i'm just curious how you handle secrets in your group. e.g. if you have one character that is lying about it's background/mission/whatever. or if they got a secret item by the DM
I've tried it several different ways, and so far the best default for my groups is that all the players know everything, whether their characters know it or not. I say 'default' because there's often a good reason to keep a specific thing a secret from some/all of the players, but I make that decision as a change from the baseline for each particular element.
By keeping everybody in the loop at the table level, that lets us collaborate and conspire to create more dramatic events in the story, and we all get to enjoy the deliciousness of knowing something the characters don't.
@BESW is is the thing that worked at our current group very well. even if there are mechanics between the characters it can made them more dramatic if the other players are aware of this
I also tried the other end of the spectrum, and went full secret mode. Ran a Gestalt 5e game where every PC was a gestalt cleric... the trick was, I told each of them, separately, that they were the only gestalt cleric :D
@daze413 it something like this in werewolf. everyone got citizen card. i've never seen such honest "i'm a civilan" discussion
another reason for asking was in the said group my character might be betray some other pcs. based on the backstory itself and the dm railroading corporation. prior to play that we will discuss it at the table but having things heard at other groups is always a good thing
My absolute favorite example of not keeping secrets was when @trogdor's character got replaced by a shapeshifting villain, just before @doppelgreener's character decided to have a dramatic confrontation with Troggy's PC about their very dysfunctional parent/child-like relationship.
So Troggy was playing a villain who was pretending to be Greener's character's father figure, but because the villain didn't know anything about their relationship she wound up being a better father figure than the actual PC would've been in the same situation.
And everyone at the table was in on it, so the awkward hilarity was shared by all.
but the game devolved into, "Hey, GM, can I talk to you for a sec?" "After you guys, can I talk to you as well?", "Me too!"... And that was the game :/ it sucked, really...
Depending on the kinds of secrets you're dealing with, you might also want to think about Gumshoe's approach to clues: if you have the right ability and use it in the right place, you will ALWAYS get the minimum information you need to move forward.
Generally speaking, I find it's important to ask "Why am I keeping this a secret, who is it a secret from, and what effect does the secret have?"
It's always easier to not keep secrets, so the purpose of the secret needs to outweigh the logistical and social burden of keeping it.
But good reasons for secrets are dependent entirely on the group in question. Just remember that the first rule is everyone needs to be safe and happy.
keeping the secret might not be the problem. neither as player nor as character. it's more about that i've seen a group that has ruined it. everyone distrusted anyone in the end.
What kind of secret is it? If it's "I'm secretly being hunted down by a powerful figure", then that player is just probably looking for trouble, and I'd disallow it.
I can be a really mean <powerful figure> that wants to hunt down a party, I realize. Once played a game where the side-antagonist was a sailor with just a handful of other sailor-friends as assets, he was so effective that the protagonist couldn't even move along the main story
(ten-foot-pole paranoia is when a group's been burned by traps and similar secret dooms so that the game slows to a crawl because they refuse to go anywhere or do anything until the entire scene has been examined with a fine-tooth comb.)
GM: "You could have known the water was trapped if you had _X_, but you didn't! So you take _Y_ points of damage." Player: "But I searched for anything out of the ordinary!" GM:"Not specific enough."
(This is one reason Trail of Cthulhu works better for Mythos mysteries; by assuring players that a minimum effort will get them the minimum they need to advance, it reduces the chances that risk-taking will destroy the game itself.)
we asked him, since we were all strangers and didn't know the kind of styles we played, "OK, so how could I have spotted that, just so I can improve next time?", to which he replied, "try harder lol"
some gm told me one that my "wish" might be interpreted freely, so i answered that i can hand in a document that might be sufficient for an invitation to tender. we never spoke about the issue agian
@daze413 i had a similar experience, but resolved very fine. character goes trough dungeon. player "he went until this point, then remember that he wanted to look for traps" dm: "he was lucky, he stops right before a strange symbol at the wall"
Mike Rugnetta of PBS Idea Channel talks about good GM practices: don't make a story you need your players to tell (prepare starting scenarios instead); let your players follow their bliss (if players are excited about doing something, go with that).
@Trish Hello! If you happen to play Pathfinder online, where you would suggest me to look for play-by-chat games in German language? I have probably already asked that, but forgot it. Thanks.
