>the players devise a master plan, but conceal it from the

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Because they see the GM as an enemy to be defeated rather then a storyteller.

When really they should know that treating the GM like that gives him a license to act in kind.

>>54800931
You've had players actually try this conspiracy stuff? Are they normally this cohesive?

>>54800931
If I where a GM I would reward my player's craftiness with the chance to live and fight another day. Even if their plan wasn't 100% fool proof their commitment to working together should be congratulated, even if the main arc of the game is postponed while they recoup their resources.

>>54800931
>but conceal it from the GM
Why? what reason could you have for this adversarial mentality?

Either the GM is there to facilitate an engaging story, or you need a new Gm.

>>54800931
Because for an annoying large number of GMs, if you let them in on the plan, the main villain psychically learns of the plan and destroys it out of spite, making all of the players feel like they wasted all that time and effort just fro the GM to cock it up for giggles.

>>54803357
This is very true. Add on top of that how infrequently GM's know how to make a balanced encounter and so resort to metagaming to provide a challenge, and it's really not surprising.
Of course, there's no way it can work. Confronted with a plan that does work the GM can always fiat it to fail, at which point the reasonable option is to conspire murder.

>>54801356 this and of course >>54803314

>>54801356
>cause they see the GM as an enemy to be defeated rather then a storyteller.
Which is often for a good reason.

>When really they should know that treating the GM like that gives him a license to act in kind.
And there's the reason.

>>54803357
Some GMs are bad GMs. That doesn't mean you should encourage the players to be bad players.

I once convinced my entire group to secretly build their character to later form into Voltron. The DM wasn't a bad DM in any sense, and it was mostly done for his benefit at the shock and hilarity.

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>>54800931
>having now expended their limited time/resources on enacting this plan, they are unable to pursue the primary goals of the game and/or are defeated

I think you mean

>having now expended their limited time/resources on enacting this plan, they bitch at the GM until he either concedes and allows their plan to work exclusively through fiat, or they moan about how they're being punished for doing something they believe the GM didn't want them to do