Assessing the Assassin (OOC)

Where to start?
We have not yet defined the borders of your Hunting Grounds. It is up to the group if we want to start this Job in our Hunting Grounds (it need not stay there).

If the Job happens in your Hunting Grounds and is classed as 'Espionage' (your call) then you get +1d to all Gather Information rolls you make there.

If you start in your Hunting Grounds you get one additional Downtime Activity (of any type) for free. You will get this at the start, so can use it to set up anything you might want before the Engagement roll --usually you would launch straight into Engagement on the first job. You could use this Downtime Activity to research the best place to start, and then declare that it is within your Hunting Grounds (or pay for it).

Since Downtime is on the table, and you still have some Coin you can spend it to pay for additional Downtime Activities as per normal.

As a quirk of Nightmarket, you can always take an +1d to Acquire an Asset there, at the cost of 2 stress. This is in addition to Pushing yourself or Taking a Devil's Bargain.

Due to Second Story, if your Type of Plan is some form of 'clandestine infiltration' (your call), you would get +1d to your Engagement roll.

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If referring to or asking about particular post here, link back to the relevant RP post so we can have some context.

Ok, so one question about how we are going to manage this. Are we going to discuss and agree about those questions in the RP thread before posting? In other PbTA games I've played, the player who has the spotlight has most of the narrative authority in that moment, and then the next one would have it, etc. So you don't have to agree in advance.

For example, some of us could start with:
"Moon thanked Amancio for the information about the assassin... blah blah", thus stating that it was Amancio where the info came from. Other unanswered questions could then be taken by the next player. If someone takes a liberty the rest don't like, it can then be discussed OOC.

I've found that this way of playing usually helps speed things up when playing by post. What do you guys think?

That is up to the group. Some questions are directed at specific players, some are individual can have different answers ('why do you personally care...'), some can be group or individual ('how did you get involved...') the Crew might have gotten the case from Amancio, but you personally might have a vested interested and may have prompted Amancio to bring it to the Crew.

The scope of the question also dictates how much discussion it warrants. If it will have no effects outside the current scene/Job then 'first to post has the say, and others should live with it' is probably fine, but if it will effect things in the long-term then taking a little time to discuss is worth it.

The more we play together the better able we are to judge what needs a discussion and what the others would be happy with. These games are a bit slow at the start, everything is still new and we don't know the characters.

I think gnomius' suggestion sounds good to me.

In other games I have played in, I found that, not only does it go much faster when only one person has to answer a question, but also that discussing every aspect tends to either a) dilute the answer to a "safe" one or b) end up the same answer as the scenario where only one person had to answer the question, because everybody just went with the suggestion.

I do agree that, if somebody dislikes or has a disagreement with an answer that is brought up, a discussion is warranted, since the game is supposed to be a good time. But I think most of the time, at least for me, the answers that other people come up with are fine, and any discussion about those types of answers would likely come to the conclusion that the answer is indeed, fine.

I agree, and will often ask questions of one person in the future. These are mostly establishing questions and everyone should answer them.

The question of how long we have been a Crew is not for any one person to answer for everyone else, but for us to decide as a group.
The answer may be different for each player (presumably Kristov being the longest as a presumed 'founding member'). As mentioned in the question, introduce such aspects of your character as we see them, in play, no need to answer completely now.
Putting the question in the RP serves to put that in our minds, even if we don't answer it right away, we need to define it at some point. We have touched on this question during the Character creation, but I don't think we have anything like an answer.

The third question was to everyone and you should each answer in your own way, when it comes up for your character.

The Fourth was for Moon alone, and we don't need to see an answer till we either see the Lair or Moon goes 'home' for the 'night'.

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Is there a reason that --during a discussion about how to make this faster-- no one has voiced any OOC opinions on the first question? Even just to say "I have no opinion on how we got the Job"?
If we don't speak up, things can go very slow as we all wait for each other. This game has a lot of these sorts of setting and scene questions, when the dice start it gets even worse. Hence the concern I expressed right at the start of the recruitment thread.

Sorry about that. For me, it was because I was thinking about providing suggestions/answers to all the questions at once in a single post, and wanted to chip in two cents in the discussion about how we were doing these questions before I started the process.

I'll voice my opinion about the first question, and figure out the rest in play. I don't feel too strongly about this one, but I think it could be a good opportunity to see what kind of person Amancio is like, since we'll be dealing with him quite a bit. Although obviously part of his motive would be as part of his job, I think it would be neat to see him also have some sort of parallel interest in having us investigating this assassin (and their to-be victim).

Yeah, sorry about that. It was a lot to throw at you all at once.

