The Conspiracy Game

[Heretic86]

There are many critical elements that are needed to create an interesting Story.  One of those elements will involve some sort of Plot Twist.  Sometimes it allows the characters to be true to themselves, while at other times shows the deviousness of a cleverly planned betrayal.  In the realm of fiction, many Conspiracies need to be dreamed up to be realized.  A King that is betrayed by his council by convincing him to go to war so that someone else can decry his actions and take the throne for themselves.  Other Conspiracies are of a character that infiltrates the characters party for a short period of time, but for much more nefarious purposes to be revealed later.  These types of twists and turns can provide high emotional impact for the players in general.  And since this is Fiction, remember, sky is the limit!

So what kinds of Plot Twists and Conspiracies do you dream up for your story?  How fully do you realize them?  Is it a simple stealing of some magical item, or does it go much much deeper and affect the entire world?  What motivates the characters to commit these atrocities without becoming the shallow stereotypical black and white good guy vs bad buy Bad Guy?  Why would other characters even care about such a Plot Twist?  What kinds of reactions do they have?  Why are the hero characters not tempted to give in to the Dark Side, or are they?

Thoughts?

 

[Kes]

I have two major plot twists in my last game The Tale of a Common Man.  However, neither are the sort of thing you are describing.  Plot twists can be far more versatile than just concealed evil springing out of the woodwork.  I don't want to describe mine in too much detail because - precisely as plot twists - I don't want to give spoilers.  But one is where the party discovers that what they thought was happening is in fact incorrect and the other is where an expected action does not take place.  And yes, both change the direction of the game significantly.  My task as a story teller was a bit like a mystery story writer - the misdirection has to be subtle, but fair, so that when the truth does emerge the player can think "I should have seen that coming", rather than "where the hell did that come from?"

My current project has plot twists too (cuz I like them) and again it's a way of keeping the player guessing about what is really happening and why.

 

[Warpmind]

One of the (sub)plots I occasionally tinker with involves a magical Inheritance Blade (or whatever one might want to call it); its wielder can only unlock its enchantments if it was inherited from a blood relative.

So, the main character, fatherless since infancy, has inherited his dad's old sword, and it is powerful. At one point, he's noticed by an old knight who recognizes the sword, and brings the kid to the capital, where the family of a knight missing for twenty years identifies the sword as that of the lost head of the family. Obviously, the knight who owned the sword decided to run off with some other woman, sired a son and died. Main character is (begrudgingly) acknowledged as a bastard son, but still a member of the family.

Some time passes, the main character has had the time to get involved in the family business, gets knighted, and is sent out to the village where he grew up to sort out some stuff, where he gets to speak with his mother again. She's amazed he's gone as far as he has, of course, though she's puzzled to hear the hero's father was a brave knight since *PLOT TWIST* he died from a disease only known to afflict grave robbers. Turns out, the missing knight died on a mission, was buried with the sword, and was robbed by the main character's father, back in the day...


Not intentionally evil, or conspiratorial in any way or form, but the main character discovers he has profited greatly from living a lie, and has to somehow face reality. That's going to be tough on him. :3

 

[Heretic86]

...

Not intentionally evil, or conspiratorial in any way or form, but the main character discovers he has profited greatly from living a lie, and has to somehow face reality. That's going to be tough on him. :3

Profitting from a Lie is the very definition of Conspiracy.

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Yeah, I dont want anyone to give away any big Spoilers for their games.

For me, a Conspiracy is a very useful logical Plot Device.  I mean just think about the word Conspiracy.  As soon as you hear it, you probably think Conspiracy Theorist.  But that can be a good thing, especially in a fictional enviornment!  Have you ever wondered why no one else gets off their lazy asses and does anything to solve the problems that exist in your fictional world?  Could it be that the Hero or Protagonist became privy to some bit of information that ends up getting them labelled as a Conspiracy Theorist?  The Hero witnesses a Murder or Assassination, and they flat out know the truth!  But upon discussing the matter with the townsfolk, that characters death was ruled as "natural causes"?  Tell the Cops or Constables or Peacekeepers in your game and everyone looks at you like you are the Conspiracy Theorist despite knowing otherwise!  As a Plot Device, it does achieve one thing very well.  And that is to explain why the Hero or only a small group of people take the responsibility of following the leads and why everyone else in their fictional world simply drops their drawers and promptly places their thumbs straight up their buttholes.  *Gasp*  The Chancellor killed the King?  Youre a Conspiracy Theorist!  What, he really DID assassinate the King?  And the point between the start and that point of the story is left up to the Player!

