I am by no means an experienced GM and I want to explore the world of player specific info, I know my group would have a bit of trouble not acting on something even if I told them that their character does not know it. So I thought about passing out notes on bits of paper, but I'm not sure how well that would work, I mean if someone see's me pass a note to someone they would know something is up...and get suspicious like players do...

I was thinking of a scene in my head where the group are exploring a seemingly abandoned facility and they see something coming slowly towards them...It would be a demon, but players failing a will power check or something would see something else like a lost scared child, or an injured man. Those players who passed would see the demon for what it is...I was thinking I would pass out notes to players saying what they see, and then the first one to say what they do acts first or something...

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing and have some suggestions?

Hope this makes sense!

Sounds like your players are pretty lousy roleplayers. Tell them to shape up...

All my players are new to the whole concept of role-playing and haven't quite got over the "shyness" of pretending to be someone else, so while they may be "lousy" I think trying to tell them HOW to play the game may detract from their fun : l

I'll try it without the notes I guess...see what happens...

Morham said:

Okay, then you need to have "the talk" with them.

The talk about how roleplaying games aren't about "winning" the mission that their player characters have been sent out to do. The talk about how the game isn't about keeping their player characters alive at any cost, getting the best loot or killing the biggest monsters.

Tell them that the experience, tension andr drama will be significantly increased if they try to roleplay their characters and roleplay what their characters know and don't know. So if you say, loud and clear at the table that ONE of them see a daemon approaching, but all the others see a terrified little girl, then the others are expected to act like it was a little girl they're seeing, not starting to act like paranoid morons, immediately brining up auspexes and readying weapons etc. etc.

They should act like it's a little girl, not a daemon. only one of them is actually seeing a daemon, the rest don't.

This might sound strange to them, but tell them that you have created this specific event and the details of this events for a reason. It's not that you are out to get them or that you wish to see their characters die horribly. It's about creating an interesting story, and you can't have such stories without danger. And not just the "obvious dangers" like some bad guys shooting guns at the PC's, but dangers that are more subtle and insidious (like daemons taking the guise of little girls).

Tell them all this, and tell them that they will have a lot more fun if they can drop "I gotta 'win' at any cost" mentality for a second. The stories will be better and more intense that way. Im sure they'll understand.

Thanks for that : ) I'll make sure they are all aware of that before we get started...guess I should give them a chance first eh?

Morham said:

Of course!

Then there's the ultimate failsafe method.

Let's say that all of the players except one fail to realize that the frightened little girl is a daemon. When you need to tell the player who succeeded with his perception roll or willpower roll, you send everybody else out of the room and have a private conversation about the specifics with the lone successful player.

Now you may think: "Gee, won't the others always know that something's up when I send them out of the room?"

Of course they will. That's why you send a few players out of the room several times during the session, but without actually telling the remaining players anything interesting at all. As a diversion. So they will never know when something's actually up.

Then again, this tactic is ardous to say the least, so why don't you give them a choice? Either they roleplay accordingly and everyone can remain in their seats for the entire scenario, or you're going to have to send people out of the room during a regular interval.

Call me a lazy bastard, but if I was a player in that group, I know what option I would choose.

I'd advise against sending people out of the room except for very important covert information (like telling a player his character is possessed/replaced by some nasty entity - nothing to make a session fun like a traitor in their midst , though you should reserve that for later sessions when they're a bit more experienced).

Letter-writing, however, is quite fine in my book, especially when you've had time to prepare the notes before the session.

With all things where some players can't take part, keep the time needed to a minimum - nothing kills immersion in an RPG faster than being unable to act with one's character.

I wasn't planning on using the demons till later, but I want to have a section in the campaign that is a definate mind **** with demons playing tricks on those of lesser willpower...ofcourse there'll be something to over come it so the acolytes don't end up slaughtering hundreds of civilians to get at a few demons...or maybe they will....I haven't decided lol

But yes I will let them know that I will expect them to react with the info their character has, not they themselves have : ) also I'm against sending people out too, I suspect it would break the flow too much. I might get some notes done for demonic whispers in their head or something.

Pass notes to everyone. The people who see it as a daemon get a note saying it's a daemon, the people who see a girl get a note saying it's a girl.

At another point in the game have an innocent person appear to be a daemon just so they realise that the disguise can work in both directions.

This is exactly my thinking!

There are lots of minor demons that can disguise themselves...but there is one BIG demon that can project that power onto others...he's out to mess with the acolytes minds, and their job to find him > It'll probably take place in some kind of slum, temple or factory...low population area with civilians trapped inside.

