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View Full Version : Player Help Any tips for playing the GM's mole in the party?



MonkeySage
2017-02-12, 04:11 PM
I'm playing a minor antagonist in a game, a mole in the party for the game's big bad, something the GM and I discussed when we made our characters. A guy who, despite being a certifiable genius, made quite possibly the dumbest decision anyone could possibly make in order to gain power, and as a result he now has exactly 8 years to live(He had 10). He's hoping the big bad will be able to help him out of his contract. (He's wrong, of course, an atonement spell could easily break the contract if he sincerely repented...)

Anyway, I need tips for concealing my extracurricular activities from the other party members. His boss has provided him with a ring of conceal alignment.

I have experience playing evil characters, of course, but they've always been of the anti-hero variety. Never played a villain PC before. And this is not only a good party, but a good party with a gun-slinging paladin.

Belac93
2017-02-12, 04:24 PM
Well, we need to know game system, class, and all that stuff. Also, do the other players know about this? If they don't, you should do everything with note passing.

SethoMarkus
2017-02-12, 04:32 PM
"Don't" is the advice that immediately springs to mind, but that is highly opinion based and doesn't really address your question. So, I'll give it my best.

First, what is the villain PCs motivation for being with the party in the first place? I understand he is there because his boss ordered him to be, and he works for the boss out of a false promise for salvation, but that doesn't quite answer how or why he justifies working against the party. Does he simply value his own life over anyone else's? If so, how will he react when he discovers that the BBEG does not have the salvation he seeks?

Second, what is his goal with joining the party? I know his mission is to be a spy on the BBEG's behalf, but what is his personal agenda? Does he feel guilty about betraying the party and only does what he must to stay in his boss's good graces? Does he hope thr PCs succeed despite his efforts? Does he hope they will fail? Basically, does he see the other PCs as friends that he regretfully works against, or enemies he gleefully infiltrates?

Third, how much do you expect him to actively work against the other PCs? Does he just act as a mole and informant, relaying information, such as any weaknesses, back to the BBEG, or does he sabotage their plans himself? What about when the other PCs come to confront the BBEG; will he stand by their side, or will he walk over and fight beside his boss?

Finally, how strong is his loyalty to the BBEG and that promise of salvation? Can he be won over to the side of Good by the paladin and his ither comrades? You mentioned that a Repentance spell could break the contract; how likely is it for him to, under the prolonged influence of being near so many Good characters, turn around and realize that there are other options than working for the BBEG?

Basically, is this just an excuse to work against the party, or is it an interesting roleplaying opportunity? I fell like, if done well, this can make a really great story. I also feel, however, that it is much easier for itto be sone poorly, and done poorly it could possibly cause lasting OOC issues with the group. (Of course, I don't know your group and this could be a non-issue.)

MonkeySage
2017-02-12, 04:33 PM
Pathfinder, witch, young human level 2. The other players do not know about this.

The GM will be handing me some information over the course of this week, and i'll be able to answer many of those questions then. Presumably, though, right now working with the other players might be seen as a means to an end. A way for him to accomplish his mission, rather than being the mission itself.

Above all, he wants salvation. If for nothing else than the fact he knows exactly where he's going after he dies; all he got out of the contract were his witch powers and a flimsy promise that he'd be fast-tracked to devilhood.

We're all close friends OOC, and I figure this will be an interesting roleplaying opportunity.

LibraryOgre
2017-02-13, 11:41 AM
Do most of your plotting before a given game, but arrange time in-game where your character goes off on "errands" of one sort or another. If the party gets suspicious, they might follow you and learn what you and the GM has plotted beforehand.

Koo Rehtorb
2017-02-13, 12:01 PM
My suggestion is to not play perfectly. It's okay if you drop subtle hints that give the other players a chance to catch on if they're clever and suspicious. Getting caught seems like it'd end up being more fun for everyone involved.

ATHATH
2017-02-15, 01:29 AM
Become the party's crafter. Secretly install disabling/backfiring functions and/or curses (activated by a trigger given by you or an ally) into the equipment that you craft for them. Sell the old, non-"tainted" stuff. When the party confronts the BBEG, disable all of their cool magic toys that they've grown to depend on, possibly activating some paralyzation/hold person functions that you've embedded in them. Laugh.

