Psychological torture

[FocusWolf413]

Could a persistent ghostharp spell keyed to We Built This City be used as psychological torture?

[legomaster00156]

You really should be rickrolling them instead.

[FocusWolf413]

What's new pussycat?

[Sapreaver]

persistent ghostharp this in the chamber (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0)

I wonder if that would drive someone to madness enough to create and allip lol

[Platymus Pus]

What's new pussycat?

Throw in one it's not Unusual to love anyone.

[Telonius]

"It's a Small World After All," set on repeat ... but missing the last note.

[Amphetryon]

"It's a Small World After All," set on repeat ... but missing the last note.

You. . . You're a monster!

[FocusWolf413]

"It's a Small World After All," set on repeat ... but missing the last note.

You glorious bastard.

[ben-zayb]

:thog: *brings Celine Dione's greatest hits*

[FocusWolf413]

:thog: *brings Celine Dione's greatest hits*

That's tolerable because there's less repetition. Still evil, though.

[Red Fel]

I seem to remember someone writing a nasty bit in a piece of fanfic about using Brahms' lullaby with just the slightest bit of assonance. The song is almost perfectly performed, but at random intervals a random note will just be flat. The result is a sense of paranoia; ordinarily, music creates anticipation of the next note, but when you realize that next note could randomly be wrong, it starts to unhinge you.

And then someone actually used a computer program to throw that up on the internet someplace.

[FocusWolf413]

Of course you're the most evil so far.

[Amphetryon]

I seem to remember someone writing a nasty bit in a piece of fanfic about using Brahms' lullaby with just the slightest bit of assonance. The song is almost perfectly performed, but at random intervals a random note will just be flat. The result is a sense of paranoia; ordinarily, music creates anticipation of the next note, but when you realize that next note could randomly be wrong, it starts to unhinge you.

And then someone actually used a computer program to throw that up on the internet someplace.

Reminds me of Lord Vetinari's clock, which ticks ever so slightly out of tempo.

[Red Fel]

Reminds me of Lord Vetinari's clock, which ticks ever so slightly out of tempo.

It's a similar premise. The best torture is self-inflicted; the very best is the stuff we can't help but do to ourselves.

Humans are naturally keyed to rhythms. We listen, adjust to, and anticipate them. If we are presented with rhythms that are completely out of whack, or songs that are totally dissonant, we can drown them out, but when they're so close to perfect, we naturally try to synch up and anticipate them. And we fail, and it hurts our brains.

[Flame of Anor]

"It's a Small World After All," set on repeat ... but missing the last note.

That wouldn't work, since the last note is the same as the first note--and it's set on repeat.

[pieman2945]

It's a similar premise. The best torture is self-inflicted; the very best is the stuff we can't help but do to ourselves.

Humans are naturally keyed to rhythms. We listen, adjust to, and anticipate them. If we are presented with rhythms that are completely out of whack, or songs that are totally dissonant, we can drown them out, but when they're so close to perfect, we naturally try to synch up and anticipate them. And we fail, and it hurts our brains.

Methods of Rationality! Man, Quirrell is a badass in that. I loved that trick.

[Red Fel]

Methods of Rationality! Man, Quirrell is a badass in that. I loved that trick.

Quirrell!Mort was about twenty-six different kinds of awesome, but I really felt MoR kind of unraveled towards the end.

[Telonius]

That wouldn't work, since the last note is the same as the first note--and it's set on repeat.

No, it's a different note.

Of course you could always check it out to be certain.

[Ravens_cry]

Depending on tech levels, there is the ginger beer trick, or, rather the insinuation of the ginger beer trick (http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Ginger_Beer_Trick). Works best on people with imagination.

[Flame of Anor]

No, it's a different note.

Of course you could always check it out to be certain.

Oh, right, the first note of the verse is different. I was thinking of the refrain.

[Dusk Raven]

I tread this topic with a bit of concern, because from what I've heard, songs have actully been used as psychological torture. Of course, I don't want to give details because I heard about it a long time ago and I'm not sure if it's true, and it wasn't so much the sound itself so much as... cultural offensiveness.


