I'm reading 'Dogs of War' by Frederick Forsyth. Its an older book, but very good.
As part of the background on a Third World horror 'nation', the book tells of a guy who got in trouble when walking through town because the Presidential car drove by and he didn't bow.
So...
Drop a verser into a pre-computer age world. He is in a slum shanty town full of starving kids and open sewers in the street, and dangerous men armed with knives (in the book, its illegal to bring in machetes let alone guns into the capital....and keep in mind that the punishment for some crimes is to be hacked to pieces by machetes in the public square).
Some few people have a bicycle.
And then a black limo drives by.
The verser might stare (he might be paranoid enough to hide in which case run this event later in a few days.). If he does not bow, the car stops and a bunch of 'Army' thugs get out. Col. this, and Major that, and a bunch of privates. They've borrowed the President for Life's car, and the verser has 'encourage revolution' by not bowing.
If he's willing to grovel and give them most of the money he has, and get a few kicks in the ribs, he's left alone.
Most versers are not that mild mannered.
It ends up with him in prison, dead, or #1 on the Wanted List in the Benevolent People's Republic of Kitchia. While Kitchia does have Communist advisers, its not really Communist. It doesn't rise to that level of intelligence. Its an excuse for the local dominant tribe the Kit to kick around the lesser tribe the Cha. But mostly the leaders of the Kit to kick around everyone including their own Kit.
A moderately tough verser should be able to overthrow the gov't because they are such a pack of violent, insane clowns. Most of the 'Army' has 1@2 Marksmanship, if there guns even work.
Eric, that could be a good setup, the problem that I see though is that there is always that one verser who would be smart enough to bow when he sees everyone else bowing. What happens then?
Well, John, that depends.
If it's Eric, he then begins a guerilla campaign to bring down the current oppressive power structure and initiate democratic government, like he did in The Postman.
If it's Graeme, he allows himself to be recruited as some support person and begins a secret subversive movement to foment rebellion and initiate a new order, like he did in The Postman.
If it's David, he figures out where to go to find outside help to attempt to crush the local oppressors, like he did in The Postman.
If it's you, I guess he gets a job with a blacksmith and keeps his head down as much as possible--unless the powers that be start hassling his blacksmith.
--M. J. Young
And yes, the Powers That Be would start hassling the blacksmith. Its just who they are. Anyone with any bit of wealth is a target. And if you have a useful skill, well then you'd be expected to provide services for free....
I suspect that even John might start thinking revolution about the time the fifth soldier with a dirty gun thats jammed strolled into his shop, demanded he fix it for free...'Right now!' and then helped himself to some of John's money so that he could go buy a beer.
As to John's question about the smart verser....hmmm, I'd just run the event again a few days later. If its truly avoided, then I'd let the scenario run.
And it would be tempting....
Army Private of Kit Tribe (all Army are from the Kit).
1@3 Willpower
1@2 Marksmanship
Dirty, rusted Garand Rifle (50% chance of not firing. 10% of botching.)
Each Army guy has four bullets.
Army High Level Officer
1@7 Willpower
1@4 Marksmanship
Glock Pistol with ten bullets. 30% of not firing. 5% of botching. Not as dirty as the rifles.
President for Life Marcus Haveamin
2@1 Willpower
1@7 Marksmanship
Tommy Gun with 45 rounds in excellent condition. Bowie knife (silver plated and with a marble sized ruby in hilt).
Cause Fear by Glare of Death: Damage Morale Magic 1@8
Curse Enemy with Death: 1@5
Commune with the Lords of Fear: Human sacrifice and cannibalism involved. This spell allows the malefic entities, the minor spirits the Lords of Fear to give advice on what his enemies are doing, and what he should do in teh future. It has elements of clairvoyance and precognition.
Y'know, considering how much John respects guns, he might revolt the first time he sees the way these guys mistreat their weapons.
I'm thinking maybe 25 serious malefactors in the nation with about 18 of them in the capital port city at any time. An army of perhaps ten thousand, but most of them are farming most of the time. Perhaps 400 in the city of fifteen thousand that is the capital of Mordida.
This offers a chance for a moderately tough verser, nobody like Di Vars need apply as this would be altogether too simple for him, to do a lot of good in a short period of time.
I suspect that even John might start thinking revolution about the time the fifth soldier with a dirty gun thats jammed strolled into his shop, demanded he fix it for free...'Right now!' and then helped himself to some of John's money so that he could go buy a beer.
John would fix the gun, but the guy better not try to take any of my money... unless bullets have monetary value.
Y'know, considering how much John respects guns, he might revolt the first time he sees the way these guys mistreat their weapons.
That's a distinct possibility.
Hey Eric, just an anecdote that kind of goes along with what you're talking about here. A couple of years ago, I was at my mother's house, and an elderly woman went missing at about 2-3 in the morning. The Whitehall police were looking for her. One of them drove up in a car and had spoken to me. (Hence, how I know the story) The uniform of the Whitehall police is navy-blue-almost-black in color. There were guys in cars, and foot soldiers looking in people's backyards. I saw a foot soldier peeking in someone's backyard, looking for the lady. Had I not known that it was a Whitehall police officer, all I would have seen would have been a guy in black looking in someone's backyard with a flashlight. I could imagine that could cause some confusion with people, especially the more trigger happy members of society.
(Doing Therapy)
There's been SWAT guys shot when a drug informant gave them the wrong address.
Yeah, a friend of mine was actually in something like that. The SWAT came to his house, wrong house.
(Doing Therapy)
There's an episode of CSI Miami where a guy faked a 911 call from his victim's home then called the victim and threatened that he was coming over to kill him, and then when SWAT showed up to stop the violent attacker and saw the armed man, they shot him.
Of course, the crook did not get away with it.
--M. J. Young
Just an aside, the elderly woman was eventually found. She had Old-Timer's disease and had gone wandering. Fortunately, they caught up with her.