How should interrogations be handled whenever the PCs have captured a prisoner?
I seem to notice most players are fond of committing the most brutal torture they can think of, regardless of whether or not they're supposed to be the good guys.
>>48224857
Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQiWVntopz4
>>48224857
With love and care.
>>48224857
>fond of committing the most brutal torture they can think of
That's fantasy mixed with human nature. We want to hurt our enemies. In reality most people don't have the stomach for hardcore torture and would be sick on the floor long before they got to the mid-level stuff.
But there are hardened people all over the place too.
>>48225048
>In reality most people don't have the stomach for hardcore torture
And those that do are worried about possible legal ramifications and repercussions.
>>48224857
Generally, you can't. Doing an actual interrogation requires timelines and resources that PCs just don't have in a normal game. Torture is actually worse than useless because people reflex to "just make shit up" too fast for anything obtained under actual duress to be remotely trustworthy.
A better idea is to get away from the police/mob/inquisitor model and think of it as bank robbers intimidating a bank manager. Being able to credibly say "listen to me and I walk out of here with someone else's money, screw with me and I've got no interest in you remaining...pretty much anything" works pretty damn well.
>>48224857
>How should interrogations be handled whenever the PCs have captured a prisoner?
However fits your gaming group.
>I seem to notice most players are fond of committing the most brutal torture they can think of, regardless of whether or not they're supposed to be the good guys.
And you probably reward them for it, which kind of makes it not that special to note.
Unless you aren't rewarding them for it and they enjoy getting bad information or obvious stuff they already knew.
>>48225379
>And you probably reward them for it, which kind of makes it not that special to note.
I only reward them if they pass the die roll. So they could threaten but never lay a finger in their prisoner and as long as they pass the roll they'll get the info they want.
I'd focus on bribery, try and turn prisoners against each other, alternating with intimidation
>>48224857
Simple, if they go overboard have the prisoner piss themself and pass out, or actually not know a damn thing but say any plausible sounding lie to get it to stop.
Naturally this plausible sounding lie is a setup for an ambush.
If word gets back to the opposing organization that the adventuring party use these sorts of tactics, expect them to respond in kind.
If a character known for being particularly brutal to his foes is captured don't expect them to be treated humanely or have all their fingers and toes with them on break-out.
>>48225022
I never got to play the sequel to the new series. Did they also have an interrogation mechanic?
>>48225428
I read this as you completely disregarding the roleplaying. No wonder your players all but murder their victims if nothing happens until they pass a dice threshold.
>>48224857
Ehh. Our last party sort of had a morality spiral into the darker side of the alignment table, because whenever we tried to be good the DM pissed on us from a great height. By the end of the campaign we were essentially fantasy CIA except even more malicious.
Interrogations were performed over fairly long timescales. The HQ had an anechoic chamber that we would put prisoners in. Once they completely broke down, we'd go about inducing learned helplessness and rebuilding them from the ground up to be indoctrinated devotees of the organisation, extract the necessary information, and then we'd use them in place of interns, carrying things from place to place, passing messages along, all that jazz. We... Didn't really mistreat them after the conditioning. In fact, they had a pretty good quality of life compared to the vast majority of the setting, which sort of made it even more unsettling.
Campaign ended when we all realised that we had essentially become the Ministry of Love and got spooked.
>>48224857
In my current campaign we have literally built a three step program with the first step being keeping prisoners in isolation with daily interrogations of simple questions: "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" Etc.
After that they either cooperate, and go to phase 2 in which they are monitored, taught to co-exist with one another, and given "tests of morality" (e.g a nearby guard forgets his lunch. What do?) they either fail, and are discarded, or advance to the last phase: reintegration.
They are allowed to live with a tribe of allied goblins who are largely psionic. At this stage it is made clear if they've been bullshitting, and as part of their last test they are given a pet to raise, and later given the choice to kill said pet to renter society, or don't and be exiled (the wilderness in this setting is unforgiving). Should they refuse they are considered reformed, and allowed to enter. Should they agree they are mind-fucked into leaping out the nearest window onto the fluffy pillows waiting below.
>>48225873
I die greased a bit. Point being that interrogation is done over a long period of time, with simple punishment/reward rather than torture that leads to them spouting whatever they think will make you stop.
I haven't been in any group that didn't use enchantment magic to take care of the interrogations. It tends to be more effective, the only time you get false information is when it was purposefully seeded and the low-level operatives actually believe it.
>>48225605
Nope, only thing you can do is abduct Dark VIPs or kill them on the spot
>>48225704
Interpret it as however you wish but interrogation and torture are touchy subjects to me, so I deliberately run it in a simplified manner to not hand out any bonuses for committing Nazi torture atrocities on their captives so I don't further encourage that sort of thing. So what the players do to extract information is just window dressing and thus a reflection on what their characters are like.
So as previous posters pointed out, they seem to often go for the easy power trip.
