Hooking Up With Pussy Galore

Honor Blackman as the titular Pussy Galore

As I have said previously, “A role-playing game based on a given intellectual property ought to be able to emulate situations from the source material.”  Since James Bond is famous for his womanizing, it is no surprise that the James Bond 007 role-playing game provides rules for “attempting to form an intimate romantic relationship with a Non-Player Character.”

One of the skills available to James Bond 007 characters is Seduction.  As explained in last week's post, a skill is based on one or two characteristics.  Seduction is unique in that it is derived from another skill as well as a characteristic.  The Primary Chance 'formula' for the Seduction skill is:

[ ( Charisma Skill Levels + Willpower ) / 2 ] + Skill Levels

Every player character has the Charisma skill at no cost and thus has one skill level automatically.  Charisma regards “making good impressions upon the Non-Player Characters your character encounters and convincing them that he is a great human being and deserving of their respect, love and admiration.”  Like Seduction, Charisma is based on the Willpower characteristic.  Willpower is defined on page 18 as:

The character's mental ability to control his bodily reactions to such things as pain, abuse, attacks (whether verbal or physical) and stress.  It is also a general measure of discipline.

James Bond's Willpower value is 13 and he has a total of 15 Skill Levels in Charisma.  (This is the maximum number of Charisma Skill Levels he can have – two more than his Willpower.)  Bond has 14 Skill Levels in Seduction, giving him a Primary Chance of 28.  ([(15 + 13) / 2] + 14)

The “How to Interact with Non-Player Characters” chapter of James Bond 007 explains that Seduction “is used to establish a close, romantic relationship with an NPC of the opposite sex with the intent of changing the NPC's reaction towards the character.”  Also, “The relationship will probably develop to include some kind of physical encounter.”  Nowadays, “of the opposite sex” would be replaced with a phrase along the lines of “sexually predisposed to the PC's gender.”  It's not as if Fleming excluded characters of alternative sexuality from his works; of course, his attitudes in this regard were not exactly enlightened.  Fleming stated that Pussy Galore's lesbianism was a “psycho-pathological malady” and she “only needed the right man to come along...”  Although a flawed character, Bond is nonetheless the quintessential white male power fantasy.  No woman can resist him – not for long.

There five stages in a Seduction attempt:

1.  The Look (Ease Factor 10)
2.  Opening Line (Ease Factor 9)
3.  Witty Conversation (Ease Factor 8)
4.  Beginning Intimacies (Ease Factor 5)
5.  When and Where? (Ease Factor 4)

Despite names like “Opening Line” and “Witty Conversation,” each stage is effectively a die roll.  Specifically, each stage requires the seducer to succeed with a Seduction roll at the listed Ease Factor.  The Ease Factor lowers as the stages progress – meaning the rolls become more difficult.  The Ease Factors can be modified for a number of reasons.  If the seducer previously impressed the character to be seduced with the Connoisseur Ability, the seducer receives a +1 Ease Factor.  “If the NPC is male and the Player Character is female,” there is a +2 Ease Factor.  If the person to be seduced “has a Weakness for Members of the Opposite Sex,” there is a +2 Ease Factor.  There is a –2 Ease Factor when a seducer attempts to seduce someone who has “successfully resisted“ his or her prior attempt.  As might be expected, a seducer's appearance affects the Seduction roll.  For example, a “Normal” character has a –1 Ease Factor while a “Striking” character (Bond's appearance 'level') has a +2 Ease Factor.

An NPC can attempt to resist a Seduction attempt at any stage “by making a Willpower roll at an Ease Factor equal to the Quality Rating [of the Seduction roll].”  Even if a Player Character fails a Seduction roll, the NPC must succeed with a Willpower roll at an Ease Factor of 10 in order to resist.  Player Characters can automatically resist Seduction attempts and NPCs successful in resisting can “pretend to have the Seduction continue.”

Anyway, according to the Goldfinger Adventure Module:

Galore should be played as a frigid woman.  She distrusts all men and, therefore, Seduction attempts against her will be very difficult (a –2 Ease Factor modifier) and will probably require the expenditure of Hero Points.  Because of her innate distrust of men, she gets a +3 Ease Factor modifier on her Willpower roll to resist being seduced.

Bond's first stage Seduction attempt has an Ease Factor of 10.  This represents a base Ease Factor of 10, with –2 on account of Galore's modifier, but +2 for Bond's Striking appearance.  With Bond's Primary Chance of 28, an Ease Factor of 10 means a Success Chance of 280.  For the final stage of the Seduction, Bond's Success Chance is 112.  Because of Bond's high Success Chances, he can fail only with a roll of 100.  What differs with the various stages are the rolls necessary for the different Quality Rating results.  On the first stage, Bond can achieve a “Good” result with a roll of 57 – 98; on the last stage, he can obtain the same result with a roll of 25 – 60.

Galore's Willpower value is 8.  So, depending upon the Quality Rating of Bond's  successful Seduction roll at any stage, Galore has a 32%, 40%, 48%, or 56% chance to resist.  (A woman of equivalent Willpower, but without Galore's modifiers, would have an 8%, 16%, 24%, or 32% chance to resist.)  Successfully resisting at any stage would require Bond to start the Seduction sequence again, beginning at the first stage.  The –2 Ease Factor for a repeated attempt would apply.

The 'consummation' of Bond's seduction of Galore is immediately preceded by violence.  Assaulting a woman is hardly heroic and I would not condone such behavior in the real world.  Fortunately, Bond is fictional and we need not countenance his actions as we consider them.  Bond's opportunities to succeed in his mission dwindled.  His 'conversion' of Galore was necessary in order to save the day, protect thousands of innocent lives, and prevent economic chaos in the Western world.  What would you do to accomplish the same?