2.22.1 Threatening

When a character threatens another person, the character uses his/her Intimidation skill to make the threat convincing. Successful threats can make the person leave the character alone, run away or make the person divulge information. Threatening people will tend to damage a character's relationship with them, causing them to fear, dislike or hate the character over time.

There are two types of threatening behaviour a character can carry out:

To successfully threaten another person, a character must make a dice roll using:

There are bonuses or penalties depending on what the threatened action is, and how explicitly the character conveys his/her threat:

What is being threatened if person does not comply Modifier to threatening dice roll
Pain or hardship (e.g. damage to property) -2
Death or mutilation +0
Death or mutilation of someone the person loves +2
How the threat is conveyed Modifier to threatening dice roll
Implied through body language (e.g. hand on sword hilt, staring down, charging with battle cry, etc.) -2
Set out explicitly (e.g. "One more step and I'll cut you up and feed you to my dogs") - NB this can only be done if the character successfully communicates with the other person +0
Accompanied by physical violence (e.g. smashing furniture, after wounding the person) +1
Accompanied by extreme violence (e.g. after killing someone in front of the person) +2
Situation Modifier to threatening dice roll
Threatener is heavily outnumbered or outclassed -4
Threatener is outnumbered or outclassed -2
Odds are even +0
Threatener has the odds in his/her favour +2

The threat will be successful if the threatening dice roll result is greater than the resistance dice roll of the person being threatened. If he/she suceeds by 3 points or fewer, the other person will pause to consider the threat, and may, but does not have to, follow it. If he/she succeeds by more than 3 points, the other person is successfully terrorised and will comply. If he/she fails, the other person simply ignores the threat.

For example, Cogan the barbarian is fighting a group of bravos, who decided (ill-advisedly) to try to rob him. With a lucky blow, Cogan decapitates one of his adversaries. He takes a combat action to say "Who's next?" to the remaining pair of bravos. The referee asks Cogan's player to make a threat dice roll to see whether his opponents run away. Cogan's Intimidation score is 2 with a +1 specialism in direct threat, and his ST is +4. The referee gives him modifiers of +0 (threat of death), +2 (extremely violent action) and +0 (odds roughly even), making a basic value of 9. Cogan rolls 2D+3, gets a 3 and 4 making a dice roll result of 10. The bravos have a WP of +1 and Influence of 2. The referee gives them modifiers on their resisting dice roll of +0 (no behaviour traits that would encourage or discourage them from running), +0 (they don't know Cogan) and +0 (because there is little downside to them running away). With their basic value of 3, they have no chance of standing their ground against Cogan's wrath, and run off.

For example, Cogan later comes across a group of mercenaries who are kidnapping a helpless girl. One of the mercenaries draws his sword and says "This is none of your business, barbarian". The mercenary has an Intimidation score of 3 with +1 specialism in physical threat and a ST of +2. The referee gives him modifiers of +0 (threat of death), -2 (implied threat from drawn sword only) and +2 (odds in mercenaries' favour), making a basic value of 6. The mercenary rolls 2D, and gets a 4 and 3 making a dice roll result of 7. Cogan has an Influence score of 1 with a +1 specialism in assertion and a WP of +2 1/2. He does not know the mercenaries and there is little downside to Cogan doing nothing and letting the mercenaries go, but the referee rules that his chivalric attitude to women (code of conduct) gives him a +3 modifier to resisting the threat. His basic value for resistance is 7 1/2, enough to automatically resist the threat. Cogan smiles, draws his sword and says "Leave the girl and I might let you live." Cogan's Intimidation score is 2 with a +1 specialism in direct threat, and his ST is +4. The referee gives him modifiers of +0 (threat of death), +0 (explicit threat) and -2 (odds against Cogan), making a basic value of 5. Cogan rolls 2D-1, gets a 3 and 4 making a dice roll result of 6. The mercenaries have a WP of +1 and Influence of 2 with a specialism of +1 in assertion. The referee gives them modifiers on their resisting dice roll of +0 (no behaviour traits that would encourage or discourage them from running), +0 (they don't know Cogan) and +3 (because their boss will be displeased if they let the girl go). Their basic value of 7 is enough to guarantee they ignore Cogan's threat. The formalities over, Cogan charges the mercenaries and combat begins....

For example, Cogan defeats the mercenaries and manages to capture one of them. He wants to know who sent the mercenary, so attempts to threaten the information out of him. Cogan picks the mercenary up, slams him against a wall, places his dagger against the mercenary's throat and says "Tell me who sent you or I'll cut off your tongue and stuff you with it." Cogan's Intimidation score is 2 with a +1 specialism in direct threat, and his ST is +4. The referee gives him modifiers of +0 (threat of death), +1 (explicit threat accompanied by violence) and +2 (odds in Cogan's favour), making a basic value of 10. Cogan rolls 2D+4, gets a 3 and 4 making a dice roll result of 11. The mercenary has a WP of +1 and Influence of 2 with a specialism of +1 in assertion. The referee gives him modifiers on his resisting dice roll of +0 (no behaviour traits that would encourage or discourage them from revealing the information), +0 (he doesn't know Cogan) and +3 (because his boss will be displeased if his identity is revealed), giving him a basic value of 7. He rolls 2D+1 and gets a 6 and 2, making a result of 9. Because he has failed the dice roll but by 3 points or less, he is scared by the threat and pauses, but is not scared into compliance. He blurts out "If I tell you, I'm a dead man anyway. How can you protect me?" Realising that he won't get any further by threats alone, Cogan starts to choose between letting the mercenary go or coming up with a deal. A moan from the girl he has rescued reminds him of his priorities. With a curse, he lets the mercenary scamper off, and goes to attend to the girl.