These were things we will want to know, but they are not mechanical so they don't need to be answered right away, or at all if you guys have other things you want to explore. Questions like how long we have been together can be left undefined if we don't want to decide that now, though that should be a decision we make and not an oversight.
No more than you want to, which was part of the point of the question. You can get your Jobs from wherever you want, the Favorite Contact is someone we can fall back on if we can not think of another way. Or you can make them jealous and get most of your Jobs from them, possibly needing to keep any third-party Jobs secret to avoid offence?
We can do that.

No prob, I'll just take it a bite at a time.

I don't have a strong stance on who the contact is as much as I just think it'll be a neat opportunity to get a strong first impression of a character, whether it be Amancio or someone else. Could be a neat way to bring in a relationship or something. The point about the parallel interest ties into that interest.

OK, so I will develop more in my RP post, but here are my ideas:

Agreed that Amancio should be the one who proposed the Job. As we are a humble Tier 0 Crew, he is just offering money to get the info (who is the victim). We don't know his real motivations behind that, whether he wants the info for himself, or if he plans to resell it to someone else afterwards (probably this last one, as I see Amancio as a kind of information trader). Of course, we will want to know who this 3rd party is, because we don't like being left in the darkness.

As for how long we've been together as a Crew, I think things will work better if our characters know each other for a while now, let's say for example several months. So probably we have already done other minor Jobs in the past and we know how each member of the Crew works.

Finally, as we don't have quarters in our Lair, Moon will be just renting cheap flats, and changing place every few weeks.

Make it so.

Rattila can join the Job in progress when they get back.

Are we starting with a free Downtime Activity or launching straight into the Engagement Roll? Either way, how?

I'm good with gnomius suggestion too, it'll allow us to play along seamlessly. Same for Amancio, that sounds good for a start.

As for the group, maybe Kristov could have searched specifically for Freck with the files available on him ? Or he met Moon when she got in his hospital for a health checkup, with her drug addiction ? He could also lend her an empty bed to have somewhere to sleep at night, provided she lends a hand to the hospital.
I'd say let's jump right into the Engagement Roll, to see how this plays out for a first time.

If we are jumping straight to the Engagement Roll then we need to decide on the Plan and Detail. But this is still an 'if': just because one person proposed it does mean we all have to go along with it.

Remember you get a +1 if the plan is (about) 'clandestine infiltration'. But that is not a plan type and can fit many of them (I want to say 'all' but I there are very few Assault plans that would qualify:). Stealth uses the word 'infiltration' and is inherently 'clandestine', but don't think that is the only one you can use it on. You get to decide if it applies.

You pick a plan type, and supply the missing detail. Feel free to suggest off-book options.

• Assault: Do violence to a target. Detail: The point of attack.
• Deception: Lure, trick, or manipulate. Detail: The method of deception.
• Stealth: Trespass unseen. Detail: The point of infiltration.
• Occult: Engage a supernatural power. Detail: The arcane method.
• Social: Negotiate, bargain, or persuade. Detail: The social connection.
• Transport: Carry cargo or people through danger. Detail: The route & means.

See page 127 for full rules. If you have questions not covered in the book, ask.

OK, so here is where the line between roleplay and mechanics starts to blur, at least for me. :)

In my opinion, to be able to decide on one of the above methods, we should know some details "in game", like who this assassin is, do we know him from before (or maybe just his fame), what other details we know about him (how he used to work, where, what kind of targets he used to aim at, etc...)

Without any further info, I'd say that the preferred method would be Deception, and try to manipulate him in some way to give away the info on who his next target is. But without knowing the details, I don't know how to do this in game.

These detail are not defined yet, we only know what the single line prompt says 'A master assassin has come out of retirement for one more job. Many would pay well to know who their target is'.
Is this a multipart Job, where first you have to work out who the assassin is, and only then can you try find out who their target is? Maybe you first have to find out who hired them before you can find out who the target is... and maybe never know the assassin's identity, since that is not the job?

As asked in the RP thread. 'Do you think you know who the assassin is'? You could each have your own opinions/ideas about who --they could be your nemesis... or your father... or both-- and we might need to investigate each possibility; or the Crew as a whole might have an idea and we focus on that.

If the players think it would be more interesting to know who the assassin is (even if maybe just by fame) then we can define that detail and go from there. Else we can start looking for that detail. The decision about which we do is up to the players, we can don't need to define the details now, but we do need to decide which details exist.

I have no vested interest in keeping things secret or playing this one Job out as long as possible, nor in wrapping it up as quick as possible. If we want to play this as a quick Job, that is fine, if we want to turn this into a story arc that is fine, if we want to start it as a story arc and then change our minds and wrap it up quickly, that is fine. It is for the group to decide. This is your world, I just work here.

