Paranoid Players

[XCorvis]

A couple of my players are just a bit too paranoid. Does anyone have some advice on dealing with it? It's a little hard to do a "things are not what they seem" when your players initially suspect it, just because they're used to it. I've been trying not to over use it, but it's just their default reaction to anything...

 

[Aeson]

I know you can't even do a dramatic hand on the shoulder with out "I roll to hit"

Players are going to be paranoid. You might want to say something like your character is not experienced enough or wise enough to know what will happen so play like it.

Could play to the paranoia hit them with everything that gets the paranoia going and once you think they had enough stop. It will drive them crazy waiting for the monster they know is in the dark room. Have the room be empty when they go in. If they are buffing themselves up expecting something they we hate wasting it they may wait.

 

[HellHound]

Run five or six sessions where things ARE what they seem.

In CyberPunk, I called these "white bread ops" as opposed to typical grey or black ops. White Bread Ops are operations where everything goes off without a hitch, and the party gets to walk away patting each other on the back for a job well done and having a well-oiled team.

 

[XCorvis]

Heh, I'm actually trying that, to a certain extent. The problem is, I've developed a fairly complex plot which involves a certain amount of deception. Their patron, who I'm positive they are suspecting will turn out to be a bad guy, is actually playing it straight - he's on the level, and even if the stuff he's asking is weird, it's legit. And most of the sessions they've had were relatively straight-forward. There are mysterious bad guys, but they're BAD.

But when I want to pop in with an NPC who actually is trying to mislead the party, the players are always extremely cautious. (Not just with the ones who will double-cross - any newly introduced NPC is seen as a potential risk.) It's just hard to deal with sometimes.

 

[XCorvis]

Players are going to be paranoid. You might want to say something like your character is not experienced enough or wise enough to know what will happen so play like it.

Their characters are actually written suspicious, with good reason (background), but a certain amount of that is because they players are very intelligent and suspicious themselves. And they're both veteran GMs.

Could play to the paranoia hit them with everything that gets the paranoia going and once you think they had enough stop. It will drive them crazy waiting for the monster they know is in the dark room. Have the room be empty when they go in. If they are buffing themselves up expecting something they we hate wasting it they may wait.

It's more of a plot paranoia than an adventure paranoia. They almost always suspect the NPC of potentially being a bad guy.

Paranoia is probably too strong a word...

I think I might just need to work on how I'm presenting NPCs. Work them in slower, get the PCs to rely on them a bit, THEN do the double-crossing.

 

[Catavarie]

Unfortunately paranoid players can be a pain, my suggestion is to give them munchkin adventures, where everything is plain with no slight bit of intrigue involved, a bear is just a bear, a farmer is just a farmer, etc. lull them into a sense of blahness, and keep them their till they begin to think everything is stale and "vanilla" and then BAM! turn that farmer they passed by 4 weeks ago into the evil Mastermind Wizard thats been hounding their everystep for the duration of the campaign.

Just my 2 cents

 

[MarkCsigs]

I would have sworn that my players were not paranoid ... but an event in my game last Saturday may have convinced me otherwise. One of the foes they're dealing with right now is a cult to a powerful demon ... but what the demon has done is set himself up as the lost patron god of mankind from an old (false) legend. Many good men and women have been drawn into this cult and are gradually brainwashed into great paranoia until they are prepared to do anything to defend their "church", even blatently evil acts (thus becoming evil worshippers of the demon).

My party stumbled across a low-powered temple to the demon, a sort of "recruiting station" operating secretely in the ancient catacombs of a good temple at an old, historic battlefield (where many famous heroes of the kingdom are buried).

The party first encountered a small group of neophyte acolytes who had not yet been converted. Each of them was good ... heck, they even wore white robes! LOL But the party was suspicious from the start, merely because of the location.

I had slipped one of the party members the secret phrase to let the acolytes know that they too were wishing to join the church ... but rather than infiltrate and learn, my party decided direct confrontation was in order. When the acolytes didn't initiate combat and instead just acted paranoid and afraid the party left, confused. Without being given a reason to attack they didn't know what to do.

Later, they stumbled across the acolytes living quarters. And despite reading several of the acolyte's journals and finding no evidence of evil (just a devotion to this lost god and the peace and end of suffering he would bring to the world upon his return) they still didn't get it. Eventually they found one item ... a Book of Vile Darkness (it was being used to help convert the more stubborn in a more forceful way).

Suddenly THAT was enough evidence! The party went back and slaughtered the acolytes without any resistance (in under a round). I then informed them that those in the party who are good felt a sense of uneasiness ... particularly the cleric ... they began rationalizing.

"Well, whoever owns a vile, disgusting book like that one is obviously evil!" the cleric declared.

"Yeah?" The thief asked, pointing to the cleric's backpack (where the book had been stored until it could be destroyed), "Who owns it now?!?"

--Mark C'sigs

 

[derbacher]

All the good advice has been given, but I'm going to post anyway, so the thread gets bumped, and...

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Mission continues.

 

[Mr_GrinReaper]

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Yeah, definitely, for suspicious PC's you should..... Uhhh. ______ and a little ________ not to mention ______. Which is incredibly useful like _______ (insert solution here).

~
GrinReaper
"The Counterattack"