Ransom and hostage taking.

[The Old Hack]

Something I have thought about from time to time; an ingame event today reminded me of it and I decided to toss it out here for opinions.

Kidnappings and taking hostages is a process as old as history and likely far older. How it has been handled has varied greatly from culture to culture. For example, some pirates would offer stiff but still reasonable ransom terms based on the gender and social status of their captives, and would not kill them even if ransom was refused but would rather sell them as slaves elsewhere. They would take great care to keep their captives healthy as their income from ransoms relied on their reputation for returning their victims promptly and safely on payment.

On the other hand, in our day and time the life of a hostage is an uncertain thing and in some cases kidnappers are equally likely to kill or release their victim whether they are paid or not. A common attitude is not to pay kidnappers off no matter what and instead try to have the victim found and recovered through the efforts of law enforcement agencies or private investigators, depending on the wealth of the targets.

In a world like the Realms, I would expect attitudes to lie anywhere between these two extremes depending on the alignment and culture of the persons involved. It is of course tempting to treat abductions the Mel Gibson way and try to badass your way through, but giving a little thought to what your culture's attitude to such events is might not be a bad idea. I admit I improvised a bit on this when confronted with the problem, but I basically decided that my character came from a culture where buying kidnappers off was seen as safest for the hostage and went that way.

What I would like to know is, what do people think of this, what might the attitudes of their characters be, and does anyone have any interesting examples of ransom cultures to quote for our collective inspiration. Thank you in advance for any replies. ^^

~tOH.

[Valo56]

"Never negotiate" is a more modern policy, and even so it isn't always followed. Quite often ransoms are paid, I would think, especially in those situations where police aren't brought into the equation.

I think what you said was pretty much spot on.

[Random_White_Guy]

Frankly I guess it is how the hostage is taken

But 9/10 times I have been badly burned in the past attempting to take hostages, often ending in straight up FD without much conversation.

But that's how hostage taking goes sometimes!

[Valo56]

It should be expected that if you rush at the guy with the hostage, he will kill the hostage. I've been involved in two hostage situations so far in my time here, one where my buddy was taken, another where I had a dwarf. The dwarf died as did I because his help rushed at me. I gave the other guy what they wanted to that my buddy would live. I also was a messenger between the Scars and Mistlocke back when the Scars took some hostages, and managed to get one released (though the other died).

Though FD'ing characters quickly should be avoided, sometimes it has to be done, like in hostage situations, to keep people afraid of you and on their toes. Letting people get the body back at least for a raise is the way to go, though. Sadly when you have a hostage, you have are working with an economy of one, so when you kill it, if you don't have another, you're kind of screwed.

[Guttersnipe]

I think something that should be taken into account in these situations is how the previous conflict involving the PCs who are front and center in the standoff has evolved. There's times when hostages are taken in an attempt to be stylish, and avoid having to FD someone. So when some bystander rushes in and forces a FD it can often leave a bitter taste for all those involved.

Stepping back and looking at the big picture will result in a better overall scenario than just defaulting to "badass" mode and becoming a wrecking ball. Sure there's times when that's appropriate, but if your PC is more of a fringe player in the particular situation it's probably good to consider saving your badass moment for something more appropriate and personal to your character.

[Vlaid]

My experience with hostage taking is that you have a far greater chance of someone trying to mount a rescue and forcing you to FD hostages than not. Simply because nobody seems to want to give the hostage takers what they want, ever, no matter the cost.

Last time I did this it was a bit on the unsatisfying side given the circumstances and I'm not likely to want to do it again. This may not be true of all hostage situations, but it felt a bit like I was having my bluff called, OOCly, that I would not be a big enough douche to kill the hostage(s) at first sight of a rescue attempt as I promised I would.

Really puts you in an awkward situation where because of someone else's refusal to negotiate, you should in reality FD your hostage(s) straight up. So what do you do? Usually just pvp and if they lose, kill the rescuers instead.


I wish more people would try to play along with a hostage situation for being the delicate situation it is, rather than try to be the Mel Gibson don't take no guff from hostage takers guy. Hostage situations can be one of these rare situations where people who would  normally have to show no mercy to each other, can show mercy by exchanging what they want. The tense stand off, the exchange of person(s)/good(s). It can be so much more interesting than just running up and trying to crush the hostage takers and knowing "lol they won't just kill the hostages as we attack, that'd be lame".

[Blue41]

There was a point in the Docks-Dominion conflict where it seemed like there were hostages taken every day. I've been on both sides, and though there were plenty of threats thrown on both sides, 9/10 times the hostage was returned safe and sound. Then again, taking hostages became like a way to re-negotiate treaties, so I guess FDing someone would do more harm than good for everyone.

Properly played, they can be tense situations for all around. Doesn't take much to spoil it, but it's the game.

[TeufelHunden]

Almost every hostage situation I've been in the other side screws me over and I feel like I wasted my time trying to make a fun interaction...but I keep doing it because I think maybe...just maybe they will play along this time.

[VengefulSeraphim]

WE DONT NEGOTIATE WITH TURRURISTS

[granny]

I wish more people would try to play along with a hostage situation for being the delicate situation it is, rather than try to be the Mel Gibson don't take no guff from hostage takers guy.

the problem is in the many mel gibsons characters to be in the preference of most guys ^^

[Corrigo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbznIOjYL_w

[Aspirinsmurf]

There will always be more people who are out to prove themselves in any way possible than there are people who actually care about your hostage. A kidnapper thus needs to be very selective about what information he lets out and to whom. Loud posters would be a surefire way to attract a posse of adventurers who are more after your stuff than the wellbeing of your hostage. Most if not all my characters would join in such a rescue attempt just for the glory or gold or whatever, with very little thought to the poor hostage and his friends. I guess a lot of other characters would too.

[Cerberus]

A lot of it depends on who is taken, and whom or which group you are trying to negotiate with. For example (and each group would be different, I'm just using dwarf because they are more of a take no BS race); Taking a dwarf kuldar is going to get the kidnapper killed or no response at all. Taking a dwarf elder or maybe even a Morndensimman priest may get you what you ask for until they get their elder back. Then they'll hunt you down and kill you, so use the ransom quickly.

I dislike kidnappings mostly because it is exactly what everybody said in previous posts and turns to PvP FD's. Perhaps it's the kidnapper that needs to take more time and go for the gusto. Get DM's involved and kidnap a ranking NPC. But again, dependent on which leader (or ranking house member) you kidnap, you will get varying outcomes, but probably a bit more thought involved.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Kidnapping[/COLOR]

[lovethesuit]

I would like to imagine that those who take the risk of playing out a hostage situation realistically, and not just to 'win', will reap certain other rewards.

[Jayde Moon]

Whenever I take hostages, I end up getting rid of them, so they can't ID me later.