I was recently pinged on Discord by someone who basically stated that it takes too long to get started in the adventure, “Two of Hearts.” The way it was stated was like it was a problem, rather than asking me why I designed it that way. I decided to take the time to do a deep dive on why I set up “Two of Hearts” the way I did and maybe that can help fellow adventure designers (at least from my perspective).
Side note: I have to point out that I wrote “Two of Hearts” years ago. Probably in 2021. I’m too lazy to look into it and I have a terrible memory. Anyway, it was one of the first adventures I wrote for publication, so with that in mind I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not perfect. However, I’ve had a lot of fun running it and I know other people have, so it can’t be all that bad.
Background
If you haven’t read “Two of Hearts” you can read it in the Street Wolves Jumpstart which is free in PDF form and you can get it right here. If you refuse to read it, the basic set up is that GMs are given a background and what’s been going on. Then it’s related that the players that their characters (the Street Wolves) have investigated the abduction of a fellow agent for a day.
We officially begin the session with the Street Wolves in the bar where the agent was last seen. They’re out of leads and the investigation has gone nowhere. At a dramatically appropriate time, a well dressed stranger enters the bar. This guy is Daniel Coffee who’s a lawyer. He tells the team that his employer wants to talk to them. He then tells the Street Wolves that he can bring them to her in a limo if they leave right away.
If they get in the limo they’re taken to Lady Domingo’s mansion. Lady Domingo is a “business woman” who obviously is tied to a criminal cartel. At the mansion they’re told that she can offer them information on the whereabouts of their missing agent if they do a job for her, which is to kill her father.
The person who pinged me said, “I feel like there is a lot more preamble and set up than there should be. There’s a briefing by the Handler, then a timeskip where all leads are dead ends. Then there’s a scene in the bar. Then a scen in a limo. Then a scene where the femme fatale gives their actual mission to kill her father. Only then do the players have some solid direction to go in.”
Okay so now we have the background and the critique. Let’s dig in!
The Dead End
First let’s talk about the dead end to the investigation. From a design perspective, I wanted it to have reached a dead end primarily because the players need a compelling reason to meet with Lady Domingo. If their leads are exhausted, there’s a pretty good reason why they may want to talk to her.
Now, I agree that this is probably the weakest part of the adventure. It is a little rail roady, but this is a published adventure, I gotta nudge the players somehow.
A game master could start “Two of Hearts” with the Street Wolves arriving at Lady Domingo’s, but that’s even more of a railroad.
There’s a few others reasons why I didn’t want to do that, which brings us to:
The Scene in the Bar
This particular scene exists for a few reasons. It introduces a point of contact with a potentially disreputable lawyer who can be an interesting character depending on how you play him. They also get an intriguing and mysterious offer that gives them an interesting choice: do they go along with this guy or come up with another plan?
It also sets up an important character before they meet her. The fact that she sent a slick attorney that’s at her beck and call along with a limo and she somehow knows they’re investigating a missing Street Wolf, should give them a lot of hints that she’s a powerful person with a lot of money that might be dangerous. There are strong hints before they go to the meeting that she has power and probably won’t be a pushover.
Having Coffee offer to take them to his employer should have the Street Wolves wondering just who she is, why she wants to talk to them, and what she knows about them. My goal is to build suspense and mystery, not just set them off on a mission where they check off a series of boxes.
And to a lesser extent, if the group is new it gives them a bit of breathing room to get to know each other in the bar before they’re in the middle of things.
There’s also power dynamics in play. While they’re in the bar the Street Wolves are in their element. They’re in control of the situation and are comfortable. They haven’t been thrown into the deep end of the pool. Once they are at the mansion, the power dynamic shifts and they’re vulnerable. Players will feel this at at least a subconscious level, leading to a rise in tension if they decide to go to the meet.
When it comes to leads and knowing what to do, during the scene where they meet Lady Domingo and she mentions her father, that is of course a big lead. However, when Daniel Coffee mentions his employer that is when the investigation actually starts, even if the players don’t know it yet. He willingly gives the Street Wolves her name when asked. And once this new variable is added to the equation the investigation has gone warm again. They’re able to look into this new person on the scene and get some ideas of what she’s all about, even if they don’t know what she has to say yet.
Another element of the bar scene is that it’s a bit of a test to see how the players are going to act around shady characters. If we start the scene at Lady Domingo’s mansion it’s an unpredictable situation for her and the game master. I’d rather have a buffer between the player characters and (as it turns out) one of the main villains of the adventure to see where their heads are at. I can suss out how they might act before giving them that face to face meeting.
And if they go along with getting in the limo, Lady Domingo may be able to collect information on them through Coffee. The more face time they get with him, the more he can potentially give her and so the more she’ll be able to leverage the situation.
The Limo Scene
Now at this point this scene doesn’t have to happen. When the players get the request from Daniel Coffee, they might not get in the limo. They may even elect not to meet Lady Domingo at all. That’s why there are notes in the adventure in case that happens.
However, it’s more fun if they go for a ride. It gives face characters a bit more time to do what they like to do. They can talk to Coffee and he can attempt to pry more information from them and they can do the same to him. Tech minded or paranoid Street Wolves might find the bugs in the limo, which is another giant red flag that something fishy is going on.
But this is all just optional based on whether or not the players think it’ll be fun for their Street Wolves to ride in a limo.
Meeting Lady Domingo
After the bar scene and potentially the limo ride scene, if the players go to Lady Domingo’s they already know what’s a stake (they hit a bunch of dead ends and could use a lead), they can guess that this person is powerful, and they may know she’s dangerous if they do any research before meeting her or if they’re able to pry anything out of Coffee. To me that’s more interesting than if they just showed up at her doorstep at the start of the mission.
Final Thoughts
I’ve run Two of Hearts a bunch of times and each time it’s been fun. I’ve never gotten any complaints about it taking too long to get started, but milage can always vary.
The only disappointment I’ve ever experienced while playing it is when players elect not to meet up with Kimberly Tiffany, the rising pop star in “Two of Hearts”, because she’s an NPC that I adore.
I guess I’ve never had players get the bearer bonds either. That would be fun.
Also as an aside, if you have a problem with any adventure I write: 1. Please don’t direct your critique directly at me, but if you have a question feel free to ask. 2. Do whatever you want to change it. I’m not the boss of you. 3. I’ve put a lot of thought into these things, so even if it doesn’t work for you there’s a reason I did it the way I did.