The dilemma. Six men who robbed the Stonebreak road for years have walked into your yard, laid down their knives and asked for work as caravan guards. Your drivers say they will quit first. The Guild calls it madness.
From the gameThe painting on this decision card in Valmora.
What would you do?
Play itDecision 1 of 1
Dilemma
Bandits Who Want to Be Guards
Six men who robbed the Stonebreak road for years have walked into your yard, laid down their knives and asked for work as caravan guards. Your drivers say they will quit first. The Guild calls it madness.
If the roll succeedsNo gang will touch a wagon guarded by men who know every one of their tricks.If it failsTwo of them vanish with a strongbox on the second trip. Your drivers say nothing, loudly.
What happenedThe watch hangs no one, but the men are sent to the salt pans. Your drivers buy you a drink.
What happenedThey walk off toward the hills. You wonder which road they will choose.
No right answer.
In the game the roll is d20 plus your adviser’s skill. Here the bonus is a flat +2.
The options and what happens
Hire them and put them on the lead wagons.Bold · decided by a d20 roll against 14
Succeeds: No gang will touch a wagon guarded by men who know every one of their tricks.
Fails: Two of them vanish with a strongbox on the second trip. Your drivers say nothing, loudly.
Turn them over to the Crown's watch.Certain outcome
The watch hangs no one, but the men are sent to the salt pans. Your drivers buy you a drink.
Send them away with bread.Certain outcome
They walk off toward the hills. You wonder which road they will choose.
About this card
This is one of 8 hand-written dilemmas set in Valmora (Year 412 of the Lantern Calendar), one of three ages in Be a CEO, a business strategy game where you run a trading house. Each dilemma has one bold option, decided by dice, and safer options with certain outcomes. The text above is the card exactly as it appears in the game, with the amounts it showed on the first day of a new game.
Questions
What are the options in “Bandits Who Want to Be Guards”?
There are three: “Hire them and put them on the lead wagons”; “Turn them over to the Crown's watch”; “Send them away with bread”. The first is the bold option: the game rolls a d20 plus your adviser’s skill against 14. The other two have certain outcomes.
What happens if the bold choice fails?
Two of them vanish with a strongbox on the second trip. Your drivers say nothing, loudly.
What happens if the bold choice succeeds?
No gang will touch a wagon guarded by men who know every one of their tricks.
More Valmora dilemmas
A Caravan from the Fever CountryA steppe caravan has arrived at Aldheim's east gate from lands where the sweating fever is spreading.
Nobody Uses Swallow PassAn old shepherd swears that Swallow Pass, abandoned since a rockfall in his grandfather's day, is open again.
A Partnership with the Horse ClansThe Tal clan of the steppe offers to share its grazing grounds and remounts with your caravans, in exchange for iron at a fair price.
Written by the Mantar Tech team from the game’s own data and text. Be a CEO is in closed alpha, so numbers and cards can change. About the art: much of it was made with AI tools and then selected and edited by hand.
