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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kurotowa" data-source="post: 4488902" data-attributes="member: 27957">Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're aren't out to get you.By that I mean that IME, that kind of really crippling player paranoia is the result of being traumatized by an abusively adversarial GM.  The game is designed to have a certain amount of adversarial challenge to it, but it must at all times remain fair in the adversity.  Every time the PCs come to grief they should, in retrospect, be able to clearly see how their own choices and mistakes brought them there.The trouble is that not all GMs are fair.  Be it because they lack to skill in presentation or because they enjoy the power trip, often times it can seem as if there's never a right answer.  Death, pain, and humiliation wait around every corner and behind every door, while the GM smirks and waits to spring the latest nasty surprise.  This causes the players to resort to ever increasing heights of caution and hesitation, which eventually gets shaped into the sort of paranoia that makes them spend an hour staring at an innocent unlocked door.It's the same thing for why players would rather fight to the death than surrender.  After enough times being humiliated in captivity and forced to sit around twiddling their thumbs until the GM sees sit to allow an escape, spending a bit of time rolling up a new character looks preferable.  After some of the experiences I've had, I can hardly blame them.The only way to really get around this is to win their trust back.  Sit down with them as friends, tell them you're not going to spring surprises on them without fair hints in game, and then stick to it.  If you burn them again they'll never relax their guard.</blockquote>

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