Longwing
2016-11-04, 10:25 AM
Hi folks,
I’m designing a campaign for some friends of mine, and I could really use some suggestions to make a particular encounter memorable and fun.
General background:
The campaign is set in a surrealist modern fantasy (think Neverwhere, Un-Lun-Dun, or Underworld RPG), we’re using the Cypher system for our ruleset, and it’s an investigative campaign where the heroes are expected to figure out where they need to go next. I’m employing node-based design and the 3 clue rule to give them plenty of options.
At this point in the plot, the party has been present for a successful/failed assassination (depending on how that node goes for the PCs). Several nodes in the plot lead to a coffee shop that functions as the region’s clearing house for trade and mercenary work. If the PCs are at this node, they’re probably trying to find information on the assassin. Who she is/was, and who hired her.
The assassin was hired by a cult who’s Up to No Good. The cult has a number of wealthy members, and it’s existence is highly secret. At least one of the cultists is based out of this shop, and is buying goods/services the cult needs to achieve their ends.
The scene:
You step through the low doorway and are immediately struck by the smell of coffee. The mere thought of fresh coffee makes some of you thirsty and gives you the slightest pangs of your long withdrawal (because of the nature of the campaign, coffee is an incredible rarity. The fact that this place has it is weird, and the PCs know that). The shop is lively and quite full, the din of conversation fills the air.
The main area is easily a hundred feet on a side, and you can see many alcoves and hallways branching off from the far wall. Squat columns hold up the low, arched brick ceiling at regular intervals. They crowd the space and make it feel cramped. To your right, a long bar of polished concrete serves as the central focus for the staff, who bustle back and forth ferrying trays stacked with steaming tin cups.
Above the bar is a large board, easily 20 feet long, adorned with a grid of small hooks. The board is divided into sections, with headers above each. “Bulk goods”, “Rare goods”, “Underriver”, “Guards”, and one section adorned with a simple white ring. Beneath these headings, small plaques of various materials hang from some of the hooks, each with a distinctive symbol. Shapes, crests, letters, numbers; there doesn’t appear to be any order to them. Looking around, you see matching plaques hung above most of the small mismatched tables.
The situation:
Buyers inform the bartender of what they’re looking to buy. The bartender gives them a plaque for their table and hangs the matching plaque in the right section. Sellers then approach these tables to pitch sales. The overwhelming majority of these sales are completely mundane. Brokers selling farm goods, mercenaries looking for work as guards, or navigators offering transit. The white circle is the section for odd jobs and unscrupulous work.
The bartender is one of the cadre of people who own and run the establishment as a group. He’s friendly and well liked by the customers. He tries to help anyone who comes through. A huge part of the business is connecting buyers with sellers. Generally, the whole staff tries to help. It’s tradition to tip a staff person if they put you in contact with a good business deal.
However, the whole staff is wary of the white circle section of the board. Everyone knows that criminal activities wind up in this section. The PCs aren’t the first group of people to come here looking for answers/revenge on a buyer. While there’s no strict policy about this stuff, the staff doesn’t like ratting on “circles”. Buyers in this section are obviously dangerous, or they wouldn’t BE in that section.
The problem:
I need this scene to point towards at least 3 other nodes: An important location the cult is using, an object they’re planning to steal, and perhaps the cult’s current base of operations.
If the PCs are clever or charming enough, they may get a member of the staff to point them at the assassin’s employer, but they could just as easily get the staff to clam up by saying the wrong thing. Further, even if they find the right guy, they may botch interrogating, following, or tricking the cultist, leading to a dead end. That’s an awful lot of IFs. What if they can’t find the guy? What if they find him but fail to get anything useful out of him?
The cultist knows all the needed information. He can be interogated, mind-read, magically or mundanely tailed, and he’ll have useful evidence on his person if the PCs decide to pickpocket him (or loot his corpse). If they're unusually clever, they could get the cultist to hire them, or even convince him that they're on the same side (but that's a bit of a longshot).
I’m looking for suggestions for alternate clues/leads I can work in to the scene. Ways that screwing up their main objective can be interesting and fun, instead of simply a dead halt. Worst case, I need to come up with some kind of deus-ex-machina clue I can drop on their heads, but I’d really prefer to work in some more organic leads. If the staff stop talking, how do they find their guy? If they get to the cultist, they have tons of options... but let's say they botch them all, what then?
Thanks for reading this far. Now that you’ve survived my wall of text, any thoughts?
