One of my PCs has come down with Mono, and the original plan was to do a regular board game night because the group didn’t want to play without Shiv the Lurk. However, the idea of not playing blades for more than a month didn’t sit well with me. So instead I asked the remaining 3 players if they’d be interested in taking on the mantle of the gang of rooks that their cult acquired and never uses. I’m hoping that if they give names and personalities to these nameless NPCs that they’ll seem some actual use in game. I don’t have John’s knack for creating great crew NPCs like Roathe and Cyclops on the fly, so I’m going to make my players do it for me.
I’m trying to decide if these rooks should use the cult crew sheet still, or be shadows instead. I guess it depends on how integrated into the cult they are, and that’s a question for the players.
I’d go for Shadows. Make them feel different enough that there’s a clear mental distinction. If a player really likes their Rook NPC, they could always have their cult pull them in to the cult if it made sense.
I really like your idea of having them more invested in their cohorts by playing them. Great job.
There’s always the option on page 202, where you don’t give them a crew type because “The PCs are just a small street gang.” Those rules are intended to be a quick-start where the PCs are building up to crew status, but I think it fits here. (The only ability I see on the Cultist sheet that would apply to cohorts is Zealotry, which could be fun.)
It means that the PCs playing out the gang would have less resources and abilities to use, but that could be a fun experience. It’s what I’d do, at least–give the PCs a taste of what they put their gangs through. It’s also worth noting that NPC gangs are not as effective as the crew, typically, so it might be a little jarring if this gang goes from being unused to amazing, then down to just being competent.
But really, either approach can work, and it’s definitely a fun idea.
Steven Dodds I planned on prefacing this one shot with the idea that these rooks are going to appear much more competent tonight while they’re being played as PCs, but likely will not be so later. My idea for this is that tonight they’re going to be dealing with smaller scale threats than they usually would when being pulled into the big leagues by the Cult PCs.