My players are a crew of Shadows and have just announced as the intention of their first self-motivated score to get the “Covert Drop” claim, taking it away from one of their rivals. They want that sweet extra 2 coins from Espionage/Sabotage scores.
I’m having some trouble wrapping my head around exactly what the covert drop is, though. I’m assuming the extra coin comes from clients who appreciate that their dealings are harder to track, but how would it work fictionally?
Is it just a loose cobblestone under which the rival has been exchanging messages? How does the rival prevent the wrong person from grabbing the message, presuming they don’t have a separate drop EVERY time they get a new client? What happens when enough clients know the location and word gets out?
Is it a location with a person who can keep an eye on things? I considered having it be a restaurant with a maitre d’ whom the clients tell a pass code and who has the secret correspondence delivered with the client’s dinner.
I’ve also considered a homing pigeon or delivery owl roost, with some sort of “magic stone” that each bird homes to and from. I imagine these sorts of messengers are common through out the city, just that this one happens to be run by a spy master.
What are your thoughts? Have you used the “Covert Drop” claim in your game? Are any of my ideas any good? Do you have other ideas that could work? Any help would be greatly appreciated.