I’d like to get some input on running an upcoming game in “open secrets” style play. This would be an in-person tabletop game.
I’m looking at having (most) fictional secrets in the game occur out in the open. For example: “Bazso Baz is secretly a member of the Empty Vessel forgotten god cult”, or even “Bazso Baz wants to control Crows Foot”. This info would be recorded on a note card that would be on the table in reach of everyone.
I feel like playing with secrets like this available to the players gives them more creative openings and opportunities, sometimes just to make their lives more complicated.
Anyone doing this? Worked out especially well or unwell?
I like to play it with an open-secrets type of style. Players generally are good at divorcing player-level knowledge from character-level knowledge, so it very rarely proves to be a problem. It opens people up to say “Hey, next session I’d be really interested in learning more about X”, and letting you build off of player interest.
The only real concerns I’ve ever had about this is drawing the line between what secrets to reveal and what to keep… well, secret. Sure they may know Bazso Baz is a member of the Empty Vessel, but they don’t know that he sacrifices captured Red Sashes to his cult. (An example I just made up.)
The other concern I have is if a player forgets what is player-level knowledge and what is character-level knowledge. But generally this is fixable just by saying “Your character doesn’t know that” or, even better “Tell me how your character learned that information.”
Generally, I’m in favor of open-secrets. I started out as a closed book but found keeping things in the open led to a better experience for everyone.
The key player act with open secrets is a little like learning not to take pinned pieces in chess; you want to lean on them instead. If you’re in a team with someone who is secretly Prince Joey in disguise, you want to constantly be saying to the guy “Boy that Prince Joey sure is a turd” or “Prince Joey, what a dreamboat, am I right?” or “Don’t you just hate princes??” or “Hey, let’s go kidnap Prince Joey”. You never, EVER want to find out the guy’s Prince Joey until you’ve extracted every inch of drama/comedy from the situation.
The thing I most enjoy about not keeping secrets as a GM is being able to “think offscreen” out loud. So after the PCs leave a meeting with Bazso Baz I can narrate what he says about them to his second, what his reaction to the meeting /really/ was. I do it sparingly – the PCs are still the protagonists – but when it can really get the players more invested in NPCs, make them feel more human. Sometimes you just think of a really cool image of something an NPC is doing and it’s really fun to be able to share that with the other players.