AcceptableInfluenceMethodology

Acceptable Influence Methodology

This is a system to rationalise the different forms of social influence, and the use of Abilities to make them.

Actions And Abilities

• Bureaucracy is used for bargain attempts.
• Performance is used for inspire and instil attempts.
• Presence is used for persuade and threaten attempts.
• Socialise is used for read intentions attempts, and organisational influence attempts (see Principled Organisation Methodology).

If a Charm does not state the specific kind of influence it must be used on, it can be freely used on influence actions from other Abilities, and combo’d with their Charms.

Written Influence

Linguistics is used for all types of written influence attempts, and creates a document called a missive. Missives are targeted at either a specific person (and have no effect on others), or at a group (receiving the group penalty for influence). A person must actively choose to read a missive to be affected by any influence within it.

Written influence attempts cannot be combined with Charms from other Abilities, except through use of dedicated Charms (Power-Snaring Image, in the Graceful Charm Methodology). Motes spent on creating a missive remain committed for as long as the Exalt wants the bonus to remain. If the missive was targeted at a specific person, the motes are automatically released as soon as they read it (notifying the Exalt that it has been read).

Reading Intentions

When making a read intentions action, the player may determine any one of the following about the subject:

• Their desired outcome for the current interaction.
• All Emotions they are currently experiencing.
• The nature of any Ties they have toward the player’s character, or that are otherwise applicable to them.
• The nature of any Intimacies they used (if any) to bolster their Resolve against a specific influence attempt, that occurred previously in the scene. The subjects of Ties are only revealed if they are present on the scene.
• Whether they were being honest when they made a specific statement - answering "Yes", "No", or "Kind Of"

If you fail a read intentions action against someone, you may not make further attempts against that person for the remainder of the scene. If taking part in a debate, or other form of contested influence where people take turns, making a read intentions action is done in lieu of making an influence attempt.

Emotions

Inspire attempts create Emotions of the influencer’s choice (Anger, Sadness, Lust, etc). These are an Intimacy (neither Tie nor Principle) that is of Major strength unless stated otherwise. Emotions are not specific to a person, object, or event.

An Emotion lasts until the character expresses them with an appropriate Serious task. The player of that character chooses the nature of the task, based on their circumstances and characterisation. Until a suitable task is completed, the Emotion remains.

Emotions may affect a character's Guile in the same way that Intimacies affect Resolve. If a character's Emotion supports their goal for the interaction, mirrors their Tie toward the character reading them, or mirrors the nature of an Intimacy used to bolster their Resolve, the difficulty of the read intentions action is reduced. If the Emotion opposes these, the difficulty of the read intentions action is increased.

Facts

Persuading someone of a fact is handled as an instil attempt. The resultant belief becomes a Principle (usually Minor), which behaves normally.

Seduction

Seduction is usually handled with a persuade attempt, which requires an applicable Intimacy – usually a positive Tie toward the Exalt, or an Emotion of lust or awe. It could also be handled as a bargain attempt, for more professional arrangements.