When relaying messages in private to a player, what do you use as a GM?
For a private message to the GM, what do you use as a Player?

I have used small notebook paper, and today's technology - text and private chat.

Index cards or asides if it's critical. Openly if I feel players are good at stopping themselves from metagaming. I try to avoid stroking the phone in public as much as I can. (But it feels so good! /secret shame )

GM perspective:

If I feel I just can't say it aloud, I will pass a note. If I'm super devious, I may have a few pre-written notes that I hand out simultaneously just to throw people off a scent, enhance what the "real" message is doing, or otherwise add to the confusion.  

Example: in a Rogue Trader campaign, a warp gone away resulted in characters having crazy visions. One note amounted to "You have a frighteningly realistic dream/premonition that the Astropath turns into a daemon and stalks the ship, eating the crew", while the Astropath received one telling her she dreamed the Master of Weapons (or whatever he's called) had turned traitor and was intending to sell her to the Xenos. Everyone else had vaguely distressing but nonsensical messages, but was just concerned enough not to share any details. Paranoia and distress!


I might use the phone more often but since I have a player who has serious issues managing his own screen-time, I can't encourage it.

Paranoia notes.

OR I'll get up and talk with the player(s) in a separate room.

If it is face to face gaming, I use notes or I take the person aside. Notes used to be any handy scrap of paper but I've come to like post-it-notes and pre-printed handouts. The post its are nice since the player can stick the note onto their character sheet or adventure notes for handy reference later.

Preprinted handouts are nice for conveying setting or situation info that the PC would know, but that the player doesn't.

If I do notes, I often prepare banal or spurious notes for the other players to avoid everyone focusing too much on the one PC who just got a note.

Currently I play by Skype which makes physical notes impossible. And oddly enough, e-notes are more difficult as usually two people or two pairs of people are sharing the same computer screen(s). So it is often easier to do the reverse of taking one player aside by asking the other players to leave the room for a minute. If the interaction is much more than a few minutes then I tend to switch to not keeping stuff private or secret. Instead I rely on players separating OOC knowledge and a reminder if they forget if I feel it necessary. Allowing OOC knowledge is a compromise so as not to bore the shit out of people while a party is separated.

Are Paranoia notes from the game Paranoia, or just the sort of banal or spurious note that keeps everyone guessing?

When I was running Albedo at a convention I passed out notes to everyone. Some were blank. Everyone knew something had happened. But not what, or to who if it was not involving themselves.

I don't do private much anymore. Less player vs player in my games these days.

I've used post-its, notecards, small pieces of paper, notebooks (good for keeping track of threads in one place), asides, going into other rooms (with or without multiple GMs/referees), and Internet chat, phones, email, etc. They all have their pros and cons.

Quote from: Omega;919493When I was running Albedo at a convention I passed out notes to everyone. Some were blank. Everyone knew something had happened. But not what, or to who if it was not involving themselves.

That's actually a useful feint. Yoink! Stolen.

Quote from: Opaopajr;919577That's actually a useful feint. Yoink! Stolen.

Just as long as the players know better than to hold up their note to the rest of the table and say "Look my note is blank."

Notes or pulling the Player aside. Haven't tried texting yet.

Quote from: Bren;919592Just as long as the players know better than to hold up their note to the rest of the table and say "Look my note is blank."

And that just highlights my more special players! How useful!

I've had "This is blank.  Was there supposed to be something on it?" from my less clueless players, until I learned to write "Don't show this note to anyone. Pretend it says something Very Important."

Quote from: Bren;919592Just as long as the players know better than to hold up their note to the rest of the table and say "Look my note is blank."

So true. Thats why I promptly asked for them back. :cool:

Quote from: daniel_ream;919618I've had "This is blank.  Was there supposed to be something on it?" from my less clueless players, until I learned to write "Don't show this note to anyone. Pretend it says something Very Important."

Two of the notes read "You are not a spy". One of the players blurted out. "I am not a spy?" and everyone else looked at him suspiciously. For the rest of the session whenever something suspicious happened someone looked his direction.