Levels of Trust in RPGs

When you start playing tabletop RPGs with new people you quickly start figuring out the level of trust that's the norm in the group - how much can you trust those people not to screw you over given the opportunity. Taking a more conscious look at it might help start a conversation about what is the expected gaming etiquette.

Trust Level 0 - the weak are meat

At Trust Level 0, everyone is always on guard and looking for a way to got one over the other players and NPCs. You can expect stuff like mind control, mind reading, vampiric blood bonds, actively stealing from one another, backstabs, betrayals, or even stuff like murdering another PC and stripping their corpse of anything valuable. The GM might also be in on it, using cheap tricks against the PCs, trying "gotchas" to get them poisoned, mind controlled or the like.

Metagaming is the norm - any information you have about the other characters can and will be used against them, and metagrudges will be held - "you killed my previous character, now his son is here to avenge his father".

Generally, this is the sort of stuff you see on /r/RPGHorrorStories. Games filled with munchkins, murderhobos, minmaxers, metagamers and everything in between, because the weak are meat, and the strong do eat. But there is hope on the horizon if the players grow tired of this type of gaming...

Trust Level 1 - Mexican Standoff / Mutually Assured Destruction

At Trust Level 1, the players along with the GM are at a Mexican Standoff or a Mutually Assured Destruction. They don't want to be the ones to start descending to Trust Level 0, but they don't trust others not to screw them over if given the chance. There is still plenty of distrust around, but at least the bullets and the missiles are not actively flying.

This Trust Level is less about actively fighting other players, but more about keeping things secret and keeping your guard up. You still pass secret notes to the GM, you still go off to roleplay away from others when you have something you need to do in secret, etc. Metaknowledge is still valuable after all - stock up on those nukes in case the cold war goes hot.

If things stay calm and no incidents happen, things can move to the next Trust Level.

Trust Level 2 - Deescalation

At Trust Level 2, you have a group that actually starts to open up and lower one's guard. The players learn that you don't need to keep everything a secret from one another, that there is no active threat of someone screwing you over, etc. There is a general understanding that you shouldn't be using your powers against one another, and even the GM doesn't try pulling anything dirty on you.

At this Trust Level you can still see players try to metagame the game, but mostly by reading the GM - "Me and my friends are invited to another party? I remember the last time we had a party it turned into a few people getting murdered. I'm taking all of the NPCs I care about and hiding in my panic room until it's over!".

If things continue the way they do, things should quickly turn into...

Trust Level 3 - Everything in the open

At Trust Level 3, the group finally starts to really trust one another. People don't mind doing anything secretive out in the open and they know the other players won't betray them. The GM plays fair and doesn't wish for your PC to die.

At this Trust Level, a bit of meta-trust begins to form. If the GM assures you there is nothing to worry about something, you trust their word and go along whatever they were planning. If they put your character in a vulnerable position (capturing you, stealing from you, etc.), you can expect everything to return to normal sooner than later. You can even expect them to go out of their way to save your ass if things don't go the way you planned - if you surrender to your enemies, you can expect a way to get back into the game, but maybe with a hefty life debt to repay...

This Trust Level is a good plateau for most groups, where everyone gets along and there is no (undeserved) PVP, but there is still further one can go.

Trust Level 4 - Trust Fall

At Trust Level 4, things begin to horseshoe a bit. While at Trust Level 3 you knew other players wouldn't do anything against you, on Trust Level 4 you once again encourage other players and the GM to do bad things with your character. Once again things like mind control, mind reading and so on are on the table, but this time with a strong understanding that it's not a malicious action between the players.

This Trust Level allows you to roleplay those various aspects of the system and the setting with the focus on making a good story, rather than getting one over the other players. When a GM NPC mind controls you, you jump at the opportunity to cross the party in good faith. When it would be cool for another player to betray you, you encourage them. It's all about having fun and trying new things, even if that's something your character wouldn't like to experience.

Why is trust important?

Some of you might be wondering why is trust important in the game. After all, roleplaying a paranoid person should be equivalent to roleplaying someone trusting, right? Well, there are a few things to it.

First of all, short-term stress can be fun (roller coasters anyone?), but a prolonged stress just induces anxiety and other negative feelings. At low Trust Levels, you might not be looking forward to your game, but feeling stressed about the prospect of spending another long evening worrying. It's not a fun space to be in repeatedly.

Secondly, being paranoid eats away your time. You spend hours worrying about stuff, both in-game and out, and you waste a lot of game time preparing for something that might not come. Recently I've listened to the first episode of Congenials, wherein one player spends over half an hour just setting up plans to secure a safe storage facility for loot they might be getting from some ancient tomb. This was despite them already having an okay storage facility operated by the Guild. But because the player was paranoid of that security not being enough, they spend that extra half an hour lining things up, only for the party to end up not taking the loot from the tomb in the end. So not only was that preparation needless in the end, the GM is not the kind of person to steal stuff from the players, so it was double unnecessary in the end.

Thirdly, having to devote so much resources to protecting yourself means you don't get to explore some weirder character options. Maybe you have an idea for a character that's pretty weak and can't defend themselves, one that's so far from being min-maxed anyone could take them in a fight. At Trust Level 0, they would probably be killed for their starting gear, but at Trust Level 3, you could actually have fun with them.

Lastly, it can be frustrating for a GM to deal with paranoid players. It might be a funny to joke about not wanting to go into the creepy mansion that's obviously haunted, but if that's the encounter the GM prepared for the evening, that's where the characters should be heading. It's not fun trying to wrangle and herd the cats that don't trust the GM not to walk them to their doom. Same about players that take half an hour to cross an empty hallway because they have been conditioned to expect traps, and same with ones that don't want to engage with your plot mcguffin because "never use unidentified magical items, they might be cursed".

Because of all of these reasons, and probably many more, building a level of trust in your group is important. It makes the game more enjoyable and saves you time.

Conclusions

There are different levels of trust you can have in a tabletop RPG, with different behaviours being the norm from both the players and the GM. If you find yourself wanting to play at a higher Trust Level than the one you're stuck in, talk to each other about it and maybe you can start de-escalating the tensions until you reach your happy level and enjoy your game more.