To me, Consort, Hunt, Study, Survey sound so similar… especially when you are investigating someone. Are there clear rules of thumb how to differentiate them?
To me, Consort, Hunt, Study, Survey sound so similar.
To me, Consort, Hunt, Study, Survey sound so similar.
You would use hunt to follow them through the streets, figure where they have gone to ground, etc.
You would use consort to find things out from their friends, family, employees—get that guard talking about how unfair his boss is and the hours he works, for example, or find out from the maid his evening habits.
Not 100% sure on the difference between the other two.
To me, the four differ in how you find and manipulate information: Hunt = finding or manipulating information through physical means; Consort = finding or manipulating information through social means; Study = finding or manipulating information through cognitive/academic means; Survey = finding or manipulating information through sensory means.
For instance, in addition to what Jeff Johnston said, Study seems like more document- or data-based research, like academic digging for info in records, tomes, libraries, as well as reaching conclusions through data analysis. The stuff you see cops doing when they pull out all those files boxes of evidence and reports from cold cases or databases of mass data (especially Sherlock in the show Elementary).
So Survey then, seems more like immediate sensory awareness especially when time is of the essense. So sort of like perception + environmental awareness + empathy/insight. Basically its effectively noticing, filtering, and ignoring key information available to the senses, or focusing attention amid potential distraction.
Consort would be, you finding out about the target through your friends and acquaintances (and background folk and rivals). Not the target’s, unless you have the same friends/acquaintances/rivals/background. You can find out anything these people have found out about the target. So if you’re friends with an amazing sniper, you can leverage her to find out where to shoot the target. If you’re friends with a spy, huzzah, what can the spy find out reasonably?
Study can have a more document/academic bent, but that’s not required. You can study a person, so you can sit down with the target or watch the target from across a smokey bar. You want to know what they like, what they don’t like, mannerisms, get a deep understanding of their personality. How to manipulate them, maybe, or what they fear. Who they control, who controls them.
Hunt is more about tracking the target through the city, where you could lose sight or the target could notice you and give you the slip. Hunt’s tracking aspect can feed into you shooting the target from a distance. Study isn’t really going to help with that. Conversely, hunt won’t tell you what the target’s vice is, unless you routinely track them to a brothel or a smoke-drinking shop or whatever. It won’t tell you what they do for a living or where they live, unless you track them there.
Survey would be you watching the target in the target’s home or place of business, if those are known. You might want to know how to get in, or out, or who does business with the target. What security holes exist, where you can get to the person when he or she is alone.
Yeah. I basically agree with the others, but to add some further clarity:
Consort is a ‘friendly’ action. You’re hanging out and getting information.
Hunt is the least like the others – it’s very much stalking, following, and tracking.
Study and Survey are closer together, but are mostly differentiated by their targets – Studying is for ‘singular’ things. A document. A person. An item. Survey is for broad targets – situations, areas. If you’re sitting down at a table with someone or something, you’re probably Studying, if you’re standing on a rooftop gazing down at a plaza, it’s going to be Survey.
To take another point of view, for a inspector
Hunt = Tailing
Survey = Stake out
Consort = Talk to informants
Study = Paper search and interrogation.
I’d say Tom has the right of it, possibly adding “case the location” to survey for the sake of completeness.
OK, thanks. Just wondering: are the new Actions useful distinctions or are they too close to each other?
Personally I find them to be useful, there’s just enough overlap that characters can get by “Improving” something with other skills while still keeping them all pretty distinct from each other.
I’m with Mark Moller; honestly, I find them pretty distinct – consort in particular fills a hole in the old action list.