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, welcome to [GURPS] To Steal a Dragon's Tooth

00:26, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Introduction.

Posted by StripeFor group public
Stripe
GM, 6 posts
Tue 16 Sep 2008
at 16:10
  • msg #1

Introduction (Read First)

In this game, players take the roles of thieves scraping out an existence in the dark alleys of a crowded city the best way they know how -- by mugging the weak, burglarizing the rich, picking the pockets of the unsuspecting and cutting the purse strings of the slow-witted.

The game will be a series of quick one-shots with opportunities for role playing between sessions.



Not long ago, the sprawling city of Rimuldar was fat and lazy, an orchard budding with fruit ripe for the picking, and the harvesters had a merry time plucking the berries. Any fool with sticky fingers could eat for a week on a single sleight-of-hand.

That was until Draven took the throne nearly a decade past. The newly-crowned royal prince shadowed the city in an iron-fisted reign of terror. No longer is the Guard's ranks filled with thugs and drunkards. Son of a tyrant emperor, the dark prince instantly tripled the guard's numbers with battle-hardened legionaries. Now, callous soldiers march down the streets bearing spear and shield, armored and cloaked in black. Scowling decurions overlook the throngs mounted atop statuesque ebon steeds.

As if the soldiers weren't hard enough on an honest thief trying to make a dishonest living, a murderous vigilante stalks the night, slaughtering the criminal element with bloody vengeance. Rimuldarians began calling him the Reaper after a half dozen street thugs were found hacked to sunder with a gory text scrawled above the pile of corpses: "Death reaps with both hands."

Blood-drenched and shocked nearly to catatonia, the only survivor, a poor youth named Cedric, murmured a description of the Reaper as the Guard drug him away, "Eyes like burning embers. Twin sickles flashing like demon's fangs. Cloak blacker than a shadow on a moonless night. Beneath his hood, only a gleaming skull. Frost forms in his footsteps; deathly chill is the air around him. His voice... an echo from beyond the grave."

At least, that was the description printed in the morrow's paper. Those who know Benny say the quote sounds a little too dramatic to have come from the street urchin's mouth.

Whatever the case, criminals in Rimuldar have been forced to band together in order to survive the hammer of justice. Those with a penchant for thievery have formed the Raven's Claw, a street gang of pickpockets and burglars. The gang's philosophy is to keep a low-profile, keep crimes petty so as to avoid the eye of the law. The Raven's Claw shuns members who will draw attention to their ranks.

To join, a petitioner must pass a number of increasingly-difficult trials. The first is to steal an apple from a merchant's cart at high noon. Second, a recruit must cut a purse string and be off with the wallet. Third, he must pick enough pockets to buy a ham for the whole gang to feast on at the conclusion of his next test: making a treacherous decent down into a dark cave. After the climb down, the petitioner makes his way to a ring of torches where he must put up a good fight in a brawl with another new gang member. If the petitioner's prowess is deemed acceptable, he is considered part of the gang. However, at this point he is entitled to no rights or benefits, and will be entrusted with no secrets.

To become a full-fledged Raven's Claw, a member must burglarize a house in the Upper Ward, and a daring feet that is; anyone caught out about after sunset faces a public flogging -- even worse depending on the whim and mood of the centurion on duty.



Player characters begin the game having recently completed their initiation into the Raven's Claw. They are considered members, but of the lowest rank.

Now, they are ready to prove themselves worthy by burglarizing a residence in the Upper Ward. They won't know whose house until the night of their final trial...

...And that night is tonight.
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