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Hello everyone,
Yesterday my group and me played about half of Hope’s Last Day and we’ve encountered an argument concerning the talent Pull Rank.
What does it affect, exactly? What can the officer force the other character do?
Can they give an order to leave an item behind? Can they stop a person from executing someone?
Or is everything literally as written, they can force other characters to perform one single action at that moment?
Thanks in advance for any help.

In the Evolved Edition this has been changed so it can only work on NPCs.

In the 1st edition this could fall under the Player versus Player rule. Which will have consequences for the Officer (if the GM thinks that this is a traitor action) or for the target of the Pull Rank (if the GM rules that his action is a traitor action). If it is just a BS action, then the GM should have a talk with the player playing the Officer about PvP and tell the players to work together.

Even if this has been changed in the Evolved edition, the situation can still happen, it just needs to be played out in a Roleplay scene, not by a skill roll.

Hello everyone,
Yesterday my group and me played about half of Hope’s Last Day and we’ve encountered an argument concerning the talent Pull Rank.
What does it affect, exactly? What can the officer force the other character do?
Can they give an order to leave an item behind? Can they stop a person from executing someone?
Or is everything literally as written, they can force other characters to perform one single action at that moment?
Thanks in advance for any help.

...

Hi MajorGlory, you shouldn't consider "pulling rank" as Gandalf telling Bilbo to give him the ring... I believe in role-playing at my table, but as for "pulling rank," it works well... as long as they belong to the same organization... that means there must be a link of power or authority... on a tug-ship, the captain can give orders so the vessel operates as he wishes. You also need leverage over the crew for it to work (I'll cut your pay if you don't do this). It's a good way to exert authority. Regarding elements of "harming others" or "putting a character in danger," I always allow space for a character (player) to role-play. So, it remains a gray area that I don't want to cross. In my opinion, don't use "pulling rank" for anything too deadly or negative.

P.S. You can also allow an opposed roll between the two characters (command vs command or manipulation vs manipulation) to see who wins the power struggle, but I prefer to keep that for the role-playing (of each player) in my case.

Arthur.

In the Evolved Edition this has been changed so it can only work on NPCs.

In the 1st edition this could fall under the Player versus Player rule. Which will have consequences for the Officer (if the GM thinks that this is a traitor action) or for the target of the Pull Rank (if the GM rules that his action is a traitor action). If it is just a BS action, then the GM should have a talk with the player playing the Officer about PvP and tell the players to work together.

Even if this has been changed in the Evolved edition, the situation can still happen, it just needs to be played out in a Roleplay scene, not by a skill roll.

...

thanks Fenhorn,
Arthur.