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[Roleplaying Games] Schrodinger's NPC

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Posts

  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    edited May 2019
    I'll be GMing my first game of Paranoia in ages for a group of coworkers. One coworker is living the company and we used to talk about RPGs a lot and he once heard about Paranoia and really wanted to play it. My usual D&D group is on a break right now (DM is moving, but she will be joining us as a player for this), so they will all join as players for this.

    As only 1 of the 5 players has ever played Paranoia before (and that only was a single session), I'll be using a well-known adventure (Mr. Bubbles), but I have been adapting it a little. The main idea of plaguing the players (all of us work in IT) with spammessages the whole night appeals to me.

    Changes
    The players got a free choice of Name, Tic (I told my D&D DM that her choice of colour blindness as a Tic would give her a lot of trouble in Paranoia, so she switched.) and Firm plus could give a preference which main skills they want to be specialized in and which they didn't want and then assigned them specialties, secret skills etc. as most of them don't know the system. I then gave them the choice of one of 3 mutant powers which I randomly rolled and assigned them each a secret society and mission (secret missions are mostly the same as in the original module). I also give each of them a high-tech toy just to amuse them (a hover-segway, a can of freeze-spray, a graplinghook-gun etc.)

    As for Mr. Bubbles: The original starts early with a dark room, which I think won't work for new players. I'll put the dark room near the end on their way to debriefing (if we ever make it that far). I also don't like the Reality Show bit in the middle and will have a news crew lead them to the next victim.

    As we only have 5 players and 6 mandatory bonus duties, I originally thought to drop the Loyalty Officer completely, but with a bit of rethinking I will have him now as recurring character that will show up at various points to get them on their actual missions, but gets killed/maimed in increasingly gory ways every time they meet him, while he's lecturing them on all the ways they are committing treason (leaving a different limb/bodypart behind at every scene).

    I've also created some special weapons for the group to pick up at the market including, but not limited to (all without manual or decent explanation of what they do of course):
    A-gun: an auto-aim gun that just says "Hot" or "Cold" whether you on target or not.
    B-gun: fires bees.
    C-gun: fights Hyper-diamond superkinetic bullets that penetrate all armour. Except each bullet costs a fortune.
    F-gun: gun that randomly cycles through various Mortal Kombat fatalities and friendship moves.
    S-gun: A silence gun, doesn't kill anybody, but just negates all sound the target produces.

    I'm just looking to include a gang of mutants somewhere. Maybe security at the R&D map?

    Questions:
    The Access stat for each character: I've never been a fan of this stat in Paranoia, because it seems to be redunandant with skills and security clearance. Anybody a good reason the keep it?

    Anybody a big fan of the Reality Show bit? In the original the characters get roped into a Reality Show while on their mission and have to roleplay their characters roleplaying different characters. For a longer campaign, I might consider it, but for a oneshot it seems a bit too busy.

    Any experienced Paranoia GMs with useful tips?

    Dizzy D on
    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    What is everyone's thoughts on Lamentations of the Flame Princess? I am very aware of what it is, but I guess my specific question is: is the transgressive nature of the adventures a gimmick or is there something in this particular flavor of OSR that is worth exploring.

    Some of the adventures look very good but I'm somewhat leery of supporting the products given who has penned some of them (Zak S, for example). But some of it also, tonally, looks very good?

  • Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    i think it entirely depends on what your attraction to it is--it really doesn't do anything crazy from other fantasy heartbreakers from a mechanics perspective, and the author(s)... well

    zak s needs no introduction, and the thoughts of the other guy aren't exactly ones i'd pay for to read, but to each their own. i think if you're looking for setting inspirations you can get the same kind of ideas and vibes from metal album covers and other 'grim' fantasy RPGs without the cruft

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2019
    i think it entirely depends on what your attraction to it is--it really doesn't do anything crazy from other fantasy heartbreakers from a mechanics perspective, and the author(s)... well

    zak s needs no introduction, and the thoughts of the other guy aren't exactly ones i'd pay for to read, but to each their own. i think if you're looking for setting inspirations you can get the same kind of ideas and vibes from metal album covers and other 'grim' fantasy RPGs without the cruft

    There's a few things it does that are interesting:
    • Encumberance rules that don't suck
    • Spellcasting rules that aren't as bonkers as DCC but aren't as bog standard as most other OSR
    • The weird fantasy horror tone - DCC RPG embraces the weird more than the horror, which is something I'm interested in dialing up
    • Module support - it's excellent and probably better than most games in the OSR
    I'm very interested in Carcosa (mostly for the spellcasting rituals) and Veins of the Earth in particular.

    Vanguard on
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Well, I feel better RE: my collection of shadowrun, 5th edition stuff. Looking at the wikipedia page, the vast majority of stuff put out for it is PDF only. It feels like they didn't make nearly as much 5th edition stuff as 4th edition. Maybe it really didn't go over well?

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    Am I betraying the spirit of Call of Cthuhlu by always rolling thuggish combat characters instead of the wimpy professors and nerds you're supposed to be?

    Cause playing thugs in the 20s or 1880s just seem too fun to not play.

    I always assume I will be the first to die by attempting to punch a gas vampire or a shoggoth and fully accept that, though.

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Kadoken wrote: »
    I always assume I will be the first to die by attempting to punch a gas vampire or a shoggoth and fully accept that, though.
    But enough about you, tell us about your characters!

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    I always assume I will be the first to die by attempting to punch a gas vampire or a shoggoth and fully accept that, though.
    But enough about you, tell us about your characters!

    I kind of want to play a more brainy investigator that is basically what if James Baldwin became a PI rather than an author.

    But in the time periods I have played.

    It would be hard mode.

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Athenor wrote: »
    Well, I feel better RE: my collection of shadowrun, 5th edition stuff. Looking at the wikipedia page, the vast majority of stuff put out for it is PDF only. It feels like they didn't make nearly as much 5th edition stuff as 4th edition. Maybe it really didn't go over well?
    The general reaction seems to be "oh hey you addressed the Matrix. But it's, like, still here man. Can you finish getting these spots out of the combat system?"

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    edited May 2019
    finally got around to playing Dresden Accelerated... was skeptical at first (really enjoyed how fiddly you could get with what was ultimately a very narrative game in version 1) but wow, I really like the quick and streamlined approach (badum tsss)

    i think this is definitely the best incarnation of Fate that i've used thusfar

    Super Namicchi on
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Looks like Jason's going to be putting out articles on why they designed Shadowrun 6th like they did.

    http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/2019/05/shadowrun-sixth-world-developers-notes/

    This really caught my eye:
    Skill list narrowed:

    SR5 has 80 skills, while SR6 has 19. That’s a big difference. There’s definite streamlining there, but it comes at the risk of characters not being distinct from each other. To deal with that, players can still select specializations but can also upgrade a specialization to an expertise, giving their character +3 bonus dice instead of +2, and once they have an expertise they can select an additional specialization. This will provide characters with chances to become truly distinct.

