DM and Player information issue.

[Ralanr]

So me and my friends are doing a one piece rpg we made and we all decided that after the introductory arc we roll a six sided die to determine who runs the next arc. Luckily (Bad luckily) I'm the one it rolled on first, which is a nightmare for me since I'm playing with a system that has no real rules to fall back on and is fully theater of the mind.

Actually let's skip the context. I decided on doing an arc based around hallucinogenic mist that our crew sails into (Reasons will be discussed when there, but being the navigator is pretty helpful). These mists, as you can probably guess, will cause anyone who inhales them for a long enough period of time to hallucinate. These hallucinations are basically ones that would distract the victim (Ex: My character has a fear of heights, so he'd hallucinate that he was stuck on a very tall pillar and stay still in panic. Another character wants vengeance against Mr. Crocodile, so I'm thinking about having him start in a desert with Crocodile, then Crocodile turns into a sand storm and mocks him as he (the player) is caught in it). The problem I'm having is that a friend of mine won't tell me anything his character would see because he doesn't want anyone knowing it yet, and won't bother answering questions into his backstory aside from the small information he provides. I'd post it here if I didn't feel like it would be an example of mistrust (He doesn't use these forums as far as I can tell).

Honestly I'm frustrated for how secretive he's being, we've been at some odds lately about how the world works (He can't grasp the concept of the armor Haki and thinks it's broken. It's not and I was getting to the point that he was essentially whining that something could hurt his character so badly.)I know I have some blame, but getting responses of "Cause, that's all I'll say for now" is really aggravating. :smallfurious:

Any advice? Am I the one at blame here?

[Kid Jake]

Simple solution: His character is so cool and mysterious that the mist doesn't affect him. Now he gets to sit on the ship and watch you guys trip your asses off until the mist goes away.

[Kane0]

I feel your pain, one of the players in my group is very secretive about everything. He even voices opinions selectively and often, in private.

You may just have to make an educated guess. But heres one:

He hallucinates a situation where everybody knows his secrets, or a single powerful entity does and strips him of his free will. He still has his secrets, but that is exactly the source of his fear in this context.

Also keep in mind that someone that withholds a lot will generally speaking generate very little trust and goodwill. Eventually he will have to deal with that fact that nobody will really back him up because of this.

About him whining, you might just have to explain to him more about it. If he refuses to at least acknowledge your perspective just say "well i'll do my best, but I have to be fair to everyone since I'm running this section." That way your saying you'll try to take his problem on board but you arent going to just let him get away with a power trip and avoid something that potentially could kill him.

[jaydubs]

I'd have serious issues with a player withholding character information in a campaign I'm DMing. But let's move past that issue for now.

Is there a reason these hallucinogenic mists have to be tied accurately into their backstories? Make him hallucinate that he's late for the wedding with the nice school teacher he always liked in his home town. Or that his farm is burning down. Or that his dream of being a blacksmith will never come true, because someone cut his right hand off. Sure, they'll be totally unrelated to his secret character origin. But why does it matter? He's hallucinating, and part of that is hallucinating he's a totally different person.

[Ralanr]

I'd have serious issues with a player withholding character information in a campaign I'm DMing. But let's move past that issue for now.

Is there a reason these hallucinogenic mists have to be tied accurately into their backstories? Make him hallucinate that he's late for the wedding with the nice school teacher he always liked in his home town. Or that his farm is burning down. Or that his dream of being a blacksmith will never come true, because someone cut his right hand off. Sure, they'll be totally unrelated to his secret character origin. But why does it matter? He's hallucinating, and part of that is hallucinating he's a totally different person.

It can have nothing to do with their stories. He just won't give me a fear, which feels unreasonable to me.

I am liking the "everyone knows" idea...I'm gonna make the ship sprout mouths that say it over and over and over.

[Mr.Moron]

If he isn't willing to share his hallucination as public information and participate in it with the GM/Table than he doesn't get a hallucination. Full Stop. He can develop whatever head canon he likes while the rest of the group actually plays the game. As far as I'd be concerned as the GM: his character was off picking his nose somewhere during the time the rest of the table was tripping out.

[Karl Aegis]

Kick him off your boat if he wants to be so secretive.

[Ralanr]

Kick him off your boat if he wants to be so secretive.

Can't. He's a dear friend and DM position swaps after every arc.

Also he'd die...cause his character can't swim.

[Gavran]

Spinning off Kane0's idea, maybe the hallucination could *be* a party that doesn't trust him. I don't know how obvious these hallucinations are supposed to be to the players, and I probably wouldn't go this route if there was any chance the player would think everyone else is actually ganging up on him, but it makes sense that he'd fear being kicked out (in character) for his un-trustworthiness. And if you're lucky, the player might see it as an IC opportunity to try to build some trust with the party afterward.

Not that I don't like the idea of forcing him to play the straight man either. But you don't want the player to feel bored or the other players to be jealous that they were more vulnerable or whatever.

[Maglubiyet]

Is he mixing up "character" with "player"? These hallucinations don't have to be from the guy's own psyche.

Maybe rule that the reason he can't come up with a fear is that it's buried so deep the PC doesn't even know about it. Roll up a random one and have that be the basis of his hallucinations. Here's a site that generates random fears (http://realfears.com/).

Then if the player doesn't like it he might supply something more in line with his idea for his character.

[Kane0]

I am liking the "everyone knows" idea...I'm gonna make the ship sprout mouths that say it over and over and over.

Bahahahaha, 'atta boy.



Also he'd die...cause his character can't swim.

There's a very good alternative right there. Stranded on an island, within sight of safe land. All he has to do is swim there. And avoid all the nasty beasties along the way.

[ArcanaFire]

Can't. He's a dear friend and DM position swaps after every arc.

Also he'd die...cause his character can't swim.

...so have him hallucinating being in the water?

[NichG]

I had to cross off the first couple of things that came to mind. Its easy to be punitive, but not productive.

Instead, since he won't give you anything to work with, work with what you already have. Go for an Inception-style mind-screw. He hallucinates that the crew of the ship is all hallucinating but that he's the only sane one. From his point of view, the mists just don't work on him. Except that the mists wear off and the crew get back to normal, but not... entirely normal. Instead, he catches glimpses of them whispering to eachother and then stopping as soon as they notice him. Have some kind of Innsmouth-like conspiracy ("We should hurry up with the Gifting. He's starting to get suspic- ssh, here he comes!").

[Segev]

Let him think he's not hallucinating, but seeing everybody else do so.

Then have something happen that makes the ship start to sink. While the others are hallucinating and thus useless in trying to prevent it.

Except the ship sinking is his hallucination.

[Ralanr]

These are all very very good ideas. I'll probably just end up making a table to roll for when the actual event comes lol.

[Beta Centauri]

You're not to blame, but you're setting up a situation that gives a lot of incentive for a player not to tell you things. If he tells you, you have definite power to control how and when his character acts. If he acts despite the fear set up to prevent him from acting, or to make him do something else, you'll think he's cheating. He doesn't want to cheat, so he's just not letting that situation get set up.

It could be that he really doesn't want anything revealed. Your idea can still work: you don't have to tell him or anyone else what his character sees, just the effect it has on him. That's how it works in lots of games: the character sees a manifestation of their greatest fear and is immobilized/penalized/attacks their ally/etc. If the player really doesn't want things like that imposed on him, you'll get push-back. In fact, avoid the pushback altogether and ask the player if that would be acceptable. If not, why not rethink your approach, or impose some other difficulty on that character, one the player is cool with (and helps you come up with). He inhaled the vapor but it didn't affect him the same way....