Hey

I recently imagined a session which I could call "reverse sneaky game". Players would have to guard a VIP or a precious cargo and some NPC would have to kill it or steal it. Like in "Thief", "Dishonored", or "Splinter Cell" series, but from the perspective of guards. How could I do this? I think they should be given a map of the area and a possibility to invent their own traps, security system elements and where they would like to patrol. Any ideas, fellow GMs?

Hmm. I feel this invites a lot of possible player character frustration if not done properly.

If one of them has the rank to choose the guards paths let them, likewise if there's a tech priest or tech minded person let them help on security. If there's a more shady character built for underhanded dealing then let him think the way a criminal might think.

The issue would come in on you NPCing the theif. Maybe if you let them plan their safety measures in a seperate room if they're comfortable enough with the rules and resources you give them it could work.

I think it`s a great idea but actually doing it with OW will be an absolute pig.

For a start, it is prone to a phenomena I call "shortfilm" where a potential plotline is resolved rapidly, unsatisfyingly (and often fatally) at the first hurdle.

It is a phenomena often noted by it`s absence, that is a character not undertaking a reasonably expectable action that would cut the plot off short. (The most famous example of this is the gunners who decide to let C-3PO and R2-D2`s escape pod get away despite orders to shoot down any escape pods, consequently causing the empire to fall for the cost of a single turbolaser blast.)

Prime examples of the phenomena in OW would be a TPK in an opening scene ambush, or the big bad being murdered by PCs in the prologue "because he sounded evil."

In this case it`s "As you crouch behind the barricades on only approach to the VIP`s room, you hear the crump of one of your grenade tripwires in the distance. Jim the sapper turns to Bill the Commissar and smiles. mission accomplished."

Of course a little creative GMing will get you out of shortfilm situations but you don`t want to make the players feel cheated if you are making them spend time, effort and supplies trapping the place.

Then the questions of how powerful a lone-wolf infiltrator type NPC should be and if they should actually be alone. (I think not.)

Do you want the VIP to die anyway? Does it even matter in the long run?

In this case it`s "As you crouch behind the barricades on only approach to the VIP`s room, you hear the crump of one of your grenade tripwires in the distance. Jim the sapper turns to Bill the Commissar and smiles. mission accomplished."

Of course a little creative GMing will get you out of shortfilm situations but you don`t want to make the players feel cheated if you are making them spend time, effort and supplies trapping the place.

Then the questions of how powerful a lone-wolf infiltrator type NPC should be and if they should actually be alone. (I think not.)

Do you want the VIP to die anyway? Does it even matter in the long run?

This is pretty much what I'd like to accomplish. The players killing or stunning the intruder(s), being rewarded more for the latter. I've downloaded recently A Falling Water House model from the Sketchup Warehouse and I think it would be cool location for this.

I will have to think about what the infiltrator will know about the location, my players and the VIP - that's the most important thing. Then what type of infiltration will he prefer - splinter cell-like sneaking or hitman-like identity thievery. In the end - security measures and player's possibilities.

Connecting it with the plot would be my second thought. You can always come up with something here. My main concern is to provide entertainment for my players and myself.

As a GM who has run operations like this, 1 of the most important thing for you is to know what your assassin(s) know about the target and his location. The make your plans according to that info.

That way you have a plan, done before your PC's plan security. Then make the only changes to the plan like, a PC security post that way obvious, or they lay out anti-personal traps. Think of it as working a PC(s) vrs a Team of NPCs doing security.

Also know what groups might want him, dead and the assets they csn bring. Can they afford top of the line Hitter(s), a hired merc killer(s), or is the hit team a group of gang bangers. Each will have their own style of attack. And if you want have fun and the group behind the killing can afford it, an attempt by gang banger(s) can both give the PC an "easy" win, and yet provide the real killer with some knowledge of their plans and security measures.

Enjoy, just make sure to remember this is 1 of the few times you are truly playing against the PC. Make sure you remember they are the "Stars" but well not everything has to go their way.

