Player Character Hostage

[Juce734]

So in the current game I am GMing I now have a player as hostage. My next gaming session I am going to have them interrogated but am not sure what I want to do with this. I made her a hostage due to her playing very passively. I presented her with a fight scene and she just kept running and getting shot. Then face to face still refused to fight back.

So next session I want to start with the questioning. I don't have any clues out to the other players about her yet. They don't even know she is kidnapped. The week prior she kinda threw one of the other players under the bus though so he may not want to help her... in character at least.

So where should I go with this? I posted the campaign so far in the Heroes Unlimited section. I need ideas though so I posted here since I don't think my players read this part of the forum.

The current character that is captive doesn't have skills to help her escape. She can turn invisible though and has EE: Electricity. Another character in the group has the rogue skills necessary to break out but she isn't captive. Maybe have her get captured and break this character out?

[The Beast]

Does she know how to play?

[Supergyro]

So in the current game I am GMing I now have a player as hostage. My next gaming session I am going to have them interrogated but am not sure what I want to do with this. I made her a hostage due to her playing very passively.

This is a classic GM error, we've all made it, but hopefully if it gets talked about more, GM's will make it less often.

#1 rule, the player decides how to play a character, not the GM. The only rule is that playstyles that are disruptive are to be avoided. Passive playing styles, by their very nature, are non-disruptive, and therefore ok.

I'd say break the character out of the hostage situation and reuinite with the rest of the party immediately. Give the character a clue or something to tell the rest of the party, and carry on.

[Juce734]

-Abub
I posted the campaign in the Heroes Unlimited section of the forum. It has everything that has happened in the previous two sessions.

-The Beast
We are in our 3rd session. The one who is prisoner has only RPed online before.

A few of my ideas are as follows...

They all start with an interrogation of her character Cailin. She barely knows the guy they are asking about so won't have many answers. They won't believe her and they will throw her back in the holding room.

Idea 1: Capture the character with the rogue skills (Aliza) to help break them both out.

Idea 2: They offer a ransom in exchange for the guy they really want (Caleb). He can turn to metal and also has weapon limbs. He could very easily fight them off.

Idea 3: Caleb, and Aliza also get captured and are reunited with Cailin only for them to all break out together.

Next time we get together as a group I am going to have them all roll up new characters too I think. That way they have backups because I am planning to start throwing tougher enemies against them to make the battles seem more dangerous than currently. I feel I have made things easy so far. Time to give them more danger.

[Jorel]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

[Juce734]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

I don't plan on killing them off. My one player almost got themselves killed by being non confrontational after being shot twice. She has a low SDC under 60 and didn't attack back to defend herself until she had been shot about 4 times.

The other players told her she should have tried to fight back. I decided to just let her get taken prisoner and I think she will defend herself next time but if not then I am not sure I will have her kidnapped every time this happens... or maybe I will and it will become a running joke.

[Damian Magecraft]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

I don't plan on killing them off. My one player almost got themselves killed by being non confrontational after being shot twice. She has a low SDC under 60 and didn't attack back to defend herself until she had been shot about 4 times.

The other players told her she should have tried to fight back. I decided to just let her get taken prisoner and I think she will defend herself next time but if not then I am not sure I will have her kidnapped every time this happens... or maybe I will and it will become a running joke.

Danger Prone Daphne the Girl Hostage...

[Juce734]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

I don't plan on killing them off. My one player almost got themselves killed by being non confrontational after being shot twice. She has a low SDC under 60 and didn't attack back to defend herself until she had been shot about 4 times.

The other players told her she should have tried to fight back. I decided to just let her get taken prisoner and I think she will defend herself next time but if not then I am not sure I will have her kidnapped every time this happens... or maybe I will and it will become a running joke.

Danger Prone Daphne the Girl Hostage...

Her character would be left behind when it comes to experience points though. May make things really fun for everyone but her. She could get pretty frustrated with being captured all the time by the enemy of the moment.

[Supergyro]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

I don't plan on killing them off. My one player almost got themselves killed by being non confrontational after being shot twice. She has a low SDC under 60 and didn't attack back to defend herself until she had been shot about 4 times.

The other players told her she should have tried to fight back. I decided to just let her get taken prisoner and I think she will defend herself next time but if not then I am not sure I will have her kidnapped every time this happens... or maybe I will and it will become a running joke.

Danger Prone Daphne the Girl Hostage...

Her character would be left behind when it comes to experience points though. May make things really fun for everyone but her. She could get pretty frustrated with being captured all the time by the enemy of the moment.

Any GM plan which involves "Would be fun for everyone in the party but...." should be immediately discarded.

[Damian Magecraft]

Don't kill em off without a little advanced warning. "I don't know if you really want to scout that far ahead...oh, you do, then I guess your the first to discover the army massing right near where your party is heading, and they see you as well."

I don't plan on killing them off. My one player almost got themselves killed by being non confrontational after being shot twice. She has a low SDC under 60 and didn't attack back to defend herself until she had been shot about 4 times.

The other players told her she should have tried to fight back. I decided to just let her get taken prisoner and I think she will defend herself next time but if not then I am not sure I will have her kidnapped every time this happens... or maybe I will and it will become a running joke.

