Intrigue..

[Arrgh! Mark!]

How do you deal with intrigue in your games?

My current game is heavily intrigue-based; rival oligarchic groups, different guilds, assassin squads all using the player characters to their own advantage.

The players (Used to Bust In The Door) were confused, but interested enough. I'm wondering if I should keep a heavy intrigue going.. they've been duped into attacking a tavern, one characters wife has been captured and so on.. different scheming groups.

I say "Yay!"

The players had fun, but had more medium reactions.

How do you deal with intrigue in your games?

 

[Desdichado]

My games heavily feature intrigue; I have a Story Hour thread in my sig you can check out to see how I do it. But I'm not entirely sure what you're question is -- how do I help my players figure it out? Or what kinds of plots/intrigue I concoct? Or what?

 

[Wombat]

Intrigue is the basis of most long-term plots in our campaigns. Whether I am GMing or one of the others in the group, we love the thought of conspiracies, shadowy groups, rivalries, courtly/social intrigue, and the well-placed word (or dagger) over the overt attack.

Just our cuppa, I guess

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

They liked it? Then leave it. They didn't like it quite *that* much? Then tone it down a bit. Leave that intrigue but add a little more "bashing down the front door" kinds of things.

 

[Psion]

The players (Used to Bust In The Door) were confused, but interested enough. I'm wondering if I should keep a heavy intrigue going.. they've been duped into attacking a tavern, one characters wife has been captured and so on.. different scheming groups.

I say "Yay!"

The players had fun, but had more medium reactions.

How do you deal with intrigue in your games?

Intrigue is a normal element of my games. Players are often oblivious to the meanings of certain events, why certain people do things, etc., until they stumble on them later.

The reactions of my players have historically been good. It's a lot of fun when the players see that last missing peice to solve the puzzle... which usually lets them know, or is usually an event that also lets them know, that they are in deep doo-doo.

For example, on time the players, the players were sent with the town guard to arrest a sorceress, expecting trouble. Trouble that she didn't get, and she went along peacefully. The players caught themselves being pursued by ratmen on the way back to the jail. When they investigated and found that it was more and more obvious that this woman did not deserve to be incarcerated, they went back to the jail to interview her. Getting some info about why the ratmen would be following them/her (she is a member of a harper-esque cabal/action league that was monitoring drow and ratmen influence in the area), they asked to be let out of the jail cell.

Whereupon the guards informed them that they could not; the captain had ordered them detained.

(Insert dramatic music)

And they just walked into the jail cell. It was beautiful.

After a bit of action and blasting their way out of the jail they find out that the captain was a doppleganger (among other things.)

 

[barsoomcore]

Heh. My players had a similar, though sort of opposite, scenario.

There was an attempted assassination during a parade that they'd been part of. They collared one of the assassins, who was subsequently incarcerated.

All well and good.

They then go to talk to the imprisoned assassin, who tells them that he's part of a minority group fighting desperately to stop an ethnic sort-of cleansing against his people. He says he's certain to be killed if he's left in this cell.

So they pick the lock and saunter out, leaving him in his unlocked cell. In a prison stuffed with guards. That would be an assassin who just that morning had fought the entire party nearly to a standstill.

Cue large number of dead guards, assassin at large and some rather pointed questions being put to our heroes.

Hee.