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Drowicorn
2017-03-26, 12:31 PM
Hello all.
Currently, I'm playing in a RWBY roleplay, using the D20 modern system. All has been going well, except for one problem: One of my fellow players/team members is an obsessive secret keeper.
It started off as merely an annoyance when he completely misled us about the weapon his character was using (He told us it would be a double-bladed sword that could shift into a bow. He showed up with a chainsaw that shot flames), but now it's progressed into a major hassle, since his character personally knows a major BBEG, but is withholding information on him. Even worse, his character is some kind of sociopathic nutjob from an organized crime family. It feels like he and his secrets are stealing the spotlight from the rest of us, as well as kind of ruining the RWBY atmosphere.
My question is, how can we get him to spill the beans or otherwise reveal all his secrets? The other players and I have had quite enough of it.

GPS
2017-03-26, 01:37 PM
I'm gonna be honest here. I hate it when someone asks for IC advice, and a poster comes back with "talk to him OOC," but this is a "talk to him OOC" situation. You kind if need to share crucial info at the bare minimum to play the game, and his char seems built around not doing that. It'd me neigh impossible to solve this IC alone, as he can just come up with more and more creative solutions to getting around your attempts.

Oh, three IC's and why they wouldn't work:

Charm person - frowned upon to use on PC's, would make his character pissed off at your characters for the remainder of the campaign

Suggestion - he can say his character wouldn't ever do something like tell people secrets

Zone of truth - he can refuse to answer

Honest Tiefling
2017-03-26, 01:40 PM
I'm going to double down on the communication advice. Talk to the DM. Why is the DM allowing this? Does the DM think this is a good thing and conflict will add to the RP? Is the DM ignorant of how people are feeling? Is the DM canoodling the problem player?

Also talk to the DM, but remember, be firm, but polite.

Darth Ultron
2017-03-26, 01:45 PM
Well, you can talk to them. But it sounds like his idea of fun is to be a jerk and keep secrets. So, no matter what you say it won't change his mind. He will just say that is his ''way'' to have fun.

So what is left? Vote him out of the group? Kill the character? Leave the group?

Pick one.

GPS
2017-03-26, 01:49 PM
Well, you can talk to them. But it sounds like his idea of fun is to be a jerk and keep secrets. So, no matter what you say it won't change his mind. He will just say that is his ''way'' to have fun.

So what is left? Vote him out of the group? Kill the character? Leave the group?

Pick one.

Eh, I feel like it's possible that he doesn't realize this is annoying to everyone else. This definitely feels salvageable with some OOC.

Darth Ultron
2017-03-26, 01:58 PM
Eh, I feel like it's possible that he doesn't realize this is annoying to everyone else. This definitely feels salvageable with some OOC.

It is possible that you can talk to such a person, and they will fall to their knees and cry and say ''my gosh, how could I have been so blind! I was so wrong about everything!''


But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen....

GPS
2017-03-26, 02:05 PM
It is possible that you can talk to such a person, and they will fall to their knees and cry and say ''my gosh, how could I have been so blind! I was so wrong about everything!''


But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen....

It's not gonna be clouds parting to a warm glow from the heavens, but most people are going to be at least resonable, especially if they notice everyone's pissed off at them. I definitely support Honest Tiefling's assessment of also talking to the DM though, that's a good idea to avoid this in the future.

icefractal
2017-03-26, 02:34 PM
One thing that might come up, is he'll say he's just playing his character the way that makes sense. And quite possibly that's true. But it's not important. The key thing here is:
"You're playing your character right, but the character you've chosen to play isn't fun for the rest of the group."

I'm not saying that he'll instantly change his tune from that argument, but it does cut through the red herrings and put the focus on the real issue - is this one player's fun in keeping secrets more important than the rest of the group's fun?

Although it is, of course, possible he just doesn't realize this bothers everyone else.

JNAProductions
2017-03-26, 02:53 PM
One thing that might come up, is he'll say he's just playing his character the way that makes sense. And quite possibly that's true. But it's not important. The key thing here is:
"You're playing your character right, but the character you've chosen to play isn't fun for the rest of the group."

I'm not saying that he'll instantly change his tune from that argument, but it does cut through the red herrings and put the focus on the real issue - is this one player's fun in keeping secrets more important than the rest of the group's fun?

Although it is, of course, possible he just doesn't realize this bothers everyone else.

This is good advice. I'll second everyone else here-talk OOC, though try to figure out an IC solution OOCly. Figure out a good arc for his character to make them more open and less secretive.

Keltest
2017-03-26, 02:58 PM
This is good advice. I'll second everyone else here-talk OOC, though try to figure out an IC solution OOCly. Figure out a good arc for his character to make them more open and less secretive.

I would disagree with this. IC behavior that annoys players OOC should be ended immediately. There are times when you just need to say "yes, it WAS like this, but now its different, because the old way was bad." and move on. Dragging it out will just prolong the annoyance.

Drowicorn
2017-03-26, 03:01 PM
Thanks all for the helpful replies.
I'll probably talk to him and/or DM OOC. The IC options aren't really available due to non-magical setting, and yeah, nobody likes it when you turn charm magic on a PC.
As for the DM, it's his first time running a four person campaign, so I'm not faulting him too hard on it. Reluctance to say no is definately a newbie DM trait. He's also the secret-keeper's brother, so they've had a lot of time to discuss backstory compared to me and the other two guys playing. Though we have been meaning to talk with DM about why our characters are on an island full of robots in RWBY, since that's not really where we thought we'd end up...