    Having to keep all those skills in mind was a bitch and a half as a GM, and that's before specializations were taken into account!

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    That is a big difference. Skill bloat is real but I'm not sure how I feel about cutting down to 19. That indicates they're trying to drop it out of the heavy crunch category of tabletop RPGs. Which, you know, is a good idea for sales. But will probably alienate and split the audience.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.

    You have to count all the weird stuff in Shadowrun, right? So even if the overall list goes super generic you still need skills for decking, drone handling, magic, spirits, etc.

  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    admanb wrote: »
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.

    You have to count all the weird stuff in Shadowrun, right? So even if the overall list goes super generic you still need skills for decking, drone handling, magic, spirits, etc.

    Decking
    Ranged Combat
    Close-Quarters Combat
    Mage Stuff
    Shaman Stuff
    Vehicle Piloting
    Drone Piloting
    Being Athletic
    Being Charismatic
    Being Sneaky
    Blowing Stuff Up

    That's what I could think of off the top of my head. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to get to 19, but it feels like I'd be randomly picking and choosing which fields to go into more detail for and therefore which character archetypes to pseudo-punish because their skills have to be more spread out.

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.
    Ehhh. Thinking on what you do in Shadowrun 19 skills seems reasonable.

    Shooting, CQC, Tactical Nuking, Ducking, Running, Climbing, Hacking, (Drone) Rigging, Driving, Technical Knowing, Trenchcoat Use, Hermetic Magic, Spiritual Magic, Knowing About Magic, Lying, Not Lying, Bullshit Meter.

    That's 17 and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    One-liners & whatever the skill is that you use to miss totally obvious clues in the environment. Perception I guess?

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    where the fuck is gun kata

    @Ardent these skills suck

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Gun Kata is like...Ducking and Shooting and CQC.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.
    Ehhh. Thinking on what you do in Shadowrun 19 skills seems reasonable.

    Shooting, CQC, Tactical Nuking, Ducking, Running, Climbing, Hacking, (Drone) Rigging, Driving, Technical Knowing, Trenchcoat Use, Hermetic Magic, Spiritual Magic, Knowing About Magic, Lying, Not Lying, Bullshit Meter.

    That's 17 and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.
    I'm curious: what do you gain by splitting some of these up into separate skills, like Lying+Bullshit Meter, or Running+Climbing? I mean, I recognize that by deliniating skills, you establish what you want your game to feel like; a game where there's only one Do Physical Acts In A Combat Situation skill that's used to attack, do damage, avoid attacks, and avoid damage, it's impossible to play a tanky brute who's no good at attacking, or a glass cannon, or someone who kills you with a thousand tiny, precise cuts. So, I guess what I'm asking is: what do you feel is the mechanical, tonal, or roleplay value of a system that allows someone who can climb a skyscraper like a fly but gets winded crossing the street? Or, someone who can charm and beguile and mislead anyone, but is completely credulous themselves?

    I'm not even asking about what's appropriate for Shadowrun, I'm just generally curious to hear your thoughts on stuff like this.

  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    I used to strongly, STRONGLY encourage my players to take perception in my games. I'd roll it passively for them, and have them actively roll it. I lived and died by that stat.

    There's another part in that writeup about how they are still keeping Anarchy around as a streamlined, narrative version of the game. Which is good. :)

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • CalicaCalica Registered User regular
    @Endless_Serpents I don't know if I'll be able to actually play, but I would like to know more.

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.
    Ehhh. Thinking on what you do in Shadowrun 19 skills seems reasonable.

    Shooting, CQC, Tactical Nuking, Ducking, Running, Climbing, Hacking, (Drone) Rigging, Driving, Technical Knowing, Trenchcoat Use, Hermetic Magic, Spiritual Magic, Knowing About Magic, Lying, Not Lying, Bullshit Meter.

    That's 17 and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.
    I'm curious: what do you gain by splitting some of these up into separate skills, like Lying+Bullshit Meter, or Running+Climbing? I mean, I recognize that by deliniating skills, you establish what you want your game to feel like; a game where there's only one Do Physical Acts In A Combat Situation skill that's used to attack, do damage, avoid attacks, and avoid damage, it's impossible to play a tanky brute who's no good at attacking, or a glass cannon, or someone who kills you with a thousand tiny, precise cuts. So, I guess what I'm asking is: what do you feel is the mechanical, tonal, or roleplay value of a system that allows someone who can climb a skyscraper like a fly but gets winded crossing the street? Or, someone who can charm and beguile and mislead anyone, but is completely credulous themselves?

    I'm not even asking about what's appropriate for Shadowrun, I'm just generally curious to hear your thoughts on stuff like this.
    Lying is what it is. Bullshit Meter is detecting lying. My real life experience tells me they're two very different things, although most people who practice at one practice at the other, too. But for GAME purposes it definitely increases the drama to make the two separate. That way you can have the sam who's good at detecting lies but couldn't come up with a cover story if the Lone Star handed him a perfectly plausible explanation on a silver platter.

    Running and Climbing are two distinct kinds of physical activity. Running is aerobic, climbing is anaerobic. They're a useful iconic representations for cardio and non-cardio physical activities. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you put "Aerobic Activity" and "Anaerobic Activity" on a skill list you get a bunch of confused players (usually).

    As far as the "value," in this case it's solely that Shadowrun is a game that posits a disparate group of specialists having to work together to accomplish a task they likely would fail at without each other. Without room for specialization you sort of undermine the game's central premise for the action.

    On a more general level, I happily play FAE with 5 approaches. I don't need or even really necessarily *want* those distinctions in most of the games I'm playing or running. But again, Shadowrun traditionally has a bias towards simulationist rather than narrativist gaming outcomes. If they're shifting the entire model to narrativist outcomes, well, first I'd need to see it to believe it. But it'd also substantially change the nature of the game.

    For me what I'd need to see to really consider a new edition worth the time:
    • Cybernetics and restricted gear should require karma to purchase, explicitly. Whether this includes a nuyen pricetag or not is wholly irrelevant.
    • Dice pools need to be restricted. I'd prefer 10 unaugmented, 15 augmented.
    • Emphasize magic. That's the selling point for Shadowrun's flavor of punk.
    • Have an actual plan for the high-powered restricted gear rather than just allowing freelancers to drop it in supplements.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    Gun Kata is like...Ducking and Shooting and CQC.

