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[klingon13524]

I agree with the previous posters, Space Station 13 can be a schemy as you'd like it to be. It's incredible fun nervously trying to come up with a plan that accomplishes your objectives.

[Caz]

Surprised no one has mentioned IRC mafia.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

Why not link direct to the source?

"Their fist big hit was the incredibly popular Baulder's Gate series, a Diablo style RPG"
I don't think I ever raged harder. I'm sure that was put in just to troll me. 

As for a scheming game there isn't really that much that offers it from a "role playing" perspective. There's a couple of sandbox-esce games like Crusader Kings II where you can use scheming and cleaver diplomacy to work your way up the ranks/complete your goals.

If you're looking for something that isn't morally black and white there's a couple things I'd reccomend (although most have already come up):
Early Bioware: already been stated but Planescape Toment is wonderful, as is Baldur's Gate.
The Witcher Series: good cRPG series where nothing is quite as it seems.
Icepick Lodge games: Pathologic and The Void will leave you confused and doubting the concept of morality itself .. if you can keep up with what's happening. :p

EDIT: Forget to mention there's a whole bunch of "paranoia" games. I heard The Ship is meant to be good. Basically you get tasked to kill another player without him/her finding out while you preform mundain actions like eating food and showering on a cruise ship.

[thepodger]

Trouble in Terrorist Town is probably the most fun I've ever had in a shooter.  It's a mod for HL2 Gary's Mod and its awesome.  Not sure if people still play it, but as of last year there were still servers running it 24/7 with decent population.  It's basically Mafia with guns and TONS of paranoia.  Scheming and mind games are 100% of the game, and it tends to attract people who aren't FPS experts, so normally the terrorist doesn't win by outplaying but by out thinking, especially since he's (or they in large games) are greatly outnumbered.

Crusader Kings II is also about plotting and scheming through marriages and betrayals, and its a damn fine game and probably the most playable on release that Paradox has ever released.

[mainiac]

Empire of the Fading Suns played multiplayer (with the NOVA balance mod) is hands down the best scheming game I've every played.

[Ringmaster]

As has been mentioned, the most scheming you could ever get done in a game is probably in Mafia, where you are practically required to scheme against anyone who may possibly be against you and trust absolutely no-one. You can start off either on the board on the bottom of the forum, or try IRC Mafia, or there are browser based variants, such as EpicMafia.

[ConscriptFive]

RPG-wise, VtM: Bloodlines, The Witcher, and Planescape: Torment have non-black&white morals.  Torment sticks out in my head because it was probably the first game to allow you to flat out lie in dialogue choices.

While more of an action game than an RPG, Alpha Protocol has plenty of scheming, combined with a real-world setting that makes the choices and conquences alittle more hard hitting:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 After the first mission, you have an option to let a terrorist go, in hopes that he'll provide you aid in taking down a larger conspiracy.  A few days later, you'll hear background news reports about people dying in terrorist attacks.

In terms of out-right scheming though, you mostly have to look to multiplayer games, since it gets too easy to beat an AI, or diminishing returns makes to easier to just play it straight.  Maybe SS13 or The Ship?

Standout single-player though, The Guild-series is pretty much all about being a scheming and manipulative slimeball in a Middle Ages sandbox.  Super-idiosyncratic, and very European, it's like if the Sims allowed you to kill your neighbors or burglarize their homes ... or go into politics so as to imprison and torture your rivals.  It's an older game now, and Impulse had "The Collection" (Game plus 3 expansions) on sale for a few bucks a while ago.

http://www.deals4downloads.com/games/detail/2jf/buy-the-guild-2-collection-pc-download

[nenjin]

I don't think VtM even comes close to qualifying for scheming. You can betray a few contacts in the time honored RPG-fashion, but most of the scheming involves manipulating you, the player-character. Not you manipulating everyone else.

[Realmfighter]

I don't think VtM even comes close to qualifying for scheming. You can betray a few contacts in the time honored RPG-fashion, but most of the scheming involves manipulating you, the player-character. Not you manipulating everyone else.

He was referring them for their non-black and white morals, not scheming.

[Ghills]

Try Morrowind.   It's a great open-ended RPG that has a ton of factions you can play off each other.  At least 5 of the factions are actually scheming against each other, and you can backstab as you please! Also,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

the whole game is about figuring out who did what in the ancient past, and how you will let it effect the present.

So yeah, the models are a bit blocky and brown is a theme, but I was really sucked in by all the plots and interesting characters.

[Majestic7]

Check out the Age of Decadence demo. You can do a lot of scheming and play the demo through without a single fight as a professional con man. I hope this will be true for the finished game too. Ye Olde Fallouts contained some scheming as well.  There is Republic: the Revolution, a game about bringing about a revolution (duh!) in a dictatorship. It involves a lot of scheming, but is bit of a hit or miss game. People tend to like it or hate it. You might count Hitman series as scheming, when you try to reach the perfect silent killer score instead of going guns blazing.

Then of course there are many multiplayer games - Dominions 3, for example, often includes byzantine plots between godlings to bring down the top dogs. This depends most on players though, the game itself doesn't have many mechanics to support it (other than some anonymous spells).

[Cocoprimate]

Crusader Kings 2? Absolutely everyone plots in that game. All of the characters, all the time, and you have to plot yourself and be on guard against hostile plotting as well.

[Baijiu]

Crusader Kings 2? Absolutely everyone plots in that game. All of the characters, all the time, and you have to plot yourself and be on guard against hostile plotting as well.

I never plot or scheme. Too honorable for that.

Well, one time as Ireland my king lost all his sons, and the daughter that I married off to Norway came to the throne. If she died, the dynasty would have died out, so she did the responsible thing. She hired assassins to kill her husband and newborn son then she married her uncle and had wonderful babies/cousins with him.

I guess that counts as plotting.

[Yodamaster]

Crusader Kings 2? Absolutely everyone plots in that game. All of the characters, all the time, and you have to plot yourself and be on guard against hostile plotting as well.

I never plot or scheme. Too honorable for that.

Well, one time as Ireland my king lost all his sons, and the daughter that I married off to Norway came to the throne. If she died, the dynasty would have died out, so she did the responsible thing. She hired assassins to kill her husband and newborn son then she married her uncle and had wonderful babies/cousins with him.

I guess that counts as plotting.

I started as a Hungarian Duke who controlled maybe 1/6th of the country. Unfortunately, they died under mysterious circumstances, leaving me with their lands. I now controlled a little under half of the country. Meanwhile, the King was pissing off his own vassals, and when a one county province rebelled over some insult, I joined them and declared my claim on the throne, for I was the King's cousin, but I also had the King's outcast brother in my court. Myself and my allies amounted to 2/3rds of the country, and when I was maybe a month away from taking the throne, I died of a wound sustained in battle years before during a war against Muslims. The war ends, the current King is replaced by one of his brothers (not me or the one in my court), and due to inheritance laws I (now my son) possessed what I started with, while my brother (my other son) had his Uncles' former holdings. Bah.

There is a lot of plotting and scheming to raise your dynasty to power in that game.

[Draco18s]

The Guild 1 and Guild 2

You can sabotage your competitors... many many ways...

Definitely a great option for scheming.  Is that other blacksmith stealing your customers?  Ambush and kill him, burn his home and workplace down, frame him for a crime, kidnap him, have him tortured or imprisoned, the possibilities are almost endless.

Reminds me of this.