thread: 2009-06-22 : Secrets: the Smelly Chamberlain
On 2009-06-23, Adam Dray wrote:
Oh, I had forgotten that part of the setup. The "let's all react to him as though" part. It's a very strange setup, actually.
At the time of the secret player meeting, the players don't believe the chamberlain is actually smelly in the fiction. It's likely, given one interpretation, that they don't even intend to make the chamberlain smelly in the fiction. They just want to "see what the GM does."
The weirdness is that there's no in-fiction justification for this behavior. It's some bizarre meta thing going on. The characters, having no reason to act as if the chamberlain smells, but doing so anyways, are essentially acting insane.
So it isn't true in the fiction that the chamberlain smells until at least one person offers up that fact. In your example, Vincent, that person is the GM.
In all the outcomes, it only becomes true in RL that the chamberlain smells if everyone at the table assents. At the time they negotiate the truth of the fiction, they also decide to what time period in the fiction that truth applies: i.e., when did the chamberlain smell?
There's an outcome that I don't think you mentioned.
Outcome 8: The GM assents but the players don't
Player 1: When my guy sees the chamberlain coming he opens all the windows in the inn. He's opening the last one when he comes in.
GM: Okay, but it's a still, muggy day. It doesn't help a bit.
Player 1: I don't know what you mean.
GM: The chamberlain. He smells, right?
Player 1: No, why would you think such a thing? That's dumb.
GM: He's my NPC. He smells.
Player 2: We don't want him to smell. We just want to act like he smells. If you make him actually smell, that will ruin our fun.
GM: You guys are crazy.
