Each district has a clock representing its level of heat . It represents how hard it is to operate there because of your party’s personal criminal history or the current fear and attitude of residents towards criminals. Example . When you generate heat, fill in a segment on the clock for the district that the heat was generated in, up to midnight.

This system assumes you are playing in an urban campaign oriented around theft, intrigue, assassination, and such. Further, it assumes your city is made up of distinct districts and that the PCs work together as a party.

Each time a district’s heat ticks to 6 o’clock and up to midnight, something bad happens. Bluecoats might start curfews at 6 o’clock in Dalgos. Locals might lynch people and torch buildings at 9 o’clock in Mosslight. At midnight in the Basilios Ward, a Prismatic Knight might show up to ease the Legarat’s worries.

Reducing Heat

These don't represent all the ways to reduce heat, but they provide a guaranteed amount of heat reduction. The GM might rule that blackmailing a local leader, performing a favor for a faction with control over a district, or getting out of the city for a while also reduces heat.

Lay low. When the party finishes an extended rest, they roll d4 + 1. Remove that much heat, divided between any number of districts of their choice. For each stronghold the party owns, you can reduce additional heat equal to that stronghold’s level.

Grease palms. If the party can bribe someone with influence over a district, spend 100gp to reduce heat in that district by 1. You can spend 250gp instead to reduce heat by 2 in a poor district or 500gp in a wealthy district. The party can’t reduce that district’s heat again this way until they finish an extended rest.

Wear potholders. If the party has a follower of some notoriety and they're willing to take the fall for you, you can choose one district and remove all its heat. If that district was at midnight, your follower is executed—circumventing this death means heat is not reduced. If that district was at or past 6 o’clock, they will remain imprisoned until you find a way to free them. Otherwise, they will return to your service after being badly hurt or jailed for a while. You can’t reduce that district’s heat this way ever again.

Notes Extended rests are one week of staying in one area, catching up with your contacts, and running errands, as described in MCDM's Strongholds & Followers, without the requirement that it be spent at a stronghold. Strongholds refer to strongholds described in Strongholds & Followers. If the party's taking frequent extended rests, the GM needs to make them sting—move the plot along in the background. Charge rent. Advance the clock on an impending doom. The GM might rule that rests without a few days of adventuring in-between don't let you lay low again. My setting has 20+ districts, which means the PCs have places to go even if they're running hot in several districts. You might need to have clocks with many segments or make getting rid of heat easier if your city has fewer districts. Players get plenty of warning, so consequences for hitting midnight should be severe. Wandering the rich and powerful Basilios Ward while a Prismatic Knight is on your trail means one or more PCs are almost certainly going to die. A poor district that's spreading heat might just be wiped off the map by the factions in power.