A question about the Vamp’s Web.
So Rafael (PC Vamp) is at a movers and shakers function. Amidst the other goings on, Lou (one of his vampire political opponents) has found Mr. Casing (a mortal with whom the PC wishes to do business) and swept him into Lou’s little group of sycophants, talking and smiling and shooting out subtle taunts and threats that the mortal misses because they are meant to flaunt the interception to the Rafael. Finally, Rafael gets pissed enough to go confront Lou and threaten him a bit more blatantly to back off.
Since Lou is threatening the Rafael’s interests, my player asked if Lou is in Raf’s Web. My first thought is no, because Raf went to him instead of vice versa, and I feel thematically the RAW “when someone comes to you to…” is important to the idea of luring someone into a web. Now, is it physical location (like Raf’s stomping grounds) or more metaphorical, (the player needs to fictionally position a little more and make Lou come back at him)? Or is the threat itself enough to enter the web?
I feel like it can’t be just the threat, because that would mean anything threatening a vamp would automatically invoke the web, and even if someone paid off the Debt, they would be back in immediately if they still had conflict of interests. I feel like coming at the player is the part that is important. Am I looking at this the wrong way?
I feel like the fact that Lou is deliberately taunting Raf is what makes it qualify as coming to him. Regardless of whether he shows up in person to twirl his little black mustache and ask what Raf intends to do about it, he’s ‘coming to’ Raf in a very real social way and shoving his interference in Raf’s face. It’s a confrontation, not just an ongoing event, if that makes sense.
Okay, so I’m correct that “comes to you” is a necessary component, but in this case it is actually fulfilled? I’m good with that.
Yeah, “comes to you” is necessary. I tend to read that literally (I want my vamps basically causing trouble until their opposition shows up at their bar and threatens them), but different games have different styles. 😀
The bonuses Raf gets make sense. I guess I’m still trying to get a handle on the Debt part of the Web, at least in terms of when it comes from a threat. Right now, Lou has mocked Raf as an upstart; Raf basically played into his hands by getting pissed enough to say “Blood is happening if you continue shenanigans.” A persuade roll after Raf’s threats did make Lou back down, but I don’t understand why Lou feel that he owes Raf, or rather, how does Raf wrangle a Debt’s worth of leverage?
If anything, Lou tried to put Raf in his place, lost some face for not standing up to Raf’s threats of violence, and is now angry instead of laughingly mocking. The threat is an insult and now Lou wants, granted in a more suitable fashion, some payback. How does that equal Debt?