A Party of Gamblers

Parties of characters in the Noir Gambit system are linked by their desperation. They all have the same drive for something unattainable yet needed; their thirst is both the fuel and flame that drives them.

In the setting of Porte Noire, the characters know they are dead (or are dying). They know that  somewhere in this forever-night city they can find a miracle: their dying wish that they could never find in life. When the players find each other, they know they are all looking for the same thing. Not in specific detail, but in overall detail. They align themselves selfishly and gamble with their souls, memories, sin, and virtues.

Over the course of a campaign the players will lose a lot of who they are in order to find something they may not even truly want. And this has to be made mechanical.

The Noir Gambit system will use Gambler's Playbooks instead of classes. This isn't quite like *World games (like Apocalypse World or Dungeon World) because your playbook isn't just a collection of choices. This isn't quite like D&D classes either, because they aren't as encompassing or final (regardless of whether you use multiclassing or not).

Gambler's playbooks consists of a number of rolltables. Each is a d10 table. Your Dealer will tell you how many times to roll on each table. The tables tell you the following things: what big sins you've committed and what big virtues you've done. They also have some lifepath tables on them--roll or choose one from each lifepath table. This gives you a skeleton of your character.

You gain 1 skill or piece of equipment from each table, plus an additional skill and set of equipment specifically for your playbook to finish character creation.

These details are your character's most precious currency. They can be used to Up the Ante for free on rolls, to automatically succeed on certain types of gambits, to minimize damage done to your character, and so on and so forth. But each thing can only be traded in once. If you have 4 major sins you've committed, you can confess one and Porte Noire will devour it and you will get a chance to buy fortune's favor. But the city doesn't want to hear your sins twice. Once you've confessed one, you can never confess it again.

Same for your virtues and memories. The more you spend, the more wasted your characters becomes. Evenetually, all they have left to barter is their soul. In Porte Noire, selling your soul means you soon t fade--a character that fades all the way is trapped in the city, becomes listless, and you essentially lose that character. But fret not! As you play the game, you can commit sins or perform more wonderful virtues, and thus buoy yourself. Or, more interestingly, you could win someone else's sins and virtues. Beat someone in a game of cards, roleplay it out, and if you win they whisper to you their secret and forfeit its rights to you.

Sins, virtues, and memories run a good business.

Sin Eaters and Virtue Hunters make a living off of winning and selling these life-prolonging secrets.

Gambler's Playbooks also tell you what Talents you can buy for your characters. Talents are features your character can use and come in four categories: Combat, Detective, Mystic, and Social. Talents will be talked about more in another blog post, but these are special things your character can do to gain an edge in Porte Noire when it comes to overcoming obstacles. Some are purely narrative effects and others play with the core mechanics themselves.

Lastly, Gambler's Playbooks give you 1 or 2 features at the start before you buy your first talent. You get 1 feature if your playbook lets you buy talents from 2+ Talent categories, and 2 if only 1.

Yep that's an executioner alright.

All Gambler's Playbooks are themed. For example, one might be The Executioner. Its sin tables would be about failed executions, wrong executions, murders you've done, regrets you've had, etc. Virtues would follow, and the lifepath tables would be about becoming an executioner, what put you on that path, and how you may have died. It would have access to Combat and Mystic talents.

I'm thinking other talents can be bought at higher prices. A detective executioner would be pretty cool after all. Also thinking that there can be 1-3 features for a playbook that costs XP. Not sold on that yet though.

Below is a sample handbook for the Executioner. Not all options are filled in. Instead of 10 for this sample I'll list 4 for each table.

----

GAMBLER'S PLAYBOOK: THE EXECUTIONER
He held the axe tightly in his hand. One swing and the noble's head would be gone. He lifted it, and he did his work. She held the rifle tight to her chest. At the general's orders, her and five others aimed at the war criminal. The witch hunter tightened the rope and stood in front of the mayor's son. Then he kicked the stool from underneath his feet and watched him hang.

The Executioner is someone who lived their life killing others as a form of divine punishment or the people's justice. You have since died--or you are soon to fully leave the world from which you came. Dead at last, you find yourself in Porte Noire, in search for something you could never find severing heads or shooting criminals.

