Delirium says:
... Is 'plot armor' the only thing ...
No, mainly the coherence of the game, but plot armour takes that off the table.
Delirium says:
... That's a much more brutal and unforgiving setting than I imagined it to be. ...
It was probably a bad example, but people have been trying to make it clear to
Emma that she is in real mortal danger with the stuff she is messing with. The Urban Shadows game-world is brutal, but PCs seldom die, the story may put them in situations where death is a logical conclusion, but they mostly have ways to avoid it (the most crude being Scars).
Delirium says:
... Anyways, if he would insinuate that's what he's willing to do, ...
No, he has been implying
legal recourse.
Delirium says:
... Right now, she doesn't get the sense like she's in over her head ...
And to be clear: That is an
in-character assessment? Just making sure we are on the same page, and you, the player, are aware that she is in trouble.
You came into his house and broke into his safe, and were caught. These are facts —no matter how much
Emma may try to wriggle out of them with 'I did not know...'— they will have future consequences. I don't want you feeling they are unfair.
Delirium says:
... makes her think the consequences can’t be
that severe. ...
No, they will be more subtle. We will try to weave them into the story and characters going forward.
Misses on the dice should
add to the story, and this should make your life more interesting (more complicated, but more interesting). We will make it work and it will bring opportunities (same way the
Jacob's Miss [
ref] lead to offering him a tempting trinket ... and a cost:).
Delirium says:
... I will roll 'Keep Your Cool' (if that's alright with you), and face the social fallout ...
OK.
Make that roll.
Delirium says:
... she won’t try to make a run for it ... She needs closure, or she’ll never be able to sleep at night, worrying ...
Fair enough. We will also make it fairly clear what the cost is. We may skip ahead in time by a week or so (Long-Term Moves) during which time she could be worried about what the other shoe will be when it drops (maybe with some vignettes of that time?), but then we will have something more concrete to tackle.