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Message no. 1
From: "David E. Smith" <dave@********.ML.ORG>
Subject: [OT] Re: Gaming history / architypes
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 07:41:14 +0000
On Mon, 16 Mar 1998, David Buehrer wrote:

> / |SR is, as far as I know, the only RPG with "quick play" characters that
> / |is still being produced.
> /
> / Star Wars and Paranoia?
>
> Star Wars (last time I checked) has templates which require further
> modification. SR's archetypes are 99.9% ready to go.

Star Wars' templates require minimal modification. Takes about ten minutes
for even an inexperienced player.

> I've never played Paranoia (to paranoid I guess :)

<begin OT> Paranoia's such a trip. The single most fun session I remember
had lots of bits like this one-minute excerpt... (this is from a con, so I
don't remember the players' names... sorry, guys...)

Player A had left the table very briefly. This is _always_ a mistake.
Player B scribbles a quick note and sticks it under Player A's character
sheet.
Player A returns to the table, fresh can o' Coke in hand.
Player B: Friend Computer!
GM (as the loving, benevolent computer): Yes, Citizen?
B: My colleague, Troubleshooter Black-B-IRD-3, is a traitor! May I execute
him?
A: Friend Computer, this charge is blatantly false! I hereby request
permission to eliminate this lying commie mutant traitor!
Me (as team Morale Officer): Friend Computer, these clones are obviously
defective, as they aren't working as a team. I prevail upon your infinite
wisdom for instructions on how to best deal with this problem.
GM: Since today I'm using a stack instead of a queue, I'll deal with the
requests in reverse order. (Addressing me...) I leave the problem to your
discretion.
B: (grabs stack of papers from A's seat at the table, handing them to GM)
The evidence is right here, Friend Computer.
A: (smiles smugly)
GM: (flips through papers, revealing one that has a hastily scribbled
note: `I am a commie mutant traitor.')
Me: I execute the traitors! Having Commies in the party is bad for morale!
GM: (dice are rolled, results are blatantly ignored) Two hits. They drop.
A: Can I have my character sheet back now?
GM (as Computer): What is a character sheet, Citizen? You're not cleared
for that knowledge. Your next clone suffers an untimely death as a
transtube mysteriously derails.

... and so on.

It helps if you know that all players get a `six-pack' - each character is
one of a half-dozen clones. So, random character death is infinitely less
threatening. (It's still rare for a whole six-pack to survive past one
session; Paranoia is _not_ a campaign-able game.)

<end OT>

dave


----- David E. Smith, P O Box 324, Cape Girardeau MO 63702
http://bureau42.base.org/people/dave/ dave@********.ml.org

"Why do I lie? Is it just to get by?" -- Luscious Jackson

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