    ... okay fine

  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.
    Ehhh. Thinking on what you do in Shadowrun 19 skills seems reasonable.

    Shooting, CQC, Tactical Nuking, Ducking, Running, Climbing, Hacking, (Drone) Rigging, Driving, Technical Knowing, Trenchcoat Use, Hermetic Magic, Spiritual Magic, Knowing About Magic, Lying, Not Lying, Bullshit Meter.

    That's 17 and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.
    I'm curious: what do you gain by splitting some of these up into separate skills, like Lying+Bullshit Meter, or Running+Climbing? I mean, I recognize that by deliniating skills, you establish what you want your game to feel like; a game where there's only one Do Physical Acts In A Combat Situation skill that's used to attack, do damage, avoid attacks, and avoid damage, it's impossible to play a tanky brute who's no good at attacking, or a glass cannon, or someone who kills you with a thousand tiny, precise cuts. So, I guess what I'm asking is: what do you feel is the mechanical, tonal, or roleplay value of a system that allows someone who can climb a skyscraper like a fly but gets winded crossing the street? Or, someone who can charm and beguile and mislead anyone, but is completely credulous themselves?

    I'm not even asking about what's appropriate for Shadowrun, I'm just generally curious to hear your thoughts on stuff like this.
    Lying is what it is. Bullshit Meter is detecting lying. My real life experience tells me they're two very different things, although most people who practice at one practice at the other, too. But for GAME purposes it definitely increases the drama to make the two separate. That way you can have the sam who's good at detecting lies but couldn't come up with a cover story if the Lone Star handed him a perfectly plausible explanation on a silver platter.

    Running and Climbing are two distinct kinds of physical activity. Running is aerobic, climbing is anaerobic. They're a useful iconic representations for cardio and non-cardio physical activities. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you put "Aerobic Activity" and "Anaerobic Activity" on a skill list you get a bunch of confused players (usually).

    As far as the "value," in this case it's solely that Shadowrun is a game that posits a disparate group of specialists having to work together to accomplish a task they likely would fail at without each other. Without room for specialization you sort of undermine the game's central premise for the action.

    On a more general level, I happily play FAE with 5 approaches. I don't need or even really necessarily *want* those distinctions in most of the games I'm playing or running. But again, Shadowrun traditionally has a bias towards simulationist rather than narrativist gaming outcomes. If they're shifting the entire model to narrativist outcomes, well, first I'd need to see it to believe it. But it'd also substantially change the nature of the game.

    For me what I'd need to see to really consider a new edition worth the time:
    • Cybernetics and restricted gear should require karma to purchase, explicitly. Whether this includes a nuyen pricetag or not is wholly irrelevant.
    • Dice pools need to be restricted. I'd prefer 10 unaugmented, 15 augmented.
    • Emphasize magic. That's the selling point for Shadowrun's flavor of punk.
    • Have an actual plan for the high-powered restricted gear rather than just allowing freelancers to drop it in supplements.

    So this kinda lines up with what I was saying about having a hard time with 19ish skills. (I know you're not actually advocating this, it's just for the sake of discussion) Take your example there. Why are Climbing and Running two separate skills, even though any Shadowrunner good at one would very likely be good at the other (same as your Lying / Detecting Lies split), but there's just one skill to cover the whole breadth of spiritual magic? Why isn't CQC broken down into unarmed vs armed? Why isn't there a magic combat skill?

    Those kinds of questions are what make me feel like Shadowrun either needs to have a lot of skills, or very few skills. Otherwise you're writing a mechanical disadvantage into the very fabric of the game for certain character archetypes, which seems wrong to me.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Calica wrote: »
    @Endless_Serpents I don't know if I'll be able to actually play, but I would like to know more.

    I’ll drop you a message later today, but in brief:
    The Storm March
    System: Dungeon World. A simplified take on D&D type adventuring. The players don’t take turns, they just go for it, and enemies get attacks based on your own low rolls. This makes for comparatively quick play by post.
    Setting: Floating islands, pioneers and explorers in an undiscovered sky. Light hearted, pulp-like serials. Long coats, flintlock pistols, magic fuelled contraptions, witty quips, smuggling, archeology and duels.
    Some things added for this campaign:
    - I hope to have one thread for party gathering. You might go on an adventure with one other player, or several. After you complete a quest you might share your next one with a different group. This allows people to drop in and out every few weeks as they wish. This will be the hardest bit for me to set up. I need to chat with the mods.
    - Every hero gets a flying mount to get them from A to B. Classes with an animal companion still get their companion.
    - Everyone has a hand in making the world. I’ll ask questions periodically and your answer is true. This isn’t some established world.
    - Go where you choose! I’ll draw the outline of maps and we will find out what’s there as we go. Name locations! Stake a claim!

    Edit: Altered for way too many typos. Sorry folks!

    Endless_Serpents on
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Denada wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Denada wrote: »
    19 skills still feels like a lot to me, considering the types of scenes a Shadowrun character will end up in. I feel like I would struggle to get to 19.
    Ehhh. Thinking on what you do in Shadowrun 19 skills seems reasonable.

    Shooting, CQC, Tactical Nuking, Ducking, Running, Climbing, Hacking, (Drone) Rigging, Driving, Technical Knowing, Trenchcoat Use, Hermetic Magic, Spiritual Magic, Knowing About Magic, Lying, Not Lying, Bullshit Meter.

    That's 17 and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.
    I'm curious: what do you gain by splitting some of these up into separate skills, like Lying+Bullshit Meter, or Running+Climbing? I mean, I recognize that by deliniating skills, you establish what you want your game to feel like; a game where there's only one Do Physical Acts In A Combat Situation skill that's used to attack, do damage, avoid attacks, and avoid damage, it's impossible to play a tanky brute who's no good at attacking, or a glass cannon, or someone who kills you with a thousand tiny, precise cuts. So, I guess what I'm asking is: what do you feel is the mechanical, tonal, or roleplay value of a system that allows someone who can climb a skyscraper like a fly but gets winded crossing the street? Or, someone who can charm and beguile and mislead anyone, but is completely credulous themselves?

    I'm not even asking about what's appropriate for Shadowrun, I'm just generally curious to hear your thoughts on stuff like this.
    Lying is what it is. Bullshit Meter is detecting lying. My real life experience tells me they're two very different things, although most people who practice at one practice at the other, too. But for GAME purposes it definitely increases the drama to make the two separate. That way you can have the sam who's good at detecting lies but couldn't come up with a cover story if the Lone Star handed him a perfectly plausible explanation on a silver platter.

    Running and Climbing are two distinct kinds of physical activity. Running is aerobic, climbing is anaerobic. They're a useful iconic representations for cardio and non-cardio physical activities. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you put "Aerobic Activity" and "Anaerobic Activity" on a skill list you get a bunch of confused players (usually).