>>48225993
>you triggered me, shitlord!
>>48224857
There are no good guys. Anyone with power over other people (e.g. prisoners) and a guarantee of no legal retribution will abuse their prisoners, just because they can.
Or at least that was the defence I gave at my trial, can't believe I was still imprisoned.
>>48225993
I once had a player whose character was a habitual rapist, and I really didn't want that in the game but it made sense in the context of the game. Eventually I just told him that we're going to assume he does the deed every time they razed a village and whatever else they were up to and not to mention or try to RP it again. It was still there, still had an impact but it wasn't seen or heard except when people were trying to murder him for it.
In your case I'd just ask your players to make the rolls and keep the pretend inside of their heads.
Not like there isn't room for uncomfortable feelings in roleplaying but there is really no reason for you or your players to insist on doing and saying things that actually, honestly upsets someone in the group. Draw your lines and define them. If you game with others I will assume that you are on friendly terms with them at the very least, if they can't respect you and each other to the very low standard of "don't intentionally step on their toes" there is reason to change group.
>>48226101
I laughed.
>>48224857
A lot of people talk immediately, or they put up a token effort and talk after the first few broken bits. Mooks generally fall into this category, except when they're total fanatics.
There are other kinds of people too, but they don't matter because players aren't going to get any true information out of them. I've never seen them use an interrogation technique more advanced than "cause more pain", and that simply doesn't work.
This is how it's fucking done
>>48226242
fukken saved
>>48226242
For the poor souls who haven't heard the song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNAr5tzZxdk
>>48224857
>Torturing a suspect and laughing about it
>Yanking out his teeth and letting blood drip down
>Yanking him out of his clothes
>But he needs to keep his tighty whiteys on or else it can't be shown
American and Jap sexuality are so fucked up.
Have the captive say whatever to get them to stop, because torture is worthless. You will confess to anything, follow whatever leading questions they give you, make up entire organizations if it gets them to stop
>>48224857
How we do it usually:
Capture the prisoner. Give him a bed, with a blanket, a soft pillow, a warm meal, etc.
Then begin interrogation. Ask strongly for the questions, say that we will release him and pay him if he gives informations, threaten to do violence if he doesn't. If no information is given, we take away one of the good things. The blanket, the pillow, etc.
We then repeat the process, add real violence into the mix, and we graduate. Everytime he gives us an info, we check out if it's true or not. If it's false, he's toast. If it's true, we give him a reward.
We begin by info we know are true, to test him, then we try to get the good stuf.
It's a bit slow, but it's working nicely
>>48226171
>I once had a player whose character was a habitual rapist, and I really didn't want that in the game but it made sense in the context of the game.
what
>>48224857
Our party just hands the suspect off to our Interrogator handler, Interrogator hands the suspect off to the friendly men in the red pointy hoods he employs for this exact thing, the GM plays the Howie Long scream, we get a nice sanitary dossier telling us what they got out of the guy and whether he survived questioning.
>>48224857
I usually prefer not to torture because of the sheer ineffectiveness of that method.
>>48226679
Evil party, sea raiders. It was of course a given that it'd happen I just never reflected on it before they went to town for the first time.
I have always run it like it is in Red Hand of Doom.
>>48224857
I once made a character who was a former servant of a sadistic fuck and got a talent and a drive for inflicting pain as well as receiving it. Also was the group's healer.
>>48225773
Isn't psycology a wonderful thing.
>>48224857
>Point at party Berserker/psychopath/Bard/Chef
This guy/girl/robot has some naaasty ideas on what to do with you. You talk, we tell 'em to take a hike. You don't, WE take a hike and leave them in here with you.
You got half a minute.
>>48226545
Tell me about it, those two fucks always put the crews in me.
Regarding the topic, I'd use blackmailing first, sleep deprivation mixed with sensorial abuse after, negotiation at last.
>>48225041
>>48233256
>logs on to 4chan of her own free will
>gets this rustled over a /k/ torture joke
>thinks its her place to tell someone else what is and isn't funny
Really Femanon?
>>48233256
Context? Did somebody show him one of his videos?
>>48225041
Saved.
>>48224857
Torture is pleb-tier interrogation that almost never works and is only employed by 1) people who have no idea what they're doing and 2) people who just want to torture people and are using "interrogation" as an excuse. Most players fall into category number one. They fall back to torture because they have no idea what else they could do to get information out of an uncooperative person. If you want interrogation to be a thing and not completely abstracted into a die roll and two sentences of exposition, you're either going to need players who know what the Hell they're doing or a subsystem thorough enough to give them an idea. The first are rare and the second would be a whole Hell of a lot of work, so I usually fall back on the one die roll and then exposition thing.
>>48224857
In my group it has always gone one way: Craig starts describing the inventive and at least partially out-of-character methods he will use to violently torture the victim, and the victim will begin protesting that they really are not at all that committed to their employer, and will give up any information they can to avoid the creepy dwarf-type guy.