Sin Table

1. I once spared a criminal who had killed many. I keep the reason secret. You have the Silver-Tongue skill.
2. I killed someone who I knew to be innocent. This haunts my dreams. You have a tool for executions that attracts killers and villains.
3. I refused to execute a heinous criminal because I loved them. I watched as someone else killed them. You have a broken tool for executions.
4. I took the life of a friend and broken an oath doing so. This gnaws at my heart. You have proof of a broken pact that nullifies deals and contracts, supernatural or otherwise.

Virtue Table

1. I never flinched from my duty and brought justice to the world. You have the Charm skill.
2. I hunted down and executed the dishonorable. You have the Hunter skill.
3. I stopped the execution of a child and instead showed them the way to justice. You have the Convince skill.
4. I offered my own head for execution after failing to take a life. You have the Honor skill.

As a child I embarked on this path because...

1. Someone who hurt my loved ones got off free. I want to bring them justice. You have 
2. I watched a public execution and found it beautiful. I, too, wanted to deal in the arts of justice. You have the Zealot skill.
3. My knowledge of the body and soul was arcane, and so I was chosen to be an executioner. You have the Medicine skill.
4. Someone I respected was an executioner. I follow in their foot steps. You have a tool for execution feared and respected by many.

As an Executioner, my most famed kill was of...

1. A monarch who was brought down by the people. You have a crown worth a favor from anyone in Porte Noire.
2. A saint who was brought down by the local powers. You have a holy relic that can be used in place of a sin, virtue, or lifepath memory.
3. The entirety of an enemy force's generals and heroes. You have trophies that assist with earning respect and charming.
4. A child that would have one day grown to overthrow the world. You gain the Murder skill.

My executions made me the following enemy...

1. `The lover of one of my victims. You have a vial of LETHAL poison that was used against you.
2. A powerful figure who sponsored one of my victims. You have a dagger that was meant for your throat.
3. My own liege lord who begged me to stop the execution. I did it anyway. You have a tool for execution that was meant to be used against you.
4. The soul of a victim who now wanders Porte Noire. You have a tool for execution that will attract that soul when used.

In addition, you have the following features:

Execute: If a target is considered defenseless and you have a tool for execution in hand, you can use it to execute your target without making a gambit.

Executioner's Secrets: You have the Murder skill. If you already have this skill, it is now mastered. In addition, you pay half for all Combat and Mystic talents.

Tool for Execution: You have a signature tool for executions. 

----

To complete the above character, you'd assign attributes (talked about in another blog post), determine your reason for death, and determine you're looking for in Porte Noire. Then add this all to your character sheet and you're good to go! 

You can probably have multiple playbooks for one character. In this case, you must use two tables from the first playbook, and as many as you want from others, up until the total amount of tables available in a single playbook. You have access to only two talent categories at the cheaper price, one being from the original playbook and another from whatever other playbooks you drew from. This way if another playbook is The Oracle you can have an executioner character who gained oracular abilities. That'd be pretty interesting.

I'm also thinking there will be a supplementary "Playbook Agnostic" life path table that you can use to add some more heft to your character at the start. This gives you a bigger skeleton to flesh out in play, or to design before play starts, whichever floats your boat.

Oracle Girl from 300

A character sheet would have sections for your sins, virtues, and lifepath. It would also have areas for your playbook features, talents, etc. Then you have your equipment, your 3 attributes (discussed in a different blog post), and your setting specific stuff. For Porte Noire, that's how you died and what your dying wish was.

Gambling Playbooks can be totally ignored and you can just construct a character by having however many sins/vritues/life events, coming up with 2 skills and 2 items, and choosing 1 or 2 talent categories to draw from. The playbooks are really just there to get setting across and make character generation pretty easy.

List of Possible Example Porte Noire Gambler Playbooks
Likely only 10 or so would be in the actual setting book. Maybe 13? Numbers are important too.

• The Executioner.
• The Hougan/Mambo.
• The Bokor.
• The Oracle.
• The Hardboiled Detective.
• The Magician.
• The Serial Killer.
• The Corpse Feeder.
• The Sin Eater/Virtue Hunter
• The Undertaker.
• The Exorcist.
• The Cursed.
• The Anointed.
• The Warrior.
• The Wizard.
• The Witch.
• The Warlock.
• The Martial Artist.
• The Enlightened.
• The Addicted.
• The Gambler. 
• The Huckster.
• The Shaman.
• The Disbeliever.
• The Musician.
• The Hitman.

Attributes, the hit point system in this game, and the skill system (nebulous as it will be) is discussed in another post.