Timewaster's Guide Archive

Games => Role-Playing Games => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 10, 2006, 02:40:16 PM

Title: Nerdery #33 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 10, 2006, 02:40:16 PM
reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1267
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Eagle Prince on March 11, 2006, 04:12:15 AM
This leads me to my point that 1st level DnD characters are way too weak.  I also think that 'average' stats are much higher than you'd guess, like say if you were just using the 25-point buy standard 'elite' array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 and impartial DMing and all 'standard' stuff like a party of 4, four encounters per day of EL = to average party level, etc that less than 1 in a hundred PCs would still be alive going from level 1 to 10.  And most of those only surviving by luck.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Entsuropi on March 11, 2006, 09:35:31 AM
I had my party use points buy (i dislike randomness in character generation) and told them to use the 'heroic' amount - 28 points each. I don't think anyone has a stat of 18.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 11, 2006, 01:58:14 PM
I loved the "Paranoia" reference in the headline. In all the times I played that game (oh, the memories), never once did we get through the mission briefing without someone (usually both a PC and an NPC) getting killed.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: JP Dogberry on March 12, 2006, 03:10:12 AM
What, you mean they got through character generation without dying multiple times? Your GM is soft.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 13, 2006, 11:19:36 AM
I've never made a character with an 18 stat using point buy without having at least one really crappy stat and all the others being just above average.

Of course, I dislike randomness too. I don't let my players do it while I'm watching, but I tend to just assign numbers to the attributes that suit my roleplaying concept.

I once gm'd a Paranoia game where one player ran completely out of clones during the pre-mission briefing. Admittedly, I'm relatively harsh durign briefing, and tend to be nicer afterward, but this guy was pretty stupid about how he played.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 13, 2006, 12:25:46 PM
Quote

I once gm'd a Paranoia game where one player ran completely out of clones during the pre-mission briefing. Admittedly, I'm relatively harsh durign briefing, and tend to be nicer afterward, but this guy was pretty stupid about how he played.


You, sir, are my new hero.

It was actually the NPC's who got the worst of it in my campaign. I was very good at Conning or Fast Talking them into revealing their Secret Societies or Mutant Powers, and you'd be surprised how easily Blue Level cops fall for the phrase "You don't have the guts to shoot him." Of course, this would occasionally backfire and get me killed, but my characters always had very high Chutzpah ratings and got away with a lot.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 13, 2006, 12:35:54 PM
Chutzpah, bootlicking, and spurious logic. The three most important skills in Paranoia.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 13, 2006, 12:45:15 PM
Quote
Chutzpah, bootlicking, and spurious logic. The three most important skills in Paranoia.


Absolutely. I got away with some great stuff that way. Oh, the memories. It's been 15 years or more since I played an RPG.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: JP Dogberry on March 13, 2006, 11:45:29 PM
Citizen, Sprurious Logic was deprecated in the latest edition of Paranoia, previously known as XP edition, except that XP edition does not and never has existed.

Spurious logic existed in the 5th edition of paranoia. This is an unproduct and does not exist, and therefore has never existed. As such, the Spurious Logic skill you refer to does not exist.

Your dedication to bootlicking to your superiors is commendable however. Commendation point to E!
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 14, 2006, 09:49:21 AM
I play real paranoia. Not some stupid version where I can't use Spurious Logic.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 14, 2006, 10:45:04 PM
Quote
I play real paranoia. Not some stupid version where I can't use Spurious Logic.


Are you questiong The Computer, you commie mutant traitor? Did you take your happiness pills this morning? Happiness is mandatory. Serve The Computer.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 15, 2006, 08:55:23 AM
No, I'm questioning the commie mutant traitor scum who suggests that there could possibly be improvement to the perfection that was/is/will always be Paranoia.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 15, 2006, 12:17:24 PM
Quote
No, I'm questioning the commie mutant traitor scum who suggests that there could possibly be improvement to the perfection that was/is/will always be Paranoia.


Excellent use of spurious logic, citizen! Let's kill the commie mutant traitor!
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Lieutenant Kije on March 15, 2006, 07:08:57 PM
** Kije, not recognizing words such as "commie," mutant," and "traitor," subjects everyone who has posted such heresies to the flamethrower, as a) such words apparently exist outside the utopia that is the computer and must therefore be ridden with non-computerness, and b) anyone who uses these words knowingly must therefore comprehend their meaning, thus c) betraying the corruption that has polluted their souls.  Hence d), the flame of the computer's wrath.

Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Paul_Gibbs on March 16, 2006, 02:15:37 AM
You don't have the guts to shoot him.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 16, 2006, 08:53:25 AM
This rationale obviously comes from a secret society addled mind. The Great Computer would never forbid something that doesn't potentially exist. Since we now have *two* people refuting doctrines taught by the Computer I must point out that they *must* be either commies, mutants, traitors, or some combination thereof. Whatever those terms mean, participation in any of those categories is forbidden. Thus, one who contradicts the computer (as Kije just has) must be at least one of the above.

To save time an energy, I will begin the executions the Computer has authorized me to perform.

/me sets his weapon to "fricase" and annihilates JP and Kije before their Commie Mutant Traitor arguments can infect anyone else -- I don't know if such a transmission is possible, but as the Computer says, better safe than sorry.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: JP Dogberry on March 16, 2006, 07:47:24 PM
/me 's next clone arrives.

Yes, but you misunderstand. The previous edition of Paranoia was perfect. The new edition is MORE perfect. The computer says it is.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: Lieutenant Kije on March 17, 2006, 01:09:12 PM
** Kije tapes a note reading "I hate the computer" to e's back and runs out of sight before he can notice.
Title: Re: Nerdery #34 Character Death
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 17, 2006, 01:59:29 PM
Good thing I'm the group's documentation specialist, and that I always have three cameras pointed at me, and can therefore nail Kije for his own crime