[RPG] How to throw off suspicion for the big reveal in a way that it is not unfairly blindsiding them

gm-techniquesstory

In my plot I have a big bad obvious "dark lord" type villain… who is the pawn of the hidden evil mastermind. Basically said mastermind created a threat to ensure that everyone bands together to fight it, and elects him Supreme Chancellor (not literally) to fight the apparent big bad. I'm trying to pull off a big reveal that they have been pulling the strings the entire time.

Of course the players took one look at the friendly NPCs who offered support and said out loud "I don't know they are not behind the whole thing".

I feel like the meta plot might be way too easy to scope out so I have been going out of my way to throw suspicion off the mastermind. I'm worried that it will take away from the bond I'm trying to form between the players and mastermind. And if I totally throw suspicion off I'm worried it might seem like the twist is unfair.

Here are some key elements of his motivations that might help.

  1. He believes that the world is in danger and that he is the only person who can save it, by seizing control.
  2. He is, by design, too smart for his own good, and right for the wrong reasons.

  3. He knows one of the PCs has a secret that they themselves don't know the scope of. He has helped them keep the secret, and desperately wants to know it himself, but since there was too much heat on him I have not had him offer assistance in figuring out the player's past.

  4. He is starting to despair that the "forces of good" can actually carry a victory against his straw man, who he intended to be much easier to defeat.
  5. My original intent was that if he believed the good guys could not win he'd "die" and take direct control of the bad guys, who would suddenly fight to win. And likewise if he believed the players could not only win but also save the world he would likewise "die" and not be bothered to care.

Is there any way to save the plot without angering the players?

Best Answer

If the plot is "way too easy to scope out", then perhaps your mastermind isn't as smart as he thought he was. This happens in real life a lot - search for "dumb criminals", or just look at famous examples in history. Why would anyone be so foolish as to invade Russia in wintertime? Yet it has been tried more than once, by people who "should" have "known better". Hubris, tunnel vision/thinking, or religious fervor can blind smart people to the downsides of their plan of action.

No one, not even a villain, can plug up every weakness. They have weaknesses, vices, or distractions that can provide an avenue for defeat - if the PC's detect them. Detecting them is part of the fun!

If your players' characters are smart enough to figure this one out, then you should give it to them. That's part of the game - allowing them to come up on top by smart thinking and strategizing. This applies especially if your players prefer combat as war, where "even" fights are not as emphasized.

Even once your PC's "know", that isn't the end of the story! How do they convince others (e.g. the king, or the Senate) of the mastermind's plot? Can they stop it? Can they trick the mastermind into not realizing that he has been exposed? Maybe the PC's "know" the truth, but local authorities are skeptical and unwilling to send in the Army to arrest the mastermind unless further evidence of the mastermind's plot is presented to them. Do your PC's go out in search of that evidence, or do they try to take down the mastermind alone? Maybe the PC's want to fabricate the missing evidence to get others on their side against the mastermind, but that could backfire in a big way if the falsification is discovered (turning official or public sentiment in favor of the mastermind as a victim of a frame-up campain by those wicked PC's). Maybe local authorities are in cahoots with or under the control of the mastermind already, so the PC's end up getting arrested themselves on trumped-up charges and thrown in prison.