imars
Explorer
Losing your hand seems a little extreme for Risur, but that is just my opinion. I'm not quite sure what you are looking for. Questions to get them thinking about those themes?
ZEITGEIST Zeitgeist Campaign Completed!
- Thread starter imars
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FinnianWhitefir
Villager
Forget where I had read it, maybe I made it up, but I took the "The RHC has ways to confirm you are serious and good-hearted and dedicated to the RHC and Risur" as "It would be a neat scene if there were a lie-detector type questioning, with a dire penalty to scare away infiltrators" as a PC intro. You are right it's probably too extreme to portray them as good, I'll think about it. But I also like to think of the RHC as a very serious organization and a "You have to take a large risk to deter spies and liars trying to trick and join us". And some permanent mark to signify it would make it meaningful, though I don't think any ex-RHC or failed RHC is ever encountered in the story.
I thought having completed it that you meant you had a few blurbs about how those themes ended up being meaningful or affected the players. I made some spy-specific questions, made some "Where do you fall on the Fey vs Technology debate" but some questions that lead into the ideas of free will, or how forgiveness and justice came up in your game would help give me ideas. I did update one to read more of "You catch someone stealing bread to feed their hungry family. How would you view justice being done in that situation given that you have leeway to decide anything. How can Risur best serve the needy yet also protect the merchant?"
I thought having completed it that you meant you had a few blurbs about how those themes ended up being meaningful or affected the players. I made some spy-specific questions, made some "Where do you fall on the Fey vs Technology debate" but some questions that lead into the ideas of free will, or how forgiveness and justice came up in your game would help give me ideas. I did update one to read more of "You catch someone stealing bread to feed their hungry family. How would you view justice being done in that situation given that you have leeway to decide anything. How can Risur best serve the needy yet also protect the merchant?"
W'rkncacnter
Hero
cillian creed, macbannin's butler, is ex-rhc and a major villain in book 2. i think there's also an ex-rhc contact the players are set up to meet in book 7 but he gets killed and impersonated before they meet if im not mistaken
W'rkncacnter
Hero
danoran state secrets, to be fair
MrsMongoose
Explorer
The part you are looking for is in the Player Handbook on the RHC.
"Loyalty to Risur
The RHC recruits from police, military, universities, and many other sources of talent, occasionally even accepting foreign applicants. In addition to requiring extensive background checks, recruits must undergo a magical inquisition.
The king grants each branch’s local director the ability to test the loyalty of all who would apply to join the constabulary.
A candidate who agrees to undertake the test opens their mind so the director may sense their true intentions. If they have any ill will to Risur, its people, or its leaders, it will be revealed. More importantly, the candidate must show a devotion to protecting Risur.
Risur need not be the primary concern of the applicant—people are expected, after all, to value their family, friends, even careers—but this precaution has kept the RHC from ever having produced a traitor in the thirty years it has been active."
Basically, the Spells Detect Thoughts and Zone of Truth are a thing. And since you willingly agree to undergo the test, that's deliberately failing the save. Or having a really good Bluff/save/etc. Not really viable for a green recruit being interviewed by a high level/experienced officer who has been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt too. The fourth Yerasol war was not that long ago, and some of the staff are ex-military just looking for an excuse...
If they aren't legit, don't hire them. If they actively harbour a grudge against something that is directly opposed to the RHC, arrest them. You don't even have to have it "in front of" the PCs, just have it in the paper a week before they undergo the test...
e.g.: a person trying to join has been found to have - in their University/Docker/etc days - done a couple of borderline militant/anarchist things... (basically not your normal grievances, some thing major...)
They've since been more publicly genteel about their views but still harbour some secret resentment (for insert background, blame RHC/Risur/King, blah blah...), and although they aren't currently actively thinking about blowing stuff up/smuggling/ themselves, they know about a couple of people who might be trouble in future and are willing to let them dirty their hands for them... But they thought they were strong-willed enough to get through the "mental exam" so they could get their hands on some exclusive info that would help their "friends"...
This isn't a barbaric culture, it is (mostly) civilised... although execution, banishment and long prison sentences are not off the table; more details on this are also in the same section of the player's guide.
MrsMongoose
Explorer
Also, the PCs aren't the common or garden Police (These exist already), or recruited to philosophise on the social problems of Risur. They are allowed to have opinions on the above, if it doesn't counter protecting Risur. The normal police go round catching petty thieves, guarding things, extra muscle at Docker demos etc. And the Judicial system is there to pass sentence, and so on. Of course, all the factions in Flint have some or other theory on how this should be done...
Now, players through their PCs eventually have a bit more clout to steer civilisation towards more socially progressive outcomes (i.e. to stop the loaf of bread even being needed to be stolen in the first place), but there is a long way to go...
In short, the RHC is more like MI5/FBI crossed with Scotland Yard: (and later, MI6/CIA)... bear in mind there are only 20 RHC active field agents at the start of the game: most of the rest is support admin, and the equivalent of forensics, a couple of spirit mediums, paperwork shufflers, and such.
They are usually "tasked with protecting Risur from serious threats, usually in the form of foreign plots, magically equipped criminals, and various supernatural foes everyday police are not capable of handling.
The directorate in Flint generally keeps busy thwarting arms smuggling, industrial espionage, and the sorts of magical and monstrous threats once handled by plucky self-motivated “adventurers.” "
NB: Your PCs are LAW enforcers, not m̶u̶r̶d̶e̶r̶-̶h̶o̶b̶o̶s̶ ahem, adventurers... and as such, are encouraged to show restraint, disarm/disable foes to be dealt with by the system, and so on.
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Definitely how the PCs at my table behaved, but they have gotten tired of the Ob shenanigans and have started showing less restraint toward Ob members, especially middle management, from about adventure 7 onward.
W'rkncacnter
Hero
well, 20 active RHC field agents from the FLINT branch, to be specific. we don't know how many field agents the other branches have (though considering flint is the largest city in risur, i'd say the numbers for the other branches are similar if not lower).