>>48236101
The reason to torture someone is to make the other guy willingly confess. The first guy's info is useless but the guy who see how far you will go and be much willing to cooperate since you are going to kill him.
The point of torture is make the other guy not lie when his turn is coming
>>48226492
>tfw you're so old you start realizing there are young folks who haven't heard that song
Man, being27is tough.
>As much as I enjoy a good torture session it's a method with many flaws. Only amateurs jump to torture as a first resort.
>Most importantly, do we know that they know what we want to know? Otherwise we've kidnapped someone for no good reason, and they'll tell us anything to make it stop.
>Do they have something we can leverage against them? An affair, financial troubles, unsolved crimes? Blackmail's excellent for long-term information gathering, a personal favorite of mine on a practical and entertainment level.
>As much as this job has its rushes sometimes simple and boring bribery will do the trick. The more exotic the target's tastes the better. We usually end up in this line of work for the fun of it, but that's usually not what we're paid to do.
>They may be the type to take notes. Technological literacy is not as common as you might think. You'd be surprised how many people fall for the 'password inspector' routine. One time all I had to do was trade chocolate for it.
>Some folks, however, know that paper records can't be hacked. It's a wise solution, if not as perfect as a good memory. However, I find no security layout is harder to break in to than a human mind.
>Because of all this, I haven't had to break out my tools in a long time, and I hope it never comes to that again. Even with all my experience, I've never liked the failure rates of torture, and it's such a straightforward method that it doesn't really hold much for me anymore.
>>48225048
This is funny because my friends are very squeamish and stuff like teeth being pulled, broken limbs with the bone sticking out, nails torn off fingers etc. will probably never happen as a result. One of them got captured and tortured and it was just the bad guy using various tools to mess with a shoulder wound of his.
>>48236154
this, don't you know how the mafia works?
Some will say that torture does not work, that they will say anything to make the pain stop. I find that the old ways are always best. Thumb screws, dunking, the rack. You want to find what causes the loudest, most distressed screams, the ones that are clearly causing the most anguish. Then continue. When they seem closest to passing out or even dying, you begin asking your questions. Punctuate it by pointing out that giving up true answers is the only way to get you to stop torturing their loved ones in front of them.
>>48236202
To be fair that can be torture without anesthetic.
>>48236217
Definitely, but none of us enjoy it and seek it out like the anon said, even completely avoiding the most grueling stuff.
>>48236211
I'm still puzzling out how the guy doesn't lie, or accidentally gives a false impression on what happens. How many people can remember something in detail without being calm, or answer complex questions well under pressure?
>>48236212
>Punctuate it by pointing out that giving up true answers is the only way to get you to stop torturing their loved ones in front of them.
I thought the whole point was to find out information. If you know which answers are the true ones, what's the point of asking questions?
>>48236190
>But, I got a blowtorch and everything.
>>48225993
Get over yourself m8. Either reward them for Rp or admit youre triggered by what theyre doing and fess up to the torture being a die roll-off. The reason theyre evicerating people is because youre ignoring the rp so they are just going right for the stuff that works. If they break a hand lower the fucking threshold for the roll, if they just start maming somebody let it happe and have their victim die, then its on them for being monsters, but the way it is now it's totally on your shoulders.
>>48236099
Here, you can have this one too.
>>48225041
>>48237091
>>48224857
A while back I was playing in a homebrew modern day mafia campaign. We had a prisoner from a rival gang in our car and instead of bringing him back to base we decided to stop for dinner at an Applebee's.
We got a booth and made him on the inner side. When the waitress took our orders we intimidatingly glared at him and asked him what he wanted. He sheepishly picked something off the menu, to which I immediately said to the waitress "Actually, he'll have the buffalo wings".
While we ate we somehow got what little information he had. We ended up all slipping away, leaving the prisoner at the table with the check. We all thought the whole thing was hilarious including the GM, who had actually been keeping track of what we ate and how much would be on the check, not expecting us to ditch.
>>48237444
And as far as I know that's all of 'em!
>>48224857
find out the target's worst fear, then prestidigitation/minor or major illusion yourself into said fear.
pic related, we found an NPC who was terrified of going back to working for a baker who made his life hell before he became a bandit so i pulled some shit to make my character's head into a pie and screamed at the top of my lungs "I WILL MAKE YOU ROLL DOUGH UNTIL YOUR GODDAMN FINGERS BLEED!!!" he became quite chatty after that.
>>48224857
By gathering everyone next to them and letting them bicker for a few hours on what to do to them right in front of them.
>>48224857
Well, tracking this down to some shitty weeb guro fetish deviantart site sure does explain a lot about the image quality.
>>48225041
I'm more sad there isn't an anime about QT American paramilitary forces in Iraq falling in love with their targets and committing war crimes.
