I’ve got a crew of smugglers, how do people make transport scores interesting, without making the players feel like…

I’ve got a crew of smugglers, how do people make transport scores interesting, without making the players feel like…

I’ve got a crew of smugglers, how do people make transport scores interesting, without making the players feel like their information gathering etc. isn’t wasted when things go wrong.

Especially when they open with a 6 on their Engagement roll.

7 thoughts on “I’ve got a crew of smugglers, how do people make transport scores interesting, without making the players feel like…”

  1. I find smugglers tricky too and transportation scores are not that easy to set-up in an always interresting and not repeating manner. You question is also a point, I guess that you have to resort to accidental/unusual events to put some flavor in the score otherwise the info gathering does seem waisted. But for how many times can you throw an “unexpectable encounter” without getting borring?

  2. My smugglers in 4 sessions have:

    – Killed Bazso Baz (from the starting scenario, and admittedly not much smuggling)

    – Retrieved an ornate box from the Lost District for the new leader of the Lampblacks (which was in a guarded warehouse owned by the Red Sashes)

    – Taken that same box and smuggled it INTO the house of a Whitecrown noblewoman (and “armed it”)

    – Taken a Fog Hound supply boat over, stealing the goods and selling them to a different gang.

    Smuggling doesn’t have to be “Bring this thing to the other person”, sometimes it’s getting something INTO a place it’s not supposed to be. Sometimes it’s finding/stealing something. John Harper also did a recent series of tweets you can google for where he suggests a bunch of smuggling missions.

  3. I get that, but what the players want to do is move things around.

    In fact they’ve done similar things than your crew except for the murder – they didn’t want to start in crowsfoot, so the war is ongoing, but they’re on the periphery at best.

  4. Then allow your players to drive that goal. Ask them, “You want to move stuff around? Ok. How do you find that kind of work? Just as much of plot creation should be coming from the players as from you, in this system. Converse with them about their goal, develop the fiction/worldbuild, and “find out” who needs things moved around.

    Corrupt power-holders need stiff moves around in secret. But what? And who?

    Maybe another Gang got something that was too hot for their tastes? They need a “sub-contractor” to move stuff.

    But ultimately, fact is, doing the same thing over and over is gonna get boring (to either you or them, and both matter equally). So you need to work in “smuggling-adjacent” scores too. What else is involved in smuggling? Securing warehouses. Safe houses. Negotiating deals when new management takes over for former business associates.

    Gotta think outside of straight smuggling.

  5. I don’t think this concern is specific to smugglers.

    I will rephrase and then attempt to answer this: “How do GMs make players feel like their information gathering isn’t wasted?”

    Perhaps by focusing the information they are able to gather on the obstacles they will encounter first. Maybe the big surprise obstacles show up after all of the know obstacles get a chance to present themselves (the one the players had a chance to prepare for).

    So this is more an exercise of taking a couple minutes to think about multiple obstacles that might appear ahead of time (perhaps during a bathroom break) so you are not drawing a blank when it’s time to present gathered info or describing consequences of action rolls.

  6. My specific question is how to make the transport bit interesting, how to pace it apart from with a clock and so on.

    The other things aren’t a problem, it’s specifically making transport interesting.

    Getting them to drive the action isn’t a problem.

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