    As far as the "value," in this case it's solely that Shadowrun is a game that posits a disparate group of specialists having to work together to accomplish a task they likely would fail at without each other. Without room for specialization you sort of undermine the game's central premise for the action.

    On a more general level, I happily play FAE with 5 approaches. I don't need or even really necessarily *want* those distinctions in most of the games I'm playing or running. But again, Shadowrun traditionally has a bias towards simulationist rather than narrativist gaming outcomes. If they're shifting the entire model to narrativist outcomes, well, first I'd need to see it to believe it. But it'd also substantially change the nature of the game.

    For me what I'd need to see to really consider a new edition worth the time:
    • Cybernetics and restricted gear should require karma to purchase, explicitly. Whether this includes a nuyen pricetag or not is wholly irrelevant.
    • Dice pools need to be restricted. I'd prefer 10 unaugmented, 15 augmented.
    • Emphasize magic. That's the selling point for Shadowrun's flavor of punk.
    • Have an actual plan for the high-powered restricted gear rather than just allowing freelancers to drop it in supplements.

    So this kinda lines up with what I was saying about having a hard time with 19ish skills. (I know you're not actually advocating this, it's just for the sake of discussion) Take your example there. Why are Climbing and Running two separate skills, even though any Shadowrunner good at one would very likely be good at the other (same as your Lying / Detecting Lies split), but there's just one skill to cover the whole breadth of spiritual magic? Why isn't CQC broken down into unarmed vs armed? Why isn't there a magic combat skill?

    Those kinds of questions are what make me feel like Shadowrun either needs to have a lot of skills, or very few skills. Otherwise you're writing a mechanical disadvantage into the very fabric of the game for certain character archetypes, which seems wrong to me.

    Well see you just consult the Skill Web....oh man that monstrosity of a good idea and horrible consequences.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Thank you for elaborating, @Ardent - that was an interesting read. This part especially:
    Ardent wrote: »
    As far as the "value," in this case it's solely that Shadowrun is a game that posits a disparate group of specialists having to work together to accomplish a task they likely would fail at without each other. Without room for specialization you sort of undermine the game's central premise for the action.
    made a lot of sense to me - although when I think about "specialists working together" in the context of Shadowrun, I think "I'm a spellcaster!", "I shoot things!", "I can use Google Maps!", not "I can run!" "Well I can climb!".

    Still, while I see where you're coming from on some of these points, but I pretty much agree with Denada: some of these divisions into separate skills are absolutely justifiable, but don't necessarily make sense to me in context of how other related skills are split/not split, and for some of them it's still not entirely clear to me what you gain by splitting them up. For example:
    Ardent wrote: »
    Running and Climbing are two distinct kinds of physical activity. Running is aerobic, climbing is anaerobic. They're a useful iconic representations for cardio and non-cardio physical activities. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you put "Aerobic Activity" and "Anaerobic Activity" on a skill list you get a bunch of confused players (usually).
    This was actually very interesting to me, because it never in a million years would have occurred to me to split physical skills along the aerobic/anaerobic divide. This is probably because I'm not a physically active person, and I don't work with the human body professionally or as a hobby (meaning, I'm not a doctor/trainer/physical therapist/coach/pick-up basketball player/whatever), so that stuff is not something I know much about or think about ever. So I guess I'm curious: why do you think it's important, or interesting, to split aerobic and anaerobic activity into two skills?

    You don't really need to answer that, because it's getting away from the general discussion and fixating on one very specific hypothetical example. Although if you don't mind humoring me, I'd be very glad to read what you think!

    Ardent wrote: »
    I'd need to see to really consider a new edition worth the time:
    • Cybernetics and restricted gear should require karma to purchase, explicitly. Whether this includes a nuyen pricetag or not is wholly irrelevant.
    • Have an actual plan for the high-powered restricted gear rather than just allowing freelancers to drop it in supplements.
    If I remember correctly, in the podcast that I listened with the Jason Hardy interview, he mentioned that they're removing the restrictions on which gear you can get at character creation, partially because people often ignored those rules/found workarounds, and partially because their thinking, now, is: If we're making these toys, we should let people play with them rather than hiding them up on the high shelf. Now, that doesn't explicitly go against either of the bulletpoints you list here, but it does sound like they are maybe making restricted gear less restricted. If that's their mindset, then I'm not sure they will be implementing these things (which restrict gear).

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Cross posting this because I’m quite pleased with the outcome. Just a handful of alternate weapons for my next PbP game on here:


    Shadowrun sounds like a tricky thing to manage. Perhaps there needs to be some raw assumptions, like everyone can parkour, and everyone can fist fight. I find a split between running and climbing absurd, but that’s the kind of thing that happens when you get granular I guess.

    Its also interesting to me how often magic is governed by one stat or skill despite how broad it is conceptually.

    I honestly feel like Shadowrun is almost too big, like if I was approaching cyberpunk I’d be like ‘we’re playing anonymous hackers’ or ‘we’re cyborg special forces’ or ‘we’re thieves with gadgets’ and so on. From what I hear an average party in Shadowrun is pulling in a bunch of directions.

    This is not to say its bad, far from it! But that’s more plates than I dare spin.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    Thank you for elaborating, @Ardent - that was an interesting read. This part especially:
    Ardent wrote: »
    As far as the "value," in this case it's solely that Shadowrun is a game that posits a disparate group of specialists having to work together to accomplish a task they likely would fail at without each other. Without room for specialization you sort of undermine the game's central premise for the action.
    made a lot of sense to me - although when I think about "specialists working together" in the context of Shadowrun, I think "I'm a spellcaster!", "I shoot things!", "I can use Google Maps!", not "I can run!" "Well I can climb!".

    Still, while I see where you're coming from on some of these points, but I pretty much agree with Denada: some of these divisions into separate skills are absolutely justifiable, but don't necessarily make sense to me in context of how other related skills are split/not split, and for some of them it's still not entirely clear to me what you gain by splitting them up. For example:
    Ardent wrote: »
    Running and Climbing are two distinct kinds of physical activity. Running is aerobic, climbing is anaerobic. They're a useful iconic representations for cardio and non-cardio physical activities. Nothing more, nothing less. But if you put "Aerobic Activity" and "Anaerobic Activity" on a skill list you get a bunch of confused players (usually).
    This was actually very interesting to me, because it never in a million years would have occurred to me to split physical skills along the aerobic/anaerobic divide. This is probably because I'm not a physically active person, and I don't work with the human body professionally or as a hobby (meaning, I'm not a doctor/trainer/physical therapist/coach/pick-up basketball player/whatever), so that stuff is not something I know much about or think about ever. So I guess I'm curious: why do you think it's important, or interesting, to split aerobic and anaerobic activity into two skills?

