fiasco - de medici

8/3/2019 Fiasco - De Medici

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BR01 De' Medici

CREDITS

Written by Giulia Barbano and Renato Ramonda

Edited by Steve Segedy, Graham Walmsley, and Jason Morningstar

De Medici was Playset o the Month, January 2012.

BOILERPLATE

This playset is an accessory or the Fiasco role-playing game by BullyPulpit Games.

The content o this playset is copyright 2011 by Giulia Barbano andRenato Ramonda. Fiasco is copyright 2009 by Jason Morningstar. Allrights to Fiasco are reserved.

For more in ormation about Fiasco or to download other playsets andmaterials, visit www.bullypulpitgames.com .

I youd like to create your own playset or other Fiasco-related content,wed like to help. Write us at in [email protected] .

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THE SCORE

The innkeeper's reckoning

Florence, 1559: a city o opportunities or men who have the guts to pursue them. Here, struggling artists nd rich patrons, visionaryarchitects create their dreams, ruthless mercenaries get lucrativecontracts, and shrewd merchants become as power ul as kings.

Ever since the times o Cosimo the Elder, the bankers, the Medici, haveruled this city. Sure, way back then it was still called a democracy, butthe art, the armies and the votes were all paid with Medici money. Thewords o the heretic monk Savonarola shook the consciences or a brie time, bringing back a glimpse o the Republic; but the Emperor and

the Pope put the Medici back in charge, with Duke Alessandro.

Upon the Dukes assassination twenty-two years ago, the merchants andlords o the city enthusiastically welcomed young Cosimo, the barelyseventeen years old son o the mercenary warlord Giovanni delleBande Nere, who had never lived in Florence. The nobles saw him asinexperienced, weak, and an easy puppet to manipulate.

They couldnt have been more wrong.

MOVIE NIGHT

Nothing Le t to Do But Cry ( Non ci resta che piangere ), For Love andGold ( Larmata Brancaleone ), The Borgias (TV series), Much Ado AboutNothing, The Name o the Rose, Prince o Foxes, The Pillars o theEarth (TV series)


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relationships...

1 Faith

1 Brothers in Christ

2 Front bench at Sundays Mass in Santa Croce (see notes)

3 Penitent and con essor

4 Neighbors, devout and not so devout

5 Inquisitor and heretic

6 We share common belie s, best kept private

2 Love

1 Spouses in a loveless marriage

2 Secretly betrothed

3 The shame ul mistake o one night

4 Tied by a orbidden passion

5 Bitter ex-lovers

6 Chaste, yet burning or one another

3 War and violence

1 Protector and protected

2 Former brothers in arms

3 Deadly rivals

4 Veterans o a ree company

5 Hired assassin and target

6 Mercenary and employer


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...under cosimo de' medici

4 Arts and crafts

1 Artist and young apprentice

2 Artist and patron o the arts

3 Rival merchants

4 Ex students at Pisas University

5 Skilled laborer (carpenter, sculptor) and supervisor o theOpera del Duomo (see notes)

6 Established court artist and young rising star

5 At court

1 Noble and page/handmaiden

2 High rank parent and bastard child

3 Younger cousins in a noble amily

4 Secret lovers

5 Servant and servants servant

6 High ranking noble and lowly subject

6 Of low morals

1 Corrupt public o cer and rich merchant

2 Moneylender and debtor3 Wrongdoers (thugs, housebreakers, pickpockets, thieves)

4 Con man and mark

5 Members o the same cabal/conspiracy

6 Relic peddler and religious zealot


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NEEDS...

1 To get rich

1 through raud and duplicity

2 by blackmailing the Archbishop

3 by robbing a money changer

4 through a once in a li etime opportunity

5 by care ully saving every penny over a li etime

6 through one huge winning bet at Il Palio

2 To right a wrong

1 by one o the powers that be

2 to get back at an old love that ended badly

3 with a public challenge

4 by one o the aith

5 to get your name back

6 to save a li e

3 To abandon

1 temptation on the altar o righteousness

2 the li e your amily has planned or you

3 a helpless woman and the child you sired

4 holy orders

5 the oath o allegiance to your Lord

6 the conspiracy


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4 To prove your repentance

1 to your loved one

2 rom your un orgivable sins

3 to Cosimo himsel

4 be ore you can kill him

5 to a riend you have wronged

6 to an innocent dragged into scandal

5 To defend Florence

1 by silencing a rival

2 by de ending Cosimo De Medici

3 rom her own ungodly vanity

4 rom Siennese spies, real and imagined

5 with a casual threat o heresy

6 with great enthusiasm but no real e ect

6 To complete your mission

1 and write your name in history

2 by returning to your village richer than Croesus

3 by slaying Cosimo

4 by destroying yoursel , literally or guratively

5 whispered in your ear by the Devil

6 by delivering a message o the utmost importance



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Locations...

