Post/Author/DateTime	Post
swccgf 12-07-07, 03:41 PM	I'm writing a campaign that I want to start at the beginning of the year, I've got a lot of things already put together. I'm trying to figure out how to put more espionage into the campaign. It will start out at a fairly low level, but I want to throw things at the party that will put them in the spotlight fairly early. Any suggestions on tracking progress in a city's political/espionage environment. This is a city with many spies and a lot of intelligence gathering going on. I would welcome any ideas for making this work.
taradusis 12-07-07, 06:12 PM	Try to decide what the conflict is about? A cold war of different political ideologies? A trade war with competing guilds doing industrial espionage and manuevering for contracts? A fight over control of magic developement with a spell being the equivelent of a weapon of mass destruction? A weapon like Excaliber that if found grants political rights/rulership? A race war with elves and dwarves using espionage to influence short-lived humans rather than open combat? Egypt had theocracic fights to see which church would control the pharoh? Some random thoughts.
swccgf 12-07-07, 09:09 PM	The cities are rival colonies that destroyed thier mother-city in an all out war. Since then they have become their own city-states. One is a port city, and the other is an inland city. They are not techincally at war, but it is very cold warish.
farmboy3400 12-07-07, 10:50 PM	Consider sketching out some of the various espionage organizations: objectives, structure, motivations, leader(s), etc. Then sketch out how they might go about achieving their objectives: assassinations, breeding discontent, infiltration, bribery, goon squads, and so on. From there you can start identifying things each organization might attempt that could draw the party into it. I would avoid the temptation to develop too intricate a weave of action and counter action--the party would never see this and you could get bogged down in the details.
TheSuspect 12-08-07, 07:49 AM	I once did an espionage based game, with a presime somewhat smiliar to yours, but it was more current (modern setting) and it revolved around games like Splinter Cell. Everything was pretty much based around infiltration, disabling security systems and traps, dealing with noise and sight (Move Silently Checks, Listen Checks, Spot Checks, Disable Device Checks). Most of the action consisted in small maps I would devise that players had to navigate while checking out for cameras, lasers, security guards (players were armed with silenced pistols), security systems (basic keypad doors, security cards, and even optic readers).
Tsochar 12-08-07, 07:22 PM	Consider the different kinds of magical security could be used. Arcane lock, magic circle spells can both be used to protect something valuable, and at the higher levels an antilife shell or walls of force might be used. Antimagic spells could work against these, but there's always the possibility that doing so might trigger an alarm of some kind. On a side note, I think you should look up the Ebonmar Infiltrator from Cityscape. They're the closest thing to spies in the game.
Artifact 12-08-07, 08:24 PM	Check out Dragon Magazine #316. Its one of the "Campaign Component" issues, focusing this time on "Spies". Inside you'll find a pair of articles by Even Michael Jackson. First up: "License to Kill" details tons of spy archtypes appropriate for a fantasy setting; next: "Covert Ops" has excellent suggestions for espionage in your game. Also, there's "Cloak and Dagger" by Eric Cagle which lists dozens of cool gear, gadgets, and gizmos, all appropriate for a fantasy setting. To round things out there's "Spies Like Us" by Dean Poisso, which has some advice on stealth for stumblers (as it calls it ;)). I thought this might be of interest here. If so, back issues can be ordered from paizo.com (usually for cover price, about $8.00). I can't help it; I'm a pimp . . . when it comes to Dragon Magazine :P.