My troupe has recently gotten themselves to -3 status with the Bluecoats (a show of power by a 0 tier gang, firebombing a station, releasing a prisoner, setting loose a horde of forgotten ghosts bound in the blood-smeared stones). Their Wanted-level went up to two, but two of them were captured and imprisoned during the score. How would you play this out? Their Wanted-level should be zero according to the rules of incarceration, but they are at war with the Bluecoats who definitely aren’t going to let things slide with the imprisonment of half the gang for a few months. I have some ideas, but feedback would be appreciated!
My troupe has recently gotten themselves to -3 status with the Bluecoats (a show of power by a 0 tier gang,…
My troupe has recently gotten themselves to -3 status with the Bluecoats (a show of power by a 0 tier gang,…
My first thought is to reduce their wanted level, but to leave them in prison on a life sentence.
Next job – a prison break!
I’m sure they’ll gain some of that wanted level back, no worries.
I wouldn’t associate Wanted level with Bluecoat status. Here’s why: The Bluecoats aren’t the law, they are the toughest gang in Doksvol. Sure, they nominally enforce the law, but the law is composed of Inspectors, City Council members, Spirit Wardens, Magistrates, and all kinds of other civilian positions.
So, their wanted level is 0, meaning with two people in Ironhook Prison (serving several months each, and if the Bluecoats have any influence on that, those will be the longest most painful month of their lives) and the “law” is satisfied, but the Bluecoats aren’t!
Prior arrests can be used for the Blue to justify all sorts of terrible activity against your crew, all while appearing to be keeping the peace.
I think your scoundrels are in for a wild ride!
I think of Wanted Level as a reflection of how bad people think you are. How bad you are for business, how badass and therefore needing to be managed, how bad you are for society in general so they’re calling for your heads. When your Wanted Level drops, you’re just not threatening anymore. That doesn’t mean the Bluecoats are done with you.
I would probably say that they’re still at war and that the Bluecoats are still in capture mode. What are the other two members of the crew going to do to make this ok? Who are they going to bring in to help?
They need to do something ostentatious to stabilize. I’d float some jobs like:
-Break/sneak into the Bluecoat’s Headquarters and intimidate the watch commander. Steal some of their ill-gotten evidence while you’re at it.
-Find a better target. Find a gang, frame them for a major crime and make the Bluecoats pay attention to them instead or face public outcry.
-Infiltrate a city event and get the City Council to make them cool their pursuit. What leverage will get that done? Maybe another daring job of noble thievery/intimidation/arcane weirdness?
-Break the System! Get the locals on their side, maybe with The Lost or some other anarchist group. Carve out a zone of safety, either physically or metaphorically, where the Bluecoats can’t operate easily and know they aren’t trusted. That’ll give you a couple sessions to avoid the war complications while their status with the locals drops to the point that the government treats the whole district as hostile. Wouldn’t that be interesting…
While your crew is at war with the Bluecoats they also gain additional heat with every score. It makes sense to play that up with them. Do the Blue come in and “just ask some friendly questions,” wrecking up the crew’s stuff (and possibly connections and plans) before the mission? Can they expect to be under investigation for crimes they never committed? Do they suddenly have trouble finding allies among other gangs, with whom they are neutral, not wanting to go to the trouble because they know if they help your crew out they’ll be next against the wall?
As Sean Nittner pointed out, your characters don’t have to have a Wanted level to have all sorts of fun heaped upon them, and with each score the additional heat will really build up until they can somehow negotiate their way toward neutral with the Bluecoats.
All of the above, but also, there’s no reason you can’t run a score in-prison (e.g., maybe setting up a guard captain who’s friendly with Gang A, to get protection and respect from Gang B). Different stakes, sure, but it can make for an interesting setting. And then fast forward through the remainder of the imprisonment.
Alternatively, you could set up a means for the crew to reduce the pain wither a job offer to change their -3 to a -2. For instance the Bluecoats could pay a visit to the crew members in jail and offer a bargain: they’ll maybe rethink destroying the entire crew’s life and in exchange the crew does a job for the Bluecoats. Maybe the job is they have to steal from one of the factions they are on the good side of. Or better plant evidence on someone in a faction they are on the good side of but the Bluecoats aren’t.
Anyway, lots of ways you can spin it and use it as a story trigger
Your gang is tier 0, and they are at war. In the rules this means that your base is compromised by the enemy. I’d have the bluecoats raid their lair and start arresting/shooting/beating on the crew. It seems your tier 0s punched waayyy above their weight and now its time to lay down the law. Don’t go easy on them, war is suppossed to be hard. They got the -3 so follow through! 😛 as a side note, those in jail need to roll tier to see how it goes on the inside and should play some NPC character or a new character until their character leaves prison (unless you want a prison break).
Christoph Sapinsky Good suggestion, but I think it wouldn’t go over too well since changing a mechanical consequence to something else without a prior warning (which I failed to do) might feel unfair. Like… yeah, the rules say this, but you really pissed them off so…
Sean Nittner Right, true. They’re a gang. That changes the perspective and gives a lot more room to play with. And yeah they’re in for a ride no matter how this pans out 🙂
John Dornberger Good points! Personally, I like the idea of framing another gang but since the crew are Bravos, I think they might be going for option 3. They were already leaning that way because the score was getting a claim (Bluecoat Intimidation) and in the aftermath the firebrand of the crew went theatrical over police brutality and how the common people need to stand united against forces of oppression, the whole nine yards. The previous claim they got, a piece of turf we christened “Wailing Gardens” (an ancient plague internment camp, think ghost-Auschwitz) would probably be near the top of the list of places-where-bluecoats-won’t-go-voluntarily.
Miles Peiser Yes, a good point. Being at war doesn’t have to mean instant escalation to an all-out armed conflict, the tension could gather up more slowly as the Wanted-level and heat will inevitably start picking up again.
J Stein Thank you for the suggestion, but we already utilized the incarceration rolls for that (with the option of running some spin-off prison episodes if the players want to).
Colin Fahrion Good idea, but I think the players have made their stance against the so-called Arm of the Law pretty clear and I feel like trying to force them to co-operate would be diminishing their efforts. It’s definitely one of the options I’ll offer them, thank you for that, but I don’t think they’ll bite 🙂
Antimatter Destruction of their current lair is going to happen for sure. They’ll need to relocate and regroup. As it happens, they also got up to tier 1 following the score so big changes are happening anyway and they were kind of antsy getting out of the ramshackle boathouse with no utilities they were using anyway. New recruits ready to lay down their lives for the cause, new digs and a new gargantuan enemy to deal with… it’s going to be fun! And yeah, we made incarceration rolls (which they pretty much aced) and are already making waves in the prison too. Maybe even enough to cause a riot? We’ll see!
tommi .vaurio They can’t be Tier I, they’re at war so they lose 1 hold. If they were at Tier I Weak, they just dropped back to Tier 0 Weak! (sucks for them! XP). Even after the war, they’d only re-raise to Tier 0 Strong. Unless you’re saying they got 24 rep from that one score which seems unlikely XD
Antimatter Don’t they temporarily lose 1 hold when at war, not 1 tier? So while at war, they drop back down to Tier 0 Strong, and after the war is resolved, back up to Tier 1 Weak? (page 45 in v.8.1.)
tommi .vaurio When you lose hold at a weak position, you drop down to the tier bellow and stay weak. See the rules for losing hold. John has also stated that if this is due to war, you only rise back to Strong, and do not regain your tier.
Antimatter Alright, thanks for the info! Thought it was different if the hold loss was due to a war. No worries.