Forum

When you create a character, you give them a dark secret in order to help role play and to get extra exp if the dark secret makes the character suffer.

The problem I’m currently having with my table (I’m not the GM for this game), is that everyone is keeping their dark secret a secret from the other players. On the surface this doesn’t seem so bad, but it’s resulted in behavior that’s a little bit weird and kind of annoying. For example, one of the PCs started doing his own thing, separating from the group, not sticking with the party when we reached The Hollows. When I asked him why he was doing that he told me “it’s a secret”. In any case, I decided to stick with him instead (I felt splitting the party was dragging the game), and he started asking to speak to the GM privately about his Dark Secret. They left the room and were talking for a few minutes whilst the rest of the group sat at the table waiting… this happened a number of times during the session.

Afterwards I started thinking many dark secrets wouldn't be fun to play hidden as some of the suggested secrets for each class seem like they would come across as dickish behavior if it wasn’t understood that you were playing a dark secret (rogues having kleptomania, fighters having a desire to cause pain to everyone etc.).

Anyway, I brought my gripes up with the other players after the session and told them that I was simply going to share my secret with them, since my understanding was that it was a secret to other NPCs, and possibly some PCs, but not the players themselves. It feels like it wasn’t written to be hidden from players since it’s possible to even gain exp from it at the end of the session; I.e playing it as intended would necessitate having it revealed.

The players disagreed and said they would keep their dark secret a secret because it’s “rules as intended”. This ultimately made me wonder if it is supposed to remain hidden or not? Has anyone had any problems or confusions with this mechanic?

Well, I find it O.K. when players keep their Dark Secrets hidden from other players, as it can be a great source for roleplaying and affect a PCs action in weird ways that IMHO do not have to be explained. I find it funny when the Dark Secrets are revealed through play, situational and very natural. Debate is open whether a new Dark Secret is to be picked once the old one has been "revealed", but I like to think of it as a kind of "bad habit" or allergy that come up situationally.

However, any Dark Secret should IMHO be greenlit by the DM (before playing starts!) for two reasons:
- the wording and the consequences (triggering the Dark Secret "comes at a price") should be written down, so that the GM can incorporate them into the game; it's nothing private to a player
- the trigger, severeness and effects should be verbalized and balanced between the PCs

Unfortunately, Dark Secrets can quickly evolve into "XP generators", and they can be formulated so badly and generic that they might be triggered at will (granting XP every time...), while some others might only become relevant once in a PC's career. They may even be abused into something beneficial (e.g. "I have visions of the future" - so the PC becomes a plot device, gains knowledge, and XP; but what's the penalty?)
The GM should IMHO be wary not to accept everything, to balance things between PCs and construct a "mechanical" penalty that's connceted with the Dark Secret once it's triggered, so that consequences become clearer. Will not work with every idea players may come up, but it makes handling easy and avoids discussions in moments when other things are more important.

I play a Hunter who is used to sleep under the open sky, and when he has to sleep in a tent, house or cave, he could find hardly or no sleep at all (and become Sleepy as a penalty). This was formulated without any gameplay experience and just as an idea that would suit my idea of the PC. It worked quite fine, because the penalty was very clear, but during play I found it hard to define when the effect would actually be triggered, because it could easily escalate. After some sessions I decided to make it more specific, and I eventually modified it into "must see the stars to sleep", because social life suffered esp. when not journeying, and spending two weeks in a dwarven undergorund fortress was quite a hell for him... It took the other players surprisingly long to figure out this personal problem, though!

What you describe in your post sounds terribly annoying and that is not the intention of Dark Secrets, imo. The Dark Secret should not be an excuse to be a dick and it should certainly add to and not subtract from the group's enjoyment. In my experience, some Dark Secrets work better when they are known to the other players, so they can riff off them and others don't matter if they are only known between GM and player until the others figure it out.

Dark Secrets that are in contradiction to the overall group concept or cohesion should not be allowed. If a player wanders off to follow up their own dark secret once in a while, that may be less annoying, but it should not be a regular occurence. Downtime in boardgames is bad enough, in RPGs I find it even worse. Separate what the player knows from what the character knows and everyone at the table can be involved and have fun all the time. I personally hate this "let me wander off and talk to the GM in private" BS and we have banned this from our groups.

As GM, I love secret dark secrets, it lifts the game to unexpected hights. Some of my players have picked quite awesome ones, that are kept a secret still after a year of the game. Luckily, none of them are xp-farmers.

