Quinns' Campaign Diaries, Vol 1 Pt 3
Added 2025-09-24 17:09:27 +0000 UTCComments
Ahh, perfect. Absolutely doing the false flag bombing for tonight's session.
Quinns Quest
2025-10-04 17:56:30 +0000 UTCOoh, perfect, yes. It shouldn't just be cops!
Quinns Quest
2025-10-04 17:55:32 +0000 UTCAhh these are cool, thought-provoking links!
Quinns Quest
2025-10-04 17:55:08 +0000 UTCI read some of this in other comments, but here's my two cents as well. Among the tools of a fascist state are conformity and bureaucracy. When I read through the Blades '68 materials, I thought of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier and how the fascist black and white order of 1984's Ingsoc butted up against the chaotic acid paisleys of 60s psychedelia—the forces of culture and counter culture. Maybe subject your players and their crew to "broken windows" policing. Punish their language use, their clothes, hair styles, where they loiter, whatever doesn't convey the will of the State. Perhaps also have their crew take an affectation or an aesthetic of a player and turn it into a fashion symbol. That, that, coat, pin, or—perhaps—turn of phrase, is appropriated by a movement and maybe even eventually commercialized. Everyone wants to be the hero, but what happens when the symbol of the rebellion is your haircut, and they are charging TWO COIN FOR IT!? Outrageous! The criminal opportunities in becoming whatever type of speakeasy lets the population escape the regime, for a price. While this can be a black market, underground gambling parlor, or cabaret, there’s also the opportunity to commit the crime of guerrilla art. Here are a few fun ones from reality if you need a "heist" that's a little different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_Liberation_Organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking
Brendan Martin
2025-10-03 10:33:16 +0000 UTCI think that (unfortunately) this move would have ardent supporters within the general public who oppress dissenters and make it seem like *everyone* agrees with the Speaker -- dissent should appear incredibly minoritarian. Have you considered including a paramilitary faction that blindly follows the Speaker of the City, holds rallies in support of this (often to be provocative and stir reactions, e.g. at the student protests), and keeps tabs/regular watch on "the enemies", etc.? It should be distinct from the government (at least on the surface) but do a lot of its dirty work. Think the blackshirts of Italy, brownshirts of Germany, scary recent examples in the west...
Laura and Julien
2025-09-29 12:25:15 +0000 UTCWoof this setting is too real! Some things happening in my country: -The party in power could arrest the dissenting voters (like in the 24 to 9 vote) for obviously bogus crimes like mortgage fraud. -Poorly defined organizations can be labeled as terrorist organizations, so that anyone can be arrested for allegedly being apart of or aiding this group. -Media companies can start self censoring or abruptly supporting the party in power in order to keep operating.
Cave Darr
2025-09-29 01:12:52 +0000 UTCRight out of the Authoritarian Playbook, the Bluecoats stage a false flag bombing as The Groove. Maybe one amongst a series of false flags "perpetrated" by other gangs? Not sure The Groove is big enough to be singled out, so instead they're just unlucky enough to be picked in the campaign. Maybe some twisted version of Cassian's thinking is "found" in a manifesto. If it's a series of multiple false flags blamed on multiple gangs, you could have gangs begrudgingly start to cooperate or share intel.
Willis Kelley
2025-09-27 14:21:52 +0000 UTCI like the idea of more people of marginalized backgrounds joining the gang. As the authoritarian crackdown on the out group starts, more of them will be pushed towards crime as a means of getting by and taking care of their families. These people are ripe pickings for brutal beatings by the bluecoats, getting incarcerated or having their families threatened/jailed. Starting the threadmill of marginalized people being blamed for crime even more and being pushed towards it even more.
Timmeh
2025-09-25 08:29:22 +0000 UTCYeah, good. I'll have the players' more privileged contacts be quite pleased with the state of affairs. For big, official businesses who can finagle their way into government contracts, there's money to be made.
