So my crew of Blades has taken reckless action during a score, resulting in a -2 status with the Unseen. They don’t even have a hideout yet! But yes, they made dubious choices, and now this tier IV faction is going out of its way to kill the crew. In the last session, the Unseen make it clear to the crew they are outmatched (they did get away, for now at least.. but it was really tense from their perspective).
So, one player decides to send a courier to ask to talk with the Unseen. The reply I narrated was a messenger saying “Where are you? Let’s meet.” and the player doesn’t say where they are, but agrees, specifying a place that is very public, and not in an area under their control.
I feel my metagame sense tingling here.. but.. am I not obligated to hit them hard with a surprise attack (as any self-respecting criminal group would probably do in this situation), or do I play it as an actual chance for diplomacy (since they aren’t actually at war)?
If I do hit them hard with a trap, how much character competence do I assume? Reason being, my thoughts so far are that perhaps I should suggest the things their characters might do to cover their butts and realize it is a possibly-deadly trap. My other idea is, simply tell them how the trap is sprung when the meeting occurs, and ask how they resist en media res. EDIT: third idea comes to mind. Tell them as players how the fiction might go to produce the result they and their characters want (improved relationship).
If you don’t want the players to be walking into a trap and you don’t think the Unseen are really interested in diplomacy with a crew so far beneath them, why not have the Unseen offer them a way to make amends? Perhaps the crew are given a job to do for the Unseen, something almost suicidal but fun to play all the same.
It depends on what the crew did to cause this situation and who knows about it. If the offence was bad enough (like the crew killed someone) I don’t see much time to diplomacy. Same goes if the thing is known outside the crew and the Unseen, especially if it caused the Unseen loose face.
If the Unseen can get away without having to kill the whole crew I would go with what Brian Ashford suggested.
Of course the meeting can be genuine and without an actual trap but they will get followed after the meeting thus enabling an ambush later on 🙂
Perhaps you could suggest to your players that this is a good time to gather some info. It’s the sort of thing smart and cautious people would do before heading into a dangerous meeting. At least they don’t need to go into the meeting blind regardless of the choices you make for the unseen.
When I want to make a situation more interesting and more complex, I shift the scope. If you dial in to a faction, instead of treating them as monolithic you put in factions and personalities that cause problems and opportunities. If you dial out, then you see that the faction has other concerns besides the PCs, and the reaction to those PCs is in context.
Really, both scope shifts are about context.
Maybe the Unseen has a leader in an unsteady position, with a clever and loyal adviser who is out of favor with the rank and file, and a firebrand rebel gang leader who is popular. Whatever position the leader takes, the firebrand will take the opposite position. The leader is smarter than the firebrand, but less focused and less powerful. Does that change how the faction deals with the PCs?
Maybe the Unseen have been vexed lately because they’ve been losing some of their best people to an Inspector who is getting revenge on them for the loss of a spouse and child. The Inspector has proven relentless and smart, AND willing to break the law for this vendetta. As the Unseen have been locally weakened, the Nails, who the Unseen had a treaty with, have been quietly taking over territory the Unseen have been forced to neglect. And, before the meeting with the Unseen, the Nails send an agent to have a quiet conversation about what the future might hold.
Anyway, there’s no one true meta-game response to this sort of situation. The instinct to keep it simple and make it about revenge is fine, that outcome is tried and true. If you want to flesh out the world further, this is also a useful opportunity to layer in some intrigue that keeps the crew in heists and downtime projects. =)
Another suggestion: Maybe it’s a setup but not with top-notch tier 4 professionals but “only” with low level thugs so they can prove themselves. This is because the Unseen want to test the group if they are worthy of an amend like Brian Ashford suggested.
If they don’t do their legwork up front (and here I’m with Mark Griffin concerning “smart” and “cautious” :)) maybe it’s time for a flashback or two which is for me THE main game mechanic to separate player-knowledge vs. character-knowledge. Hey, a student may think it’s smart to bring a pistol to a knife fight, right? 🙂
You may have the problem that the players don’t make the connection (tier 4 group sending tier 1 thugs) and what that means. I think a hint from a contact should fix that.
If the Unseen really need to get even, and assert their dominance, especially if they lost face like Joni mentioned, then perhaps you could play up the scope of their reach and influence without necessarily meaning the PCs’ lives are at stake. How might the Unseen use this opportunity to basically get the PCs in their pocket?
Some ideas are: use the public place to not meet, but display a host of bad news for the PCs, like blackmail or airing of dirty laundry. The Unseen like to remain unseen right? So maybe they just tip off the Imperial guard about some actual anti-imperial sentiment in a PCs’ background and send them to the meeting place. Or the same with some other gang that wants a crack at the PCs (who doesn’t mind causing a stir in a crowded public place). That way, the Unseen would both eliminate their annoyance and put other factions in their debt. One or more of the PCs might end up in Ironhook on bad terms on their second session, which may move them toward prison claims, but also demonstrates the effect of messing with a tier IV.
Still yet, the PCs must have NPCs they care about right? One way I’ve found works well to demonstrate scope is to have the PCs arrive at the meeting place only to see the bodies (or parts) of loved ones or an entire cohort of their followers/employees/underlings wiped out or caught in a massive framing or bluecoat bust. That demonstrates the Unseen’s reach and “don’t mess with us” attitude without necessarily targeting the PCs. Of course, they’d do it in a way that cows or cripples the PCs operation rather than letting the PCs seek vengeance. On the other hand, that could be a great way for a group with decent standing to suddenly find themselves at tier 0 with no turf and all the other tier 1 or 2 factions eager to take advantage of their weakness.
Still yet again, the Unseen might assume they’re not independent but meddling subordinates of another larger faction, like the Crows. Maybe in fact, the PCs need to realize that they need to gain protection by ‘selling out’ to another faction to keep their lives. For some reason, players seem to hate that possibly more than dying themselves.
Another idea is that the PCs show up and talk with a proxy that happens to be one of their own goons, or their aunt, and its uncertain if the proxy is part of the Unseen, or is just being puppeted somehow. Maybe one of the PCs themselves get roped into “speaking for” the Unseen, possibly through forced possession by a ghost conduit or an actual creepy mannequin or something. Basically emphasizing that the Unseen are everywhere, probably within your own ranks, and so you don’t directly mess with them. Instead you serve their wishes and become useful or end up dead or in the Deathlands.
All good comments so far, so only one thing to add:
“If I do hit them hard with a trap, how much character competence do I assume?”
You don’t need to assume any. That’s the beauty of the flashback system. If the PCs anticipated a trap, the players can say “flashback to me setting up …”
I should add: my players did this when Lyssa of the Crows called them in for a come-to-Jesus meeting. It was in a private dining room above the Leaky Bucket. They flashbacked to their slide cohorts (the Crows’ Foot Penny Show) replacing the waiters and mingling in the room. Invented in the spur of the moment by a player, and a delightful bit of gameplay that informs us of the crew’s competency.
Great advice and questions! Joni Virolainen they killed the son of the Unseen’s second-in-command. And their flashback to cover their tracks didn’t go so well. Also, they did this despite knowingly implicating themselves in an earlier interaction with the Unseen. So I would tend to agree there is little talking going to be happening. However, the suggestions like those from Brian Ashford to bring them into the fold are most in line with what I want for the story.
Stefan Struck John Perich I think I forget sometimes how liberally to suggest flashbacks and will be doing that a lot in the coming session.