Hey folks, I’ve been pondering how to run an upcoming heist and could use some suggestions / inspiration!
Setup: A very small (but wily!) gang of Hawkers is looking to take some turf. Through brilliant maneuvering, they recently gained some inside information on the Iruvian “spice” trade, and have the knowledge and connections to quietly get product through to interested buyers. However, they don’t have the dock space or people to do it.
Heist: They came up with the idea of negotiating with another gang that owns a chunk of the docks. Hawkers provide the intel, the other gang provides the manpower and space, everyone gets a cut and goes home happy. In theory…
Here’s what I have thought up so far as far as ways to put pressure on them for the heist:
– A clock to just get in the door. They’re contacting this gang cold, so I’m thinking they need to do some work to grease the skids.
– A clock to track the negotiations and seal the deal. Fill it to win it.
– Complications / clock or … something … to represent them against the larger gang to not just say, “Hey, we can let you in here to set up shop, and then wipe you out after we have the info we need — we can just do it ourselves.”
Thoughts? Appreciate your feedback in advance.
(It’d be nice if I had comments enabled, huh.)
Sounds like you’ve got it covered.
The larger gang kicking them out doesn’t have to be part of this heist. It’s always a risk when making a deal with other groups – you can track their relationship with the other gang like usual, and if it degrades then future complications might be that they muscle in more and more. Gotta keep your allies happy!
I really wouldn’t overthink things – you’ve already got it broken down nicely in terms of getting in the door then convincing them. Both those tasks give a lot of opportunity for the players to improvise.
If the players roll well, you can let ’em have it. Not every heist needs to be complicated. If it’s over in 5 minutes, then that’s great!
By keeping your score small, simple & easy you can give the players a sense of achievement and improvise the next small & easy score based on what the players do next.
I find the dice and complications will often make the scores grow. Planning something really simple often makes it easier to handle that, because you can pay more attention to the game rather than tracking everything that’s happening.
Stick with your current plan. Let the dice and player actions decide how complicated or simple the score ends up being.
If you want to prepare more, come up with ideas for a few NPCs, maybe some quirky colour about the gang. Just general stuff that will help you improvise during the game.
(I like to think about what the factions “care about” – gangs often form from other groups, and often have power because of that origin. Docks workers won’t just care about their criminal stuff, they’ll also care about union rights, worker safety, social tension between rich ship-owners and poor workers, maybe alliance maybe conflict with the sailors. Do they pride themselves on being “hard working locals” or do they see themselves as an inclusive group that accepts anyone from anywhere as long as they’re good workers? Do they see themselves as criminals, or as workers who will do extra jobs on the side when they need to make ends meet? All of this stuff might have nothing to do with the score, but if the players start an in-character conversation, you’ll end up revealing it and the conversation will be character-full. And all of this is information that is useful to the players, which they can use to fill those clocks for this score, or can use to keep their alliance strong.)