[Dirty Secrets] some rule questions

[Moreno R.]

Hi Seth!

1) A crime can be "the theft of a person", but in this case, isn't the victim the person kidnapped?  If the person kidnapped is a child, the victim is him, or the parents? The child has to be a character?

2) page 18, "first person roleplaying", page 39, a goal that the investigator isn't aware of, like being able to spot someone who follow him. Don't these two parts contradict each other?

[GreatWolf]

Hi Seth!

1) A crime can be "the theft of a person", but in this case, isn't the victim the person kidnapped?  If the person kidnapped is a child, the victim is him, or the parents? The child has to be a character?

Yeah, this is awkward on my part. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't adequately implement kidnapping in the game.

That being said, the Victim can either be whoever is kidnapped or whoever had custody of the kidnapped person. The actual person who is stolen can be a character or not. Really, this is one of those things that you'll have to determine based on the fictional situation at the time. Yeah yeah, I know it's the in-vogue thing to say, but it's true. Ask yourself, "Is the stolen person a moral agent in the story, or is he just a living MacGuffin?" Then establish accordingly.

2) page 18, "first person roleplaying", page 39, a goal that the investigator isn't aware of, like being able to spot someone who follow him. Don't these two parts contradict each other?

At first, I was going to lament a contradiction, but then I realized that this is okay. Page 39 talks about a goal that a Character isn't consciously aware of. So, this means that (say) the investigator is tailing another Character. The target of the tail doesn't consciously know that his goal is to avoid the investigator, but mechanically, that's his goal.

However, you are correct that, due to the first person roleplaying rules, this can't apply to the investigator.