I ran my group (an Assassin Crew) through their very first score the other night.

I ran my group (an Assassin Crew) through their very first score the other night.

I ran my group (an Assassin Crew) through their very first score the other night. The job was to get some information about the location of some artifact that only this noble knew. I phrased/offered in such a way that the job could be framed as a ransom job (ransom the guy for his information), because that’s what they get a bonus for in their hunting grounds. I figured a relatively straightforward job for their first outing would be good for all of us getting our feet wet.

Anyhow, it brought up a couple question (well probably more than that, but two main ones).

I asked them what kind of plan they’d be going with. The Spider wanted to be a sort of man on the inside while the rest of the crew find another way in, which I thought seemed fun. I said I thought Stealth made the most sense. In hindsight the two-prong attack felt a little weird — the Spider going in to talk with the guy while everyone else sneaks in. Any tips/suggestions for dealing with that in future? Should I have just done the Spider’s part as a setup maneuver sort of thing?

For the second, once they were able to have a direct confrontation with the mark, the Whisper wanted to set something up with his ally, a possessor Ghost. The idea being the ghost would possess the noble and then give the crew the information they wanted. I loved the idea so I just had him spend a little stress for the flashback. He basically ended up letting the ghost hitch a ride in his body and then had the ghost transfer into the noble. I still love the idea of that, but I don’t want it to become too much of a crutch or a solution to a lot of problems. I don’t want to totally disincentivize using his ally contact, but I feel like I definitely made it too easy for this first time around. What might be some appropriate consequences to doing something similar in the future?

5 thoughts on “I ran my group (an Assassin Crew) through their very first score the other night.”

  1. Here’s how I’d run it: Metaphysically speaking, ghosts take up space, and squeezing two souls in one body is incredibly painful. No one in their right mind (though that may be the operative phrase) would want to be possessed; It’s like someone wanting to have bamboo shoots shoved under their fingernails. Also, when a ghost possesses you, they’re not a passenger (no matter how nice the ghost may be), there will always be a struggle for control.

  2. You could have linked clocks, with the Spider filling in a “Distracted” clock first; then the rest of the crew filling in an “Infiltrate” clock.

    How did you make it too easy for the Whisper? By even allowing them to enact their plan? Positioning and Effect? I say don’t hinder the niches and tools of the playbooks if at all possible.

    So word gets out that a crew is leaning on ghost possession in every score they run and suddenly there is a run on spirtbane charms, wards, etc. Best to use sparingly so people don’t have their defenses up. If this ghost is not a cohort they might not be completely under the control of or loyal to the Whisper, even while not being openly hostile towards them. The ghost can easily start asking for favors from the Whisper or act erratically at the worst possible times.

    Also the assumption is that targets aren’t already possessed because that never happens right? >:) Time for ghost duels…

  3. Thanks! I think I can work with that.

    I definitely already had the idea that people might occasionally have some Ghost protection. I even have an NPC I rolled up randomly that had the quirk “Immune to Spirits” so there’s definitely stuff there I can pull from.

    I definitely like the idea of the person already being possessed. That’d be a great twist for a poor roll. “Your friend ghost tries to possess your mark, but oops, there’s already a ghost in there! Now what?”

    But I also think that purposely playing host to a Ghost, even for a little while, isn’t going to be easy on a person, Whisper or otherwise. Like Ben Morgan said: two souls in one body. And the Ghost is not just a passenger. I don’t know if the answer is simply a struggle for control or just stress or what.

    Combo clocks for the distraction is an interesting idea. I may use that some times or other times I may just go with the setup maneuver. Whatever sounds good. I have a feeling it’ll become a common thing.

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