Question about proxies – (making somebody)^n do something
I want to know if my game experience is off (thus I should fix it) or my expectations are off (and I should learn the damn rules). The most obvious thing in my group is an increased level of proxies used on the part of the PCs. I would like to know whether it is a red flag or not. And if not, how to handle it in the spirit of Blades / FitD.
The Actual Play:
We are playing a FitD game (Copperhead Country) with two friends (I am GMing). The group of characters started out with a focus on scheming to begin with, and now we are on a track I am rather wary of. The first 3 jobs were nice, mildly challenging negotiations. First it was difficult for me to draw a line between Free Play and Score phase and call for an Engagement Roll as the fiction remained mostly the same before and after (schmoozing, negotiating), and I guess, I was already discontent on some level, if the following sessions are any evidence–the other players may have felt my itching for more dynamic action scenes.
The last two sessions were more dynamic, but the PCs less present in the fiction. In the first one of these, they paid someone to do some bad thing to another person. The PCs were involved in the deal but not the actual crime. Yesterday (last session) it got bigger: they sent a crew Cohort to pay someone to make someone do a bad thing to someone–that is, the PCs are 4 degrees of separation from the target. (Also, doing the whole act in the name of someone else again.) If not for some mistake (which was not guaranteed), they could have solved the Score with PCs present only in the preparations (Flashback scenes) this time again.
The Question(s):
– Should more than two degree of separation (make your Cohort do something) happen from any important player initiated action happen in this game? (Is it okay if PCs only show up in Flashbacks?)
– If that’s all right, how do we handle them? As many Fortune rolls as detailed we want to show the NPCs on-screen?