>>48226242
I am sad more people don't know who this is.
I don't fully understand why it happens, but It's a new player thing. They usually stop doing it after the first few times
>>48236154
>The reason to torture someone is to make the other guy willingly confess.
This doesn't work either, for the same reason plain old torture doesn't work: 90% of the time you have no way of immediately verifying information anyway, including verifying whether or not they even know what you're trying to get out of them, and someone who's telling you random bullshit out of fear is exactly as useless as someone telling you random bullshit out of pain.
>>48238151
>I don't fully understand why it happens
For the same reason real life torture still happens: it's the easiest way to make someone who refuses to talk spill the beans. For new players it's the obvious solution until they learn about this little thing called "roleplay". And some keep doing it after that because their character has no moral qualms about torture.
Hell, by Gygaxian standards Lawful Good characters are entirely justified in torturing enemy goons for information.
>>48225048
>implying your average pc isnt a murderhobo in the company of murderhobos
>>48224857
By not running a fucking interrogation simulation. An interrogation serves a certain function in the plot, no more, no less.
>>48231285
>Bard
What's he going to do? Sing in the wrong key?
>>48238421
>gygaxian standards
Don't get fooled by gygax lies. He's the devil.
>>48236101
Can you give an example, mate?
>>48233256
Look at this newfag getting triggered by a simple yandere joke.
Look and laugh
>>48236268
Because you mix in questions that you know the answer to with ones you don't to gauge how truthful they're being
When they give you an answer you like you ease up, when they give you answer you don't like they get hurt
When they give you enough answers that you like they get to sleep in a nice comfy cage after a hot meal, and the next time you interrogate them you won't start hurting them until they fail the truth test
When they start lying or fail to cooperate then you threaten to send them to bed either in a standing cage with little barbs on the inside so they must stand ramrod straight (The Chokey), or the pillory in the middle of your camp, whichever will inspire more fear
This is a long process though, and you can't just jump right into it, but starting off by shaving and stripping your prisoner (lice are no joke, and it establishs your control) and then leaving them in their cage for a couple of days (or longer), preferably in the dark, with no human contact except for a meal being brought each day, and maybe the shaving being redone is needed (the guards shouldn't talk to them during this process). You could, and probably should also use sleep deprivation, long periods of forced bondage/stress positions and complete darkness for days
After the prisoner is suitably alone, tired, scared and has had the point illustrated that your in charge interrogate them, and ask them simple questions that you know the answer to, if they answer them all correctly then return them to their cell, give them a present, like clothes, give them a bigger better meal, and don't inflict any of the above annoyances on them. let them stew in the better condition for a couple day, and once they're obviously comfortable start mixing in questions you don't know to be true, make sure to add new questions you know each time. When they start lying its straight to the Chokey, and back to naked sleepless nights, dark exhausting days and one sloppy meal a day
>>48236190
That bitch got style
>>48224857
Let me list all the classics:
- One-man "good cop, bad cop" routine: hilarious if done for comedy, teriffying if pulled off as a crazy maniac.
- Two-men "bad cop, even worse cop" routine: think Sam and Max. Both of them are likely to do something comedically horrible and cruel that you will remember for all your life without actually torturing you. It's just that one of them is really enthusiastic about torture too.
- "Concerned samaritan" routine: gentle, compassionate and manipulative son of a bitch. Works really well with people who think it's all others' fault.
- Waterboarding: self-explanatory. Simple torture that doesn't incur long-term damage on the target and is very effective. For a more cruel (and effective) version, use sandboarding.
- Locking up a person in a dark empty room without food, water or human contact: also very effective at breaking people, but wastes a lot of time. Not good at getting the results quickly.
>>48225773
How exactly did you go about inducing learned helplessness and rebuilding them from the ground up - I find it hard to believe any random gaming group could give even a semi-plausible description of how they'd do that.
>>48236755
>but the way it is now it's totally on your shoulders.
Sorry, I gotta disagree. Like I said: I give no bonuses or penalties to how exactly they interrogated their prisoners. So they could have elected to not lay a single finger on their captive and merely threatened them, and they would have gotten the same amount of information depending on the die roll. And I don't alter the threshold because they opted to yank teeth and hook a battery up to somebody's testicles - no bonuses or penalties. With this in mind it should be obvious that it would be a lot faster and efficient just to exchange a few words and threatening gestures to get information out of a captive and to actually come up with creative tortures to a prisoner actually takes more time and effort - yet the players I've encountered usually opt for that in spite of how I run interrogation checks.
So, were I seriously triggered by torture, I would actually make torture increase the threshold for success. Ergo: It doesn't bother me as much as you think. Yet certain players I game with seem to delight in the power trip of pretend torture despite it not affecting the outcome of the die rolls. Ergo: It's not on my shoulders. So you're wrong and something about the way I choose to run my game is making you massively triggered. Sounds like you're the one that needs to get over yourself, m8.
