Hunted: Watched

[Wijbrandus]

Having just started a new Hero campaign, I quickly found that several of the characters chose Hunted (which is normal), but at the Watched level (which is pretty uncommon for our group). As such, I was going through, making up several Hunted scenarios, and ran into an issue.

 

How do you use Watching Hunted in your campaigns?

 

To me, is seems Watchers are fairly irrelevant. The best I could come up with is "The FBI agent approaches Heroman. Just wanted to let you know, We are Watching you..., and then leaves". Of course, the Hunted can't do anything further, otherwise it would have been worth more points.

 

Or do you assume that the Watched can be elevated to a higher level, depending on character actions, etc. For this example, perhaps Heroman breaks the law, making the FBI now want to imprison him.

 

Just curious how everyone else handles this level.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

Depends on who the Watcher is. Generally, it means to me "keeps tabs on character, makes sure they act the way Watcher wants them to act." In effect, "subject to an authority". Depending on the player's actions, it could well turn into a Hunted, at least briefly, but could have other effects.

 

A cop could have Watched: Internal Affairs. Whenever he does something questionable, there might be an investigation. He usually doesn't get to chose his own assignments, and trying to work on cases he's not assigned to could cause him trouble. If the cop ID is a hero's secret ID, it could also cause problems with keeping the secret ID. "You abandoned your partner in the middle of a situation. Good thing Blue Sorceror was there to help. Where were you when it all went down?"

 

Someone Watched by whoever grants them their powers could have problems with them. Wonder Woman and Thor get into this from time to time.

 

If a hero wants "Watched: VIPER" or something similar, I'd probably change it to an infrequent Hunted instead. I would generally view Watchers as being generally benevolent/neutral towards the character's stated goals. If you were running a game of VIPER supervillains, then "Watched: VIPER" would be entirely appropriate.

[Wijbrandus]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

As a point of clarification, I should state that the entire group has either a public id, or no id at all (ie, no secret ids in the group).

[Vondy]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

As a point of clarification' date=' I should state that the entire group has either a public id, or no id at all (ie, no secret ids in the group).[/quote']

 

Even worse, because its that much easier for the watcher to keep tabs on the character.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

Watched doesn't mean that the watching person/group won't take action against the player - it means that their actions upon dealing with the subject are not automatically hostile.

 

If the Grim Avenger is Hunted by the police, then the second a police officer encounters him, he'll either attempt arrest or call for backup to attempt an arrest.

 

If the Grim Avenger is Watched by the police, the officer won't attempt arrest, but may call in the location, and will have a far lower "probable cause" threshold than for a non-Watched character. ("You were lingering near that Jewelry store a bit too long Mr. Avenger, maybe you should move along now...")

[RDU Neil]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

As stated above, Watched tends to reflect the "Subject To Authority" in that characters who work for/are supported by some kind of organization (who provides equipment, funding, tech support, whatever) get a "Watched" as part of this. If the characters start doing something that could reflect negatively on that organization or is counter to that organizations goals... this activates the watched. Doesn't mean they become "Hunted" as much as suddenly they have pressure to change their ways... don't get support... bills on the HQ aren't paid, superjet isn't fueled up... etc.

 

Hunted tends to mean "I want to kick this hero's A$$!"

 

Watched tends to mean, "I want this hero to follow the rules/meet my agenda."

 

 

At least that is how I've made it work over the years.

[Wijbrandus]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

So based on the theory that a Watcher is able to take away some sort of benefit, would it still be valid to be Watched by an enemy?

 

The character in particular I am thinking about is developed as the son of a supervillian, who turned good against the dad's wishes. However, the FBI and law enforcement is watching him, to make sure he is not just misleading everyone, and/or doesn't turn back to a life of crime.

 

In this situation, the only things that could be taken away is the characters items and freedom (ie, imprisoned), which in turn make the Watched a Hunted.

 

Would this be valid (since the character would not gain the additional points), or would you handle it a different way?

