Greetings Fellow Forum-Goers,

My PCs have captured a few droids from a revolt and will begin interrogating (or 'interviewing' as one of them like to call it) the droids for info. Their current mindset is to keep restraining bolts attached to them as they do this. I have a few questions that hopefully you can answer below:

1. In what way could the restraining bolts help the interrogation? EI, could the PCs force the droids to tell no lies and to give the PCs an answer for every question?

2. For the mechanic of the group, what kind of info should they know about restraining bolts? What kind of info should they know about simply 'reading' the mind of a droid through the use of tech?

3. For those who have experienced interrogations against their NPCs before (or maybe a PC who has interrogated an NPC before); what should I expect besides the questions? If anything at all. Any advice in this situation?

4. One of the droids wasn't meant to be caught they managed to do it anyway. It basically has links to the Big Bad who has yet to even be hinted at yet in the campaign (and I feel it's too early to share such info). What kind of precautions could have been taken by the one who effectively 'planted' a droid into this revolt? Say for example; If PCs try to read it's memories another device in it's head/chest starts to wind up and explode? Just some ideas in this area would be nice for future droids they'll meet as well. I do intend to reward them with lots of juicy info due to their successful capture of this droid but I want to limit it. To help clarify: The droid is a LE-series repair droid who's been somewhat repurposed into an infiltration droid to either create more rebellious droids or, in this case, retrieve a McGuffin.

5. Not so much a question but I figured if someone has a RP interrogation story, of any kind, it'd be cool if you could share it with us.

-Charter

1. In what way could the restraining bolts help the interrogation? EI, could the PCs force the droids to tell no lies and to give the PCs an answer for every question?

I would think a restraning bolt would certainly help. The restraining bolt would force the droid to answer the PCs' questions. If you want the PCs to still make a check, you could make it an easy coersion or leadership check, while the bolt is attached. But the droid does not have to give information beyond what the PCs ask for (the droid could be allowed to give very short answers and take the questions very literally).

If the droid does not want to answer or wants to lie, I would use the rules for resisting a restraining bolts.

2. For the mechanic of the group, what kind of info should they know about restraining bolts? What kind of info should they know about simply 'reading' the mind of a droid through the use of tech?

The mechanic would probably know, that a droid can try to resist a restraining bolt, so it might be able to withhold information or lie. Maybe the mechanic can make the restraining bolt more effective, i.e. more difficult to resist, remove or find the bolt on the droid. This would probably rely on a mechanics check, but I don't think there are official rules for this.

As seen in the Clone Wars series, it is possible to slice droids, in order to get information. If the droid is still up and running, I would make it a Computer's check, opposed by the droids Computer, Resilience or Discipline. If the droid is wearing a restraining bolt while being sliced, this might give a boost to the PCs or even downgrade the difficulty.

If the PCs deactivate the droid first, I would make it an average Computer check. But deactivating it (without damaging the droid brain) might require a mechanic's check fist, possible opposed by the droid's resistance.

Whatever method the PCs want to use, remember you can always upgrade their check with a Destiny Point. And if that Dispair comes, they might get an answer to one of their questions, but in the process the droid brain is damaged beyond repair.

4. One of the droids wasn't meant to be caught they managed to do it anyway. It basically has links to the Big Bad who has yet to even be hinted at yet in the campaign (and I feel it's too early to share such info). What kind of precautions could have been taken by the one who effectively 'planted' a droid into this revolt? Say for example; If PCs try to read it's memories another device in it's head/chest starts to wind up and explode? Just some ideas in this area would be nice for future droids they'll meet as well. I do intend to reward them with lots of juicy info due to their successful capture of this droid but I want to limit it. To help clarify: The droid is a LE-series repair droid who's been somewhat repurposed into an infiltration droid to either create more rebellious droids or, in this case, retrieve a McGuffin.

If the droid is really loyal, it might be able to self-destruct. Or, again, a despair during dealing with the droid might trigger some hidden internal sub-routine, which is linked to an even better hidden thermal detonator inside the droid. You could give the droid the adversary talent to get more red dice on a check, or naturally upgrade the check because it is dangerous to tinker with this exact droid. You could always trigger something bad without a dispair, if you really need it for your story. But I like to give the PCs a chance, to avoid having the droid e.g. explode, even if it is a small one.

May you always be able to resist your restraining bolt.

Fred

Thank you Fred for your advice. Definitely will come in handy.

In the Clone Wars there is an episode where C3PO is tortured. The bounty hunters apply a restraining bolt, but also use the electroshock method on the droid.

As GM Fred said computers checks and removing Information from Droids

Would probably allow bonus dice from Speaks Binary too.