Names - A metagaming issue

[Varonmeer]

In light of a recent character creation, I'd like to address an issue I've noticed in game.


A buddy of mine made a outcast cleric of Bhaal. He was new to Arelith, and picked Bhaal as his god without having any insider knowledge of the Banite activities in Arelith. He revealed his patron aloud while we were introducing our characters, and it created a scene. There was IC anger and threats. A guy called to him by his character's name to get him to leave the scene. Now that the mob had heard his character's name, he was subject to scrying and assassination bounties.

The problem is, he never told anyone his name. The guy who called to him simply looked at his listed character name and used it to get his attention in the moment. I had been with him IC and on discord the entire time since his creation hours beforehand. If the guy had not made the mistake, my friend could not have been hunted in the way he was.


It is quite easy to envision circumstances where people accidentally refer to someone without ever actually being told a PC's name, or conveniently "knowing" someone's real name after a stressful encounter such as pvp. I want to note that breaking a disguise, or seeing a player's corpse does not reveal their name. Some backgrounds, like the monstrous races would not reveal their names to the community either. From my understanding the only way a name CAN be known to the community is if the character decides to share it somehow on at least one occasion.

So my question is, if I make the conscious choice to never reveal my character's name to prevent the possibility of scrying or bounties being put on me, then if somewhere down the road my name is known should I complain to the DM's about meta-gaming? How has this issue been handled in the past?

To be clear I am totally fine if the verdict is there will be no enforcement, I simply want to know for sure.

[The GrumpyCat]

Hello.

This is a bit of a tough one. In theory yes, you should report it. In practice though, as you yourself hinted, it's something easy to do by mistake. Worse still, it can be done by mistake on someone, then spread. As one person accidently metagames your name, then says it out loud, causing Bob to hear the name, and jump on it thinking the other player discovered it icly ect...

Also remember that, at least in theory, names on property is IC, so if someone spots you entering a quarter you own, they can glean you identity from that. And (at least in theory) no one can send you speedies and/or summon you without a name either.

But that's the long of it, the short of it is:

Yes, you can report such. But I suggest not always doing such as a 'first resort.' If you're in a conversation, and someone accidently says your name? Often a very gentle message may be enough. As in 'haya, my character never revealed their name to you.'

If the circumstances are different, or you get issues from that (polite!) message - then by all means come to the DMs with this. I know some other players have played characters who never reveal their name, so I'd be very interested to see if they post here with any cool and useful tips!

[Varonmeer]

Yeah that makes sense. Thank you very much for the input.

I'm seriously considering not getting a house, or shop to prevent my name being discovered. Giving out my characters name for speedy messengers would also be pretty bad considering I intend this guy to have his fingers in everything.

Now from what I understand of 3.5 tabletop the Legend Lore spell can reveal a target's true name. I'm unsure if this is also the case in Arelith lore-wise, but it certainly isn't mechanically. That said, one could also actively avoid someone they don't trust casting spells on them. They would need a body part of the target, similar to scrying, in order to bypass the need to cast it on them directly. Arelith rules specifically forbid scrying via bodily items (hair, blood, fingers) without the targets OOC consent, so I imagine Legend Lore would work the same anyway.

[The GrumpyCat]

Legend Lore does not reveal someones true name on Arelith.

[flamingfist03]

Sorry to budge in,
from rp perspective you do not need a name for assassination, your description and last location should be enough for skilled assassin to track your identity. Since there is no IG option for that the Name is used.

[LichBait]

You need a name to put a contract on I would think. Putting a contract on the dark haired, light skinned guy with a black shirt probably wouldn't fly at guild HQ.

[Skarain]

I would echo what DM Grumpycat said. Mistakes happen. Your best bet is to reach out at those people on the scene about "hey my character never mentioned their name aloud." It can be a bit tricky afterwards as the scene has scattered, but nothing prevents you from trying. You can always confront people who use the name and explain to them of the metagame and how it did spread.

Another thing i recommend doing is using -disguise skill. Type that ingame and you can "disguise" your name. At low level, this disguise can be breached by anyone due to lack of bluff/perform skill, but that is fine. The whole point is providing other players a visual clue other than your charactera real name. When your real name does not float above your head, people usually realize OOC that you may not be using your characters real name openly and play along.

[Dreams]

The issue becomes more complicated when you add in -disguise and the way people use that mechanic as well. It's easier to simply start a character with the idea that 'Yes, you will be found out' and accept that it will happen probably a lot sooner than you think. I know first hand how frustrating it is when you've spent hours/days/weeks/months in building some secret identity only to have it blown by someone metagaming (whether maliciously or not, this will never really be followed up in any meaningful manner). The RP will continue regardless, so it comes down to accepting that you'll be found out and hope that you can make the most of it.

[RZ]

I'm seriously considering not getting a house, or shop to prevent my name being discovered.

Hijacking this thread with a question:
Is the name on a shop flag considered IC or OOC? I am not talking about the custom name, but about the "This shop is owned by XXX" part.

[The GrumpyCat]

It is considered IC.

[RZ]

Thanks for the clarification! In that case I acted correctly about a month back, phew.