    You don't really need to answer that, because it's getting away from the general discussion and fixating on one very specific hypothetical example. Although if you don't mind humoring me, I'd be very glad to read what you think!

    Ardent wrote: »
    I'd need to see to really consider a new edition worth the time:
    • Cybernetics and restricted gear should require karma to purchase, explicitly. Whether this includes a nuyen pricetag or not is wholly irrelevant.
    • Have an actual plan for the high-powered restricted gear rather than just allowing freelancers to drop it in supplements.
    If I remember correctly, in the podcast that I listened with the Jason Hardy interview, he mentioned that they're removing the restrictions on which gear you can get at character creation, partially because people often ignored those rules/found workarounds, and partially because their thinking, now, is: If we're making these toys, we should let people play with them rather than hiding them up on the high shelf. Now, that doesn't explicitly go against either of the bulletpoints you list here, but it does sound like they are maybe making restricted gear less restricted. If that's their mindset, then I'm not sure they will be implementing these things (which restrict gear).
    How you train for aerobic and anaerobic activity is different. The only two activities that really work for aerobic conditioning, in my experience, are running and swimming. You can maintain cardiovascular fitness by cycling, but it's hard to improve absent running or swimming.

    Meanwhile anaerobic fitness generally involves either isometric training and/or lifting weights. Your anaerobic goals will affect things like what you're lifting for how many reps and so forth, but the basic activity is similar. Climbing is a weird activity because you can actually improve your anaerobic fitness doing it, although most people go to the gym and do high repetition lifting instead of training to failure on a climbing wall or something.

    So differentiating them from the perspective of "you've practiced this a lot" is a logical division, even if it doesn't necessarily make a ton of thematic sense. You could just as easily use Swimming and Weightlifting. But Running and Climbing are a bit more traditional to my mind?

    As far as gear: I mean, yes, Sakamoto's Principle is something game designers should really be internalizing; i.e. don't put something in the game you don't want players to be able to get (to). I'm not sure they understand how many problems having two advancement tracks creates with regards to nuyen vs karma gating of augments.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    Oneshot of Paranoia was a big success, I was skipping things a bit at the end as one player had to leave early and we only would have the room for another hour or so. Recap will follow later (currently 1 AM here).

    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • NipsNips He/Him Luxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
    @Endless_Serpents I've discovered I need a PbP game in my life, so my sword is yours if you want it.
    ...
    I really hope you want it. Please?
    ...
    Unless you get an overwhelming outpouring of new player interest, of course; I'll happily step back for other new players to step in.

    JXUBxMxP0QndjQUEnTwTxOkfKmx8kWNvuc-FUtbSz_23_DAhGKe7W9spFKLXAtkpTBqM8Dt6kQrv-rS69Hi3FheL3fays2xTeVUvWR7g5UyLHnFA0frGk1BC12GYdOSRn9lbaJB-uH0htiLPJMrc9cSRsIgk5Dx7jg9K8rJVfG43lkeAWxTgcolNscW9KO2UZjKT8GMbYAFgFvu2TaMoLH8LBA5p2pm6VNYRsQK3QGjCsze1TOv2yIbCazmDwCHmjiQxNDf6LHP35msyiXo3CxuWs9Y8DQvJjvj10kWaspRNlWHKjS5w9Y0KLuIkhQKOxgaDziG290v4zBmTi-i7OfDz-foqIqKzC9wTbn9i_uU87GRitmrNAJdzRRsaTW5VQu_XX_5gCN8XCoNyu5RWWVGTsjJuyezz1_NpFa903Uj2TnFqnL1wJ-RZiFAAd2Bdut-G1pdQtdQihsq2dx_BjtmtGC3KZRyylO1t2c12dhfb0rStq4v8pg46ciOcdtT_1qm85IgUmGd7AmgLxCFPb0xnxWZvr26G-oXSqrQdjKA1zNIInSowiHcbUO2O8S5LRJVR6vQiEg0fbGXw4vqJYEn917tnzHMh8r0xom8BLKMvoFDelk6wbEeNq8w8Eyu2ouGjEMIvvJcb2az2AKQ1uE_7gdatfKG2QdvfdSBRSc35MQ=w498-h80-no
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    @Nips

    Yeah! Always room for you mate! Honestly I doubt I’ll get more than five folks, it’s a bit of a pipe dream to run a West March style game. However since it’ll be long running more people can join at any time, so I might eventually get what I’m after.

    It’ll be considerably more down to earth than Glamjin’s Tower of Glory, and be far more about player driven goals and a sense of community. And fighting monsters, discovering ruins, and returning home to party with the gold you claimed.

    I’ll tell you more later, but some things to think about:
    - Make up your race. Doing so will make it common enough that NPCs will share it and it’ll become an option for later players. Ideally you’d be near human, but it’s up to you how they look. Just like in GToG, you can use an existing race move or I’ll make you one.
    - Make a flying mount. Something horse sized with wings. I’ve decided ‘screamwings’, giant bats, are pretty common, as are ‘krake’, flying octopus-like things. Maybe there’s giant parrots too? Whatever you like.
    - Lastly, make an NPC. You’ve got a connection to them; sibling, partner, student of, mentor to, friend, rival etc. They’ll help populate the town area and can interact with anyone. Give them a job too. So if you think your character needs potions, they’re a potion brewer, for instance. They don’t need to be complex at all, name, connection, disposition, job.

  • joshgotrojoshgotro Deviled Egg The Land of REAL CHILIRegistered User regular
    @Nips @Endless_Serpents

    I think I've settled on a Saint Bernard/Chow Chow mount sans wings.
    Most of the people from my island never left 17th century Paris behind. Image in spoiler for a quick reference for common looks.
    bav2ivc7kou9.jpg

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Very nice! That’s a great pick for your look and culture. Part of the reason for floating islands is to allow for whatever culture you like.

    @Nips @Calica @Elvenshae @joshgotro
    I will be making a recruitment thread on Saturday at 1600GMT. There’s no rush to finalise a character sheet over the weekend, as after I’ve got a few names signed on we’ll move onto Session Zero, in which we will shape the world a bit first. Then we’ll build your character, mount and such step by step, as I know some of you haven’t played before, let alone figure out my added extras for this setting.

    From there party/ies will gather and I’ll make a separate thread for your first adventure.

    The recruitment thread will stay open for new joiners, and for when you return to the starting area to regroup.

