Shadow of the überplot, Is it necessary to break from canon? Options

[Talia Invierno]

Not so very long ago, Polaris mentioned that because PCs were never going to be able to affect the major NPC Players (and thus risk the FASA/Wizkids überplot), the Shadowrun universe was fundamentally nihilistic. Within an average runner’s lifespan, the major megacorporations may as well be eternal monoliths. The important background Players will always have Ultimate ratings and thus will succeed at all things, while the runner is handicapped by the precise opposite. In an environment where any real competition is viewed with suspicion, it is most likely that any PC who has developed sufficiently to pose a potential threat will also be the first to be targetted by one or more of those megacorporations or Ultimate NPCs before that threat can become immediate and real. The nail that sticks out is the first one to be hammered down.

For a campaign to thrive, it is vital, I think, for the players to feel that their PCs can in fact influence their social and political environments. At the same time, our own world rarely seems to acknowledge each and every individual action – little fish, big pond – and it would seem unrealistic to assume that the Shadowrun universe is any different in this respect.

How to resolve this apparent contradiction?

In order to be able to influence, the players should first care what becomes of their PCs. This usually implies an equal caring for what becomes of the PCs’ social environment: contacts, friends, family, even belief structure. I’ll assume here that the GM has already co-examined with the players what their PCs find important and is willing to weave it into the plot structure, and I’ll assume that the players are equally willing to allow such “hooks” into their characters. (Not all will agree with the desirability, let alone the necessity, of such hooks. To these I'd ask only one question: what's the point of the PC's existence beyond basic survival?)

While all actions do have effects, the degree and sphere of a PC’s effective influence grows with that PC’s power: a series of concentric circles. Even as a larger stone thrown with greater skill will leave far more ripples in a pond than a small stone which may well sink apparently without trace: the more powerful the PC and the greater the action, the vaster will be its visible effects on the Shadowrun universe. As the PCs grow beyond the scope of a small, local “pond”, NPCs important to the PCs can be used to draw the team into ever larger “ponds”. Perhaps an unknown NPC in an adventure can be replaced with someone familiar? or a new group contact draw the group into a wider circle? Perhaps some incidental paydata turns out to lead to something far more profoundly far-reaching than the original run which “serendipitously” acquired it? Perhaps you've destroyed the local Hellmouth (but there's another one in Cleveland)? ;)

Some groups may choose not to venture beyond their own, familiar pond. For these groups, better to become highly influential within a tighter, familiar social environment that has immediate personal relevance than to perpetually seek the chance of influence on a wider, but less personal, scale. It’s a perfectly valid choice. The important thing is that the players are potentially able to effect visible results within the social environment they have chosen.

Where a campaign continues to grow in its sweep, however: I suggest that it is essential to grant the PCs visible results of their actions on a (slowly! but) ever-increasing scale. In this last case, if frustration of action is not to eventually cycle the group into passivity and/or violence for its own sake, I suggest that eventually the players must have the option to escape the shadow of the überplot. Without that potential, any actively growing campaign must eventually hit the glass ceiling of canon, an unyielding barrier against which all the PCs’ best efforts cannot but be thwarted, their utmost come to naught … for the canon überplot cannot be changed. And at this point, that timeline covers a considerably wider range than the lifetime of the average runner.

It’s fatalism at its finest. Within such an environment, would not a player be justified in thinking: “Why care?”

[nezumi]

[hrm... this comes off as rambling.. hope you can get something useful from it : ) ]

Something to keep in mind is this was developed based on the Cyberpunk genre, and the core ideas of the cyberpunk genre were 'corporations are god' and 'it won't make a difference'. Thats the runner's great dilemna, while they are freelancers who don't have to work for the system and can make a difference, the truth is they do work for the difference and are largely disposable. When the ideas arose in stories they were exciting because they related more to peoples' fears of being totally owned by the corporations they worked for or hated. In a big way, the question does come down to 'why care', and that in itself is perhaps something to build a campaign around. Why should your character not kill himself? What can he find to keep himself going? For many players your contradiction isn't an issue because the challenges are inherently internal (ooh.. good for roleplaying!)

