On the back of the Infinite Dungeon thread... and my resurgence of interest in Earthdawn of late... I was wondering what might already be out there that comes close to depicting something like Paranoia... but as fantasy rather than scifi.
For the new year I'm thinking of running a short campaign in one of Earthdawn's Kaers during the Scourge... hundreds of years spent hiding in fear in an underground city while Lovecraftian monsters rampage up top seems like it might be an interesting setup.
However, most of the official Earthdawn products focus on post-kaer society... or just coming out of them... and depictions of life in Kaers seem substantially nicer than I'd expect regarding the sort of stuff that might go on amongst a few thousand people locked up for centuries like that.
So I'm looking for darker inspirations... or any inspirations... games, books, comics, movies.
Thanks for any nice suggestions.
So you mean Paranoia without the crazy?
In other words any given vault or isolation themed setting?
Metamorphosis Alpha in a way fits as its got that odd fantasy feel. but too techie in the endgame to really work Id guess. And theres End Times for Call of Cthulhu which is your premise except people fled to Mars.
There is the old BX module The Lost City, which is allmost a precursor to Paranoia's weird isolated society.
There are probably a few in Dungeon as well. Though none come readily to mind
Theres a couple of novels around those themes. Usually SF though and set on generation starships.
What elements of Paranoia do you want to keep? Just the "vault" theme of an underground city hiding from "something" above? Or the whole going insane part as well?
Quote from: Omega;937612So you mean Paranoia without the crazy?
I've always thought of Paranoia more as a horror game than a wacky comedy. So in that context, I'd probably want to keep some degree of the crazy. As in having the ruler/rulers of the kaer slowly go from benevolent town elders to something more controlling and paranoid... a bit of Stalin, a bit of Kafka... a bit of Torquemada. Rebel factions, people who don't believe there is a real threat outside, people who don't believe there is an outside, people who've come to worship the horrors... so yeah, lots of crazy.
I'm not stuck on the Earthdawn aspect so much, just as the genesis of the setting.
I'm figuring it would play out as a bit of nightmare till the maybe PCs maybe come up against the elders... and either take control or are made 'eternal scouts; and have to go look around outside... and then we'll see.
I'll have to have a look at Lost City, I don't know that one. Metamorphosis Alpha crossed my mind... but I assume it was too high-tech/low magic for what I'm thinking.
MA has no magic, just mutations that oft work like magic. Tech usually starts out at the fantasy lefel of swords and bows. How much more they find is up to the GM. Same as Gamma World would be later. If you wanted to though you could port over BX's magic system as its not as overpowered or high end as AD&D.
But in the end all you need to do is make up your own weird fantasy vault land and go.
But another odd fantasy module set was the two old Alice in Wonderland adventures for D&D. Beyond the Magic Mirror and not sure what the other was.
But probably Lost City would be a good refference point. Theres also at least two Dungeon modules set in isolated valleys. One had an aztec theme and not sure about the other. Which got me to thinking of underground Aztecs who fled to a subterrene world to hide from some invasion or other disaster and have only gotten weirder since. Just make them less homicidal and more loony.
Back in the 90s at one of the Neovention conventions I played in an adventure that kinda had such a theme. All the PCs were from an underground city and were tasked with finding a way to the surface. 2e D&D + I believe 4e Gamma World critters with Gammarauders humour. The only thing missing was Buck Rogers space ships. (maybee we missed them? :eek:)
I have no knowledge on Earthdawn, but as far as fantasy Paranoia goes I'd probably mine Fallout and Dwarf fortress sites for ideas. It's not much, as both require some work being crpgs, but mood and setting fits.
Quote from: Simlasa;937616I've always thought of Paranoia more as a horror game than a wacky comedy.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one! When I first encountered Paranoia the first thing I thought of was something dark, but the guy who ran it was more into slapstick and reading the rules gives a slapstick vibe and that always turns me off. I think that true humor happens through the wackiness of the characters, and they often act strange even when a situation is supposed to be tense. Rules systems written to be funny usually turn me off because of this. The Paranoia concept as applied to horror, however, is very enticing....
I adapted Paranoia to Warhammer to run a Skaven one-shot.