[Old Man]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

 

The character in particular I am thinking about is developed as the son of a supervillian, who turned good against the dad's wishes. However, the FBI and law enforcement is watching him, to make sure he is not just misleading everyone, and/or doesn't turn back to a life of crime.

 

This is not unheard of. Mafia kids sometimes want to be cops.

[Cybernaut]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

The Watchers could compile information on the character which in turn could be stolen by a group with hostile intentions or some less than scrupulous member of the orgainization may decide to sell blackmail information for fun and profit.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

So based on the theory that a Watcher is able to take away some sort of benefit, would it still be valid to be Watched by an enemy?

 

The character in particular I am thinking about is developed as the son of a supervillian, who turned good against the dad's wishes. However, the FBI and law enforcement is watching him, to make sure he is not just misleading everyone, and/or doesn't turn back to a life of crime.

 

In this situation, the only things that could be taken away is the characters items and freedom (ie, imprisoned), which in turn make the Watched a Hunted.

 

Would this be valid (since the character would not gain the additional points), or would you handle it a different way?

 

 

Cops and FBI as Watched... absolutely.

 

Father as Hunted "I will destroy you for shaming the family!"... absolutely.

 

If the kid goes bad... Cops and FBI becomes hunteds... lose the Hunted from the father... probably comes out about even in points (if that matters to you.)

 

 

Sounds good to me!

[Foxx!]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

The Watchers could compile information on the character which in turn could be stolen by a group with hostile intentions or some less than scrupulous member of the orgainization may decide to sell blackmail information for fun and profit.

I agree. Watchers may be spies. They can sell or be blackmailed by villains for information about powers, disadvantages, and current activities. "I just saw the hero team hurry off in your direction. Get ready. By the way, no one is at the base now." Or imagine having a neighbour who secretly searches your rubbish.

 

Cheers!

[Alric]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

If the kid goes bad... Cops and FBI becomes hunteds... lose the Hunted from the father... probably comes out about even in points (if that matters to you.)

 

The father could become a watcher, just in case jr. is working undercover for the cops.

[Wijbrandus]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

Thanks for the responses. This gives me some options at least to work through. Probably will go with Law enforcement watching the character, until such time as he breaks the law, when they become a hunted.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

So based on the theory that a Watcher is able to take away some sort of benefit, would it still be valid to be Watched by an enemy?

 

The character in particular I am thinking about is developed as the son of a supervillian, who turned good against the dad's wishes. However, the FBI and law enforcement is watching him, to make sure he is not just misleading everyone, and/or doesn't turn back to a life of crime.

 

In this situation, the only things that could be taken away is the characters items and freedom (ie, imprisoned), which in turn make the Watched a Hunted.

 

Would this be valid (since the character would not gain the additional points), or would you handle it a different way?

 

Absolutely, as mentioned above, a Hunter will tend to violent (or at least, highly active) action.

 

The cops and FBI have no evidence, but don't want to take any chances... so they have a squad on this guy 24/7. They've tapped his phones, sneak through his home every once in a while, plant an agent where he works or hooks him up with an undercover girlfriend... and for the purpose of the game, the information gained is either used occasionally making the character wonder "how did they know that?" or having him occasionally uncover clues that let him know he's being watched. Or maybe he's just forced to debug his home once or twice a day and the loss of time makes up for everything else (and if he forgets to doesn't have the time... plant the bugs).

 

Think Mulder from X Files. He was Watched by who knows how many agencies... they weren't trying to kill him, or discredit him (he'd done that himself), or even scare him off. He just happened to be part of the wrong family and got too curious, so they kept an eye on him to make sure he didn'tl learn too much. If they felt he was learning too much, they'd start to cover something up, or plant a bunch of phoney stuff to throw him off. That's a Watched.

[Citizen Keen]

Re: Hunted: Watched

 

And realize that for the short term, a Watched can become a Hunted.

 

You do something the Watched disagrees with, and they'll shoot you. For the rest of the story arc, the Watched is the Hunted, and no points for you.

 

Remember, you can incur new disadvantages over the course of the game without getting points for them. If you piss of your Watched, that's your problem. You just got half as many points for a Hunted.