The Bagman (Night's Black Agents)

I've discussed the Pink Panthers before. This clip is a Sundance short from the television feature The Last Panthers, which features (among others) the late John Hurt, and David Bowie's reworking of his Blackstar track is in the credits, for those nostalgic for a world pre-2016. Apart from giving the cunning among you an excellent Thrilling Chase moment (and some cool music to go with your game - the album's less than $10, Directors) it suggests a story idea.

Incidentally if you want to know more about the Pink Panthers I highly recommend the documentary Smash & Grab, available on iTunes.

In the Last Panthers six episode series (which I have not seen but would like to, and it is on iTunes, and I have free time, so YOINK!) the action opens with this heist, but soon delves deep into the criminal underworld that underpins heists like these. With the real-life Panthers what typically happens is that the heisted jewels are given to a Bagman to be sold to a middleman at whatever-the-current-rate is on the dollar, or Euro. The middleman forges whatever documents need to be forged, recuts the jewels when necessary, and sells the diamonds on. Diamonds being very easy to dispose of, the trade is relatively low-risk. Plus, it's basically unsupervised. Currency transactions are monitored when you're moving several thousand dollars at a time. Diamonds worth the same amount or more can fit in your pocket, and raise no alarms when you cross borders.

In the teaser the crooks get into the vault at about 1.50 and then something interesting happens. The lead throws what looks like high-value loot aside, choosing instead to rifle through a file box of stuff. The audience never gets a clear look at what the stuff is. It's organized, it fits into a small box, and looks like a collection of labelled packets.

If anything ever was a McGuffin, this is it. In series plot, the packets are individual diamonds worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions. In your game, they could be anything.

Say this theft targets a Conspyramid Node, a false front that pretends to be a jewelers but in fact provides the Conspiracy with X, whatever X is. X could even be diamonds, if you like, and the loss of same leaves the Conspiracy in a delicate financial position, or brings unwelcome attention from the insurance assessor.

Say the people who carry out the hit escape with the McGuffin, which is of vital importance at least to a National and possible International Node. Now the crooks have it, but everyone wants it. The question then becomes, how do your characters get close enough to the crooks to get the McGuffin without frightening off the crooks, or triggering a Conspyramid response?

Because there will be a response, a big, fat, screaming blood-in-its-eye response. The Conspiracy is pissed, and for once in a way it's not aiming its big guns at the agents. The four-alarm-fire bell is going off, and all the underworld wants to know where these crooks are.

The agents may also want to know something else: why the crooks targeted the McGuffin, and what they intend to do with it.

Of course, to find all that out they'll need to get close to someone who knows the crooks well. They'll need to get close to the Bagman. He's the one the crooks have been known to have used before, the one who they might use again - or at least trust, a little.

The recent resource guide features different scenario skeletons for several different possible plots, including flip operations where the goal is to subvert an important character and get them to do [X], whatever [X] may be. In this instance they have to flip the Bagman, so he'll tell them how to contact the crooks who pulled off the caper. The usual leverage won't apply here; the Bagman's known to be a crook, so revealing his criminal past or dodgy dealings won't work. Blackmail's probably a non-starter unless the agents can come up with some pretty convincing leverage.

Likely flip motivators include: kill a Renfield, or even a vampire. Prove convincingly that your knowledge of vampirology is second to none. Prove that you aren't working for the Node, perhaps by destroying Node assets. Use an Interpol (or similarly connected) Network Contact to reduce the Bagman's legal difficulties, perhaps by tearing up or losing some outstanding arrest warrants or getting the Bagman's friend out of prison early.

However, there is a time constraint. If the agents take too long, the Conspiracy will flip the Bagman. The Conspiracy has supernatural leverage at its disposal; it may even be able to divine the crooks' location through the Bagman's spilled entrails. Once the Conspiracy does that, the crooks probably have a very short shelf life.

So the scenario then moves from a flip operation to a Thrilling (possibly Extended) Chase to get to wherever in Serbia the crooks currently hide. If the Conspiracy gets there first then it gets the McGuffin. If the agents do, then they may or may not get the McGuffin but they'll definitely have to fend off or avoid the Conspiracy's rapid response team. Can the agents exfiltrate the crooks before the big bad bloodsuckers get there? Will it all end in blood & tears?

Enjoy!