I'm feeling a bit stymied since the job exists in almost a complete void right now. I assume that this master assassin at least has some sort of reputation that we would be aware of (or informed of by Amancio). Without knowing anything, I think finding out who hired the assassin would be a good first step, although the method eludes me. Maybe a downtime action to gather information would be helpful.

The players can set the stage and make up more facts if we want to start knowing some things, the world is our oyster (though they are not technically 'oysters') and we have lots of freedom.

Some level of 'reputation' does exist since people care this assassin. You can know as much about this as you want.

A Downtime Activity to Gather Information is often the way to decide on the Detail for the Plan. "We want to assault someone!" "Who?" "Dunno. Guess we need to learn more? I will go to my friends and ask around..."

Taking that into account, I think it would actually be better to start with a Downtime Activity, as you both suggested, then !

If the assassin is known, I'd be to make them "known" -in the faintest sense of the term- by almost everyone, but without any consistent information, kinda like an urban legend. With many exaggerated or outright falses rumors that both bolster the interest of future employers and hide any legit info on them into a sea of lies.

'Rumors' are a good way to treat 'things known'.

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Which downtime activity do we think this would be? Maybe Acquire Asset, but it could also be the first step on a Long-Term Project to discover the assassin's true identity or the target (they could both be separate Clocks in the one Project). Acquire might be better if you want to do this quickly and be done, Project might be best if you want to have this span multiple Jobs.

Remember that you can still engage in all standard activities during Downtime, so you can make other rolls to Gather Information or enlist help or prepare in any way you want.

Maybe you have heard of someone who is rumored to have known the assassin in the past? Then the first steps might be setting up a meet with them and enlisting them as a contact (temporary with Acquire, long-term with Project).

Maybe you need suitable clothing or fancy transport (the Gondoliers like you and could be persuaded to help, or you can enlist the Cabbies to pose as your chauffeur and start a relationship with them?) so you can gain access to a high-society party where you think the (unwitting) target is.

Maybe you know of someone who definitely knows the answer to the question and you have to work out how to get it from them. This could be a single quick job of bribery, blackmail, trickery, seduction, interrogation or whatever.

I am just spit-balling, any ideas you guys have would be better.

Well, from a purely egoist perspective, as a noob player in BiTD, I'd prefer that our first score is something quick, to get a first grasp of the system. And maybe we can leave a Long Term Project for later in the game.

Having said this, I agree with this statement:
However, reading the book, I don't see any rules to Gather Information during Downtime (or maybe I'm not reading it well). Perhaps that would fall under the category of "Acquire an Asset"?

Gather Information
More details are on page 36.

'Gather Information' is a 'free action' and one of those 'standard activities' mentioned above, you can do it any time, you should be doing it all the time.

Sometimes you will need to roll dice to get the answer or to set the quality of the answers (answers are always true, though). Sometimes you can just get to say what the answer is (GM can overrule). As with all things in Blades, the GM might throw the question back to you, "I don't know. Where does she get her supply from?", along with the standard "How do you learn/know this?".
Sometimes the answer might be complicated enough that you need to ask it over many scenes/questions/rolls, building on each other (and that is what we call a Long-Term Project).

You could Gather Information as part of an Acquire Downtime. Or as the result of it; the source of the Information could be the Asset you Acquire, for instance. Focus on the fiction and tell me what you want, then we can work out how the mechanics allow you to get it.

Sounds good to me. What information do you guys want to find out before we start our job? I'm more for discovering more about the assassin or their contractor, but any sort of information would be good.

While the text gave 'Many would pay well to know who their target is' as the objective, that is just an example, we can change the information you need to find to be about the assassin, or who hired them... or 'anything you can find out', though some information will have higher value than other. Or those pieces of information may be what you need to find the actual answer (they could still be valuable to some, though).

The free Downtime Activity can be used to find where to start, but if you have ideas about that it can be used for anything related to the operation.

I think that objective is fine (finding out who the target is). We could start gathering information about the assassin, as I'm assuming we only know him because of his fame. So first of all we should try to find out who he actually was, what kind of people he used to kill, what kind of employers he used to have... so that we can infer if there's some common ground that may help to figure out who this new victim is.

You could start by looking into rumors about this assassin.
If you do, is that the Job/Score or is it just how you start with your Downtime Activity?
The Downtime could be to Acquire a resource with more reliable rumors (maybe a person, or a stack of newspaper clippings, or something). Maybe you need an asset of some type in order to gain access to someone who knows or has something you can use?
But it might be easier to model it as a Long-Term Project, a clock that you start to fill with this activity, but can also advance through your actions in the fiction.