My basic point was that the players can be unsatisfied succeeding with no direct inolvement (another patrol or a trap far away will deal with the infiltrator) or they will feel cheated if it seems you have ignored their traps to give the infiltrator a straight run at the target.

Lone enemy NPCs tend to fall on their arse in a hail of gunfire.

No matter what you think the players will do, they won't. So I wouldn't come up with an elaborate plan for how your NPC death squad is going to sneak in, or how they will avoid the traps your players are going to set, because in the end, who knows what they will think up.

That's the problem with giving them options, they will either A) waste hours of time arguing over where the best place to lay the mantraps are, or B) do something so incredibly dumb or frustrating for you that it ruins how you planned the mission to go. My players usually would do a combination of both.

So, the best way to do things is to do what GMs do best. Make it all up as you go along. Maybe some of their traps work, some of them don't. Make them feel as if their choices mattered, but not in a way that killed the whole mission with how excellent the preparations were. Maybe a mook sets off a screamer, or triggers a mine. As the players race to where the issue is, the real threat sneaks around behind to go deal with your VIP. Something that will end in a fierce gunfight, but is precluded by a mostly successful application of their options.

Just my two cents.

One idea could be something closer to this, figure out relevant uses of skills for setting traps or protecting the escort subject. Have them discuss plans and make the tests beforehand, looking at total results, in terms of degrees of success and failure. Then kind of shift to narrative for at least a couple waves of enemies or something, then use what they have as a kind of roadmap for circumstantial bonuses or penalties as they move their escort subject.

I couldn't be bothered to read all of the above so sorry if I am repeating. How about a lictor? With Tyranid escorts?

I don't really care who the bad guys are going to be. The most important is to make it entertaining and creative for players and me as well.

I think PCs should set up patrol routes and their traps. Then infiltrators should roll for their intelligence - how much will they know about them. Based on that they should plan the assassination/theft sticking to very basic, obvious rules.

Then infiltrators should try to sneak and when they fail (most likely at some point), there should be an encounter(most likely resolved by force).

You could always have it be rebels going after a planetary governor, have the infiltration turn into a clusterf**k of a full blown assault when it goes wrong (something like if the rebels have a bomb truck and some extra infantry intended to cover their escape but thrown in when it all hits the fan). Eventually have the group capture the enemy leader and drag him/her before the planetary governor.

Have the rebel leader look up in shock at the venal governor's bodyguard (who is a mix of hyper-competent sidekick to the governor and has been a helpful reasonable authority figure to the squad) and say something along the lines of "you're here but.." before the bodyguard shoots him/her in the head.

If the squad press the issue of what the hell the bodyguard is doing then you could have them go full "Hail Hydra" mode and kill/take the governor hostage and then try to fight their way out having been secretly a tzeentch cultist the whole time! (Genestealer or Tau agent or similar would also work).

The problem, as some have already said, about letting the players prepare is that if what they did doesn't matter in the end, it will be just wasted time. If in the end it matters too much (as in boom, main bad-guy dead), well... then it's over. But that's where GM-cheating comes in

If you want to, you could set it up as such: The players have the mission to guard/escort VIP to Place but along the way they start hearing whispers and sensing trouble in the VIP Staff or something. Being paranoid as all players are, they will soon start to prepare for **** hitting the fan. You can then give the players a short short time to plan their new defenses, traps and whatever. This will give them a sense of urgency to their planning which in the end can give them an edge but not completely destroy all the enemies.

In the end you could also have some of the players' traps fail because of an insider viewing their setups/overhearing their planing and telling Mr. Sneaky about em.

These things usually end up solving themselves when the sessions is running but don't let your players plan too long and be let down...

Good luck and please post the results of your session later!

I played a scenario like this in Dark Heresy a couple years back.

PCs knew a high ranking Administratum official was being targeted by a rogue Inquisitor. They were sent in and basically kidnapped him from the base he was based on and got back on their space ship. As they departed from orbit an enemy ship came into range and (unknown to them) fired a small boarding pod at them.

