The GM should create a list of critical facts or clues for each plot development, with notes on means by which the PCs can discover them. Any success roll that depends on that information – e.g., an Interrogation roll to confront a mook with enough proof that he cracks and reveals the next plot development, or an Assistance Roll to convince the Company to authorize armed intervention – might suffer an overwhelming penalty: BAD, double BAD, or worse. Each success at the fact-finding activities below or under Social Engineering serves as a complementary skill roll whose bonus erodes the penalty. The heroes can always skip steps, but without enough particulars, it won't be easy to take things to the next level!
The GM should make most intelligence-gathering rolls in secret. He might decide that critical success – or even ordinary success, on a daring task – advances the plot immediately. On the other hand, critical failures traditionally mean detection: Bad guys attack or chase the heroes if they're present, or get a free chance to pass along disinformation to or glean valuable clues about snoops who are operating remotely.
The players should describe their efforts dramatically. The GM can encourage this with a small skill bonus or even an extra character point. Then the GM ought to present the results movie-style, using really bad rolls (or plans) as excuses for chases and fights!
Searching for physical clues is the kind of hands-on information gathering that action heroes enjoy! Cops look for evidence, crooks toss apartments, security officers tear apart terrorist hideouts, soldiers search captured positions, and spies get into everything.
The GM decides what, if any, physical intelligence is in each area. If there are clues and the players are about to miss them, the GM should make a secret IQ roll for anyone with Intuition. Success gives the feeling that there's something important here – but not what it is!
If the players decide to search an area, they must state what skills their PCs are using (see below for suggestions). The GM then rolls secretly. Those with Serendipity can opt to use it here; this will reveal one clue at random if there are any, but the use is “spent” regardless.
When examining abandoned facilities, corpses, lab samples, etc., there's little risk of interference; failure means a missed clue, while critical failure means a false lead. If the heroes used Getting In to make a covert search, though, the GM may read critical failure as bad guys showing up, triggering a chase or combat!
Corpses: To determine any cause of death unobvious enough to rate as a clue, the roll is against Diagnosis, with Surgery as a complementary skill.
Deduction: At a crime scene, a success on Criminology will deduce enough about what the crooks were doing to reveal a clue; critical success might hint at the criminals' organization or identity. In a military or espionage situation, Intelligence Analysis can work the same way.
Evidence Collection: Collecting hair, prints, etc., requires an evidence collection kit and a Forensics roll. Failure means an important sample is missed. Critical failure means something contaminates the samples, which may give a false clue.
Lab Forensics: Analyzing collected samples for clues requires a forensics lab and a second Forensics roll. Any success finds both real clues present in good samples and false clues lurking in bad ones – but only a critical success distinguishes between them. Failure misses all clues. Critical failure reveals a false clue caused by contamination at the lab as well as any bad clues resulting from careless collection, but never real clues!
Hardware: If the investigators' quarry left behind explosives or weapons, a success against Expert Skill (Military Science) will deduce the intended use if that's something unusual like “attack an armored vehicle here downtown” and not just “hurt people.” It can also deduce where military-grade hardware came from (“The Iraqis are arming these guys.”).
Hidden Items: Finding something that has been deliberately concealed in a room or a vehicle, or on a corpse, requires a Search roll. Where the Holdout or Smuggling skill of the person who hid it is known, the searcher must win a Quick Contest against that skill; otherwise, just apply BAD to an uncontested roll.
Trails: A successful Tracking roll can discover how many people were present and where someone who left the area went, either of which might qualify as important.
Spying on conversations is a classic investigative tool. You don't need bugs or intercepts for this, although other technologies can be helpful. It's useful to bring along an audio recorder to capture the exchange. This can use its internal mike or any of the special mikes below.
Listening: Successful use of Camouflage, Shadowing, or Stealth (see Subtlety) will get you within 4 yards – close enough to try a Hearing roll at -2. Add -1 per doubling of distance past that. A shotgun mike divides effective distance by 8, which is especially useful because your target's Sense rolls in Quick Contests to notice you will suffer range penalties.
Contact Mike: This item from the wire rat kit works from the far side of a door, wall, or window. To listen in, make an Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll at a penalty equal to barrier (DR + HP)/5, rounded down. Critical failure breaks the mike but doesn't give you away.
Laser Mike: If your target is behind a window, you can use this tool to listen in from up to 900 yards off. A successful Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll picks up the conversation. Failure means your angle is wrong and you can't listen in. Critical failure means you or the laser beam is seen – although if you're half a mile away, you'll at least have a head start.
