Describe Your Search

[Draven]

Player A is unconscious, and has a hidden compartment in the heel of his boot.

Player B walks up to Player A and states "I search you!"

Player A requests a description of search.

1) If Player B states "I search your boots," does Player A have the right to remove his boots and request that Player B demonstrate the search? I feel this is against the spirit of the "Describe your search," option that the ARB presents.

I feel that the result of 1) is that Player A needs to surrender the tagged items in the boot.

2) The rule is gray, but because it can happen in combat where things can be hectic and fast-paced, can a player state "I search every conceivable place on your person?" I feel this also goes against the spirit of the rule (and actually renders it meaningless). Should such descriptions be required to be specific areas of the body, so as to limit cheesy descriptions?

 

[Polare]

Alliance is a communual game in all respects. There are many areas where a hard and fast bright line rule is not really appropriate. In the first described scenario, we recommend that you have an OOG conversation with the player(s) involved and see what each feels comfortable with. If a player is totally down with searching your smelly LARP boots because that lets them suspend their disbelief better, then the two players involved can work it out. This is a roleplaying interaction more than a rules-based one, and thus the Alliance system is "softer" on how it defines what is reasonable and what is not. We maintain minimum standards for player safety and social expectations, and expect our players to deal with things beyond that as mature individuals.

Players should follow a reasonable line when describing searches. If a location is something you could reasonably search within a few seconds of asking about it, then that's a useful common-sense guideline for what could be searched with a single question. If you feel a player is abusing the spirit of this rule, get a Marshal involved.

TL;DR? Use common sense and work things out reasonably between yourselves.

-Bryan Gregory
ARC