Obviously, this makes for a very depressing game. I would certainly say let the characters make small differences at realistic goals. It might take a year to close down that Ares plant polluting the sound, but its possible. But why do the characters even care about Harlequin jauntying around, doing his elfy stuff? It's out of their league and that's how life is. If you let the characters change the plot over the entire universe, as they grow they will eventually feel equal to those things they compete against and the game has ended. So I don't see why there shouldn't always be some things which are simply undoable and some tough goals which are certainly achievable. Where you draw the line depends a lot on your players and the mood of the game. Go ahead and let your characters reach epic levels, they do it in the Other Game. For me, after reading plenty of cyberpunk, I put that line pretty low for a long time. Thats why the game is described as gritty, because all in all, its depressing and life sucks, and for some people that's good.

[BitBasher]

I think there is no contradiction.

The ability to affect their world and the ability to affect the world are entirely different things.

The players can have a profound effect on their own existance, and the NPC's around them, via their actions and motives. That has not a damn thing to do with the metaplot as a whole not altering the fundamental world itself, and I don't see anything wrong with that.

You didn't cause a series of events that caused Hussein to fall, yet that does not make the event any less significant to the world. To that end I don't understand the mentality that players need to impact anything metaplot related. There are millions of world changing events in the world right now, and it's unlikely that you are involved in any of them.

The PC's are just players in a world. What should matter are the things that matter to them, their hopes and dreams and desires. Their pain and anguish, feats and triumphs. Their lives should mean something because it means somehting to them, not because of some false comic book sense of heroics. There should be an emotional attachment to the character and their ordeals and lives instead of some artifical uberplot that solely exists to move a story forward.

I don't believe there is a "glass ceiling of canon" I think that using canon storylines as a method to propel a campain forward is a crutch for GM's that cannot create a compelling world and life story for each of the characters in their game. I don't think that canon world events need to have any place in the game except something to read in a newspaper.

I think their sucesses should be their sucesses and not the uberplots. Their failures should be their failures and not the uberplots. The only time a player should say "Why Care" is because they were placed onto a path that was already finished before they started. Predestined. By not even starting that route the PC's never end unfulfilled. The best way to avoid walking down the path of damnation is to look at the map and not go that way in the first place.

They would be apathetic because the GM chose to put them down a path they were not willing to violate, by choosing to make the party direct players in the metaplot. Instead of leading a campaign the GM has chosen to follow one, and be lead down a road which shackles them.

The preceeding has been an excerpt from:
"GMing and ZEN: Shadowrun Philosophy"
-By BitBasher.

[mybrainhurts]

Just because the big uberplot cannot be changed doesn't nessicarily mean that the chartacters actions are pointless or that they have no reason to exist.
I mean, how many of us truly believe we are going to massively change the world, probably not many, but most of us keep on living anyway, going to do whatever we do with our lives. even though we may not significantly impact the world, we still make an impact in a smaller circle, which is still significant to us as to make us care, whether this impact is having a spouse and children, or whatever. Similarly, even if you decided that the metaplot couldn't be changed, the characters would still have purpose on a smaller level.

However i don't see any reason why the characters couldn't affect the metaplot, it would just be fragging hard to do, I mean, dodger, captain chaos, damien knight and so on are very, very good at what they do. If a character could grow powerful enough, get a strong enough rep and sphere of influence, and work to achieve what they have done, they could do it, it would just be incrediblyh difficult and unlikely for them to get that far.

[nezumi]

Um.. yeah, I like what BitBasher said better. Pretend I said that.

[Siege]

I'm sorry Tal -- I really enjoy your posts, but when you start quoting Polaris...well...

The uber-plots are interesting to read and a GM will determine how much of the uber-plot affects his/her players and vice versa.

A GM could have players on the scale of an IE or Dunkie if they really wanted to -- they could play CEOs of mega-million corps. Or they could be one of the faceless minions in the shadows when the star walks by.

Either view is completely possible. Hell, I'm a reasonably bright person and I can buy a hunting rifle with a scope. Want to lay odds I might be able to alter the course of current events?

The twit that tried to assassinate Reagan and ended up spawning the Brady Bill changed current events, although perhaps not the way in which he intended.

Is the game nihilistic? Not as much as it could be. It's certainly not as bad as Cthulhu or Cyberpunk, but nor is it the rpg equivelant of Neopets.

-Siege

Edit: fixed typo/edit

[bwdemon]

This depends a lot on the players.

