[UA] Re: Hotel of Renunciation

[Mike Dewar]

-----Original Message-----
From: ua-bounces at lists.unknown-armies.com
[mailto:ua-bounces at lists.unknown-armies.com] On Behalf Of Mike Dewar
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 4:36 PM
To: ua at lists.unknown-armies.com
Subject: [UA] RE: UA Digest, Vol 4, Issue 271

<snip>

Either the PCs crack the paradigm in one very short display, or the
Sleepers find out about them and crush them like bugs. Sure, the
Sleepers aren't infallible, but they're well-armed and -equipped enough
that the PCs should get stomped with overwhelming force. It's one thing
to be on the Sleeper's Hit List. It's another thing entirely to be at
the TOP of that list. 

</snip>

I'm not sure about that... after all, the Sleepers are basically some
enlightened amateurs with guns.  Overwhelming firepower against the
unaware, but if they faced a similarly armed group ( certainly a
possibility ) they might have some problems.

Now, if the sleepers have been recruiting from returning Iraq /
Afghanistan vets...

*****

I don't know. Enlightened amateurs perhaps, but there are still
approximately two hundred or so Sleeper agents worldwide. And if the PCs
overriding objective is "expose magick", I'm sure the Sleepers will come
down hard. 

Sure, a similarly-armed group could oppose them - but PCs don't usually
command those sort of resources. Sure, they could try and make alliances
(TNI is the most obvious), but even TNI is still keen on keeping magick
quiet and exploitable. Alex doesn't want everyone to know about the cookie
jar. 

I ran a game in which the cabal basically made their way on the Sleepers
target list in part due to their own fault, in part due to some deft framing
by enemies. The Sleepers came down hard with a swift set of assassination
attempts, focusing on the weak spots of the party (for example, the office
lift was filled with park dirt and rigged to collapse, which badly nerfed
the Urbanomancer who used it every day). 

The PCs survived by a combination of skill, luck and power, and the Sleepers
went Cliomantic, getting conventional law enforcement involved (Everyone
"knows" they're terrorists) and they ended up on the run. 

Eventually, they were able to convince the Sleepers that they would play
nice from now on and that they would bring down a good few Sleepers in noisy
fashion before they died. 

The thing I found most lethal about the Sleepers was that they're
well-informed, patient and anonymous. They do their homework, they learn
your weaknesses and taboos and then they hit you where it hurts. And worst
of all, you don't see them coming. After all, they know what you look like
(eyewitness accounts, surveillance) but you don't know which of the dozens
of people on the street with you is actually a Sleeper about to pop you with
a silenced pistol, drop it on your body and stroll away. 

Much like the Mafia, they're not logistically invulnerable, but their
methods and techniques are undeniably effective. Especially versus a part of
five or so PCs. 

Also, let's not forget that Sleepers not withstanding, a great many adepts
may not be keen on waking the tiger. 

Besides the Sleepers issue, my other concern with the "Waking the Tiger"
idea is that it is still a very "quick" objective. It's comparatively simple
for an adept to blow the lid off everything. Melt your face on national TV.
Open a door to the White House during a presidential address and THEN melt
your face on national TV. 

Then the Sleepers come after you and probably kill you, but for better or
worse, the cover is blown. 

I'm more on-board with a middle-ground idea in which the Room wants to
increase magickal enlightment, but on an individual level. People using
their obsessions to warp reality is arguably the purest form of change a
Room could achieve. And if it's more about increasing the weirdness than
exposing the weirdness, then there's long-term scope. 

- Mike