Re: torture

[Steve Ames <steve@virtual-voodoo.com>]

I don't think interrogation would be a plot buster. But I agree it
could be in the hands of a weak GM. If interrogation was a plot buster
in AQ then it should also be a plot buster in reality. Snag a baddie,
make him squeal out his friends. Yeah, sometimes this works but take
a look at the world and its history. Often it doesn't. The WIL of the
person being interrogated needs to come into play (just as their HEA
should for torture).

The interrogated person could also just plain _LIE_. After a day or
so of interrogation (while his friends are moving away) he just tells
a whopper or some half truth. It takes the party another day to figure
out the lie, etc... he could crack open his poison gas tooth, etc...
I think you'd have a hard time interrogating ORCs which would be a
racial boon to them.

The skill would need a delicate explanation. But in the hands of a 
good GM it could actually be a plot opener. You manipulate the party
into "capturing" someone who after a few days of torture and interrogation
give the players all the information they need... to lead them into a bigger
trap. This might be a GM roll against the players skill? That way the player
doesn't know if they succeeded or failed... with Taurus on the downswing
the old truth spell is somewhat limited in availability. Scrogg could get
the information quicker in most cases.

-Steve

On Wed, Mar 08, 2000 at 08:20:06AM -0500, Daniel Lawrence wrote:
> Well,
> 	My first reaction is simple..... We tried to avoid building any skills into
> the system which would be 'plot busters'. An actually interrogation skill
> which would allow an adventurer to extract information from an actor reduces
> the thinking and role-playing aspect of the game down to a dice roll. You
> kidnap a baddy... you use your Interrogation skill on him.. and all is
> revealed. That is why I believed that this scenario should be handled as a
> role-playing situation, with the GM adjudicating the results from the
> actions of the adventurers in the context of the situation rather then
> having this particular situation reduced to a die role. That is why the
> Torture skill is about the physical manifestations of pain. The adventurer
> tortures the actor (or other adventurer... or whomever) and succeeds at
> inflicting pain or not. The GM (or player) then decides, based on the
> personality, loyalty, and etc. of the tortured actor if they crack and spill
> their guts.
> 
> Daniel Lawrence
> dan@aquest.com
> (765) 742-5153 work
> (765) 426-3409 cell
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Luers [mailto:orc_food@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 12:01 AM
> To: Benjamin Austin
> Cc: gmlist@cioe.com
> Subject: Re: torture
> 
> 
>