Mind probe, how do you deal with it? Options

[Particle_Beam]

So your criminal character would rather use knives, burning coals, cigarettes, acids, choking gags and other really painful methods that are even more worse than the mind-probe spell, which doesn't even inflict pain at all? Oh well, I don't mind, in the end, whatever our characters do, it's illegal, it's criminal, and it's punishable by law. :P

[Solomon Greene]

Worse is in the eye of the beholder.

[Particle_Beam]

Exactly. :)

My criminal mage for hire thinks that mind-probes aren't that harmful for the victim, totally neclegting the fact that he has complete access to her intimate knowledge, while other people have to rely on physical means, like in the film 'Hostel', but consider this to be less horrible than magically peeking into the brain of your target, while other will try to insert many strong doses of truth-compelling drugs into the blood stream of the guy who doesn't want to talk.

In the end, it doesn't matter. The ones' not suppossed to get the information get it anyway, and there's nothing you can do.

[Buster]

What is this crap about "mind rape" anyways? You freaks might like to invent a spell like that, but I'll just use mind probe or influence to get information. Given a choice, I'd take a Mind Probe over psychological or physical torture any day of the week.

[Particle_Beam]

Magical voyeurismus into your thoughts and memory patterns becomes exagerrated into mind rape, to so demonize magicians.

I do encourage this demonization, as it enriches the SR setting. After all, most people still aren't that educated about magic, even if they get to see it day-for-day in the Trid. :D

[Kyoto Kid]

...ahh but where's the sport in it just sitting there sucking out memories? Kind of fun for the PCs, watching the fellow windmill about in the plane's slipstream. All he got from it was a little windburn & soiled trousers, otherwise he was fine. :grinbig:

...& I was the GM.

[Solomon Greene]

[Particle_Beam]

[Buster]

[eidolon]

[Ravor]

>>> Although I enjoy burning a witchsniffer at the stake as much as any wizard, even I find mindrape to be one of the more distasteful tools of our trade. <<< -Bot

>>> *Snorts* Big talk coming from a fragging blood mage! <<< -Dr D

[FriendoftheDork]

[Ravor]

Well, remember that mindraping works both ways, it's entirely posssible to take the best roleplayer in your group on a solo session where he/she gets mindraped and turned into a magical Judas.

Also just because the team isn't moved by mindrape, doesn't mean that the rest of the world isn't, so even if they use the spell to great effect they would be better off bragging about child molestation then talking about the mindrape spell.

[toturi]

[Ravor]

Naw, they should still fear that the mindraping mage could do the samething to them just as easily.

[toturi]

[Dancer]

[Tarantula]

As was pointed out previously, this is nothing that a good face adept couldn't talk out of them. No matter how many penalties you stack up against the adept.

[Prae]

I prefer the threat of mind probe.

"Ye don't start talkin' soon, and we're gonna let Thermowhatchalopolus here dig through your brain case till we finds what we'z lookin' fer."

Mind you, Thermowhatchalopolus was normally me (a street sam) dressed up in some really snazzy "hermetic" robes, a pointy hat, and a curled piece of rebar for a staff.

The occasional, "He's lying. I won't damage him like that last guy. I'll be extra special not to destroy his ability to control his bladder. And that other dude only sees hell hounds, once... maybe twice a day now." type comments would normally turn the poor sod into a veritable library of information.

No magic trail, no body to hide, and no renting an airplane to fly over the Atlantic :D

[Kyoto Kid]

[Prae]

[Kyoto Kid]

...well...you were close with "rigger"...

...who was friends with a decker...

[toturi]

[Tarantula]

Do remember, theres nothing in mind probe which says that you aren't able to act while being probed. So, I'm sure the sammy has nothing to be afraid of from the mage, why? Mage starts a mind probe, roll initiative, sammy shoots mage, mind probe stops.

[PlatonicPimp]

Honestly, the problem isn't the mind probe spell here. If your Players only leave people alive because sometimes it's easier, and wouldn't blink at a elaborate discription of the psychological impact of a mind-rape, then it doesn't matter what you do. They want to capture the badguy, roll some dice, and get him to spill his guts.

And why not?

In another game, called dogs in the vineyard, the GM advice section has some great, well, advice.

"The [characters] you've made have secrets. quite likely terrible secrets - blood and sex and murder and damnation. But you, the GM, have no secrets A'tall. You have cool things - bloody, sexy, murderous, damn cool things - that you can't wait to share"

"uh-oh, they're going to figure out whats going on in the own. I better stonewall. poker face on. and then I'm like, wait a minute, I want them to figure it out. In fact, I want to SHOW them. Otherwise they'll waner around waiting for me to drop a clue, while I've got my stupid poker face on, and we won' have any fun the whole evening."

Don't worry about making the information in the NPC's head harder to get. Worry about making what they find cool enough to warrant the effort. Then the story will be driven not by how hard it was to get somewhere, but by how much the Players wanted to go.