I’m designing a campaign for some friends of mine, and I could really use some suggestions to make a particular encounter memorable and fun.
General background:
The campaign is set in a surrealist modern fantasy (think Neverwhere, Un-Lun-Dun, or Underworld RPG), we’re using the Cypher system for our ruleset, and it’s an investigative campaign where the heroes are expected to figure out where they need to go next. I’m employing node-based design and the 3 clue rule to give them plenty of options.
At this point in the plot, the party has been present for a successful/failed assassination (depending on how that node goes for the PCs). Several nodes in the plot lead to a coffee shop that functions as the region’s clearing house for trade and mercenary work. If the PCs are at this node, they’re probably trying to find information on the assassin. Who she is/was, and who hired her.
The assassin was hired by a cult who’s Up to No Good. The cult has a number of wealthy members, and it’s existence is highly secret. At least one of the cultists is based out of this shop, and is buying goods/services the cult needs to achieve their ends.
The scene:
You step through the low doorway and are immediately struck by the smell of coffee. The mere thought of fresh coffee makes some of you thirsty and gives you the slightest pangs of your long withdrawal (because of the nature of the campaign, coffee is an incredible rarity. The fact that this place has it is weird, and the PCs know that). The shop is lively and quite full, the din of conversation fills the air.
The main area is easily a hundred feet on a side, and you can see many alcoves and hallways branching off from the far wall. Squat columns hold up the low, arched brick ceiling at regular intervals. They crowd the space and make it feel cramped. To your right, a long bar of polished concrete serves as the central focus for the staff, who bustle back and forth ferrying trays stacked with steaming tin cups.
Above the bar is a large board, easily 20 feet long, adorned with a grid of small hooks. The board is divided into sections, with headers above each. “Bulk goods”, “Rare goods”, “Underriver”, “Guards”, and one section adorned with a simple white ring. Beneath these headings, small plaques of various materials hang from some of the hooks, each with a distinctive symbol. Shapes, crests, letters, numbers; there doesn’t appear to be any order to them. Looking around, you see matching plaques hung above most of the small mismatched tables.
The situation:
Buyers inform the bartender of what they’re looking to buy. The bartender gives them a plaque for their table and hangs the matching plaque in the right section. Sellers then approach these tables to pitch sales. The overwhelming majority of these sales are completely mundane. Brokers selling farm goods, mercenaries looking for work as guards, or navigators offering transit. The white circle is the section for odd jobs and unscrupulous work.
The bartender is one of the cadre of people who own and run the establishment as a group. He’s friendly and well liked by the customers. He tries to help anyone who comes through. A huge part of the business is connecting buyers with sellers. Generally, the whole staff tries to help. It’s tradition to tip a staff person if they put you in contact with a good business deal.
However, the whole staff is wary of the white circle section of the board. Everyone knows that criminal activities wind up in this section. The PCs aren’t the first group of people to come here looking for answers/revenge on a buyer. While there’s no strict policy about this stuff, the staff doesn’t like ratting on “circles”. Buyers in this section are obviously dangerous, or they wouldn’t BE in that section.
The problem:
I need this scene to point towards at least 3 other nodes: An important location the cult is using, an object they’re planning to steal, and perhaps the cult’s current base of operations.
If the PCs are clever or charming enough, they may get a member of the staff to point them at the assassin’s employer, but they could just as easily get the staff to clam up by saying the wrong thing. Further, even if they find the right guy, they may botch interrogating, following, or tricking the cultist, leading to a dead end. That’s an awful lot of IFs. What if they can’t find the guy? What if they find him but fail to get anything useful out of him?
The cultist knows all the needed information. He can be interogated, mind-read, magically or mundanely tailed, and he’ll have useful evidence on his person if the PCs decide to pickpocket him (or loot his corpse). If they're unusually clever, they could get the cultist to hire them, or even convince him that they're on the same side (but that's a bit of a longshot).
I’m looking for suggestions for alternate clues/leads I can work in to the scene. Ways that screwing up their main objective can be interesting and fun, instead of simply a dead halt. Worst case, I need to come up with some kind of deus-ex-machina clue I can drop on their heads, but I’d really prefer to work in some more organic leads. If the staff stop talking, how do they find their guy? If they get to the cultist, they have tons of options... but let's say they botch them all, what then?
Thanks for reading this far. Now that you’ve survived my wall of text, any thoughts?