For me, the Job is finding out who the target is. Once we have that info, we go back to Amancio, who will generously pay us. Whether that takes a single Job/Score, or if it becomes a Long Term Project, I guess we'll find out by playing.

Rumours are a good place to start ,and probably our Spider is the most suited for that job. :)

Could be. As the 'leader' of the detective agency... um originator of the Crew, that makes some sense, though everyone can be involved in the fiction.

Well... they could Help, some more dice always helps. :) But, yes, it is done. If it comes to it we can flash back to having them waiting outside to come in and save your ass.

If this is a Long-Term Project Downtime Activity (which is the only one that makes sense since the file does not really fit the other examples of 'Assets'), then a 1-3 means 1 Tick on the Clock, which, if it is just to gather rumors, is probably a 4-Clock, but could also be 6-Clocks on who the assassin is, or who their prior clients were.
You can Spend 1 Coin to bump up the result, but --unless time is a factor, which it isn't really here-- it is mostly better to Spend that 1 Coin to get another Downtime Activity (DtA) which has the chance of giving you more segments, and can not give you less. Spending Coin to bump from a 6 to a Crit is the exception, that 2-segment boost can be more than the average from another Project roll.

If this was Gather Rumors then I will give you a snippet of information (one per segment) and you can tell me where you go next to follow up on it. Or you can have the single rumor direct you to a person who the files suggest can tell you more, if so you can say who this is, or I can make a random NPC. Remember we might be aiming to have them be in Nightmarket so they can be in your (undefined) Hunting Grounds, but that is up to you guys.

I'll go for gather rumors for that instant gratification.

You want a story about the assassin or rumors of a person who can tell you more? A person will give you forward movement, which could lead to all the stories you could ever want. If you go with the story/rumor option then someone will need to do a follow up DtA to move things along.
If you opt for the person, then decide if speaking to them is the first Job, or if they are an Asset you must Acquire for the Job. They will probably be a Tier 0 Asset or worse given that you are currently rolling 0 dice for Acquire, but that can be 1d in Nightmarket at the cost of 2 Stress. You will need to buy another DtA if you want to Acquire, you only have the one free one.

Everyone should answer.

Wow, I must admit I got a little bit lost there with so many rules, but in my opinion we should start simple. Let's get a single story/rumour and see what we can get from it. We can always try to find another person who could tell all stories about this guy afterwards, if this proves to be not enough.

A single story or single rumor does not mean a simple game, all the rules will still apply and there will be less story to carry us in between the rules. This bit was a bit rules-heavy, since we are starting out and need to discuss each aspect, but also because you had to choose between which start mechanics we were using (DtA or Engagement). It gets easier once we have done it a few times.

There is no way I can see that a story/rumor will lead you to finishing the Job (or even really starting it), you will need to do another DtA to follow up on it before you can know where to Engage. Unless we want to do another DtA, I think I highly recommend we use this to find the next step, which could be a person who knows more, or a source of information (a diary stored in a museum, or something), something that can lead you to the Engagement Roll.

As per the rules: It is not my job to put a story in front of you, it is my job to have the world react to what your characters do. You guys need to take charge and drive the story, I can only offer advice.

What do you want to do?

Hmm, let's see. I don't see the patients at Freck's hospital holding any information about the assassin in a really credible/probable way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we already know that the target is located at Nightmarket, right ? So, if Freck tried to make up a list of the most prominent personalities of the District, with infos gathered from newspapers and public records, could this count as a Gather Information to reduce the list of potential victims ?

That does seem like a bit of a stretch and convenient coincidence.
Do we know that? How?

You guys operate in Nightmarket, and you know people there, so it makes sense for you to start there when looking for more information, but that does not mean you have to stay in Nightmarket, or that the target has anything to do with Nightmarket. The mechanical benefits only apply to the Engagement Roll, though the fictional benefits (and downsides) or you Status apply throughout.

As I prompted in the RP:
"• Do you think you know who the assassin is targeting? Do you want to save them? Why?"
If you want to suggest that your character thinks the target is someone you know --someone from Nightmarket, as you say-- then you can have your character make that claim (to the Crew or just to themselves) and we can follow up on that. It will give us a direction (more of a direction than 'we were hired to find out') and may turn out to be true, or partially true.

Aight', I misunderstood that part then, sorry.

I could simply extend the list to all important persons in the city then, but that would just be extra tedious and not that useful. Could he make some research from newspapers and possibly the records from his hospital's morgue ? To see if he could find a pattern in the status of the previous victims and/or how they were killed. I'd think even without being sure that they were murdered by this specific assassin, there wouldn't be that many unresolved homicides among important people in the city.