Pinhead Mike: This widget from the wire rat kit demands a DX-based Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll to snake under doors and through ducts. Failure means it's stuck and lost; critical failure means it's detected.
Spike Mike: Another tool from the wire rat kit, this calls for a DX-based Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll to push through a wall. Failure breaks it; critical failure means detection.
Stethoscope: This common doctor's tool works identically to a contact mike (above), except that critical failure means your subject hears you scratching around!
You don't need a video bug to watch people, but high-tech gear helps.
Watching: Success at Camouflage, Shadowing, or Stealth (see Subtlety) lets you watch someone unnoticed. Make a Vision roll at standard range penalties, but with +2 per level of Telescopic Vision of your optics; e.g., you have -10 to spy on people from 100 yards, but a spotting scope (Telescopic Vision 5) would cancel this. Your target has the same range penalty on rolls in the Quick Contest to notice you – but he, too, can use optics!
Photography: Using a digital camera or a camcorder for surveillance works just like watching, above. The roll is against Vision, as usual, if you're using the viewfinder as a scope, but against Photography if you want clear images for evidence or alteration. In either case, only the camera's Telescopic Vision matters. When taking pictures, roll once for the whole session, with any failure meaning inconclusive imagery and critical failure meaning someone spots you.
Endoscope: A surveillance endoscope lets you see under doors, through tiny holes in walls, etc. Make a successful DX-based Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll to do this. Failure means the 'scope gets stuck and broken; critical failure means it's detected.
What Can I See?: When the heroes watch from afar or examine video, the GM should roll secretly against their highest Observation skill to decide whether they spotted useful clues. This includes things like seeing the boss enter his code sequence on a keypad lock. To “read” people – e.g., to deduce who the boss is or spot the unhappy mook who might be bribable – the roll is against Body Language. And within 7 yards, doubled per level of Telescopic Vision that optics provide, Lip Reading is possible to learn what's being said (e.g., passwords). Apply BAD to all such rolls: Good-quality mooks and henchmen shield keypads, don't salute incognito officers, huddle when speaking, etc.
Planting any bug or beacon from the wire rat kit demands an Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll. The GM rolls secretly. Failure means it doesn't work; critical failure means it will be found and possibly used to deliver disinformation. Once the gizmo is in place, it transmits to its listed range without the wire rat needing to stick around and risk being seen.
Concealing Bugs: A device's small size is usually enough to evade detection, but you can always declare that you're hiding it. When those who might notice the gadget look for it, they must win a Quick Contest vs. your Camouflage skill if you hid it outdoors, Smuggling if you stashed it in a room or a vehicle, or Holdout if it's a “wire” carried by a person.
Audio Bug: This gizmo captures conversations as if your ear were at its location; use the rules for listening under Audio Surveillance. The wire rat kit's transceiver receives the signal, which can be sent to an audio recorder or a computer for recording.
Conventional Mike: Any electronic microphone can be left in place and made to work like an audio bug by attaching a generic transmitter from the wire rat kit. Setting this up correctly requires a separate Electronics Operation (Communications) roll. Any failure means there's no signal.
Keyboard Bug: This captures computer input (e.g., passwords). It uses the computer's phone or Internet connection to transmit information to the spy's computer. Setting up the receiving computer calls for a Computer Operation roll, with any failure meaning no data is received.
Video Bug: This miniature camera functions as a remote eyeball at its location; use the rules for watching under Visual Surveillance. The wire rat kit's transceiver receives the signal, which is usually recorded using a computer or a video recorder.
Conventional Camera: Any digital camera can be left in place and turned into a video bug by attaching a generic transmitter from the wire rat kit. This calls for an Electronics Operation (Communications) roll to set up properly, with failure meaning no feed.
Tracking Beacon: If using the audiovisual transceiver alone, you must drive around and make another Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll to triangulate the beacon's location. Most wire rats plug in a computer, which lets them visually track the target via GPS on a successful Computer Operation roll – all without leaving home.
Cell Phone Beacon: A wire rat with a cellular monitoring system can track a specific cell phone as if it were a GPS tracking beacon; this requires an Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll. Successfully hacking the phone company (see Hacking, below) makes this possible without monitoring gear!
A realistic treatment of technological skullduggery would fill chapters and bore gamers who aren't playing hackers or wire rats. These guidelines are designed to make such exploits work like in the movies: fast, risky, and unrealistic.
