Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

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Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by Lurker »

Because my girls are showing a very very cleaver streak using their skills and powers, I need to stay 1 step ahead of them

With that, I’ve been wondering about the long term effect of usings target and mesmerism. I know by the book they only have an in combat effect. However, like intuition, I think there may be room to expand them out to noncombat use. Especially with addition ranks in them.

Target lets you see and exploit a weakness (with a wis check) to get an attack off that ignores all defenses. Now expand it out to something like casing out an opponent’s heavily defended stron hold, or getting a feel on a targets normal daily activates and pattern of life to see a good point for an ambush.

Of course, it would be tied to other skills, roguery off the top of my head, Hmmmm … computer with target for hacking around an unbreakable fire wall (getting someone to accidently load a key stroke recorder and ignoring the fire wall for an example …

Sorry, focused on Modern Victory with that, but it would be at least useful with roguery in the default Victory setting. At least in helping to developing a viable plan that gets around/ignores exceptional defenses.

Now long term use of mesmerism - & this is for personal use, I doubt (hope) my 12 year ole girl isn’t this dark and evil - it causes someone to be controlled in what the do but there is a save bonus to command that are counter to their normal thoughts and activities. However, what if mesmerism is used to slowly nudge someone down a darker path that they would normally not act on.

Kind of like the ‘road rage’ effect. A normal person that is self-controlled and not violent, would never hurt a fly nor raise their voice at their kids … but then day after day they are stuck in traffic with thousands of other idiot rude dangerous drivers. Then one day out of the blue, all that pent up anger and rage boils out and they snap, yell ,cuss, and jump out of the soccer mom mini-van and rush a driver that stops with the nose of their car 3 or 4 feet in the interception .

Similarly the mesmerist could daily nudge the target from a normal respectable person to an anger filled, homicidal, despondent, etc individual. It would have to be a slow process, with the mesmerist needing to do their mischief nearly daily (at the least 4ish times a week) and the target’s friend and family should notice a change going on. But, slowly over time, where the person started as a normal stable person, they are then prepped and ready for the mesmerist’s dark command to kill steal etc.

I guess it could go the other way too by calming an angry target, but where is the fun in that.
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

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Re: Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by DMMike »

Just back from NTXRPGC, so answer will be brief.

Target...that's IMO a viable use of the power in a noncombat style and if it were my game I'd allow it. Mesmeris...possibly, and up to the GM. Another school of thought might be that the more the Mesmerism is used on an individual, the more their conscious mind might be able to resist its effects. Just how you want it to play out, and it might make for a power disadvantage or a way to make character A's Mesmerism different from Character B's.

Mike

***The above is just IMO and not official for the Victorious RPG. Use as directed. Not valid in Canada. Does not include tax, title, and license. Void where prohibited.
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Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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Re: Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by Lurker »

DMMike wrote:Just back from NTXRPGC, so answer will be brief.

Target...that's IMO a viable use of the power in a noncombat style and if it were my game I'd allow it. Mesmeris...possibly, and up to the GM. Another school of thought might be that the more the Mesmerism is used on an individual, the more their conscious mind might be able to resist its effects. Just how you want it to play out, and it might make for a power disadvantage or a way to make character A's Mesmerism different from Character B's.

Mike

***The above is just IMO and not official for the Victorious RPG. Use as directed. Not valid in Canada. Does not include tax, title, and license. Void where prohibited.

I do like the idea of over time a mind developing a resistance. Especially for the commands that would be counter to the person's normal self and be abhorrent to the mind.

However, as a flip side of the coin (and sadly this will give Tree fuel for driving Roger insane) I also like subtle use of mesmerism chipping away at what is the 'normal' of the person to bend them darker.
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

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Re: Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by DMMike »

That's certainly valid. I've read a lot of fiction that states the more someone is controlled, the easier it is to nudge them in a given direction. I'd probably say mortals would work that way, with N/PC SuperMankind be able to resist long-term. Another benny of being part of Homo Magnus!

Mike
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Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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Re: Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by RhiannonMM »

I have had PC's seek the help of mesmerism using NPC's to negate (gained through play) Drawbacks before. They dedicated several sessions of background time and a fair amount of role play into the exchange, sometimes a fair amount of money as well.

The example that stands out the most to me is of a PC named Prometheus who was the money bags of the party. He had an unlucky event occur that was fairly Lovecraftian in flavor. He unfortunately failed a lot of saves against it and I determined he would likely have a permanent psychological drawback as a result. The player agreed heartily and said that he would be down to take on the drawback without complaint. He recalled that they had met a very friendly NPC that possessed a strong talent for mesmerism and asked if he could seek out "brain washing" sessions from him to attempt to buy off the drawback. I told him that as long as he spent enough time and resources on it and made it compelling role play that I would reward him with that opportunity.

The NPC was an officer that had no ambition and was pretty motivated just to take care of the neighborhood he grew up in, which he was very successful at because of his mesmerism talent. Which he was not very conscious of - he thought he was just good at talking people down or helping them through their problems. So Prometheus's player spent several sessions building a friendship with this NPC and basically receiving counseling from him. The player, throughout these small snippets of interaction we would play out to encapsulate the gist of their conversations and mesmerism effects, determined that his character would be absolutely dedicated to the well being of this NPC. Since his character was rich he determined this would take the form of politically advancing the Police Officer from beat cop to commissioner. He spent a significant of resources to do so.

After about 6 sessions I determined that he had invested adequately to "buy off" his earned drawback so long as he didn't aggravate his condition in the future. What really impressed me though is that he still continued with his counseling with the NPC and continued to invest more of his Wealth into the NPC's political career than he spent on his fellow PC's. The follow through was really impressive to me and enforced the idea that I should to be open to such interactions in the future.

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Re: Long term use & effect of target and mesmerism

Post by DMMike »

RhiannonMM wrote: The NPC was an officer that had no ambition and was pretty motivated just to take care of the neighborhood he grew up in, which he was very successful at because of his mesmerism talent. Which he was not very conscious of - he thought he was just good at talking people down or helping them through their problems.
:lol: For some reason, reading this make me think of Andy Griffith in Mayberry. Maybe THAT'S why Andy never needed a gun? ;)
RhiannonMM wrote:So Prometheus's player spent several sessions building a friendship with this NPC and basically receiving counseling from him. The player, throughout these small snippets of interaction we would play out to encapsulate the gist of their conversations and mesmerism effects, determined that his character would be absolutely dedicated to the well being of this NPC.



IMO, this is the ideal way to buy off a Shortcoming in Victorious. dedicated time, effort, and otherwise RPing the loss of the SC.

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
http://www.saveforhalf.com

Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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