Quinns Quest
2025-09-25 08:09:53 +0000 UTCOh, this is fantastic. I've got a tier 1 gang (the Fighting Goats) that they messed with early in the campaign and that gang had a four-fifths filled clock about getting revenge that my players aren't interested in, and the plot's been busy, so it's just sat there for session after session. Having the Bluecoats whisk the Groove's enemy away is both convenient for the plot and sets the stakes. EDIT: Ooh, actually, I just had an idea. Every couple of sessions I'm going to have the government shut down a faction, and have the players use a sharpie to draw a big black line through it on the faction sheet. The city becoming smaller and tighter, month by month.
Quinns Quest
2025-09-25 08:07:39 +0000 UTCLove it. Going to rob a criminal and finding the Bluecoats got there first is absolutely hilarious. My players would all become radicalised on the spot. I love it. I'll keep that in my back pocket. The other two ideas are more practical. I love the idea of all of the players' political contacts immediately hitting them up for money, and I like the idea of state pressure takes Jackie's band and making it /more/ milquetoast. If she doesn't want to take Cassian's lyrics and be political, let's see how comfortable she is saying nothing at all!
Quinns Quest
2025-09-25 08:03:10 +0000 UTCBonus suggestion of picking up immigrants at their naturalization hearings.
backup_bokoblin
2025-09-25 03:22:52 +0000 UTCA recommendation I have inspired by my home state of Massachusetts that could tie in with your game's crackdown on student protest and movement is adding rumors, or potentially a scene, of immigrant and/or inflammatory students being disappeared by people who supposedly CLAIM to be Bluecoats but don't wear any identifying clothing or regalia. You could make it a different opportunistic faction or it could represent an abuse of power, (or if you want you could have both at the same time) but either way it could make for an interesting thread to pull in either direction.
backup_bokoblin
2025-09-25 03:21:12 +0000 UTCMoney is often inherently political. I would be curious how much this blades lets you use this money you hoard. Fighting the systemof fascism is a war, and every war needs to be funded. As for something devastating, I think about the silencing of artists. Maybe the Jinxes get their records pulled and their respectable gigs shut off because their music is deemed 'not suitable' USSR style. I also see a heist happening when they realise there's nothing left to steal--the bluecoats already "confiscated" and brutalised the person they were robbing.
Jack Lightfoot
2025-09-24 22:07:56 +0000 UTCWhat a story to be exploring in this climate though! The similarity to modern times must make for some chilling moments at the table.
Jim Huxter
2025-09-24 21:08:11 +0000 UTCGet the players to establish their gang's 'network' for their operations, maybe with some nudging from you. Could be something that happens over a level up or time skip where you ask, e.g., where are you procuring your ectoplasm , who tips you off about a lucrative target. Then give all those connections clear ties to the natural enemies of the fascist government. Maybe the pirate radio station or liberal press supplies information. A politician from a liberal faction donates large amounts of food etc. to members of a dispossessed group, and they need to smuggle to supplement the supply. Then you can report on consequences for these groups that are, by extension, consequences for the gang. Ironically, their being helped by the gang will take them closer to danger as it gives the government an excuse to crack down on them.
Jim Huxter
2025-09-24 21:06:58 +0000 UTCI think a good idea would be to focus on the creeping changes made to promoted and publicized arts. Maybe have the radio broadcasts become more and more jingoistic, have certain tv shows and plays with more conservative/authoritarian views being funded and promoted while having alternative voices being stifled and forcing them to become underground and mor political, while also allowing for the production of the subversive art to become a potential heist element. If you also want to show the increased power/control of the bluecoats, have them swiftly and suddenly take out a rival gang, maybe let The Groove find out about it beforehand and have to decide whether they want to be complicit in the bluecoats power grab and what it could mean for them? I had a similar situation in my game and it really showed that they can't just mess around and that things are escalating
Aneagleslament
2025-09-24 20:48:20 +0000 UTChttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUUw-UfK64Q If there are only oppressive policies, then rebellion makes too much sense; you should juxtapose this with policies that keep the elite, bourgeois, and petty bourgeois classes happy (typically these are economic policy). This gives most people "something to lose" in a rebellion and gives credence to sentiments of "why are they being disruptive, can't they just be happy..."
Eric Green
2025-09-24 20:47:08 +0000 UTC
