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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2375791" data-attributes="member: 63">The PCs in my game don't like any of the NPCs who are in positions of authority. I wonder if perhaps we're all somehow unhappy about authority figures, and that they inherently think that anyone who has any sort of position is incompetent.Of course, it might be that I'm not showing them as competent. Or it might be that the players think that 'competent' means 'brutal.'I've got this organization in my game, and they work to keep magic's existence a secret. But their two main offices are in New Orleans and Savannah, places where people believe magic exists. So the Bureau doesn't go out of its way to completely conceal that magic, since most outsiders think it's just superstition. I think the PCs expected the Bureau to send in a SWAT team after they spoke with the owner of a magic bookstore.It amuses me that they give s**t to anyone in the Bureau. It's an odd situation, in that I made the Bureau be at sort of a weak point so that the PCs' assistance would be needed, and now that they've been asked for help, the PCs just assume the Bureau is staffed by morons.  Also, because I'm so conscious of this sentiment among the players and their characters, I'm kinda uncertain if there's a way to change the Bureau's image without it seeming like I just want to make them look cool. I think part of the problem is how to create dramatic tension necessary for a good game while also showing that these other folks are competent. I mean, I probably just need to get the group away from the Bureau so they can have their own adventures, but I wanted them to see what the world was like. I may have had them get too involved too soon. What do the Bureau do?Well, if you're a violent human spellcaster, they take you down and after briefly checking to make sure you weren't being mind-controlled, they'll probably kill you.If you're a violent human who's not a spellcaster but who knows about magic, they'll be good samaritans and take you down, then leave you for the cops to deal with. If somehow you manage to convince the cops that magic exists, they either kill or discredit you and the cop, whichever seems easiest.If you're a non-violent human spellcaster, they try to recruit you, or offer to train you in exchange for you keeping quiet about magic. Then they'll probably hire you for the occasional service, but they'll make it clear that if you blab to anyone, they'll kill you.If you're a non-violent human who learns about magic, if the knowledge is recent they'll wipe your mind and deal with whoever told you about magic. If you've known about magic for a long time, they'll tell you to not tell anyone or else they'll kill you, but otherwise they might treat you as a valuable contact or ally.If you're fey and you do anything wrong, they take you in and hand you off to the fey who assist the Bureau. Politics suck, and the fey do not like humans killing their kind.If you're a magical monster (i.e., a fey creature that is not sentient), they can kill you.If you're undead, they can destroy you, since the dead have no rights. Resurrection rarely is an issue they have to deal with, but they generally consider you alive, since you're not a zombie or a vampire. Well, that's the end of my thinking for tonight.</blockquote>

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