Pathfinder 1E Protips for IRL Deception

[Fauchard1520]

When you’re living the neutral life, it pays to keep your moral ambiguity hidden from the party. This is how the evil alignments of the multiverse can get on partying with the good. There’s a rub though. Our old friend metagaming loves to crash the party, and that can spell all kinds of difficulty for would-be criminals.

ROGUE: “I sneak off for the rendezvous with my NPC thieving crew.”

PALADIN: “I follow, suspecting criminality is afoot.”

ROGUE: “What the crap? You’d have no reason to follow me! My Bluff score is through the stratosphere!”

PALADIN: “I’m following a hunch.”

This is the age-old impasse of player agency vs. game mechanics. The hypothetical rogue’s dice say “you believe my lie,” but the hypothetical paladin is still free to act however they wish. Ideally, this mess can get sorted out with a little player maturity and compromise. But when the justifications wear thin, it may come down to a bit of PVP spycraft.

So here's my question to the community: What hidden plans have you successfully snuck past the rest of your party? I’m talking about secret notes passed to the GM, text messages wafting to the other side of the screen, or between-sessions plots perpetrated in a private forum. Give the rest of us sneaky sneaks your best IRL deceptions! With any luck, we can all benefit from learning one another's sinister schemes.

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

 

[payn]

I'll be interested to learn about this. It usually doesn't work out at the table in my experience.

I did run a Mummy Mask AP and one of the players was a foreign member of the esoteric order of the eye. They had an observe and report mission to find out happening around Osirion Golarion area. Didnt last long as the PCs stumble into something big and the mission becomes team up and stop it. For a time, the PC would sneak off to meet agents and pass messages along. I dont recall when the reveal happened but it didnt shake things up in any significant way.

 

[nevin]

When you’re living the neutral life, it pays to keep your moral ambiguity hidden from the party. This is how the evil alignments of the multiverse can get on partying with the good. There’s a rub though. Our old friend metagaming loves to crash the party, and that can spell all kinds of difficulty for would-be criminals.

ROGUE: “I sneak off for the rendezvous with my NPC thieving crew.”

PALADIN: “I follow, suspecting criminality is afoot.”

ROGUE: “What the crap? You’d have no reason to follow me! My Bluff score is through the stratosphere!”

PALADIN: “I’m following a hunch.”

This is the age-old impasse of player agency vs. game mechanics. The hypothetical rogue’s dice say “you believe my lie,” but the hypothetical paladin is still free to act however they wish. Ideally, this mess can get sorted out with a little player maturity and compromise. But when the justifications wear thin, it may come down to a bit of PVP spycraft.

So here's my question to the community: What hidden plans have you successfully snuck past the rest of your party? I’m talking about secret notes passed to the GM, text messages wafting to the other side of the screen, or between-sessions plots perpetrated in a private forum. Give the rest of us sneaky sneaks your best IRL deceptions! With any luck, we can all benefit from learning one another's sinister schemes.

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

I pass several notes that say this is a note to make everyone paranoid. Wait then send another saying, at the next appropriate time, I slip out and xxxxz. Xxxx. Xxx. By then everyone has gotten tired if trying to figure out what I wasn't doing and I'd say I get away with it 9 times out of 10.