Intrigue RPG

[Erebus]

Obviously it's possible to insert intrigue in almost all settings, but I'd be interested in knowing whether there are RPGs that are really focused on it. I'm guessing Paranoia might be one, but are there others ?

I'd also be curious to know whether any RPG has original or elaborate mechanics for things like deceiving, lying, plotting, negociating, etc. It strikes me as the kind of things that should rely mostly on pure roleplay and I'd be curious to know if some rules (other than basic stats/skills) can genuinely make them more interesting.

 

[Ulminati]

Nobilis. Shadowrun lends itself to it really well as well, same with Birthright and Burning wheel.

Most paranoia games are actually fairly low on intrigue and high on slapstick humor. Players coming back instantly after death as clones and the apparent absurdity of the surroundings (which is of course a plot to lure out communists. All hail friend computer) kills most serious attempts at intrigue dead.

Nobilis has players playing angels and demons working together. Literally. So while you save all of creation from the Excrucians, there's always a bunch of factions vying to increase their Estate at the expense of another nobilis.

Shadowrun of course has players working as deniable assets for a johnson who may or may not screw them over because they became a liability. Nearly every run has some part of puzzling out who you're working for and why they're making you do what you're doing so you can tell if they're going to double cross you.

Burning wheel is the only system I'm aware of that has a fully developed "battle" system for verbal arguments and character/npc goals and motivations are mandatory parts of the character sheet that denotes what the player or npc is going to be awarded "xp" for. We've had a lot of really good noble court intrigue adventures in that system.

Birthright is ad&d with added bells and whistles. So while the rules don't really support intrigue, the setting where every player is a nobleman, powerful archmage, leader of a merchants guild etc. certainly lends itself to intrigue-based campaigns.

I imagine Vampire: the masquerade has a fair deal of intrigue as well, but I've never actually played a white wolf game save for troikas VTMB.

 

[Grunker]

Vampire: The Masquerade is my favourite intrigue RPG, probably. It has a very solid setting and set of mechanics for multi-level intrigue; from very personal, party-based intrigue to global intrigues spanning multiple time periods. It's rich in politics and history. Don't give credence to the rumours about EMO-ness in the setting; those are a result of too many 15-year-old goths warping the setting in their high school games, and the writer slowly losing his mind.

 

[Grunker]

Oh, and GURPS is obviously the best rules system for it

To be honest, if I were to play a vast campaign in Vampire, I'd probably use GURPS as a system. Vampire's system is very good for new players, and very simple and handy for quick resolution of stuff, but if you want a more meaty system, GURPS is pretty great at handling Vampire. Just don't use the rules provided in GURPS: VtM from 3rd edition. The book is OK, but the rules are retarded and encourage hyper-intelligent vampire-wizards.

 

[Erebus]

Thanks for the recommendations !

I'd forgotten about Birthright. I remember that it has some rules about political and administrative actions. While I suspect that having the PCs all be rulers of independent kingdoms would be rather too complicated, giving them or having them acquire holdings (mostly of different kinds) in the same kingdom would be a nice basis for a campaign focused on intrigue.

Can't believe I also forgot about VtM. It's certainly a RPG in which clever manipulation can be more widely useful than brute force. I don't know if the same is true of the new Vampire game.

the writer slowly losing his mind.

I've only read a few of the VtM books, so I can't really judge how they evolve. However, I remember reading the four "Gehenna" scenarios that concluded VtM and thinking "WTF was that ?" Some of them seemed to completely forget about clever manipulation and require that all PCs be complete munchkins to stand a chance. The scenario in which all vampires start slowly losing their powers had great potential, but the execution was terrible (the idea of having the PCs locked inside a shelter during all of Gehenna being unbelievably retarded).

 

[Grunker]

Thanks for the recommendations !

I'd forgotten about Birthright. I remember that it has some rules about political and administrative actions. While I suspect that having the PCs all be rulers of independent kingdoms would be rather too complicated, giving them or having them acquire holdings (mostly of different kinds) in the same kingdom would be a nice basis for a campaign focused on intrigue.

Can't believe I also forgot about VtM. It's certainly a RPG in which clever manipulation can be more widely useful than brute force. I don't know if the same is true of the new Vampire game.

the writer slowly losing his mind.

I've only read a few of the VtM books, so I can't really judge how they evolve. However, I remember reading the four "Gehenna" scenarios that concluded VtM and thinking "WTF was that ?" Some of them seemed to completely forget about clever manipulation and require that all PCs be complete munchkins to stand a chance. The scenario in which all vampires start slowly losing their powers had great potential, but the execution was terrible (the idea of having the PCs locked inside a shelter during all of Gehenna being unbelievably retarded).

Gehenna is indeed the most retarded shit in the history of retarded shit. The Masquerade, in the end, fell victim to a lore-creep that made the setting terribly inconsistent for those GMs high enough on coke to attempt to stay true to the entire mass of lore.

 

[Silva]

Dont know if "intrigue" is the right word here, but The Mountain Witch, Cold City and Apocalypse World are games with a strong central premise of trust and betrayal, even manifested through a nice set of "Trust" mechanics.

The Mountain Witch is a indie rpg about a group of ronins climbing mount Fuji to kill O-Yanma, the witch from the title. Each player takes the role of a ronin and takes a "Fate Card" in secret, that they must realize. Each Fate represents a motivation (like Revenge, Evil Pact, Love, etc) that drives the players acts and can purposedly put some of them against each other. The Trust mechanics works like this: the more Trust points you allocate to another player, the stronger you two get when fighting together, BUT the easier it is for this other player to betray you if he so wishes. Its a ingeniusly simple rule.

Cold City is the same premise on a different setting - a recently conquered WW2 Berlin, where each player is an secret agent from a country seeking Nazys occult secrets, and competing with each other for these. And Apocalypse World is the same premise in a gritty and scarcity heavy... well, post apocalyptic setting.

All games are good but the better one overall, IMHO, is Apocalypse World.


Mountain Witch

Apocalypse World

Cold City