Scenarios (part two (of three)) - Casing the Warehouse
Last week we started to outline a scenario for the game - about breaking and entering a warehouse in order to steal something. Today we continue on this, detailing the entrails of the building!
Alley, H. (1598). Drawing of Cheapside Street. Map of Early Modern London. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ELEA1.htm
So let’s begin by asking what is inside of the warehouse? We need:
changing rooms
offices
the floor (where all the work is done, possibly split into areas)
definitely some machinery (not an area per se)
private storage (high security)
By listing things in this way, some ideas may already begin to form. For example, I immediately remember the genius warehouse level from Thief II: The Metal Age called “Shipping... and Receiving”. This level provides excellent exploration opportunities, both horizontal and vertical, cool emergent gameplay with wandering patrols, interaction with the security systems, lots of cool tools, and most importantly you can learn so much about the City from going through people’s lockers. The developers foreshadow the game’s main threat of the Mechanist order in this level as well. Of course, we can’t exactly do all this in a tabletop game where players have a large degree of freedom but we can take inspiration from it!
Schmall, T. (2019). Nightfall on Construction. Oxpal.com. https://www.oxpal.com/main.php?o=art_drawings&file=/thomas/drawings/2019/10_construction&lan=en
So let’s do a second pass on our locations listed above adding some flavour or mechanics to them. This is generally an awesome way to create any content you might need. Here’s take 2:
changing rooms - there are lockers with the workers’ clothes and personal belongings. You may find some pocket change, lunches, a weapon, and you may take uniforms to disguise yourself. There is a 2-in-6 chance that a janitor is present who may sound an alarm, depending on how the interaction goes.
offices - logs containing information about shifts, payrolls, goods coming in and goods coming out. There is always a guard present although nobody works in the office at night. D4 locker keys are here with the rest located on the shift manager’s person, the manager can be found on the floor.
the floor - area A handles import and processing, area B export. The warehouse deals in tools and construction materials. It is not impossible to hide between the racks and shelves (2-in-6), especially with a disguise (4-in-6).
definitely some machinery - area C has a machine elemental. I used fantasynamegenerators.com again (cannot stan this site enough!) to generate an ancient Greek name, just because I thought it was fitting. I wanted a female name because we already have a male NPC - Tufar. I also wanted it to start with B so Basiane it is! She is a kind of sentient assembly line that puts things together and is a manifestation of humanity’s spirit of building, adaptability, and improvisation. Basiane cannot move but can converse with players freely. While this is already cool enough for people to have an interesting encounter with her, let’s give her something special. She can assemble most equipment or items that players can come up with, but in return asks to be shown a new way to use a common item.
private storage (high security) - area D is separated by a gate and always has two guards. These should be a little tougher than the others so probably a rifle and an axe. There are four storage units inside and these should hint at factions and NPCs present locally, but don’t have to be incredibly detailed. This is also where the final objective of the players will be found.
locker of the Lawmakers - this will be the judicial faction of the game so judges, lawyers, and such. Here, they have a unit in which some small part of evidence is collected and kept before being presented at a trial. You may find various weapons, testimonies, a moderate sum of money, clothes, journals, and jewellery here.
locker of a rival club owner. With the same process we used for Tufar, we come up with Vasilije Cvetković. This guy is in charge of “The Pavilion“ and for now it’s enough to say he’s a real bastard and his establishment is a soldier’s hangout where bad things happen. This one can contain something that relates to the mission and adds contrasting character to the setting. Let’s say a secret cocktail recipe and bribe money.
we can leave one empty, not everything has to be populated.
that said, I want the last one to creep players out. The fourth locker should be anonymous and there might even be a note in the office talking about how it’s only via intermediaries that business is done with the client. Inside are large clay figures, vaguely humanoid with smudges instead of faces. They could resemble player characters or someone they’ll meet later.
* the contents of these lockers can be hinted at with descriptions of smells, looks of their outside, notes in the office, comments from the workers, etc.
So that’s it actually! The warehouse mission is already well rounded out and doubtless many of you could run it as is with some minor additions, seasoned to taste. Either way, I intend to finish it next time with a proper name, introduction text, maybe some hooks, and definitely a list of random encounters. I’m considering doing a fourth part where I might also give it a graphical finish, make it ready for publishing. In my opinion, modules and adventures like these should be as simple and loose as possible so as to allow the imagination of others to inhabit them. Still, I think they are one of the most important ways in which a setting comes through, so there will be many like this in the final book. Alas, see you next week!
