Last night our crew hit an edge case. I think we handled it okay in the moment, but now ‘d like to hear how others would cover it. They finished a score and had eight Heat, Wanted Level 0. For their Entanglement they rolled a 6: Arrest. One of the crew members gave himself up, but since they were at Wanted:0, we figured that the Bluecoats didn’t actually have enough on him to make a case before a magistrate. Instead, they took him to the local watch station and held him for about a couple of days until the rest of the crew pulled an Acquire Asset to get a barrister and get the whole thing thrown out. He spent a couple of days in holding, then was released. The crew cleared all their Heat since the barrister got the case tossed (as a nod toward the result of getting incarcerated).
In retrospect, I feel like I should have had the barrister make a roll based on his Quality to determine how much Heat was cleared rather than clearing it all.
Well, the rules for Incarceration do say the result is to reduce Wanted Level and clear all Heat; given the increase in each of the other levels of Heat being seeming about a factor of four or five, I may have said the Heat 0 is a week, but seeing as an Acquire Asset roll was made in addition to that, seems reasonable to reduce that a little further.
I like the way you handled it. The “Arrest” entanglement says that if you hand someone over, it clears your heat. It doesn’t say that the person automatically does a stint in Ironhook — I assume there are plenty of fictional reasons why the arrest would happen but the prison term wouldn’t. In this case, Wanted Level 0 + a barrister sounds pretty good.
I would be sure to have the barrister hold it over them in the future like they still owe something. Good fun reincorporation there. 🙂 Or perhaps an enemy faction later reveals/frames the barrister as corrupt or otherwise unsound, leading to a re-evaluation of old case files.
The next chance they get, they’re planning to put him on retainer and take him as an expert cohort. They’re anticipating needing him again. 😀
Adam Minnie Yeah, we spent coin for a downtime action to acquire that barrister… even at today’s prices, he was well-paid.
What tier are the crew? I always find that factors into the arrest dynamic and ways around incarceration. I really like the way you handled it and the resultant fiction. Good story grist for sure.
Nathan Roberts We’re Tier 0, mostly because we keep focusing on Weird Stuff and examining faction options.
Well done, Matthew.
I do hope the Bluecoats beat the snot outta your scoundrel while he was in their custody, just for their own sick amusement.