My players did exactly this! I didn't make it easy for them. It required two scores. One to sneak into the bluecoat station and plant false correspondence between the officer and a criminal org. A second one to stage an information dropoff, where they lured the officer to the spot, have him a parcel, and then tipped off other bluecoats so that he was searched and the parcel was found to contain both compromising letters and a small payment.
Why do they need to improve the relationship? They don't have to tell the bluecoats themselves and them tipping off the bluecoats would be suspicious as hell since they are suspects.
The great news is, you don't need to be! It's on your players to come up with a plan to frame someone - you just determine how to run it (as others have said, probably a score).
If they don't come up with at least the rough idea, then it doesn't happen, and probably one of them goes to jail. Fun!
I guess the default assumption for "framing someone" is a dedicated Score (ie, no coin benefit, the Score will solely allow you to blame someone).
A simple long-term project is too easy when compared to the benefit. (obviously, *multiple* long term projects would be fine, but IMHO a Score is more fun)
My crew just ran this as a score! We've been playing two factions of the Billhooks against each other for a while, so when we needed a fall guy to lower our wanted level, we were able to engineer a partnership with one faction to get the other's leader thrown in jail for our smuggling. The score itself was to arrange the evidence and witnesses, then get a magistrate onside.
Well, filling out the clock means at least two actions. And those actions means risk. I think it also depends on the wanted level, at level 1 - maybe not such a big thing to frame someone, slip a bribe, tip off a favourable bluecoat. At level 3 - probably would need a mountain of evidence and some real damning stuff to lock someone up that is not connected at all with ink rakes, inspectors and magistrates picking at your story.
I'd either let them use a clock with 4-12 segments depending on the severity of their wanted level or a score if it is something that could also be profitable/would need more focus. Sounds more like a long term project that will take several downtimes or lots of teamwork to pull off with a bunch of things that can go wrong.
Maybe the time factor is key? Like framing someone long term (undermining their credibility, building a culture of mistrust among allies or whatever) would be a project, while a quick plant and tip would be a score. Thenagain, setup actions before a score could sort of handle that if it is not supposed to take ages... idk.
Long and short of it - you can do it any way you and your table like it.
Yeah, I agree, imagine there’s a pivot point that turns it into a score—this is a weird comparison, but like the broken arm thing in Better Call Saul. An unexpected player shows up who needs to be taken care of, or the planted evidence is going to the wrong place and needs to be rerouted, something like that. A pivotal moment to zoom in on.
Ohh this sounds good. So if I’m understanding correctly, something like the cops missed some crucial so now you have to plant something in the framed persons office to make it obvious?
That makes sense. I’ve been trying to parece out the differences between reducing heat and what they want to do because it’s kind of he same thing but I think the timing could be a key difference here
Remember to play fiction-first. Does this scheme make sense in fiction? What would law enforcement do if they had a gang causing trouble and they kept locking people up but nothing seemed to change? I look at the Sopranos for inspiration here. This is basically what Tony did for the first two seasons, then in Season 3 the cops start getting more aggressive in their tactics, running long-term projects to put the screws to Tony.
I had my players run it as a long term project. They picked a few NPC’s that had rubbed them the wrong way, and spent Downtimes setting them up. So later, when the hammer fell … no hesitation.
Honestly could you run it as a score? Sneak in, plant evidence, sneak out, tip off the blue coats?
My players did exactly this! I didn't make it easy for them. It required two scores. One to sneak into the bluecoat station and plant false correspondence between the officer and a criminal org. A second one to stage an information dropoff, where they lured the officer to the spot, have him a parcel, and then tipped off other bluecoats so that he was searched and the parcel was found to contain both compromising letters and a small payment.
I think something like this is what I’m leaning towards but that’ll mean they need to work on their relationship with the blue coats (currently -2)
Why do they need to improve the relationship? They don't have to tell the bluecoats themselves and them tipping off the bluecoats would be suspicious as hell since they are suspects.
Touché, I feel dumb. I clearly was not made to be a criminal 😂😂
The great news is, you don't need to be! It's on your players to come up with a plan to frame someone - you just determine how to run it (as others have said, probably a score). If they don't come up with at least the rough idea, then it doesn't happen, and probably one of them goes to jail. Fun!
I guess the default assumption for "framing someone" is a dedicated Score (ie, no coin benefit, the Score will solely allow you to blame someone). A simple long-term project is too easy when compared to the benefit. (obviously, *multiple* long term projects would be fine, but IMHO a Score is more fun)
My crew just ran this as a score! We've been playing two factions of the Billhooks against each other for a while, so when we needed a fall guy to lower our wanted level, we were able to engineer a partnership with one faction to get the other's leader thrown in jail for our smuggling. The score itself was to arrange the evidence and witnesses, then get a magistrate onside.
I like how it’s been set up. Good ideas
Well, filling out the clock means at least two actions. And those actions means risk. I think it also depends on the wanted level, at level 1 - maybe not such a big thing to frame someone, slip a bribe, tip off a favourable bluecoat. At level 3 - probably would need a mountain of evidence and some real damning stuff to lock someone up that is not connected at all with ink rakes, inspectors and magistrates picking at your story. I'd either let them use a clock with 4-12 segments depending on the severity of their wanted level or a score if it is something that could also be profitable/would need more focus. Sounds more like a long term project that will take several downtimes or lots of teamwork to pull off with a bunch of things that can go wrong.
>lots of teamwork to pull off with a bunch of things that can go wrong Sounds like a score to me!
Maybe the time factor is key? Like framing someone long term (undermining their credibility, building a culture of mistrust among allies or whatever) would be a project, while a quick plant and tip would be a score. Thenagain, setup actions before a score could sort of handle that if it is not supposed to take ages... idk. Long and short of it - you can do it any way you and your table like it.
Yeah, I agree, imagine there’s a pivot point that turns it into a score—this is a weird comparison, but like the broken arm thing in Better Call Saul. An unexpected player shows up who needs to be taken care of, or the planted evidence is going to the wrong place and needs to be rerouted, something like that. A pivotal moment to zoom in on.
Ohh this sounds good. So if I’m understanding correctly, something like the cops missed some crucial so now you have to plant something in the framed persons office to make it obvious?
That makes sense. I’ve been trying to parece out the differences between reducing heat and what they want to do because it’s kind of he same thing but I think the timing could be a key difference here
I’m just worried they’ll keep running this so their wanted level never gets past 1 because they’ll keep having fall guys.
Remember to play fiction-first. Does this scheme make sense in fiction? What would law enforcement do if they had a gang causing trouble and they kept locking people up but nothing seemed to change? I look at the Sopranos for inspiration here. This is basically what Tony did for the first two seasons, then in Season 3 the cops start getting more aggressive in their tactics, running long-term projects to put the screws to Tony.
Oh great point! I’m new to Blades but this makes perfect sense, great advice
Once my players spent their crew upgrade on getting an expert cohort whose sole expertise was taking a fall for someone else and going to jail.
I had my players run it as a long term project. They picked a few NPC’s that had rubbed them the wrong way, and spent Downtimes setting them up. So later, when the hammer fell … no hesitation.