>>48233256
>TGWTG saying something isn't funny
Pot, meet Kettle.
>>48224857
Get them into the station.
Talk to them.
Mostly listen. Ask the right questions.
Break them down in your head.
Down to the conscious.
Find out what it is they exactly want.
Find.
Out.
What.
They.
Want.
>Then deny it from them.
>>48238611
The Bard in question had a choker that would keep him from getting fatigued or muscle injuries from prolonged singing/playing, as well as a feather cap that let him go without food or sleep for up to a month.
The Bard also would sing and playHamsterdancewhen he wanted to annoy people.
2 + 2 = Make it stop.
>>48236099
It's from his review on "Earnest Scared Stupid". Basically, someone made a gif of it for use as a reaction image.
>>48235741
I've seen that image posted multiple times in response to black comedy. Apparently the poster hates that kind of thing.
>>48224857
Has the guy lost his nose?
>>48239159
Destroy individuality as much as possible, and then completely ignore them. Don't respond to any attempts to communicate, shut down any attempts to rebel without acknowledging them. Subject them to torment/reward completely at random to remove any sense of control.
Then suddenly move forwards, and provide them with attention and a better standard of living, but only in such a manner as to encourage their servitude and obedience.
GM ruled that it took anywhere from 5-8 weeks in total.
Here you go, OP, in case you haven't read it yet.
>>48246801
So, essentially pic related
>>48224857
Plan for ways to learn more about the subject being interrogated. What weaknesses do they have? What do they value?
If the prisoner is just an average mook, he'd likely know very little. If you still want to run it, add a photo of his family or a letter from his wife in his pocket or something.
>>48247883
Son of a bitch, I wondered where he it from
>>48224857
As a GM I allow my players as much latitude as everyone agrees to. However I try to make it very clear that outright torture, regardless of how far they go, doesn't yield effective results.
As a player the closest I get to torture is very vaguely threatening that it may happen if the subject does not cooperate.
>However my standard procedure is take in subject and grill them.
>Don't get physical, keep it professional. We ask questions about things we want info for and prod to see what the subject values.
>After that the subject is sent to a cell with a simple bed/mat and left alone after being checked for diseases etc and head shaved.
>Next day the subject is left alone in the room as we try to verify any and everything the subject told us keeping meticulous records of every exchange between interrogators and subject.
> As soon as the sun goes down the Prisoner is dragged out of his cell and questioned again.
> Questioning isn't hostile or confrontational, it is completely detached and professional, says it wants to verify everything the subject previously told us.
> After all the same questions have been asked subject is returned to Cell.
> Next Day Subject is dragged in twice during the day for same procedure
> Afterwards begin sleep deprivation and continue routine.
>After every exchange subjects answers are compared and correlated to see if he changes anything, meanwhile field team collects intel on subject's family/etc.
> Finally after significant sleep deprivation you confront subject with your findings. Specifically that you've held him/her for more than a week now and no rescue has come. You have caught him/her lying multiple times. You have info on his/her valuable relations and will act if not satisfied. You want to help him/her only if he her helps you.
> It's not so much breaking down a person but breaking down their idea that you are a monster/enemy. It's better to show that you are human & it's subject's best interest to cooperate
>>48238959
>this level of psychological torture
Please, I'll behave, no more.
In one game I played, we ended up doing a good cop bad cop routine where the bad cop didn't even say anything or interact with the prisoner at all. Bad cop was playing a not!Jacket from Hotline Miami in a fantasy setting.
We had him tied in the cellar of a tavern owned by a friend of the party that we helped out a couple of times. While the party face did typical good cop things (Are you feeling comfortable? Need anything?) bad cop just sat in the corner punching the wall. Over and over. Sometimes he would make a loud grunting noise and the punching would get faster and louder, but he just kept punching the wall the entire time. At first the prisoner wouldn't cooperate so we just left him in the room with bad cop, who continued to punch the wall. The player made it a point to detail that his hands were raw and he even started bleeding, but the guy just kept punching that fucking wall, occasionally shooting a glare at the prisoner before punching the wall again.
The guy was so freaked out that when we started talking about "harsher measures", he lost his shit and spilled the location we were looking for.
Anticipation is the best killer imo
>>48224857
My favorite dirty trick to get this behavior to stop is to have the tortured mook give inaccurate information (because he doesn't actually know anything) or lead the PCs into a trap hoping that his side can rescue him while they are away.
>>48224857
Your players are shit and you need to stop enabling them.
Torture is a tool to be used in the conditioning of a subject, not as a means of interrogation.