Personally, I would also be interested in making this assassin in service -temporarily or exclusively- of the the Government, the Army or one of its important members, to get into this idea of "small spies delving into big political schemes". Not necessarily a grand conspiracy, but something that could lead into more dangerous/important situations without the crew really knowing. Maybe the assassin could also be part of a more powerful order ? It's not really thought-out ideas, just simple suggestions to see what you would think about that (and by "you" I mean everyone here !).

Yes. You can absolutely do that.
It would be another Downtime Activity though, so you would have to pay for it. Maybe keep that for confirming what you learn during the game.

Remember that this hospital of yours has no mechanical bearing on the game, it is not from your sheet and therefore not a resource you can call upon. It exists purely in the fiction, so you would need to have an in fiction reason for how you use it to help a Job.
This one can make sense. If you define it as catering to the rich types who would be assassinated, then that sorta means you are defining is as not catering to your expected down-and-out war veterans, and so on. It is no panacea.
So naive. So innocent. /shakeshead.
'Unresolved homicide' is considered 'natural causes' for these people. :)

Please Don't Edit posts to change their content.
I happened to glance back and see this new content, but that was just lucky. Nothing on this site gives me any hint that a whole block of text, containing important ideas was missed. Rather add a new post with the new information, that way we get notifications (email and on-site markers).
Now I start feeling worried that I may have missed other such edits.

Anyway: I would not be at all surprised to find that a 'master assassin' was also used by 'the government' or what passes for 'government'.

I think having the file lead into the Engagement roll is a good idea. How about a score to secure secret files that go into more details about the assassin? I imagine that some of the more important people in the city would have access to information that's not known outside of the elite circle.

If so, that sounds like:
• Stealth: Trespass unseen. Detail: The point of infiltration.
Who is it, and how do you plan to get in/gain access?

Feel free to use the Nightmarket Notable NPCs for the 'who' or Nightmarket Landmarks for a 'where', or to make a new NPC and tell us about them.

Sorry, forgot about that ^^'.
Anyway, maybe I should keep this "murder list" idea on the side for now, and look for another useful Downtime Activity meanwhile ?

That's up to the group. You can do as many Downtime Activities as you can afford to pay for, they cost either 1 Coin or 1 Rep per activity. I would value Rep at about 3ish Coin, so Spending Rep is something you should probably only do if you are desperate. You currently have 0 Rep.

Hmm, it would probably be for the better if Freck just abstained for now, then. I'll keep thinking about it, but I don't think the cost is worth it if we already get good intel on the assassin.

Hmm, from reading the description of Nightmarket, it would make sense if the owner of this information was one of the elites who live in the townhouses. No particular person in mind though.

We can grab a random name and you all can tell us some facts about them (now or as we go along).
Then you decide on Detail for the plan (point of infiltration, if you are going with a Stealth plan) and then we Engage.

Wow, love this idea! :-)

Let me try to collaborate along this path then. Let's say that in that file that Jeren just handed to Kristov we find the name of this person in Newmarket, who has access to the "secret files" we need about our assassin. Just thinking out loud, it could be for example a retired colonel (or equivalent high rank officer), with name to be invented by saevikas in his next RP post. And when Kristov comes back to our Lair with that info, then all of us can jump into the RP thread and start to plan our infiltration in the colonel's manor. How does it sound?

Sure.

I don't know why saevikas has to take on the naming responsibility, but they are welcome to it if they want it.

We don't need another RP post, but can have any 'free play' we want before the Engagement Roll. We should not spend too much time on 'planning', all we need to play (OOC) is the Plan Type, and Missing Detail, I think we have Type, so all we need is the Detail of your plan: the point of entry. Then the Engagement roll packages up all the planning you already did off-screen, and Flashbacks handle the specifics of your planning for the problems that actually come up.

Feel free to play it out, though. The mechanics of the game cycle should not hinder roleplay during all phases.

Oh, no particular reason, I said that because he was the one leading the RP scene, that's all. I can propose one too, what about Colonel Matheson?

Retired from where? Blue Coats? Inspectors? Army? Something else?

Retired from the Army. He now lives in a big fancy house that his army salary could not have paid (even for a colonel's rank), so rumour has it that he was involved in some dirty smuggling activities during the war.

Rattila: You happy bringing the army into this?

gnomius: Why would an ex-army guy have info on an assassin? We don't need hard answers, but can you see some ways that this makes sense? Or is that part of the mystery?

That is part of the mystery. I am just building up on Rattila's first (and great) idea:

I think this all sounds pretty neat, especially the mystery about the colonel's influence being greater than it should be. Might I suggest blackmail instead of smuggling as the rumored reason? It would make sense given that we are looking for information in his possession, and also makes the mystery a more solid question of "how is he getting all this information".

