Just as Break is getting ready to ship I found something else that looks like a good time, this time a solo RPG called Astroprisma. I’m a sucker for stylish presentation, apparently.
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Reading through the daggerheart rules and I’m definitely excited to get it to the table. We’ll be wrapping up our DMs homebrew campaign here in the next couple months so i think I’m going to give the starting adventure a go.
I am running a one shot for our FLGS for Free RPG Day and I usually try to do something unique that people haven't played before, but which is also a product the store can stock (ie not open source or out of print games). I was thinking about Paranoia (specifically the Red Clearance starter set) as I understand that game to be a pretty unique experience. Has anyone here played it before? Any tips for running it as an event?
I am running a one shot for our FLGS for Free RPG Day and I usually try to do something unique that people haven't played before, but which is also a product the store can stock (ie not open source or out of print games). I was thinking about Paranoia (specifically the Red Clearance starter set) as I understand that game to be a pretty unique experience. Has anyone here played it before? Any tips for running it as an event?
The hardest part about Paranoia is setting the tone and capturing the "vibe". Once people figure out the vibe, they usually roll with it quite well. The rules are almost inconsequential (and should probably be broken on a regular basis).
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
We're kicking around doing a Mage(Awakening) campaign at a local venue, and it's my first delving into 2nd Edition after looking into the sheets, and yeah... I'm good sticking with first edition. They seemed to add too much stuff into new categories that I think the original condensed just fine.
In my Paranoia oneshot I assigned the team roles to them in the briefing while insisting to every one that their role was the most important role in the team, then killed half of them in the first 10 minutes in some mishap, dropped in the replacement clones and every player got what this was all going to be about.
I don’t know how far afield you’d want to go, my basic picks would be setting up a cool heist in blades of the dark or a strangery things vibe with kids on bikes? I feel like those would step people away from the “only dnd is real” mindset and vibes while being accessible and available
Since I don't know much about the Paranoia setting and neither would my players, I was thinking about using the system and vibe but reskinning it as a Portal game. The Computer would be power-hungry Wheatley and the players would be test subjects. I'd give them each a sealed envelope with instructions and say that all of them but one are loyal test subjects, but one person is an outsider, probably a Black Mesa plant. However every single envelope would inform the players that they, alone, are not the test subject, but are the one and only traitor. Ideas for "secret societies" with different goals are:
-someone loyal to the exiled "true leader" of the facility, whose primary goal is to subvert the mission while ensuring no equipment is damaged.
-a Black Mesa plant who wants to destroy the whole facility.
-a Combine Soldier who has much better combat skills but doesn't want to show them off lest everyone figures out that they're not a subject. Their goal is to get as many subjects as possible to go outside so they can join the Combine before it glasses the whole facility.
-a RED mercenary who knows that one test subject is a dirty rotten BLU traitor and has to expose them without exposing themselves.
-a BLU mercenary with identical instructions as the RED.
I've been reading the quickstart rules for Star Trek Adventures: Second Edition, and the major change that I see is that they removed Challenge dice entirely. Apparently, people are up in arms about this, but it seems like a really good change? The fewer dice rolls that you have to use to resolve an action, the faster the flow of everything. You can see granularly how much faster/slower combat and other interactions are if you look at the continuum of Shadowrun (3 Die Rolls Per Combat swing if you hit, plus an initiative roll), DnD (2 Die Rolls per Combat Swing if you hit, plus an initiative roll), and ORE (a single die roll per round for Combat Swings AND Initiative) as it hits the table, or at least, I can, having GM'd all of these systems. I've never had a combat experience run as smooth as when I ran ORE on basically anything, and the number of meaningful dice rolls has a lot to do with it.
I'm liking what I'm reading in the Quickstart. They've reduced Advantages/Complications to a simple "Traits", which is easier nomenclature, and expanded a lot of what Traits can do and how to manipulate them (note: This is stuff that was always in there, but wrapped up in unnecessary language or obfuscation). I've run Star Trek Adventures for many years, and I feel like 2nd edition is big step forward in a good way. All of my favorite Talents are still there (Bold, Cautious, Did The Reading, etc.). I think it will be much harder to build an Unarmed Combat monster that can hit harder than a phaser with their fists (usually one person goes this route in my campaigns), but I haven't seen the rest of the rules.
Putting the finishing touches on my Portal-noia oneshot. Traitor number 6 is a test subject who is getting instructions broadcast into their head by another personality core (in my last post I mentioned someone loyal to Glados, they are receiving instructions from her in that way as well). Specifically, they have been co-opted by the Space Core and have the secret goal to go to space by any means possible. If I have a full table of 6, I'll endeavor to assign that one to someone suitably creative to figure out ways they can hijack the mission to try to go to space.
