Player Character Conflict
PvP = Player vs Player, conflict between player characters (PCs), often referencing to violence between PCs.
PvE = Player vs Environment, where the primary conflict is between PCs and Non-Player Characters (NPCs).
Death Unto Darkness is a primarily PvE game, not a PvP game, and it aims to represent the struggles of the beleaguered servants of the Imperium against an ever-multiplying number of threats within and without. PvP can occur as a part of the game but we will never, as the game team, attempt to force it - it isn’t a focus of our writing, if it occurs it happens organically.
To this end, we will never force a PC to take upon them a patron who would place them at odds with the Inquisition and the overall objectives of the player party - patrons such as this will be granted only after discussion. New character concepts that are outright hostile to the Imperium and Inquisition are very likely to be rejected unless the Game Team are significantly confident they will benefit the game,
Death Unto Darkness is about Inquisitorial Agents - in other words, the PCs - working together against an encroaching threat. Because of this Inter-Player Cooperation is heavily encouraged by ingame factors that place the players working together under the direction of a recently-united Inquisitorial Conclave, now purged of heretical elements, who are joining efforts to desperately prevent the loss of the Prosperitas Sector to dark forces.
Social conflict is a natural part of the Imperium, with religious conflict and discrimination against people hailing from specific social castes or perceived as having genetic aberrations being themes of the DuD setting, these conflicts exist to create depth for roleplay interactions and are heavily encouraged and something someone should be aware of before playing out game. The Imperium is not a nice place and most of the people within it are not, by our standards, nice people - the challenge of the Imperium is that ultimately monstrous personalities are normalised and common, especially amongst the servants of the Inquisition. The trouble is that with the multiplying threats to the Imperium, Inquisitors and their agents are forced to cooperate against the rising tide - even with those they hate and despise.
Inter-Character Violence
Because we use a cinematic narrative system with a ‘death spiral’ mechanic in the form of Scars, our combat rules do not translate well when players come up against each other as the cinematic nature begins to break down. Thus, we decided to introduce specific rulings regarding violence between players.
Subduing and Detaining
When a PC attacks another PC and reduces their Endurance to zero, the attacked PC is considered to be Subdued; this is a state of temporary stunned/unconscious roleplay that lasts thirty seconds, after which, they return to a healthy state with one Endurance. Although it is always assumed that violence will result in a character becoming Subdued if your goal is to take them captive, it is useful to use the cue to use the cue I’m taking you in, alive!, as you would a NPC.
If a PC can reach a currently-subdued PC before they recover from that state, they can Detain the Subdued PC. Physical contact is discouraged, so if someone informs you that they are Detaining you please play along, you may by all means roleplay up ‘resisting’ your arrest IC but OC please make no attempt to leave the situation (unless it is to attend to an OC need). While Detained, you may not attempt to escape - unless granted permission by a GM or by the player(s) of the PC(s) who Detained you.
If you have Detained a PC, you must remain in close proximity to them or hand them over to someone else willing to take part in Detaining them; leaving a PC who has been Detained unattended (defined as no longer having someone in close enough proximity to them to have a conversation) is tacit permission for that PC to escape.
IC a Subdued/Detained PC is helpless and cannot use traits or escape , but from an OOC perspective, PCs cannot not take lethal action against Subdued or Detained PCs: this means that a Subdued/Detained PC cannot be killed except under certain conditions (see below). NPCs will be briefed on how to respond to Subdued and Detained PCs, but will typically either ignore them, free them, or take them captive.
Consenting to Lethality
As noted before, player choice is our main goal in our game. Therefore, at any point after PvP violence has been initiated, any player may use the cue Come on, do your worst! to indicate that they are consenting to potential lethal consequences of PvP violence. At this point, if they hit 0 endurance they will be Bleeding, instead of being Subdued, and can be Executed if reduced to this state (see combat rules).
If the player who just initiated PVP violence specifically wants to inform the other player that that they do not intend to use lethal force against them, no matter what, the attacking player can open the hostilities with a preemptive declaration of I’m taking you in, Alive.
Likewise, the cue I’m taking you in, Alive! can also be used as an answer to any player who is engaging someone who has given consent for lethality, and has just used the cue of Come on, do your worst! to reiterate you intend to use only non-lethal force.
A Detained PC may also use Come on, do your worst! to indicate consent to potentially be executed by their PC captors. In this case, the cue must be used (or repeated if it was used for combat previously) after the PC is Detained. Note that the PC captors can ignore this cue.
Using Come on, do your worst! once does not mean you are giving permanent consent for lethal consequences in PvP from now on - this call must be issued every time single time violence between PCs erupts (and repeated if you are Detained). Consenting to lethal PvP violence only applies to the individual stating the cue; anyone who engages them in PvP violence does not have to consent to lethal consequences unless they use the cue themselves.