Another thing on "notes writing". If you do not want to make the players suspicous, do it regulary. If you have the time for preparation, you could for example write down information about something encountered in the adventure. Information only a certain pc will have (due to roll or simply due to background knowledge).

I am toying with this way (background information on paper) for quiet a while since it´s kinda "losy" if you tell the player "he knows xyz" and he then says the same thing again to the group. He really-really try to roleplay it...but his affords would be more valued if the other players would not already have heared it a few moments before from the mouth of the GM.

...and of course, it is excellent cover for "this other use of notes"

Writing notes that also have little or no information, also get players excited that they're receiving special treatment. I've handed multiple players notes or simply red herring npc tidbits, like someone noticing that someone in a bar has a concealed gun, the rest of the players were suspicious of the way that player kept looking at one person, and it was completely harmless info. The guy had a gun cause he was security.

I'll note one thing I've been toying with (and a number of my players have successfully used in another game) is having everyone with laptop/notebook or similar and using MSN Messenger (or something like it) for rapid note passing (and maps, handouts, etc).

The downsides of that method- getting everyone set up with power supply, internet/intranet access (or setting up a LAN) can be somewhat of a hassle; the gaming area will feel more crowded; it will be noticeably hotter and it does require you to have prepped your handouts on computer (if you're going to use them).

The upsides are that with whatever IM client you're using set to silent, it can be nigh-impossible to differentiate between note-passing and book-keeping for the scenario or any particular PC/NPC; maps of areas are not necessarily limited to quick scrawls on a battlemat or paper; everyone gets a copy of the map or handout without you having to print off/photocopy reams of duplicates, and probably gets it about as fast as you could pass them out physically; and quite frankly (although this point is less of an issue in DH, save in big combats with lots of participants) it makes book-keeping much, much easier for all concerned.

In all honesty, this won't work for all groups, and I'm not sure whether I'd implement this for anything other than (for example) Continuum or Narcissist (time travel games, where keeping track of how many seconds into the past or future you're travelling and where you're travelling to are of vital importance to you (and ultimately the universe)), but it is an option. Experimentation will have to be done.

The downsides of that method- getting everyone set up with power supply, internet/intranet access (or setting up a LAN) can be somewhat of a hassle; the gaming area will feel more crowded; it will be noticeably hotter and it does require you to have prepped your handouts on computer (if you're going to use them).

Sounds like that's where smartbooks come in...

Im a little baffled. Whenever you tlak about sending someone outside and there is a "risk" of the other players finding out that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" you make it sound like that is a bad thing. Let them know something is up (just not what is up, off course). Let it feed their inner paranoia.

Fortunately my players are comfotable with me pointing out things they can and cannot hear/see/smell/experience individually, so I don´t have that problem, but if it was me, i would totally send them out of the room and then take the time with one "left behind". Feed their paranoia, i say .

The Emperor Protects

Eido

Simple solution if you do not want to do notes or out of the room discussion (I use all methods). You roll the will check behind the screen. You tell players that fail they see "A", players that pass see "B". Say it in a neutral voice and let them work out what is the truth. Maybe on the end of a claw...

Iam a big fan of notes. When we play even players is sending notes to the Gm, not all of them abot the game, but its good way to add on the drama..

Eido said:

Paranoia! Now that was a game with uber-note writing. I think we used to go through a note pad a session!

I didn't read the whole thread, so I apologize if the conversation has already moved elsewhere.

I'm currently in California while the rest of my friends are still in Washington, and we got together over Ventrilo and Steam a few weeks ago to play DH since everybody else uses laptops to store their character sheets and what not. I was GMing, and towards the end I began sending the Psyker messages through Steam telling him about all the weird stuff he started seeing and hearing as they (unknowingly) destroyed protective wards(re: people) designed to protect the Cult's psykers from Warp possession until they wanted it to happen. Nothing worse than Sunday maimings and having a Bloodletter pop out of your stomach, you know?

Anyway, he began seeing some really weird stuff as the Warp spilled into his perception and his only, as the rest of the group had no psychic powers whatsoever, and the Cult leaders, in their haste to repair what was being destroyed, made the Pysker a temporary ward. Cue the Psyker doing some really excellent roleplaying as he freaks out, yelling at the party to to destroy the daemons and heretics while the rest of the group's chatter comes in garbled and distorted like they're all underwater and none of the other players have ANY idea that the Psyker is currently going through a literal Hell.