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View Full Version : How Do You Roleplay Lack of Trust



Ignatius
2011-11-28, 07:29 AM
Hey Playgrounders - I was wondering if I could get your advice.

My character is a Dwarf Invoker that follows the raven queen. Last session I used Silent Malediction and hit most of my party at the same time which resulted in them being stunned...

The Elf Warlord took offense to this and at the end of the encounter cut the rope I was climbing up and dropped me 60 feet...

So, I need advice on how to roleplay this... Given that I want to keep this character in the party, do I just ignore that one character... do I keep including him in attacks, do I beg for forgiveness??

What are your thoughts?

Parra
2011-11-28, 07:32 AM
I would confront him on it. Using the arguement "I made a bad judgement in the heat of battle, you made a deliberate effort to hurt/kill me"

Edit: But try not to turn things violent. Keep it vocal only until either he, you, or both apologise.

Edit2: In response to post directly below, I meant to keep this all IC

horngeek
2011-11-28, 07:42 AM
Question: is this an IC response, or an OOC response?

If it's IC, then respond as your character would. If it's OOC (as in, it's the player who's pissed off at you) then talk to the player of the Warlord. Talk to him anyway, just to make sure whether this is an IC or OOC response.

Ignatius
2011-11-28, 08:27 AM
It's all IC...

Just looking for some cool ways to respond.

Narkis
2011-11-28, 08:32 AM
Stick with the classics. Explosive runes (Or something similar) on his ration, his bedroll, or just a piece of paper. :smallwink:

Dimers
2011-11-28, 09:11 AM
How Do You Roleplay Lack of Trust

Why should I tell you? What's your angle? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0382.html)

:smallamused:

Knaight
2011-11-28, 10:03 AM
From here on out, use subtle signs. Whenever your character asks that one to do something, see that another is also asked to make sure (s)he actually does it. If it has to do with the safety of your character, see that he doesn't ask at all, and do so in situations even when the elf would be the most helpful, responding as appropriate to the reaction of the other characters. In short, you want to portray tension more than anything else, and tension is all about mood and tone.

boomwolf
2011-11-28, 10:12 AM
Refuse (to a limit, naturally) to allow the elf to be the one to do anything that is important/might risk others/requires certain skills (even if you KNOW he can do is easy)

Tyndmyr
2011-11-28, 10:31 AM
As a rule, start by not stunning the entire party/most of the party while in combat. The best way to prevent conflict is avoiding creating it.

Then, talking through it, caution, paranoia as appropriate. Exact details may vary depending on char, but you want to make sure it remains between your two chars...not everyone in the party distrusting you.

Sgt. Cookie
2011-11-28, 10:31 AM
There are many ways, really. All it takes is a little imagination and commitment in how far you want to go.

For example:

Always keep the Elf in front of you or behind you.

Never let him use any form of invisibility.

Always keep your Dwarf between another character and the Elf when sleeping.

Whenever he gives an idea or information, ask someone else about the viability or ask them to confirm it.

Things like that. Eventually, depending on how good an RPer the Elf player is, the warlord will confront you about it. Then, lay down exactly what the issue is.

Jay R
2011-11-28, 11:38 AM
The best way to roleplay character distrust is with careful player trust and coordination. Talk to the player playing the elf, and decide together that the pair of you will play a rivalry. Each of you say things like "He's not standing behind me, " or "I want to be on the other side from her."

This guarantees that your character fun doesn't lead to player annoyance, and works to make it fun for everyone, rather than something you're doing against another player.

jackattack
2011-11-28, 10:42 PM
Prank war.

deuxhero
2011-11-28, 10:45 PM
Find a LP of Knights of the Old Republic (it's really a terrible game I can't recommend you play for exactly this kind of thing) and don't do what Bioware did for Carth.

Sidmen
2011-11-28, 11:46 PM
I think that distrust is a little to mild of a word. The warlord actively tried to murder you - you should never turn your back on him, and absolutely never allow yourself to be alone with him. You should talk to your GM to have a will written up that leaves massive amounts of wealth to anyone who avenges your death by killing the Warlord. (Whether or not the Warlord is responsible, because you should think "He will try to kill me again!").

Further, you should actively try to limit the number of times the Warlord has the opportunity to murder you again. Don't let him climb the rope before you - ever again, don't go into rooms that he just left unless someone else is with you.

The biggest ways to express lack of trust is to grab aside other players and talk to them IC, tell them that the Warlord tried to kill you, and that you're afraid he will try to murder you again. Express your concern that - if the Elf is a Murderer, of friends, that they might draw his ire next.

Anderlith
2011-11-29, 12:08 AM
Wake him in the night. Have a weapon. Tell him that you made a mistake when you stunned everyone, but he didn't make a mistake when he attempted to kill you. Tell him you will be making an effort to avoid mistakes in the future, & if he tries anything else again you will not make the "mistake" of letting him live.

Ignatius
2011-12-01, 07:31 PM
OK - so we had our next session last night and the Elf Warlord seems to be acting as if a practical joke went bad, not that he tried to murder my character.

My character ignored his for most of the session and starting sowing the seed of distrust with a few of the other characters... I think that next weeks session it should all get resolved one way or the other.


I think that distrust is a little to mild of a word. The warlord actively tried to murder you - you should never turn your back on him, and absolutely never allow yourself to be alone with him. You should talk to your GM to have a will written up that leaves massive amounts of wealth to anyone who avenges your death by killing the Warlord. (Whether or not the Warlord is responsible, because you should think "He will try to kill me again!").


I loved this suggestion and have set this up with the DM... I am sure that he will be able to use this regardless of the outcome!

I will let you know next week if either or both of us a rolling up new characters!

Ignatius
2012-01-05, 08:44 PM
After a month off due to Christmas holidays etc. we got together last night and played our next session.

During an encounter my character managed to stun the Elf and was going to spend the next turn lecturing him about his actions and then storm off without a backwards glance and leave the party to their fate... however, the elf managed to save and attack me back... and he killed me!

However, I had managed to make the deal with my temple that a price should be put on his head if I were to die (whether he killed me or not), so now random assassins will be showing up to get my revenge!

Sidmen
2012-01-05, 11:34 PM
He he, this made my day. Hopefully the assassins are less "and then the party is waylaid while on the road by thugs, seeking your demise!" and more "Ninja-assassin sneaks into your bedroom, prepare to defend your naked life!"

Strormer
2012-01-06, 12:47 AM
Edit: Well, that's what I get for answering the OP question before I finished reading all the posts, so I guess everything below is only if you care to read my suggestion after the fact. Spoilered due to my dumdums...

If it was me, it would depend on my character's personality.

If I was the malicious type that will probably hurt my party again in the future to gain a tactical advantage, I would be snarky about it. The worst I would do though is tease him, such as by asking permission to attack the enemy in the middle of combat, though I wouldn't really give a damn about his response and would do what is tactically better regardless of the "side effects."

If I was really just doing what seemed to be the best idea at the time and honestly felt bad about hurting my teammates then I would call him on his physically harming me because of an accident during the heat of battle, most likely in front of the whole party, doing everything in my power to make him the bad guy in this and me look like an innocent victim who already felt awful about what happened only to have my ally very intentionally do what equated to pushing me off a roof out of sheer spite. I would then buy him a present just to make him look worse and take all the sympathy that the other PCs offer my while I think about what a silver tongued b**** I am. :smallbiggrin:

Guess I'm kinda snarky either way, now that I type it all out... :smallamused: