[Torg] Sometimes you use the tool...

[Tommy Tanaka]

Sometimes the tool uses you? This is the first of an indeterminate number of
questions that I'm feeling like posing to the list. Some of them are going
to be looking for specific answers, others are more discussion fodder. This
one leans towards the latter. And the subject is tools and contradictions.

What constitutes using a tool? Is listening to a radio or watching TV enough
to cause a contradiction, or would you have to try to change the station?
The former has nasty implications. Hey, for that matter, if you played Mein
Kampf (translated into Eidenos) over a loudspeaker at Baruk Kaah's minions
(assuming you can actually find words in the Eidenos tongue to get the ideas
across in the first place - might need to throw some magic or a miracle into
the mix), would they risk disconnection struggling with concepts above their
social axiom? (That sounds like a great PsyOps plan.) Would a magical
illusion of Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo cause massive contradiction
checks as people try to decide whether or not it's real? Or would the
spellcaster have to make a contradiction check every time someone tried to
disbelieve the illusion? Similar question with passive contradiction with
carrying tools. If I start wandering around Aysle passing out coins made of
space-age alloys, what's going to happen?

For that matter, what sort of passive contradiction checks am I going to be
making for having that loose change in my pocket? The "Using Passive
Contradiction Checks" box on p.152 of R&E says that passive contradiction
checks don't have to be made for every single passive contradiction a
character has. The specific examples given are a character's clothing and
Nile Empire's Law of Morality. (Though I'm not sure about that last one,
since the text of the Law says that every single morally gray action is a
contradiction. That sounds more like an active contradiction.) So how many
checks would you need for all the stuff you're carrying on you? My personal
view is that the Everlaw of One isn't that picky. You're either
contradictory or you're not. It doesn't matter to the Everlaw if you're
carrying a single Tech 30 tool or if you're festooned with biotech, magic
items, etc. You're contradictory so you make a single check at the beginning
of the scene.

Back to the tool using you: Let's say you hypnotize an Eidenos (yeah, I use
them alot in these examples... what can I say? They have a lot of low
Axioms.) Give him some post-hypnotic suggestions, then cut him loose. What
happens once one of them is triggered? Long-range contradiction for the
mesmerist? Is it a passive contradiction for the Eidenos while he's walking
around? Is his roll to resist the compulsion a contradiction? I assume not
since otherwise people would have to make contradiction checks when
"interacting" with, for example, that plasma sword being shoved through
their guts.


And yes, I know these topics have been discussed multiple times over the
life of this list. But there are new people, and oldbies can come up with
new ideas every now and then. ;)

-Tommy
-- 
Marching to the beat of my own horn.
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