To hack a computer system, the hacker needs a line in. In thrillers, systems are often conveniently online, allowing the hacker to use his Internet connection of choice. Top-secret systems are isolated, requiring a break-in to either access the console or rig a link with an Electronics Operation (Communications) roll.
Hacking is a Quick Contest of skills: the hacker's Computer Hacking against the Expert Skill (Computer Security) of the target system's administrator. That individual typically has skill equal to 10 + absolute value of BAD. Meanwhile, the hacker suffers BAD as a penalty. Thus, a BAD of even -4 means even odds for a skill-18 hacker (14 vs. 14), while BAD -10 is almost insurmountable (8 vs. 20).
Fortunately, the hacker can claim numerous bonuses – all cumulative. Add his computer's Complexity: +3 for a typical system, but up to +8 if he makes an Assistance Roll to gain access to a supercomputer. Treat successes at planting keyboard bugs or engaging in computer monitoring, Dumpster-Diving, and/or Social Engineering as complementary skill rolls to weasel manuals and passwords. And both Computer Programming and Expert Skill (Computer Security) act as complementary skills if the hacker writes his own code.
Each attempt takes an hour; apply Time Spent penalties if working faster. The hacker must win to access the system. Loss by 5 or less permits repeated attempts at a cumulative -1. Greater loss means detection, bringing whatever consequences the plot requires: disinformation, virus, ninja…
Once “inside” a system, the hacker can use Computer Operation to steal or alter data (like identity databases), Electronics Operation (Communications) to spy on communications the system manages, Electronics Operation (Security) to neutralize computerized security, Electronics Operation (Surveillance)to hijack computer-controlled cameras, etc.
Action heroes frequently can't read a computer file or decipher a broadcast without cracking encryption. In real life, this is slow if not functionally impossible without a “key” (computer file, disk, microchip, etc.). This has led to two types of ciphers in movies:
Breakable: Typical of everyday computers and telephones. The code-cracker requires a computer and a day, and must roll against Cryptography. Ordinary computers aren't up to the challenge – roll at -2 per Complexity level below 5 (an Assistance Roll for facilities bypasses this). The hacker can work faster, taking Time Spent penalties.
Unbreakable: Plot devices, like top-secret government systems. To deal with these, suborn a key-holder using Social Engineering, or pilfer the key by Getting In and Grabbing the Goods. Hacking (above) is an option for a digital key.
Modifying gadgetry requires Quick Gadgeteer and follows the rules listed. Captured technology with security measures is subject to BAD. The +2 for a full-sized shop or the +4 for facilities available on an Assistance Roll can help a lot!
An intercept differs from a bug in that nothing is planted in the surveillance area. The spy captures signals using a remote receiver or by splicing into a nearby phone line. To gain access to utility lines or loiter in an area without arousing suspicions, either be sneaky (Subtlety) or look like you belong there (Impersonation). If you're several blocks away, anyone on the lookout will have standard range penalties in Quick Contests to spot you.
Cellular Monitoring: Intercepting cell-phone traffic requires a cellular monitoring system and a successful Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll. Failure costs 1d minutes but allows repeated attempts. Critical failure means the target hears something that draws attention to the intercept! There's no fixed range; being on the same cellular network is good enough.
Computer Monitoring: Indirectly reading a computer display in real time calls for a computer monitoring system and a successful Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll. Failure wastes 1d minutes. Critical failure reads the wrong machine – conceivably one hundreds of yards away! Thus, the GM always rolls in secret. Effective range is 100 yards in built-up areas, but 300+ yards in open areas (-1 per 100 yards past that).
Radio Intercept: Eavesdropping on ordinary radio signals requires a backpack-sized or larger radio and a successful Electronics Operation (Communications) roll. Failure uses the same rules as cellular monitoring. Range is that of your set (35 miles or more).
Wiretap: This requires a wire rat kit, access to exterior or building phone lines (or the phone company's central office), and an Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll. Failure uses the same rules as cellular monitoring. Range is irrelevant!
Encryption: Encryption doesn't affect intercepts but prevents real-time deciphering. Unless you find, build, or steal a matched receiver, you must record the signal and use Code-Cracking.
