Metagame Collusion

[nedjer]

Or . . .



Forget about boxed text, the day I get a phone text during a game from a rogue player about pickpocketing another party member . . .

That came up first time - they can only whisper or the like if they could whisper in-game; and they might be overheard, etc . . . Which led to a great deal of cash spent in-game on learning a secret sign language. Which led to NPCs finding out about the sign language, not knowing what was said, getting paranoid about the PCs . . .

For extra meangirls you blame poor conditions for insisting the PCs 'whisper' through you and apply some Chinese Whispers . . . encouraging them to use smoke signals and navy flags gives almost endless options. Yes, I should never have been given a tablet, it's a GM's dream opportunity to meta the meta

 

[Mark CMG]

It's not a bullseye or hooded, it is a semaphor lamp!

 

[nedjer]

It's not a bullseye or hooded, it is a semaphor lamp!

Oddly, yeah. In my kid's 1:1 game Coco finds a huge lantern with smashed coloured glass underneath. Later she finds stained glass windows with the labours of the month on them. The NPCs (mainly trainable pets) and her now message in colours and labours at night or underground. Sort of remote control fantasy pets. Got all the images in stained glass off wikimedia.

 

[Janx]

Oddly, yeah. In my kid's 1:1 game Coco finds a huge lantern with smashed coloured glass underneath. Later she finds stained glass windows with the labours of the month on them. The NPCs (mainly trainable pets) and her now message in colours and labours at night or underground. Sort of remote control fantasy pets. Got all the images in stained glass off wikimedia.

cultural question: What's a labour? As in your phrase "stained glass windows with the labours of the month on them"

I ran a fantasy naval Babylon5 conversion. For the first year, they played a party pre-Battle of the Line. Part way through, when the war started, I had them make new PCs and re-organized them so the original Paladin was with the new PCs. Just so I could kill off the new PCs at the Battle of the Line and the Paladin could ram his ship.

In that scenario, nobody knew what I was doing. Worked perfectly.

Later, when they got to "B5", the player who had "Sheridan" sat that PC out, and played the guy who was going to betray the party. I had spoke to that player, and dealt with all his shenanigans as off-screen NPC action (so the player was aware of what was going on, but could continue acting as one of the good guys.

Worked out well, but we didn't get to the big betrayal before other factors killed the campaign.

 

[nedjer]

cultural question: What's a labour? As in your phrase "stained glass windows with the labours of the month on them"

I ran a fantasy naval Babylon5 conversion. For the first year, they played a party pre-Battle of the Line. Part way through, when the war started, I had them make new PCs and re-organized them so the original Paladin was with the new PCs. Just so I could kill off the new PCs at the Battle of the Line and the Paladin could ram his ship.

In that scenario, nobody knew what I was doing. Worked perfectly.

Later, when they got to "B5", the player who had "Sheridan" sat that PC out, and played the guy who was going to betray the party. I had spoke to that player, and dealt with all his shenanigans as off-screen NPC action (so the player was aware of what was going on, but could continue acting as one of the good guys.

Worked out well, but we didn't get to the big betrayal before other factors killed the campaign.

Let's me make a correction, as I got the stained glass images from Chartres. The site has a full set and explanation HERE. The first month doesn't link, but you go to February and hit previous twice and that completes. The wikimedia labour images are illuminations.

 

[SteelDraco]

I played in a Firefly game where I was colluding against the other PCs. I was a cop on one of the core planets who was injured in a rescue of an important politician. Blue Sun fixed me up with a bunch of cybernetics (arms and a brain computer). Afterwards they told me I could eitherwork for them to apprehend the PCs from the inside or they'd take the cyber out and leave me to die.

I spent most of the campaign just reporting on them, but did eventually betray them violently at the campaign climax. They did kill me, but I expected that. Fun game, though.

 

[Mark CMG]

Oddly, yeah. In my kid's 1:1 game Coco finds a huge lantern with smashed coloured glass underneath. Later she finds stained glass windows with the labours of the month on them. The NPCs (mainly trainable pets) and her now message in colours and labours at night or underground. Sort of remote control fantasy pets. Got all the images in stained glass off wikimedia.

If you delve too deep, do you need a lava lamp?

 

[TarionzCousin]

[MENTION=63272]Thasmodious[/MENTION], I think the "collusion" that you mentioned might better be described as "individual character development." Many posts in this thread use "collusion" in a different context: secret plotting between the DM and players to achieve PvP results.

IMHO, what you have done with your players encourages their individuality and empowers them with non-critical plot elements. I would bet that the players enjoy it tremendously--which should be all the encouragement you need to continue to do it.

 

[Thasmodious]

@Thasmodious , I think the "collusion" that you mentioned might better be described as "individual character development." Many posts in this thread use "collusion" in a different context: secret plotting between the DM and players to achieve PvP results.

You're right. The second type of collusion is something I think most of us do in a game as SOP. At least a PC or two always has some secret agenda or true identity. That was not the type of collusion I was trying to illustrate. Your terminology is sound.

empowers them with non-critical plot elements.

I think that's the key and helps the game feel more alive to them (and me). I enjoy when players grab a bit of set or narrative control, whether "encouraged" by the GM or not. The pilot is also the ship's cook and he grows veggies on the ship, spends some of his loot on fresh food (instead of protein bars) and gives me great dressing to lead into RP/development scenes aboard the ship with everyone gathered in the galley and "Tequila" laying out his latest culinary creations.

 

[pemerton]

These days I mostly prefer the secret plotting to happen out in the open at the table - then it can be fun for everyone rather than just that one player and GM.

As for the OP - the closest example I can think of is in my current D&D game. The PC wizard has a dragonling familiar, and also carries the party's basket of everlasting provisions. Instead of the normal 5 servings, every time the basket is opened there are 1d3+2 servings, as the dragon (named Fatso) like to tuck in well inbetween long naps!