Some players want an arms race, with progressively bigger damage and progressively more important opponents. If they aren't facing and defeating something bigger and better than what they faced last week, they aren't happy.

Other players don't mind a mix of success and failure. They look for more of a television series feel to the game, with each season presenting new and interesting challenges without making everything bigger and better than it was yesterday.

Still other players don't like success at all. Life is grim and even when they're doing good, they want to feel like things are only getting worse.

Personally, I'm in the second group. My characters' goals are never things like "take down Ares Macrotechnology" or "kill all dragons". Neither, to me, is even remotely realistic or possible over the course of a game for a single character or even a runner team. Those things are bigger and better than any single character could hope to take on. That's an essential part of the SR feel, IMHO.

To be fair, I also feel that each person is entitled to their own opinion and gaming style. So long as the players and GM can work out a game, I'm just happy that people are playing SR. The important thing is knowing what you and others want out of the game you're all in.

[Crusher Bob]

I'll have to point out that many of the 'classic' cyberpunk books, {b]do[/b] have the characters changing the world. IIRC in Neuromancer and Hardwired, major corporations fall. In Johnny Zed, the government is overthrown. The books that follow up When Gravity Fails (forget the names) have the main character becoming a rather important 'political figure'. Snowcrash has the characters saving the world (more or less). Personally, I've always found meta-plots to be pretty bad ideas, since they will almost certainly not match up with any groups playing style. I much prefer the method present in In Nomine, where several potential plot threads are thrown out in the books, but it’s left up for the GM to actually do anything with them.

[Bira]

I find the notion that the metaplot cannot be changed rather curious. You don't have to be a slave to the metaplot just because you buy the books. In fact, your gaming life might improve a lot if you don't inexorably tie yourself to the designs of the Company :).

There's no problem at all in running a game where the characters actually do have a chance of stopping the Horror Invasion without help from any dragon or IE, or one where they actually manage to geek Damien Knight, or to shake the pillars of heaven in a number of other amusing ways. They don't even have to be 300-karma monsters regularly chucking 40 dice for everything in order to do it.

Altering the world is very cyberpunk, or at least very punk. Your world won't stop being gritty or shadowy just because your runners did something that altered it.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

I can't believe for a second anyone can follow the metaplot exactly. That is, unless you're writing it.

I also think Talia's initial comment on uber-PCs is a bit off. I've seen great uber-PCs exist and play in challenging games, but I also think that no one would rationally want to target a freelancer of such magnitude. I think it's perfectly reasonable that different corps will try to do everything they can to keep them on their side, but if I had access to a freelance, deniable asset that I had reason to believe would be of more use to me dead than alive--which in general such a pure merc would be--then the last thing I'd want to do is kill them out of spite. Blackmail them. Use their hits against you as leverage for you. Use their service to know how to protect yourself against them and their ilk. But short of them sodomizing the board of directors, they're better off alive and under control than dead and useless. Of course, if they have an agenda then they'll have institutional enemies who would go after them regardless. Likewise with all of the other personal/professional enemies they created to get where they are.

By that rationale, why is Fastjack--or any other canon Prime Runner--still alive after all these years?

I think the metaplot's nice to have. But I prefer the fact that there's enough omissions in the metaplot to drive an earth-shattering event through with nary a hint of reference or influence on the metaplot. And if the metaplot gets in the way, well--too bad for them. It's not like the Gaming Police are going to bust down the door and stomp on your neck for having the temerity to run YOUR game.

[Kagetenshi]

I preface the following statement with the warning that I am a great fan of Nietzsche, and tend to have viewpoints similar to those he professed.

Honestly, the runners can't do a thing, they can't make a bloody fragging bit of difference unless they get really lucky (they're the team in Harlequin's Back, or the one in Brainscan (less so this one), or the team in SotF or similar). They're drops in the bucket, and the bucket is floating in the ocean.
They are nothing. NOTHING. Zip. Zero. Nada.
You know what? So are you. So am I. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair." Runners just have to face it more directly because they work day-to-day in a profession that exists only because corporations need people they don't care about, need people who can die for all they care.
The job of the player and the character is to come to terms with this, the fact that they will not make a difference in history, and in all likelihood will never even make a difference in the short term. Then, recognizing that, they live their lives knowing that their lives have no meaning that they do not bring to it, and that even that meaning is artificial. They know, and they don't care.
Shadowrun is about the Ãœbermensche, not the sheep in their cubicles and offices believing that they're doing something that matters, but the people who have realized that in the end it doesn't matter and have chosen to live anyway.