    Can someone point me to an active mod of this part of the forum? I can’t see who’s who on my phone.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • joshgotrojoshgotro Deviled Egg The Land of REAL CHILIRegistered User regular
    @Endless_Serpents picture is mostly for clothing.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    @joshgotro Gotcha. I was thinking on the replacement to your race move. If you don’t choose an existing one, how about:
    Unwavering Resolve
    When you are defeated, in battle, argument or contest, you carry +1 ongoing to defeat them. If you break off your vendetta, you take a debility until you next Make Camp.



    To add to the actual thread, what’s the one thing you don’t want to see in a game you play? Sick of goblins? Don’t want to save the whole world? Any setting or system, I’m just interested.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    Paranoia: Mr. Bubbles recap (part 1 of how many it will take. Whole session took about 4 hours in total, with dinner in between). Cut up into easily spoiled chapters for readability.

    Our cast
    • Bob, works in the food industry. Has the mutant power of acid blood. Secret member of the Frankenstein Destroyers with the mission to destroy all robots he encountered (preferably by getting somebody else to do this, but he kinda missed that point). Owns a hover-Segway and has the forbidden skill of Illicit Drug knowledge. Can’t remember any names, even his own.
    • Stan, our R&D guy. Is actually not a mutant and is member of the Anti-Mutant Society. Secret mission to take DNA samples of identified mutants and mark them with their power. Owns a Spy-Drone with Control-monocle. Knows more about forging papers than any loyal citizen should know. Always the last to leave a room.
    • Randy, a courier. A mutant matter eater. Secret member of Pro-Tech with the mission to scavenge bots of rare chips to be sold later. Owns an Airbag-vest that automatically inflates when hit. Either cooperative or combative based on the glasses he’s wearing. Knows more about programming than anybody of his clearance level should know.
    • Marcia, a clerk at permits & audits. Has the power of X-ray vision. Secret member of Free Enterprise with the mission to protect bots and scavenge damaged and destroyed bots of valuable parts. Owns a holographic projector. Expert at fraudulent accounting. Is deadly afraid of paper and will destroy it with fire if she can.
    • Henk, a middle manager at archiving. Has the power of superspeed. Secret member of the Illuminati with the mission to test the mind-altering effects of various drugs on his teammates. Owns a grappling gun and has the secret knowledge of Pre-Reckoning culture. Never looks at a person when talking to them.

    Prologue:
    During the prologue, head of the Troubleshooter Initiative, Gunther-G-HUT, introduces our groups in individual sessions to the daily routine of a Troubleshooter. Each member gets told that their Bonus Duty is the most important part of a Troubleshooter team:
    Randy, skilled in Management and Violence, is excellent leadership material. As a leader, his task is the most important task in the team; he guides them and makes the big decisions. He receives a shock-stick to “motivate” his underlings (though he doesn’t know what the “stick” does).
    Henk, skilled in Pharmatherapy, is the best choice for the Happiness Officer. As Moral Officer, his task is the most important task in the team; when motivation falls, the team fails. He is given a bag of happiness pills (real bag of candy given to the player).
    Stan, member of R&D, is obviously the Equipment Guy. As the Equipment Guy he’s the most important part of the team. He alone can determine which equipment the team gets, who gets to use which equipment and make sure the essential equipment is operational. He gets a multi-tool (big wrench that can change into other mechanical tools).
    Bob, master of stealth, is the perfect C&R Officer. His task is the most important as he represents the All-Seeing Eye of Friend Computer itself. He receives the Multicorder and can project the soundtrack for his movies (gets to roll to ask for appropriate music. Success or failure picks appropriate or non-appropriate songs of a songlist I made on youtube).
    Marcia, mistress of rules and regulation, is the Hygiene Officer. Her task is the most important: 3 in 10 Troubleshooters die of infection. She gets a can of anti-bacterial spray… do not get it in your eyes. Or on your skin. Don’t breathe. Certainly don’t eat it. Keep it away from fire.

    Act 1: The Trambot
    Our team get printouts from their bosses that they need to go on a special troubleshooting mission. (Marcia got a separate scene as I needed to address her attitude to paper. Her boss, familiar with her tic, took care to first laminate the orders before giving it to her in a scene filled with tension.) The team is ordered to enter a specific trambot to a [error unknown] sector to find a briefing room, then go to sector [nope] for equipment for the mission. Finally take another trambot for Debriefing.
    Arriving at the station, their loyalty officer (though they didn’t realize this back then), waves at them to enter the trambot, but before they can arrive, the doors close and the trambot leaves. Leaving the bloody stump of his arm behind.
    The team surprised me by not phoning for assistance (medical or cleanup). Marcia disinfected the arm, while the team went on to introductions before entering the next trambot. Unmarked, they had no idea if the trambot was the correct one. They took it to the next location. On their way, they made a brief stop as the trambot powered down. In darkness Stan tried to take a DNA sample of another member, but missed and Bob tried to plant his illegal tub of ice-cream on Henk, but also failed. Leading to people pushing each other in the dark in a cascading reaction.

    Act 2: The Briefing Room
    Arriving at the (or rather a) trambot station, the team had the choice of three doors: one green, one blue and one red. They all (very obedient little citizens they still were at this point) picked the red door.
    (The green door would have been closed and just get a response of “Occupied!” If opened, a green citizen with his pants on his ankles and a newspaper would remark that this was all very unhygienic. The blue door had an auto-turret and a lab filled with flesh-eating, running plants.)
    The red door opened to a briefing room: cheap folding chairs, a screen that was on, but without any image on it, spreading a grey light through the room. Some small light near the entrance and a door to the right plus a small podium in front. Henk went to open the other door, but found it closed. Marcia tried to use her X-ray vision to look through the door, but it backfired, allowing her to look through EVERYTHING, leaving her in an empty void (from her perspective). Turning around Henk found somebody hiding beneath the podium.

    The person, a paranoid gentlemen dressed in orange, was afraid that these people were sent here to kill him (or worse eat him). Henk, as a good Happiness Officer, recognized the signs of a Happiness Overdose. They tried to calm the man down, but he panicked and revealed a grenade in his pocket.
    Meanwhile Hank was feeding various pills to various members (Stan and Bob’s players later told me that they immediately recognized that he was trying to drug them and avoided his pills after that).
    Marcia’s wailing regarding her sudden “blindness” makes the nervous officer immediately suspect mutants (well, he was not wrong) and the Loyalty Officer knocking on the door outside and claiming “Locking Red Doors is treason.” really pushes him to set off the grenade. Immediately Henk and Stan both try to shoot the Orange Officer, both missing. Randy then tries to shoot him, just as Bob tries to push Randy on top of the grenade. A bad roll and Bob misses Randy and just falls face-first on the floor (which turns out to be lucky for them). Randy hits the Officer who drops the grenade that rolls towards the locked door and explodes. Marcia (never knew what was going on), the Officer and Randy are all caught in the blast, as is the Loyalty Officer standing on the other side of the door. Stan and Henk are singed, but functional, Bob is mainly OK.
    GM-problem: they pushed the Orange Officer a bit too quick to panic before he could give them a (fake) mission. Plan B: Orange Officer has a print-out in his pocket with a current crisis.
    A trambot arrives and throws to postal bags on the station. From the bags crawl two new clones of Marcia and Randy.