Danger Prone Daphne the Girl Hostage...

Her character would be left behind when it comes to experience points though. May make things really fun for everyone but her. She could get pretty frustrated with being captured all the time by the enemy of the moment.

Any GM plan which involves "Would be fun for everyone in the party but...." should be immediately discarded.

Agreed.
Would make for an entertaining NPC though.

[rc_brooks]

Is the character a pacifist or is the player just not comfortable with the game yet?

If not careful it is possible to push a player away completely. Perhaps she is only interested in helping people, not fighting others?

To answer your question, it sounds like she may have the power to escape, unless her abilities are being compromised in some fashion.

If they are, I would make it a mission for the other players to rescue her.

If they wouldn't because she has sabotaged them before, but you want to get on with the adventure, try a bad cop-good cop routine. I.E. if they are really after another person this character knows or is friends with, then one of the kidnappers is ruthless and terrible, but another one of the kidnappers, feeling sorry for her (perhaps a feigned romantic interest) releases her "secretly" with some fashion of tracking device or npc tails to track down the person they are actually after.

[Supergyro]

Would make for an entertaining NPC though.

Darn tootin! NPC's are FOR abusing!!!

[Juce734]

I think she is overwhelmed at the idea of real world punishments like assault, or murder charges. She got in trouble after the first session by the police because she turned invisible and was walking around a police scene. She stepped in blood and her foot prints were on the scene. Plus her finger prints were on the doors. However eye witnesses before that saw the killer as a big guy in robot armor and a tentacle that delivered the blunt force that killed the people on the scene. However the PC is a reporter which is why she was invisible and walking around on the scene.

[Damian Magecraft]

I think she is overwhelmed at the idea of real world punishments like assault, or murder charges. She got in trouble after the first session by the police because she turned invisible and was walking around a police scene. She stepped in blood and her foot prints were on the scene. Plus her finger prints were on the doors. However eye witnesses before that saw the killer as a big guy in robot armor and a tentacle that delivered the blunt force that killed the people on the scene. However the PC is a reporter which is why she was invisible and walking around on the scene.

so over reaction to repercussions.
understandable.

[rc_brooks]

Hmmm, everyone has their own GMing styles, but if I am needing her to stand up for herself and make an escape, I would likely narrate some of the character's realizations. In this case I might say something like,

"You know something bad is coming and no one else is going to intercede. If you can't figure something out soon, it may be the end."

If you are wanting her to escape, you may drop her a line or narrate some observations the character has made. While I give my players chances to accomplish things on their own, I do tend to move things a long if the majority are yawning and have started texting, talking about getting something to eat and/or looking at their watches.

The other alternative is to have an exclusive game night for the character, or as I often do in GM to player interactions; run a mini play by email adventure.

[Juce734]

I have an NPC in the group named Mo Lex that is going to turn against the players but that will be if they go in the direction I have been trying to get them to go into. If they do he is going to take all the credit for a big bust that gets the group a lot of money. Then a few days later he will then do something bad. They will catch him and he will then get the public to blame the group forcing them to go into hiding.

So next session somehow I have to get this PC out of the hostage situation.

[Spinachcat]

Talk with the player. There is obviously a disconnect between GM and player expectations in the campaign. Perhaps the PC's background, personality and goals are not well defined or integrated into the campaign.

EE:Electicity + Invisibility is an awesome combo for escaping.

[Noon]

So in the current game I am GMing I now have a player as hostage. My next gaming session I am going to have them interrogated but am not sure what I want to do with this. I made her a hostage due to her playing very passively.

This is a classic GM error, we've all made it, but hopefully if it gets talked about more, GM's will make it less often.

#1 rule, the player decides how to play a character, not the GM. The only rule is that playstyles that are disruptive are to be avoided. Passive playing styles, by their very nature, are non-disruptive, and therefore ok.

I'd say break the character out of the hostage situation and reuinite with the rest of the party immediately. Give the character a clue or something to tell the rest of the party, and carry on.

Kind of seconding this.

If your trying to modify her game behaviour by taking her hostage, your are UTTERLY SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT.

You do NOT want to end up with a group who are trying to second guess exactly how you want to play the game and so really their PC's are actually your PC's.

Or maybe you do. I dunno.

[The Dark Elf]

You could have the prison raided by an alternative group of baddies (or goodies) - the police, rival gang, SCRET tema etc. so all hell breaks loose and she gets free. May add some extra antagonists to the adventure.

If she wants to play passive, let her. But yeh, she is quickly gonna find out that it's not a world were passive is helpful. she may be forced to fight back or die. Can the player handle that and still enjoy the game?

Its a damn waste of Energy expulsion...

[mastermesh]

"What are you doing?" or "What are you doing now?"

That is one question I constantly used to ask my gaming groups... Ask it to each individual, the group in general, etc. Always ask so that it sort of implies to them that they need to DO something - even if it is something passive that their character would normally be doing.

As GM have a back up plan for no matter what they do... make your gaming world a "world"... have backstories for every npc, and goals, etc. for all of them too. Decide ahead of time what every npc will be doing and when, and in what order if the pcs take part in that role or not...