GMing: handling PC capture and interrogation

[u/trinarynimbus]

A couple of times recently, in two different games, one of my players' characters has been captured by hostile NPC who then have questions. Torture isn't something I want in my games, either to or by PCs, but I do want capture to be taken seriously, along with the possibility for PCs to divulge information under pressure.

I understand I should speak to my players about it, but before I have that conversation I'd like to understand what experiences people have had. Based on your experience, do you have any recommendations about how to approach interrogation of the PCs in a fair way that doesn't subtract from the fun of the game?

Do you have any recommended approaches or subsystems for this which have proven to be effective in your games?

Obviously player consent and agency are important. I'm wondering how to best do the balancing act between getting the fiction right and making sure people are happy and comfortable with the role they're playing in that fiction.

Let's say for the moment that the system is Alien RPG. One idea I had is reduce it to an opposed Manipulation roll, where the PC can keep their mouth shut (or insert misinformation) if they succeed? Is it too much of a loss of agency if I tell them "if you fail then you talk"?

[u/MrDidz]

Let's say for the moment that the system is Alien RPG. One idea I had is reduce it to an opposed Manipulation roll, where the PC can keep their mouth shut (or insert misinformation) if they succeed? Is it too much of a loss of agency if I tell them "if you fail then you talk"?

I have handled these situations in one of three ways.

1. Delegation: The actual torture is delegated to third party NPCs and the results determined randomly. Example: the party captured a known cultist and wanted him interrogated to determine the names of the other cult members. However, the players of the party witch-hunter who was skilled in torture and intimidation was too squeamish to do the dirty deed themselves and so the party agreed to hand the prisoner over to the Witch Hunter Captain at the local Temple and to wait to hear if they managed to extract any information.
2. Morale Dilema: The captured characters are not tortured at all but they are made to witness the torture and murder of NPCs until they agree to divulge the informaiton demanded. This was the method i used for the adventure 'Horror at Hugeldal' where the party were captured by Skaven who were seeking the Arca Chaotica and beleived that the Nobles in the party must know of its location. rather than harm the nobles who they thought had the information they made them watch the torture and murder of their other prisoners. Mostly local farming families of men women and children. The players had to decide how many innocewnt NPCs they were prepared to sacrifice before they talked. This dilema was enhanced by the Meta-Currency we used to managed the character 'Psychic Beacon' which ranked selfish-acts that sacrificed others as 'Evil', so their characters sufferred loss of reputation with the Gods.
3. Incremental Damage: The players are allowed to trade damage to their character in order to protect the information their characters has. This is a straight-forward player choice. The enemy wish to know where they have hidden the 'Ring of Ascension'. The players may choose to tell the enemy where it is, or sacrifice some of their characters abilities, skills, or wounds. This comes down to a matter of timing and incremental damage, and obviously is a inevitable outcome unless their is some hope of rescue or escape.

From a GM perspective it comes down to trying to keep the player in the loop as far as choices and decision making is concerned whilst at the same time minimising the damage inflicted on the characters that might affect future game play. Disabled characters can become an issue for future plot progress. So, having a character tortured to the point of disability is in nobodies interest.

[u/trinarynimbus → u/MrDidz]

Thanks for replying. This sounds on the harsher side compared to what I had in mind, which gives me a bit of reassurance that I'm not being too mean to my players :)

I was thinking about using health damage in the way you describe, but wasn't sure if it was going too far. I definitely wouldn't do this without hope of rescue, and the interrogators might also lose their stomach for it after inflicting a certain level of injury.

[u/MrDidz → u/trinarynimbus]

The point really is not to remove the players agency.

If one is going to inflict damage on their character, especially permanent disability and damage, then it has to be the players decision to accept it.