Chaldfont
First Post
If you don't have much time to talk to the Mole PC between games, this can be hard to pull off. The other players get wise pretty quick when you keep pulling the other player to the side. Here are some tricks to allow you to communicate with the Mole without the other players singling him out:
* Make sure to pull each of the other players aside during a session. That way it's not obvious that there is something special about the Mole.
* Send lots of secret notes around the table. This keeps the players guessing. Send notes like "Read this note, then look suspicously at Player X".
* Work with the Mole to set up one or more red herring Players. If you do this, you can do the opposite of the first bullet above. Pick a player to be the fall guy and then take that player aside almost exclusively. Send him lots of secret notes.
* Include an NPC in the party as a red herring. IMC, the players are ALWAYS suspicious of NPCs. When the party figures out there is a spy in the group, they will almost always think it is the NPC. If you do this, make it clear to the PCs that the NPC is almost certainly the Spy by giving him a background as double agent or an atoned evil bad guy. Maybe have the PC's boss tell them, "We think he's a spy, so we are sending him along with you so you can keep an eye on him and feed him disinformation." Then, when the players get to discussing the situation and saying things like, "This guy can't be a spy, the DM has made it is soooo obvious." then you can say, "But maybe that's just what I want you to think!"
* Make the Mole PC vital to completing the mission, so the PCs can't just kill him when they finally discover him.
If you really want to mess with your players' heads (and you are a DM, so I assume this is true), pick a DIFFERENT player to be the REAL Mole. So even the original Mole gets double-crossed in the end. Another trick is to make ALL of the players Moles and make them think that each is the ONLY Mole.
Wow. All this makes me want to play Paranoia...
* Make sure to pull each of the other players aside during a session. That way it's not obvious that there is something special about the Mole.
* Send lots of secret notes around the table. This keeps the players guessing. Send notes like "Read this note, then look suspicously at Player X".
* Work with the Mole to set up one or more red herring Players. If you do this, you can do the opposite of the first bullet above. Pick a player to be the fall guy and then take that player aside almost exclusively. Send him lots of secret notes.
* Include an NPC in the party as a red herring. IMC, the players are ALWAYS suspicious of NPCs. When the party figures out there is a spy in the group, they will almost always think it is the NPC. If you do this, make it clear to the PCs that the NPC is almost certainly the Spy by giving him a background as double agent or an atoned evil bad guy. Maybe have the PC's boss tell them, "We think he's a spy, so we are sending him along with you so you can keep an eye on him and feed him disinformation." Then, when the players get to discussing the situation and saying things like, "This guy can't be a spy, the DM has made it is soooo obvious." then you can say, "But maybe that's just what I want you to think!"
* Make the Mole PC vital to completing the mission, so the PCs can't just kill him when they finally discover him.
If you really want to mess with your players' heads (and you are a DM, so I assume this is true), pick a DIFFERENT player to be the REAL Mole. So even the original Mole gets double-crossed in the end. Another trick is to make ALL of the players Moles and make them think that each is the ONLY Mole.
Wow. All this makes me want to play Paranoia...
