The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

[Steve]

Despite the similarity in title, this posting is not meant to poke fun at this thread.

 

I'd never thought of taking certain skills as a lab before, so when I read about an Interrogation "Lab" in a base, it got my mind wondering what other sorts of "labs" might be possible. If you can do Interrogation, then why not Seduction? It doesn't have to be sexual in nature, but my first notions when I think about such a "lab" would be a noblewoman's chambers or a lady spy's boudoir. How would you outfit such a room?

 

Could a classy singles bar that puts people at ease and more willing to be friendly with each other act as one?

 

Thoughts?

[Edsel]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Hire Austin Powers as a consultant. Shaggilicious baby!

[Steve Long]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Check out The Ultimate Skill, which has suggestions for the types of labs that might be appropriate for all the Skills.

[McCoy]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

A Mansion in Chicago, with a grotto.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Maybe one of those tacky Vegas honeymoon suites ... the heart-shaped bed, mirror on the ceiling ... you know the drill.

[Blue Jogger]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

The best non-sexual Seduction "lab" I saw was some guy's office clearly decorated with news articles of him at various ribbon-cutting events.

 

Silent testimonies of being a pillar in the community. So, he didn't have to actually say cheesy like, "Ya know, I've helped many people go far in this business..."

[Mike W]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

This one, I just can't see. Interrogation...maybe. But I think this is just stretching it too far.

[Edsel]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Pheromone injection system in the room's ventilation system.

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

This one' date=' I just can't see. Interrogation...maybe. But I think this is just stretching it too far.[/quote']

 

So . . . all the people who think that dating is more "romantic" over candlelight dinners, or with privacy, are just arbitrarily and artificially restricting themselves? If they really wanted to feel that way, it would be just as easy to seduce one another under any other circumstances?

 

[Mister E]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

The best non-sexual Seduction "lab" I saw was some guy's office clearly decorated with news articles of him at various ribbon-cutting events.

 

Silent testimonies of being a pillar in the community. So, he didn't have to actually say cheesy like, "Ya know, I've helped many people go far in this business..."

This seems like a good one.

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

If you can do Interrogation' date=' then why not Seduction? It doesn't have to be sexual in nature,[/quote']

 

True - the entry for Seduction in the rulebook makes a point of stating that Seduction has less to do with sexuality than making friends or getting on another character's good side.

 

Getting on the GM's good side, apparently, requires other skills . . .

 

my first notions when I think about such a "lab" would be a noblewoman's chambers or a lady spy's boudoir.

 

I'm reminded of the locale Gypsy Davey used:

 

The gypsy had his love nest all arranged. Since he shared his mother's wagon' date=' he found it convenient to prepare such trysting places whereever their band went. It made an interesting game, to find a suitable spot to woo, and, naturally, to win, his loves. The locations were varied enough to titillate his sense of adventure: a hay mow, an outbuilding, an open field, a deserted woodcutter's hut, or, as it was tonight, a comfortable bed of fragrant spruce boughs and soft moss, all ready for him to lay the lady down beneath the rustling willows.[/quote']

 

Though, considering the "success" he enjoyed there, perhaps something more modern would be appropriate. A bed of roses?

 

Of course, a true Seduction lab cannot be complete until it is prepared for inhuman subjects - no penalties for trying to seduce felines, here

[pinecone]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

I duuno...what is the target audience? A slammin sound system and some tasty tunes might be enough...add in a minifridge...."Magic!"

[Mike W]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

So . . . all the people who think that dating is more "romantic" over candlelight dinners' date=' or with privacy, are just arbitrarily and artificially restricting themselves? If they [i']really[/i] wanted to feel that way, it would be just as easy to seduce one another under any other circumstances?

 

 

Romance is based as much on the individual relationship, how well you know the person..a lot of things that simply aren't tangible. I just think there are too many variable to make an actual lab. You can still do things to gain a bonus, but there are enough factors that I don't see you being able to get away with making it a lab. Seduction, you could have to change out the furniture a lot and it would depend on how well you knew the person and so on. A lot of people like candlelight, flowers, and soft music. Others think it hokey as all get out. On the other hand, interrogation often involves torture, and basically a hot poker in the eye is equally effective against everyone(unless they've bought resistance).

