Interviewing People

"One does not just walk into Mictlan, Mr. Anderson."

Characters are going to be in situations where they are talking to NPCs. It's actually most of the game when you consider actual devoted screen time. In many cases, the interaction with the NPCs can be mostly freeform roleplaying because what you're mostly after is exploring the personality of the character and elucidating their connections to the people around them. But there come times when your character will want to get specific information or assistance from the NPC that they are talking to. And because After Sundown is a game, it falls here to roll some dice. What dice a character rolls depends largely on what they are doing and what role they are playing in the conversation. The Threshold depends upon how much the NPC in question wants to give it to you. If the NPC really wants to give it to you, such as trying to buy drugs from a drug dealer or trying to get information about someone who has wronged them recently, is not especially difficult (Threshold 1). If the NPC wants to keep it to themselves, for example the information might get them in trouble, it very much is (Threshold 3 or higher).

Questions of Interrogation

"Where were you on the night of the 29th?"

Sometimes a character is in a situation where they have a fair amount of power over the NPC and can ask the really rude questions. In these situations, the character can indeed do that. This is no more likely to get a coherent, accurate, or helpful answer than doing it in some round-about-polite manner, but it is generally short. Also, if you ask someone a simple question it is generally much easier to see if someone is evading it than if you ask a complex one.

Dicepools of these kinds of questions are usually Logic + Intimidate. Even if you don't get the success you needed to get the NPC to spill the beans, you can derive substantial information from the questions that they didn't answer or gave vague/contradictory answers to. If asked about something that the NPC is trying to keep secret and the character's number of hits is insufficient by 1 or 2 they will become alerted that the NPC is specifically holding out on them. If the character lacks familiarity with the relevant subject, it becomes easier for information to be withheld, and they only become alerted to deception if the test falls short by 1.

Questions of Subterfuge

"That's fascinating. How did the boss respond to that?"

It is often the case that the thing a character is looking for is for one reason or another not something that they wish to give away. If a character is engaged in conversation and attempting to lead it to the revelation of key secrets or whatever, they may attempt subterfuge. The character drops hints like a trail of breadcrumbs, and ideally, the target responds by crawling along to the conversation's destination and makes the big reveal. Obviously, this only works if for some reason the other person is voluntarily talking already. Normally this is because the character and the target share some Background and are having an actual conversation about something inane while the subterfuge is taking place. But in some cases there can be an otherwise unconnected business deal going on. For example, if a character is opening an account at a bank, the manager pretty much has to talk to them even if they share no interests whatsoever.

Dicepools of these kinds of questions are usually Charisma + Persuasion. Subterfuge lays a verbal minefield for the user as well as the target, and it is entirely possible that the character will give themselves away. The target is entitled to an Intuition + Empathy test. If they get more hits than the manipulating character got on their test - they will catch on to the fact that they are being played. Whether they care or not (and how they respond if they do), depends entirely on circumstances. But having the discussion terminated is a pretty common reaction.

Friendly Banter

"You wouldn't happen to know where I could score some meth, do you?"

When you are in a regular social situation, you can actually just ask people stuff without having it get all weird. On the plus side, people just tell you stuff and there is no chance of being "found out" and you didn't step on anyone's feelings. Of course, if someone is asking for something that the person doesn't approve of, that lack of approval may well get transferred to the asking character. And of course, blunt questions can be easily overheard.

Dicepools of these kinds of questions are usually Charisma + Background. You can only use a Background that is appropriate to the situation and shared by the target. Friendly Banter can also be used to just plain make friends, and is quite invaluable in that respect.

Testing the Waters

"Some people were pretty excited last night, any idea what that was about?"

For reconnaissance, it is sometimes merely important to find out if someone knows about something rather than specifically what they know. This can be especially true if the character already knows a piece of information and merely wants to know how far the information has spread. In any case when the character is trying to passively identify who knows about a subject without literally broaching it, the character is said to be Testing the Waters.

Dicepools of these kinds of questions are usually Intuition + Empathy. The primary disadvantage of Testing the Waters is that it doesn't usually give you the answers you are looking for - it just tells you who has those answers. On the plus side, if you do it professionally (Threshold 2) you don't give away what you were looking for, and if you do it crazy extremely (Threshold 4), people don't even realize you were inquiring about anything.

Impersonation

Getting in is easy. Getting it done is hard.

In the old days, pictures were hard to come by of even the most important people. With the advent of the digital camera and internet pornography that is no longer true. Nevertheless, there exists a number of ways in After Sundown to appear to be a different person in a way that will pass even the most thorough visual inspections.

Dicepools of these kinds of questions are either Charisma + Persuasion or Willpower + Persuasion, depending upon the character's chosen demeanor. Impersonation is opposed by the target's Intuition + Empathy. If the target has an appropriate Background skill and the character does not, the target can add their Background skill to their test. Only a target who has some reason to know what the impersonating character should be behaving like gets to make a test at all. If a character disguises themselves as former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a group of American or Asian targets will probably get no test to pierce the impersonation, because they have no idea what kind of mannerisms or opinions the real John Howard has.