Avoiding patrols

[Le gob]

Avoiding patrols

It says the difficulty of the ongoing challenge in increased by 1 for each instance of:

• Heavy Melee Weapons
• Long Arms Weapons
• Shotgun Weapons
• Heavy Weapons
• Constructs (including Invested and subordinates)
• Undead (including Stitched and subordinates)
• Animal Companions

So I guesse, the above is prohibited in the areas patrolled by the guild.

What about:
Gremlins ?
Magic users /active spells ?
Pneumatic weapons ?
Augmented limbs ?
Augmented limbs with enhanced fist ?
Augmented limbs with crusher ?
Soulstones ?
People with disease ?

1) Are they legal ?
2) Does it mean trouble from the guards?

And I'm sure I forget some other things of interest for the guild guards...

[solkan]

1 hour ago, Le gob said:

Avoiding patrols

It says the difficulty of the ongoing challenge in increased by 1 for each instance of:

• Heavy Melee Weapons
• Long Arms Weapons
• Shotgun Weapons
• Heavy Weapons
• Constructs (including Invested and subordinates)
• Undead (including Stitched and subordinates)
• Animal Companions

So I guesse, the above is prohibited in the areas patrolled by the guild.

All of the items on that list are both difficult to conceal, and likely to cause unfortunate questions if discovered.  

Quote

What about:
Gremlins ?

There's a bounty to kill gremlins.  Are they turning in the gremlin?

Quote

Magic users /active spells ?
Pneumatic weapons ?
Augmented limbs ?
Augmented limbs with enhanced fist ?
Augmented limbs with crusher ?
Soulstones ?

All of the items in your part of the list may cause unfortunate questions, but aren't necessarily difficult to conceal.  If you think the item would be difficult to conceal and likely to cause unfortunate questions, then you should increase the target number.

Quote

People with disease ?

That depends entirely on the disease.  One of the books remarks on the seasonal Malifaux flu, and the disease quarantine efforts.

At a certain point, you have to reach a point where you ask the players to explain what extraordinary measures they're taking to get their extraordinary lot across the checkpoint without getting detained/starting a firefight.

[spooky_squirrel]

On top of @solkan's remarks here:

6 minutes ago, solkan said:

All of the items in your part of the list may cause unfortunate questions, but aren't necessarily difficult to conceal.

If you are looking to bump difficulty for Fated characters walking around with obvious augments or active magical effects, there's plenty of in-theme ways to do that. Active magic effects can be sniffed out by Guild Witch Hunters and various Arcanist assets. Augmentations and pneumatic weapons can draw attention from Union enforcers (if you're not a known Union affiliate) or Guild investigators from Hoffman's Amalgamation Division (if you're not a known Guild affiliate). If you decide to have the patrols have attached auxiliaries that look for things your Fated crew has, it provides a basis for bumping difficulty.

[DarkSpade]

What book is that challenge in?

[Le gob]

Just now, DarkSpade said:

What book is that challenge in?

It's from "into the steam"

[Le gob]

14 minutes ago, spooky_squirrel said:

If you are looking to bump difficulty for Fated characters walking around with obvious augments or active magical effects, there's plenty of in-theme ways to do that.

The goal isn't to increase the difficulty, just to understand exactly what is considered ok, and what isn't.
We relalised that our group have a TN high enough already for this challenge and weren't so sure we took everything into account.
So far, we have 2 people carrying rifles and an undead, that makes a TN 10 already.
But if augmented limbs/weapons should be included, the TN would be much higher.

[spooky_squirrel]

Just now, Le gob said:

The goal isn't to increase the difficulty, just to understand exactly what is considered ok, and what isn't.
We relalised that our group have a TN high enough already for this challenge and weren't so sure we took everything into account.
So far, we have 2 people carrying rifles and an undead, that makes a TN 10 already.
But if augmented limbs/weapons should be included, the TN would be much higher.

Then the group needs to be very, very careful about their route selection and clothing. The Fated character with the double full arm augmentations should keep their shirt on, and the people with soulstone jewelry might want to keep them in their pockets. As for what's okay and what isn't, that depends heavily on where the patrols are and what the patrol's mission is: a detail pairing that's entirely up to you. Unless the patrol has magic sniffers along, they probably won't notice active magical effects in the area. Unless the players are doing something that makes their augmetics obvious (polishing them to a high shine and walking around with them exposed near light sources), the patrols won't necessarily notice them.

 

Bear in mind that your group just needs to avoid margins of failure, so if the Ongoing Challenge is a 8 success/2 fail challenge and the TN is 10, they just need to make sure they don't fall below a 6 on their total if they cannot pass (cheat fate for at least a 6 total). This avoids the fail tick and gives more time to the team members who are doing well at the Challenge.

[Le gob]

2 minutes ago, spooky_squirrel said:

Bear in mind that your group just needs to avoid margins of failure

We play in hardcore mode.  In our games any failure increases the margin of failure by 1, as we found the core rule too easy.

[Redbeard]

What is considered okay is largely up to the Fatemaster. Into the Steam provides some nice examples, but it can't account for all possibilities (especially in future books).

For example, maybe one of your players is carrying a large sign that says "I'm going to kill the Governor-General." That will probably raise the TN, but you can't really expect that to be listed in the books.

Anything overtly hostile (weapons, pneumatics that look like weapons), anything illegal (visible spells, undead things, etc), or anything that is particularly out of the ordinary (open pustules oozing fluids, a man riding on another man's shoulders, etc) is likely to bring around the attention of the guards.

[EnternalVoid]

One thing to remember here, this challenge is if the Fatemaster wants to use it.  I doubt everyone will use it every time a group walks down the street as it is meant as an Example for actively avoiding patrols.  So it could be more for the times where the Fatemaster wants to build the moment by having the Fated avoiding notice as being caught by a patrol would be a problem.  I would not likely use this all the time as it would slow down the game... unless some of the Fated have gotten themselves wanted and are showing their faces in places they shouldn't be.  Or they group likes to travel around looking like a Hitmen squad *No officer, this Alpine Machine gun is for self defense... Yes I know this is Downtown... the sword?  Oh the Great Sword.  Ya that is Self defense too... YES I know this is downtown, why do you keep asking me that?*.

Also remember that failing the challenge is okay as long as you do not get a margin of failure, that is what adds to the Failure Requirement.  So you would need 4 margins of failure to get the guards on you which makes this a pretty easy test.  Even the people that are poor at Stealth or Deceive just have to make sure they don't get 5 under the TN *so if it is 10, you have to make sure you get a 6* while also making sure several of your people pass it.

[spooky_squirrel]

Yeah, I prefer to use the margin of failure approach because that allows more freedom with the TN setting as well as allowing pursuit-based card cycling without setting the Fated up for failure. For instance, if I've got an Arcanist Drudge trying to evade Guild patrols (using Stealth, a Training skill challenge), the player will be able to cycle cards if they don't have a hand to succeed with by cheating to inside the margin range (failed a skill challenge, draw a card), which plays into the stoic and determined nature of the Drudge Pursuit: continuous effort will eventually pay off.

If that same Drudge has no trouble on the first few stages of the Ongoing Challenge, I can use the fact that that Drudge has an augmented arm or to make them stand out a little bit more to justify bumping the TN. If they're really struggling (no successes and one of several failures was a critical failure), I can open up the door for them to do something to improve their odds, like throwing a tool into a far corner to create a distraction and justify reducing the TN.