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

I just think there are too many variable to make an actual lab. You can still do things to gain a bonus' date=' but there are enough factors that I don't see you being able to get away with making it a lab.[/quote']

 

Lab may evoke mental images of "laboratory", and thus science, which has the reputation of being incompatible with subjective techniques (more "art", less "method"), but the roll is really all that's needed to cover this "variable" thing. If you don't like it, there are plenty of games other than HERO which will leave room for the players to fast-talk their GM's into what they think is important in the "subjectively effective" realm.

[HewhoisMatt]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Way back in the day my older brother had a home made headboard for his water bed that was covered in shag carpet and had speakers with a eight track built in. He also hooked a couple lava lamps to the top. He later told me that the whole set up worked very well for him.

 

I could see any enviroment built with putting people in the mood as giving a plus bought as a lab.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Does the Playboy Mansion count?

[TheRavenIs]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Does the Playboy Mansion count?

 

I would call that a bit more than a simple lab, maybe a complete research facility.

[Mike W]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Lab may evoke mental images of "laboratory"' date=' and thus science, which has the reputation of being [i']incompatible[/i] with subjective techniques (more "art", less "method"), but the roll is really all that's needed to cover this "variable" thing. If you don't like it, there are plenty of games other than HERO which will leave room for the players to fast-talk their GM's into what they think is important in the "subjectively effective" realm.

 

If I don't agree with you, then I should play another game? That's just offensive.

[incrdbil]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Could the seduction lab be an area thats aimed at being a workplace where you can reserach one person, find out what makes them tick internally, and thus be better prepared to succeed in the seduction (whataver type of seduction that may be) due to your extensive preparation ? I mean, the seduction doesnt neccessarily have to take place there would it?

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

If I don't agree with you' date=' then I should play another game? That's just offensive.[/quote']

 

If you find yourself unable to interpret my words non-offensively, perhaps you should simply say so and explain how you arrived at that interpretation. Sometimes the process of typing it out makes things clearer; in any case, giving others the chance to explain themselves (or at least avoid, in the future, what you find offensive) is fair to them and beneficial to you.

(For the record, I would find that assertion to be offensive as well. I did not, however, so assert.)

 

I have summed up what so many of the senior board members have pounded into me: HERO, by design intent, does not leave room for players to "fast-talk" their way around/against the rules. If your GM cooperates you can certainly make room; nearly everyone does; if you wish to do so, however, you should be aware that you are compromising one of HERO's main strengths.

 

I really don't care whether you play HERO or not. I do, on the other hand, care about whether you're happy with whatever system you play; and when you seem to dislike a core theme of the HERO system, it thusly behooves me to point out that there are other systems out there (gasp! I know, blasphemy, to mention here ) which are already built - and, this is an important part, balanced - around the style which you seem to prefer. In those, you don't have to "make room"; it's already there.

 

Of course, given that many HERO players cheerfully "make room" and it apparently has not brought them any discernible distress, you may be content to bend a system which, despite not leaving room, nonetheless survives the stress when we make some.

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Could the seduction lab be an area thats aimed at being a workplace where you can reserach one person' date=' find out what makes them tick internally, and thus be better prepared to succeed in the seduction (whataver type of seduction that may be) due to your extensive preparation ? I mean, the seduction doesnt neccessarily have to take place there would it?[/quote']

 

I've been wondering something similar myself. I mean, the Disguise skill bought as a lab (not for the base to hide itself) would be almost useless if the character had to fool everyone by bringing them to the base. But, at the same time, a character who doesn't have the Disguise skill can't adjust the makeup once away from the lab. So, the lab isn't bestowing skills upon the character for later use; the skill roll is made then, and doesn't take into account changes that may occur later.

