Bile and Indecency

Bile and Indecency of the best possible sort, imaginary intergalactic outlaw mischief with your friends.

I’ve recently had the amazing opportunity to become a crew member of a spaceship. Sure, the spaceship is imaginary. But it’s a step up and I’m counting all of those. Plus, getting to be a robot is a huge bonus. I’m finally getting to play the table top roleplaying game that’s been at the top of my try me list for a very long time, and that is Scum and Villainy.

Check the link if you want further input on the game system itself. I’m also fairly confident I’ll post a review of the game after enough sessions and experience to know what I’m talking about. Scum and Villainy is made by Evil Hat Productions.

Evil Hat Productions is the same company who is responsible for collaborative storytelling masterpiece FATE. There are a number of other respectable game titles they have under that magic hat, one of which, Blades in the Dark created the same rule system that S&V run on.

I’ve only played once, so I’ve got a lot to learn, but that I have to say so far is that it’s pretty amazing, rule light, flexible and keeps the narrative flowing and the characters rooted in common purpose, which is of course survival and the pursuit of happiness on a space ship on the edges of developed colonies. There is plenty of Sci Fi satisfaction with space colonization, various alien races, oodles of interesting factions, cults, guilds, and robots.

Character generation is quick, fun and simple. It starts with a playbook based on the primary function you fulfill on the ship. So your choices don’t sprawl, but they aren’t overly confined either. It’s easy to pick up skills and other traits to add dimension and depth to your character.

In addition to creating your own character your group gets to choose and customize your spaceship which is a nice way to fit the pieces together and provide unity and common purpose for the group.

So I’d like to also introduce you to the cast and the characters, as well as the game master but that’s still being put together and permissions being fetched. If you’re interested I’ll add a link and let you follow up here.

So far I definitely recommend giving S&V a spin. All too often it’s D&D or nothing for way too many people. Those people are doing themselves a huge disservice. There’s way too many games out there for that. I think you certainly owe it to yourself to throw some dice at this one.