I got turned off by the goofy slapstick elements of Paranoia as well. I hate when humor in rpg's is forced. Humor in rpg's should emerge organically from the interaction between players and their characters, and the best way to accomplish that is to play it with a straight face. There is nothing more hilarious than a serious, brooding game of Vampire: the Masquerade where all the dorks in their black trench-coats and black lipstick are just totally deadpan the entire time.
Anyway, I think a fantasy version of Paranoia would work best if you grabbed inspiration from Arthur Miller's The Crucible, and made it a witch-hunt.
Quote from: Cave Bear;937673I got turned off by the goofy slapstick elements of Paranoia as well. I hate when humor in rpg's is forced.
I played in it once but never GMed it as I just did not like the setting and its idea of humour. Same reason I dislike Gammarauders and 4e D&D Gamma World.
BE funny. Dont keep telling you are funny and I should laugh now.
Quote from: Cave Bear;937673I hate when humor in rpg's is forced. Humor in rpg's should emerge organically from the interaction between players and their characters, and the best way to accomplish that is to play it with a straight face.
Exactly what I was trying to say, only you said it better than I did. :-)
"Trust the Lidless Eye. The Lidless Eye is your friend."
Quote from: Cave Bear;937673I got turned off by the goofy slapstick elements of Paranoia as well. I hate when humor in rpg's is forced. Humor in rpg's should emerge organically from the interaction between players and their characters, and the best way to accomplish that is to play it with a straight face. There is nothing more hilarious than a serious, brooding game of Vampire: the Masquerade where all the dorks in their black trench-coats and black lipstick are just totally deadpan the entire time.
Anyway, I think a fantasy version of Paranoia would work best if you grabbed inspiration from Arthur Miller's The Crucible, and made it a witch-hunt.
Yup it's the GM's job to be the straight man. The worst thing you can do to kill comedy as a GM is to be silly yourself. Of course you can set up ridiculous situations but you have to play with straight.
NEAT idea. I recommend you check out "Ardanyan's Revenge", and adventure for ED3 that lays out a Kaer conspiracy adventure very close scenario to this mashup:
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/79072/Ardanyans-Revenge-Third-Edition
If you want one group's take on it:
http://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2012/11/earthdawn-adventure-log-08-ardanyans.html
Quote from: Telarus;938334I recommend you check out "Ardanyan's Revenge"
Oh yeah... that turned up when I was looking into whether someone had already done the sort of thing I'm thinking. (also why I asked you a bunch of questions on your blog about the genesis of Adepts and Disciplines and their presence in the Kaers).
I need to get a copy of it to read, pronto.
That sinistral doll and the mention of Raggok brought back memories of this great (truly horrible) cursed item my Windling PC got off a questor of Raggok in Bartertown. Ugly stuffed bird I couldn't get rid of (burn it, bury it, give it away... it'd be back next time I woke up). When I slept it would drive people nearby to kill themselves... and if I slept away from people it would raise up any corpses in the vicinity as undead. Led to a truly EPIC quest to get rid of the thing and the horror that was behind it.
Quote from: Omega;937781I played in it once but never GMed it as I just did not like the setting and its idea of humour. Same reason I dislike Gammarauders and 4e D&D Gamma World.
BE funny. Dont keep telling you are funny and I should laugh now.
Gammarauders was one of my favourite board games growing up. It hasn't aged well now that I look back at it.
On topic I think that you could mine some of the stuff from CoC. That's always good from some paranoid horror.
Quote from: Bucket;938343On topic I think that you could mine some of the stuff from CoC. That's always good from some paranoid horror.
Earthdawn has a solid bit of CoC in its Horrors... the big bads that everyone went underground to hide from. So yeah, they're the main source of paranoia in a kaer... and the fear of them keeps people from leaving. After a couple hundred years of hiding from something I'd expect it would be kinda hard to make the transition back into the sunlight... and hard for some leaders of the kaers to let them go.
Anomalous Subsurface Environment for Labyrinth Lord share the same sort of "vibe" that Paranoia has. At least to me. However, instead of living in a complex run by a computer, the gods are computers up in the sky.
It's mostly a gonzo dungeon, with not a whole lot of setting, but it's pretty interesting.
Blue Rose.
Quote from: The Butcher;938374Blue Rose.
Good one. :D
jg
Quote from: The Butcher;938374Blue Rose.
It wouldn't take much. Just a small step for Aldis from a culture that passively forbids dissent to one that actively hunts down dissent.