I leave the point of infiltration to the others, since it seems like it's more in their character's respective wheelhouses.

Works for me.

You bet I am ! Anything that could reminds Freck of the past he wants to forget about is good in my book x).

And yeah, I like gnomius idea too ! And this way we may uncover more and more dirt as we go on, that all could open to even more possibilities afterward, which is perfect.

So, Rattila and gnomius:

How are you getting into wherever the files are kept?

The Detail. saevikas: Your contributions are still welcome, but we do appreciate your passing the torch (spotlight).

We really need that answer before we can move on, but we can also think about the questions in the following posts at the same time.

Aside: Is this a complex plan or are you just straight up taking the files?

Loadout
How much stuff are you carrying? How obvious would it be to anyone who sees you that you are up to no good?

• 1-3 load: Light. You're faster, less conspicuous; you blend in with citizens.
• 4/5 load: Normal. You look like a scoundrel, ready for trouble.
• 6 load: Heavy. You're slower. You look like an operative on a mission.

You don't select items now, just how many you brought with you. When you need an item, if you still have load available, you just say you have the item and tick it off on your sheet.

Look at you sheet to get an idea of the sort of items you carry.

Engagement Roll
Engagement Roll:
• 1d for sheer luck.
• +1d for each Major Advantage.
• -1d for each Major Disadvantage.
• +1d Second Story: When you execute a clandestine infiltration.

• Critical: Exceptional result. You've already overcome the first obstacle and you're in a controlled position for what's next.
• 6: Good result. You're in a controlled position when the action starts.
• 4/5: Mixed result. You're in a risky position when the action starts.
• 1-3: Bad result. You're in a desperate position when the action starts.

Major Advantages / Disadvantages
• Is this operation particularly bold or daring? Take +1d. (I would say no?)
• Is this operation overly complex or contingent on many factors? Take -1d. (We need the Detail before we can say)

• Does the plan's detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they're weakest? Take +1d. (I would say no?)
• Is the target strongest against this approach, or do they have particular defenses or special preparations? Take -1d. (I would say no?)

• Can any of your friends or contacts provide aid or insight for this operation? Take +1d. (Could be. Tell us who and how.)
• Are any enemies or rivals interfering in the operation? Take -1d. (I would say no?)

• Are there any other elements that you want to consider? Maybe a lower-Tier target will give you +1d. Maybe a higher-Tier target will give you -1d. Maybe there's a situation in the district that makes the operation more or less tricky. (I would say no. Just to keep things simple.)

We all get to decide the answers to these questions. I am not the dictator.

Edited the above to add Second Story Upgrade.

So I'd say that this should be a classic "infiltration" job, to quickly get into the colonel's manor, retrieve the documents from his safe, and get out before being noticed.

Having said this, my first take at the questions above:

- Loadout: would be Light, so we can get in and get out as soon as possible.
- Is this operation particularly bold or daring? No
- Is this operation overly complex or contingent on many factors? No
- Does the plan's detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they're weakest? No
- Is the target strongest against this approach, or do they have particular defenses or special preparations? No, unless the safe itself is considered "special preparation". Probably the colonel has a few guards (ex-soldiers too), but not that many.
- Can any of your friends or contacts provide aid or insight for this operation? Maybe Amancio knows someone who knows the safe combination? Otherwise, we'll need Freck to come up with a system to open it or blow it up if needed.
- Are any enemies or rivals interfering in the operation? No

Loudout is, of course, per character. But having one PC go in all heavy would limit the options for everyone, so some level of coordination may be wise.
I would think this was standard, so not 'special preparation' in any way that would affect how you engage.
Seems like a stretch without anything to back it up.
An Acquire Downtime Activity could get you such things, but you can also arrange it in a Flashback instead, which would be better, since that only happens if it turns out to be required.
Again, that is what Flashbacks are for, if your Fine Lockpicks aren't up to the task.

I'll also go in Light. A lot of the Spider's tools are 0 load anyways, so not much of a constraint. How about using the tunnels crew upgrade as a major advantage?

The Underground Maps and Passkeys could also serve as your point of entry Detail.
Since they are secret/unknown it makes sense that it would lend Advantage as well. Sounds like 3 dice, which is very good odds.

Let's go with light, then. I'm gonna check if there's not some kind of "truth chemical" or something else useful to get info from the colonel that Freck could use.

Cool! Sounds like a plan! :-)

Should we jump to RP thread then? I guess we need Kristov to come back and tell us about how he learned about the colonel, and then we start planning the infiltration.

Are we going after the colonel? I thought this was a covert job about files he might have?