I seem to remember someone writing a nasty bit in a piece of fanfic about using Brahms' lullaby with just the slightest bit of assonance. The song is almost perfectly performed, but at random intervals a random note will just be flat. The result is a sense of paranoia; ordinarily, music creates anticipation of the next note, but when you realize that next note could randomly be wrong, it starts to unhinge you.

Wow. That's like a musical version of Chinese water torture...

[Ravens_cry]

I tread this topic with a bit of concern, because from what I've heard, songs have actully been used as psychological torture. Of course, I don't want to give details because I heard about it a long time ago and I'm not sure if it's true, and it wasn't so much the sound itself so much as... cultural offensiveness.

I've heard it as music blared super loud, all day, all night. Which could be done with basically any song, to be honest.

[tadkins]

persistent ghostharp this in the chamber (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0)

I wonder if that would drive someone to madness enough to create and allip lol

That is like, BoVD worthy material right there!

[Dusk Raven]

I've heard it as music blared super loud, all day, all night. Which could be done with basically any song, to be honest.

Probably, but in that case it's auditory overload combined with sleep deprivation. I saw that used in a TV show once (Burn Notice), but then it was a siren, combined with bright lights, with both of them switching on and off. I imagine that might be a touch more effective.

[Cirrylius]

Play the Big Bad's own reputation against his minions, esp. if he's the "absolute authority of evil" type.

Me- "tell us what you know"

He- "LOL no"

M- "You serve that Megalo-Ma'Xevil, right? The one who turns people inside out and leaves them alive, outside the kingdom as deterrent? The one who kills and animates the whole unit when a traitor's found?"

H- "LOL yeah"

M- "Okay, here's what's going to happen. We know where your camp is, we know why you're there, we know you're in charge... and we only know why you're there because you wadded up your instructions and tossed them aside instead of destroying them-"

H- :smalleek:

M- "-as instructed, yes, so here's what'll happen. Our quartermaster will get his jollies roughing you up you, and while he's doing that for the next couple weeks we'll go find the artifact you're looking for. It'll take a while, without any more intel to go on. When we find it, we'll send you home with the next skirmisher party, tied up in a white flag, with a shiny new "X marks the spot" and a LOLTHX on your maps and your instructions wadded up in your pockets. We'll be thoughtful enough to leave you at least one ear and eye, so's you can fully appreciate what's about to happen. Hell, it's Christmas, leave him a tongue to beg with. We'll take bets if your boss will send you back to demonstrate how he... improved on our work.

H- *vomiting*

M- "...OR you could just tell us what we want to know and for all we care you can run to the literal ends of the earth. With your intact kneecaps.

No torture would be forthcoming from the players, of course, they just need to sound callous enough to carry through, and the best part is the greater threat comes from his own allies.

[LoyalPaladin]

"It's a Small World After All," set on repeat ... but missing the last note.
I have players that would be entirely ruined by this.

[Red Fel]

Play the Big Bad's own reputation against his minions, esp. if he's the "absolute authority of evil" type.

Oh, much simpler than this one.

"You really refuse to cooperate? Fine. You notice how nobody has roughed you up? Nobody will. We're going to let you go. Not only that, we're going to do so publicly, and we're going to pay you. And do you know what's going to happen? All of your friends are going to see you walk out those doors, completely unharmed, paid for your troubles. And they're going to assume that you squealed. And I guarantee you that nothing you can say to them will convince them, or your murder-happy boss, that you didn't. Now, if you tell us what we want to hear, we won't let you go. We'll keep you safe. Or you can walk out those doors, and into your boss' embrace. Your call."

Admittedly, this is less "torture" and more "interrogation methods," but the principle is there.

[Cirrylius]

Oh, much simpler than this one.

Admittedly, this is less "torture" and more "interrogation methods," but the principle is there.

Same deal, yes. I think I was assuming a Big Bad used to Stupid Good inability to effectively interrogate a minion.:smalltongue:

My personal favorite use is against a cleric of a god who's really harsh on failure. When he foams about eternal reward, ask if his high priest would feel that way about an acolyte's screwup, then ask how their god would feel getting that same screwup on his doorstep begging for unearned succor. Fun use of Knowledge (Religeon) with bluffing; bonus points if they convert gods to save their skin.