On being Feared

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

People won't tell you things. That can be anything from,"You can be the one that tells Comrade Stalin that the Fascists are coming over the border next week, I am sure your widow will be glad to have such a patriotic husband," to,"How can I tell my father a gentile wants to marry me?" Both Comrade Stalin and the father have good reason to want to know these things and both might end up not knowing.

This angle seems worth pursuing. Even with rock-solid loyalty, the employees are always putting on an act because they're afraid of their employer. There's a fundamental lack of trust. This might be expressed as lots of little lies to cover for minor mishaps or some larger fudging of bad news. Maybe the hirelings mention things a bit too late. The hiring process might also involve some extra wrinkles like someone accepting the job and then never showing up for work. (Maybe they just said yes because they were scared, having no intention of taking the job, or maybe their family and friends dissuaded them once they got home.) All in all, this wouldn't be a big deal most of the time, but it could lead to interesting roleplaying scenes where the PC needs to wrangle an awkward truth out of one of their hirelings.