[Leverage] Questions on how to run it

[aramis erak]

I haven't run Leverage, but have a bit of experience with Marvel Heroic RP. My prep for those sessions generally means thinking about some opponents to use, and thinking through some likely locations and Scene Distinctions for them. (And when I'm improvising, which is often, what I generally do is come up with some Scene Distinctions and flip through my books to find some opponents.)

In the last session I ran, the PCs were planning to break into the Latverian Embassy (looking for Mariko Yashida, who seemed to have been kidnapped). They decided to go to the urban planning department before their break in, looking for information eg about sewers and other possible secret entrances. Instead of running this as a Transition Scene (which probably would have made more sense) I ran this as an Action Scene (don't ask why - it sort of unfolded in a not-fully-thought-through way). The "action" ended up being the creation of assets (sewer plans, from memory; maybe something else I've forgotten) via rolls against the Doom Pool. I think the "sewer plan" asset then served as a bonus die when half the team took their first suite of actions during the break in (which, from memory, was taking out the basement guards in the Embassy).

At least in MHRP, only the character who was intended to benefit from the asset (either the character who created it, or the character who was being supported) gets to use it in their pool.

So in MHRP, in the situation you describe, if the GM wants the guy searching for Nar to get a benefit from the fact that Nar's gun is BIG, the GM has to spend a die from the Doom Pool to reflect this. Or maybe create a complication ("Your gun is really TOO big!") and then use that.

But I dunno how other Cortex+ systems handle this.

In MHRP, "Greedy" would likely be a Distinction, and the GM would include it in the pool at d4 rather than d8.

Alternatively, many characters (NPCs as much as PCs) have Limits which allow a power to be treated as a complication. So a player could spend a Plot Point to trigger the Limit, turning the power into a complication, and hence adding it to his/her pool. (In MHRP there don't tend to be powers like Greedy - but maybe a telepath could have this sort of Limit, reflecting the fact that their "open" mind makes them more than typically vulnerable to other telepaths.)

I'm not sure how well the above approaches translate to Leverage.

Better than to firefly. Note that firefly is explicit that NPC's don't get to create assets with plot points, but PC's can and do, even using NPC signature assets against them ... but only the creator of an asset can benefit more than a d6 from it. (And getting better than a D6 is either a result of a skill roll or is a signature asset, anyway. MHRP allows anyone to create assets, even the NPCs. Both allow assets/complications as a result of skills.

There's an explicit example of Jayne lending Vera (his d8 Sig. Asset) to Mal, and Mal only gets the d6 for it... but Mal CAN use Jayne's asset.

Also note: Monica Valentinelli, Cam Banks, and Margaret Weiss have all said the fiction state trumps the rules state EVERY time. Cam's even posted some borderline rants over the years to that effect. If the gun is a huge in-fiction liability to the player, that trumps it being an asset. But it's also expected that the PC gets paid for such.

 

[pemerton]

If the gun is a huge in-fiction liability to the player, that trumps it being an asset. But it's also expected that the PC gets paid for such.

In MHRP, that would be the GM paying a PP to the player to trigger a Limit that turns a trait into a complication.

There are (admittedly sketchy) rules/guidelines for improv/ad hoc powers/limits in the introductory section of the Civil War sourcebook.

 

[jayoungr]

I'm pleased to say that the third session this week felt like a real breakthrough! Before we started playing, I told the group that while I wouldn't say there would never be a client with more than meets the eye, I'd always give them an opportunity to find out about it during the job. I also said that I thought we were all getting too bogged down in the information-gathering phase, and that I would try to feed them more information at the beginning of a session instead of making them work for it--about as much information as they'd get in a typical Hardison briefing. I reminded them that doing things outside their core skills could generate plot points, and reassured them that even rolling 1s didn't necessarily mean failure. Finally, I figured out ahead of time where I would put in a fight for the Hitter, in this case tied to the character's backstory.

All that seemed to make a big difference. I think I also managed to create the first Mark that they've truly hated, which is good.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions on how to handle these problems!

