D&D 5E 'The Thing' Inspired Rime of the Frostmaiden Has Player Secrets [Updated]

Made popular in boardgames, such as Battlestar Galactica, the idea of players with secrets can increase the tension of games. Rime of the Frostmaiden introduces 'character secrets'.

“I think the most interesting part [of Rime of the Frostmaiden] is the character secrets... characters can play it one of two ways. They can keep their secret close to their chest and not reveal it to the other players, fostering and breeding paranoia, or they can reveal it anytime they want to, and then wrestle with the consequences of it. That’s left entirely up to the players.”

- WotC's Chris Perkins​

It's not clear if it's a full-fledged traitor mechanic like in some other games, or just an extension of the traits/bonds/flaws guidelines.

UPDATE -- this post (below) has some more information from EN Worlder ikj. "It's a card you can draw at character creation. If you like it you keep it. If you don't you can take another. I don't get the impression it's a 'traitor mechanic' so much as a way to add some interesting twists to character interactions and add some tie-ins with the plot."

In other news, the adventure is very inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing.

“The Thing is a story about an isolated group of people dealing with a monster in their midst, and much of the movie takes place at night. If you take that idea and apply it to a D&D campaign, there’s lot of potential there,” he said over email. “When your setting is a cold, dark, isolated place, the horror comes easily. I was struck by the fact that our previous excursions to Icewind Dale didn’t really lean in that direction, so here was a chance to show Icewind Dale in a different light.”

From Venturebeat.

 

[i_dont_meta]

Sight unseen: instant disapproval. Soooo cool.

Not sure I like that.

 

[Shroomy]

A full blown traitor mechanic can remove player agency and cause havoc in a long term campaign - that's why I doubt there will actually be one.

 

[CleverNickName]

I've been using "character secrets" for years in my D&D games. That's what I even call them. I put a half-dozen of them into envelopes, seal them, and pass them out at random at the table when they roll up characters. They aren't necessarily "traitor" mechanics, though, and they aren't really geared toward creating conflict between the other characters...I feel like that would violate Rule Zero. They're more like extra background features that give you some interesting abilities, and give the players a reason to be interested in each other's characters. Something like:

• You contracted lycanthropy several months ago. You knew that if your secret is discovered, you would be branded a menace to society--you'd be hunted down, captured, and likely killed. So you fled your village in the night, leaving your friends and family behind, and have been desperately looking for a cure ever since.
• Your brother is wanted for murder, and he has gone into hiding. You are convinced that he is innocent, and you are desperately trying to find him and help clear his name before the authorities discover his whereabouts.
• You and your family still worship the gods of the Old Faith, even though it is expressly forbidden by the church. If your secret is discovered, you will all be hanged for heresy.

Or whatever.

 

[Charlaquin]

Sight unseen: instant disapproval. Soooo cool.

I did say “not sure.” As in, I don’t like the sound of it but I’m reserving judgment until I actually see it.

 

[TerraDave]

I've been using "character secrets" for years.

Right, these have been in RPGs for a long time.

Including, of course, in Paranoia. But that has a slightly different play style then D&D.

 

[talien]

I mentioned how challenging this can be in tabletop play in a previous article (When You Can't Tell Who's an NPC) so I'll be curious to see how it's addressed by WOTC.

 

[Fenris-77]

I don't see a problem with secrets if everyone knows that's what they're signing up for when they start the campaign. At that point it's not a normal 'campaign' anymore and the prospect of paranoia and PvP is expected, not something thrust upon an unwilling audience.

 

[Birmy]

If you have a clue / hint about how to defeat a common (in the module) enemy, like "The living cloaks fear the attention of the gods" (Darkmantles are weak vs Radiant attacks), that can be fun to figure out while the group is getting clobbered, and turn the tide of battle with the secret knowledge.
If your secret is along the line of "I am infested by an Intellect Devourer and now BBEG can use me as a spy on the party" that is not fun because the party has to figure it out then decide whether to exclude you, banish you, or murderhobo you.

...Those both sound like potentially fun options to me.

 

[Jacqual]

It can lead to some good RP and as stated you don't have keep your secret a secret. Which just depends on how you feel about the other Players and the Characters they run like you might trust one of them, but not all of them. This all will get the players all wanting to know the little bit of maybe inside info and can be lots of fun.

 

[dalisprime]

I hope it doesn't turn out to be like the dark secrets from Avernus, which are basically irrelevant to the module.

You can make them very relevant with very little effort though. They can be the npc's bargaining card several times throughout the adventure.