Kidnapping?

[Erythil]

...It's impossible.  In a game based off murder, corruption, and betrayal, holding someone for ransom or extortion seems like a natural thing for gangs and others to do.  But due to the existence of the Way, it's really hard to pull off this kind of thing.  Since you can inform on your kidnappers' appearance and your location.


I wonder:  What if we an item introduced into the game, like a kind of handcuffs made of some special material, that cut off a person's ability to Way?  Said item would need to be expensive, but it seems like there might be a lot to be gained from the extra avenues of danger it would create.

[BadSkeelz]

Just sap someone, and then punch them back to sleep every time they wake up. The problem's not so much the Way, it's the ability to see someone's mdesc and then report it over the way.

[QuillDipper]

An item would be nuts. Too strong. But a code-functioning blidfold or maybe a poison that stops the Way, more like it

[RogueGunslinger]

A common poison that stops the way. Yes plz.

[hyzhenhok]

Expecting to be able to kidnap someone for purposes of extortion or other reasons without having your identity figured seems...optimistic. I've expressed doubt about the idea that criminal characters should be able to live batman-esque double lives before, and this is another such case.

Being able to prevent your victim from immediately recognizing where they have been dragged off to, on the other hand, seems like a reasonable concern. Experienced players will be able to pinpoint their location based on room descs in many situations, and these life-and-death situations are precisely the kind where it is the hardest for a player to keep their IC and OOC knowledge separate.

Just keeping the victim knocked out is not a very good solution. Getting knocked out is not fun because your character not only loses agency, but also the ability to respond and react to events. Blindfolds or way-stopping poison seem like a good middle ground.

[Brytta Léofa]

Bimbal tea.

[Kankfly]

Isn't there already something IG that helps with that?

[manipura]

Could always knock them out, then blindfold them to get them to where you want them.  Then give them a few doses of skellebane.
After they come to (or after you wake them up to speed that process along) they can try to Way whoever they like and they can try explaining that they're dancing at the top of the Known world and a purple man with a jozhal head and a woman who looks like their dead mother are the ones who brought them there.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Being knocked out is not fun. Kidnapping is also not practical in game because it's a game and we (presumably) have lives. Depending on when you decide to KO and kidnap me, I might just have to quit OOC on your ass because I've got shit to do. You'd pretty much need to be able to get your ransom paid up same day for it to even work.

That being said, a way blocking substances of some kind would be absolutely amazing. I've said before that the Way imposes all KINDS of issues with RP-ability, and kidnapping is just one example of something that's reasonable to do in real life, but impossible to do in game. Other things like playing dead or laying low are far more common examples.

Maybe there could be a poison that straight out blocks you from the way as if you were logged off. Just pulls your mind right off the grid. Maybe certain psion skills could still detect you, but 'contact' would be useless. You could dose a victim with it in order to interrogate them safely. Or you could brew it into tablets and eat it yourself if you needed to play dead for a while. (Or get away from other players hassling you.)

Maybe it could be a spice? Or a rare black stone that's only foragable in the Sea of Silt or some shit. But when wearing / holding it, same thing. All kinds of possibilities.

[Beethoven]

Please yes, a substance that blocks you off from the Way. That would be so amazingly sweet.

[Armaddict]

I always just gave them a very brief window of time to reach -my- head, or they'd die.

[Kankfly]

Isn't there already something IG that helps with that?

To correct myself, isn't there already a substance IG that helps with that, is what I mean.

[Erythil]

Way-blocking poisons and tablets get a thumbs up from me.

[Majikal]

While I like the idea of more things that serve this function there are things in game that do just that without simply keeping someone unconscious (which isn't fun for anyone involved I don't think).

[Lizzie]

There are both magickal and mundane methods to aide in successful kidnapping already. I'd love to see an additional ability to bind someone's hands and feet and blindfold them. That way - once you've done the kidnapping, you can keep them where they are until you're ready to let them go/send them back/kill them.

But in order to do the hand/foot/sight binding, you also need to be able to feed/pour foods and liquids into their mouths to keep them from dying of thirst/going into a hunger coma while you're trying to extract whatever information you're needing from them.

[Incognito]

You call it kidnapping, I call it "surprise adoption" 

[Desertman]

Yeah, you are asking for something that already exists in at least two forms that I know of.

Find out IC is really the only response this should have.

[Incognito]

Yeah, you are asking for something that already exists in at least two forms that I know of.

Find out IC is really the only response this should have.

I know of atleast 5 methods to achieve this ICLY.

And yes, you need to find out ICLY.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Yeah, but since 3 or 4 go out the window when you remove karma classes from the mix, I say it's still an open niche.

Spam punching someone isn't a very good substitute because it kind of stiffles RP from the perspective of both being both OOCly boring/aggrivating for the playey, and ICLY severely brain damaging for the character. I remember reading a post where the poster was recalling a time him and some friends dragged someone into a room and started spam punching them. They knocked him out so many times the poor bastard had to use triggers to try and spam-plead with them to stop punching him everytime his eyes fluttered open. It was a cringeworthy read, to say the least.

"Find my mind" is okay, I guess. It's a lot better than it used to be. I KNOW I've died to this a few times back in the days of novice contact.

So what's left? Keep your victim constantly shit-faced?

There's just no way to go about this constructively IG currently. And the thing I specifically want, which none of these methods address, is the ability to play dead. Or for a raider type PC, be able to keep people from spam-contacting you before they head out salting, or when they seen you hooded.

#NerfLook2016

[Delirium]

A mundane poison that is a way-blocker would be fantastic. It simply cuts you off entirely from the Way.

It could have mildly unpleasant side effects, along the lines of being krath struck.

You wouldn't be able to "cure" it once you took it, you'd have to wait for it to wear off, so if you ended up needing to be able to use the Way, you'd be screwed.

[Yam]

A mundane poison that is a way-blocker would be fantastic. It simply cuts you off entirely from the Way.

It could have mildly unpleasant side effects, along the lines of being krath struck.

You wouldn't be able to "cure" it once you took it, you'd have to wait for it to wear off, so if you ended up needing to be able to use the Way, you'd be screwed.

Yes please.

[Jingo]

Something certainly should be added.

The only way to kidnap someone for 20+ years has been with magick. Full stop. I can't think of a successful abduction without it.

Binding with rope. An expansion of mundane way abilities that can lockdown another pc's mind. Etcetera.

[Armaddict]

I've got a log of kidnapping a southern noble to be delivered to the north.

Plenty of abductions have happened without magick.  Not to say that ideas should not continue, but just saying...that's very wrong.

[Beethoven]

OK, so the means exist, but it seems like a lot of long-time players had never encountered or even heard of them in all their time of playing. To me this means it's too obscure. Maybe whatever super secret methods exist shouldn't be so super secret.

[Armaddict]

It's not secret.  At all.

I think insinuating the need for a 100% effective way of not getting caught before you'll attempt something is poor form anyway.