#RPGaDay2025 - 16 - Deceive

It's RPGaDay season again. Here's a link to the blog post with the current year's prompts.

Today's prompt is Deceive. 

This is an interesting one. I'm a huge fan of character vs character conflict, especially in one-shot convention games, as it makes the players really devious and interactive. However, I have shifted in how I do this. Mostly, the motivations and agendas were hidden, which meant that what happened often came as a surprise. The players would be trying to covertly deceive each other and gain the upper hand. I've written scenarios with a single player having a covert mission that puts them at odds with the rest of the group, and they've mostly gone down well at the table.

I have a Dune hack of Conspiracy of Shadows that plays out the events at the start of the first book, with one of the characters randomly assigned the role of traitor (which is kind of fun, as Paul Atreides can have that role). This was run using the 'blood opera' mode for the game, which is built around relationship maps and backstabbing. 

These days, I'd feel obliged to call out that there were hidden agendas and potential character-vs-character action, because I've become aware that it can cause upset and reduce enjoyment when people stumble into this kind of thing and don't like it. It's not everyone's cup of tea. 

I don't believe that you should ever have player-vs-player (PVP) in a roleplaying game; as a GM you need to be really clear that this is all about character-vs-character. Roleplaying is far more personal in its nature that a video game, and the danger is when people start to take things personally. My experience is that you tend to get a better atmosphere and more enjoyment at a table when the GM has called that out at the start.

I'm also a big fan for making the scheming open at the table; not everyone loves that, but it can make for a more fun story when things are played out so the player is aware, but the character doesn't know that they are being deceived or plotted against. The character may get stabbed in the back, but the player can see it coming.

Some games do deception overtly; Alien is a good example of this. Each character has a hidden agenda, which will change as the scenario develops. That change is usually a complete surprise, and is a tool for the GM to drive interaction. However, the setting is built around paranoia and distrust, and it's open from the start of the game that anyone could have an agenda like Ash or Burke, something at odds to the survival of the group.

In conclusion, I like games were there is an opportunity to deceive, but I prefer it to be open and the table to be aware that it could be happening. I also think the GM needs to be clear at the start that it is character-vs-character, not player-vs-player.

16 August 2025