Alternatively, when your party reaches the BBEG, use them (the party) to intimidate the BBEG into giving you your cure right now. If he refuses, assist the party in beating him up until he falls unconscious (or sleep hex+cackle him), place a mind-control spell on him, and kill him once you realize that he can't help you (or spare him so that you can have a repentance moment).

If you discover the BBEG's lies before reaching him (or if you decide to repent), confess your mole status to the party and start feeding him false information. If necessary, willingly don a helm of opposite alignment to speed up the repenting process.

Always, always, ALWAYS have MULTIPLE escape mechanisms, items, and/or spells in case your party catches wind of what you're doing when you're not prepared.

If/When you reveal your betrayal, and if you somehow manage to incapacitate the party, cast charm spells on them and cast Nybor's Psychic Imprint (from here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20041215a) on them, putting the resulting consciousnesses in golems so that the game can continue.

Also:
Red Fel, Red Fel, Red Fel

I have a feeling that he's going to say something along the lines of "don't do this", but hey, it's worth a shot.

ShaneMRoth
2017-02-19, 04:08 AM
I'm having a hard time imagining the other members of the game group taking this well when they find out.

I'm weighing the potential benefits (which are few) to the potential drawbacks (which are many) and I don't see a pay off that is anywhere near worth the risk.

What is the best case scenario here?

The other players are so blown away by the awesomeness of the story line and your role-playing that they-- what? Give the DM (and you) a round of applause?

If I was a player at this table and I got the big reveal of this sub-plot in the third act? I'd give the DM (and you) a sardonic "slow clap".

I believe that the best option now is damage control. The sooner the other players find out about this secret sub-plot, the less damage will be done to the campaign and the game group.

I recommend that you come clean with the other players about this sub-plot as soon as possible, and then hope for the best.

The best way to make this work is to try and persuade the other players to treat this sub-plot as an open secret.

That is, all of the players know what's going on with your character's secret, but they agree to compartmentalize the information and act as if their characters don't know. Under this circumstance, the dramatic tension comes from the other players' role-playing ability. Their ability to chose to refrain from "metagaming" is the engine that will keep such a sub-plot alive.

Perhaps the other players will be able to keep the DM in the dark about his agenda being blown, and you will all have a surprisingly satisfying role-playing experience where the players are keeping a shared secret from the DM. ("He thinks that we think that he thinks that we think that he thinks that we don't know about the mole... but we do...")

More likely, some of the players will angrily confront the DM about the sub-plot at the first opportunity and the DM will be forced to abandon the entire mess.

Perhaps this will do damage to the integrity and cohesion of the game group. But that die has already been cast.

Get ahead of this.

Murphy80
2017-02-19, 07:54 AM
What is your (the players) endgame? How do you see this playing out?
A- Will your character really try to kill them?
B- Do you see the character having a change of heart and switching sides?

B is ok, but make the reveal before the other players figure it out. If it's A, DON'T DO IT.

Rodimal
2017-02-19, 01:34 PM
In a word: Don't.

Satinavian
2017-02-19, 01:47 PM
It is rarely a good idea.

If fights in your campaign are at least somewhat exciting or dangerous, a traiter is always able to turn it into a sure loss. It is not even close. Simple preperation will be enough to take out the whole group. So the only "chance" for the other PCs is to find it out. Which will not happen because of the base trust that exists for metagame reason (a group needs to work together which means overlooking each others strangeness IC without any good reason)

Max_Killjoy
2017-02-19, 02:10 PM
My main advice is... don't.

Unless it's a game/setting with some inherent and expected intra-player intrigue, the other players are going to feel that you took advantage of the assumed/implicit trust that underlies most groups of PCs.

MonkeySage
2017-02-19, 03:08 PM
This is a pretty good group; we're all close friends, and they knew I was toying with playing an evil character before we even started making our characters. I even discussed the concept of a mole player with a couple of them from a hypothetical perspective; one of them was a fellow player, the other the gm himself. The fellow player confided that he thought of doing this once before as well, having a mole player. As it stands, only the gm knows that I'm actually doing this, but I don't have reason to believe the other players would be upset by this. After all, it's just a game, what happens on the table top has no bearing on our friendships out of character, nor has it any effect on our other games. I would consider someone who got genuinely upset by this to be a bit immature.

