Rules for Crime
The marauding style of play in Beasts In The Night left an impression in playtesting. It's what I wanted, but there needed to be more depth to handling crime sprees and more realistic responses for the speed of investigations and the response of law enforcement.
I wrote Heat as something that increases situationally but other versions of these rules experimented with putting it on overloaded encounter dice, or Cy_Borg style time checks, which may be better for more renegade style games.
When you commit a crime with risk of discovery, roll 1d6. Accounting for the violence of the crime, how many people it affects, how expensive it may be to fix, how shocking or scary it was in being committed, and so on influences this roll by +/-4. The result may never be reduced below 1. This is your Infamy.
When you would be connected to a crime by the authorities, roll Heat as decided by the authorities' current level of pursuit. Heat dice explode on 6.
| Pursuit | Infamy |
|---|---|
| Cold (1d6) | 0 |
| Warranted (1d6+1) | 5 |
| Hot (2d6) | 14 |
| Overwhelming (3d6) | 18 |
At Heat of 5 or greater, informed authorities will attempt surveillance or arrest. At Heat 20, a manhunt is authorised with all necessary force.
The force of pursuit increases for a character known to associate with figures of larger infamy.
GOING UNDERGROUND
Moving further away from the scene of a crime reduces infamy by 1 for each hex of distance.
If Heat does not increase for 72 hours, it decreases by 1d6. This does not apply if a character's Heat is sufficient to cause a manhunt, which may only be called to a halt by a higher power.
FALSE IDENTITIES
Creating an identity requires proof of some difference in the thread of identity: Name, face, origin, or association. Roll 1d6, +1 for each new thread beyond the first. The result is the strength of cover provided by that identity.
A fresh cover has 0 heat or infamy.
When rolling to gain heat, a result greater than the fake's cover means it is burned. Count the highest ever level of infamy of any identities that used the same threads as the burned one, including a character's real one. Roll the appropriate number of dice, but add the result to all connected identities' infamy instead.