I’ve yet to read the full release (it’s out finally, yay!)
I have a quandary as a session ran long and there will probably have to be a part two.
The group had a heist to kidnap a kid (there’s a sting in that tail but I’ll not reveal it here in case any of them have joined the group).
The manor they were breaking into was old and falling apart, the owner was a mad inventor and his personal guard are old but well-trained.
Things went well at first, but the Whisper burnt through his stress with a few special effects and while he avoided a gunshot, he was burnt out by the midpoint. The rest of the group are harmed and mostly full with their stress.
The thing is, time was called at the gaming cafe we played in as one of the group was fleeing with the kid, one pried a giant knocked out guard off of himself and the Lurk crept out with the Whisper.
Given the sudden end and the fact they’ve yet to drop the ‘child’ off, I figure this will be part one of two.
My current plan is to allow them all a little downtime in the day or two before they need to drop the child off. They originally said they’d do the heist on the day of the dropoff but we can easily retcon that. This way the Whisper can get back on his feet, the rest… I don’t know. I’m thinking Heist Part Two will be the flight from Crow’s Foot to Gaddoc Rail Station while the guards are closing in. The group made a lot of noise and drew a lot of attention, after all.
Has anyone had a heist reach this kind of point and been merciful to the group? Should I get the Whisper creating a temp character for the second part of the heist?
you can multiple engagement rolls for one score, or you could sprinkle downtime in between the engagement rolls. It might even endear them to the kid some more to have them around.
If you’re playing with limited time, I might even suggest erasing the stress for free and starting the next engagement at the beginning of the next session. Then back fill with flashbacks. This might downplay long campaign concepts but it might also bring more action to the table. Which might be more suited to a game cafe sort of thing. Learning to feel out how many obstacles a crew can handle comes with more practice.
Well, i don’t think it’s a question of mercy so much as procedure. It doesn’t sound like they are done with the heist, but maybe they are. Maybe the score is “Kidnap the kid” and the next score is “deliver the kid”, each with their own tangles.
If you do break up the score, I’d follow all the procedure. Payoff (Coin is 0 for the first part, but they should get Rep, Heat, and entanglements as usual). The go into downtime with some pressure that they have a ticking time bomb (i.e. the kid getting out, having people come for them, etc), but downtime just the same.
Also, this doesn’t have to be a GM decision. It’s very reasonable to turn to the group and say “so, was that the score?” If so, proceed as above, if not, keep going. Maybe people get ground up, maybe a character has to be replaced because they Trauma out or take to much harm. Making new characters in Blades is super fast!
But whoever decides I would ask the question, why is it that the guard let up on them? Why do they get a breather now? Do they have a hidden lair they are sheltered in. Did they throw the guards off their trail. Feel free to call for flashbacks to make this happen.
These are really good ideas. Thanks! The Whisper is pretty curious about how he’ll be with his new Recklessness. It could lead to some fun times.