@tymire: But a scene aspect can only be 'tagged' once, and then she's no better off than anyone else unless she spends fate points, correct?  Something that always bugs me a bit about some of the maneuver/scene aspects/Declarations is that sometimes it seems like there should be some more 'relative strength' on them... ie: Being blind and being off balance shouldn't have the same value.  A aspect that's harder to set up, like, say an amplified magic zone, seems like it should be always on.  Rather, I guess, it feels like the work they put into setting up a situation/aspect should pay off more than just "oh, I show up to the combat and apply maneuvers to the scene"

@Wolfwood: Actually, the vampire is already using a social conflict against the artist character, and if he succeeds, the artist is going to get convicted of being a child molestor/stalker (something along those lines).  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".

I do see your point about forcing the issue on them.  But @toturi: Yes, it kind of does.  I find it boring when the players have untainted successes that they didn't have to work their asses off to acheive.  And if I'm bored with the story I'm telling, I'm not having fun.  And further, them not coming out like roses is like a giant plot device engine to help my game move forward.  Conflict drives stories ya know?

@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.  So I guess I feel like 'compel' to fight the vampire is taking away their choice.  Plus, the Kincaid-expy has enough FP to just buy out of it.  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.  I've suggested to them involving other vampires, the fairy courts, simply bigger badder creatures, etc, and they're all like "eeeeeeehhhh no."   

@Roxy: I really lik the idea of the field is a temporary power, I think that would be the best way to express it mechanically.  I did try and set them up for a big church shoot out last time, but they refused to engage, and Antonio wasn't interested in a big public fight for no gain (the paintomancer and sorceress were absent).

The party is at Refresh 7 Skill 28, so I think a straight up fight for any 1 v 1 of them would indeed be a suicide run for that character.  I have been having a chat with a couple of them, pretty much calling them out on being so passive.  I told them they should go to offense, because an immortal vampire has all the time he needs to pick them part as long as they aren't doing anything but reacting to his moves. 

What I would do in the party's situation is use social conflict to separate the mercenaries and Antonio.  The reason the Kincaid-expy is so wary is that 2 of the mercenaries nearly put him in the hospital (in fact, he was taken out the first time, but we discovered we handled grenades wrong so rerolled the combat).  I mean, Antonio has outright killed one of the mercenaries (the paintomancer had obtained some of his hair and was using it to track them), so it shouldn't be that hard for the party to use that to help these guys turn on the WCV.  They just aren't THINKING of it.  Plus, they have a sorceress and the Kincaid-expy whose got a couple grenades, so even if they want to just go in on assault, they can throw enough aoe power in there to down most of the mercs instantly. 

That sounds like a really cool idea to me.  I'm not sure who I could use in that role though.  They don't trust anything Tarsiel says (the Denarian that one of the characters is carrying around the coin for, and another has a shadow of).  I guess I could try and get them to talk to the owner of the local accorded neutral grounds bar. 

I don't like the idea of Antonio just publicly attacking them.  He's already acting pretty in the open for a White Court, which I'm justifying by saying he's enraged over the death of his brother; I think appearing in person for a social denouncement might be too much.  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."

Also with BB on this one, noclue, that sounds like a ridiculously awesome campaign.

So in my campaign, as you may or may not be aware, the party is currently under attack by a White Court vampire, because in their backstory, 2 of the party members killed his brother.   While party members other than these 2 are just targets of opportunity to the vampire (except the WcVirgin who he's trying to get to turn), the party basically has decided that they don't want to kill the WCV, because their worried all his 'friends' will show up and the situation will just get worse.

They've come up with a plan to try and trick Antonio (The WCV) into thinking at least one of hte party members is dead, but they've pretty much realized it won't work, cause he's been spying on them for weeks and generally has the drop on them.  He has 8 skilled mercenaries with him (he started with 10, 2 have been removed one way or the other).  He's framing the eccentric artist member (Lucian) of the party as a pedophile (extended social conflict), but will settle for just killing the changeling sorceress (Melody) if it seems like she'll escape into the Nevernever or something. 

I think they should go with one of the following plans: Pool their parties SIGNIFICANT social power together and try and 'take out' Antonio socially.  For a white court, that's a pretty humiliating blow, and the less other WCV respect him, the less resources he has to draw on. Once he's no longer able to pay his mercenaries to shadow the party around town (and provide SIGNIFICANT gun muscle), the party should be a match for him in a fight if they just want to kill him at that point.  OR they could try and 'find a bigger fish' which is a strategy the Kincaid-expy (Sheridan) keeps veto'ing hard, because I feel OOC he's like "Oh noes, supernatural debt" more than what I think his IC reaction should be "Oh shit, I might DIE if I don't get help"  OR they could ask the Wardens for help (game takes place right before Changes) or even just the mortal police. 

The problem is, they don't seem to be coming up with any of these ideas.  They just feel stuck.  How do you suggest I push them in the right direction without giving them a multiple choice option list?

For an ectoplasmic replica like that, would it still fool him on initial examination, as long as the time limit hadn't passed?

Woooo!  I've got a small group up in Denton!

As do I sir.  Perhaps sometime our groups should meet for some kind of crossover event.

He thinks (and I dunno if correctly, but it sounds right), that if he has a gunshot wound in his stomach, he won't be getting out of bed for any kind of strenuous activity unless forced to.