Editing Magipunk:Campaigns (section)

= The Action =

So now that we've got the idea of who the PC's are, what are they going to do?

The section on who they are alludes to the answer.  Basically, the world of Magipunk is changing too rapidly for anyone to cope with in a systematic way.  The Alliances have a lot of power, sure, but they're also big, creaky bureaucracies, and situations are going to arise that they need to deal with in a fast and efficient manner.  Similarly for every other power faction, from the Royal Family right on down to a dockside gang/New Cult.  That's where the PC's fit in -- they're the kind of capable people, maybe not adverse to breaking a few laws, that you turn to when you've got a difficult problem that you need solved.

What kind of problem?

Maybe an independent tradesman is getting pushed around by an Alliance, and wants to push back.  He might hire the PC's to protect him or his store from the Roget Eagles, or to get some dirt on whatever Alliance guildmember is the one pushing him around.  Or if he's less scrupulous, maybe he just wants the guildmember bumped off.

Maybe the Glassmakers and the Spinners are both starting to manufacture the latest hot good (it could be anything from a new drug to a new suspension system for heavy carts), and the Glassmakers want the Spinners production to be held up for a few months.  A little sabotage would do the job, if it was done discretely...

Maybe a local crime boss is trying to bootstrap himself up into a real position of power.  To do that, he needs mana, and plenty of it.  What better way to get it than a daring theft of power tokens!  But you don't just hire any old thugs for that, you need people with subtlety.

Maybe a young man was seduced by an Elven woman and has gone to live in the Elvish quarter.  His family is convinced that he'd never do it of his own accord, but he's cut off all ties with them, and they want somebody to go and drag him back (and, incidentally, figure out why the Elves are so interested in him in the first place).

Maybe there have been a series of murders in the Slums.  The City Watch doesn't have the manpower or expertise to investigate, and the Alliances don't care because it's not in their territory.  The locals don't have much, but they're willing to give what they have to find the culprit and stop him before he kills again.

== The Long Term ==

If you're just running a one-shot game, pretty much all you have to do is pick some kind of problem for the PC's to solve, hire them, and go to town.  But if you're looking at a longer game, something to consider is what kind of changes the PC's are making to the world.

It's been a tradition in cyberpunk gaming to make the PC's lackeys of the Man (the Megacorps in traditional cyberpunk).  That's reasonable in a bunch of ways -- the Megacorps (or the Alliances, in Magipunk) have all the money and power, so why not?  But most cyberpunk games aren't so concerned with establishing a dynamic setting.

In Magipunk, the Alliances are currently at the top of the pile, sure.  But that could change.  And it's worth considering whether you want your characters to be all about perpetuating the current situation, or helping overturn it.  Consider the possibility of having the PC's work for employers other than the Alliances, and of having a real effect on the Alliances.

One thing that Atathorn really doesn't have right now, and has a demand for, is someone to solve crimes.  The Alliances don't do it, unless they're the victims of the crime.  The Watch doesn't do it.  The Royal Guard certainly doesn't even think about it.  That's the kind of business that the PC's could easily find exciting enough to game with, suited to their talents, and yet doesn't leave them as nothing more than another tool for the Alliances.

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There's not much here now, I know, but it's a start.  Fee free to add onto it.