Every hacker (and street person) knows that people discard the most amazing things. After locating a likely surveillance target (see Targets and Locations), roll against Urban Survival to learn where its denizens pile their garbage, unless that's obvious. Use Subtlety to avoid being seen and Getting In to deal with fences, etc. The GM then secretly rolls against the searcher's Scrounging skill, applying BAD to reflect the fact that challenging opponents often shred and burn discarded records. This generally serves as a complementary skill roll for a task like Hacking; successes find useful intelligence (+1 or +2), while failures find confusingly incomplete info (-1 or -2). The GM may also opt to describe specific items found on successes (e.g., someone's photo) or assess nasty consequence for failures (e.g., big rats or broken glass do 1 point of injury to a hand).
Formal records often hold the best information. You'll need legitimate access, a sneak peek via Subtlety or Social Engineering, or a copy stolen through Hacking or Grabbing the Goods. Then roll as indicated.
Research: Searching blueprints, databases, files, maps, and so forth calls for 1d hours and a Research roll. This is subject to BAD when researching a secretive individual or group. Quality modifiers also apply. Ordinary public or online libraries and databases give no modifier. Large university and government archives, and big government and corporate databases, give +1. Make this +2 for famous libraries like the Bodleian or the New York Public, or +3 for the Library of Congress – secrets are often hidden there in the movies, so it must be true! Top secret NSA files and the like either give +4 or cancel BAD, whichever is better. As part of a plot, the GM may rule that a massive collection is poorly catalogued, which multiplies the time required by a factor found by looking up the quality bonus under Time Spent; e.g., +2 means four times as long, or 4d hours.
Forensic Accounting: Take 3d hours and make an Accounting roll to audit ledgers, financial records, etc. Anything disclosed to the public is subject to BAD (rival actuaries can cook the books). Stolen private info isn't – BAD already affected the roll to grab it – but may be encrypted. If the adventure's objective is to obtain such information to prove a crime, success may convince the brass to authorize a raid or other action immediately.
The Obvious: A few bad guys are dumb enough to advertise. If so, a basic Computer Operation roll for websites or a Current Affairs roll for daily news will suffice – and BAD doesn't apply, because the whole point is that the enemy is incompetent! This takes 1d minutes.
Quick Searches: When locating a bomb, working from files that must be returned in a hurry, etc., the above times are too slow. Haste is possible using the penalties under Time Spent, and it's often helpful to attempt a roll against Cartography for maps or blueprints, Computer Operation for hypertext or databases, or Speed-Reading for text or numbers. Halve the margin of success or failure, drop fractions, and add it to the haste penalty on your information-gathering roll. This can't give a net bonus. When skimming like this, critical success and success on the information-gathering roll work as usual, but the GM will treat any failure as a critical failure – and critical failures, as disasters (“You spill your coffee into the computer.”)
These tasks often work as complementary skill rolls that whittle away at penalties to rolls to precipitate major plot breakthroughs, much like the feats listed under Gathering Intelligence. They can also achieve important goals of their own; e.g., distracting or deceiving a guard. Either way, the GM rolls in secret when the objective is to obtain information.
There are two common ways to improve your odds with these activities.
In the movies, everybody has a price. The base bribe is a C-note ($100), which gives +1 to one social engineering attempt against someone of average means. Bigger is better: $500 buys +2, $2,000 nets +3, and $10,000 grants +4. Multiply the bribes needed for these bonuses by the mark's Wealth factor: 1/5 for Poor, 1/2 for Struggling, 1 for Average, 2 for Comfortable, 5 for Wealthy, 20 for Very Wealthy, 100 for Filthy Rich, and then another x10 per Multimillionaire level. Thus, +3 against a crime boss with Multimillionaire 1 costs $2 million.
A bribe less than the amount required for +1 – or an inappropriate bribe – is insulting. Treat the ensuing social engineering attempt as a failure. Success against the applicable Savoir-Faire specialty (see Fitting In) will warn you if you're about to do this. If you're sure that bribery is appropriate, tossing in something extra never hurts.
If the bribe is illegal, make a Streetwise roll. Failure means you lose the money but get no bonus. Critical failure means a chase, combat, robbery, or sting operation!
Numerous skills are complementary to social engineering attempts, including Administration when dealing with bureaucrats, Carousing at a club or a party, Dancing as a prelude to Sex Appeal, Gambling at a casino, and Merchant if money is changing hands. Connoisseur can aid both Sex Appeal and transactions, if the specialty would impress your mark. Sex Appeal itself can complement other skills. You can claim a bonus for several skills if they're all applicable.