 

It would be wise, then, to keep track of by how much the roll was made by; if a minor change occurs, such as a shifting mood in the target of the Seduction roll, it imposes a hidden/retroactive penalty on the roll, and if the roll was made by enough in the first place, the lab had contingency plans for that change (but the plans still aren't as thorough as the original and main plans, so the Seduction doesn't succeed by as wide a margin). If a major change occurs, the Seduction may fail entirely.

 

Having the person right there with you, in the lab, may permit a reroll? You still have the facilities there, and you have them on-hand the very moment any changes occur, so you effectively maintain an ability to adapt. Or perhaps just reduce/eliminate penalties? With an option to reroll if a major change occurs?

[incrdbil]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Lab may evoke mental images of "laboratory"' date=' and thus science, which has the reputation of being [i']incompatible[/i] with subjective techniques (more "art", less "method"), but the roll is really all that's needed to cover this "variable" thing.

 

The post would have been great if it ended right here, without the detour into needless insult that followed. OSG---One Sentence from Gold.

[incrdbil]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

Having the person right there with you, in the lab, may permit a reroll? You still have the facilities there, and you have them on-hand the very moment any changes occur, so you effectively maintain an ability to adapt. Or perhaps just reduce/eliminate penalties? With an option to reroll if a major change occurs?

 

This enters the realm of special effect having a major impact. A shag-a-licious bachelor pad might help, if a botched initial attempt on a date failed, but he still managed to get them to 'come up for some coffee'.

 

However, if the place is Stalker-psycho central with newspaper clippings, surveillance reports, photos, copies of groceries and other items purchased in an attempt to study and get to know every part of the subject, I'dd say its very likely that bringing the subject to that kind of place would be the worst idea ever.

 

Hmm, at times I've thought of replacing labs just byy buying the base skill levels, usable by others, only to certain skills, and other appropriate limitations. as a short cut for the types of bases that 'just have it all'. So a shag-pad could just be levels added to a characters seduction skill, bought by the base, usable by other, limited coverage. A seduction lab, where a target is studied and analyzed could be bought the conventional route. Eh, there's all sorts of ways to get to the destination.

[Robyn]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

The post would have been great if it ended right here' date=' without the detour into needless insult that followed.[/quote']

 

I'm still unclear on how it was "insulting".

 

Baffled, in fact. The two sentences fit together, to my mind's eye, in a perfectly logical manner:

 

"This is what HERO does. If you dislike this aspect of HERO, be aware that it's on the extreme end of a spectrum measuring that aspect."

Hrm . . . perhaps I should prefix informative statements with "FYI" so they are not taken as declarative? I have always thought informative to be the default, with ambiguity resolving in favor of that mode, and a difference in this respect could result in trying to "fill in the blanks" for a non-declarative statement.

 

OSG---One Sentence from Gold0.

 

Gold0?

[incrdbil]

Re: The Seduction Skill as a "Lab"

 

I'm still unclear on how it was "insulting".

 

Baffled, in fact. The two sentences fit together, to my mind's eye, in a perfectly logical manner:

 

What came across was an insulting commen. It's not atyical of posts concernign you. I could attribute it to a simple communication gap with others, a smokescreen of civility, or out of control passive aggression. I'm a optimist, perhaps, but I'm favoring the first. Either way, its not an atypical pattern for your posts.

 

If you don't like it, there are plenty of games other than HERO which will leave room for the players to fast-talk their GM's into what they think is important in the "subjectively effective" realm.

 

Ie--if he doesn't agree with this one minor interpretation, (which is in a fairly gray area as the even usually vague social skills go), he should go to another system. You attribute his action in a very negative manner--fast talking rarely has a positive connotation in terms of player to GM interaction--you've basically accused him, by not accepting the interpretation, or disagreeign with it of being a con artist trying to put one over someone, and telling him to move on to another system where you say it would be easier for him to do so.

 

 

Hrm . . . perhaps I should prefix informative statements with "FYI" so they are not taken as declarative? I have always thought informative to be the default, with ambiguity resolving in favor of that mode, and a difference in this respect could result in trying to "fill in the blanks" for a non-declarative statement.

 

That's not your problem at all.

 

 

 

Gold0?