So has anyone ever run or played in a campaign where all the pcs are assassins? I've run some campaigns where a few of the pcs were hired killers and indeed some of the adventures were about offing someone for money, but I have never really run a whole campiagn where assassination is  the main goal of the pcs.

What do you think (whatever the genre) are some of the issues that would crop up? You could go the realistic approach - any interesting links ? -or Movieland - The Parallex View, Bourne Identity, Assassins, Le Samurai (okay French ), The Killer etc.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RSo has anyone ever run or played in a campaign where all the pcs are assassins? I've run some campaigns where a few of the pcs were hired killers and indeed some of the adventures were about offing someone for money, but I have never really run a whole campiagn where assassination is  the main goal of the pcs.

What do you think (whatever the genre) are some of the issues that would crop up? You could go the realistic approach - any interesting links ? -or Movieland - The Parallex View, Bourne Identity, Assassins, Le Samurai (okay French ), The Killer etc.

Regards,
David R

The Ghost Dog RPG is a game based on a professional assassin named Ghost Dog, from the movie of the same name.  A great movie and an interesting read, but don't ask me what they were thinking by making an RPG out of it.

Pete

I've wanted to run a game like that for ages but in truth I imagine it would get a little repetitive and would involve lots of discussion about plans and maps and tacticals and things.  While that type of game is easy to run (come up with a reason for killing a guy, map out an area, come up with his movements and a couple of surprises and you're done) I suspect it would be a bit dull.

If the movies are anything to go by, assassination only gets interesting when things go wrong and the characters have to go on the run.

Would the morality or lack thereof of this kind off campaign put of some gamers?

I'm not talking about heroic assassins. I'm talking about cold blooded killers . They may have ethics of a kind, but they are more anti than hero, if you get my drift.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalIf the movies are anything to go by, assassination only gets interesting when things go wrong and the characters have to go on the run.

I dunno man - you gotta remember the difference between Story and Game. In a story a flawlessly executed plan may be less than compelling, but in a game it may be a source of pride in a job well done.

And players are often more interested in 'day to day' things instead of the exciting bits you get in movies - Dune frex, where people seem to want to get involved in imperial politics more than mess around on Dune becoming God Emperors, or Star Wars, where players often want to play smugglers smuggling, or fighter pilots fighter piloting instead of something that radically changes the setting, like ending the empire or whatever. The wanna play a knight, not a knight who gets sucked through a time vortex in to 1920s shanghai, if you will.

Er, that said, how about something like that Munic thingy where the mosad guys track down the terrorists who killed the isreli olympic team. Lots of agonising over the morality of your actions and shit.

Quote from: David RWould the morality or lack thereof of this kind off campaign put of some gamers?

I doubt it. Revel in it like slasher fans in blood I suspect. Unless you push their buttons right. Figure out who they as players wouldn't want assasinated, and then assign them as targets.

I've run a ridiculous-skill-levels high-damage-weapons GURPS Black Ops game, though it was a while back.

It was very much "Make a mistake, usually die" - and, yes, there was an awful lot of planning and prep work.  For that group, it was really, really cool.

I'm going to throw out some  assassin type games and see where the discussion goes.

Religious : 16th century England. The campaign could revolve around a group of Catholic assassins involved in a plot of some kind. Remember, remember...oh come on you folks get it

Political : The numerous opportunities for political assassination with so many groups fighting each other in the Algerian War of Indepndence.


Filthy lucre : The mean streets of Mumbai provide ample opportunities for those with the will and skill - esp within the drug trade - to eliminate problems.

Fantasy : The NightMask of Westgate and their quest to destroy the family of ? (sorry folks it's been years since I dipped into the Forgotten Realms)

Regards,
David R

My D&D group has run short arcs within a campaign where, for whatever reason, we're mostly evil people doing evil, or at least morally questionable, things. In one huge campaign we ran in university, towards the end we had three parties, more or less broken up by alignment, with "Party Evil" responsible for assassinating a godling.

In our current "Conquistadors" game, one of the PCs wants to kill the mercenaries who raped and murdered his wife, while another one wants to find his brother and kill him (because the PC was sold into slavery so the brother could afford to apprentice himself to a wizard).

I ran a modern-day, globetrotting action-movie assassins game with D6 Adventure. My plan was that the PCs, while hired killers, would be essentially heroic, killing only bad people who really, really deserved it.

My players soon transformed it into the story of a band of ruthless, soulless killing machines who routinely double, triple, and quadruple-crossed clients, targets, and partners to see who could get richest fastest.

It ended with the last man standing leaving the scene of the final showdown after killing two other PCs. He got into his car which had been secretly booby-trapped by one of the dead PCs just prior to the meeting. He was tough, but a claymore mine going off under your ass tends to make that bonus hitpoints advantage academic.

They seemed to like it, but I prefer more heroic games. I went back to running superhero games immediately after.

Quote from: laffingboyI ran a modern-day, globetrotting action-movie assassins game with D6 Adventure. My plan was that the PCs, while hired killers, would be essentially heroic, killing only bad people who really, really deserved it.

My players soon transformed it into the story of a band of ruthless, soulless killing machines who routinely double, triple, and quadruple-crossed clients, targets, and partners to see who could get richest fastest.

It ended with the last man standing leaving the scene of the final showdown after killing two other PCs. He got into his car which had been secretly booby-trapped by one of the dead PCs just prior to the meeting. He was tough, but a claymore mine going off under your ass tends to make that bonus hitpoints advantage academic.

Dude, that sounds like a fucking wicked game.

I've run and played some Shadowrun games where the group sometimes do assassin jobs. I've never run an entire campaign about assassination though, as I'm more into variety. I think if it's done well and the jobs were different enough from one another it could be a good campaign for a while.

Folks seem to like heroic bloodshed. I can dig that.

Regards,
David R