A question regarding cohort acquisition: Say another Tier 0 gang of NPCs, maybe 2 or 3 guys, are looking to free themselves from their oppressive masters, and solicit the PCs to join the PCs’ crew as cohorts. This all arises from the fiction, with zero fortune rolls. Should I continue with the fiction and just grant them a cohort upgrade without the need to spend XP, or is that unbalancing in some way?
A question regarding cohort acquisition: Say another Tier 0 gang of NPCs, maybe 2 or 3 guys, are looking to free…
A question regarding cohort acquisition: Say another Tier 0 gang of NPCs, maybe 2 or 3 guys, are looking to free…
A “free” cohort is a pretty substantial thing. I’d be inclined to give it some sort of cost, at least.
But what if the circumstance just arises naturally from the fiction, without any obvious cost?
XP costs aren’t part of the fiction, though. Are they?
When someone learns how to talk to ghosts, or how to fight better, we don’t express that in the fiction as “I decided to spend my XP on combat” – instead, we use the XP to spend on what we makes sense with the established fiction, or on what we want for future fiction.
I’d suggest asking if they want a cohort or not. If they do, then they spend XP and get the cohort. If they don’t have enough, I’d even give them the cohort now, and allow them to go into negative XP.
If they don’t want to buy the cohort, then they have still made allies, they’ve got a level zero gang that they can call on for help and can treat like a cohort – with all the fictional benefits and difficulties that implies. Instead of having dice bonuses and game mechanics, the players can roleplay talking to that gang, and might have to deal with that gang’s demands for payment or other problems the gang causes. The game already has pretty substantial support for tracking relationships with other factions.
That way, the fictional progress doesn’t vanish, and it’s up to the players if they want to buy a cohort or not. And it helps build the story and relationships, regardless of which they choose.
Perhaps, if the PCs put substantial work into winning them over, but it would have to be a big deal for a faction of the same tier to not only work for them, but to functionally cease existing.
Tony Demetriou This is excellent advice. I’ll probably do something just like this, thanks.
If they talk their way into free cohorts, i say “give it to them – for now.” Nothing that an action roll couldn’t have done – temporarily anyways. And either the cohorts stick around until they get bored (like acquire asset could have done), or they pay the XP cost and keep them
Benjamin Davis In my example, I picture these guys as not even a crew, and certainly not a faction. Just a couple of thugs or thieves looking to attach themselves to a group who looks like they may be going places. I wouldn’t even assess them a Tier at all, really.
Mark Cleveland Massengale Good point, hadn’t thought of it that way!
Okay then.
That’s my go-to solution in a number of game systems; if the fiction grants the character something, let them borrow against future experience/upgrades. I just let them borrow one at a time, but if the fiction gets us to that place, they can get it early. =)
Jon Britton one or two guys like you describe sounds like the prototypical tier-0 gang. Their type doesn’t even matter until the crew hits tier-I.
They could also just be counted as a single tier-0 expert which has +1 quality (and their type does matter) but these kinds of team don’t get bigger in size (they don’t scale up past 0, or “one or two people” anyways)
You could treat them as an acquired asset- a temporary advantage in appropriate situations for the next job- but something they’ll have to” acquire” over and over every gig, or establish a permanent bond by spending the XP.
Rebecca W This is a good approach, too. May go with this one, thanks!
Jon Britton Acquire asset is a great way to reflect temporary help, like hiring a brute squad or (for example) a specialist safecracker, which you wouldn’t necessarily want as your permanent cohort. I’ve used it to reflect hiring groups of urchins for distractions or arson for a specific task, and cultivated a permanent relationship with them later as a LTP.