A major
problem that DMs have with mystery and intrigue situations, is the question of
liars.
Players tend
to believe information NPCs tell them, even when its bad guys, because all of
the information being provided by the NPCs, in a way, comes from the DM. As the
DM is the one who provides the world for them, it’s understandable that they
have trouble taking into account that a mouthpiece of the guy who basically is
their eyes and ears, might be totally BSing them.
In my
experience, I’ve noticed that players have a binary approach to the prospect of
lying NPCs as a result. Some decide if a guy is trustworthy or not, some think
that evil people always lie, and some just assume whatever information they
hear is somehow correct. What a lot of players really have trouble with, is inconsistencies.
The
Innkeeper’s daughter from our prior scenario, she might genuinely not know
where the Accused was while she was being visited by the town guard who claimed
to see him. She might lie and say the guard was at his post, not wanting him to
get in trouble or reveal their relationship. She thinks she saw the accused sneaking
around outside at 7am (it was actually someone else). She’s entirely certain
that the accused isn’t guilty though because she saw him in a situation where
he could’ve used the supposedly stolen item. She does however think he was
under a charm spell.
She might be entirely ignorant about some
details, lie about one topic, be wrong about another, be entirely forthright
with a third, and be honest but mislead on a fourth.
This is
because information is a webwork. Especially in a court case scenario where you
have to figure out the holes in people’s stories and prove them. The daughter’s statement that she saw the accused at
7am for example might be grabbed onto by the party as a lifeline (tying in with
the timeline stuff I mentioned before) only to have it organically yanked out
from under their feet by the king’s prosecutor. This might wrongly lead the
party to believe the character is lying about everything though, and that’s again, where the problem comes up.
The DM
really, really needs to try to make it clear that characters know what
characters know, and their personalities, worries, and relationships effect how
they convey and interpret information they see. It’s important to get a handle
on this because this is where the real meat of a mystery, intrigue or court
scenario is.
In your
notes, it’s helpful to make entries about characters indicating what they do
know, don’t know, and what they’ll say or lie about. This is because players
may interrogate on topics besides what you planned for, and those topics,
unexpectedly, may in fact give the players the edge they’re looking for.
