How do you run an intrigue/mystery campaign when one of your PCs can read minds?
@Colman Not common. One of the players with a psionic PC decided that use of psionic powers will be Really Obvious -- glowing rings and whatnot.
@peterdrake sure they can read minds, but that doesn’t mean you need to put them in the same room as people who know the truth 😂
@peterdrake Have the antagonist use a network of agents who only know pieces of the puzzle. Perhaps there is a telling, distinct part missing from the agents' memories which acts as a clue in and of itself.
@peterdrake and how can they prove they can read minds? Would their testimony be admitted in court? Can they know the truth, but no one would listen?
@peterdrake Plenty of ways to make it interesting. The person who knows what happened and/or culprit may not be around. Someone may be convinced of a falsehood. Reading the culprit's mind may not be enough to prove they are guilty in court.The clues learned from mind reading might be difficult to act upon. An opponent may have planted false memories in key witnesses. Mind reading may come at an unexpected cost, like the target reading the reader's mind in return. Or just go with the flow 😃.
@peterdrake in a setting where telepathy exist, there must be counters. Mind shields are a basic one, either innate or as an item power, along with the ability to detect telepathy. Better than a shield - which can itself be detected - is the ability to hide specific thoughts, or even better, to project false thoughts. Also perhaps there are legal or social constraints on the use of telepathy, up to and including the death penalty for its use. No power exists in a vacuum.
@peterdrake Have the villain send them a red herring. Someone who is totally misinformed, but thinks they're in the loop. Have the villain start using this mole to play with them like puppets.
@peterdrake If someone can read minds, maybe he's not the only one. And maybe someone can EAT minds. Mind-reading minds are tasty, they say…
@peterdrake a combination of minds with the wrong thing written in them and minds protected from reading? How common is mind reading in the setting?