Is this a personal vendetta? What does Freck know about this colonel? Was he around before Freck's time or do they have history together? Do the others know?

Er? No?

The planning is done, and there already was plenty of time to roleplay that incidental scene of you all being told what was found. We can assume everyone, eventually, knows this sort of information unless the player says they did not tell us some of it (then they should specify).

The point of the Engagement Roll is to skip over all the 'planning' and jump to the action. 'Planning' is done in flashbacks, where you show us how your character planned for and dealt with the specific complications that actually do arise during the Job.

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Who will roll he Engagement Roll (3d6)? It should include a little description about the tunnels used to gain entry to the colonel's house/estate.

Before we do the Engagement roll, can we get an RP post detailing how we found out about the colonel? Even though we all already know the important parts, I would like to ground it a bit in the fiction rather than leaving it as a meta thing, if that makes sense.

Absolutely, go for it. The more free roleplay the better.
Do you need anything from me?

Can you play the part of Jeren? Once Kristov gets the gist of who to look for, I think it should cut immediately to the engagement roll.

Just thought it could be useful to get additional info if need be.

I'd say Freck has heard of him and kinda know him, but from far away, like that colleague from another section. He's probably guilty of some dees like most of his ranks, but I wouldn't say Frederik would mind to the point of making this a revenge. He has done much worse, after all.

That can be done in a flashback if you end up dealing directly with Matheson. But remember to review the Heat portion of the Payoff mechanic. The more exposure you have during the Job the more Heat you bring down upon yourselves (but that can also inversely affect Rep).

Depending on how you choose to handle your Jobs, a Shadow Crew could maybe think about taking the Assassin's Special Ability:

At some point before the Job starts the Crew will have worked out that the major is now a (retired) colonel.
Maybe Freck knows this? But it does not need to come from him. You had to find out his address and schedule and guards, and all that, so research has been done.

Do we know yet what the colonel's role was in the military? Was he military science, military intelligence, military science intelligence? We don't need an answer (not now, or even ever), but if we want to decide this we can, the characters learn this or not, as the case my be. This might flavor why he has an interest in the case.

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Who is leading the infiltration? Who knows the tunnels (or the ones in Nightmarket) the best?
Set the scene and roll the roll (3d6) and we can see how it goes and get started.

So I guess infiltration would be Moon's speciality, but I don't see her as the "leader" of the Crew at all. But surely I can roll and write the first post if that's ok!

Sounds good to me.

Not 'leader of the Crew', just leading this action.
Write the first post and then roll, please.

By the rules you definitely get into the property, the worst that can happen is you end up in a desperate situation (which is good, since it offers you XP:).

Show us Moon's perspective on the underground tunnels you are using (is she happy to be down here? squicked out? what?) and what you are expecting/hoping to find up above.

A good roll on the Engagement, this means you have some time to act and are in a Controlled Position for any follow-up rolls (for now).

I don't see any difficulty getting into the manor house, you are professionals and don't need to roll for picking locks or climbing to balconies when you have the time (really, how could you fail?). Once in the house (or when the next obstacle arises) you will all probably need to roll some form of 'stealth', as a Group Action or individually.

- Moon -
A Lantern costs 1 Load, but we only care about things used on the Job. We can ignore the lantern you used in the tunnel, for now. If you need it during the Job you can mark the Load and have it, else we can say you left it below in the tunnel (we won't actually 'say' that though, we can just leave it undefined till it matters). While in a house, there are probably lights you can borrow (no load (unless you take them with you)).

As for getting into the house, about Kristov consorting with one of the servants to let the group in?

The good Engagement roll means that --unless you complicate it-- you have gained access to the house. If you want that to be by means of a Consorted servant then that works.

If the servant is being met for the first time now, in the garden, then it will need a roll at Controlled/Limited (safe, but why would they let you in?).

If it was prepared ahead of time then it would be a 0 Stress Flashback and a Controlled/Great (plenty of options for persuading) roll. The outcome might affect how much they knew and what they think about things after you bring a whole Crew into their house (when maybe they were expecting a tryst), depends on the fiction.

I think having bribed a servant beforehand makes much more sense than appearing in their garden out of the blue, and trying to talk our way in. '^_^

Agreed.

As for my load, I'll think I'll go with Fine wrecking Tools to pen any resistant chests or locks, (a fial of acid is probably the thing that fits best with Freck). I'll take the Bandolier as well, for a total load of 3. Should I specify what chemicals/poisons I take with it right now, or as we play ?

I think you determine what you have in your load when the situation arises.

Like, if there was a need for my Spider to have a weapon, I would say "hey, my Spider planned for this situation" and mark load for having a weapon.

So in a sense, load is less of inventory space, and more of a resource for spending on the ability to say you have the right item for the job.

