Thieves Guild Crises

When your Looming Crises check comes up positive, roll on these (not a complete list below, should be expanded).

(This uses the conquest system; so read about that if "flags" doesn't make sense to you: http://detectmagic.blogspot.com/2014/03/conquest.html)

I'm thinking you can have separate tables for different ranges. One range for hard moves, the other for soft—one for warnings and another for the things warned of. 

At simplest, a 1 on the check is a hard move; a 2 is a soft move. 

FNPC = Flag-NPC = an NPC who herself represents influence or control in a realm. 

Warnings

leave grisly message for the guild

show faction surveilling, tailing, casing, conferring with law enforcement or another faction

capture / kill associate

threaten a member, PC, or FNPC

show something weird and dangerous

threaten an NPC a PC cares about

show the FNPC floundering, falling off the wagon, being irresponsible, generally managing the flag and/or himself poorly

show a faction fighting to retake a flag, giving PCs chance to intervene 

Crises

have factions ally against them 

have the FNPC lose it: the flag is destroyed, nonproductive, or captured

burned, looted, poison, plague a flag

kill / capture a member / FNPC, meaning the flag is either taken out or captured by faction

gank a PC, with opportunity to fight back

capture / arrest a PC with no chance to fight back but give opportunity later to escape or make a deal; remember, factions always want something

manifest something weird and dangerous as a threat right now

turn someone traitor

harm / capture / kill an NPC a PC cares about

have a faction capture a flag 

have an FNPC set them up 

 

15 Minute Adventuring Day: A Solution

Across all editions, people have complained about the 15 minute adventuring day: the party goes nova on the first encounter, then heads back to the town to rest. Repeat.

This is smart play. 

Dungeon restocking/tactics adjustment helps but maybe is not The Total Solution (TM). 

Here's something I'm doing. It's for a 4e game but should be broadly applicable:

WHEN THEY REGAIN THEIR DAILY RESOURCES, MAKE A HARD MOVE.

A "hard move" is a term from Apocalypse World. It refers to the dreaded and irrevocable consequence of an explicit or implicit threat. 

In combat, a hard move is injury/death. 

In addiction narratives, a hard move is relapse. 

In relationship narratives, a hard move is they're seeing someone else. 

In a thieves guild game, a hard move is a raid on your HQ or the arrest of one of your members. 

So find out what your hard moves might look like and tell the players that this metastructure is in effect. 

If they care about the consequences of your hard moves, the problem is resolved. 

Sure, they can nova and drop the mic, but then their significant other gets kidnapped. 

Upside: something interesting is always happening, and things get more complicated. 

So, if the 15 minute day is a problem for you, here you go. 

This has the side benefit of addressing an issue in 4e: by default, it doesn't matter how well the party fights as long as they win. 

With this rule in effect, though, fighting well means you lose fewer hp, which means your surges will last longer, which means you can go longer between extended rests, which means you limit the GM's hard moves.