Pink Panthers (Night's Black Agents)

No, not that one. This time out I'm going to talk about the most successful thieving syndicate of modern times, if not history itself: the Pink Panthers. With over 340 robberies and more than $500 million to the good, this gang of former paramilitaries, bandits, fixers and crooks has made its mark across the planet, nicking jewels from London to Tokyo. Next time you see an Audi lingering outside somewhere fat with loot, ask yourself: am I about to be witness to a daring heist?

This gang of Serbian criminals got their start in the early 2000s, after the Kosovo War of 1998-9, between the Federal Forces of Yugoslavia and the rebel, NATO-supported Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and the Bosnian War of 1992 to 1995. The end of these conflicts put a lot of very skilled, dangerous people out of business, and the sanctions against Yugoslavia throughout the 1990s, which didn't come to an end till 2001, completed an ugly picture. For some Serbs, this turmoil and economic devastation forced emigration; others became creative moneymakers, supplanting and replacing the destroyed economy with smuggling, theft and robbery.

Imagine what happens after ten long years of civil war and economic sanctions. Then imagine the likely result when curbs that had been in place for a decade are lifted, and poor, desperate, well-trained people can move freely across the world, on their own passports or one stolen from someone else. Thieves, smugglers and bandits licked their chops and went in for the kill - among them the Pink Panthers.

It's not clear how many Panthers there are. Estimates go as high as several hundred, but it's probable not all are actual Pink Panthers; more likely, Pink Wannabes. Gang members tend to be highly trained, speak several languages, are comfortable with firearms and violence, and have exceptional attention to detail. In one instance, for example, the robbers painted a bench near a target, specifically to prevent people sitting on it and becoming witnesses to the soon-to-be-crime.

Their method of operation is fairly straightforward. They send in a scout, always an attractive woman, whose job it is to thoroughly explore the target, marking any cameras and security devices. The group then hits the target as quickly and decisively as possible, going in and getting out in minimal time. They almost always use Audis as escape vehicles, because their drivers are very familiar with the type - again, attention to detail, avoiding unnecessary risks. They even went so far as to smuggle stolen Audis into Saudi Arabia, where high-performance luxury cars are much more common. However they are not married to their Audis; in Saint-Tropez they used speedboats to make their getaway.

The loot is then given to a courier and brought back to Serbian brokers for re-cutting, and sale. The courier gets 5%, the broker something like 30 to 40% of the take, and the Panthers themselves get 15%. Their partners in Antwerp and elsewhere in Europe, who put the stolen loot back on the market, get the rest.

In some cases, the diamonds are never sold; instead, they become currency. A boatload of cocaine can be bought with a pocketful of diamonds. Money transactions over a certain amount have to be declared, and cash can be traced, but diamonds have no memory and no conscience.

For most of their career the Pink Panthers avoided violence. They preferred overwhelming force and quick entrance and exit; they might spray tear gas at cashiers, but never shoot. However in recent encounters the alleged Panthers have been considerably sloppier, by their standards, and in a recent confrontation in Greece, a policeman was shot. Over 150 Panthers have been captured and imprisoned over the years, and while some have been broken out of prison by their comrades, others are less fortunate; some, like an unfortunate held in a Saudi jail, never leave prison alive.

Even without this steady drain, the Panthers' days are numbered. Times have changed, and EU membership is on the table. That means the Panthers no longer have a safe haven in Montenegro or Serbia. The more experienced members, who made their fortunes long ago, can retire, and perhaps will, but the newer, less experienced recruits still want to make a killing - and they're the ones more likely to make a serious, perhaps fatal mistake.

In Night's Black Agents terminology, what exactly is a Pink Panther? The archetype combines several different skill sets: investigator, black bagger, bang-and-burner, wheel artist. I'd assign abilities as follows:

Investigative - Intimidation 1, Languages 1,  Notice 1, Streetwise 1, Urban Survival 2. Possible alternates: Flatter, Flirting (for the female scouts), Architecture.

General - Athletics 4, Conceal 2, Driving 4, Infiltration 2, Preparedness 4. Possible alternates: Disguise, Sense Trouble, Surveillance.

Special Driving Cherry - Audi Expert. The Panther can get extra performance out of an Audi, and for Thrilling Chase purposes has +1 Maneuver.

That's it for this week! Enjoy.