Historical Snoop

[NezMaster]

I think Snoop make great detectives and I love the hint abilities. They seem a better route than Sleuth for your Darknight detective sorts, with a kind of mastery of deduction.

The problem is the third level ability
Intercept Communication. You have eyes and ears everwhere. Incerepting phone calls, email, etc...It seems both not as useful, and emulating a non existent tech if your running a game in say..1938.

I thought about something like this, but it's not worded very well.

Spies Everywhere: You have friends watching all the corners, who will help you out.
You may take one level off the area chart for time and fees, and lower the difficulty rating by 5 for any canvass area check. If the fee is lowered below $100 it is free. This range is increased one level at levels 7,11,15, and 19.

In other words, a level 3 snoop would spend 4d6x10 minutes and 0 dollars for a confined check, or 4d6 x10 minutes and $100 for a narrow check.
A level 19 snoop could perform a canvass area on the city in 4d6 10 minutes, for just $100.
Is there a better mechanic for this, or a better less sleuthlike replacement?

[Crafty_Alex]

If you like that ability, you should love The Badge ability of the Lawman (previewed at www.livingspycraft.com), as it's virtually identical

But a 1938 snoop (or even a 1838 snoop) can still make good use of Intercept Communication. Codes have been passed for centuries by couriers, letters sealed by signet rings, telegraphs, Morse code, and so on. Intercept Communication says 'telephone, email or other communication' which means pretty  much anything. In fact, in a world where telecommunication is less prevalent, I would believe this ability is more powerful, as you don't just get them calling for pizza - there's a much higher chance that each message is meaninful.

[Psion]

I would believe this ability is more powerful, as you don't just get them calling for pizza - there's a much higher chance that each message is meaninful.

As discussed on the old board, a call to order pizza can actually be a pretty valuable call to intercept.

[NezMaster]

If you like that ability, you should love The Badge ability of the Lawman (previewed at www.livingspycraft.com), as it's virtually identical

But a 1938 snoop (or even a 1838 snoop) can still make good use of Intercept Communication. Codes have been passed for centuries by couriers, letters sealed by signet rings, telegraphs, Morse code, and so on. Intercept Communication says 'telephone, email or other communication' which means pretty  much anything. In fact, in a world where telecommunication is less prevalent, I would believe this ability is more powerful, as you don't just get them calling for pizza - there's a much higher chance that each message is meaninful.

The question is, how is it being used? I presume the snoop is using high tech bugs etc all over the place. Part of my problem was it's usefulness, and the other half was it's implementation.

[TheAuldGrump]

Heh, look up party lines, and how switchboard operators used to work - trust me, it was just as viable a means of intercepting communications as any today. *EDIT* The first automated switching system for telephones was invented because of operators listening in ad/or switching calls to other lines - specifically a mortician named Strowger had clients stolen by a rival who had a wife who was a telephone operator....

Wiretapping was done with telegraph lines in the eighteen hundreds. There were even devices that would replicate the telegraph signals in visual form. And strange as it may seem the fax machine dates back to 1843!

The Auld Grump

[Crafty_Alex]

The question is, how is it being used? I presume the snoop is using high tech bugs etc all over the place. Part of my problem was it's usefulness, and the other half was it's implementation.

How do YOU think they are using it? We don't go to the trouble to narrowly define an ability when the result - intercepting communication - is all that matters. Assume the snoop has connections in the NSA, or a favor at Bell Telephone, or a fake courier on call, or a really good hearing aid, or a bird caller skilled at diverting carrier pigeons - it makes NO difference, and in fact, is best left open for exactly the reason you see the ability as limited. Bugs are a modern interpretation, but the Snoop can and does work in all time periods, given the proper context.

[foproy]

actually back then the nsa wasn't called that. it was the black chamber (mi8) and that was closed down in 1929 but then at the moment i am nitpicking.

[Crafty_Pat]

The question is, how is it being used? I presume the snoop is using high tech bugs etc all over the place. Part of my problem was it's usefulness, and the other half was it's implementation.

I'd imagine it to work pretty much the same as your proposed replacement ability. It would rely heavily on friends and colleagues running the details down and staying in contact with you.

[Psion]

So if the intercept communication applied to letters in the day, was Valmont of Dangerous Liaisons a renaissance snoop? 

[Crafty_Pat]

So if the intercept communication applied to letters in the day, was Valmont of Dangerous Liaisons a renaissance snoop? 

He most certainly had at least a few levels in the class, yeah. Faceman as well, obviously, but probably also a couple levels in Con Artist.

[Morgenstern]

Working on Clasic Fantasy Classes, Snoop always seemed like a pretty simple conversion to me. The tools and flavor text change, but the results of the Snoop's class abilites are almost entirely unaffected.

[Daedalus4096]

Working on Clasic Fantasy Classes, Snoop always seemed like a pretty simple conversion to me. The tools and flavor text change, but the results of the Snoop's class abilites are almost entirely unaffected.

Really?  Even the continuous, unlimited access to instantly see what's going on anywhere in the world?  That'd have to be a hell of an informant network with a ridiculous communication network.

[Gatac]

Crystal ball.

Gatac

[Mister Andersen]

Intercept Communication accounts for every carrier pigeon taken on the wing, every herald that never made it to their destination, every bottle washed ashore, every overly curious courtier of your acquaintance. Just think of the number of historical and/or fantasy story that has a Lieutenant come into his master's chambers saying "we caught this peasant trying to pass through our lines!".

Wired for Sound's name implies bugging people, but it works handsomely for framing people - say the Queen's missing locket, the insignia of the Pimpernel, a cursed ring that summons a demon to devour whoever has been secretly given it...

Big Brother works easily enough witha cadre of minions - or a bunch of cute forest friends eavesdropping on the plans of a wicked Lord...

Eye In The Sky would again simply involve your legions of spys, telescopes - or theservices of a dragon...

[Morgenstern]

Working on Clasic Fantasy Classes, Snoop always seemed like a pretty simple conversion to me. The tools and flavor text change, but the results of the Snoop's class abilites are almost entirely unaffected.

Really?  Even the continuous, unlimited access to instantly see what's going on anywhere in the world?  That'd have to be a hell of an informant network with a ridiculous communication network.

Having just re-watched the most recent version of the Count of Monte Cristo, all I can think of is the line "I pay handsomely to be kept informed of matters of import in any city I visit." Its not that they can see everywhere - its that they know whats going on anywhere that is important right now.

Look at the abilities in question. Its not that any of those things are impossible singly or in groups. They just imply an incredible level of comptence and resources...

The fantasy Snoop IS that level of a bada$$.

Honestly, it doesn't even take magic. The wild west, gadget-free Pinkerton-style Snoop is also effectively unchanged after tweaking his flavor text. Secrets ALWAYS get out. And when they do, the Snoop knows. He always knows. Its almost uncanny .

The Snoop is living in a world where equal level Soldiers auto-crit on demand (Bard looks up at the last friggin' dragon in the world, and calmly strings an arrow...), where Scouts are tracking hawks across a cloudless sky (and wipping out entire encampments with overrun), where Sleuth Sherlock Holmes can look at the scratches on a chair and tell you your life story, and where Joan d'Arc Advocate-for-God overthroughs an entire nation on the strength of a good rallying cry. For the Snoop, the fact that you inflitrated the castle's servants 2 months ago (before the current adventure even started) or that the king's closest confidant just happens to be your old Academy drinking buddy is totally in scale with what your teammates are pulling off.