    Act 3: The Infrared Market
    The formerly locked door, now opened by an explosion, allows them to leave (Finding only a leg of the poor loyalty officer). Outside there is a huge (illegal) market. Henk.. tries to sell the leg to one of the food stands (he’s lucky his clone will die soon, because cannibalism would be a lot of treason points at debriefing). A tiny marketing droid tries to send the team to the weapon stand, but both Randy and Bob, caught op in their anti-droid rhetoric immediately decide that the droid must be destroyed (excuse: the droid is telling them that their Computer-assigned RED weapons will be insufficient. This is clearly Treason!) Bob earns some Points by convincing Stan to shoot the droid.

    Oh well, GM-creativity to the rescue: Cindy, the elderly woman operating the weapon stand, walks up to them, flanked by two ED-209-looking killer droids and demands payment for her damaged bot. Stan stands tall. The two droids immediately wipe him out. Randy tries to report this, but notices that all communication to the Computer are jammed. He tries to intimidate the Infrared-ranked citizen, she just laughs. He then shoots his RED laser at the guard droid. It just bounces off and the guard droids executes him too.
    Stan and Randy’s clones arrive by Pizza Courier, who inflates the clones.
    The group will now admit that they could use a little more firepower and are willing to negotiate. A new Loyalty Officer comes running in, claiming that buying goods at an illegal market is treason, but he too is shot by the Guard Droids.

    Stan choses the following weapons for his team:
    [*]Marcia gets the G-gun that shoots clouds of sleeping gas at any pests and opponents. It will never be used.
    [*]Bob gets the F-gun that has a dial with multiple stands. Stand 1 fires a jet of flame. Trying to turn it and it breaks off, leaving the next uses randomly decided by dice and picked from a list of Mortal Kombat Friendship and Fatality moves. (Stan gets bonus points to use his repair skills to fix the button and rolling real well, so now Bob can pick settings on the gun, but still doesn't know what each setting does until he tries it).
    [*]Stan himself picks the B-gun. It will fire bees. It will never be used.
    [*]Henk will get the A-gun, which contains an auto-aim function. He will proceed to throw brilliantly and burn Points at every single shot for the rest of the session, never needing the assist function.
    [*]Randy gets the Whammer, a giant hammer that is just a jet-engine on a stick. It will get to see amazing use during the session and I’m happy I included it.
    GM-problem 2: The team then immediately decide instead of moving forwards to return to the Briefing Room.

    Act 2: The Briefing Room (again)
    The team searches the briefing room. As it just had an explosion go off in it, not a lot is to be found, but there is still a printout with a (fake) mission in the Orange Officer’s pocket, so still a chance to move the story forward.
    GM-problem 3: Marcia with her paper-phobia is the one to find the printout and immediately tries to burn it. Bob manages to save something. Good enough for me. Just the title is visible “Attack of the Scrubbots”. (Whether it’s a news article, a briefing or a script for a movie is unclear and suits me just fine.)

    They try to contact the Computer and ask for clarification regarding their mission. The Computer immediately changes the subject to the dead Orange Officer, which quickly turns into accusations of mutants all around. The Computer sends med-bots to take DNA samples of each member to check for mutant genes.

    [*]Marcia tricks the medbot into taking a sample of the Loyalty Officer’s leg (properly disinfected before, not realizing that he too is probably a mutant) and is identified as a mutant and executed by the team.
    [*]Stan obviously passes the test with flying colours (None of the others seem to realize that it’s a possibility that one of them actually isn’t a mutant and are emboldenend by his success)
    [*]Bob acid blood melts the needle. The medbot notes this down to malfunction and Bob passes by default.
    [*]Henk’s blood is so filled with various pills that the blood sample is impure. He passes the test.
    [*]Randy sneaks off while the others are being tested and covers his hands in the blood of the Loyalty Officer. (an idea so stupid, that it earned him some Points from me.) The last medbot looks around, finds nobody else and the medbots leave.

    Randy returns to the party with his hands covered in blood and is evasive as to why. This sets off a fight between all party members, not helped by Henk now throwing himself at his secret mission with gusto, nearly everybody is on a mixture of happy pills, depression pills or hallucinogenics. Randy, under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, tries to attack the rats coming from the wall that form a face that mocks him. First he tries a shot with his RED energy pistol. It misses, but spooks the others, who draw their weapons. Apart from Marcia who runs for cover. Then with a Whammer attack, that triggers Henk to shoot him right in the head, but the hammer flings uncontrolled around the room at high speed and takes out both Henk and Bob. (Lesson learned: jet-engined warhammers in enclosed spaces are not a good idea. But they are an awesome idea).
    GM-No Problem #1 : All this allows the GM to drink his beer as they are doing all the work at this time. Good little players.
    A copterbot flies over the market and drops some bombs that don’t explode, but open up with new clones.

    The team decides to move back to the market (and the plot. GM innerly rejoices). They have picked up the bait that their mission is to destroy Scrubbots, though Marcia still insists that the mission is to cure them and that the writings of a crazy person should not be trusted. (She is not wrong).

    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Paranoia: Mr. Bubbles recap (part 2 of 3). Cut up into easily spoiled chapters for readability.

    Act 3b: The Infrared Market
    Arriving at the infrared market, the team finds a green citizen, Marco-G-BUD, being attacked by a scrubbot. Some terrible shots later, they do manage to deactivate the bot without completely destroying it. Stan actually manages to open the bot and log in and finds the program Bubbles.exe running on the droid and Marcia finds out that the program was placed there when the droid was in its docking station.

    Marco-G thanks them and gives them 50 credits each. My good, greedy players accept and are all immediately infected with adware and spambot software. Let the games begin. I made them note down his name as so far my Troubleshooters hadn’t asked ANYBODY for their names apart from each other at the beginning.
    In the original module the team gets shanghaied by a producer into joining a Reality Show where each needs to adapt a persona, but with the new players, mutant powers, secret organizations, tics and limited time, it would make things too complicated. Instead a reporting crew, led by hotshot reporter Lois-O-LNE with soundperson Cindy-I and cameraman Fabio-I (the one name they do pick up and remember), arrive on the scene and are immediately disappointed that Marco survived.

