Games You Rarely See Played "Correctly"

[overgeeked]

There’s a thick vein of “if you’re having fun, you’re playing it right,” but…

Paranoia. It wasn’t originally designed for the over-the-top slapstick comedy it’s become famous for. People just insisted on playing it in the “zap” style so the designers eventually wrote that into the game. It is a farce and comedy, etc. But players took that and cranked it up to 1000, to the point where most games either don’t make it to the briefing or don’t make it out of the briefing.

Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. The game specifically tells you how to play. The PCs take things seriously and the system provides the absurdity. No one I’ve run it for has any interest in playing it that way. They all just immediately go chaotic-stupid Malkvavian.

That probably applies equally to every comedy game, but I haven’t played every comedy game.

If we’re going so far as to say RAW is the design intent and anything else is “playing it wrong,” then every edition of D&D. The vast majority of old-school players and referees use some hybrid of B/X, BECMI, and AD&D. Versions of that persist to this day.

 

[Kannik]

In Cyberpunk 2020, it's suppose to be more important to look good doing something than to be competent. I can't think of many players who adhered to this ethos when it came to their characters.

Yes, but I would also say that's not all that there is in the cyberpunk genre (and I would argue it's not the main thrust / genesis of the literary genre). It's also a world about corporatocracy and the absolute crushing of everyone beneath it; it means a world where life is treated on the cheap and where if you're not on program you're asking for some deep peril, what does it mean to survive? What does it mean to be you? What does it mean to carve out an area of security for you and your family or choombatas? Where victories are necessarily small ones in the grand scheme of things? (That's the punk part of it all.) And what does your humanity even mean?

Does playing cybered-up hyper-solos mean you're engaging with those themes? I'm not sure I'd take a bet that most groups at the time were deeply engaging with it... But it might! At least in the "carve out an area of security" way of things, and punking back against the system. Which means that competency would be as important as looking cool while doing it.

(This is probably why most recent Cyberpunk games (whether computer or tabletop) dispenses with the themes altogether and have you specifically be cybered-up hyper-solo mercenaries working for the corpos, just to cut to the chase. It's all aesthetic veneer, nothing deeper of the genre born of the (arguably valid and come to pass!) concerns of the 80s.)

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think the lack of downtime means people don't really think about it, I feel like many adventures instead have a story arc and you follow that, finish it, then start the next campaign.

Yeah. I really think that's too bad. Having downtime makes the experience of exploring the setting through your PC (which is why I game most of the time) play much more smoothly than being squeezed through a story arc.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

Monopoly. I don't know a single person who plays it RAW.

Came here to say this. And if we're going as CREATOR intended, even the rules are wrong!

ETA: see @jian comment above.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think what you're describing here is a failure of game design.

Vampire and Cyberpunk 2020 are great games and I love them both but they are textbook (literally) examples of designer aspiration outpacing the available technology. They both have good innovative systems in their own ways but the incentives and outputs of those systems as written run counter to the stated objectives. 'Playing the game right' in your parlance requires the participants to wilfully ignore or actively counteract the very rules of the game itself. It's telling how a lot of the GM advice in Vampire is basically 'fudge like crazy' and a lot of the Cyberpunk GM advice book Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads is basically 'here's how to Calvinball like crazy to kill of invincible characters'.

I don't know. I've always held Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads up as one of the greatest GM advice books I've ever read.

 

[soviet]

I don't know. I've always held Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads up as one of the greatest GM advice books I've ever read.

Best title, definitely!

 

[Willie the Duck]

I keep trying to win this game but I can't seem to get ahead.

I'm mostly trying to enjoy myself while seeking continuation of play.

 

[MGibster]

Yes, but I would also say that's not all that there is in the cyberpunk genre (and I would argue it's not the main thrust / genesis of the literary genre).

We're not talking about cyberpunk as a genre here, we're talking about a specific game.

To achieve the essence of the 2000's, you need to master three concepts: Style Over Substance...Attitude is Everything...LIving on the Edge.

Style Over Substance: "It doesn't matter how well you do something , as long as you look good doing it."
Attitude is Everything: "Never walk into a room when you can stride in. Never look at someone unless you can make it your best 'killer' look."
Live on the Edge: "On the Edge, you'll risk your cash, your rep, even your life on something as vague as a principle or a big score."

I don't know if I've ever played in any game of Cyberpunk 2020 or Red where we attempted to live by this ethos.

 

[GrimCo]

As stated, V:tM. Specially if both players and Storyteller first played D&D or any similar ttrpg that's party based and players vs world. V:tM, played "right" is "every player for itself". One session you team up, other you screw over one another. To play it "as designers intended", you need mature players who are comfortable with disempowerment, moral compromise, and stories where success is partial or corrosive rather than triumphant. They need patience for slow, consequence-driven drama and the ability to separate personal ego from character suffering. V:tM isn't really good choice for casual beer&pretzels game if played as intended. But, if you play it as "supers with fangs", then it can work.

Other game lines are easier to play "right", FE Hunter.

 

[Jahydin]

I do. I actually took a community college class taught by a runner-up in a national championship (it was basically a statistics class disguised as "how to crush everyone in Monopoly forever").

Any specific strategies to winning you remember? To me, it seems to be buy everything you possibly can and be lucky.