The Gaming Den

In a 3.X game, there's a chance that your party will need to deal with bureaucratic red tape in an urban adventure. I can't find any actual advice for running said encounter, just a description of what it's like.

Figure out if the red tape is an actual barrier, or just a delay. If it's just a delay, then unless there's time pressure you can just handwave it with a few 'and then you wait in line,' narrations.

Once you have to cut through the red tape either quickly or at all, it's mostly an application of social skills/powers. Step one is finding who in the organization can make what you want happen, so Gather Info, an appropriate Knowledge, fishing around with Sense Motive, or divination and charm effects. Step two is persuading them to make it happen; so Diplomacy for a quid-pro-quo deal, Intimidate to coerce compliance, Bluff to make them think it was their idea, and charm/dominate effects if you can't be bothered.

Both steps can be complicated. If the person in question really doesn't want to be found you may need to search them out, or track them down, or find them stealthing in the archival basement. If the person in question is resistant to your favorite persuasion forms for one reason or another, you may need to improvise some positive modifiers for whichever forms remain open to you.

If it's a delay then it's also a fine time for the lawyer or diplomat NPC who is handling the case for you to say "yo I gotta take a couple days to get this done, but as long as you guys are just hanging around, can you go check in with my brother for me? He lives up on Kingstreet and says that some dickheads are trying to gin up an extortion racket 'round there, but I'm thinking you could probably do something to dissuade them."

Possibly relevant Asterix example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEkUmY ... =MovieMoan

Red Tape is generally best used as a role playing encounter. Generally speaking, actually passing it is just some combination of skill checks and fetch quests, but the role playing preamble is an excellent place for Kafkaesque ironic comedy. As long as it isn't overused, these comedic breaks help the overall pacing of the evening.

You can play it as deep absurdity with demands that characters hop on one foot and catch squirrels from the courtyard and shit. Or you can play it as a more subtle comedic take on the irrelevance of unchanging dictums by having the characters have to get their request stamped with a judge's stamp issued by an empire that no longer exists (now in the possession of a miller down the road). But whether you're doing it wry or broad, you're essentially doing a comedic break between the violence and mayhem common to RPGs.

Milk it until it stops being funny and then move the fuck on with the story.

-Username17

Handouts. Have the players actually fill the forms.

^ Agreed. They call them "pencil and paper RPGs" for a fucking reason!

Couldn't you just forge the documents. It is a skill. Sure, this might come back to bite you if later someone double checks their work in a few days.

Add at least a couple Catch-22 requisites that require Gordian-knot solutions. Read lots of Dilbert.