Open Leverage RPG Test Labs Interest Thread

[Spring-Heeled Jack]

The rich and powerful take what they want. You steal it back.

I'm thinking about trying to run a RPG in the Test Labs. It'll be based off of the TV show 'Leverage.' Now, a lot of how this will go is still up in the air, but here's the few bits I know for sure:

• I highly recommend that if you want in, you either watch Leverage (I know it's on netflix insta-stream as well as quite a few other sites if you don't mind an eyepatch and a peg leg) or talk to me and I'll explain it to you. You don't have to watch it all, but at least a few eps would be good, just to get a feel for it.
• I will be using the Leverage RPG system put out by Margaret Weis productions. I can share the pdf of the rulebook with players once we get started (can't send, only share, hence the issue), but in theory you won't need it. I'll be explaining the basics, and I'll be keeping track of the more in-depth rules for everyone. That being said, this won't be a fully freeform game. There will be character sheets (they're simple, I swear), and some way to use dice. So I recommend that you be prepared to play something more akin to a traditional tabletop RP a la Dungeons and Dragons, either by having some experience with it or being ready to learn how. I'll try to refrain from too much tabletop slang, but it may slip out, and you're free to ask as many questions as you want to clarify.
• The good guys don't kill. That brings the law down way too much. Guns aren't recommended either, but there's some leeway in that.
• I need five players in total. No more, no less. I'll be the gamemaster.

Now, that all being said, here's the basics of the game:

You and the other players are part of a group of thieves, con artists, etc. There are 5 roles that need to be filled: Mastermind, Thief, Hitter, Grifter, and Hacker. You'll be picking one role to be your primary and one role to be your secondary. For example, if you were a Thief/Mastermind, you might be a cat burglar who specializes in never leaving a trace, but if you were a Thief/Hitter, you might specialize in the smash-and-grab. Your group is something like modern-day Robin Hoods, taking on the corporations and people too powerful to touch, going to bat for the little guy who's been wronged and who can't get help through legal channels. You bring corruption into the spotlight, make CEOs tumble for their misdeeds, and take ill-gotten gains and get them to the people that deserve them.

At the moment, this is just checking interest. Post questions and comments here, and we'll start discussing it.

 

[Eugene]

Despite knowing nothing about the TV show, this sounds interesting. I'll familiarize myself with it and get back to you.

 

[Spring-Heeled Jack]

The first ep is long and not the absolute best, but it establishes the characters. Give it a few eps to hit its stride. Or feel free to skip around, heh.

 

[Chase]

How does the game end, or is it perpetual?

 

[Joe Kerr]

How will we do dice rolls? It's interesting though.

 

[Spring-Heeled Jack]

Chase: It depends on your definition of end. There's an end to an adventure, but the group can easily continue to more adventures. There is also a natural end when the characters get enough experience to make their stats simply too ridiculous to have the game be challenging anymore, and normally that's when you let them retire and roll up a new group, but there's no set time when that is. It's more of a group decision.

Joe: I'm still working on that. Might leave the decision up to group vote. There's a bunch of options. Honor system and have the players roll, me rolling which means the player's trust in me, and a bunch of sites and chats have dice rolling things. It's something to talk about.

 

[Patty]

Can we have a low-down of what a Mastermind, Thief, Hitter, Grifter, and Hacker does?

 

[Spring-Heeled Jack]

In brief:

Thieves are the ones who specialize in getting in, getting stuff, and getting out, and helping their crew do the same. They do this by sneaking, pickpocketing IDs, dodging laser grids, rappelling from roofs, crawling through air ducts, picking locks, cracking safes, and everything else that your classic cat burglar does.

Hitters are the enforcers. When things go south on a job and the guards come running, that's when you need a hitter. Incapacitating guards, the direct force method, breaking things, they're your person. However, they need to know every aspect of force and fights, so they're also the ones who specialize in intimidating people and knowing the tactical situation of any area. Hitters can size up an opponent or an ambush, and then know how to get the crew out of there safely with minimal mess.

Hackers are the information specialists. They gather it before the job, keep gathering it throughout it, and make it dance to their tune if they need to. If it has wires, the hacker knows it. Usually they are at the computer, hacking into bank records, emails, websites, security systems, phones, anything they can connect to. However, they also are the tech specialists. Fake IDs, communication devices, surveillance bugs, even possibly EMP pulse devices.

Grifters are the actors. They are the ones in the trenches, making contact with the marks and getting their trust, just to use it against them later. Anything from selling fake watches out of a trenchcoat on the street, distracting a guard with a winning smile, pretending to be a foreign businessperson, all the way to getting a CEO to "buy" the Golden Gate Bridge because it's the greatest deal ever, that's what the grifter does.