One of my tables is over discord and roll20, which makes it very easy to keep out of the other players face and time (the equivalent of passing a note). Smooth, as astealth roll to e.g. sneak off in the night can be made as a whisper to the GM.
My other table is live, and there I solve it by discussing dark secrets on discord between sessions. So far, it hasn't disturbed the other players. I know their dark secrets, so a nod or something like that makes me understand that they are affected by it, or want to act on it. And then we'll play it out over discord.

Tl;dr - secret dark secrets are awesome. It's possible to make it work in a non-disruptive way.

I appreciate the reply folks I don't see much discussion on Dark Secrets tbh, so it's nice to have some replies. My question to those of you who keep them secret as players is: What does keeping it secret accomplish that can't be accomplished with them being open to the players?

You mentioned discussing the DS over discord, but couldn't those things be played out in game in front of the other players? If you're doing things outside the game on discord, doesn't that mean it has little effect on the game anyway? And if it does affect the game, doesn't that just result in the player just repeating the events that happened outside of the game that could've otherwise just been explored in the game first hand?

Personally, I see a Dark Secret as a PC's trait, something that influences - directly or indirectly - the figure's actions, attitudes and behavior. I like to reflect that in roleplaying, if possible, and other players must not know about it - just the GM who should be aware of it, because some Dark Secrest require "higher powers" to unfold (like "Hunted by the Rust Church"). After all, the Dark Secret is supposed to be a detriment in some way, "You have experienced something before the game begins that has left its mark on you or still threatens you in some way." and "Did you suffer from your Dark Secret? (concerning gaining XP from triggering it". This IMHO requires some player/GM agreement/preparation, but does not affect the players among themselves. I also find it funny/interesting to find out these dark spots. I am not certain if playing out something outside of the common game table (virtual or real) makes sense? From my experience this distracts from the main plot and in the worst case leaves the players waiting for individual side affairs, which can be quite frustrating. Dark Secrets should IMO be integral part of the main action, and not an excuse for individual ego trips.
BTW, in my group we have stopped to award XP for triggering any Dark Secret because the chances to do so turned out to be so uneven that the XP reward inbalance stirred up discussions. We have a dwarf who had some beef with the Rust Church in the past, and there was in two years of our campaign only a single occassion to hint at his Dark Secret. A Wolfkin in our party is afraid of open fire - again only a single occasion where a situation arose that this could be played out. On the other side, my elf hunter suffers from a kind of claustrophobia (leaving him sleepless if not under the open sky at night), and this would realistically be triggered anytime when we spent some time in civilized areas. Hard to find a compromise for everyone.
However, we play them out, nevertheless, keep them "officially secret", but rather integrate an "XP flat charge" per session for this game aspect that is evenly distributed among the group (as a part of a general increment of XP handouts after we decided to switch to the Reforged Power system of equal Skill and Talents costs while Skills limit Talents).

My question to those of you who keep them secret as players is: What does keeping it secret accomplish that can't be accomplished with them being open to the players?

You mentioned discussing the DS over discord, but couldn't those things be played out in game in front of the other players? If you're doing things outside the game on discord, doesn't that mean it has little effect on the game anyway? And if it does affect the game, doesn't that just result in the player just repeating the events that happened outside of the game that could've otherwise just been explored in the game first hand?

The way we do it: We very rarely play scenes on discord. We use it for the quick check-ups like "you noticed I was effected by my dark secret, right?" "of course, take an xp", or "what I actually did when I said I had to take a breather was..."

Why secret? Me and my players love the secret missions in Gloomhavenn, Mutant Chronicles Citadel, and in all sorts of roleplaying games. We've played year long campaigns of Kult with loads of secrecy inbetween the players, to the point of whole sessions revolving around it. I guess you either love or hate that sort of thing. For me as a GM, I can lean back and let my players intrigue and act out things. Lead the plots and the drama. The dark secrets of FBL delivers this in a mechanically lite way.

Examples of dark secrets in my campaigns (Ha, I really hope none of them reads this!)

* One PC is in love with another PC, and they both hail from a culture where homosexuality is heresey.
* One PC hear voices in his head, that compels him to do trickster things for the vague promise of a reward. Actually, it's more intricate than that, but he doesn't know more than so and I can't spell it out here because of spoilers. (He also thinks he is a half-elf... but he is not.)
* One PC was, due to neglect, responsible for burning down a big part of their home village, which killed another PCs parents. Probably the best dark secret so far.
* One PC is a liar, and has made up a Legend of her own, that the others want to travel to (as a way to get everyone out adventuring). It was probably the wierdest dark secret in play.
* One PC tries very hard not to become greedy like her parents (which seems weirdly random for the other players).
* One PC, a smith, forged their best weapon for a murderer.
* One PC is afraid of magic. I cannot recomend that one...