Lets Talk Pen & Paper RPGs (All systems welcome!)

[Lady Lambdadelta]

Oh man, good memories of Paranoia games.

[GreyICE]

I should run a few 1 shots with the kickstarter stuff they've dribbled out.

I mean the manual is classified anyway, not like you peons get access to it.

[Claus]

I had a great Paranoia GM.

In our first game, he explained to us about how much everyone HATED mutants and secret societies, and took each of us separately during character creation.

* Rolls dice behind screen * "Damn Claus, I have bad news for you. You are a mutant. Don't let the other players know, or you're dead"
* Rolls dice again * "Daaaamn... yeah sorry Claus, the dice are not with you today. You are also member of a secret society."

This is something you can only pull once, but I found it amazing.
(for those who don't play paranoia, EVERY player is always a mutant and member of a secret society)

Also, about the missions, yes, navigating the security clearances, RD and the byzantine rules are fun, but this GM also always milked the "Paranoia as satire" angle by placing the game in the context of recent real world events as background, like the olympics (Clonympics, and the commie team always appeared at the last second to win the medal), or "elections" (and both parties sending the players to sabotage the other side). I'd recommend reading a bunch of The Onion articles for inspiration.

[Claus]

Oh remember they draw a new mutation every clone.

Is this a new rule?

[Lady Lambdadelta]

I had a great Paranoia GM.

In our first game, he explained to us about how much everyone HATED mutants and secret societies, and took each of us separately during character creation.

* Rolls dice behind screen * "Damn Claus, I have bad news for you. You are a mutant. Don't let the other players know, or you're dead"
* Rolls dice again * "Daaaamn... yeah sorry Claus, the dice are not with you today. You are also member of a secret society."

This is something you can only pull once, but I found it amazing.
(for those who don't play paranoia, EVERY player is always a mutant and member of a secret society)

Also, about the missions, yes, navigating the security clearances, RD and the byzantine rules are fun, but this GM also always milked the "Paranoia as satire" angle by placing the game in the context of recent real world events as background, like the olympics (Clonympics, and the commie team always appeared at the last second to win the medal), or "elections" (and both parties sending the players to sabotage the other side). I'd recommend reading a bunch of The Onion articles for inspiration.

Listen to NightVale for inspiration. It's perfect.

[GreyICE]

As far as I know that's always been the rules. Or at least how we played it. Mutations are due to defects in the cloning process, after all.

[hasdgfas]

I intend to be a bit fast and loose with the rules, since this is just a light palate cleanser while we try to determine our next long campaign.

I am mostly looking for good ways to make sure the setting and attitude is grokable for the players, because this is a bit of a departure from the normal fare for our group. Also good ways to give incentives for "Paranoia behavior" in a short session.

[Lady Lambdadelta]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWEDpT1gByI

This is a good thing to watch if you like Paranoia

[hasdgfas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWEDpT1gByI

This is a good thing to watch if you like Paranoia

I have actually watched that! It's what made me want to run something in the system. I may watch it again just to get more inspiration.

[Claus]

Four hours... daaaamn. I will try to watch that on the weekend. Seems awesome.

[Lady Lambdadelta]

Four hours... daaaamn. I will try to watch that on the weekend. Seems awesome.

Ivan is a dope DM so.

[Oman]

We have a DM skillshare event at my FLGS, and I've been asked to run the next one.

We've had one so far, and it was a really good intro: How to run a table, how to interpret written adventures, how to run combat, how to ask players for actions and push them without railroading, that sort of stuff.

What do you think I could talk on in my session? What information do you think needs to be shared to more DMs in the world? For scope I will be talking to mostly new DMs, with a game or two under their belt, or players interested in DMing.

[Claus]

As I mentioned before, I think that differentiating conflict resolution in game and out game is something that new DMs could be more aware of. As in, how to tell when OOC conflicts is seeping into the game, or vice versa, and how you should keep things separate.

In short, "talk to your players about what they want out of a game".

[Claus]

Also, DMs being aware that how they imagine a scene, and how a player imagine a scene can be two wildly different things is an important skill to have. Sometimes if your players are doing nonsensical things, it might be worth it to OOC ask them what is the final goal of their plan, before making the plan blow up in their faces just because it sounds nonsensical to you.

[Oman]

In short, "talk to your players about what they want out of a game".

I formalise this a lot more than other DMs, and I think it'd be great to talk about that too. You're awesome

[Claus]

Nah, you are Oman.

So, tomorrow is game day again. Our group has finished the "patrol" the gang territory mission. The GM decided to take it a bit easier on the newbies, and after a failed infiltration-into-gang-territory-turned-shootout, the gang leaders decided to bring us the person we were looking for, to avoid any further violence in their territory. The medic/paladin got to shine by using his drug-enhanced interrogation techniques, and we got a fair share of mission hooks and info to report to our superiors.