1 In Piazza della Signoria

1 Palazzo Ducale (see notes)

2 L oggia dei Lanzi, among the Medicis statues (see notes)

3 Groundworks or the new o ces (in Florentine, u fzi ) o thethirteen Magistrates o the Arts (see notes)

4 Tribunale della Mercanzia (see notes)

5 Palazzo Uguccioni (see notes)

6 Arte del Cambio, the corporation o bankers (see notes)

2 The narrow streets of the center

1 Filthy streets o the Market a ter closing hours

2 Lungarno, in the middle o the night (see notes)

3 Forgotten Roman temple, beneath the potters shop

4 Butcher shops on Ponte Vecchio (see notes)

5 Goldsmiths workshop

6 Black Boars Inn

3 In the country

1 Crossroads on the way to Montalcino (see notes)

2 Monastery in Chianti3 Vineyard, precious grapes on the vines

4 Ancient oak in Balduccios eld

5 Old Hangmans Coaching Inn

6 Hidden bend o the Arno, downriver rom the city


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4 Of the faith

1 Hidden alcove in the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore (see notes)

2 Basilica o Santa Croce, Franciscan convent and seat o the Inquisition (see notes)

3 Convent o cloistered nuns observing the vow o silence

4 In the quiet shade o a rich Benedictine cloister

5 Con essional in a discreet church

6 Two synagogues in the ghetto, a ew yards rom the Archbishopric

5 At Cosimo's court

1 Cosimos private apartments

2 Palace medicinal garden

3 Beneath a long oak dining table

4 Bedroom o Lucrezia, Cosimos stunning (and secluded)daughter (see notes)

5 Secret passage, cleverly disguised

6 Busy palace kitchens

6 Unsavory

1 Gambling house

2 Back o the undertakers workshop

3 Secret chapel o a small heretic congregation

4 Cosimos in ormal torture chamber

5 Stinking tannery near Ponte Vecchio

6 Brothel near the Arno



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OBJECTS...

1 Religious

1 Nail rom the True Cross

2 Cathedrals Eucharistic chalice, all gold and precious stones

3 Finely done illuminated Bible

4 Elderly and comatose Benedictine bursar

5 Ceremonial costume o Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca, Aztec Godo death and rebirth

6 Franciscan monks habit and a hand-drawn map

2 Untoward

1 Forbidden book, put to the Index by the Holy Church (see notes)

2 Ingredients and recipe or the Philosophers Stone

3 Lambskin French letter

4 Newborn bastard

5 Corpse, reshly stolen

6 Siennese war banner

3 Of intrigue

1 Ring with a secret compartment

2 Secret dispatch, cyphered3 Wooden cross that hides a dagger

4 Incriminating testimony rom a witness

5 Sleeping draught, prepared a little strong

6 Overheard secret that could destroy a reputation


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4 Weapons

1 Dagger, dripping poison

2 Butchers cleaver

3 Sword, received as heirloom

4 Clever collapsible bow

5 Massive block o ne white Carrara marble

6 Rosary with heavy stone beads

5 Curious and bizarre

1 Stolen plans or one o Leonardos machines

2 Two exotic savage beasts, in cages

3 Ocularia with extremely well cra ted lenses rom Holland

4 Siren, mummi ed

5 Alchemical oven

6 The Florentine codex, an Aztec manuscript

6 Precious

1 Necklace o sapphires

2 Golden signet ring

3 Trunk o silver coins, hal ull

4 Letter o exchange worth a thousand gold ducats

5 Per ectly proportioned skull, cut rom New World jade

6 Siennese race horse named a ter the Pope



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A florentinian

INSTA-setupRelationships under CosimoFor three players

* Faith: Penitent and con essor

* O low morals: Moneylender and debtor

* Love: Bitter ex-lovers

For our players, add

* War and violence: Hired assassin and target

For fve players, add

* At court: Noble and page/handmaiden

Needs under Cosimo

For three players

* To get rich through a once in a li etime opportunity

For our or fve players, add

* To complete your mission by delivering a message o theutmost importance

Objects under Cosimo

For three or our players

* Precious: Trunk o silver coins, hal ull

For fve players, add

* Weapons: Sword, received as a heirloom

Locations under Cosimo

For three, our or fve players

* The narrow streets o the center: Lungarno, in the middle o the night


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Historical Notes

Santa Maria del Fiore

The cathedral, started over two hundred and sixty years ago, wasnished in the last century. Its almost ninety years now that the cross

was placed over the dome that Brunelleschi designed. Now, it seemsthat Vasari (yes, the biographer o the artists and supreme gossiper, buta ne painter and architect himsel ) will be working on the rescoesas soon as hes done with the U zi. Too bad or the aade, though.Its still the plain stone o old times, and nobody really likes itbutnobody knows how to x it.

