Six Sleeping WISHes
So, for WISH #6 we are to discuss how...
Sometimes the plot of a game requires a GM to keep secrets.
I have a terrible problem keeping secrets because I want everyone to know exactly how clever I and my players are... how deliciously wicked! It's like buying gifts and having to wait for the right occasion.
This is the number two reason I need a co-GM. (The number one reason, of course, being to make PBeM moves for me when I'm terribly busy. The number three reason is pure immoral support. [grin])
I am having to do an interesting balancing act with G&G, wherein all the posts are public. There's been some private stuff going on, and I have done some snips and clips of the public quizzes and the like, but everything is revealed on the surface. Of course, much like any scrying, the trick is in the reading and interpretation, not just the images.
Unlike Nuadha's experiences, one of the very worst things I've ever seen a PBeM GM do is try to "enhance" the game by showing scenes from other points of view. In my goal of creating a place the players can feel comfortable, I don't want to confuse them in giving them information upon which they don't know if they can act.
The source of information is important in the game. While it might seem somewhat trite to reference, of all books, Dream Park, there is the note that I do hold somewhat to having a number of "guides" whose introducing the world to the players has to be true as far as it goes. All other information is suspect (to differing degrees), including what the PCs receive from their senses.
Are those secrets? No, those are the methods by which we dole out plot. Plot is very rich, and can overwhelm in large doses. GMs are careful cooks: we all have our different recipes and methods to flavour plot. Some players are allergic to certain ingredients... [grin] Sometimes GMs have a favourite spice they use a little too much of...(as if you could have too much garlic. Pshaw!)
The LintKing and I joke about the first night of the campaign being the traditional time to let slip secrets the characters have held for potentially thousands of years in backtime. To me it's a bragging ritual akin to a scar contest: "Hey, I'll show you my hooks..." or the opening exposure of cards with a couple kept in the hand so the psychological aspects of the playing is revealed. ("All the better to play you with, my dear.")
Most of the time I don't worry -- I enjoy watching even predictable plots play out at times... like "Eight-Legged Freaks." Normally I'm too obscure for my own good. ("Hey, I telegraphed that betrayal when I told you his name. Everyone knows `Midori' means green, and green is the colour of jealousy, and he smelled like rue... I mean, DUH!")
I did once complain because a GM of mine was a little TOO neat: everything my character had in his inventory was designed against abilities of other players... but "the play's the thing."
Erm. I'm sure that's how it goes.