Pierce the Mask

When you  pierce someone's mask to see the person beneath, roll + Mundane. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 1.
 * What are you really planning?
 * What do you want me to do?
 * What do you intend to do?
 * How could I get your character to ...?
 * How could I gain Influence over you?

Description
Pierce the mask is for seeing who someone really is, beneath whatever facade they present. It’s not just about literally seeing beneath someone’s mask; it’s about understanding another person.

It requires you to watch someone, observe them, pick up on their body language and their emotions, to get a read on who they really are. You don’t have to be talking with them to trigger this move, but it’s easy to say you’re trying to pierce someone’s mask when you’re talking to them.

When you pierce someone’s mask, you get to ask questions of them, and their player must answer honestly. For NPCs, that means the GM answers honestly. You should ask all your questions at once, but if you must, you can hold questions for as long as you’re watching them.

Options
“What are you really planning?”  is about long term plans. It’s about overarching goals and intent, not immediate intent. The answer could be “Nothing,” but most characters have some kind of overarching goal and plan that they can use to answer the question.

“What do you want me to do?”  puts a focus on the other person’s vision and ideas for you and how they want you to act. You can usually oﬀer to act how they want in exchange for getting something from them.

“What do you intend to do?”  is about immediate plans, right here in the moment. It’s a very action-focused question, giving you information on what you can expect to happen very soon.

“How could I get your character to ...?”  is one of your best ways to get other characters to do what you want in the game. You fill in the blank with whatever action you want them to take. They have to answer honestly, so whatever action or events they describe will genuinely get them to take the actions they’ve promised. The answer might be “You can’t,” because the question and what it’s asking of them is so not in character, they just wouldn’t do what you want them to.

“How could I gain Inﬂuence over you?”  is one of the most straightforward ways of getting Influence on someone. If you already have Inﬂuence over them, the question won’t tell you anything; if you don’t, this tells you what you need to do to ensure that your words and opinions matter to them. If you do whatever they tell you to do, they should grant you Inﬂuence immediately after it.