JNAProductions
2017-03-26, 03:04 PM
I would disagree with this. IC behavior that annoys players OOC should be ended immediately. There are times when you just need to say "yes, it WAS like this, but now its different, because the old way was bad." and move on. Dragging it out will just prolong the annoyance.

I guess it depends how bad the issue is.

The OP has said that the PC knows the BBEG? That info should come out immediately. But they can keep minor secrets, for consistency's sake, and slowly open up.

Your mileage may vary, though.

veti
2017-03-26, 03:05 PM
Oh, three IC's and why they wouldn't work:

Charm person - frowned upon to use on PC's, would make his character pissed off at your characters for the remainder of the campaign

Suggestion - he can say his character wouldn't ever do something like tell people secrets

Zone of truth - he can refuse to answer

Fine, but fourth IC:

Stage an intervention. Get the whole party together, sit the character down, and tell him "we need to know what you know about the BBEG. We don't know why you're keeping secrets, but we also don't care. Ignorance is putting us in danger. Either tell us everything, or walk away now and don't let us see you again."

Honest Tiefling
2017-03-26, 03:14 PM
I'd like to point out that not only does the PC in question have information on the BBEG, but is a known murderer with ties to criminal activity.

Even if MY PC was a known murderer with ties to criminal activity, I think I'd like to know why I should trust this person instead of questioning them or turning them in.

I think the IC ship has sailed at this point.

Drowicorn
2017-03-26, 03:25 PM
Well, not exactly a known murderer. Although he did try to murder one of the other party members in the first session of the game. Not sure if that counts, but it definately plays a role in me being a little peeved with him.
As for knowing the BBEG, they haven't seen each other in years, and the BBEG probably wasn't at the BBE stage quite yet.
And yeah, the IC intervention has been tried by my character many times, since she's the Team Leader, but he was never upfront about much.
I'm hoping that after next session, when we resolve a major plot point, we can try the intervention one more time, and my character will make it clear that no secret keeping is going to happen.

jayem
2017-03-26, 03:58 PM
Well, not exactly a known murderer. Although he did try to murder one of the other party members in the first session of the game. Not sure if that counts, but it definately plays a role in me being a little peeved with him.
As for knowing the BBEG, they haven't seen each other in years, and the BBEG probably wasn't at the BBE stage quite yet.
And yeah, the IC intervention has been tried by my character many times, since she's the Team Leader, but he was never upfront about much.
I'm hoping that after next session, when we resolve a major plot point, we can try the intervention one more time, and my character will make it clear that no secret keeping is going to happen.
i think that gives you the precedent to say if I acted in character there's a 50% chance you'd be kicked out the team, but because your a PC I'm having to do an OOC decision. If you get the drop on us later, it's not because of the sneakiness of the character but that you got to play PvP and we don't.
I'm not sure what we do from here. Either we need to know that we're allowed to be suspicious, and discover the details of the plot ourselves, and accept the PvP elements. Or we need to know that it will be revealed in a nice way, and that you'll both take the asymmetry into account (and that wrt this story we're to play along). Or when we tie your character to the table in a few minutes he tells us everything, repents etc, and we believe him and take him back (and wrt this story you play along). Can we agree on something, any suggestions?

theasl
2017-03-26, 05:34 PM
I think a lot of the suggestions here are assuming that it's only IC secret-keeping, but from the original description it seems like it's an OOC issue too (being misleading about the weapon, for example). And with the additional information that the player is the DM's brother and talk about the game on their own time, it leads me to wonder if the DM is actively encouraging this as opposed to just simply allowing/putting up with it. I'd talk to the DM first (about all of the issues), then the player if the DM refuses to help.

Mr Beer
2017-03-26, 10:59 PM
Yeah, talk to them and/or the DM. You need to agree on a course of action if he doesn't do the right thing after The Talk because this guy sounds like he's kind of a **** TBH. So agree to boot him from the game or agree as a party to kill him* or whatever. You need a plan of some kind anyway.

* his character I mean, murdering players is understandable but causes other problems. Not usually worth it.

RazorChain
2017-03-26, 11:12 PM
Well, not exactly a known murderer. Although he did try to murder one of the other party members in the first session of the game. Not sure if that counts, but it definately plays a role in me being a little peeved with him.
As for knowing the BBEG, they haven't seen each other in years, and the BBEG probably wasn't at the BBE stage quite yet.
And yeah, the IC intervention has been tried by my character many times, since she's the Team Leader, but he was never upfront about much.
I'm hoping that after next session, when we resolve a major plot point, we can try the intervention one more time, and my character will make it clear that no secret keeping is going to happen.

As a team leader I think it's your responsibility to tie him to a chair and take a powerdrill to his knee until he spills the beans. I am taking about his character of course....not the player...jeez I ain't a monster (If you discount dropping small puppies from a building to test out falling damage in RPG's)

veti
2017-03-27, 01:41 AM
And yeah, the IC intervention has been tried by my character many times, since she's the Team Leader, but he was never upfront about much.

The whole point of an "intervention" is that everybody takes part. One person's opinion is easy to shrug off. When everybody you know is telling you the same thing - all at once, in the same room - it's kinda hard to keep telling yourself "yeah, but that's just an opinion".