Masterminds are the people with the plans. They take the information they have, the skills of the crew at their disposal, and come up with a scheme. They're the one coordinating team efforts and dealing with the unexpected. When things go bad, they're the ones expected to make it get better. If things go well, they're the ones who can figure out how to press the advantage. They know how to play a mark like a finely-tuned instrument, and make it all come out how they want in the end.

Some basic ideas of Primary/Secondary combo character ideas:

Mastermind Primary + ...
Thief- Used to be a cat burglar, now helps and teaches others
Hitter-Former general, has no problem using a "strike team" for a heist
Hacker- Gadgeteer, loves planning a job and then making exactly the gear required to pull it off
Grifter- Sees every job as a show, with everyone playing a part in tricking the target. Usually very subtle on the job, but at the end has a hard time resisting "taking a bow"

Grifter Primary + ...
Thief- Get the target to invite you into their deepest confidence, and make them give you the billion-dollar diamond necklace
Hitter-Spar verbally, put them in a social armlock, intimidate if you must, and be ready to back it up with a fist if you have to
Hacker-The cyber-con-artist. You're the Nigerian prince, but oh so much better. You can get into a person's systems so you know them even before you start talking to them, which makes twisting them around your finger so much easier.
Mastermind- The classic con artist. You can run the Wire con in a day, the Moonwalking Bear with a White Van Speakers for cover, and not only do you know all this, but all you need to do it is your winning smile, a couple drinks with the mark, and a trip to the hardware store.

Hacker Primary + ...
Thief- You build all your own gear, which makes the actual heist run as smooth as silk. You may not be the most agile thief in the world, but your way is just so much easier it doesn't matter. Let the machines do the work for you.
Hitter- You don't care if people can track your hacks. You break software, drop viruses, make computers catch on fire, and can bust a face if you have to. You are in a war, and your computer is your weapon.
Grifter- You are an internet ghost. You can make any computer believe you are their owner, and any owner let you near their computer. No one knows anything's wrong until the end, and afterwards they won't ever find out what happened.
Mastermind- You are the ultimate computer guru. You can hack anything because you know everything, and are planning workarounds of security systems before the prototypes are even completed. Sure, you can hack something blind, but you'd rather know the ins-and-outs before you try, just to be safe

Hitter Primary + ...
Thief- You are ninja, plain and simple. Locked doors and platoons of guards can't stop you. You get in, get it, get out, often with some unconscious folk in your wake.
Hacker- You know cars, and have one that you personally tricked out with more nifty things than you can shake a stick at. You are most at home in the escape. Clear out guards swarming you, get into a high-speed chase, and you're in heaven.
Grifter- You use your knowledge of people to get them to back down from a fight, and if they won't, your knowledge is turned to giving you the advantage. You can fool them, get them to reveal an opening, and down them quickly.
Mastermind- The world is a battlefield, and each job is a skirmish. You help keep things flowing forward, the sergeant in the trenches making on-the-spot calls and clearing the way for your fellows.

Thief Primary + ...
Hitter- You do it for the thrill. If you ever had a perfect theft, you'd be disappointed. Having to sneak out by holding on to a truck undercarriage or jumping from rooftop to rooftop gives you the adrenaline you need. When the alarm goes off and the guards charge you, that's your dream.
Hacker-You can open anything. Key locks, dial locks, electronic locks, they are no match for you. You hack the security system from inside the air duct of the building before dropping down to claim your prize.
Grifter- You're best at sleight of hand and pickpocketing. You know and can perform every card trick, and while you're doing them you're stripping the mark of everything shiny on them and the person next to them just for fun. You know how to steal things when no one is looking, and know exactly what to say to make sure that they don't look back.
Mastermind- You can drop a blueprint on a table and find 3 holes in security before the paper finishes unrolling. You know how to get into a place, get the goods, and leave, not by doing anything fancy, but just because you have everything timed down to the millisecond.

There we go. Went a bit longer than I thought, but figured the combos might help people too. Obviously those combo personality suggestions aren't the only way to play them, but they're decent ideas of how the primary/secondary mix plays off of itself.

 

[Tanya]

I don't think many of us have done much table-top RPing, myself included. I'll be willing to try out one case to see where this goes, because I'm the curious sort. Also because I clearly fall into the Hacker/Hitter combo.

 

[Spring-Heeled Jack]

I figured that. This is actually one of the simpler ones, and I promise to handle all of the rules myself that I can, discuss the rules as much as people need, link the rulebook once I have a better idea who's in (which is much shorter than most as well), and generically do everything possible to make it easy.

 

[Joe Kerr]

sounds interesting. i could be the thief/grifter

 

[Chase]

Right, update -- you can now throw dice, follow instructions here:

Info - Throwing Dice | The Elusive Carmen Sandiego