Here are a few tips on meta that could be incorporated.
___ Note meta info ___
To avoid accidental meta, I make notes of what I specifically know via meta so that I don't use that info.
For example: Meta: Fronk is Fromage on SIC.
This reminds me that my character doesn't know this and should never act on this info.
___ Unconnected Info ___
I also do multiple lines for unconnected info. Suppose I know the name Fronk is Fromage on SIC, and he's a bartender at The Sly. I enter The Sly one day and see the alias Fronk bartending at The Sly I see that he has black hair and five earrings in one ear. I have two lines of data here:
Bartender at Sly: Alias Fronk, black hair five earrings
Bartender at Sly: Name Fronk, Fromage on SIC.
I can't act on this information until I either greet Fronk and get his name, or someone says something specific, like, "Fronk is the five-earringed bartender at the Sly." At that point I can make a reasonable assumption to ask, "Is that Fronk?" to a friend if I see Fronk on the streets.
___ Placing a face to a name ___
Another example is identifying people in photos. You've seen the player alias Uriah Irish in person and they've talked to you but never told you their name. You can't make an assumption about the character's name yet! But then this happens:
You see a photo of The Sly.
Frida, Jack, Jake, and Uriah Irish are sitting at the bar.
> .point at Uriah Irish and .ask, "Who's that?"
You point at Uriah Irish and ask, "Who's that?"
Friend says, "Uriah Irish."
Only now can you place the face to the name.
___ Eavesdropping ___
Here's another one. Suppose you're hidden or disguised in a lev.
Frida enters from the north.
Jack enters from the north.
Jack [to Frida] "Frida!"
Frida shouts, "This is my turf!"
SICPuppy says to Frida, "Obey the law, Dreamer!"
You can connect the name Frida to both the face of the player alias Frida and the SIC alias Dreamer. (The SIC info may be completely inaccurate though! Frida may have jumped SIC aliases before SICPuppy said its "Obey the law, Dreamer.")
___ Your character's memory ___
Some things that are unreasonable for characters of limited Perception to remember.
Suppose you talked once on the phone briefly to a character named Canadio who has a "fast and bouncy Canadian voice."
Three months later, you get a call from Canadio and he still has a "fast and bouncy Canadian voice." But he doesn't identify himself.
Is your unperceptive character really going to remember that it's Canadio, or even have a suspicion it could be Canadio? I'd say it's reasonable that your character may wonder, "That voice sounds very familiar!" But immediately knowing it's Canadio because the voice is in your notes from 3 months ago? That's a stretch. Others may see it differently. I choose to err on the side of caution and not recognize the voice.
Let me know what you think of these topics!
