Overview
So what exactly is this strange game?
It works quite differently to something like Dungeons & Dragons in that it’s not based on a ‘wargaming’ system. Hit points won’t exponentially increase, you won’t end up with a massive list of skills and talents and abilities that need to be tracked.
Instead, it works from the principles first set out in Apocalypse World and further developed by others, wherein the scope of the game is firmly fiction-first. That means that most skills and abilities are gathered more generally and many game mechanics are abstracted.
This has some advantages and disadvantages, most of which are technically the same thing, just seen in different ways. For example, as regards the abstraction of abilities, if you’ve always enjoyed the notion of measuring your movement in five foot increments and tactically blocking out enemies and managing your resources over an intricate battle which runs for an hour and a half, then this may not be your game.
On the other hand, if you’ve always felt that combat in particular often drags on, or is unnecessarily complex or ends up being a slog to delete the last few hit points of a powerful enemy, then this abstraction will serve as an enormous relief. Often, a skirmish or brief combat will be handled in a single roll, after which you can take stock and think “no thanks”, and retreat. Or, push your luck and try to press on with a violent approach. The point being that combat itself is highly truncated.
Lastly, your relationship to your character is different. This isn’t a game where you might have ambitions to play one ‘epic’ character through countless levels and campaigns, gathering ever more power as you go. Characters in Scum & Villainy are like riding in a stolen car: their time is limited, so the point is to enjoy it while it lasts. You will almost certainly be playing several of them over the course of a campaign.
The key features of the game are:
The game only uses six-sided dice. A pool is made up of various factors and the highest result rolled is the one which determines the outcome, so a larger pool is universally better than a smaller one. This is the game’s core mechanic. More information is available here.
In terms of character, there is still something akin to “classes” in Scum & Villainy, called “character types”. These are the building-blocks of a character, their structure. More information is available here.
Mechanically speaking characters are composed of a skill set, and various abilities, the former which are accessible to all characters, but the latter of which are only available to a given type. More information is available here.
The playing group, called the Crew, are united in some sort of cause or profession, which is represented by the ship they own, or have loaned or stolen. More information is available here.
The game itself is played using various types of rolls, using the core mechanic, which in turn are set up to determine particular outcomes which drive the narrative. More information is available here.
Campaigns
In the ‘default’ setting, Scum & Villainy is designed to represent the activities and nonsense which a group of scoundrels and smugglers are likely to get up to as they make a name for themselves in the galaxy. That is, they are wayfarers and wanderers, whose ship is their home, and who move from job to job as they increase their reputation (or notoriety) and keep their financial heads above water. Hence, it is assumed that unless otherwise specified, a subsistence campaign is how the game will proceed.
However, the setting is also full of conflict, and open warfare. Thus, the players may wish to partake in aspects of that warfare as well. While there’s nothing stopping their thieves and smugglers from assisting a particular faction or undertaking jobs which may influence some battle somewhere, it may also be of interest to them to make the strategic movements of a particular planet or system the focus of an entire military campaign. More information is available here.
Similarly, there are dark and unknowable forces in the deep void, things which might threaten even the combined forces of the various factions endlessly fighting one another throughout the Interior. While there are certain factions or beings who study such forces, or even tap into their power, by and large these things go unheeded. For to look directly at them is more than most could handle. Alternatively, this could focus on the nature of the spirit world, the mysteries, and the various cults which follow them. As with a military focus, the players may alternatively decide to undertake a esoteric campaign, the focus of which is on the discovery of these horrible beings and, if not their destruction, certainly holding them at bay. More information is available here.
But why stop there? The story could easily wander into an exploration campaign, wherein the characters concern themselves with wandering the far reaches of space in search of mysteries which might explain or even prevent the coming crisis. Or perhaps it’s about loot, and the saving of the galaxy thing is merely incidental?
The game might become something of a profit & power campaign, focused on gathering resources by any means necessary in order to promote a dominant faction and see it take territory, gain influence, or turn a massive profit. Or, with any luck, all three. Factional warfare would likely become a key component of such a campaign.
Fundamentally, an intrigue campaign would involve scenarios of political manoeuvring, perhaps the overthrow of governments—planetary, regional, or even galactic—from within or without, or the jockeying for political power. It might require bribery, blackmail, coercion, or assassination, but it would seek to ensure that the players’ faction comes out on top in the end… even if they don’t look like they’re on top.
Lastly, a horror campaign stares directly into the face of the rising threat of the apocalypse. Hence, its looming threat becomes the central thematic style of the game, and these scenarios would ramp up that tension and run with it. Such a campaign would be deadly… perhaps hopelessly so. The chances of victory would be slim, and perhaps the galaxy would slip into decadence or destruction or ruin for decades to come, if the terrible premonitions do come to pass.8
Aspects of the sorcery skill, and the suspicion mechanic and its entanglements come from Blades of the Inquisition, a hack of Blades in the Dark.