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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: ways and means on August 10, 2011, 02:58:09 PM
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I was wondering how people would stat inciting a crowd, I know that there are a few homebrew supernatural stunts of questionable balance that allow area inciting but I was wondering if a wcv without these stunts if he had enough time (say 15-30 minute speech) could he incite the emotion of everyone he was speaking too with one roll or would he have to roll 10-20 (once per round) to affect 10-20 people.
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Is this a challenge for the PCs to face, or is this something the PCs want to be able to do? The first can be made into an extended challenge which the PCs counter with shifts of their own, while the latter may require a bit more architecture.
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I'd say a single roll, at -2, each person in crowd resists individually would be fair. I'd say it requires Ranged Incite at the very least and must make it an additional -1 Refresh (Mass Incite) if used regularly. I figure the -2 is comparable to the cost of a FP though.
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I would not even use it as a power...mob psychology is very real...but i would have it be an extended action taking several actions...The WCV uses his incite power at range to affect a individual in the crowd...then another...then a series of Presence rolls to "lead" the crowd in the direction he/she wants them to go...human nature takes over.
A -2 to affect the zone might be appropriate but because Presence is used to lead groups anyway I wouldn't use it that way
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I think the better question would be: Why do you want to incite the crowd? If you just want to do it, because you could, then there is not going to be any need to roll.
Mostly though, I think you can treat a crowd as a single entity, because none of them is important as an individual. Maybe give them one guy as a face (who might eventually become a real character).
After that, the important part becomes, what you want to do with them.
Let's say you are being chased through the city and are dangerously close to being caught. You can use the crowd as a block, using the result of your incite roll as the block value. If the crowd is particularly large, so it would make for a better block, you can declare that first and then tag it on your roll.
Same, if you want them to serve as a human shield against a wizard, for example. If however the attacker does not care if he hits innocents or not, the block would not work against him.
It should work for anything else, as well. You could attack with a crowd, using your incite to inflict physical stress with the crowd as a proxy.
To make it harder or easier to control them, you can declare an aspect reflecting their overall mood. A crowd that is already angry is not hard to push over the edge.
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The reason I am asking this question now is in really bad taste I was wondering how much trouble it would be for a rage based white court vampire to cause the sort of violence that is going on in the UK at the moment. So in affect how people would stat a rage based WCV inciting a riot.
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On a scale like this, I'd probably make him a face for a threat and put a theme and threat on the city that represents this. Maybe similar to when players can change themes and threats at a milestone.
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I don't know about that. If you mean "Can a WCV simply whip up a riot at the spur of a moment?" I'd say no, unless it was a creature acting on a plot device level similar to the more powerful Denarians. On the other hand, if your WCV isn't pressed for time and has an existing base of discontent and anger to work with I'd say that with Ranged Incite and probably Lasting Emotion he could simply hang around a public place (say a tube station under Tottenham Court) putting off a low-grade rage vibe. Eventually, if there's no countervailing force at work, violence could break out.
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With ranged incite and enough time, I'd let it work with the basic power and one roll. Representing a couple dozen Incite attempts against nobodies with one roll seems reasonable to me.
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One roll and some time sounds about right if they have ranged. If they have the zone upgrade subtract from the time.
Madeline walking into Zero and bringing the club to a standstill to lust after her comes to mind.
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The reason I am asking this question now is in really bad taste I was wondering how much trouble it would be for a rage based white court vampire to cause the sort of violence that is going on in the UK at the moment. So in affect how people would stat a rage based WCV inciting a riot.
"Luckily", a WCV wouldn't need to affect a mob necessarily, just a few individuals and the rest of the maladjusted sheep will follow.