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All my players start out as Norms (the regular human-strength type of character in All Flesh Must Be Eaten). I am playing with the idea of letting one of them secretly be an Inspired instead (the supernatural type of human in AFMBE).

I would start out as interpreting the player's rolls and his abilities as if they really were a Norm, and slowly start buffing their results.

How could I best approach this? Some of my concerns:

  • It will likely cause in imbalance of power within the party, but it will open up possibilities such as supernatural healing of injuries, which may become increasingly needed as the campaign progresses. In my opinion, this justifies the imbalance, but I don't want my other players to feel left out.

    Edit: I have thought about also bumping up other players simultaneously to Survivor, which is basically a beefed up Norm. I think having had several sessions of experience in the zombie world could label them as Survivors, granting them points and abilities similar to Inspired (but not supernatural). This would eliminate some of the imbalance concerns I'm having.

  • I want this to be a secret for all the players, including the to-be-Inspired player. How can I subtly convert their character without creating the sense of 'playing favorites' on someone? Should I talk to this player alone after already playing the campaign for a couple of sessions?

  • I don't want to straight-up lie about dice rolls if I can help it. What are good methods of secretly buffing a player's rolls? Should I include tiny hints of hidden powers each time I buff a result?
  • When the player's character becomes fully aware of their hidden powers, how do I fully unlock their potential? Should they go through another character creation process, where they receive additional points for being Inspired?
Marc Dingena
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    Welcome to rpg.se! I'm not sure this is appropriate as a full answer, but this question's answers feature a totally different approach to a similar power-imbalance situation. You might find it interesting or useful. – BESW Apr 07 '14 at 15:06
  • Definitely interesting and useful, thanks! – Marc Dingena Apr 07 '14 at 15:08
  • It seems odd, to me, that you're calling out this one PC… – okeefe Apr 07 '14 at 15:39
  • @okeefe I am not sure I follow. What do you mean? English isn't my native language, I think your choice of words is confusing. Do you mean that it seems I am playing favorites on a single PC in respect to the others? I have thought about bumping up the other players from Norm to Survivor, which in AFMBE is basically a strong human being, but not supernatural. An Inspired is supernatural, but together with Survivors they would balance quite well actually. I just need at least 1 PC with supernatural powers for a plot later in the campaign. – Marc Dingena Apr 07 '14 at 17:53
  • @MarcDingena, I think I have a similar observation to okeefe. You are making one of your players more powerful. There are games where the power of each player is very carefully balanced with the others and there are games that are not. I'm not familiar with AFMBE so I don't know what kind of game this is, but it sounds like it's not typical for it to be unbalanced in this way. This could create tension between your players depending on how they feel about it when they figure it out, or it could be without problem. I think you should consider how that will alter your games play style is all. – Nate Apr 07 '14 at 18:32
  • @Nate hi and thanks for your feedback. I made an edit a little earlier regarding okeefe's comment which addresses his and your concerns regarding this imbalance of power. To clarify, there are 3 character types. Norms are regular humans. Survivors can be considered humans which are accustomed to the zombie world and much more experienced, but still 'regular'. Inspired are humans which have somehow gained supernatural powers. Survivors and Inspired are actually very similar in strength, because the Inspired trade off some of the skills points of Survivors for 'magic' abilities. Pls see my edit. – Marc Dingena Apr 07 '14 at 18:43
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    My question is: I don't know what your intended story is about. If it's about one character being better than the rest of the characters, then why hide this fact from the players? If all the characters were Inspired, then you'd have less of a problem—you could have them discover during play that they're unexpectedly powerful. – okeefe Apr 07 '14 at 19:14
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    Either make all of the characters secretly inspired, or tell them beforehand that the story is about one of them being special (and, if they're ok with that, then consider if you want them to know which of them is special). – okeefe Apr 07 '14 at 19:15
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    There's no need to pick this choice apart or challenge the question's frame. This is a valid playstyle variation that works fine in local RPG cultures that aren't accustomed to "PC equality at all costs and all factors up-front", as is more typical in NA D&D and Pathfinder cultures. In games/playstyles where PC screen time and reward aren't intrinsically tied to PC power level, there's rarely a need to maintain equal power level. – SevenSidedDie Apr 07 '14 at 20:16
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    @SevenSidedDie That's all true, but knowing why would color my answer. – okeefe Apr 07 '14 at 21:24

1 Answers1

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Let him see the changes, let him know they are real, don't say why

I wouldn't straight up lie about a roll as you mentioned in the question, I would however let him be aware that the rolls and results are not what he would expect. You want him to notice that something isn't quite what he expects. Feel free to be enigmatic about why though.

You can also add to the descriptions about how some things seem easier, how he feels "better". Eventually, he will start figuring out at least roughly what is happening and that may be the time to reveal everything and update the character.

Remember the others

You addressed this directly in the question, but I'll emphasize the importance of remembering the others. How important it is to seem "fair" depends heavily on the group, but some could get antsy about it quickly. One way to approach that is to say that they will have equally awesome opportunities later, but this is that characters time to shine and the others are coming.

TimothyAWiseman
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    A good answer. Another approach to appease the others is to give the powerful one corresponding downsides to their status – Wibbs Apr 07 '14 at 20:19