If you change your mind at any point in a conflict about lethality, we suggest using the traffic light system to halt a combat - so you can clearly make all parties aware that you want to retract your statement, and they can do so too as a result if necessary.
Reporting Crimes and Heresies
It is not required to use violent force to apprehend another PC if you feel they are a threat to the mission or are acting against the interests of the Imperium - nobody is forced to use violence if they do not wish to - the Inquisition is -ever- eager to hear from its agents when they believe individuals to be a threat to their objectives and the Imperium. In a situation that you feel a character is acting against the Imperium or committing an act of heresy, you can bring evidence of wrongdoing to the Inquisitorial Representative (a game team NPC who acts as the voice of the Inquisitorial conclave, and who the Drones assist), either by finding them directly (if present) or sending a message via an Administratum Drone (one of the refs). Ultimately, we do not want lone characters to feel they cannot act against overwhelming odds and feel forced to go along with acts they do not agree with just because they lack the tools of violence to influence them.
Depending on the strength of your evidence, the Inquisitorial Representative will make a judgement call, and, if necessary, issue an order for the PC to be detained - this order may be given to NPCs or PC Agents, depending on the resources available at the time IC.
If an order is disobeyed or arrest resisted, serious consequences and escalating orders may occur.
Once the accused is Detained, then the procedures above and beneath can be followed.
Processing a Detainee
If you detain another PC and do not intend to release them in short order (within a few minutes of detaining them and/or after resolving any ongoing emergency), you must immediately bring them to an Administratum Drone (one of the Refs) or, preferably, the Inquisitorial Representative (a game team NPC who acts as the voice of the Inquisitorial conclave, and who the Drones assist). When they do so, PCs will be expected to provide IC justification for their detention of a fellow acolyte of the Inquisition.
The OOC reason for this rule is that bringing a captured captive to the team in this way is intended to prevent indefinite imprisonment taking players out of play for hours.
The Inquisition has no sense of humour about missions becoming hampered as a result of Agents being detained by each other, and has provided a process to resolve such situations quickly so they do not become a burden on the smooth operation of the mission.
Therefore, if this action is stalled beyond a reasonable time (ie. the captor had ample opportunity to come find the Rep\Drones but didn’t), the Detained PC is more than justified to drop OOC and come find the game team to move this process along.
The sole exception to this process is if it becomes or is obvious that the captive is daemonically (or supernaturally) possessed, either via the player roleplaying the character accordingly or appropriate character abilities revealing this - where daemonic possession occurs it is never subtle once the daemon is aware it has been discovered or has begun to directly control the flesh and mind of its host. At this point, you may proceed with an Exorcism without consulting a Drone or the Representative.
Sentencing
After a PC is brought before the Drones or Representative this will initiate the following IC procedure:
- If you are unable to justify (via evidence) your detention of a fellow agent, you will be told to release them immediately; failure to comply will be met with sanctions. If you can point to damage which the detained Agent has done (or was clearly about to do) to the mission team and its objectives, you can be reasonably confident of support. If you have nothing to offer except vague suspicion, you should expect sanctions.
- If you do not have clear evidence, you may make your case for additional time to gather evidence via Interrogation of the subject; depending on the strength of your case, this may or may not be granted. If you can point to specific questions which demand answers (eg. “what were you discussing with that local we discovered sabotaging the shuttle?”) you will have better chances of getting permission than if you have no clear purpose in mind.
- Once evidence is presented, it will be passed along with the captive to the Inquisitorial Representative (if they aren’t involved already), who will sequester themselves with the captive, and, as mouthpiece of the Conclave, will either consult via astropathic relay or follow established procedures for passing judgement on the accused (this will be used to check in with the captive’s player OOC to ensure no sentences are imposed which the player in question will not enjoy roleplaying out).
- Should the captive be returned to the Agents and not transferred to Inquisitorial custody, a sentence will be passed, and sanction delivered by an Agent chosen by the Representative to carry it out.
- Execution is only ever sanctioned in the most extreme circumstances, as it diminishes the available personnel to a mission - in most circumstances, the fitting of compliance collars to ensure the individual completes their mission, mind-wiping or mind-control by available psykers, and other non-resource diminishing sentences are preferred. (However, if a player wishes to retire their character and asks to be executed, they may go roll a new character immediately; their PC will be placed in detention by the Representative, and never seen again but any useful information they may have been concealing however will likely be extracted from them.)
- Regardless of outcome, details of the incident will be reported to the Inquisitorial Patron(s) of the detained character as well as of the character(s) who detained them, to take into account in later debriefing.