On eliminating 1 person factions:
So this is only relevant for Lord Scurlock and Ulf Ironborn, but it’s relevant in our game and I hope somewhat worthy of discussion in general. I’ll discuss Ulf here, because he doesn’t appear to be undead and that simplifies things a little.
We found ourselves in a situation in which it seemed that we might try to kill Ulf Ironborn, since he had made an appearance during our score. Our GM then notified us that the worst we’d be able to do is harm him a bit – but not kill him – due to him being a Tier 1 faction with Strong hold.
Ulf’s a badass, no doubt. Trying to get into a skirmish to the death with him would be ill-advised, most of the time. It would likely be represented with reduced effect, desperate positions, and a sizable clock, at the very least. But under the ideal fictional circumstances, could a Hound find themselves in a position to shoot him in the head from a distance with a long rifle, effectively ending a faction with a single roll?
In other words: What’s the difference between a badass who leads a faction, like Mylera Klev, and a badass who IS a faction, like Ulf? Should there be any special “rules of engagement,” so to speak?
I’d make a clock…. Kill Ulf dead from afar. A 8 piece clock or more.
Then have the player work towards this goal with actions. The final one being most likely a heavily supported hunt roll.
Also, you can’t kill Ulf! For. Um. Reasons
Nathan Roberts Is this sentimentality speaking or do you have insider information? Is he actually a super-demon in human form? I’m not ready to deal with that.
Personal sentimentđ though super daemon sounds wicked!
You can kill Ulf, but probably not in one roll. When my players killed him it was a big fight, and he had 5 thugs with him too.
As GM I’d shrug and let them kill Ulf as though he was a normal person. He’s just an NPC. However, I’d be sure he had a tight-knit clan that would immediately consider him a martyr, a saint who loved them graciously and worked for their benefit, so this harsh new land killed him.
I treat one person named as a faction as a symbol of that faction, so if that person falls it’s like lancing a boil, and everything connected to that person erupts.
I agree factions should not be one person, unless that person can be used as a dam holding back a flood of hilarious consequences and therefore must be treated with carefully. Even then, flesh and blood, kill the target and ride the wave.
Agreed. My group hasn’t met either Scurlock or Ulf in person yet (but both have been mentioned in passing), but I would play both of them as having various thugs or minions working for them.
At least in my opinion, a faction by definition can’t just be one person. A faction is a group of people that makes up a portion of the whole. Think of it like a mafia boss. Maybe it’s the ‘Don Corleone’ faction. You could kill him, and eliminate the ‘Don Corleone’ faction, but it would just be akin to kicking over the hornet’s nest and you just end up with a new faction based around his successor. His angry, vengeful successor.
There’s always a power vacuum to fill, and although Scurlock and Ulf are pretty unique, that doesn’t mean there isn’t another unique character ready to step in and take their place. And mete out an appropriate response. Maybe it’s a family member, or the leader of a cult of personality as Andrew said. But one way or another, just because the faction is named after one person doesn’t mean the faction dies with them, or that the faction consists solely of that person. They are merely the focal point for a faction that doesn’t warrant its own name, like a gang or a union might.
I would just let them kill him. Fiction first; one of the downsides of being a one-man faction is that you are easier to eliminate (…or harder to eliminate, since no amount of killing minions will end you).
Obviously your mileage may vary, but in my game Scurlock is a lone vampire without minions who is equal to a 3rd tier gang. That’s just for variety, everyone else, including Ulf is part of a gang.
I’ve always treated the “Ulf Ironborn” gang as a group of thugs gathered around a “charismatic”, driven and ruthless leader (he basically created the faction on his own, as opposed to other factions which have more history and had various leader during the years).
Lord Scurlock is actually described as one-man faction in the rules. Obviously he has many contacts and servants (and, you know, a contract with Setarra), but he’s also THAT powerful.
Scurlock might not have a gang of thugs, but surely he has guards and influence/control over people who will do his bidding. (I need to catch up on the newer version of the book I think) And you could certainly play it such that once he’s been removed, that nebulous influence and control evaporates. But personally, the idea of a power vacuum, and family ties, and inheritance, and dark cultish forces, all coming together to reform Scurlock’s faction (if not in name) around a new figurehead – I find that more interesting than merely crossing the faction off of the sheet.
