[ericthered]

I was mostly trying to minimize the craziness for this adventure... though it does open up the playing field quite a lot.

replacing him with an actual copy of Shakespeare is pretty good, as its likely to fool even other out-time actors. And I suppose that's who you're competing against: the original timeline will mostly accept any replacement just fine.

Getting him to travel to a place where you hold all the cards is a solid tactic: a single letter can send every other team scrabbling for gear and hidden cameras while you have everything set up perfectly. King James works well, though I suppose a few other friends and acquaintances will be just fine.

Sticking a radio tracker on the guy is likely to be really useful. Actually, most of them should be bugs as well. The only trick is this might be obvious enough that most teams will scour him and discard any devices. Or just rely on jamming. If you can get a transmitter swallowed without anyone noticing that would be very useful though. I suppose surveillance is a battle-ground unto itself. A radioactive isotope may be trackable as well, and much harder to jam.

I'm thinking of locals it would be useful to co-opt. The best ones are: the morgue, the doctor (*might not be an actual doctor), family members/ any servants (though this may be harder), and local law enforcement.

In the end, the switch has to be made. You can make it while he's alive, while he's "dead", or after someone else has grabbed him.