>>48238635
Using Stockholm Syndrome to your advantage is stage two interrogation. Still basic, but reasonably effective. You make it clear you have control over someone without antagonizing them (you can still induce Stockholm Syndrome if you hurt them, but it'll take a little longer, so no point in wasting time unless you just really want to smack the fucker around a little and nothing's urgent). You do not need an elaborate caging and shaving and isolation regime for this. You seriously just need to keep them in a prison for like a day. Then you give them small favors and strike up casual conversation with them. Before long, they will probably become open and cooperative enough to let slip all kinds of information without realizing they're letting it go, just by talking about what they've been up to lately. That topic is likely to be dominated by "fighting this war we're having" and will probably include lots of details they don't realize you're eager to find out, like troop positions, how often they're marching, how they do their scouting, etc. This is especially effective against officers, whose day-to-day routines can reveal quite a bit, and especially if you strike up rapport with them as having a similar rank in a similarly structured army. You're not so different from him, and you just start talking about what you have in common and keep good mental notes of every stray fact he lets slip.
>>48252386
Want to get the results of a week's worth of inducing learned helplessness in about 45 minutes? Use one of Hanns Scharff's favorite techniques and walk in with a bunch of questions you already know the answers to. A /whole/ bunch. Explain to the interogatee that your spies have already discovered literally everything you're about to ask him, but your boss has this thing where he doesn't think it's credible until it's confirmed by interrogation. Generals are crazy. So you ask him a question. If he lies or hesitates, you tell him the real answer, and ask him to not drag this out, because you already know everything. If he says he doesn't know, tell him the answer and ask him to repeat it to you. Offer him some small favor if he just gets this dumb shit over with so you can tell your boss that you did the fucking interrogation and can we please move forward with our plans now. After you've got him in the habit of answering questions automatically, start introducing questions whose answers you don't know.
Trigger warning: brutal torture
>>48252399
A tactic used frequently by police interrogators to get confessions is the good cop/good cop routine. You and possibly another interrogator sit down and establish rapport with the guy, telling him that you understand why a guy would do what he did and say you would've done it, too. You promise (possibly knowing in advance you'll break the promise) things will go a lot easier on him if he just owns up to it, since it's pretty understandable anyway. The trouble is that this has a pretty high rate of success on people who didn't actually do anything, especially if you claim to have evidence linking them to the crime (even if you don't), but if your goal is to get a confession rather than catch the culprit, its success rate even against people who are innocent is a testament to its effectiveness.
Some people are tight-lipped enough that these techniques won't work, and for these people more elaborate and cruel techniques might be required. However, breaking someone's will like this requires far more time, so it's inefficient to use it as a first resort. Plus, breaking someone's will is, if anything, easier if you attempt a nice approach first, as the feeling of betrayal will cause a more rapid breakdown, and the knowledge that you can be much more civilized to cooperative prisoners makes them more willing to cooperate, since they have more than the word of a torturing psychopath that good things come to those who obey. You've already demonstrated a willingness to treat them decently, and only got nasty when they insisted on being difficult.
>>48238421
>For the same reason real life torture still happens: it's the easiest way to make someone who refuses to talk spill the beans.
More like they think it'll work like in their action movies or they just want the answers they want for some preconceived goal and the truth is secondary.
It's easy to get them to spill whatever beans they think you wanna hear or if they're trained for it then even purposefully false info that could lead you into a trap or waste of your time, not so easy to get actual reliable actionable info.
>>48252559
A reputation for nastiness under *any* circumstances has another unfortunate side effect, however: People are that much more likely to fight to the death. If the enemy force is at all competent in compartmentalization of information, the more valuable information an enemy has access to, the more they'll have been vetted for being the sort of the person who will fight to the death rather than submit to capture. This will be true no matter what you do, but having a reputation for kindness to prisoners helps tilt things in your favor amongst all enemy soldiers. Indeed, a starving or outmatched enemy army may mutiny and deliver you a much less costly victory if they feel confident they'll be well-fed and decently treated if they surrender. Sun Tzu calls a position from which you cannot flee "deadly ground" and states that on this ground, soldiers will fight to the death. Placing your soldiers on deadly ground is gambling the total destruction of your army on their ability to win if you boost their morale score to "yes," and denying the enemy that gambit by accepting surrenders is almost always wiser than the alternative. It means you can press your enemy into a corner with near impunity. It will almost never be the case that one and only one man has the information you need (and even more rarely will you have a solid idea of who has what information in the first place), so a better solution to tight-lipped prisoners is probably just to capture more prisoners until you find one who opens up after the second bottle of whiskey.
>>48252559
So, how do you fold all this into a subsystem? Well, mostly I'm just establishing that it's a whole Hell of a lot of work. The one or two lines of exposition can be to just sum up one of these techniques. The "pretend your idiot boss just wants stuff you already know confirmed by interrogation" trick usually makes players feel smart, particularly if you offer it to them as an option and they make the choice to actually do it.
>>48224857
My group never tried anything more violent then getting the hottest member of the team to seduce the information out of captives.
If that or big chunks of cash don't work they are at a complete loss. Though they once did manage to find a simple small time bandits elderly mother to come and yell at him until he told us where the hideout was.
