There has been some friction as of late and I wanted to take a few moments to talk about the nature of secrecy and how we navigate it at game. The mystique of the Alchemy system and the culture of the Alchemy Guild is something that is very important to me as a player and that culture frequently causes friction.
We all have secrets and I would argue that secrets are good. Everyone has different definitions and thresholds for what they consider a secret and how they choose to share those secrets with others. In the context of Alchemy, I consider two types of secrets: the lower case “s” Alchemy secret and the uppercase Alchemy Secret.
The Alchemists are bound by a mechanical restriction (our Oath) to not divulge Alchemy Secrets. Sharing these Alchemy Secrets leads to in-game consequences for our characters. There are other secrets (little-s) that would not cause us to break our Oaths, but I would consider that there are social expectations to maintain these as closely-held trade secrets and that it is “our business to know.”
However, we are not a monolith and the term “The Alchemists” is a potentially misleading one. We are a group of individuals with common interests and goals who broadly agree on what constitutes a secret (little ‘s’) outside of Alchemy Secrets. We are each free to make these decisions for ourselves.
It is also important here to draw a distinction between the player and the character. I, Patrick, am not Lesovik; just as Joy is not Kael, and John is not Snaer. A key takeaway is that Alchemist and non-Alchemist players should be able to trust one another to act within the limits defined by mechanical and social boundaries. Both in and out of game.
By way of example, Lesovik takes secrets of all kinds incredibly seriously. He has a number of different intertwining layers of secrets and Secrets™️ that he has learned, been told in confidence or otherwise been read into. Lesovik would never divulge these secrets unless someone was part of the same circle the secret belongs to. He is a man of his word and bond, you will never catch him commenting on the veracity of whether or not Alchemists use baby toes.
Patrick takes these secrets seriously because we have a metagaming rule that explicitly says that if the player knows a piece of information then the character also knows the information. I, therefore, find it imperative that in order to truly keep a secret, you must never tell the secret. There is no uncrossing a line and I find it a burden to ask another player to simply forget something.
Now that I’ve provided background, a few statements to directly clear up some friction and hopefully dispel some misconceptions:
You are not going to be killed for asking questions:
“The Alchemists” have never done this and yet it remains a constant claim that if you so much as give a Holly a look: D-E-D dead, one-way trip to the Gatekeeper with a note saying “plz final.” I will say, however, that if you do ask an alchemist questions that you shouldn’t expect an answer depending on who you ask. “I won’t discuss that” is a reasonable response and so is “[insert character] would probably have more information.”
You are not going to be killed for researching:
Other players are free to spend their time in BGS researching or asking around for information. “The Alchemists” don’t have contact poison in any book that references components! If they did, Roderago would have been dead a long, long time ago. That said, to quote the rulebook: *“Learning without a teacher is possible but dangerous, perhaps leading to insanity or death. The Alchemy Guild provides teaching and requires an oath of secrecy, which can protect you, both politically and magically.”* Interpret as you will.
We are all here to have fun:
I view behavior from other players who aim to penalize us for these mechanical restrictions as inappropriate, much like someone pursuing alchemy secrets to share them or provoke alchemists. A boundary exists where the role-play ends and out-of-game personality clashes begin, and I would like to avoid these clashes.
I personally find this to be an engaging play style at LARP and I am more than happy to discuss any of this further. Seriously, come talk to any of us. I understand that it is not a play style everyone enjoys.
Thanks,
Patrick/Lesovik