~J

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

What the hell?

I'm sure idealism runs rampant in the shadows. I take that back. I know it.

All of the best runners I have seen and played are the complete opposite of your description. They have a purpose, and their existence matters because they matter to someone or something, and vice versa. Their place in the universe isn't exactly of paramount importance. To be honest, I doubt any of them really thought about it. Their world is affected by them because it is small enough to mean a damn to them, or to others. In my case, my characters have all ended up rejecting completely the premise that life is meaningless and all this nihilistic bullshit. Some began with the search in mind, others began where you describe and were dragged into rejecting that idea kicking and screaming (In one case, almost literally). Otherwise, life sucks because the meaninglessness eventually wears on them, or has, and they grow up. As far as they're concerned, they matter in their own little corner of existence. Their family, friends, teammates, hopes, dream, fears all matter to them. They can change the world because they can affect their surroundings, and more importantly, their perceptions. Just because it doesn't command millions doesn't mean that, to them, they don't matter.

From the player perspective, this is utter lunacy. Why bother playing if there's no purpose behind the creation of a character and the formation of that character's own little world. If the character's existence is meaningless then why play? I can think of better forms of mental masturbation that require less effort and time. My characters have meaning. It's impossible for me to think of creating a character in this context that doesn't involve ripping this preconception apart in the character's mind and my own. From the character perspective, it's virtually impossible to conceive within the frame of their existing sphere of influence.

This hasn't always been explicit to me, but it is in the context of memory and perspective. And I have thought about this in probably the same way as you are describing. And then I rejected it, because, frankly, it SUCKS. It left me cold and distant from everyone. It made my gaming suck, too, because what's the point of playing a character and going on X run? However, it also did help produce the best writing I've ever done as a result. I had a character whose whole life was just completely screwed. He lost everything, including the one person whose life gave any meaning to his. He existed, but only technically. And he eventually went on runs, going through the motions but not actually caring about whether he lived or died except in an instant survival instinct. But his current (once-former) teammate just gave up on him and walked out in the middle of a conversation because he wasn't going to let this guy drag him down. His teammate had no hesitation in accepting a meaning in his life. As far as he was concerned, his life had meaning--and he had others whose lives meant something to him. And he couldn't continue to deal with this zombie who used to be a friend. He effectively succumbed to this nihilistic ideal, even at the expense of someone who actually wanted to help him. He ended up killing her, and it wasn't until he was killed, being chased down like a dog, that it finally dawned on him that his life did mean something--to them, and to himself. He just didn't want to admit it. It was all a matter of perspective, and, well, a matter of faith.

I also think it's either arrogant or ignorant, or probably both, to effectively claim that it's foreclosed that an action will be meaningless. But what I do and will do definitely affects people and matters to them--and that's all that really matters to me.

[Kagetenshi]

Exactly. What you do doesn't mean anything in any absolute sense; you will not create greater good for the universe.
But that's ok, because you've got your own meaning.
I happen to think that, in the words of a friend of mine, Nietzsche was a pretty upbeat guy.

~J

[Adarael]

I'm with Crimsondude on this, 100%. The best runners in the best games, in my experience, are the ones who realize that what they are doing is not moving and shaking the very foundations of the earth. In the words of Rorchach, "We do not do these things because they are right. We do these things because we are compelled to." Regardless of what eventual outcomes they might have, they are trying.

They said men could not move faster than 30 miles per hour. They said we couldn't leave the earth. They said we'd never fly through the air. If it weren't for people trying, despite what they 'knew' they couldn't do, we wouldn't be able to do these things today.

