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From: leonard@agora.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,comp.sources.wanted
Subject: Re: Things people shouldn't know
Message-ID: <677@agora.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jan 88 05:02:29 GMT
References: <2305@k.cc.purdue.edu> <9867@ut-sally.UUCP> <7236@sunybcs.UUCP> <151@coplex.UUCP> <1614@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
Reply-To: leonard@.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Organization: Advanced Solutions, Hillsboro, OR
Lines: 35

In article <1614@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk> adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) writes:
<up to, and the players say "He's rolling dice, something's up." A cheap way
<round both problems is dummy notes and die rolls. Roll your dice, and grin. If
<someone asks "What's happened", grin again and say "Nothing yet". They should
<eventually catch on that dice rolled doesn't imply action. As for notes, try
<handing out a few notes saying "Have an evil grin, then hand this back." Timed
<properly, this can be great for paranoia (or Paranoia!). If, during the search,
<everyone gets notes, but only one or two have "Gem" or such written on them,
<then people who shouldn't know if something was found, won't know.

Another thing that can be done (though only with restraint!) is too ask one
of the players to "step into the other room" with you. Sometimes I used this
to ask for more details on gear that his character had (that the rest of the
party didn't know about). Other times it might be to let him know that he'd
been nailed by a Doppleganger. Or to discuss what he had planned with regard
to assassinating the character he'd been hired to kill. _Or_ I might just
discuss the weather for a few minutes....

Funny thing, whether anything happened or not, the other players kept 
giving him suspicious looks. And I kept having to remind them that their
_characters_ didn't have a reason to be suspicious. After doing this for
a few games (to maybe 2 or 3 players/game) they start to get the idea.

I did it this way BECAUSE it was so much more blatant than notes... It drives
the lesson home better.

Oh yes.... just in case you have dishonest players, an incorrect map
on the table helps...


-- 
Leonard Erickson		...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]		...!tektronix!reed!percival!agora!leonard
"I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'.
You know... I'd rather be a hacker."