This is where it gets interesting. Although the PCs didn't know for sure they suspected (correctly) that the enemy had launched a bording pod at them. What they didn't realise was that the pod contained an Eversor assassin.

This is where the fun began.

The Eversor Assassin knew what the Adept looked like but not where he was. The Eversor was not prepared to destroy the whole ship for various plot reasons, not least that the bad guys needed absolute positive ID of a dead body (just in case the target wasn't on the vessel).

Therefore the Eversor first disabled various systems to leave the ship stranded in the warp while the Gellar fields were brought up to full strength.

He then attacked the room with the Adept in it, killing the guards and generally sowing terror.

However the PCs had switched the Adept out with an imposter and had hidden the Adept in one of the abandoned sections of the lower decks.

Eversor kills some technomats and accesses data logs to try and discern where Adept was hidden (Eversors are psycopathic killers but they ain't stupid). However he fails a couple of rolls and this is a non starter for him.

PCs resist urge to check on the Adept and trust their Tech Priests analyisis that the Eversor has found nothing.

Eversor begins stalking/observing PCs.

In meantime the PCs had prepped a landing shuttle and were making it obvious that they were preparing to translate out of warp. The idea being that this might bait the assassin.

The Eversor didn't fully take the bait. However he saw the PCs as valid targets of opportunity and thought it was worth destroying the landing shuttle in case it did have the Adept in it.

Eversor breaks PCs trap (appearing behind the Tech Priest in a control tower of the main hanger). Luckily they have plenty of NPC mooks to throw at him. Eversor plows through about 50 ship arms men and the PCs psyker before a series of lucky hits by the Arbites and Guardsman was enough to kill it (just) but not before it exploded, severely injurying (fate point) the Arbites.

It was a fun cat and mouse scenario that had the PCs on the edge of their seats. Its one of the scenarios I am more porud of actually.

I usually like to assume that the players are, for the most part, going to win, but every once in a while, something like this one pops up, and I still have to say "good job, folks" on managing to kill the Eversor. I'm one of those people who is a big fan of the Officio Assassinorum Operatives, and so anytime players have to go against an Eversor or Callidus (probably my favorite; I LOVE Culexus Assassins, but their target preference makes them a bit less likely, while Vindicare are coolz, but you rarely go against them, rather than watch heads pop) I am always thinking that their chances should STINK, and so, when they DO win, it's very cool to me, as I hope that it was very hard. Fun some of the crazy crap some people have to do to deal with these dealers of death.

I usually like to assume that the players are, for the most part, going to win, but every once in a while, something like this one pops up, and I still have to say "good job, folks" on managing to kill the Eversor. I'm one of those people who is a big fan of the Officio Assassinorum Operatives, and so anytime players have to go against an Eversor or Callidus (probably my favorite; I LOVE Culexus Assassins, but their target preference makes them a bit less likely, while Vindicare are coolz, but you rarely go against them, rather than watch heads pop) I am always thinking that their chances should STINK, and so, when they DO win, it's very cool to me, as I hope that it was very hard. Fun some of the crazy crap some people have to do to deal with these dealers of death.

It was funny because there was a psyker Interrogator NPC onboard who was wounded. The PCs kept implicating that maybe it was all heading for a 'GM pet' moment with the interrogator boldly rising to kill the Eversor......

.....Nope. Your on your own folks.

It built the reputation of the Arbite as a complete badass and insane luck particularly when he was disarmed by the Assassin and instead of running drew his baton and said 'lets dance'

Earlier in the battle he hit with his shotgun at range, the Eversor failed to dodge! And to cap it off the Arbite got a confirmed multiple righteous fury!

On the other hand the terror on the PCs faces when the Eversor appeared behind the Techpriest and proceeded to cut his way through the 50 or so NPC mooks that had been assembled in a few short rounds was palpable.

The problem, as some have already said, about letting the players prepare is that if what they did doesn't matter in the end, it will be just wasted time.

Not exactly. If they close the door so thaf the infiltrator has to choose another route then closing this door proved to be useful. Same thing with traps.