But... In a mundane game sense... The metaplot is only as static as you let it be; the 'unchangeable things' are only as unchangeable as your GM makes it. The power structure is only as static as it's made to be. In my current game, these are the things we've done so far:

-Kidnapped one of Lucien Cross's personal bodyguards, thumbed our nose at CatCo multiple times, and not only lived to tell about it - but apparently fascinated the head of the Seraphim. Even though that's the sort of fascination you're better off without.
-Blackmailed Sherman Huang into not blaming us for killing Inazo Aneki (re: Brainscan) by use of some hefty material links we lifted from him, as well as informing him of this on his personal computer.
-Attacked (but not killed - fought to a stalemate and then ran away from) one of the heads of the Ordo Maximus
-Killed Blackwing. Stunbolt. Killing hands fist to the back of the neck. Two Extra Explosive Heavy Pistol rounds in the face, to make sure he stayed dead. Contemplated stealing his cyberware for resale.
-Stolen an assload of money from Lofwyr. Well, one of his banks, but when you steal several million from his bank, it's sort of personal. Then lived to tell the tale by 'packratting' a bunch of very valuable information back to him. Granted, we did have to do a job for him after the fact, but I think SK's been the employer for like the past 3 or 4 big runs we've done.
-Foiled a doublecross set-up on ourselves done by either someone on the Council of Princes or a megacorp at large. (Framing us, as Saeder Krupp operatives, to damage Lofwyr's credibility.)

These are all things that an 'average' shadowrunner wouldn't live to tell of after the fact. I think it's entirely possible to interact with the metaplot and not get swept under it, unable to change it. It's just that so much of the stuff happens on such a massive scale, any shadowrunner who's dealing with it better have a decent number of the following traits:

-Being very good at what they do - a given.
-The willingness to go the extra mile, to go beyond what others would. If this means bloodshed, so be it, but I would consider this more like 'Okay, so our options are suicide or 99% suicide. 99% suicide it is."
-Consummate paranoia.
-The willingness to drop everything and walk at a moment's notice.
-Wiles above and beyond the average shadowrunner - subtlety is key.
-Backup plans within backup plans within backup plans. For *everything*.
-While not neccessarily a 'side', someone who thinks they're useful to keep around. Catch the eye of someone important. Maybe not super-important, but important enough.
-The ability to deal absolutely ruthlessly the moment anything gets wierd - but don't have a penchant for actually doing so unless it's unavoidable.
And, lastly: The desire to fight for what you believe in, *regardless* of the pay. How many shadowrunners can honestly say they've done runs for free, because they believed in what they were doing? Very, very few.

To quote D&D, sadly enough: 'The metaplot is a tool, not a straightjacket.' Think of how many possible splinter runs are created by the shaking of that metaplot - that's the real advantage to it. Runners get to be involved in the changing of the world as they know it. Like in the Corp War suppliment. Runners can look at the shadowfiles about certain holdings disappearing/getting destroyed/being stolen and say, "Yeah, see that? That was ME."

[Squire]

Talia, I completely see your point.

However, I do not feel that it is impossible for PC's to effect their environment in important ways without violating canon.

I have two points to support my view:

ONE:
While it would violate canon for the PCs to bring down Aztechnology or Ares, they can still enjoy victories over Aztechnology or Ares. They can bring down some of the major players in Aztechnology (like nailing a few of the Gestalt). Sure, Aztechnology will replace them, and the horrors will not go away no matter how many times you thwart their plans. But there are victories that are important, had the PCs in Harliquin's Back failed the world would have been destroyed. There is an endless supply of world saving battles to be fought with the horrors that wouldn't violate canon.

Players can thwart all kinds of evil plots from all kinds of players both major and minor. Players can bring down evil AA magacorps or other groups. This can have a major effect on the campaign world without butting heads with canon.

Examples:
1. A rogue mage is in league with a horror. He spends years working on it and eventually manages to summon a single horror into the 6ths world. The PCs fight an epic battle and defeat the horror, thus saving the city from a terrible fate.

2. A group of blood mages make a pact with the horrors for power in exchange for building a new bridge to replace the one destroyed in the Dragon Heart Saga. The blood mages conduct ritual blood magic sacrafices on a massive scale in order to raise background count and start a new bridge. If they succeed, the world end. Fortunately the players thwart them.

3. Evil Manufacturing Corporation has constructed a new factory in Seattle. Unfortunately E.M.C. is a AA magacorp (not on the corporate council, but still pretty damn big and still extraterritorial). E.M.C.'s new plant is producing something new that creates a massively toxic byproduct previously unknown. E.M.C. has been dumping the massively toxic waste into the Pudget Sound because it's the cheapest way to get rid of it and because no one knows about the new byproduct (no one has seen it before) so no one is checking for it. Fortunately, the PCs discover this and gather enough evidence to get the plant shut down, thus saving Seattle from becoming a toxic zone.