But back to the topic at hand; my character was assigned to commit a terrorist act, and the other PCs were charged with investigating the attack. I was assigned to their task force by guards who were in on it, and the ongoing cover story is that I'm a mercenary looking for work, and I'm friends with the guard who gave them the mission. My character is working as a spy for a noble house in a foreign country.

jayem
2017-02-19, 04:27 PM
So outside of character,
Have an "instant Heel-Face turn" plan agreed with the G-M, if things might get messy and unfun.

Arrange some reason to have to be a supportive mole (at least in some respects, and at the start)
Arrange to have some soft challenges in your mole mode, you have to get a letter out, you have to do XYZ, you have to make sure XYZ survives. [Things you have to work at but success does no harm to the party, failure not to much harm too you]
Make sure the GM's got the party ready to expect something unexpected (of the right magnitude).

Accept that the game is that you 'should' lose (your victory is only a portion of a GM victory), and have realistic goals for what is successful. your 'victory' should not be the end.

In character.

Arrange to look after the precious thing for some of the time, make sure it gets 'stolen' in someone else's watch, but how did they get into a 2nd floor room.

Or find some reason why you get to be alone with the McGuffin. Fairly quickly and mostly harmlessly they need to notice it's replaced by a fake... (but how?)

Find some activity that you need to do alone fairly regularly (in fairness it shouldn't just be you that has to do this, perhaps the GM can arrange some Elf only meetings, some nights in the Dwarf only bar, or be picky about firewood and resources). But for your one you aren't actually there. Have a good distraction ready for when the people your meant to be with comment to the party.

MonkeySage
2017-02-19, 04:44 PM
I would be perfectly happy to lose spectacularly! :) My character has it coming after what he's done so far... he's killed a lot of innocent people, just in the first session.

It's something he is struggling with; sure, he's lawful evil... but he's still human. He's resigned to what he feels he has to do, but that doesn't mean he likes it. In fact, he's questioning whether or not he even deserves his freedom after all he's done with it.

icefractal
2017-02-20, 02:25 AM
One of the things you'll need is a reason to split off from the party occasionally. Now while usually it can be assumed that PCs sometimes go off separately when in town even if that's not explicitly mentioned, I think it should be explicit in this case - people might feel cheated if you were meeting with the BBEG at times when they thought you were with the rest of the party.

However, because of conservation of detail, just mentioning that you're "off on an errand" or "doing something" is going to stick out like a sore thumb. That kind of thing is usually either not worth mentioning (so why'd you mention it?) or are worth roleplaying out (so why didn't the GM do so?).

Solution: Have a semi-useful downtime task, such as Crafting (magical or mundane), Performing, Info Gathering, or even Profession, that you do whenever it's convenient. Something where you just say "I go do [thing]", and everybody understands it to mean that you're away from the group (for Crafting, make sure to mention that you're going to a workshop to do it), without being something that's usually RP'd out.

Murphy80
2017-02-20, 06:21 AM
This is a pretty good group; we're all close friends.Perhaps your friends can leave things at the game table and appreciate the "interesting" story, but more likely they will be hurt and upset to some degree at your betrayal.


I would be perfectly happy to lose spectacularly! :) My character has it coming after what he's done so far... he's killed a lot of innocent people, just in the first session.
You don't seem to understand. You NEED to PLAN to lose because it will be so easy to win.

If fights in your campaign are at least somewhat exciting or dangerous, a traiter is always able to turn it into a sure loss. It is not even close. Simple preperation will be enough to take out the whole group. So the only "chance" for the other PCs is to find it out. Which will not happen because of the base trust that exists for metagame reason (a group needs to work together which means overlooking each others strangeness IC without any good reason)

ATHATH
2017-02-20, 04:12 PM
Perhaps you don't need to plan to lose... maybe you just need to plan for the party to win/survive.

Have some excuse for keeping the rest of the party alive. Maybe the fake ritual needs the presence of your closest friends (alive or dead), and you don't want to kill them. Maybe you want to keep them around so that they can help you backstab the BBEG once he gives you the "cure". Maybe the BBED wants you to turn them to his side (via magical or non-magical methods). You could then be the one to bust them out of said prison, presumably because you've discovered the BBEG's lies.

Basically, your betrayal could be a way for the GM to slip in an "escape from prison" segment without the party's betrayal seeming forced.