Now if the players want to insert themselves into that muddy process of power restructuring, and manage to stop it, then that’s when the faction disappears altogether. Otherwise, I feel like a figure like Scurlock? His influence should persist beyond his death. As with Ulf.
not much difference: semantics mainly. Both Ulf and Mylera are leaders of a small gang, but the former also happens to be the namesake and if war is declared this would probably end his entire gang’s run of power.
If my players go scope out Scurlock, on the other hand, I would describe the difference in Tier as bigger groups of criminals, more bodyguards, a cunning right hand man noone knew about, various thugs & lackies, better equipment, eerie spiritual protection, etc. For Ulf, I might just describe one of those (since he’s tier 1) and move on.
Such figures otherwise can be attacked like anyone else (though a lot of setup might be required to deal with the Tier, or else face reduced/possibly zero effect).
Great answers, everyone.
There’s no definitive answer to this, and the act of creative expression in establishing how it works in your home game is what Blades is all about.
Took off on a mini vacation. Sorry about that.
Thanks for your perspectives, everyone!
Others have given great answers, and Iâll add the experience we had at my table as another example. My players killed Ulf Ironborn 8 sessions ago and just so happened to kill Lord Scurlock in this morningâs session. I handled each situation differently, but they ended up with the same results.
My players were hired to kill a union organizer that turned out to be Ulfâs sisters finance. Since the poor guyâs body was never found, he rose as a ghost and was eventually contacted by one of Ulfâs whispers. A few sessions later, Ulf sent a kill squad for revenge against the PCâs crew. They managed to put Ulfâs men down and decided to deal with Ulf once and for all.
They accomplished this by rounding up their two (Tier 2) cohorts and running a surprise raid on the tavern where Ulf and his men usually hung out. I didnât protect Ulf in any way. I simply set a clock called âDefeat Ulfâs and His Menâ and let them whittle it down. Once Ulf and his men were dead, they cut and ran. Since we had previously established that Ulf had a pretty small crew, I announced that nearly his entire gang had been in the tavern, knocking them down from Tier 1 to Teir 0. Technically, Ulfâs gang still exists, but theyâve have gone to ground licking their wounds and have not be heard of since.
Lord Scurlock on the other hand, went a bit differently. The PCâs crew had been hired by Scurlock to steal a idol from the a Forgotten Gods cult, which they did successfully. However, rather than turning over the goods, our Lurk decided to made a deal with the demon locked inside the idol for demonic powers.
Weeks passed, and Scurlock hired the Wraiths to follow the PCâs crew to locate their secret hide-out. However, our Lurk managed to notice the the Wraiths tailing them and led them on wild good-chases for weeks (long term project) until they finally gave up. Finally, Lord Scurlock hired some toughs to kidnap our Slide and force a trade for the idol, but our Slide had been dabbling in Arcane, and brought down a Tempest on them.
So in this morningâs session, they decided to finally deal with Scurlock. The three PCs arranged for a meeting in his mansion and outright attacked him as soon as they gained his audience (took me by surprise). As a powerful vampire I set things up like this: 1.) All actions to physically and and directly attack Scurlock were desperate rolls, while indirect/ranged attacks were risky, 2.) I allowed Scurlock to act as a large gang (as per the quick-startâs description), and 3.) I allowed him to attack after every other PCâs action to represent his preternatural speed. (Normally I only allow mundane NPCs to attack on a 4/5 or 3- result.)
It was a very hard won fight, but they managed to incapacitate him and destroy his body and spirit with electro-plasmic lightning before his manservants and guards could enter the mansion and intervene. The cutter tossed a home-made bomb to cover their get-away and they cut and ran.
If Scurlock had not been a elder vampire, I wouldnât have given any of those special consideration. For Blades, I take a page from Apocalypse Worldâs GM principles and âlook through crosshairsâ at nearly all NPCs, major or minor.
Very well done!ï»ż