So, again, this is all fiction and I really dont want anyone to give away any major game plot spoilers, so lets just practice some and dream up some totally new ones!  How would you get two Kingdoms to go to war?  How would the character that gets the two Kingdoms to go to war with each other get away with it?  What would that character stand to gain?  Or maybe have some other suggestions?  Maybe a Demon is corrupting the minds and hearts of the villagers to trick them into giving all the virgin souls in town to him so the demon can re-enter the world and pull it off?  How would the Player discover these things?  How would the Player be involved and actually save the townsfolk from an intangible Demon?

 

[Warpmind]

Profitting from a Lie is the very definition of Conspiracy.

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Yeah, I dont want anyone to give away any big Spoilers for their games.

For me, a Conspiracy is a very useful logical Plot Device.  I mean just think about the word Conspiracy.  As soon as you hear it, you probably think Conspiracy Theorist.  But that can be a good thing, especially in a fictional enviornment!  Have you ever wondered why no one else gets off their lazy asses and does anything to solve the problems that exist in your fictional world?  Could it be that the Hero or Protagonist became privy to some bit of information that ends up getting them labelled as a Conspiracy Theorist?  The Hero witnesses a Murder or Assassination, and they flat out know the truth!  But upon discussing the matter with the townsfolk, that characters death was ruled as "natural causes"?  Tell the Cops or Constables or Peacekeepers in your game and everyone looks at you like you are the Conspiracy Theorist despite knowing otherwise!  As a Plot Device, it does achieve one thing very well.  And that is to explain why the Hero or only a small group of people take the responsibility of following the leads and why everyone else in their fictional world simply drops their drawers and promptly places their thumbs straight up their buttholes.  *Gasp*  The Chancellor killed the King?  Youre a Conspiracy Theorist!  What, he really DID assassinate the King?  And the point between the start and that point of the story is left up to the Player!

So, again, this is all fiction and I really dont want anyone to give away any major game plot spoilers, so lets just practice some and dream up some totally new ones!  How would you get two Kingdoms to go to war?  How would the character that gets the two Kingdoms to go to war with each other get away with it?  What would that character stand to gain?  Or maybe have some other suggestions?  Maybe a Demon is corrupting the minds and hearts of the villagers to trick them into giving all the virgin souls in town to him so the demon can re-enter the world and pull it off?  How would the Player discover these things?  How would the Player be involved and actually save the townsfolk from an intangible Demon?

Sorry, Heretic86, but http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/conspiracy says you're wrong about "the very definition". This I must stress; using the correct definition of things is the only way one can reach an actual consensus on things.

So long as the guy who profited was completely unaware of the actual chain of events, and acted in good faith, he did not partake in any conspiracy, however much he benefited.

I'll agree that a Conspiracy, and the Hero getting labeled a Conspiracy Theorist, as such, can be a useful, even powerful plot device - it worked pretty well in Hamlet, for example.

Now, how to get two kingdoms to go to war - a cunning puppeteer would perhaps have a remarkably stealthy minion steal a small, significant personal item from the bedchamber of a member of the royal family, only to smuggle it into the bedchamber of a foreign emissary, in order to create incontrovertible evidence of a highly politically embarassing liaison, which must by any means be camouflaged as theft, in order to save face, leading to the immediate arrest and execution of said emissary, leading to war over the unjust murder of a diplomat... For example. That puppeteer might stand to profit from selling weapons, or perhaps a small, preplanned war was just the diversion he needed for his actual plans... Or why not both?

 

[Heretic86]

My bad, I thought the character was aware.  Unaware wouldnt be a conspiracy.

What if theft of objects or no characters dying wasnt used, but just flat out lies?  The people that live in the Kingdom of Flugelbinderonia are bat**** crazy and wanna kill us all cuz we can all do magic, or something to that effect?

 

[Warpmind]

My bad, I thought the character was aware.  Unaware wouldnt be a conspiracy.

What if theft of objects or no characters dying wasnt used, but just flat out lies?  The people that live in the Kingdom of Flugelbinderonia are bat**** crazy and wanna kill us all cuz we can all do magic, or something to that effect?

Straight up propaganda?

Like that ever worked. </Sarcasm>

 

[Heretic86]

Think it is worth while to include propoganda as part of the game world in order to flesh it out for a truly crazy-town?  I dont wanna go Metal Gear Solid levels of complexity in Conspiracy so this is actually fun for me so far!  Just need more people to play!