Question about scheming

[Drav]

Hi guys!

So I have been wondering about how scheming, secret plans, backstabbing and such are handled, would be handled in role-playing terms.

Let me paint you a picture: I have a character, and he has a minion/partner/employee called Bob (other PC). And then there is Steve (also PC), who is member of an enemy/allied faction. I want to send Bob to talk to Steve, and offer him a deal, where he assassinates his faction's leader (could be PC), in return he gets something from me. I need to send Bob because my character wants to stay unknown in the plot, and doesn't want anybody to find out his involvement (maybe he's a "friend" of this leader, or maybe he's a well known figure).

My question is, how would this be handled in game? Everything is played out in story threads? I'm just thinking that sometimes metagaming would be unavoidable with these cases, it might even happen subconsciously, it wouldn't necessarily have to be intentional. What is the precedence for these kind of things on the site?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Loco]

Hey Drav, we actually have quiet a lot of precedent for that kind of stuff here. Espionage is a very common facet of swrp life.

I recommend reading through the Espionage rules and then ask follow up questions based on that.

 

[Drav]

Thank you for your answer Loco! I have seen that part of the rules, but it was unclear for me how it works in practice.

If I understand it right, sticking with my example, giving the order to Bob to contact Steve, Bob meeting Steve and proposing him the offer would all be in open threads? So readable for everyone? For me this is the sentence that confuses me:
"Preparation for attacks, assassinations, intelligence gathering, etc. must take place in OPEN threads, and must involve no less than five posts, to allow opportunities for response."

Isn't the goal of planning espionage and assassinations in secret that the target has few opportunities to respond?

I'm not trying to argue of course, just to seek clarification. :)

 

[Loco]

You're correct on all counts, and whatever Steve does would also have to be in open threads, unless he triggers the plot (like an assassination) in a legitimate ask thread he's already a part of. The trick to prep threads is to make them look innocuous, as you would if you were conducting espionage IRL. I think the word "response" would be better replaced with a phrase like "attempt to discover the plot" or something like that. The reason for this is that if prep threads were all ASK, there's no risk to any of it, and factions could just indiscriminately bomb and assassinate at will, which doesn't work very well.

Espionage is very much a cat and mouse game, with both sides trying to detect and disrupt the other sides plots. You have to get creative to pull things off.

 

[Drav]

And I guess that also promotes reading other people's stories. Now that you described it for me, I actually like it more than the systems I had originally thought would work in this case. :)

Thank you!

 

[Nor'baal]

As Loco says, you've gotta be creative.
I would say, if in doubt fire a PM over to an RP admin, and make sure that every facet of the plot is RPed out.

I mean, Hutts can't poison senators or steal six threads worth of loot without some scheming!