A Scary Inquisition, Investigations, and RPA/QP Costs

[Bennie]

This is less of a specific complaint, and more something I wanted to throw out there, partially in connection to some of the discussion about how "scary" the game is.

Basically, the ability of Inquisitors to deal out the consequences of theme lies in the ability of a given inquisitor to investigate the various magical incidents that appear in RP. This means following up on rumors, written reports, verbal accusations, etc., etc. And inevitably, this requires RPA.

It has been my experience as an Inquisitor (Or.. a priest-inquisition helper, now Bishop) that every magery accusation worth looking into is going to spell out the need to invest QP in an RPA at one point or another. And even then, sometimes RPA has effect, sometimes it doesn't. For me, this is a bit of a problem. More and more, it seems like to do one of my primary RP functions for the game, a rather essential one to one of the basic theme conflicts, I need to make a decision to invest QP on a pretty regular basis. I'll get bursts here and there as the recommends come in, but on leaner parts of the month where I'm a little less available for idle RP, and more having to focus on just doing my RP job and the bits of RP surrounding it, I don't always have so much. More and more, the decision for me to actively RP as an Inquisitor becomes a decision of 'Do I want to invest this QP or not' or 'can I invest this QP or not.' Perhaps I am too reliant on RPA, but I contend that with many investigations, you start with the place of needing to do RPA. You have some sketchy moods in a room, RPA out asking for witnesses. Or, you start with RP, but eventually need to look into something that requires the RPA of asking vNPC witnesses questions. Many of these RPA will end in dead ends/innocence and you start the cycle again.

This system would work fine, except for the fact there are only a few Inquisitors. Thus far, I and Loreth are the only two actives, I think. This means that more often then not, the bulk or work, including chasing the more mundane leads falls on us and between the two of us, we only have so much QP to expend on our investigations.

In the end, I ( and Loreth too, I assume) am expending a lot of my OOC resources (that is, QP) to simply provide the Church investigations that create conflict and allow the magic-vs-church theme the game needs to run in so many ways. More often then not, I am doing all of this investigating characters without the same RPA/QP constraints as me (a mage player, for instance, has no need to be spending his QP on RPA for other investigations or for keeping back other Inquisitors but me). In the end, if they get any whiff of me before being in a cell, they have the QP to drop on renames, which means, if I want to chase anyone, more RPA. In the end, it is pretty tempting to let sleeping dogs lie and wait until things become painfully obvious via normal RP methods. This, ultimately, leads to less reviews, less punishment, and, I think, a less scary Church.

Now, I don't want to seem like I am complaining. I've been struggling with this for a bit because in addition to clergy, I have played coverts and criminals, and have enjoyed playing them. I appreciate personally the amount of effort that goes into playing such and the danger involved with roving Inquisitors like myself. However, I do want to air my concerns as an Inquisition player, because I believe that playing a position like Inquisitor is one that has significant demands on QP, time, and creativity, often thanklessly with Inquisitors being seen as the 'bad guys' from an OOC level and those of us who play them normally having little time to do more than investigation on our inquisitor characters, especially when we have alts (which I don't always have, but often do, to keep the XP (and sometimes QP too) flowing..).

What sort of ideas do people have for this? I don't want this to be a complaint in the sense I am asking for something to change, either from the staff end or from the player end. Only that, in the spirit of trying to contemplate how I have provide more RP, more thematic scariness, to the game, I would like ideas on how to address what I see as the impediments to my doing that. Anything to alternate inquisitating techniques, idea on how to not need RPA, etc. would be deeply appreciated.

[Leech]

Just throwing it out there: I think Reeves get free investigation RPA. Do Inquisitors get this too? Or does this even happen?

Honestly, I just wish RPA would be free. But we don't have enough Temis for that.

[Onyxsoulle]

Okay, so I read this, and actually agree for the most part. I can see it being quite frustrating to try and do your ic job, but have to spend qp in order to do it.

If what Leech said is true, then yes, definitely, free investigation rp!
If not, perhaps a discount?
Also, would this be something that IP could be used for?

All I have. :D

[Applesauce]

Just throwing it out there: I think Reeves get free investigation RPA. Do Inquisitors get this too? Or does this even happen?

Honestly, I just wish RPA would be free. But we don't have enough Temis for that.

I know that in the past I (as Loreth) have been told some stuff about church-related crimes/magicks without having to pay for RPA. Not sure about every time, but when I ask for RPA it's usually about the Cathedral itself or one of the other church buildings, not a case against Joe Magery. I don't know if the line between free/not is clear enough for the imms to explain.

Maybe Bennie's just got the sucky cases right now, but I almost never have to ask for RPA unless an NPC is directly involved... Like someone says "Joe casted a spell in front of that shopkeeper," or "mages are storing stuff in this old room while ignoring the NPC in the corner."

My process usually involves inv/locker/home searches and speaking to other PCs who know the suspect. Remember this is not the world of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" - if multiple people separately say you're a mage, either they're risking their own lives hoping everyone else corroborates their lies (unlikely) or you're a mage. The remaining RP is spent getting you to admit it yourself for the benefit of your eternal soul, but ultimately that's not required to close the case.

[Kinaed]

RPA for obvious things should be free - pretty much the same as the Reeves get. This is usually stuff like asking witnesses to a crime what they saw.

I've had a more unusual one that I wasn't told if it related to a case and it was also more ambiguous whether or not the character would distinctly know the answer - such as comparing the handwriting of two letters.

I think if a player makes it clear that the RPA is related to an investigation, the staff will give it some thought as to whether or not the RPA should be free. That said, we don't want to be incredibly biased in helping Reeves/Inquisitors "get their man", which will happen without some limitations in place. For example, if person A sends a letter to person B, they have no idea that there is a code way that they could be discovered, and maybe even an limited idea that there's an RPA way they could be discovered. In those instances, I feel it's appropriate for RPA to be a paid thing because we're providing a significant game advantage.

The fact is, back in these days a lot of murders, etc, often weren't solved. There wasn't enough evidence or ability to figure out who did things to accurately target, so innocents were often punished as criminals, which is why societies attempting to address unjust methods (brought about precisely because tracking criminals was so darn hard) decided to go with innocence until guilt was proven. I think that it's okay for Inquisitors and Reeves to let things go and have unsolved cases rather than feel the need to sink personal QP, etc, into following up leads in manners the game doesn't naturally cater for.

RPA to question witnesses, etc, is/should be free. Unusual requests should still cost RPA.

[Temi]

As Kin said, basic simple stuff included in your job is free for Reeves/Inquisitors/Knights. If you're going above and beyond and want to do non-standard things, that would cost, yes. And mostly this is case by case deciding whether it's standard expectations and they would seem lax if they didn't do it, or if they pull this off if they're going to look the hero. The intention is not to just hand all the mages and criminals over.

[Applesauce]

The intention is not to just hand all the mages and criminals over.

That's an intention I support on both sides of the good guy / bad guy fence =)

The Inquisition can be plenty scary without RPA, even without free RPA.

During the RL Inquisition, clearly people were convicted all the time over bad evidence. In a world where people really ARE witches, the Order has even more reason to err on the side of conviction.

If someone accuses you and you can't prove your innocence, you're guilty. That's what's scary. Don't need it to be TOO easy to lock a case down, doubt is good for the theme IMO.

[Leech]

If someone accuses you and you can't prove your innocence, you're guilty. That's what's scary.

Or fun. I personally am enjoying it. ^.^