Black Market Heist Crew

[filo_clarke]

I am looking for advice about how to handle the actions of the player characters in my current campaign.

They are all members of the Black Market, acting as a heist crew, obtaining high-value items for clients. The PCs are a Case Man, Enforcer, Professional Thief, Smuggler, Con Artist, Gambler, Refurbisher and Mob Doctor. They are hired through a fixer who works for the Black Market and is the point of contact for prospective clients.

We have been playing for two months, and they have run two successful heists. Here is the tricky bit; in both heists they decided that the item(s) being stolen were quite valuable, and decided to keep them (rather than handing it over to the buyer). The second heist just finished late night, and they pulled a double-whammy, by stealing a magic item from a magic society who intended to sell it to a rebel group. Rather than turning over the item to the client, they sold it to the rebel group at a discount and pocketed the money.

I have ideas about how the client and the victim(s) might retaliate, but those will become long-running plot devices.

I am more curious about the Black Market response. They have a team who are essentially going "rogue" on every mission. They usually take half their payment up-front for operating costs, so not only is the client not getting the goods, but they are paying for the privilege.

If the team failed, that would be one thing. But they are succeeding, and making it apparent that they have succeeded.

What might the consequences be?

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

[Curbludgeon]

Stealing from the Black Market is a bad idea. Maybe the Immaterial Hand could lend said hand to the magic society in letting them know who stole their property and suggest how they might retrieve it. Maybe a character's younger sibling books a cruise on a slow boat to Splynn, or the Calgary Bone Pit. At a minimum they should get blacklisted and have to repay the stolen operating costs plus a smoothing things over fee.

[HWalsh]

I am looking for advice about how to handle the actions of the player characters in my current campaign.

They are all members of the Black Market, acting as a heist crew, obtaining high-value items for clients. The PCs are a Case Man, Enforcer, Professional Thief, Smuggler, Con Artist, Gambler, Refurbisher and Mob Doctor. They are hired through a fixer who works for the Black Market and is the point of contact for prospective clients.

We have been playing for two months, and they have run two successful heists. Here is the tricky bit; in both heists they decided that the item(s) being stolen were quite valuable, and decided to keep them (rather than handing it over to the buyer). The second heist just finished late night, and they pulled a double-whammy, by stealing a magic item from a magic society who intended to sell it to a rebel group. Rather than turning over the item to the client, they sold it to the rebel group at a discount and pocketed the money.

I have ideas about how the client and the victim(s) might retaliate, but those will become long-running plot devices.

I am more curious about the Black Market response. They have a team who are essentially going "rogue" on every mission. They usually take half their payment up-front for operating costs, so not only is the client not getting the goods, but they are paying for the privilege.

If the team failed, that would be one thing. But they are succeeding, and making it apparent that they have succeeded.

What might the consequences be?

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

Well...

There are a number of problems here.

Problem 1:
They stop getting work. Their reputation is trashed. Nobody is going to hire a crew that can't be trusted. Those that do decide to risk using them aren't going to give them anything up front.

Problem 2:
They get blacklisted. No more being able to fence items. No more buying items from the black market. They're cut off.

Problem 3:
They are criminals, con artists, and thieves. They've angered a lot of rich clients. Those clients are out for their money back or blood, or both. There is a lot of things those clients can do. Things like...

A. Hire bounty hunters. Put a price out on the PCs heads. They stole from people, both the people who hired them and the people who they stole items from. Their clients could tell the victims of the robbery exactly who ripped them off.

B. Tip off the CS when they're operating in CS territory - Report them as FoM operators or as Naruni weapons dealers. Sure, it's a lie, but the CS won't know that until it's too late.

C. Send the PCs into a trap. Hire the PCs to steal an item, but tip off the target regarding the day/time/method of the heist.

[Orin J.]

you know they call mob enforcers Legbreakers for a reason right? have their enhanced boys roll up on whoever is most able to pay them back (in cash or hardware) mess them up when they're alone, and then collect their cash/gear.