Forked from: If you can find a group that plays a pre-3.0 version of D&D or Retroclone would you:
"The Computer is My Friend" is one of the great lines in all of RPGdom, but its entirely possible to run that kind of game in another system...
CoC did it in a way by virtually ensuring a high body count.
But the question is, of course, how, in a D&D campaign, do you recapture and recreate that Paranoia feeling (if possible)?
1) You need an authoritarian figure to replace the Computer.
Any powerful PC can fill that role, but an Arcanist or Divine Caster would be best since they can enforce their will from seemingly out of the blue. Properly designed, they can literally seem to be watching you at every moment.
2) That authoritarian must be off-kilter in some sense.
Again, easy. A touch of insanity or delusion is all you need.
In another thread, I proposed a campaign designed around defeating a Lich...who, as it turned out was quite demented. Essentially, it had Alzheimer's. Its orders were often contradictory, and equally often, it simply forgot what it had ordered its underlings to do.
So, take your arcanist/divine caster and give him Swiss-cheese for brains.
3) You need a closed, hierarchical society.
You've got feudalism, 'nuff said.
4) You need a bit of kookiness.
Wild magic zones work for this, as does introducing a bit of an error rate in the magic of the campaign world. Wonderous Items (closely followed by weapons) would be the largest class of magic items, as your ruler's research assistants (and those of any similarly malfunctional society) pump out bizare item after bizarre item.
5) You need opposing societies to struggle against.
Again, you've got feudalism. In a world in which the predominant top-level political organization is the city-state, you've got the very medieval model for a Paranoia-like world.
Much like in Dark Sun, where every city-state is ruled by a Dragon-king, in Paranoia & Dragons campaigns, every city-state would have a similarly demented ruler.
6) You need a reason why the world is run by crazies.
In Paranoia, it was a "Big Whoops!" that made the world's defense computers go nuts.
In P&D, perhaps it was a magical war that drove the most powerful casters insane while making magic less dependable. Heck, perhaps it is even the nature of powerful magic to affect the psyche negatively. One cannot expect to warp reality (Level 8+ spells) and remain unaltered, after all...
7) You need players who buy into the campaign design.
This may be the toughest part. Paranoia and D&D have radically different expectations about what a good game or session is like, including notions about PCs actually surviving (or not).
Anything I've missed?
Cadfan said:
"The Computer is My Friend" is one of the great lines in all of RPGdom, but its entirely possible to run that kind of game in another system...
CoC did it in a way by virtually ensuring a high body count.
But the question is, of course, how, in a D&D campaign, do you recapture and recreate that Paranoia feeling (if possible)?
1) You need an authoritarian figure to replace the Computer.
Any powerful PC can fill that role, but an Arcanist or Divine Caster would be best since they can enforce their will from seemingly out of the blue. Properly designed, they can literally seem to be watching you at every moment.
2) That authoritarian must be off-kilter in some sense.
Again, easy. A touch of insanity or delusion is all you need.
In another thread, I proposed a campaign designed around defeating a Lich...who, as it turned out was quite demented. Essentially, it had Alzheimer's. Its orders were often contradictory, and equally often, it simply forgot what it had ordered its underlings to do.
So, take your arcanist/divine caster and give him Swiss-cheese for brains.
3) You need a closed, hierarchical society.
You've got feudalism, 'nuff said.
4) You need a bit of kookiness.
Wild magic zones work for this, as does introducing a bit of an error rate in the magic of the campaign world. Wonderous Items (closely followed by weapons) would be the largest class of magic items, as your ruler's research assistants (and those of any similarly malfunctional society) pump out bizare item after bizarre item.
5) You need opposing societies to struggle against.
Again, you've got feudalism. In a world in which the predominant top-level political organization is the city-state, you've got the very medieval model for a Paranoia-like world.
Much like in Dark Sun, where every city-state is ruled by a Dragon-king, in Paranoia & Dragons campaigns, every city-state would have a similarly demented ruler.
6) You need a reason why the world is run by crazies.
In Paranoia, it was a "Big Whoops!" that made the world's defense computers go nuts.
In P&D, perhaps it was a magical war that drove the most powerful casters insane while making magic less dependable. Heck, perhaps it is even the nature of powerful magic to affect the psyche negatively. One cannot expect to warp reality (Level 8+ spells) and remain unaltered, after all...
7) You need players who buy into the campaign design.
This may be the toughest part. Paranoia and D&D have radically different expectations about what a good game or session is like, including notions about PCs actually surviving (or not).
Anything I've missed?
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