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Tibbaerrohwen
2011-01-20, 05:47 PM
I've been working on re-modeling a world previously conceived by my DM and I, quite a while back. I've been given full creative license and have already changed quite a bit.
The world itself is your standard new-earth space tail where there is a government (currently the UTP: United Terran Planets) and a rebelling force (in the original it was called the Dominion, I believe, but I'm looking for a new name).
The party will start as mail couriers after the collapse of more sophisticated communication technology; essentially they are space mail-men. I had the idea of having each player pick a piece of paper from a hat, with each paper saying either UTP, [rebel force name here] or neutral, which would determine their allegiance. By working under-cover as mail couriers they have access to almost all communications and they can censor or obtain new information at will.
Would it work, giving each player a secret motive that has to kept from the rest of the party like that? Does the paper from a hat thing work or should the players decide for themselves (and if so how do I prevent meta-gaming)?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

Jair Barik
2011-01-20, 05:54 PM
Well some games can be successfully run with the party all having opposing goals or being double agents. The ones that spring to mind are Paranoia or an Exalted game where everyone is a Sidereal.

In this case though I think it would be more succesful if everyone was privately told that they were a double agent and who for so they don't necessarily come to the immediate conclusion that their party members shouldn't be trusted. Alternatively of course have everyone pick out of a paper hat and have an NPC tell them they suspect there is a traitor in the midst. In reality of course all the pieces of paper read 'You are not a traitor' and it turns out an important NPC is the traitor instead (or for a twist there was no traitor, or if you are M. Night Shyamalan that the traitor is a rat that excaped from genetic testing has gained superhuman intelligence and is secretly the puppet master behind all recent high profile events in the world)

Tibbaerrohwen
2011-01-20, 08:33 PM
In this case though I think it would be more succesful if everyone was privately told that they were a double agent and who for so they don't necessarily come to the immediate conclusion that their party members shouldn't be trusted. Alternatively of course have everyone pick out of a paper hat and have an NPC tell them they suspect there is a traitor in the midst. In reality of course all the pieces of paper read 'You are not a traitor' and it turns out an important NPC is the traitor instead (or for a twist there was no traitor, or if you are M. Night Shyamalan that the traitor is a rat that excaped from genetic testing has gained superhuman intelligence and is secretly the puppet master behind all recent high profile events in the world)

Jair Barik, having played with my group, the unfortunate reality is that they won't end up trust each other. Every campaign we've played in so far has involved plots and deceptions between party members. I would like to have them work together in character, but it's highly unlikely. I do love the idea of giving them all the same piece of paper, though. That could be very interesting.
As for the mechanics, I was thinking of using d20 modern, but I'm definitely open to other source content.
One additional question I have is if I am permitted to discuss the story or history of the world on the forum, so I can find weaknesses there-in, because the story itself is heavily based on reality and uses real countries/country names.

bloodtide
2011-01-21, 12:07 AM
In general, the 'from the hat' idea is a bad one. Not every player likes to play everything. While some players like the randomness and the challenge of drawing a piece of paper, it's not for everyone.

It's much better to tailor the secret to each player.


In general, it's also better to not make the secrets against each other directly. At least not to the point where the players will be on different sides. It works much better if they are on the same side, just with different ways to get to an ultimate goal.