Group goes back to Central, and we get our due payment. I encourage them to enjoy our success by spending some of the money for a night on "The Pit", the block-sized club that exists in the setting. The other players have some fun role-playing getting drunk and scoring, while I work on my character sheet . The GM is being really stingy with XP, which will hurt my magic-user/stealthy guy, but I take that as a nice challenge.

After the night of depravity, I manage to get our group our first sponsored mission (as opposed to the ATM issued standard missions), which will take place tomorrow.

In other words, after a rough start, the game is starting to proceed smoothly

[Oman]

magic-user/stealthy guy,

5e? Arcane trickster? I've always wanted to play a mix like that.

[Claus]

No, SLA industries, a cyberpunk dystopic game where you play as a group of enforcers working for "the man". It is mostly non-fantasy, except for this one race of power wielding creatures.

The system is actually Savage worlds

[Oman]

Oh of course, sorry I forgot we'd already discussed SLA Industries. It sounds amazing.

[Claus]

So, this is the e-mail I sent to the other players to remind them that tonight is game night:

Operatives!

After a well deserved rest, we are ready to strike again.

Our patrol mission was exceedingly successful - the data we gathered on the situation regarding sector 45 is at this very moment being processed by the geniuses at SLA tower to devise new approaches for the improvement of life quality and security in Mort.

And our continued hard work has been noticed! I must remind you that, this time, we did not have to spend 30 hours at the queue to the BPN assignment desk. No, my dear team mates, we were hand-picked for this mission!

So today we head towards sector 110 of Lower Downtown, and kick the hell of whatever is causing the civil disturbance.

Please remember that the pay for this mission is 240 credits for the squad, or 48 credits per OP. Make every bullet, grenade and drug count!

See you later tonight!

Keep in mind to read it between the lines: for example, "hand picked" means "I begged on my knees for a fixer to gives us a mission, and still have to hand over 60% of the original mission pay total".
Also, the 48 credit pay does not include the 10 credit transport fee and, as mentioned, each bullet costs from 1 credit. So yeah, an Operative's life sucks

[Oman]

^ I love this.

Started a new group. All newbies except for one. They're doing a campaign where this emperor died, monsters roamed the earth and the gods stopped supporting the people. In response to the power vacuum this iron fisted baron rises up, conscripts some of the bored and scared populace, and starts to "control" the land. Including removing, disempowering, up to an including killing the non-human races ("Make The Empire Great Again" is a constant joke, as is the tiny hands of the Baron).

They've fought a small package of the Baron's guards to ease the players into mechanics, met some gypsies (I'm a fucking hack so I'm reusing this gypsy family from the other campaign because I know them and like them), and have helped to bury the old gypsy Mama, earning the debt and love of the rest of this now tiny elven family. Some cool things have happened, our Halfling Rogue has befriended a fox terrier and is teaching him tricks. He's asked me to guide him on stats because he wants to make his dog into a character of the story (I plan to kill the dog as part of the deep dark act two to inspire their final surge against the Big Bad, they all love this cute fucking terrier).

Our other rogue is based on a spellcasting character, so she's desperate for spells and arcane trickster stuff. I really want to give it to her, but I don't know what spells I can give her that will feel impactful without starting to unbalance her. I'm going to be blessing all of the characters and giving them *something* to make them feel different, so I'll definitely take ideas on that if anyone can think of it. I want it to be something that makes them feel great for having done it, I've been thinking everything from +1 weapons, or ACs or extra health. It's the Goddess of Shelter, Welfare, and the Less Fortunate, if that can help you guide thematics.

next they're heading to a coastal town (one of the players is a sailor so that's coming into it) and they'll be told about a wizard's tower, which is actually just a lighthouse, but has a wizard living in it. I want to set up a scene where one of the Baron's ships will have the gunpowder section set ablaze, and they can choose to scuttle it, sending three of the baron's sailors to the depths, or rescue them and risk the ship exploding and taking half the town with it. A few of the characters are "greatest good" and a few are "every life is sacred" so I'm really interested to see what they decide.

[Claus]

Hey Oman, how did your workshop go?

met some gypsies (I'm a fucking hack so I'm reusing this gypsy family from the other campaign because I know them and like them)

You call it a hack, I call it "worldbuilding"

He's asked me to guide him on stats because he wants to make his dog into a character of the story (I plan to kill the dog as part of the deep dark act two to inspire their final surge against the Big Bad, they all love this cute fucking terrier).

I would thread on this idea VERY carefully.

I really want to give it to her, but I don't know what spells I can give her that will feel impactful without starting to unbalance her. I want it to be something that makes them feel great for having done it, I've been thinking everything from +1 weapons, or ACs or extra health. It's the Goddess of Shelter, Welfare, and the Less Fortunate, if that can help you guide thematics.

Wait, do you want to give her spells (as in spells from the book), or a special ability?

For spells, I think that trading a feat for an appropriate spell slot for a non-spellcasting character seems reasonable.

