Combining RPGs with BSG board game: one player's a spy

[Morrus]

I was just toying with this idea in my head.

So, at the start of a campaign, one player randomly gets selected as a spy. All the players know this, but they don't know who. Thus they are thrust into a BSG style atmosphere of suspicion.

Most of the time it makes makes no difference. They play normally. Once per session, maybe, the spy gets an opportunity which benefits them at the expense of the others - if they can do it without anyone suspecting. The GM could provide the spy with tidbits of info, for example (the left door is the trap - so if the spy gets the party to spring the trap, voila - reward!)

And if the spy reaches the climax of the adventure/campaign - he or she switches sides during the final confrontation!

I'm sure it's been done before. Certainly in board games. Sounds fun though.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I replaced a character with an (evil) doppelganger once and had the player continue playing him and screwing the party in the background. Fun times!

I have seen the "atmosphere of suspicion" go badly, though. For it to work, the players themselves have to be relatively trusting, otherwise they get carried away trying to see the bad in each others' actions.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, I think it would work better as a one-shot or convention game than for an entire campaign.

(Re. doppelganger - is there a gaming group in the word that hasn't tried that? )

 

[Janx]

Yeah, I think it would work better as a one-shot or convention game than for an entire campaign.

(Re. doppelganger - is there a gaming group in the word that hasn't tried that? )

I think the challenge is that on TV, the spy is always acting in a limited way. Sometimes its divided loyalties, other times, it's just bad writing.

I suspect that once you put a player behind the wheel, the kid gloves will come off and far more dastardly trouble will ensue, potentially earlier than you expected.

That can still be fun, but like other story-telling constructs, it will have some differences when implemented in an RPG.

 

[Umbran]

Well, in Paranoia, everyone is a spy!

That being said, for long-term gaming, I find that potentially lethal inter-party conflict is more problematic than it is interesting. I don't mind some friction between PCs, but if it is the type that will eventually bring the party to blows it will probably damage the player dynamic more than it leads to bonding over cool story. That is, however, just my experience.