DB

I left some breadcrumbs for my players that one of the shady people that they have been tailing had a scheduled ball. They made a good amount of effort to case the joint as they investigated the venue, got some uniforms to impersonate some of the wait staff of the hotel, and one of their party members was able to decipher and uncover the way that they were giving out invitations to the ball–they snagged themselves an invitation to the event.

As they were making preparations for the day of the ball, and of that meeting, I had to think to myself. Alright, they’ve been preparing for this moment. They made intelligent plans that had a chance of failure and roadblocks, but they were able to pass their relevant checks to make all of these preparations possible. I know to a point about some of the things that the organization planned to do at the event, but what could I cue the players in on? How could I honor their preparations?

I didn’t have an answer at the time, so I held the session. The organization that was hosting the event had a countdown that the party didn’t feel like they could reasonably stop without blowing their cover, so they let the countdown go through. The organization launched some new buildings and businesses in the city, whose purpose lay unknown.

In fact, a lot of things were still unknown. The people that were supporting this initiative were all different sorts of folks, who they were able to become acquainted with, but it didn’t appear that they knew of any shady things going on. It was as if within this inner organization as well, that there were secrets still hidden behind the scenes.

It was unsatisfying for my players, even as the city came under attack by monsters. Sure, the monsters were a direct problem that they could solve with punching, bullets, and superpowers, but I could tell that I didn’t reward them properly for the preparations that they made.

I thought about it for a bit, and it clicked to me. Oh.

This was heist.

They weren’t trying to obtain an object, they were trying to get information. It was reconnaissance. They made plans and they integrated themselves in a way that they would be able to covertly obtain…information. And information was something that I didn’t give them, despite them getting over all of these hurdles.

So, in the following session, I allowed them to ask me questions relevant to the party and their investigations, and I rewarded them for their prep with this information. Would it have been better with some sort of better lore delivery device than the abstraction of these…essentially, cut scenes, where their characters found out this information? Yes, it would’ve. But, it was better than not honoring their choices at all.

Heists are more than just about stealing something. It is posturing and preparing themselves in a way to better accomplish a goal. Like a heist, you can provide roadblocks and complications along that goal to make a scene dramatic. A good story has complications that have to be overcome, both within the person and outside of the person, and its our job as GMs and facilitators to spice up the game with proper roadblocks, as needed. Blades in the Dark has excellent ideas for setting up roadblocks and pacing stories that go covert.

Blades in the Dark GM Moves

We can learn a lot from Blades in the Dark, which is technically a Powered by the Apocalypse game, and has some excellent GM moves for reminding us how to keep tensions high in both heists, and in all other types of scenes and scenarios where your party is carrying out more covert plans than storming the castle outright.

Introduce a Threat

When a character does something to achieve a goal, ask if a threat is in the way. If there is, describe the obstacle and danger at hand and ask how they deal with it. Conflict is central to story, and even small threats can help drive some drama!

They can be things like security threats–being spotted by security and getting chased! They can be tricky threats, as you get set up or lured into an ambush. They can be social threats, like making an awkward blunder, or losing someone’s respect. Or they can be violent, like getting disarmed, surrounded, or severely harmed.

Blades in the Dark has more explicit examples of all these categories of threats, with an excellent clock progression system, so check it out!

…Or Let Them Do It

If there’s nothing preventing the characters from doing the thing, there’s no roll required. If they want to get something more than what they receive, there then might be some risk involved, and you can Introduce a Threat!

…Or Make a Fortune Roll Using An Action

If they’re successful, let them do the thing! If you want to lean on degrees of success, have them roll to determine the degree of their success and if they get any additional benefits. Rely on fortune or luck, which is a common house rule in a lot of different TTRPGs.

Devil’s Bargain and Greater Effects

Offer twists and complications! Tempt the players with additional loot, other information that they were searching for but that they stumbled upon, or a familiar face that they were trying to find. Know what your characters want, and you can tempt them to overstep and push their luck with all sorts of devil’s bargains, or intrusions in the Cypher System.

Similar to a devil’s bargain, offer the characters an advantage or a higher degree of success for the risk of a worse position. Instead of just unlocking a door, perhaps they ease all future tasks involving locked doors in this facility. Instead of just disabling the alarms for a moment, perhaps it is unnoticed that the alarms are silent! Instead of just flirting with a politician and getting them to like you, perhaps you can convince them to bring you to their office where they have some sensitive information.

All of this can be at the cost of failing harder, which can be tempting with both the twists, complications, and temptations.

Tick the Clocks

Blades in the Dark uses a clock system to track progress of tasks, whether it be impending trouble, broken relationships, or new enemies. The Index Card RPG does a similar thing by representing all threats, or task progression through a heart system. By knowing what is on the table in terms of threats and progress in an explicit way, players can make more informed decisions based on the risk that they can see.

Acknowledging Objectives and Wants

The biggest takeaway of all of this is to both explicitly ask and observe your players actions. What do they want, and what are they doing to get it? What obstacles can you provide to slow down that progress? Will it challenge their capabilities, or will it challenge their character? Is there potential for some of the characters to have differing opinions of how to accomplish a goal for a moral reason?

Hopefully this helps with your games, and hopefully your players will feel honored and heard as you honor their decisions by both rewarding them and sticking them into stickier situations. Happy gaming!