For a blessing from the Goddess of Shelter, I would give her the ability to, once per day, spend one inspiration point to create a magic shelter that allows the group to either:

- take a short rest in 5 minutes
- take a safe short rest in regular time
- take a short rest with bonus recovery dice (no safety/short time, though)

(choose one, you probably want to balance this a bit more)

=========================================================================-

Last game was... okay-ish.

I had some horrid rolls, and according to the savage system rules, I loose my magic points even if I fail the roll, which means that
I spent almost my entire mana pool doing ... nothing.

To make things a bit worse, I'm having a bit of "the illusionist dillema" with my GM. My magic user has basically two powers:
the ability to boost his attributes for a few rounds, and the ability to meld through walls for a few rounds. The first one I almost never
use. The second one I try to use it more creatively, but I'm having trouble with the GM shooting down my ideas.

Case in point, we were fighting some punks in a ruined apartment complex. The punks were in the upper floor, attacking us through a
narrow hole which the tank was trying to get through. I was trying to use the wall-meld power to climb through the ceiling to pincer the
punks, but the GM was having none of that.

Oh well...

On a different note, here is another tip from GM Claus:

If you are running a "continuous yes/no" scene, such as a sneak sequence, or a tracking sequence, etc, avoid the temptation to ask the players
to roll the same skill many times in a row every few turns -- You are just multiplying the chance of the negative result.

For example, if your players are sneaking through a town, and they all pass their first sneak check, do not make them roll again unless
something major changes (probably a new scene). Else, you are just guaranteeing that your players will eventually fail their roll.

For a positive example, if your players are searching an area, do not let them make their search room more than once for each player
(or even once for the entire group), because the end result will also be a guarantee of success.

Decide why you are asking for a roll, and make them roll ONCE. A different roll should be made only on a different situation.
Or the monster of the Central Limit Theorem will pull your feet.

((Separately, rolling many times is a perfectly acceptable way to run continuous incremental scenes, but be aware that you
are probably just averaging the result))

[Oman]

Can you speak to your hesitation re:the pet getting stats? Familiars do it, I can't see it being a big problem? But then again I've never done it so I'd love to hear the concern.

but I'm having trouble with the GM shooting down my ideas.

In my experience this is worth speaking to the GM aside about and being specific about the problem AND your solution.

The conversation that I would have is: "My vision for my character is to really use a lot of the melding through walls ability. It feels impactful and I like the story that it's telling. The problem is that I'm hearing 'no' a lot from you, so it seems like our understanding of the character and his/her impact is misaligned. Can you explain to me where you see my character fitting in?"
Then just listen for a bit. If you hear something good that's great. If you disagree on everything that's okay too. Once they're done talking you say:
"That's awesome because you mentioned some stuff that is just perfect, exactly what I want like *INSERT AGREEABLE STATEMENT*. I would like to add to that this other segment. However, the power that you're expressing from the stats bolstering just....doesn't click with me. Is there any chance I can give up that power, or otherwise limit it, in exchange for focusing my character more down the etheral nature of this wall-blending thing?"

Then listen. And see what your GMs real core issue is. Then target that. It's a big conversation, but it sounds like it's worth attacking. I'd be really interested to hear what the issue is and how it resolves. It sounds just horrible to have that player agency taken away from you.


EDIT: I also loved your idea about rolling each relevant stat ONCE. I have a huge problem with the PCs walking into a room and saying "everyone roll perception" then afterwards "Everyone roll Investigation" and basically being guaranteed that one person will succeed. Maybe work on like a balance system where certain things need X number of success to find rather than just X DC. Or need less than Y failures? Hmmm an interesting thought to ponder.

[Oman]

Hey Oman, how did your workshop go?

It's not for like a month or two. Probably five weeks from now.

[Claus]

Can you speak to your hesitation re:the pet getting stats? Familiars do it, I can't see it being a big problem? But then again I've never done it so I'd love to hear the concern.

Oh! No, I am not worried about the pet getting stats.

I am worried about the pet getting stats if you are planning to plot-kill it in the future. The moment that the pet gets stats and the players use it to fight, it is no long a pet, is another character. Just keep that in mind.

but I'm having trouble with the GM shooting down my ideas.

In my experience this is worth speaking to the GM aside about and being specific about the problem AND your solution.

Oh yeah, we are talking about it. The problem is that a large part of my having fun (as a player) in RPGs is to engineer my way out of situations,
while the GM is a bit more of a HR kinda of guy, so we often get into "No way you can use that power in THAT way" kind of discussions.

EDIT: I also loved your idea about rolling each relevant stat ONCE. I have a huge problem with the PCs walking into a room and saying "everyone roll perception" then afterwards "Everyone roll Investigation" and basically being guaranteed that one person will succeed. Maybe work on like a balance system where certain things need X number of success(...)

For perception/investigation, one thing that works well is to make each roll cost time. "Yeah, you can roll too, but it will cost the group another hour to re-do the search, this time with you in the lead".

Then it becomes a problem of resource management: how many hours can the group afford to spend searching for something?