Santa Croce

Santa Croce is the greatest Franciscan church in the world. It holdsseveral chapels, some decorated by Giotto, and its connected to theFranciscan convent. The re ectory, which holds the Cruci x byCimabue, is undergoing repairs a ter the 1557 food. In the last twocenturies the Franciscan have held the role o inquisitors in the city.

Opera del Duomo

The cathedral o Santa Maria del Fiore has been completed over acentury ago, but work isnt oversomeone has to maintain the build-ings, create new statues and oversee the works. The Opera del Duomodoes all that, and gives artists workspace, as it did over ty years agowith Michelangelo or his David .

Loggia dei Lanzi

A building with wide arches opening on Piazza della Signoria;not more than ten years ago, Cosimo used this lodge to showcase amassive whale caught in the waters o Livorno. He has alsocommissioned an allegorical statue o Perseus to Cellini and it nowoverlooks the piazza, with its bronze serpents reminding the citizen o the pit alls o the Republic.

Uffizi

The thirteen magistrates oversee the administration o the city andCosimo wants them close. He has entrusted Vasari with the design o the U zi, a new building to hold all the o ces o the administration,the tribunal, and the state archives.


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Tribunale della Mercanzia

The Tribunale della Mercanzia, built two centuries ago, hosts thecourt responsible or adjudicating controversies between merchants ormembers o the corporations. Six o the judges are citizen counselors,and six are oreigners, expert at law.

Palazzo Uguccioni

Home o the power ul Giovanni Uguccioni, a aith ul supporter o Cosimo, who personally intervened to make the Palace the most

prominent o the Piazza (excluding Palazzo Ducale, o course). The

works are almost nished, but it seems like Giovanni will not enjoythe palace, as his health is altering.

Arte del Cambio

One o the rst corporations o Florence, the guild o the bankers andmoney changers was also one o the most power ul and rich. That is,until the Spanish siege, thirty years ago; the Republic con scated mosto their money, and now Cosimo is using the remains to build the

U zi.Palazzo Ducale

It used to be called Palazzo della Signoria, rom the times whenFlorence was a Republic, and it hosted the government. Cosimo hadit renamed when he moved in with his amily, but his wi e, Eleonora,

ears that li e in the busy center is harming her health. She bought a palace on the south bank o the river rom the destitute BuonaccorsoPitti, and wants to move the amily there.

The river Arno

Lungarno is the name o both the streets on the banks o the RiverArno.

Ponte Vecchio is one o the bridges that cross the Arno. For over acentury the bridge has had butchers shops built across it to try tocontain the stench.


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Lucrezia

The th daughter o Cosimo, last summer she was given in marriageto Al onso, prince o Ferrara. Her mother, Eleonora, is keeping herclose until she is ready to consummate the weddinga ter all, shesbarely 14. However, now it seems that the ather o Al onso, the DukeErcole, is very ill; Al onso might rise to power soon and reclaim hiswi e by his side.

Montalcino

Montalcino is the last o the cities under Siennese in fuence, where the

nobles feeing rom cities conquered by Cosimo fed to nd re uge.

The Index

The Index o banned books ( Cathalogus librorum Haereticorum ), has just been issued by the Roman Church. The Inquisition is in chargeo its application and bans whole categories o books (astrology, mag-ic, translated Bibles) and the entire works o some authors (includingPietro Aretino, Savonarola, Machiavelli, Erasmus, William o Ockham,

and Rabelais). Some voices in the Church are already complainingabout its harshness, and it might be brought up or discussion duringthe upcoming sessions o the Council o Trent, which will deal withthe Protestants once and or all.

Alchemy

Its well known among the other scholars and practitioners o The Su- preme Art that Cosimo has inherited the passion or alchemy rom hisgrandmother, Caterina S orza. Alchemy was recently banned by thechurch, though, a ter being a viable avenue o study and philosophy

or the Christian aith ul or centuries. Cosimos pastime is an opensecret.

fiasco - de medici

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