Like Paranoia, everyone will have 6 clones to spare in case of death. We'll use the cards from Red Clearance Edition for actions and initiative in combat.
The mission starts with a simple test chamber--get over the pit. The Glados plant has a portal gun so it's trivial for them, but they are the only ones with clearance to use it so they will be punished if they let anyone unauthorized go through the portal. Wheatley informs the group that he got rid of all that useless poison gas that used to be in the bottom of the pits, and instead is killing two birds with one stone by using the pit to store nutrient slurry. Safer and more practical than poison gas. He neglects to inform the group (until after someone falls in) that the nutrient slurry is boiling hot.
After the first test, he tells the group to meet him at Maintenance Elevator 1. They cross some dangerous catwalks and have a tutorial encounter with some turrets. (and another ample opportunity to betray each other). When they find the elevator, it drops as soon as they are in it, killing a clone for anyone who can't figure out a way to survive the fall. At the bottom they are greeted by a bureaucratic test supervisor who informs them they were not authorized to use Maintenance Elevator I. (Maintenance Elevator 1 is down the hall). They have to charm or bluff their way past her to get to the right elevator.
From there they are sent to the surface to repair another elevator (Maintenance Elevator I, Roman numerals this time). Wheatley's wifi network does not reach that far, so they are given a set of range-boosting pylons they need to place down every 100 yards to keep their from being a dead zone. (traitors should seize the opportunity to create dead zones). On the surface, a defunct rocket can be seen in the distance (temptation for the Space Core) as well as the elevator. Climactic encounter with an Antlion while trying to fix the elevator and take it back down (or escape the facility permanently). Roll credits.
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Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
-someone loyal to the exiled "true leader" of the facility, whose primary goal is to subvert the mission while ensuring no equipment is damaged.
-a Black Mesa plant who wants to destroy the whole facility.
-a Combine Soldier who has much better combat skills but doesn't want to show them off lest everyone figures out that they're not a subject. Their goal is to get as many subjects as possible to go outside so they can join the Combine before it glasses the whole facility.
-a RED mercenary who knows that one test subject is a dirty rotten BLU traitor and has to expose them without exposing themselves.
-a BLU mercenary with identical instructions as the RED.
I'm liking what I'm reading in the Quickstart. They've reduced Advantages/Complications to a simple "Traits", which is easier nomenclature, and expanded a lot of what Traits can do and how to manipulate them (note: This is stuff that was always in there, but wrapped up in unnecessary language or obfuscation). I've run Star Trek Adventures for many years, and I feel like 2nd edition is big step forward in a good way. All of my favorite Talents are still there (Bold, Cautious, Did The Reading, etc.). I think it will be much harder to build an Unarmed Combat monster that can hit harder than a phaser with their fists (usually one person goes this route in my campaigns), but I haven't seen the rest of the rules.
Like Paranoia, everyone will have 6 clones to spare in case of death. We'll use the cards from Red Clearance Edition for actions and initiative in combat.
The mission starts with a simple test chamber--get over the pit. The Glados plant has a portal gun so it's trivial for them, but they are the only ones with clearance to use it so they will be punished if they let anyone unauthorized go through the portal. Wheatley informs the group that he got rid of all that useless poison gas that used to be in the bottom of the pits, and instead is killing two birds with one stone by using the pit to store nutrient slurry. Safer and more practical than poison gas. He neglects to inform the group (until after someone falls in) that the nutrient slurry is boiling hot.
After the first test, he tells the group to meet him at Maintenance Elevator 1. They cross some dangerous catwalks and have a tutorial encounter with some turrets. (and another ample opportunity to betray each other). When they find the elevator, it drops as soon as they are in it, killing a clone for anyone who can't figure out a way to survive the fall. At the bottom they are greeted by a bureaucratic test supervisor who informs them they were not authorized to use Maintenance Elevator I. (Maintenance Elevator 1 is down the hall). They have to charm or bluff their way past her to get to the right elevator.
From there they are sent to the surface to repair another elevator (Maintenance Elevator I, Roman numerals this time). Wheatley's wifi network does not reach that far, so they are given a set of range-boosting pylons they need to place down every 100 yards to keep their from being a dead zone. (traitors should seize the opportunity to create dead zones). On the surface, a defunct rocket can be seen in the distance (temptation for the Space Core) as well as the elevator. Climactic encounter with an Antlion while trying to fix the elevator and take it back down (or escape the facility permanently). Roll credits.