Johannes replied to me: > One of our people inside will give the signal, is a lot easier, then > smuggling a pc in. Unless the pcs smell rat early and insist to place > someone inside, that is the logical way to go.
As the GM, you can always decide that conspiracy Ia has no suitable (suitably expendable) asset and hence uses a PC. > The hostage i have in mind is not actually a VIP but a lower class Roman. > She would be brought into the villa as the sort of date, you take to > occasions, that are to rough to take you wife with you. As this she will > be dressed up as noble. The pcs already know her personally, so once they > see her, in the code-dress for the hostage, they will likely smell rat. To make this work as advertised, she would have to appear as a woman whose security is important to important people -- enough to buy the killer of a noble an escape. Does conspiracy Ia tell the PCs that they have a genuine VIP, or a fake one? If the PCs think that the hostage is the false niece of senator X, why would the choice of actress ring alarm bells? - They know her, they know that conspiracy I and II know her, so she could not possibly be impersonating the niece. - Even if she is not known to I and II, she might not match the description of the niece. We are in a world without TV and newspapers, but the top Roman aristocracy is a small group. You can't just invent nobles out of whole cloth, you can merely play an existing one. If the PCs are told that the real niece is part of the plan, then seeing the NPC would be alarming, unless the right dress can be put to coincidence. How many women in the villa with a red dress and a white stole? > They will need someone, who is into the organisation of buying doubles to > get Tribunus in. Someone needs to "accidently" give Tribunus a not that > blunt sword. That could be the same person. Not sure on the second part. Real gladiator with a balanced metal club vs. junior officer with a real sword. I would probably bet on the gladiator. > Someone needs to convince the emissary, to fight the Tribunus double > rather then the double of an other gladiator. That comes back to the number of fights per evening, and you had mentioned that there are different grades of doubles for different grades of fight. Make it the only fitting match. * Certain gladiator types were commonly matched against each other. One pair are a secutor and a retiarius, you can't pull them apart. * One of the gladiators is in his last match before his promotion to guard. He will fight a specific noble. * Maybe one of the other fights is between women. Would the noble from group II fight a female gladiator? Even if he would, the female noble could complain about him stealing her designated victim: could a female noble fight a male gladiator? * Maybe one of the nobles isn't all that fit and agile. They have just the right sparring partner for him, sorry. > I propably have igotten an idea for that. If the person primarily in > charge of buying doubles is not part of Ia but only an assistant of > him, then the sale of the Tribunus double needs to be staged. And > conspiracy III might get wind of that sale and ask for something for them > to be done as rider to the double sale. > > But what? > > Some of their people to be included to the house staff seems shakey, > because even if some are sold as houseslaves to the same purchaser, they > might get used at other domeciles. And it would take a while until newly > placed spies get a chance to do something. Is the staff only slaves? Sure, they're the basic workforce, but they might need some professional specialists -- a good cook, an extra maitre'd might be hired rather than bought. > Tribunus might be asked to do something for them, once he is in the villa. > But what can he do, while mostly confined in a cell, that helps a > conspiracy. Carry either a message or an object in. Conspiracy III has an asset who can move relatively freely within the villa, but not leave. He will look over all recent arrivals and watch for a sign to collect the message. Hurt or kill somebody in the 'gladiator' barracks. This could be just revenge, unrelated to the main plot, or a way to get somebody else a promotion. Only a 'gladiator' can make it look like a training accident. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
