Feel free to suggest any other Factions you want to use instead.

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Upgrade: Underground Maps and Passkeys: You have easy passage through the underground canals, tunnels, and basements of the city.

-2 Status:
The Foundation (iv): The powerful ancient order of architects and builders. Many of their enemies have disappeared behind the brick and mortar of Doskvol.
• These are supposed to be their secrets. They don't like other people traipsing around in their bailiwick.
• Do you want to pay them 1 Coin to smooth things over and take -1 Status with them instead? Or screw them, what can they do, they are just 'architects'?

+1 Status:
Gondoliers (iii): The guild of canal boat operators. Venerated by ancient tradition. Said to know occult secrets (many things are submerged in the Dusk).
• Why did they share these secrets with you?
• Do you want to pay them 1 Coin for the secrets and take +2 Status with them instead, or just let them help you because they like you?

Feel free to suggest any other Factions you want to use instead.

Amancio: I'm ok with -1 for the Fog Hounds and +1 for the Ink Rakes.

Underground Maps and Passkeys:
I know I will regret this in the near future... :-) ... but I'll say screw them, they are just architects.
Hmmm, this is more tempting, but I would save our Coin for the time being, we are a small Tier-0 Crew and we may need it for something more urgent. We can always invest here afterwards if/when our treasury is in better shape.

It does depend a bit on each game, but it is usually easier to get more Coin than to increase Status. But then again, getting another Coin when you have ten is not as big a deal as spending a Coin when you have two.
Both spending and keeping are valid strategies.

I'm personally leaning towards spending actually, for that aforementioned reason. I could care less about getting on the Fog Hounds' good side, but the Foundation could be troublesome. By the way, should I be understanding the Foundation as a secret society thing, or more like a really old union?

I can neither confirm not deny their status as a secret society.
... because the book says very little about them, it will depend on how we see them in play. They do sound a lot like a 'secret society' (or a mob?). If we want to define that as fact now, we can use that 'fact' to aid our choice.
I would say that you have, at least, heard the name mentioned, so as much a secret society as the freemasons or whatnot. :)

I have some friends at home today, but I'll try to look through that this evening !

I'm good with it too ! I like Crow's Foot as well, it seems like a varied place with many opportunities to start with.

I'd be for spending to the Foundation as well. Wouldn't want people that know the most about the city be our enemies, especially when our best resource is our secrecy.

The fact that you have a Hidden Lair that even they don't know about possibly already inclines them towards prejudicial suspicion of you. The longer you can keep off their radar the better, eh?

Crow's Foot is often the default starting location (which sorta made me hope to avoid it this time, but I don't mind, I see us working all over the city anyway).
It makes a lot of sense for many of the Crew types as it caters to the normal criminal fair. As mentioned above: Does it make sense for our --less overt-- Crew?

It would help a bit to know where you start, that way we can get the Factions over and done with now, but we can work around that if we can not reach a consensus.

gnomius: Your thoughts on Crow's Foot?
I have no vote. :)

Sure, I'm ok with Crow's Foot as well. And if I wasn't, it was already 2 against 1, so... :-)

So to be clear then, our lair is in Coalridge, and our hunting ground is in Crow's Foot?

I am as lost and confused as you are. :)
I really don't want to know what people are 'OK' with. I want to know where you want to play. If we are stuck in a district that does does not interest one of the players this leads to disinterest and disinterest can kill a game like this.

Blades relies on the players being engaged and driving the story. I will not be spoon-feeding you plot.

Yep, I understand. I already said my first idea was to have Charterhall as our hunting ground, because I thought it was a middle-class district where we could get some nice loot without much risk. But then again, if two colleagues prefer Crow's Foot, I am OK with it too. Not a big deal, as I'm not that used to the setting, things may work out differently as I had expected.

Now that you know that it is not the middle-class area, do you have any other ideas? Have you looked at the District descriptions in the book or on the wiki?
Nightmarket might well fit what you all are looking for? Especially to move up into after Coalridge or Crow's Foot, but also to start if you want to set up for higher status targets. It still has the lower classes, but the upper classes are moving in and gentrifying it.
Do they though? I worry that people are just going along with a suggestion and not voicing their own ideas. There has not been any real discussion.
If that is what we want then we can start there, but does it make sense for a Crew such as us?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I thought the Crow's Foot could be a good compromise between our possible preferences, but you're right about it: we shall probably talk about it further, instead of assuming what may kinda fit for everyone.

I could kinda see Silkshore working for us, if we're trying to go for blackmailing and small stuff first, such as cheating husbands or politician's scandals, but I'm not sure it would fit our characters well ? What do you think ?

Nightmarket sounds good to me. Not only is it wealthy -always a plus in our business-, it could lead to industrial espionage, robberies of precious items, or generally playing on business rivalries. Vreen's Hound Races and The Devil's Tooth sounds especially promising, in my opinion.
Now if we want to go for this, maybe Charhollow would fit better ? Not sure if we could find that much business to fit the bill, tho, but it could work as a more "varied" place. You can probably find a bit of everything in middle-class suburbs.

While I don't see use starting here, I would really like for us to climb our way to Chaterhall as a long-term objective, and to better accomplish this geopolitical intrigue I talked about before. Are you interested in this too ?

I also wonder how your Underground Maps and Passkeys would interact with all the waterways?
I think Silkshore will definitely be a place you visit a lot as part of your Jobs, but it might not be the place the Jobs actually happen.
Absolutely, also Charhollow. I see that as a goal, and maybe a stepping stone to even richer hunting grounds. :)