Spy in the Party

[FinnDarkblade]

Okay, so here's the situation. I'm playing in a game that starts tomorrow. I'll be starting as a level 3 Gnome Beguiler(planning on going Shadowcraft Mage in the future, although not fully optimized). The rest of the party consists of Elves and Humans. The world the game is set in used to be ruled by a Gnomic Empire, which has now largely fallen apart. The empire still exists, but it doesn't extend outside of the Gnome's own territory. The Gnomes in this world are also pretty different. They're a strict meritocracy rather than a society of pranksters. My character will be on a mission to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the surrounding nations as well as gathering any intelligence in which I believe my superiors would be interested. The DM has told me that there will be places for me to drop information that he'll let me know about. I'm working on a cover story with the DM now, which may involve be being exiled or something like that. Does anyone have any suggestions/warnings about playing a spy in a situation like this? I'd definitely rather avoid doing things like sabotaging the party or anything else that might cause player conflict(I'm the new person in the group, they've all known each other for a while).

[ArcturusV]

Well, the easy answer is Don't.

There will probably come a time where you have to choose between Duty to your Empire, and what the Party is up to. Just be aware that this pretty much ALWAYS happens if you play the 'Spy'... otherwise there's just not much point to being the spy, after all. So the DM is going to throw this at you at some point.

Usually it leaves the choice at some 'Betray the Empire, or Betray your Party' mix. But as Kirk tells us, "I don't believe in the no win scenario". Or in this case as my Paladin Reman Valarius would say, "I don't believe in the Autofall Scenario!"

So here's the thing. Just.. never set yourself up so that your party doubts you. Be helpful, act (And even say) things like "You're the only family I have now that I'm exiled" and such. Be what you think the perfect teammate would be like.

And meanwhile find out who your Empire's "Enemies" are. Set up things so that these Enemies often appear to be asshats to the party. This isn't betrayal. YOu want your party to win. But things like pass the DM a note during a game which says something like "While the party is sleeping I'll go visit my spy contact in this city, and have him 'tip off' the local noble that we're a bunch of brigands who are being hunted by the kingdom over there, and he should exile us as soon as he can". Burn bridges, make your would be "Allies" look bad, other than the Gnomes who probably already look bad.

And when the moment comes, when it's Empire or Party... take the situation and run in another direction with it. "See, the Empire wants me back. They are good people who just made a poor choice at the time. They're willing to forget my crimes and welcome me back. I'm so happy. Come on, join us. Most of those other kingdoms are full of jerks anyway..."

So yeah. You roll your party into an asset, rather than a potential enemy. You isolate them from other kingdoms and allies they might have, until they can only count on the party themselves... of which you're one. Of which you can then manipulate things so the Gnomes look good. Like the only ally the party COULD have. Maybe even set up things so events like this happen:

"Oh, I was at the Imperial Embassy, tryin' to repeal my Exile, and the Gnomish Ambassador heard how you slaughtered that Frost Giant here. It had been destroying Gnomish Caravans and he wants to reward your brave heroics with Treasure... what... you mean the human lord didn't thank you? He just told you to GTFO before he threw you in prison? How weird. The Empire never treats it's heroes like that. Must be a local thing." *shrug*

[FinnDarkblade]

That's.......delectably evil. I'm not sure it's entirely within my roleplaying ability but it's definitely worth a shot, and it sounds a lot more fun than being a passive observer. I'm not sure it the Empire has offices in other nations anymore but it could definitely be feasible to tint the party's perceptions of non-Gnome npc's for the worst. Part of the cover story is that the reason I was supposedly exiled was because I suggested that the Empire could stand to learn from the other races(this gives me a plausible and acceptable reason for being Very interested in the other nations), so I could even depict the Empire as beginning to have a change of heart about the rest of the world in general.

*Edit*
I think I'll also change the exile story to say that one of the powerful aristocratic families that "is stuck in the old ways" used their influence to get me exiled and my idea silenced despite the progressive desires of several of some other elements in government.

[ArcturusV]

Sounds good. Just remind your DM that you can't be the ONLY spy out in Human, Elvish, Dwarven lands, etc. In fact there might be turncoats (Local humanoids sympathetic to your cause) that you can call on as well to help set things up and turn favors towards your goal.

Bonus points if you suggest to your DM as well a quest hook for it so it doesn't feel like you're "getting something for nothing". As well if you you suggest the quest hook you can try to avoid obvious "He's working for the Gnomes" or "It's Empire or Locals" splits to the quest.

e.g.: You want the local spy to help sour the town guard against the PCs and treat them like suspicious bastards, always being watched, questioned, stopped, hasseled, etc. Petty harassment the guards might do to someone they suspect but don't actually "know" is a criminal. The sort of thing that pisses off most PCs about a city and ruins their perceptions of its people.

In return for the local spy's help, you offer to help him ith something... say... procuring a Ruby Icon that is rumored to be lost in a local dungeon which he can use to help bribe some local noble to further his own missions.

Because you suggested it, your DM might bite on it. And your mission is basically a standard dungeon crawl. Go into a monster infested lair, kill them, take their stuff. Go tell your party that you found something... say a mission for a local temple to recover a holy symbol for them (With the payment that they can keep anything else they find other than the Ruby Icon). Instant plot hook, if the treasure haul is decent (And it should be as your DM has to consider Wealth By Level rules, so he can't really afford to make it piss poor if he wants the dungeon to be challenging enough to be worth doing), it makes your Gnome look good for using Summon: Plot Hook (Tell them you just did a successful Gather Information check and got that mission), everyone got XP and Treasure, they THINK they did something good (Bonus points if your Spy is a local priest and thus can reinforce the cover story)... and despite doing something good the guards are giving them a hard time and making them feel unwelcome just to remind them "Hey, Elf City sucks."

Can't do it TOO often, or you risk your DM getting pissed that you're derailing his plot with side missions, possibly. But it's worth talking to your DM about.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Arcturus, I deem you worthy of this trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard).

[FinnDarkblade]

Arcturus, I deem you worthy of this trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard).

I knew that was the one you were going to use! I was thinking it myself but I'm still a bit leery about bringing up tropes in everyday life.