Danger Sense Role Play

[stranger38]

Hello everyone!

'nother question: how do you guys roleplay danger sense?

let's say my character is taking a night walk. He is about to cross a dark alley with a crackhead ready to pounce.

The character has DS. The GM rolls Per, get a success, then?? what would he say?

"getting close to the alley, your feel something is off" is that it?

[Anaraxes]

You could also say "you've got a bad feeling about this" or "your Spidey-sense is tingling", depending on genre. In your example, maybe it's a noir detective game, so you say something like "that alley looks like the sort of crack that the city's roaches would crawl into, and that dame isn't paying you a hundred a day to play exterminator". Precogs might get a straight-up premonition of doom. Fantasy clerics could feel a touch of admonition from their deity -- the portfolio and personality of the god might give you some ideas.

Except on that roll of 3-4, you're not really conveying any information other than "your Danger Sense just triggered". But that's a really boring way to tell the other player. So whatever colorful way you can invent works; try to fit the game's tone and the character's style. Hopefully the player is expecting you to drop those hints (they paid for the Advantage, after all). But if they stare at you blankly when you're too oblique, you can always clarify by getting more direct - "the alley seems risky to you" - or just whispering bluntly "that's your Danger Sense".

[stranger38]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

You could also say "you've got a bad feeling about this" or "your Spidey-sense is tingling", depending on genre. In your example, maybe it's a noir detective game, so you say something like "that alley looks like the sort of crack that the city's roaches would crawl into, and that dame isn't paying you a hundred a day to play exterminator". Precogs might get a straight-up premonition of doom. Fantasy clerics could feel a touch of admonition from their deity -- the portfolio and personality of the god might give you some ideas.

Except on that roll of 3-4, you're not really conveying any information other than "your Danger Sense just triggered". But that's a really boring way to tell the other player. So whatever colorful way you can invent works; try to fit the game's tone and the character's style. Hopefully the player is expecting you to drop those hints (they paid for the Advantage, after all). But if they stare at you blankly when you're too oblique, you can always clarify by getting more direct - "the alley seems risky to you" - or just whispering bluntly "that's your Danger Sense".

That noir description is DA thing!

so short answer, there is not much to roleplay other than "you feel uneasy about this"?

[thrash]

I have sometimes used flash cards to remind players to roleplay the Disadvantages they chose for their characters. (For example, a card that says, "Bad Temper: Get mad!") It was then fairly simple to also include a card that says, "Danger Sense: Something's not right..." This clues the affected player in, without necessarily alerting the rest of the party.

[ravenfish]

If "I have a bad feeling about this" is good enough for Star Wars, it should probably be good enough for GURPS.

[johndallman]

I've seen it run as "Suddenly you notice you're behind a tree. The sound of that bullet going past might be something to do with it."

[Plane]

I think basically if it goes off then it obligates you to make a perception roll with your utmost attention.

IE instead of hearing rolls being background noise (random skittering you ignore because you're thinking about stuff) you pay attention like the noise could be the danger.

Roll-wise not sure what the diff is

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by stranger38

So short answer, there is not much to roleplay other than "you feel uneasy about this"?

Or equivalent, based on exact situation: "You have a bad feeling about this." "Something's not right." "You get a sense that you're being watched/followed."

It's best to work it out with the player, in advance, based on the origin of their advantage and exactly how they want their danger sense to work.

It's also fair for the GM to "cheat" to make Danger Sense useful while also advancing play. For example, if the adventure requires the players to get into a fight with a couple of low-level thugs, win the fight, and collect information from the captives/bodies, Danger Sense might allow a character to get the same information without a fight. ("The sound of familiar voices stops you just before you turn the corner into the alley. You're sure it's the same two thugs you saw at the the nightclub earlier, and you have a gut feeling that they're up to no good. What do you want to do?")

[Gigermann]

One way I've done it in the past is déjà vu. That is, in one case where something was going to be "thrown" at such a PC's head, he got a sense of déjà vu that this was going to happen as he approached the applicable place/time, and reactively ducked. (And in the case where this happened in game, hit another PC :P )

[RGTraynor]

Borrowing from Peter O'Donnell's excellent Modesty Blaise series, I have a current NPC with Danger Sense who presents as his ears start prickling -- almost painfully -- when things are about to go south. That's all he gets: when his ears start prickling, something bad's about to happen. Any further insight's up to the players to figure out.