Forums » RP Discussion » Secrets in Roleplay

If your character has secrets, how do you handle them in (and even out) of roleplay? I remember back in the old days of Furcadia, I would put my characters' backstories and secrets into their description. At some point, someone let me know that the description box was better suited to things that other characters could tell just from looking at them, or for common in-continuity knowledge (so some people used tags like [Police Chief] or such, as these would be relatively common knowledge in their setting.) So I kept the secrets out of my description, though they were still often in my characters' thought processes.

The more I played, the more I realized that I like not knowing a lot about other characters off the bat, and I really like other characters not knowing a lot about mine. I decided that, for me, if I was starting an RP, the most important thing was whether the characters had compatible continuities -- so time setting and magic level became my main line of inquiry.

By this point, I've stopped putting secrets in character descriptions -- even most of my profiles on this site! -- or in thought processes. Other than occasional dangling of threads to imply that there is some level of mystery, I don't like revealing secrets OOC. Partly this is because of a lot of metagaming I've had happen, which irks me no end -- partly because, since I discovered it was more interesting to learn about a character through play with them, I thought it might be more fun for my RP partners as well. That said, I DO want to add a 'secrets' section to all applicable characters I have on this site, probably on a separate tab of their profile, because I feel I am representing some of them dishonestly and people SHOULD be able to know what they're getting into, if they really want.

Even ignoring metagaming, I've found that (for me -- this is my personal preference, mind) keeping secrets, well, secret OOC means they have greater impact and weight when they're revealed.

What are your thoughts? How do you use secrets in RP?

Do you put them in your description, to let people know about further depth your character may have? Example: His helmet and cloak were black as space. He was more machine than man, twisted, and evil; at his side was a lightsaber, a Sith weapon by now antique, and his breathing, aided by mechanical workings, was unnatural and unnerving. [Father to Luke Skywalker]

When your character thinks about secrets, do you write it for your partner to read? Example: "Mr. Darcy knew what Elizabeth must be thinking, and it pained him, but his pride would not let him reveal that it was in fact Mr. Wickham who had wronged him."

What other ways do secrets come up in RP?

what an interesting discussion topic! As for secrets in role-play, I started out much the same way as you did with including everything in my profiles, and then I got burned by metagaming. One too many 'psychic' characters knew everything about mine in an instant and it kind of took away from the fun of the RP.

These days I prefer to keep any 'secrets' to myself...my profiles are all pretty bare for a reason, I want others to find out more about the characters through interactions I find that sometimes this will get me less role-play than maybe a super developed profile because it gives the impression that I haven't put a lot of work into the character. That's the big drawback I find from not laying everything out in profiles.

As for how I use secrets in RP, I tend to give little narrative hints for others to follow along with so that they can slowly unravel the mysteries of my characters over time. The only big exception to this rule is when the secret is something that could be potentially harmful to either my character or someone else's. The only example I can think off the top of my head is say someone is RPing a serial killer, but it's obviously not known IC that this character is a serial killer. I like to know that type of information before hand, because horror RPs like that don't really interest me and I wouldn't put my character in that situation.

I hope that answers your questions! I thought this was an interesting topic, I hope it gets more replies! I'd love to see what others have to say on the subject

I usually put most of my character onto her page, except a few little details. For example a phobia. I do not want it to influence the roleplay most of the time, and encourage people to use such a trival thing on purpose to spice a rp up.

It depends, if the secret is important for the rp. If it gets important, I do tell people ooc so they will know what they get into, and expect that they keep the knowledge ooc. Until now this did work very good.

It has worked out fine for me so far, because I had no problems with meta-gaming so far.

Secrets are wondrous things, far to great to be handed to anyone wanting for a quick bite of information. Time and time again, I have received inquiries about my characters and I simply refuse to give useful information. If the player has the idea of asking about stuff, then the character has the ability to do so as well. Even then, if the character is a complete stranger that happens to ask something about my character, on their first meeting, why would my character spill their entire back story upon them? It is not realistic at all.

As for Furcadian descriptions, I was never too heavy on what was OOC knowledge, but now, I strictly stick to physical descriptions of what others can see. I have gotten quite use to it, and I can easily make the description appear from head to toe, or toe to head.

But, as I progressed through my roleplaying, others began suspecting that my sweet Tannis had no depth to her, and was merely there to entertain herself with the wives of others ("but my character is so old, surely she must be power--"). I solved this problem by creating a journal of her most recent exploits, and I wrote it in the way that she would write it, in vague terminology and glimpses of memories, so that the reader may ponder what she actually did, or, if it is all fake, or, what she wrote was completely true.