Contacts and Contact Groups can provide information (only), much as if you went out and got it yourself. You must first succeed at an appearance roll for a connection the GM agrees would know something relevant. Then roll against your associate's social engineering skill instead of yours. This yields the usual results for that skill. Only bribes can help this roll.
If you have a lead, you can ask around casually to discover more. This uses a suitable Current Affairs specialty for legitimate info, or Streetwise for underworld tips. Either can benefit from bribery (at no Wealth multiplier) and/or a complementary Carousing roll, which represent the expense and effort of informal socializing. Critical failure on the latter roll customarily means an impromptu barroom brawl!
Slick heroes – especially face men – like to play mind games with people. Below, roll a Quick Contest of skill against the mark's Will. Mooks and henchmen alike have an effective Will of 10 + absolute value of BAD, reflecting their respect for (or fear of) their superiors. Victory acquires the information, distracts a mook, etc. To finagle active aid requires victory by 5+.
When these Contests act as complementary skill rolls, victory by 0-4 counts as a success (+1) and victory by 5+ counts as a critical success (+2). Any loss, however, gives a penalty equal to the margin of loss!
Diplomacy: Diplomacy can convince neutral (not hostile) NPCs to share information, or defuse a situation turned bad by failure at another roll. Victory by 5+ can gain minor aid from a neutral party – or negotiate the release of hostages. Bribery helps in situations where “peace offerings” or cash tips are apropos. Administration and Streetwise act as complementary skills when dealing with officials and crooks, respectively.
Fast-Talk: Fast-Talk can distract a guard while friends sneak past, or con some mook into letting you glimpse sensitive info. Victory by 5+ can convince a guard to admit you, or trick an NPC into giving you files, a key, etc. Bribery isn't effective – the whole point is that this doesn't look like a scam. Administration complements this roll vs. officious types, Gambling aids confidence scams, and Sex Appeal helps if the goal is distraction.
Public Speaking: Public Speaking can stir up a crowd of neutral folk enough that the noise and shoving screen suspicious activities. Roll against effective Will 12. The full margin of victory is the penalty to rolls to observe or follow the squad – and a victory by 5+ means an actual riot! Calming a riot also requires victory by 5+. Bribery works when causing trouble; just scatter enough cash to bribe everyone. Few skills complement these feats, but face men may employ Carousing or Dancing to help rouse partiers – or to turn a riot into less-violent activity.
Savoir-Faire: Each Savoir-Faire specialty works like Diplomacy when dealing with its target group, or like Fast-Talk if the goal is to convince someone that you belong to that group. Savoir-Faire (High Society) is almost the only way to talk one's way past an Indomitable butler or maître d', while Savoir-Faire (Servant) can induce the high-and-mighty to overlook you. Bribery is fine when posing as a higher-up and tipping a lower-down; otherwise, it always insults. See Fitting In for complementary skills.
Sex Appeal: Sex Appeal can distract, convince the doorman at the club to let you in, etc. Victory by 5+ can convince someone to leave his post to appreciate your charms up close, set up a Pickpocket attempt, or even get clothes on the floor for the investigator to search or the wire rat to bug. Bribery insults unless your target is a “pro” who expects to be paid for the encounter. Carousing, Connoisseur, Dancing, and Gambling all have cinematic precedent as complementary skills.
Interviewing a friendly or neutral individual to learn what he knows is an uncontested Interrogation roll. This isn't a hostile attempt to squeeze out information – the roll is to channel the discussion productively. If bad guys reached the interviewee first and made threats, BAD applies (the GM can instead treat this as a Quick Contest against the thug's Intimidation skill, if known). A Psychology roll is complementary; success also reveals whether the subject was menaced. In the movies, bribery helps, too, but peeling off $100 bills will insult most honest citizens – buy a meal or bring a gift instead.
A hostile individual won't volunteer information when asked. He must be put on the spot. The GM rolls for interrogations and shakedowns in secret, keeping any resulting complementary skill modifier to himself. Bribery (of GM or NPC) is rarely useful!
Interrogation: Respectable interrogators isolate the subject, make him uncomfortable, and maintain the pressure until he cracks. Handle the session – not each question – as a Quick Contest: Interrogation, penalized by BAD, against Will (or unmodified skill vs. effective Will figured from BAD, for NPCs without character sheets). If this is a generic information-gathering attempt early in an adventure, BAD should be low (0 to -3) and the outcome gives a complementary skill modifier for later feats: loss by 5+ counts as critical failure (-2); loss by 1-4, as failure (-1); victory by 0-4, as success (+1); and victory by 5+, as critical success (+2). If the interrogation is the gateway to the story's next chapter, BAD should be high (-4 to -10) – possibly doubled, for high-ranking henchmen – so that overcoming it practically demands complementary skill bonuses for previously gathered information. Victory, however, reveals a major new plot development.