    Negotiations start between Troubleshooters and the Reporters for the footage Bob captured of the attack, Lois is willing to pay a small, but decent sum before Cindy’s police-scanner goes off and notifies them off another attack. Faced with the opportunity to capture some live footage, her offer is rescinded, but now the Troubleshooter want to catch a ride with her. A new deal is struck, they can tag along, in return Lois and crew get some sweet Troubleshooter-on-Killer-Scrubbot action shots (allowing me as GM to push them when they are waffling around. We only have 1 night to play this.) And right around …now.. the whole team gets pelted with spam-notes every 2-3 minutes. Randy and Stan both stupidly reply to the spam-mails/click on the links therein and immediately receive a second dose for their trouble.
    GM-note: These are all IT people in real life. They should know never to click on links and reply to spam.

    Act 4: The scene of the crime
    A bit of a change from the original module, in my version the scene of the crime is the Food Factory of Chips&Dips where algae chips are produced. Entering they find a sobbing Red Security Guy, a pack of people in Infrared labcoats, rubber gloves, facemasks and hairnets baking chips and making dips and a small table with four Infrared workers that are covered in what everybody hopes to be mud (it isn’t), smoking and playing cards. Stan tries to stab Bob with a syringe to get a DNA sample, but the acid blood once again melts the needle. (Stan’s player told me later that he wanted to ask the Computer for a new needle, but realized in time that the syringe was provided by his illegal secret society.)

    Marcia, the Hygiene Officer, is immediately triggered by this breach of regulations and scolds the four Infrared Workers, their leader explains that they were working upstairs on the toilets/sewers, but the factory manager send them all downstairs, because he needed to do something on his computer. They are completely unimpressed by her otherwise. She sprays them with the hygiene spray, but it really doesn’t help much.

    Randy & Bob are badgering the poor security guy, asking him what’s going on. The guy heard his boss scream for help, but he is upstairs in his office and he is pretty much afraid of everything. Bob tells him he’s unworthy of his job; he should have kicked in the door! The poor guy takes of his red hat and cries and walks away. The five go upstairs to kick in the door. Me: “The door is yellow.” “We *don’t* kick in the door.” is the immediate response.

    GM-note: My mistake, the guy upstairs should have been Orange level and the door should have been Orange as well. Slight mistake.

    Marcia uses her X-ray vision (this time successfully) and gets a note that she sees a dead guy and a robot just cleaning away. She states that she thinks the guy is dead and they should leave, but can’t really explain why she thinks so.
    The team goes outside at the prodding of Lois and her crew; they want to see some action! As a generous GM I lay out the three options they see (they have figured the individual options out themselves, I just help them by listing them):
    - Kick in the door/open the door: quickest way, but security breach.
    - Climb on the roof. There is a large chimney there with metal hand-and-footholds that will provide them access to the roof. (The chimney itself is a sucker trap)
    - The guys told them they were working on the sewers and there is a large sewer grate here.

    Bob's attempts to plant illegal equipment on Henk finally succeed. A high-clearance tub of icecream is found and Henk remembers that his special tool is a grappling gun and one of his skills is rockclimbing and he climbs the chimney to escape. Then for reasons I still don’t get, he decides to use his superspeed openly to quickly run along the chimney to the top. The others immediately open fire. They miss cause Henk is out of range, but Henk decides to hide inside the chimney and climb down (maybe it’s the red suit that makes people want to climb down chimneys?) I state that due to the smoke he passes out and drops down the chimney into the oven below, but he receives a lot of points for entertaining me. Marcia’s Player returns and Henk can explain to her what he did. Randy calls in a mutant sighting, but Emergency Services tell him that there already is a Emergency Response team on their way.
    GM-note: With the team on the way, I can’t have the clone arrive quicker than emergency services, so Henk’s latest clone will be stuck in traffic for a bit.

    After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at climbing by Bob and Randy, Stan makes it in one go (the multitool changing into a pickaxe probably helped a lot) Bob asks how high his hover Segway can float. About 5-6 feet is the answer, but it should be enough for him to reach the handholds in the chimney and Bob, Randy and Marcia (and the Reporting Crew all follow).

    On the roof they see a large windows into the office and Bob and Fabio both set up for a sweet shot (Fabio even calls in a helicopter for an arial shot) as Randy takes a running jump with his Whammer (Stan helps by sabotaging the window first, to which my response was “it’s glass, he has a rocket-powered hammer. It’s going to work.”.) He rolls really well, so he crashes through the roof and smashes the Scrubbot.
    While the others investigate the dead body and his desktop PC, Randy in a brilliant move manages to use his powers to secretly *eat* the scrubbot without anybody noticing. I shower him in Points.

    Stan hacks into the PC and finds messages from Marco-G that he sold their identities to Fred who puts them on a list (Fred is the dead body). They also find a threatening message from Mr. Bubbles to take him of Fred’s list and a program sending spam messages on the computer. They turn off the spamprogram. At once the teams comes to a set of completely wrong conclusions:
    - They belief that Marco sold them out to be put on a kill-list.
    - They now want to find Fred, who they believe to be Mr. Bubbles. (as I said, the team never bothers to ask people for their names. A weakness I will remember for future sessions with some of them.)
    At this point Henk’s clone arrives alongside a blue Police Tank. The two officers leaving it take their team to get suited up and Henk climbs through the roof to join his team.

    The Blue officers kick down the door and tell everybody to stand against the wall with their hands up. Randy claims that they didn’t do anything, it was the Scrubbot that killed this guy. (The Scrubbot he himself just ate….) The Police ask “what Scrubbot?” Marcia claims that she cleaned it up. Randy thinks “That was a freebie.”
    Marcia then talks back to the officers and gets shot for her “resisting arrest and tampering with evidence”. The rest immediately figure out how things are and the reporting crew quietly disappears from the roof. Things quiet down quickly though once Bob shows them footage of the Whammer attack, which both cops agree is a pretty sick move. Spirits are lifted, as far as the cops are concerned the robot killed the guy, the Troubleshooters kill the robot. Case closed, let’s get some donuts. They also scold the poor security guy on the way down, telling him that the Troubleshooters did his job.
    The team is a bit stuck now, mostly due to not taking any notes or never asking for names. So a memory roll (psychotherapy) from me allows Henk to remember that Marco-G was going to a place called Bits&Bots. So the team makes for that way.

    GM-note: If the team had gone through the sewers, they would have fought four mutants down there. Big green mutants with the remains of their red, orange, blue and violet overalls. Alas, not this time.

    Dizzy D on
    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    I stopped my eyes exploding into blood and being taken over
    With the power of love

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