Will Player Character Secrets Ruin Your Campaign?

3 Wise DMs

Secrets: Are they powerful character-building tools or TPK time bombs waiting to destroy your RPG campaign? We’ve seen it go both ways, from character background secrets that added depth and immersion for the player to secrets pacts that saw PCs murdered in-game by other PCs. Is that second one a failure? That depends on your group, but it certainly wasn’t what the DM had in mind.

In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about secrets in the game, how they’ve worked out in their campaigns, and times when they went disastrously wrong!

2:00 A listener question: How do you DM around a player character with a secret?

6:00 How PC secrets have played out in our games

15:00 Using secrets and rewards to tempt player characters into doing … interesting things

21:00 When secrets go wrong: That time DM Tony assassinated another player character and more stories

28:00 Secrets in characters’ backgrounds can add depth and enhance roleplay

32:00 Is it a successful secret if it never gets revealed in the game?

39:00 Even when secrets go bad, it’s usually a pretty good story

42:00 Final thoughts