I believe the most disappointing episode of non-secret keeping came from one of Tannis's plots to get a little under-the-table revenge on another character, and in one post, the situation went sour. Very, very sour. I was so un-pleased by the lack of tact that this player/character narrative had, that I created a completely false post, full of OOC information. And this interaction looked like this:

Melamin Johnson would follow his father in, not the slightest bit embarassed by what his Dad was wearing. He was only embarassed to be around him when he turned himself into a woman. Those times were wierd. He would take a seat, glad to be sharing a drink with his father. Then he noticed a familiar sight. It was the anthro feline woman who had no shoes. He had volunteered to find her shoes for her and ontop of that agreed to steal a robe for her as well that also used to belong to her. He still had not yet made any progress with his quest. He hoped she would'nt notice him because that would mean she would ask him whether or not he made any progress. He also noticed she was conversing with interesting looking male squirrel dressed like a musketeer. Something he found both really interesting and strange.

The entire post was an entry post, that the character's only action lies in following his father inside the tavern and taking a seat, perhaps glancing between those already seated. In that entry post, there are several instances where the OOC knowledge is just...too much. Not only did the post divulge Tannis's revenge plot, but also another character's strange obsession, and it even went as far as to tell whoever was reading what would come of Tannis's actions towards him, which is bordering controlling her.

I found his post to be strangely amusing and in return I created my own post in response:

The Actress secretly plans on killing the young jester by leading him down a dark alleyway and calling behind her shoulder when he approaches, while actually signalling the attack that is sure to come. However, her thoughts are just really, really loud.

Though that was not my official post for my character, nor true in any way, it did receive a response of:

Melamin Johnson: [0_________0]

In another aspect, I do believe that secrets hold weight in stories. Few people wish to know who the bad guy is, if there is one, in a complicated, twisting story. It is fairly interesting to read, given a sense of mystery. Almost no-one knows what Tannis does to make her ends meet. It is likely because Furcadian coin falls out of the sky and into the character's lap whenever they wish to purchase something. Perhaps it goes hand-in-hand with in-character actions = in-character consequences? If there is an undercover-officer in the midst of crooks and nothing is said about the officer's secretive status, the crooks may end up busted if they perform the wrong action in front of the officer. Where as if the officer has a bright and shining desc-tag that states: "Undercover Officer", there is a higher chance of that information being misused, and the crooks sitting down for tea instead of exchanging illegal goods.

Great stories, Miss. Couldn't agree more, and I'm thrilled to know I'm not the only one who does this. I've had a lot of people say 'well if you don't like metagaming, don't play with bad RPers' -- but it's my experience that it's simply not true, and that many people won't metagame and are lovely to play with if you just don't give them the opportunity. Even those with saintlike restraint can metagame on a subliminal level.

When I'm going to be getting into an RP on, say, Jake -- whose 'secrets' actually define the genre of the RP -- I bring it up as 'strong sci-fi elements' in OOC before RP. But when I'm getting into an RP as Celhart or Penthea (who only make sense in Dragonlands), there's nothing I actually need to tell anyone; everything about them is already an accepted possibility.

I agree Bealocwealm(my that is a mouthful! ) I think it's a little bit unfair of people to say that only bad RP'ers metagame. In a lot of cases that I've experienced, it's usually because someone is very new to RP and they just need time to learn and grow In other cases some people don't even realize that they're doing it.

Miss, I really love the idea you've come up with in by using journal entries. I'll definitely have to try that sometime! It's a really good idea to keep the character updated with important information without messing around with their base profile

It is not necessarily bad RP'ers but rather, the roleplayer is too close to the character's thoughts with her/his narrative. Even an inexperienced roleplayer would have a very hard time producing thoughts if they limited themselves to only physical actions and reactions, as well as dialogue. Tis' why Tannis's posts never, ever include what she is thinking. She may strike a thinking pose, but the thoughts never leave her mind; to where the other characters know that she is thinking, but not the material that she is thinking of.

Loki; I am glad you enjoy it! Though I have not updated Tannis's vague entries for a while (as it is becoming difficult to find time away from working to play Furcadia), this talk my spur my actions towards updating her recent exploits.

Bea-Bea; Truly, I have only encountered the spilling of secrets that one time. I will not say that the roleplayer was "bad" at roleplaying, as he did perform his jesterly duties and his character was the right amount of naive. But should a post offend my eyes and my character's secrets, I will make sure to still play with them, though..they may not want to follow Tannis into any dark alley or building. And genre changing aspects of characters may be a bit much, and those type of secrets are best relayed to the GM, and/or Rah's of the dream, in Furcadian lingo. As long as it is accepted, then I do not see why the others need to know. It will certainly be a surprise.

Iv'e had that problem with psychic characters as well. They would always read Isamu's profile then know about him without even asking me if it was okay for their character to be knowing his thoughts. The mystery is fun but I usually post a lot in my character profiles that have to deal with phobias and such.

Sometimes I even consider leaving out the bio of my characters as well.