Character sheets -- open or closed?

[Lanefan]

We're pretty open with character sheets these days, though such has not always been the case; I once ran a character as a "Ranger" for an entire 1st-Ed. adventure where in fact he was a Thief-Cleric(Druid)...rest of the players never did catch on... And more recently in my game someone brought in a Thief-Wizard and hid the Wizard side (this player is known for playing Thieves so if she'd tried to play it as a pure Wizard everyone would have known something was up); halfway through the adventure someone noticed her casting a spell, and the jig was up.

Lanefan

 

[Xaositech]

We're pretty open with character sheets these days, though such has not always been the case; I once ran a character as a "Ranger" for an entire 1st-Ed. adventure where in fact he was a Thief-Cleric(Druid)...rest of the players never did catch on... And more recently in my game someone brought in a Thief-Wizard and hid the Wizard side (this player is known for playing Thieves so if she'd tried to play it as a pure Wizard everyone would have known something was up); halfway through the adventure someone noticed her casting a spell, and the jig was up.

Lanefan

This I can relate to. In an Eberron campaign that I am participating in, my character is essentially a rogue. Most of my stats and capabilities, I'm pretty much in the open. However, what I have not demonstrated until at least two sessions ago that my character possessed a dragonmark. Only the DM and one of the PCs know, at least OOC. The two other PCs in the campaign do not know in-game or OOC about it. There's actually a backstory that has been given to the DM explaining the reason behind the concealment of the dragonmark (i.e. developing a dragonmark of one Dragonmarked House the character had never belonged to while in service to another House and had to go on the lam when he was caught doing something he shouldn't & killed in self-defense). Nothing was said until after the end of the gaming session where one of the PCs remarked that I had done something and he couldn't figure out how I performed the feat. I smiled to myself knowing that I perpetuated successfully the mystique of the character.

Depending on how the campaign goes in the future as well as opportunities presented to my character, it could remain a secret or eventually forced into the open to be known to all.

 

[Blood Jester]

I prefer to not have the other players know the intimate details of my character.

For one, *no one* alive can truly ignore meta-knowledge once they know it.
I had this debate with an excellent role-player (one who almost anyone on these boards would classify as such). And when we had one game session where everyone blatantly played a scene in a way that ran completely counter to in-character behavior, he acknowledged that I had a point.

Two, if I try to have a character who seems to be a muscle-head, and wants others to assume he is (even if he isn't) I don't want people looking at my sheet and saying "you are the dumbest Int 12 I've ever seen." And yes, that is a real quote.

If they don't see my sheet, they role-play as if their character thinks mine is dumb.

If your character needs to know it, my character will tell him.

That is role-playing.
Checking each-others sheets is reading stat-blocks.

One is fun, the other is like playing poker with all the cards face-up.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I leave it up to the players.

As for getting upset about mentioning the Adamantium Plate... *shrug* if they travelled with him, and he wore it, then they know. Tell him to get over it. The other characters aren't blind.

The Auld Grump

 

[Quasqueton]

Since a couple people have commented on the adamantine plate anecdote: Neither of the other two PCs had any knowledge of any skill to do with metalworking or armor, so I agree with the Player that without being told, they probably wouldn't know adamantine armor if they saw it. It's not that they didn't know he was wearing plate armor, just that they wouldn't know it was made of adamantine.

Another PC was wearing a mithral chain shirt. I don't think the other PCs would recognize mithral either, but that Player wasn't particularly secretive about it.

Quasqueton

 

[buzz]

For one, *no one* alive can truly ignore meta-knowledge once they know it.

The question is, is there anything wrong with knowing and acting on metagame knowledge? If your goal is total character immersion, I supopse so.

As I mentioned above, I think it's often more fun to have the knowledge. I've been in more than a few games where I have absolutely no clue about another player's PC, and, IME, it makes for some pretty boring stretches when their spotlight time comes up. Sort of like watching a movie from the last 20 minutes forward. We're not just our characters; we're also the audience.

Granted, there have also been scenarios where not knowing some crucial aspect of another PC sets up a fun "reveal" or double-cross.

But, totally secret sheets doesn't thrill me so much. :\