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"Is It Okay To Lie To Your Players?" Topic


23 Posts

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481 hits since 13 Nov 2024
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

ScottWashburn Sponsoring Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 12:14 p.m. PST

Suppose you are the GM and you set up a game scenario based on an actual battle where one side was under attack but expected reinforcements which never arrived. Is it okay to tell the defending side that they will receive reinforcements in the course of the game and then later tell them "Sorry, I was lying. No reinforcements are coming. Your mission is now to retreat off the table with as few losses as possible". Is that ethical?

14Bore13 Nov 2024 12:17 p.m. PST

Would term it more misdirection, but sure.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 12:26 p.m. PST

Don't tell them you're lying. Just tell them reinforcements were needed in another sector.

Personal logo Sgt Slag Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 12:33 p.m. PST

Yes. It could be a design element to challenge the owning player to adjust on his feet, as an "Oh, Sheit!", moment. I am sure this sort of thing really did happen: perhaps the reinforcements were delayed, attacked, diverted, stalled, etc. An unexpected enemy unit arrived without a proper invitation (I do so hate party-crashing uninvited guests -- especially when I have a delicious slaughter planned for my enemy's troops!): bridge was blown up before the reinforcements could cross it; an enemy sniper has them pinned down; an enemy Unit arrived unexpectedly, and is engaging in combat with your reinforcement's troops; perhaps an air raid has wiped out your reinforcement along the road to your present location…

I would give the Player an in-game reason as to why their reinforcements did not arrive, or at least I would suggest a plausible, in-game reason why they never showed up. Cheers!

Col Durnford Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 12:54 p.m. PST

I would add hints that they may be delayed. Build it up until you let them know they are one their own. Market Garden is the example that comes to mind.

Martin Rapier13 Nov 2024 1:00 p.m. PST

I wouldn't characterise it as lying, but there are various ways to handle this sort of thing in a game. For one game I actually gave each side different rules (1967 AiW) and it took a while for the Egyptians to notice that the Israelis were moving much faster than them…

DisasterWargamer Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 1:14 p.m. PST

Part of a scenario – a good thing – Fog of War – and a lot of what was stated above

Also can either be used to have unexpected troops show up as well

In a skirmish game – having a third party can also put some interesting decisions before players

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 1:58 p.m. PST

It's ethical since you are not lying.

You are providing an appropriate friction of war element for the scenario.

rustymusket13 Nov 2024 3:58 p.m. PST

Once battle has begun, anything is possible. Fog of war. Your dilemma is you are confusing providing realism with ethics. Two different things. Pretty much as said above. Actual lying to your gamers would be to tell them you are providing pizza and drinks and then not providing them.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 4:17 p.m. PST

If your group regularly plays Diplomacy or Junta, then they'll be primed for such shenanigans.
Or have them roll a D20 and shake your head sadly. "Sorry. No reinforcements for you!"
Just have something ready in a box or tray to show them, and snatch it away with an evil chuckle.

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 4:42 p.m. PST

"You are expecting reïnforcements around turn 4"

"Headquarters has promised reïnforcements are on the way."

No lies detected.

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 4:42 p.m. PST

"You are expecting reïnforcements around turn 4."

"Headquarters has promised reïnforcements are on the way."

"Ney should be here at any moment."

No lies detected.

Bunkermeister Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 4:44 p.m. PST

I give my players a disclaimer.

I will give you the scenario and victory conditions that you as the commander believe to be true at the start of the game.

That may or may not reflect the reality on the ground depending on the accuracy of his intel or other circumstances.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 4:48 p.m. PST

Create "official messages" to hand to the player, appropriate in style and source to the period/genre.
For some players, that will immediately be a clue that they'd better not rely on reinforcements. For others, shocked when no reinforcements appear, that will at least move the "blame" to the fictional source of the messages, and not you as referee.

(Hey, I'm a DM. Anything I might say might be completely false…)

robert piepenbrink Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 6:23 p.m. PST

Yeah. As noted, for some scenarios you have to. The whole thing hinges on someone having a mistaken idea of conditions. But if you want to keep a group, make it clear at the start of the series that this may happen sometimes, and don't leave the same players holding the dirty end of the stick all or even most of the time.

Louis XIV Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 6:24 p.m. PST

You really don't want to create a feels bad or gotcha moment.

If you have a history of games like this then fine. If not, it's just another stupid home made scenario that was a waste of time.

Tgerritsen Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 7:41 p.m. PST

There is a game master I play with who is known for lying in setup. He loves scenarios where you are given orders and then discover they are completely wrong, or have a set of victory conditions that turn out to be bs. The events he holds are so good that you get over it, and once you are prepared that this will happen, you learn to question everything.

Still ticks me off a lot of times when we play.

Personal logo Old Contemptible Supporting Member of TMP13 Nov 2024 9:36 p.m. PST

I generally give both sides their Order of Battle which shows where and how many reinforcement's they received. What I don't tell them is the other sides reinforcement schedule.

Martin Rapier14 Nov 2024 12:57 a.m. PST

I don't think changing the objectives halfway through is a bad thing either, I just wouldn't do it too often.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP14 Nov 2024 4:40 a.m. PST

miniMo – Best reply to the OP! :)

Also, if you do that too often, your players expect it often, which mitigates the surprise. You should only misdirect about HQ intent for support on a regular basis if you are playing WWII Italians, Nazis "supporting" Italians, or any Sovs.

You can mix it up with "conditional" reinforcements, that is reenforcements that arrive with a constraint on player action. A couple of examples:

They show up at the end of a turn, and you must activate them last on the next turn.
– Uh, yeah … we burned all our gas getting here. We need d3 turns before we can move out.
– We were late because our vehicles are broken. You need to pull 1 or 2 units back to carry us to the fight.
– Med cleared us. We're pretty much over the plague. Where do you want us? Up front in the middle of all the other troops?
– We were delayed getting an intel brief. We have a +2 roll against enemy units X, Y, and Z.

I am a big fan of using a deck of playing cards for events like that. It's pretty low overhead and easy to control probabilities, and even change them "on the fly", either with good math skills or pre-planning (three ref sheets – one for the desired design, one for an "easier" one and one for a "hard" one).

Decebalus14 Nov 2024 7:08 a.m. PST

A game is defined by being outside of the real world. So ethic questionable is only, if you bring in the real world. Things like: You didnt get reinforcement, because i dont like you; your reinforcement is late, because last time you made my reinforcement late. Lies in the game world are not ethically wrong, like killing toysoldiers in a game is not ethically wrong.

Andrew Walters14 Nov 2024 9:24 a.m. PST

A game is supposed to be fun. If something turns out to be fun for everyone that would tend to suggest that it's okay. But if someone is expecting and planning on reinforcements and then they don't come, that's going to feel like you arbitrarily handed the game to their opponent. How is that fun? As stated, the answer is no, not because misleading people is wrong but because you will be ruining the game for one player.

Now if there was bad news for the other player, too, that *might* work, but you're essentially changing the scenario (forces and objectives) mid game, which is more likely to be annoying than exciting.

So without more context I'm going to say that misleading players can be okay, but simply taking away forces from one side is not okay.

Umpapa15 Nov 2024 3:56 a.m. PST

I would be OK with that however at that moment I would count victory points for all players according to previous objectives. Then give all players new objectives, new victory conditions, trying not to punish players for success in first half of game. F ex. I would HATE if succesfully attacking player would have retreat more rapidly. Successes during first part of game should reward during second part of game. Of course keeping the reserves also should be rewarded.

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