Getting Players To Work Together
An In Dark Alleys article
by Brian St.Claire-King

The Problem: There is not always a common enemy among PC secret lives in In Dark Alleys. Some perceive "the powers-that-be" as their enemy, others (Faustians, Wonderlanders and Professionals in particular) do not. Nor is there always a commonality of experience, except for the very basic commonality that all players know there's something supernatural and dangerous in the universe. So how can GMs encourage the players to work together?

Danger- Let the PCs know that each of them is in danger from some supernatural person, force or entity that none of them entirely understands of is confident in dealing with. Let the PCs find out that the other PCs have supernatural knowledge and abilities and are threatened by the same common danger. The presence of an Outcast can help PCs realize that each has supernatural knowledge, but in a pinch one could use a character's Visions, Spirit Possession, Automatic Writing or Read Minds skills or have information leaked to a professional by his or her bosses, to a Wonderlander by playland entities or to a Faustian by his or her Dance.

Pure self-preservation instinct should get the PCs to seek out each other to combine knowledge and abilities to find a way to survive the danger. If PCs do not seek to work together it may be because the players are not scared enough (make the danger nastier) or have the mistaken belief that they know what's going on and how to deal with it (prove them wrong) or are of the mistaken belief that 'good roleplaying' means overplaying the PC's character flaws and prejudices to a suicidal degree (in this case, kill the character and hope that the next character will have better self-preservation instincts).

Yet the shared threat has limited usefulness. It might strain the GM's credibility with the players to have all the PCs happen to find themselves stuck in a life or death situation with the same people over and over again.

Informants- Each IDA character group knows something different about the secret nature of the universe, a fact which should become readily apparent any time PCs stop to compare notes. With this in mind, after PCs have met each other in the first adventure, it should be natural for them, when confronted with some mystery, to seek out advice from other PCS. To this end, it's useful for GMs to first present the mystery to the player whose background gives him or her the least ability to solve it, thus forcing that PC to seek out help from the other players.

Secret Lives Overlap- There is one important motivation all PCs should have in common: they want to find out what's really going on in the universe. It shouldn't be hard for PCs to realize that PCs of other Secret Lives have knowledge and abilities that can help them solve the mystery or overcome the danger inherent in their secret lives. Such help should hopefully come with quid-pro-quo expected: You help me with my Secret Life, I'll help you with yours. A Faustian could help a Wonderlander uncover the secrets of his past. A Professional could help keep the powers-that-be from coming after a Scribbler. An Animist can issue commends to reapers hunting a Survivor. An Outcast can help a Hero find things to kill.

Professionals- These are perhaps the most troublesome characters to integrate into a campaign, since they have been charged with protecting the world from disruptive supernatural elements, a description which is likely to fit most of the other PCs in the party.

One way to deal with Professionals is to reward them for working with others. The PC is forced to work with other PCs to save his or her own life and ends up, with the help of the other PCs, destroying the threat. The Professional goes to work the next day and is told 'good job' and 'you're getting a raise.'

You could even have an older professional tell the PC that it's okay, even useful, to work with the Touched, e.g. "It's okay to have some… you know… unconventional informants. Just don't start believing the weird crap they believe in and don't make a big deal about it and it will be fine."

Yet a Professional can't walk this line of neutrality forever. As the Professional finds out more about the universe and about the Order, either from his or her Touched friends or from advancing in the order, the Professional will be forced to choose what side to align himself or herself with. This crisis is natural and may come to a violent or sad end for the PC (just like the crises inherent in the other secret lives).

Lost- The Lost are another difficulty case, since they don't have a natural enemy (the powers-that-be barely know they exist) or a pressing danger. Their reaction to supernatural dangers is different from most other PCs: the Lost can usually just leave. A Lost can offer a lot to other PCs (the ability to travel anywhere) but other PCs don't have as much to offer the Lost in return.

The Lost's weakness is this: when they encounter something they can't just run away from they don't have much they can do but go to PCs from other Secret Lives for help. There are a variety of beings that can follow a Lost wherever he or she goes, including bubbles, deserted city objects, dances, anything that invades the mind, even evil or crazy Lost.

A good strategy is to start the campaign with one of these dangers coming after the Lost. Hopefully the Lost will beg for help from the other PCs and will end up owing the other PCs a favor, which the PCs can call in when they get in trouble in subsequent adventures.