How I would handle the jRPG treachery scene.

(1) The heroes are trying to sneak into the evil bad fortress to stop the worlddoominator.
(2) The heroes round a corner and run into a dozen bad evil killbots, far too much to defeat even in battle mode.
(3) The evil, evil overlord steps out of the shadows and thanks a party member for turning them in. Perhaps she thinks that the quest is hopeless, and is doing this in exchange for the other hereoes' saftety, rather than allowing them to throw their lives away. The evil, evil overlord goes back on his word immediately, leaving the traitor to do the "You said you wouldn't harm them" thing.
(4) The heroes languish in their cell. The traitor takes out the guards, opens the door, hands the heroes their equipment, and begs to be allowed back in.
(5) The protagonist shoots her where she stands.
(6) The protagonist turns to the rest of the team and says that he's willing to answer for that, but right now they have a world to save. They can't afford this to-trust-or-not-to-trust nonsense and risk another backstab.

edited 16th Feb '11 3:39:25 PM by Kizor

Thank you for sharing that. I don't quite understand the point behind this thread, but thanks.

What is this I don't even

Cool story, bro?

And suddenly, penis.

Let's all be smug and spout memes instead of asking what this is, shall we?

I think "what is this i don't even" is a good way of indicating that the purpose of this is not fully understood.

That being said, what is this i don't even

It's a suggestion for a more sensible alternative to Welcome Back, Traitor and Easily Forgiven. In painfully many games a betrayer ruins the party's chances of stopping the local cataclysm, and is accepted back into the ranks of the righteous five minutes later.

But sudden penises are appropriate.

edited 16th Feb '11 3:18:35 PM by Kizor

Yes, sensible if you want to make your hero look like a prick. Not even any hesitation whatsoever?

Not even asking why?

Dude, even if the character is evil it would just be Chaotic Stupid.

You'd think they'd at least interrogate him/her first.

^^Being on the wrong end of a Heel–Face Door-Slam is enormously painful. It's better for the traitor if she doesn't have the time to realize what's happening. The hero can break down once there's a chance, and this is also a good opportunity for a What the Hell, Hero? scene. This should be doable as an I Did What I Had to Do or even My Greatest Failure.

^It should be easy enough to fit her motivations into the You Said You Would Let Them Go scene and the I've-realized-the-error-of-my-ways talk into the jailbreak scene. A lenghtier interrogation would be out of the question because of the ongoing threat to the world.

A more humane response, if the reason for the treachery was something less than completely malign, would be a simple "We can't trust you. We are going this way, you go another way, and don't show your face in front of us again, least not until we save the world."

I could see this as an option in a Bioware game.

Ever played Baten Kaitos? It had pretty much exactly what you describe.

For some time, I've had another take on it in mind:

• At some time, the heroes hide from the Evil Overlord's soldiers.
• One character notices their father/elder brother/etc. is the commanding officer, and discreetly gives him a message. The contents of the message is shown (the most important part being "leave me an answer somewhere near the next stop to tell me what you want"), but the character is not named.
• Later in the adventure, further messages are shown, confirming the father's intent to capture the heroes, and the (still unknown: It's obvious both go out of their way to protect their identity) traitor's intent to help him.
• Capture! The traitor revealed! States outright their loyalty lies with family.
• The father switches sides awesomely (think Teal'c) and both ask to join the party.

edited 17th Feb '11 11:24:51 AM by Medinoc

... The protagonist is kind of a dick.

Death to traitors, I say. I hate being forced to play nice with characters who have stabbed me in the back.

A surprising number of people seem to believe that Murder Is the Best Solution.

Indeed

Kill them

Best Solution to my problems

Yup, great idea, killing the guy after we've seen the motive behind the betrayal, after we've seen that he's lost all reason to betray us again, and before asking him for inside info on the enemy.

I could see this quickly leading to a mutiny against the main character by the party, because he's either snapped completely, or is swinging dangerously close to the person he's fighting, here. Way too dangerous and/or unstable of a person to be the leader.

I approve, simply because of the shock value. Bonus points if he threatens to kill anyone who tries to call him out on it.

Later in the game the Hero could also kill his love interest without any hesitation when given the Sadistic Choice.

The final battle is the whole party against him, after he finally goes too far.

Bonus points if the former Big Bad becomes a Guest-Star Party Member for that fight.

No, the entire party stays loyal but out of fear. Because fuck Nakama.

The problem with this situation is that it's Wrong Genre Pragmatic.

There are plenty of situations in which the party member who betrayed your party should not be welcomed back into the fold, or should be killed. For example, if the betrayal results in, say, the majority of your party being killed off.

Pragmatism over Protagonist-Centered Morality won't come about until the protagonists lose their Plot Armor.

Yeah. In the scenario posited, all they've lost is time. Time is precious, true, but none of the heroes have died, and it's been made abundantly clear that the traitor meant for them all to be spared, which requires that the evil plot not be full armageddon, by the way. And his reward for coming to his senses and re-arming the party is execution?