>>48252570
t. neckbeard at his computer giving input on military techniques
>>48224857
Torture sessions.
Of course players won't care about pain, that's why the torture involves things like cutting off fingers, or leaving scars on the player. That'll make them learn.
Better yet, make the count of the place they're at brand their foreheads with his family crest.
>>48252732
But your neckbeard input is beyond question?
Torture just isn't as effective as other methods of manipulation unless you invent some contrived "ticking timebomb" scenario where there's no time for more reliable methods and you somehow 100% for sure know that your prisoner knows what you want.
Most of the ideas posted around are transparently just torture fetishism of the most horrible things people can imagine with the assumption that reliable information will follow. People love excuses to hurt each other.
>>48253032
>But your neckbeard input is beyond question?
No, the guys who actually implement torture as a means of getting valuable information, IE literally every military on Earth, is what is beyond question.
>"B-but my psych teacher told me they're dumb and wrong for that!"
Lol k
>>48253225
>muh strawman!
Oh so you're just shitposting, thanks for making that clear.
Torture doesn't work. Teach your players that the hard way.
>>48253318
t. terrorist buttmad their plot got foiled by torture
>>48253225
and every military knows its only moderately reliable and in only very specific situations.
>>48253225
> every military on Earth uses torture to get valuable information
> this is beyond question
Except that isn't even true.
>>48253384
t. neckbeard at his computer giving input on military techniques
>>48253225
> the guys who actually implement torture as a means of getting valuable information, IE literally every military on Earth
Source?
>>48253447
What, you think militaries are actually going to admit to torturing people, or that they're going to advertise what info they got to the whole world? Of course not dipshit. The source is common sense, which tells us that the reason torture is still a common practice is because it is effective.
>>48253421
>>48253225
The fucking Army Field Manual on interrogation(FM 34-52) says that torture is ineffective and only gets you what you want to hear.
>>48253530
It's really better for ideological enforcement and brainwashing rather than collecting actual data. Especially since the people in a position to be captured and tortured are usually grunts who know nothing of consequence anyway.
>>48253530
> Army Field Manual on interrogation
See
>>48253421
> t. neckbeard at his computer giving input on military techniques
You really think they actually put accurate information on interrogation in something that any asshole with an internet connection has access to? That's a whole new level of gullible. Let me guess, you also think that there are people that don't torture "because it's illegal." Like laws mean a goddamn thing in a war.
>>48253574
I don't think your common sense and his match up.
>>48253593
Because he isn't using it. He's just parroting what the MSM says.
>>48253612
And you're repeating your position as well. There are no accepted expert positions on this topic, and no anecdotal evidence available as valid. Both of you are wasting each other's time.
>>48253574
ITT a fedora-clad 600lb neckbeard faggot claims to have access to privileged information that the other 600lb fedora-wearing neckbeard faggots don't have. Why don't you just kill yourself and make the world a better place?
How abput torturing people so that the prisoner comes up with the most of the propaganda him/herself?
>>48253530
>propaganda for the liberal sheeple
>>48253530
Excellent. Let them spit wathever they want. Record it and use it against them and their bosses. It doesnt matter if it is not true. It only matters if it helps your cause, either painting them as the ultimate evil or painting you as righteous.
>>48253768
Question: why don't we just replace cross-examinators in trials with a Bruce Willis look-a-like with a lead pipe, since torture is so effective? That way we could get rid of all that pesky physical evidence which has so much room for error. Just hit the perp until he agrees that he stole money from the victim.
The only people who'd disagree are filthy lie-berals and lawyers worried about losing a job. Who could have a problem with common-sense legal procedures like that?
>>48224857
It depends on the prisoner. Who are they? What do they know? What motivation do they have to not tell the party what they know? Will they lie, and if so, will they do so convincingly? What would the party have to do to get the truth out of them?
Torture is generally 2edgy4me and fortunately my players don't usually bother. A couple bouts of the party being sent on wild goose chases by a mook who just shouted the first thing that would make the pain stop got rid of that notion. How they usually do a little background work and discuss amongst themselves what they think the prisoner would be motivated by and I usually let that work well enough.
>>48224857
I've always been partial to mind games and decpetion. Even better, most of my fellow players are in the same boat.
Closest I ever came to torture was when my Ranger inadvertently channeled the spirit of Victor Cachet, and /started/ the interrogation of BBEG's lieutenant by coldly explaining he didn't care about their lives, and proved it by shooting the prisoners' companion.
At that point I added "inducing pants-shitting terror" to mind games and deception. It's been fun.
