Introduce an NPC who is an "expert" or a family member of one of the PCs.Yep kill him
Let that NPC be your voice.
Simple.
I personally would just kill the WCV if I were a player in your campaign. Why argue with a monster who is trying to frame a friend?
If I die, I may as well go out doing something I believe in.
As for the steamroll thing, I think they feel like if they engage him, they'll be steamrolled. Not entirely unfair I suppose, the Kincaid-expy did get nearly taken out by just 2 of his mercenaries when he was unprepared, but htat's without his armor or anything more advanced than a heavy pistol, but why they haven't even tried, I dunno.
Are they possibly right? Are there flaws in his plans that the PCs can exploit, or are they correct that they'll get steamrolled if they go after him?
Do the players always approach challenges with this amount of trepidation, or is there something about this game that is setting this off? DFRPG gives you lots of ways to go after stuff that's important to you, but it can be a bit daunting to find a way forward if you don't see how.
I think a OOC chat is in order. We were having some issues in our game with the players sitting on our hands waiting for an "opening" and the GM waiting for us to open something up. We fixed it by talking about expectations. We players decided to commit to going for what the characters want. The GM warned us that his NPCs were done playing nice and were going to be providing opposition. Since that chat, my character agreed to a favor for Aurora that threatened to send Winter and Summer into pitched warfare, summoned Titania and convinced her to buy my marker from Aurora in return for me finding her missing Knight, released an elder god of trickery and knowledge from his imprisonment at the hands of both courts. Another player went from vanilla mortal to Red Court Infected in order to save his niece's soul. Then we defeated a black magic wielding Warden and his warden henchmen who have been hunting us throughout the campaign, transported him to the mesopotamian version of hell and killed him there, while trapping his death curse in a magic bottle to avoid the sundering of the gates of hell.
That sounds like a badass campaign!
Though... he might show up to the artists trial and start slamming the lawyer and defense witnesses with despair, or any particularly sympathetic seeming jurors. And I'd let the party know: "The case against you seems flimsy, but with Antonio smashing these people emotionally, it seems like they might convict you."Depending on the theme of the city, the courts may really be a Temple to Justice. And/or the judge could be a True Believer in Justice. And the vampire faces a Threshold against his using Incite Emotion on the jurors/witnesses.
Depending on the theme of the city, the courts may really be a Temple to Justice. And/or the judge could be a True Believer in Justice. And the vampire faces a Threshold against his using Incite Emotion on the jurors/witnesses.
If I wanted an NPC to show up and ask the right questions in the scenario you described I'd probably make it a fae linked somehow to Melody's parents (I'm assuming that neither of them would work for this themselves). Maybe an ally who's just trying to keep up to date and thought they'd better figure out what Melody was doing lately so she didn't become a wildcard and upset their applecart while they were plotting something. This would give them a reason to be curious about the current problems and ask interesting questions from a rather different perspective. But it wouldn't give them a reason to waltz in and fix everything and they could easily claim disinterest or lack of free time to implement a plan if the PCs push them to intervene. Something like "Dear, I came to you because you're a potential ally like your mother/father. What kind of ally would you prove to be if you start out by begging me to clean up your messes?"
I tend to try and de-emphasize the actions of the White God as much as possible. I like to make sure it's clear he's just one of many being at that tier of power, the others being the Summer and Winter Mothers, the Goblin King, etc.
The city is our own town, not anything too major, but I do kinda like the idea of a True Believer in Justice being a judge.
I know some of my players haven't read the Dresden books, but hte majority have, so it frustrates me when none of them think to try stuff like luring a WCV into a threshold area (though I suppose they may think he's just too smart to fall for it).
You mentioned that the party doesn't want to 'just kill him', because that might prompt another round of vengeance.
Another round of vengeance sounds awesome! You should compel them to kill him ;)
@Toturi: Yes, that's exactly what the situation is. They are desperately working to preserve the status quo without leaving a plot hook I can write with later. Which is annoying at several levels. One, because imperfect solutions are way more interesting than perfect solutions, and two, the fact that they're treating it like I have them backed into an impossible situation, when rather, it's merely impossible for them to come out smelling roses and dancing with bunnies.