4. An Eco-Terrorist Toxic Group has decided that Seattle is a bastion for polluting corporations and that Seattle's destruction is the best thing for Mother Earth. To that end the Toxic's have obtained enough weapons grade plutonium to construct a nuclear bomb and have planted it in Seattle. Their plan is to detonate the bomb and destroy Seattle for the greater good of Mother Earth. Fortunately the PCs learn of their plot and thwart their plans, thus saving Seattle from destruction and the entire North-West from the fall-out and radiation.

All of those things can occur without anyone (besides the PCs) ever knowing they occurred, and without coming close to butting heads with canon.

TWO:
As several other's have said, players can effect the lives of individuals with every run. A day's work for a Shadowrunner can completely alter the course of the lives of a number of individuals (for better or worse). That may not really effect society as a whole, but it sure as hell matters to the individuals effected.

Consider the corporate mid-level manager who hires runners to free his daughter from corporate kidnappers, holding the daughter in order to force the manager to submit to an extraction. The PCs free the girl and reuinite her with daddy. The PCs haven't changed the world, but they sure as hell have changed the lives of the daughter and daddy. As far as the girl and daddy are concerned, they've saved their world.

[Nath]

I think the whole purpose of Threats and Threats 2 books was to provide "überplots" to be driven as you wishes. Some of them like Lofwyr, Mr. Darke, Saito, the New Revolution and Art Dankwalther effectively fall in the 'untouchable' category because they're reused or would have too big consequences. But most of the other only made very limited appearance in the canon since. Halberstam joined MCT, the Ordo Maximus gave Fuchi Cybermantic knowledge ? No big deal for a campaign.

Of course, I've also seen people complaining that the Threats never get a follow-up...

[Munchkinslayer]

Maybe I should up my zoloft dosage, but isn't cyberpunk supposed to be kinda nihilistic? Yeah, SR is a cyberpunk/fantasy mix. And fantasy is all about the little hobbit taking on the all-powerful dark lord and winning. So I'm not saying the PC should always get screwed. But getting screwed and being an ineffective little turd in the great big toilet is cyberpunk for ya. realisticly a gun-toting serial killer (which technically defines your average sammie) shouldn't be able to topple a monolithic corp. Reality is another cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre, right?

[Diesel]

You've got my vote Munchkinslayer. Unless my players are extremely lucky, brillant, and so on, in addition to having the personal help and tutelage of a Great Dragon, they're not going to so much as scratch a megacorp. Annoy a few people inside, certainly, but effect the bottom line? I think not.

[Bira]

Cyberpunk is about "fighting The Man", by taking his tools and turning them against him in some unexpected way. Most of the time, your mere existence is already enough of an affront to The Man, but sometimes you do something bigger (for selfish reasons, rather than for some lofty ideal).

Cyberpunk is about being rebellious and trying to shake things up. Some times, you manage it, some times you don't. Even when you do, it's not always for the best. But at least you didn't just sit on a corner and contemplate the meaninglessness of existence or some other bulldrek those intellectual types keep trying to feed you over the trid, ne?

[Diesel]

Well of course you can try. :vegm:

[Bira]

What I don't get is why people seem to have serious issues about succeeding.

[Munchkinslayer]

[nezumi]

I don't think anyone has an issue specifically with succeeding.. Even the most nihilistic players will say they enjoy winning once in a while. It's just succeeding at things you shouldn't be able to (or too often). And the reason why some people don't like that is the same reason some people like watching sad or scary movies. When I want something happy and jolly, I play the other game. When I want to sweat bullets and survive by the skin of my teeth, I play shadowrun.

[Bira]

But why "messing with the metaplot" automatically equates into turning the setting from "dark and gritty" to "happy and jolly"? And why altering the setting should be mutually exclusive with sweating bullets and surviving by the skin of your teeth?

Someone else has also implied that any game where the metaplot is altered is a "munchkin" game, tough I don't remember if it was on this thread or on some other. Why is that?

[El_Machinae]

My favorite time to 'mess with the uberplot' is when I have a couple players who know the uberplot.

So, I'll have half my players listening to my clues, trying to figure things out. The other half smirk knowingly, thinking they know everything.

But, when I change my uberplot - the smirking players are left scrambling, not able to predict what's next.