I asked about this on reddit a while ago, but didn’t get any answers. This community looks a bit more active so I’ll ask again here.
In a game that’s just ended, I’ve been playing a Pusher with a fun (if not very serious) concept, but I never really figured out how to engage with most of my playbook moves. My character was the frontman of a rock band, and the other PCs were the other band members (this lead to some interesting RP opportunities). I started with Rabble Rouser, which I used exactly once in three missions, though that one time it worked to great effect as I persuaded a crowd of protesters to riot. I never used Vision Thing in any significant way. They playbook may simply not have been a good match for my gaming style (and that’s OK, I wanted to try it out even though I knew it might not be a good fit).
Anyway, my real question today is mostly about a specific mechanic, not about the playbook in general. With my first advance I took Believers to create a Huge gang (our band’s Fan Club), and it was not at all clear how it was supposed to work in play. The rules for how to define the gang were easy to follow, but what I could do with them afterwards was not at all obvious.
My MC made a completely reasonable ruling that I could ask my Believers for stuff related to their tags (i.e. I could get equipment or [gear] from them since they had resources, and they could show up anywhere in the city since they were spread out), and I would always get what I asked for without a roll, as long as I was willing to help them out with some kind of complication, like the option from a 7-9 result on hit the streets.
While that seemed to work for our game (for the one mission we ran after the gang appeared), I’m not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to go. In the only other game I’ve played in that had a Pusher, the gang was smaller so the PC was the gang’s leader. That was a lot more straight forward (if perhaps borderline OP, when it came to violence).
So how are a Pusher’s Believers supposed to work? How is the gang you create different than a gang that any character could get as a contact simply by using Declare a Contact? Is the only benefit that you get to choose their tags? I’m especially interested in the larger sizes of gangs, where the PC isn’t the gang leader.
The Pusher in my game is a violent revolutionary gang leader. He uses Vision Thing in social interaction all the time.
The Pusher in my game is (also) a violent revolutionary who is advocating for AI rights and trying to hasten the Singularity. They (also) use Vision Thing to “convince” people to help the cause.
It sounds like you are using your Believers “correctly” for your situation. A huge group of fans would be able to provide limited help in nearly any situation and location, as they’re spread out and have a wide variety of skills to draw from.
They probably won’t risk death or do anything too dangerous or illegal. But you could have them run surveillance, keep tabs on targets, run interference, go to them for intel and gear. Maybe even use them as a safe house.
I think the difference IS that it’s not implied you would have to deal with any of the quid pro quo that’s typical with Declare a Contact (even though some GMs might instinctively add that wrinkle in retroactively).
Omari Brooks You’re right that it’s implied, but there’s no explicit mechanics to it. That what I’m asking about. It seems like there should be a mechanic spelling out what you can ask a large gang for and get for free, and what you might need to negotiate and/or pay for (perhaps by hitting the streets with the gang’s leader or something).
I think that depends far too much on the fictional circumstances for there to be any universal rules about it.
Chris Stone-Bush
I agree. A cult leader asking followers to be a meat shield doesn’t sound as crazy as a pop culture icon asking their fan club to do the same. It all comes down to genre tropes, game tone, etc.
The MC and player work out how much the followers are willing to give at the table with a subtle reminder that the player used one of their ability slots for this; it SHOULD be more useful and less costly than a basic move like Hit the Street.
Their tags make all the difference. My PC’s gang is violent and mobile, so the gang serves as exfiltration for the party on missions almost every time. They’re well armed, but the PC still has to make a Hit the Street check to get weapons and armor from them. After all, it’s his gang, and his gang has to buy the weapons and armor, so it’s all coming out of his cred one way or another.
But because of the fiction, he’ll never NOT get a weapon, even on a 6-. A 6- would be something like “Griffon will let you have his grenade launcher, but that means he’s only got a light pistol now, and he kind of resents you for it. He loved that launcher. Called it Penny. Slept with it under his pillow. Has a tattoo of it over his heart. Also choose two from the list. [because I’m cruel like that]”