What the sorceress asked me if she could do was arrange some sort of amplifying field, in which her magic would be stronger than normal, and try and lure the vampire and mercenaries into that to fight. It seemed like that should be possible, but I didn't know how to set up the mechanics at all.
@Toturi: Yes, that's exactly what the situation is. They are desperately working to preserve the status quo without leaving a plot hook I can write with later. Which is annoying at several levels. One, because imperfect solutions are way more interesting than perfect solutions, and two, the fact that they're treating it like I have them backed into an impossible situation, when rather, it's merely impossible for them to come out smelling roses and dancing with bunnies.
@Toturi: Yes, that's exactly what the situation is. They are desperately working to preserve the status quo without leaving a plot hook I can write with later. Which is annoying at several levels. One, because imperfect solutions are way more interesting than perfect solutions, and two, the fact that they're treating it like I have them backed into an impossible situation, when rather, it's merely impossible for them to come out smelling roses and dancing with bunnies.
@Roxy: I don't agree with compelling in any form the sorceress to NPC herself.
What the sorceress asked me if she could do was arrange some sort of amplifying field, in which her magic would be stronger than normal, and try and lure the vampire and mercenaries into that to fight. It seemed like that should be possible, but I didn't know how to set up the mechanics at all.
@Toturi: Yes, that's exactly what the situation is. They are desperately working to preserve the status quo without leaving a plot hook I can write with later. Which is annoying at several levels. One, because imperfect solutions are way more interesting than perfect solutions, and two, the fact that they're treating it like I have them backed into an impossible situation, when rather, it's merely impossible for them to come out smelling roses and dancing with bunnies.Then why don't you give them what they want? You know what their idea of fun is. Is having your fun dependent on them not coming out smelling roses and dancing with bunnies?
What the sorceress asked me if she could do was arrange some sort of amplifying field, in which her magic would be stronger than normal, and try and lure the vampire and mercenaries into that to fight. It seemed like that should be possible, but I didn't know how to set up the mechanics at all.
Being blind and being off balance shouldn't have the same value.kinda depends if you're trying to see something, or getting pushed over.
It's just none of the 3 completely social oriented characters seem to realize "Hey, we could help out on this/engage in our own counter-campaign".You might want to just tell them about this option. Also, compels!
@noclue: I'm still pretty iffy on compels (and I'm bad about handing out fate points too) cause I'm still so used to D&D where the DM controls everything that's not a PC and the PCs have absolute control over themselves unless magically controlled.In DFRPG the players can make assessments and declarations to add things to the "everything that's not a PC" and the GM can use compels to exert some influence on the players. I think compels work best when the GM is playing to see what happens, rather than trying to force a particular thing. If they buy off the compel, cool. That says something about their character. If they take the compel, also cool. That says something else about the character.
I guess I feel like 'compel' to fight the vampire is taking away their choice.If you always make sure that the player you're compelling has the FP to buy their way out of it, then they have choice. Don't compel them to fight the vampire. Compel them to make choices. They wrote their Trouble, so make it cause them trouble. They wrote their High Concept, so ask whether they're willing to follow their principals even if it's inconvenient and dangerous. Compel dramatic choices based on two aspects in conflict, and see which one they follow and which one they turn away from. Or Compel one of their aspects in a way that demands a revealing player choice, but leave them free to act however they see fit. Tell them the FP is there to say whatever they choose, it comes with consequences.
Plus, the Kincaid-expy has enough FP to just buy out of it.Awesome. His FP are your freedom. If he's sitting back on a mountain of FP, you should compel him into spending those FP to make character defining decisions.
I do want to offer the players "and here's power with a price!" but they all seem SUPER gunshy of making any deals with things stronger than them.
Well, first put them in a position where they desperately need help if they're going to get what they want, then have the NPC offer them assistance.
...If they want to pussyfoot around until one of the characters gets put in jail for sex crimes...Stealing my brother's idea: