07-15-2010, 11:19 PM | #51 | |||||
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Rolelaying (Verbal) Intimidation - seeking various examples
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"I need a real answer." "Good luck with that. Just make sure to stay out of my way." "I don't know if that's possible." He leaned forward a little and said very softly, "You were lucky once. Don't tempt fate. You were allowed to live because you were useful. Once Goto is gone, people may see you differently. Cross me or my people the wrong way, and we'll crush you. There are ways to do that without even laying a finger on you." Last edited by David Johnston2; 07-15-2010 at 11:23 PM. |
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07-15-2010, 11:39 PM | #52 | |
MIB
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Re: Rolelaying (Verbal) Intimidation - seeking various examples
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I heard a rumour once that a chef was sexually harassing a waitress, and had been asked to stop, and he wouldn't. The head chef wouldn't do anything, so another chef took him aside. "I think you should leave her alone." "Nah she likes me." "No, she doesn't. She asked me to sort it out. She just wants a pleasant work environment." "I'll do what I want! You can't tell me what to do." "Have you ever heard of karma?" "What?" "It's an Eastern concept. The idea that what goes around, comes around. Whatever you do, good or bad, it comes back to you. Nobody tries to make it happen, the universe makes it happen." "What are you talking about?" "The kitchen is a dangerous place. We have hard metal counters, slippery floors, open flame, boiling water, hot oil - and sharp knives. Accidents happen in the kitchen. Karma's like that. Someone treats a co-worker badly, and he has an accident. It's terrible to see. I would not want you to have an accident in our kitchen. Karma." The offending chef, the rumour goes, then behaved himself. Remember that the description of intimidation skill is that you "convince the subject that you are able and willing, perhaps even eager, to do something awful to him." Threats of physical violence constitute assault in most jurisdictions, punishable by up to two years' imprisonment. Threats of what we could call social violence - exposing secrets, etc - constitute blackmail, which also carries a prison sentence. But even absent the law, most people are not willing to do something awful to someone else. Fewer still are eager. Of those who are willing and eager, most are not really able. Remember also that successful intimidation skill use can have effects beyond that one encounter. In a lawless world, it may gain you respect generally, but done too often can lead to frequent fights or people conspiring against you to remove your cruel influence. In a civilised society, it can lead to loss of job, or to people other than the intimidated person fearing and avoiding you. Threaten a co-worker, and you may find other co-workers less friendly. Socially there really is karma.
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07-17-2010, 11:52 PM | #53 | ||
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Rolelaying (Verbal) Intimidation - seeking various examples
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Heck, a genuine friend, with your best interest in mind, could try to intimidate you by proxy, that is, convince the subject that a third party is eager and able to hurt him, with the subject's best interests in mind. (Gaming hypothetical: If I (as a fellow PC) am trying to convince my best buddy not to go pick a fight with the guy who's having an affair with his wife, said guy being a skilled combatant and a member of the local mob to boot, and I do it by pointing all all the nasty things that could follow from it, am I using Intimidation? Or some other social skill? Keeping in mind that I really do have his best interests in mind as I do it.) Quote:
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07-18-2010, 12:07 AM | #54 | |||
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Rolelaying (Verbal) Intimidation - seeking various examples
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Furthermore, any brighter breed of crook (and not all crooks are dumb) is going to realize that they can rapidly short-circuit Calahan just by surrendering every time. That forces him to put them in the hands of the dysfunctional justice system that his movie-role is to bypass. Naturally, sinc eit would short-circuit the story, most of his targets don't realize that to surrender to Dirty Harry is to win. Quote:
(And as a cop or former cop, prison is something Calahan should fear.) I'm not running down the DH movies, they're good movies for what they are, I'm just pointing out that they make lousy realistic examples of the use of intimidation skill. The crooks in the movies never do the things that would make DH's whole approach futile. Quote:
Again, this requires that the villains behave in precisely the ways necessary to make the story work, and do so repeatedly. And again, as in the example of the cop, it's the organization behind him that makes Bauer a threat to his enemies, and that organization is utterly unrealistic, not merely for setting-based reasons of technology or other qualities, but of human nature. Same deal with another show by the same creators, La Femme Nikita. |
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07-18-2010, 12:29 AM | #55 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Rolelaying (Verbal) Intimidation - seeking various examples
As I said upthread, you don't have to game any closer to reality than you want to, but if you do want a somewhat realistic (in terms of human nature) scenario, consider that some of the common tropes of fiction don't make a lot of sense in many cases, but are narratively or dramtically useful.
For example, in all sorts of genre's the protagonist may receive an intimidating warning to 'back off' or something bad will happen to the protagonist or a loved one(s). Now, sometimes that makes rational sense, but not always. The protagonist has to be a plausible threat to the villain (unless the villian in nuts) before he'll get a warning, and if the villain is rational the warning will be given only if there's some reason that getting the hero to back off is advantageous over other approaches. Also, if you're assuming a smart, capable villain with some resources, s/he probably won't issue the intimidating warning, and then start planning what to do if the hero refuses. Instead, s/he'll more likely have something ready to go to make the hero take the threat seriously before the first move. Imagine the following scenario: an honest, capable DA, Smith, is prosecuting someone (call him Thug) that the villain (a smart, connected, ruthless man with considerable intelligence, call him Jones) wants released. The DA has an ex-wife and two kids, and knows people who owe him favors from the past who could impose some nasty violence on someone who gives the DA's family trouble. So will Jones issue a warning against the DA's kin? Yes, but not immediately. Moving precipitately might give the DA a chance to call in some of the favors he's owed, and make trouble for Jones (who has good security but is too smart to assume it's impenetrable, and who may have loved ones of his own). So Jones won't make any angry intemperate threats. Instead he'll have his people profile the DA, his family, their movements, locations, habits, etc. When that information is in hand, then Jones decides it's time to move, he visits the DA by proxy, shows him pictures of his family and friends taken by long lens, lists of their habits, hangouts, etc, and informs him that his son now has a broken arm from an 'accident', but no worse and nothing permanent...yet. The broken arm indicates that Jones' is not kidding, and the threat now becomes that either the case against Thug goes south, or x, y, and z specific things happen at specific times to specific people. Jones also informs the DA that he's being watched, and any attempt to call in any outside assistance will result in the bad things happening immediately. In fact, since Jones is smart, he informs the DA that if it even looks like he's calling in outside help, legal or otherwise, the hammer immediately falls. Ditto any attempt to move or hide his kin. The point here is that Jones doesn't bluster, issue second warnings, or anything of the sort, he never approaches the DA personally or shows his face or name, and he sets it up carefully before hand so that there's no time for the DA to do anything. From Smith's POV, he already knows his son has a broken arm, so the threat has to be taken seriously. He knows from the pictures and information he's been shown that whoever sent the messengers knows a lot of things. Is his phone bugged? Maybe not...but if it is he can't use it to try and arrange any sort of help or revenge. Just how is he being watched? By who? Who around him has been suborned, if any? Smith has no way to know how much of Jones' claims about what Smith can get away with quietly are true. If Jones is smart, he'll set up a time limit, to keep the pressure on. The point here is Jones' prior preparation, and careful work. The formal attempt at intimidation doesn't even start until after some preparatory work. In game terms, this puts big bonuses on the intimidation roll. Obviously that's not a universal situation, but it's a more realistic example of what a smart and well-connected master villain might try as intimidation than is often seen in genre fictions. |
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examples, intimidation, roleplaying |
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