Comments on: Storygames FTW!

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:31:45 +0000

@Tom – the best mechanisms for resolving what happens next in Paranoia is arbitraryness and comic timing.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:30:26 +0000

No roleplaying was ever necessary in any variety of D&D, and I'm not convinced that any of the previous edition's attempts to address out-of-combat actions with mechanics were ever particularly satisfying or interesting. So that's not necessarily a problem for me. I just don't find the mechanics to be all that interesting either.

By: Tom Lawrence

Tom Lawrence — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:51:38 +0000

Patrick, I already had read the comment from TJIC. Why is supposed to be illuminating?

I'd be interested to hear about what mechanics you ended up substiuting for the Paranoia ones halfway through the first game, thought. What means did you use to decide what happened next?

By: Ezra

Ezra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:09:33 +0000

I've played 4e, and it really is a streamlined combat system, with almost no thought given to out of combat action. Except skill challenges, which are an attempt to make non combat actions as exciting as combat through mechanics. No roleplaying necessary…

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:53:58 +0000

I haven't actually sat down and played 4e, but reading the book doesn't really make me want to.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:28:22 +0000

Tom, read the post above mine from our friend TJIC. Then all will become clear.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:27:25 +0000

I know I am abruptly departing from law geekery to rpg geekery, but I don't like 4e at all. Too much like a MMORPG turned into a pen-and-paper game. I rather liked 3.5.

By: Tom Lawrence

Tom Lawrence — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:00:37 +0000

Patrick – It may or may not interest you to know that roleplaying theory and thought has evolved way beyond "mechanics schmechanics" in the last twenty years.

For one thing, it should be pointed out than in a real sense, there are always mechanics, however much you are ignoring the text in the book and never touching the dice. Somehow, you decide what happens next, and whatever method it is you use to do that in practice IS your mechanic.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:04:54 +0000

I loved the Ghostbusters RPG – I still have my ghost die.

By: Ezra

Ezra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:28:20 +0000

Patrick, I think Paranoia was definitely an ur-Storygame. The mechanics and individual characters were secondary to the story being told. Actually, West End the company that originally made Paranoia also made another proto-Storygame, the Ghostbusters RPG. It was definitely mechanics light. It did have one die with a ghost symbol on it, and if you rolled the ghost, no matter what you were doing, you automatically failed in the most humourous way possible. It was a great idea!

I've literally played every incarnation of D&D and it is fascinating to watch the development from miniature combat system to individual character based role playing game back to minis combat. I actually sort of like the 3.5 version, as the best balance of the two.

Oh Traveler! We definitely spent more time making characters than actually playing the game. It was a great system.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:20:01 +0000

Every single version of D&D has had someone whining about how it destroyed the spirit of the game.

But yes, Paranoia…. Fantastic experience, crappy game.

By: Darth Doc

Darth Doc — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:11:39 +0000

Actually Dungeons and Dragons has its roots as a table top wargame. The focus was on individuals characters, rather than armies, but the original engine was a tabletop miniatures engine, converted to pencil. When the so-called edition 2.5 came out, the original nature of the game began to be perverted into something unrecognizable by the First edition devotees.

By: Scott Jacobs

Scott Jacobs — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:32:11 +0000

Ah, Paranoia… The game of constant death and rebirth…

I also miss Traveler… Where else could you gen a character and have it die DURING CHARACTER CREATION???

God I loved that game…

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:44:18 +0000

Mechanics schmechanics. Paranoia was one of the worst games ever made, mechanically speaking, but oh the world, and the stories it allowed players to tell.

Halfway into my first session of the game we stopped rolling dice, because they weren't necessary.

By: TJIC

TJIC — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:10:29 +0000

I've got the RPG book. It looks interesting, but the mechanics are a bit wonky. Maybe they're great, but they're not very GURPSy or nerdy.

I am, however, a huge fan of the comic on which the game is based:

http://heavyink.com/title/451-Mouse-Guard-Winter-1152