Good Cop, Bad Cop: Two interrogators – one antagonistic, one sympathetic – can cooperate. Each must roll against Acting or Psychology. Both rolls are complementary skill rolls.
Polygraph: Security agents may be called upon to give a polygraph or “lie detector” test as part of interrogation. Their employer provides the equipment; make an Assistance Roll if it's needed but absent. The GM rolls a secret Quick Contest of the operator's Electronics Operation (Security) vs. the subject's Will. Treat the full margin of victory or loss as a bonus or penalty to Interrogation. The interrogator need not be the operator.
Truth Serum: While the equipment sheet lists a price for “truth serum,” anybody but a secret agent will likely have to improvise; this requires a Pharmacy roll (defaults to IQ-6) and access to a dispensary. Administration calls for a Physician roll (defaults to IQ-7). The serum works in about 30 seconds, sapping 1d FP from the subject and forcing a HT-1 roll, with failure meaning he has -2 to Will during the interrogation. Interrogators without suitable skills can roll at default, but failure on either skill roll above renders the subject unconscious before he can talk (or worse, in reality – but in cinematic games, this is often overlooked.)
Shakedown: The streets handle things differently. Throw your mark against the wall, stick a gun in his mouth, and tell him to talk. Handle this as interrogation, except that the operative skill is Intimidation and critical failure on the roll means a violent response. If you have the upper hand when things go bad, your only option is “waste him,” which is messy and means you'll never learn what he knew (if this was crucial, the GM may assess a -2 complementary skill modifier).
Torture: Some movie “heroes” use this villainous method. Cinematic consensus seems to be that torture makes people talk, but they might say anything! Torture can give up to +6 to Interrogation – assume that Knife, Surgery, Wrestling, and quite a few other skills are complementary, and cap the total bonus at +6. Details of how each skill works are left to the imagination.
Liar, Liar: Unlike most complementary skill penalties, those resulting from botched interrogation can be erased. After grilling someone, any member of the crew can ask to try Detect Lies. The GM will roll a secret Quick Contest against the best of the subject's IQ, Acting, or Fast-Talk (if unknown, use 10 + absolute value of BAD). Victory erases any penalty. A tie has no effect. Loss casts doubt on the truth or confirms a lie: Adjust the modifier by -1!
Brainwashing: Action heroes rarely do this – it's villainous and takes too long – but brainwashed NPCs are common. Some are hostile when they shouldn't be, others follow the bad guys' cause (BAD applies to the team's social engineering rolls), and still others simply can't recall something vital. It's possible to “break” such conditioning with the Brainwashing skill. This is a Quick Contest against the brainwasher's skill. Each attempt takes a day. The deprogrammer can keep trying until he succeeds, but if he ever critically fails, the subject has a cinematic seizure and won't be useful any more.
Action movies aren't known for their realistic treatment of human interaction, but generally, cops get along with fellow cops, soldiers with other soldiers, and so on. This can affect social engineering.
Cop Land: The Savoir-Faire skill for dealing with police and security officers is Savoir-Faire (Police). This can act as a complementary skill for any social feat for which it isn't already the master skill – but Law (Police) complements social engineering when you're a cop dealing with a judge or a DA.
Corps and Cubes: Administration is the universal complementary skill in a corporate environment – but use Merchant around sales and marketing staff.
High and Tight: The Savoir-Faire specialty for military settings is Savoir-Faire (Military). When that isn't the master skill, it can complement social engineering attempts with other skills.
Scumbags: When dealing with organized crime, Savoir-Faire (Mafia)serves as the master skill when a social engineering task requires Savoir-Faire, and as a complementary skill otherwise. When dealing with street crooks, Streetwise replaces Savoir-Faire as a master or complementary skill, and Intimidation is the complementary skill whenever Streetwise isn't.
The Big Desk: As a master skill, use Savoir-Faire (High Society) on “generic rich folk,” crime lords encountered in polite settings, and anybody whose job brings Status 2+ – including executives, civic officials, and Rank 5+ military or police officers met socially. However, only use it as a complementary skill if the target isn't of a type who would be susceptible to the other skills above.