The Word of al-Masih — Session 000b
Black Blade, Black Blade
Bringing chaos to the world we know
Black Blade, Black Blade
And it's using me to kill my friends
Black Blade, Black Blade
Getting stronger so the world will end
Black Blade, Black Blade
Forcing my mind to bend and bend
— “Black Blade,” Blue Öyster Cult
Welcome back! Ready to finish up character creation and start playing? Me, too. Let’s get right into it, returning to p. 18 and the (tiny) section on equipment.
Being Decadent — she was born in a palace in the Caliphate, remember? — she has 100 coins to spend, but she already has some standard gear: clothes and two weapons.
Given that I see our character as a classic Arabian Nights-type, I figure she’s dressed much like Caroline Munro in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973). I had initially thought maybe our character was nobility or even royalty. Still, it only said she was born in a palace in the Caliphate and indicated nothing about her parentage. So what if she is the illegitimate daughter of the Caliph and one of his harem women? He might have claimed a son as his own, but a daughter is less than useless to an influential leader in this setting.
As for her weapons, one has to be a dagger, right? She’s an assassin, trained to use her wits and wiles to get close to her targets and eliminate them. A dagger is a must. And how about an elegant scimitar, which she keeps assiduously hidden among her things, only for use when her life is in extreme danger and fighting is the only way out? I like it.
I could spend her 100 coins on stuff, but the way I see it, she’s taken care of in the palace and wouldn’t be burdened with adventurer’s gear. At least, not at the start of our story. And she needs a name! How about… Noor? It’s an Arabic name, the first thing that popped into my head just now. It works for me.
I’ll put all of Noor’s stats and stuff in a separate post and update it as necessary, but if there are any significant changes, I’ll note them in these logs. I also have an excellent illustration of her, though I don’t know where I’ll post that. These logs are shared in pure text sans fancy formatting, so there is no embedding.
Welcome to our game world, Noor!
With character generation complete, we move on to our world. We know very little about it other than it has a Caliphate. There’s such a thing as the Thyrenian Merchant’s League, and the lands that include the Caliphate are collectively known as Amaria. Black Sword Hack provides the bare minimum of guidance in world-building, allowing GMs almost limitless freedom to do whatever they fancy. I could disregard everything and go for it, but I want to leverage as much of the provided material as possible.
Black Sword Hack suggests beginning with the setting’s primary antagonist. Two tables appear on p. 42. One table lists potential enemies linked to Order, and the other to enemies linked to Chaos. I see the Caliphate as a place devoted to Order, with strictly defined roles for men and women and distinct classes. So, an antagonist tied to Order seems appropriate. A quick roll, and we get… a long-awaited messiah. Oh, boy. If you knew how much I love Dune, you’d know how excited I am. Talk about a ripe idea!
What about this messiah’s primary minions? Another roll, and we learn of “The Martyrs, warriors mutilated to look like their namesakes.” Yikes. We have a religious war happening here, folks, and it’s going to be ugly, I’ll bet. This makes me want to break out my Al-Qadim stuff and mine it for ideas. Zakhara is a great model for this kind of setting. I wouldn’t want to duplicate it, but stealing elements can’t hurt, right? If there’s one thing that defines tabletop roleplaying games from the beginning, it’s plagiarism.
Anyway, p. 43 lists locations and factions you’re supposed to choose from and randomly roll to determine specifics about them. I’ll do that in a modified fashion, adding setting elements as we need them. I have the freedom to do this because I’m playing solo. If I were in a traditional group setting, many of these details would have to be in place before we could begin play. The most important thing about a Black Sword Hack setting isn’t how it begins but where it ends. I’ll pull directly from p. 45:
Many fantasy worlds stick to a status quo: nothing changes. Kings can be killed, but new ones take their place. The world is there to be saved or at least preserved. This shouldn't be the case in a Black Sword Hack campaign: kingdoms and empires disappear, and the world isn't safe. The world at the beginning and the end of a campaign shouldn't be the same. Whether the characters are agents of that change is for players to decide, but the world will change.
I’m looking forward to this.
We have our character and our world (more or less). Let’s spend our last few minutes setting up the first gameplay session. We’ll begin in the palace of the Caliph, with Noor as part of the Caliph’s secret force of killers he can dispatch against his enemies. Rumors of a religious uprising at the Caliphate’s frontier have entered the capital. It’s only a matter of time before a holy war touches off. Indeed, it hasn’t already begun, with no one realizing it.
It’s a beautiful night. The crescent moon shines. Noor is awake as the palace sleeps. Why? I guess we’ll find out next time. This has been a lot of fun. I look forward to sharing this story with you.