You don't specify anything except the actual load number.

You only need to mark off and mention items when you use them, that way you never end up taking things you don't need or use during the Job. Our characters are professionals and know a lot more about the plannings and happenings than we do, so we don't try to predict what they might need, we just see what they knew they would need when they need it.

Yeah, I was thinking along the lines of having bribed them earlier.

Indeed.

We only specify the amount of load so that we can react accordingly when we meet people. If you are sporting heavy load then people will assume you are up to no good, why else would you be kitted for war? :)

Armor can be a bit weird, if you suddenly specify you have armor then it applies --in the fiction-- from that point forward. It should also have applied to all situations before that point, but we can not do anything about that, there is no time-travel.

Alright.

We know that you get in, so there is no chance of it not working, but the result of that 'bribe' might affect how much they are willing to do for you and how much they will cover for you afterwards.

Do you want to flashback (0 Stress) and show us this happening? A bribe is a Fortune roll with Lifestyle, and you are still Lifestyle 0 (determined by your Stash) so it would be rolling two dice and keeping the lowest (again, though, it can not fail).

If you want to do something other than a 'bribe', play it out. A Consort, Sway, or something might be more what you can afford, there servants are probably richer than you at this time. :)

Oh, I'll adjust the description of my roll to reflect the consort roll.

Edited.

I see, that's some smart and practical design !

I don't get to say 'no', but is this really Consort? Blackmail sounds a lot more like Sway or Command to me.

We did not see the action, so it is very hard to judge effectiveness. We did not see the NPC so it is very hard to judge reactions and attitudes.
You implied a Flashback, but without seeing it there is no fiction to hang the mechanics on. Can you give us more? I am more concerned with see how Kristov does this than seeing the NPC. I can make up an NPC, they are responding to Kristof, and I need to have them respond appropriately.

The roll is for affecting the NPC, not for getting the information (if that is what was implied in the post). The information is not important, the present NPC is.

Well, I guess I'm changing it once more.

Kristov helped one of the servants expose his cheating spouse in exchange for a favor. I'm not exactly sure if that's Consort or Sway from how I wrote it, so I included both rolls.

It now sounds like you are helping the servant and not blackmailing them? That would be more Consort than Sway. But the last paragraph sounds more like 'calling in a favor' than 'making friends' and that would be more Sway than Consort?

Which effect are you after? Why is the servant helping you now? What is their motivation?
If they are paying off a debt for your work, the it is probably Sway with Standard Effect. If you are conspiring with them (give them a name) and they are also getting something from this caper, then it is Consort with Limited Effect since they obviously don't want to get into trouble for their new friend and will only do so much, but, if needed, you can sweeten the pot (possibly during the heist) to get them to help even more if there is something in it for them.

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In future we will try to stick to the rules and first deal with the fiction, then discuss possible Actions based on the fiction, then discuss Position and Effect based on those Actions, and only then roll the dice.

As mentioned in the third paragraph of the original recruitment thread: When we try to short-circuit the mechanics the game stops making sense. Right here we see that happening: we can not work out which Action should be used because we don't yet have enough fiction; and I will not be able to adjudicate the outcome --again, because of lack of fiction.

I've been rewriting the post for a while now, and have come to realize that the game isn't a good fit for me. Even though I like many aspects, such as the characters and potential plot lines, the amount of meta discussion required is taking more out of me than what I initially expected. I'm going to be bowing out as a result. Wish you all the best of luck.

Understood. This was sorta an experiment to see if this game could work as written in PbP.

I had my doubts and slow start and then complicated posting procedure has lead me towards thinking it was a mistake.

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Do the rest of you want to keep trying? I am inclined towards retiring this game.

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I did really enjoy what we had, the characters, history, and world we made was great.

Yeah, maybe we should. :-/

It's a pity, because I was really eager to give Blades a try, but I think we all agree that this takes too much meta discussion that probably doesn't fit PbP format well enough.

We can't say we didn't try, though. It's been more than a month, so I'd say it was quite a comprehensive experiment. :-)

And anyway, I must say I had a good time with all of you guys. I think we were building something very interesting together, pity that the format doesn't help.

Yeah, it's really too bad but the format is probably not really fit for that type of game, unfortunately.

It was still an interesting try and learning of the basics of the game, however ! I appreciated the efforts you've all put into it, and I'd be pleased to meet with you again on another game.

Edit; just some typo.

I would be happy to play with any of you in other games.

Retiring this one...

I appreciate the effort you all put in. It's a shame the format didn't really support the game, but I don't think it was a mistake, since we learned from the experience, and thought up some cool ideas. Hope to see you all in other games.