But now I've got another wrinkle: due to some schedule weirdness, I've had five players at each of the previous sessions, but not the same five. Next week, I'm going to have six--two Hackers. And I've promised them a "big job." I've been reading the section in Leverage Companion vol. 2 on doubling of roles, and I think the best way to deal with the duplication is to have a challenge that really needs two Hackers working at the same time. But I'm kind of stumped on what form that might take. Any ideas??

 

[Neonchameleon]

Yay!

And my initial idea for more than one hacker is a bad guy corporation (or government) with a secure intranet that's totally separated from the internet. So they actually have to get one of the two hackers inside the building to one of the secure terminals and then hack things from there. Or possibly the two hackers have a race.

What are their secondary roles?

(Two of any other role except Mastermind is easier).

 

[aramis erak]

I'm pleased to say that the third session this week felt like a real breakthrough! Before we started playing, I told the group that while I wouldn't say there would never be a client with more than meets the eye, I'd always give them an opportunity to find out about it during the job. I also said that I thought we were all getting too bogged down in the information-gathering phase, and that I would try to feed them more information at the beginning of a session instead of making them work for it--about as much information as they'd get in a typical Hardison briefing. I reminded them that doing things outside their core skills could generate plot points, and reassured them that even rolling 1s didn't necessarily mean failure. Finally, I figured out ahead of time where I would put in a fight for the Hitter, in this case tied to the character's backstory.

All that seemed to make a big difference. I think I also managed to create the first Mark that they've truly hated, which is good.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions on how to handle these problems!

But now I've got another wrinkle: due to some schedule weirdness, I've had five players at each of the previous sessions, but not the same five. Next week, I'm going to have six--two Hackers. And I've promised them a "big job." I've been reading the section in Leverage Companion vol. 2 on doubling of roles, and I think the best way to deal with the duplication is to have a challenge that really needs two Hackers working at the same time. But I'm kind of stumped on what form that might take. Any ideas??

One has to take out the security systems to allow the other to go and make the changes...

Simultaneous takedowns of two locations in order to perform a rescue at each...

 

[jayoungr]

What are their secondary roles?

One's a Hacker/Hitter, and the other's a Hacker/Thief.

Distinctions:

Hacker/Hitter: Known Convict / Master of Disaster / When in Doubt, Take It Apart
Hacker/Thief: Never Give Up, Never Surrender / Smartest Guy in the Room / Laid-Back

(And thanks for the suggestions--keep them coming!)

ETA: And of course, I want to be sure they don't duplicate what the actual Thief would do (less worried about duplicating the Hitter's job).

 

[pemerton]

Next week, I'm going to have six--two Hackers. And I've promised them a "big job." I've been reading the section in Leverage Companion vol. 2 on doubling of roles, and I think the best way to deal with the duplication is to have a challenge that really needs two Hackers working at the same time. But I'm kind of stumped on what form that might take. Any ideas??

And thanks for the suggestions--keep them coming!

I don't know Leverage (the series) other than Google/Wikipedia telling me it's a TV show.

And as I've already said I don't know the system, except for what I can extrapolate from familiarity with Marvel Heroic.

But taking the concept of "hacker" at face value, maybe one of them has to get info from a source that can't easily be internet-hacked (eg an encrypted memory stick; a phone; I'm not really a tech guy so just making some stuff up here) and the other has to use that info to break into the [big job MacGuffin]. This set up means the hitter can beat the person up and take the info while the thief sneaks in and uses it; or the thief can steal/pick-pocket the info while the hitter breaks in and uses it - ie the players can make the call. (I'm assuming here that "hitter" and "thief" as game concepts overlap pretty much with their ordinary English meaning.)

Another idea: the hitter/hacker has to hack into some sort of drone/robot defence-type tech (and so gets to combine tech-type stuff with violence-type stuff - given "When in Doubt, Take it Apart" maybe s/he has to rebuild the tech while controlling/shutting down its AI); while the other hacker is downloading the key info.

I don't know if any of the above makes sense for the game, or for your game!

 

[aramis erak]

I don't know if any of the above makes sense for the game, or for your game!

It looks reasonable to me... The hacker in Leverage is in fact a computer hacker, but also defeats security systems, modifies electronic gadgets, and similar.