>>48224857
Regular stuff. Keep them awake for extended periods of time, feed them below 1.5 kilocalories daily, keep them well hydrated, turn up the AC in their cell, etc. After a few days, they will be exhausted and willing to talk. Remember, you can get to your target items later; right now, your only goal is to get them in a weakened state and willing to communicate with you. Once they begin talking to you, reward them for their good behavior, and give them lots of positive reinforcement for their decision. Emphasize to the subject that it was a decision, not coercion (despite the fact that is exactly what it was). They are in a reduced state mentally, and easily convinced, so just repeat this as a mantra to them and they'll believe it after a while. If there are multiple subjects/prisoners, bring the more recalcitrant ones out to see the benefits of cooperation. However, this is something that requires a bit of a light touch, as it's very easy to harden a subject's resolve when they perceive one of their group betrayed them.
If you wanted to actually torture them, give them stimulants (adderall is an easy one to get hold of) then do simple shit while their nerve endings sing. You don't need to make elaborate SAW-style torture traps, just stub out cigs in their feet, rape them (doesn't matter if they're male or female, but it's especially demoralizing for males to be the subject of rape), rub their feet bloody with sandpaper (lots of nerve endings in the bottom of the feet, bonus points for making it difficult to escape).
The second types of torture are not very effective at obtaining useful information, because the subject will do or say anything they think will convince you to stop. As word suggests, it's "torture," not "interrogation." It's good as a form of stress relief, and to break them mentally (though it's a lot easier to mentally dominate someone by using lighter methods, as outlined in the first paragraph).
>>48237462
Take my one
>>48225041
>>48237444
>>48237462
>>48237091
As someone who is permanently nostalgic about the time he was deployed to Iraq this is amazing and made me very happy.
>>48254187
strawman
>>48224857
>Want porn of foreground girl
>it's not an anime
>Some fag's deviantart one-off
wow thanks for being artistic you fucking cunt
I wanted to jerk my cock to a qt getting reamed but I guess I can't now, huh?
fucker.
>>48254792
We have a drawthread. I think there are nsfw boards that have drawthreads. Just remember to link back here for us degenerates.
>>48225022
That's not an interrogation.
>>48224857
>How should interrogations be handled whenever the PCs have captured a prisoner?
First have someone torture them (not too brutally, but over the course of a few days to exhaust them mentally). Start mixing in some alcohol into the water at that point to gradually make them more and more inebriated. After that, introduce someone (preferably an attractive older woman with a motherly disposition) who offers them a chance to be free. Coax the victim gently, displaying authority over the ones doing the torture and presenting and presenting themselves as allies willing to help in exchange for the truth.
Leave for a day, during which the torture stops and the victim gets slightly better living conditions. Repeat over the course of a few days, but now one on one and gather as much information as possible. Claim that the victim's release has been negotiated and give them a taste of freedom before getting rid of them.
>>48251445
Good, you better, if you don't then its straight to uncle touchies naked puzzle basement ( >>48247883 ) and then sold off as cheap obedient labor
If you behave and give us everything then you're still going to reprogramming eventually, just that afterwards you'll work for us and enjoy a considerably better standard of living then the ones who get sold off
>>48252554
Horrifying. You can post that on a blue board?
>>48224857
With the Interrogation skill of course.
>The key tool in an Inquisitor’s arsenal is interrogation—the ability to extract quality information from an unwilling subject.
>There is a fine line between interrogation and crude torture.
>In the case of the latter, subjects tend to reveal whatever their tormenter wishes to hear, but in the case of the former, a skilled interrogator can tease out the darkest secrets by utilising a variety of devices, serums and techniques.
>Gear, environmental conditions and circumstances can all apply additional modifiers at the GM’s discretion.
>Make an Opposed Test, pitting your Interrogation skill against your opponent’s Willpower.
>If you beat your opponent, you get one answer plus one other answer for each degree of success.
>If your opponent wins the Opposed Test, you get nothing of worth.
>On a serious failure, you botch the procedure and inflict 1d10 plus your Willpower Bonus in Damage.
>If you fail by five or more degrees, you deal Damage as before but your subject gains a +30 bonus to Willpower Tests made to resist Interrogation.
>Each Interrogation Test inflicts one level of Fatigue on the target.
>An Interrogation Test consumes 1d5 hours of time.
>>48251445
Needs a gag, blindfold and earplugs.
>>48225041
>>48237091
>>48237444
These are so fucked up; I love htem.
>>48259889
You're a man of discerning taste
>>48260882
The locks are a nice addition, though a pair of proper shoes on her feet would help with posture. She could also stand to wear something more appealing than her dirty uniform, like a bodystocking and an underbust corset for her back.
>>48252554
thats too adorable. What anime is this?.
>>48261269
Robot Girls Z. It's short but sweet, in more ways than one.
>>48252554
Source?
>>48260927
Sir, are you trying to turn this indefinite incarceration punctuated by abuse laden periods of interrogation of an attractive young woman into something not wholesome?
>>48261313
>4 episodes
Let me guess, all of them are 10 minutes long?
>>48236176
Well i learned of this thing's existence when i was 14 and that was8years ago
