Post by abrowncoatforever on Aug 15, 2015 15:04:10 GMT
Another possible piece I'm not really done with. It's lacking something. Well it's lacking a lot of somethings, like coherency, proper grammar, an author that knows what the fuck he's doing. Anyways it's here so ya'all can peruse it and maybe give me a clue or two:
Mess with the Money
In my experience players, regardless of their personal political preferences, have an intractable default setting to “Capitalist”. I’ve been at the table with collectivists of every flavor, including outright communists, and the one thing they have in common with all other players is a complete failure to apply their collectivist economic theory to their character’s decision making process. Now let’s just set aside for a moment that these were the same players that insisted on modern treatment of gender, race and religion regardless of setting. These players were simply incapable of playing without money and without capitalism. Throw them into a setting like Eclipse Phase or Star Trek where the economics are post-scarcity and they search until they find a medium of exchange to commence accumulating. Gold pressed Latium anyone?
I also find it amusing that these very same people, almost to the last individual, will sit there with a straight face as they tell you collectivism has never really been tried. Because the Soviet Union, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party Regime, and the People’s Republic of China don’t count. And neither do the Incas, the Minoans or the Egyptians I guess, even though the “Palace Economies” of those civilizations meet every standard for collectivism save for the rigged voting.
Imagine the looks on your player’s faces when they haul their golden coinage into town only to find there aren’t any shops there and nobody wants to trade their allotment of redistributed goods for any number of tarnished bits of metal.
But it doesn’t have to be money-less communism to mess with their heads. Making their money worthless is just as effective. Imagine the players entering the shop for resupply, their saddlebags brimming with coins, only to find when they go to pay their gold has turned to lead! (In case you’re wondering there is magical artifact in town that turns lead into gold, only the nearest natural gold is transformed into lead by equal measures) Or maybe the local powers have been devaluing the local coinage and NPCs are trying to hoard the good stuff as much as they can (bad money drives good out of the market) so they're charging prices that will let them give the most devalued change. Or maybe the local powers have banned bullion based currency entirely in favor of a paper (or silk or carved wood or...) currency and possession or exchange of gold & silver coinage is worth a quick trip to the chopping block.
Mess with the Setting
Sometimes to mess with your players you need to keep them in the dark. You need to conceal the true nature of the campaign on which they've embarked until the critical moment. This doesn't work for all settings but with the right pairing you can pull the carpet right out from under them. For example what if your Mission Impossible Force encounters what appears to be sorcery? Players will expect you will respect for the genre. They'll expect that any apparent sorcery is in fact some kind of technological trick- part of the mystery to unravel. But what if the demon isn't a hologram? What if they are forced to conclude actual demon summoning is at work?
Or maybe you've got a traditional fantasy on the table. What if those "gods" aren't gods? What if those gods are actually aliens visiting from another world? What if orcs and elves and whatnot aren't mythology come to life, but rather the product of genetic engineering?
Or here's one to cause a stir: at the close of a session while in the middle of a Star Wars campaign have one of the major NPCs glance upwards and say, "Computer? Save program." before walking out of the holodeck door. Come on, I can't be the first one to think of that!
Mess with the Paradigm
Arguably all of the above could be considered messing with the Paradigm. But this is by far the most soul raping of the lot.
Unless you're running a rogue style game, and as a rule of thumb if you're designing encounters to be level appropriate you're not, then your players are going to expect to win. Put that 'you can't win an RPG" myth next to the Easter Bunny and Toothfairy in your lies people told you box. Players are going to expect to win. They know their characters are the protagonists of the story and so in the end they expect to be the heroes. This goes even for the "I want to play an Evil character" munchkin. Better than nine times out of ten that "I want to play an Evil character" player is just looking for an excuse to stab orphans for a few coppers. They all see their characters as the Han Solo of the story. They'll rake in as much coinage as they can for the majority of the campaign then turn around and make one generous gesture at the end to secure their place as one of the good guys of the story.
But what if there is no way to win?
[Capt Kirk image forthcoming]
Suppose the characters set out on a quest to stop an evil cult that has been doing human sacrifices and hooray they did it! The cult is destroyed, the children are home, the saddlebags are full. But wait! What's up with the disasters lately? Storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions? A new quest for an audience with a deity begins. And at the audience we learn exactly why the disasters AND the human sacrifices... Maybe the deities are low on juice and they can't keep the primal forces in check any longer and the only way to save the world is to drain enough souls. Or maybe the population is too great and this has thrown the spirit world out of balance. Now the mortals must be greatly reduced in number or the whole world will end. Or maybe the gods are just dicks so they've set the world to end until they get enough sacrifices to sate their egos.
Whatever the case, this story doesn't have a happy ending. Either the players pony up some human sacrifices (extra credit if they volunteer to sacrifice themselves) or the world comes to an end. Either way, they lose.
Yeah, I know, it's a mess. Any ideas?
Ways to mess with your players
Mess with the Money
In my experience players, regardless of their personal political preferences, have an intractable default setting to “Capitalist”. I’ve been at the table with collectivists of every flavor, including outright communists, and the one thing they have in common with all other players is a complete failure to apply their collectivist economic theory to their character’s decision making process. Now let’s just set aside for a moment that these were the same players that insisted on modern treatment of gender, race and religion regardless of setting. These players were simply incapable of playing without money and without capitalism. Throw them into a setting like Eclipse Phase or Star Trek where the economics are post-scarcity and they search until they find a medium of exchange to commence accumulating. Gold pressed Latium anyone?
I also find it amusing that these very same people, almost to the last individual, will sit there with a straight face as they tell you collectivism has never really been tried. Because the Soviet Union, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party Regime, and the People’s Republic of China don’t count. And neither do the Incas, the Minoans or the Egyptians I guess, even though the “Palace Economies” of those civilizations meet every standard for collectivism save for the rigged voting.
Imagine the looks on your player’s faces when they haul their golden coinage into town only to find there aren’t any shops there and nobody wants to trade their allotment of redistributed goods for any number of tarnished bits of metal.
But it doesn’t have to be money-less communism to mess with their heads. Making their money worthless is just as effective. Imagine the players entering the shop for resupply, their saddlebags brimming with coins, only to find when they go to pay their gold has turned to lead! (In case you’re wondering there is magical artifact in town that turns lead into gold, only the nearest natural gold is transformed into lead by equal measures) Or maybe the local powers have been devaluing the local coinage and NPCs are trying to hoard the good stuff as much as they can (bad money drives good out of the market) so they're charging prices that will let them give the most devalued change. Or maybe the local powers have banned bullion based currency entirely in favor of a paper (or silk or carved wood or...) currency and possession or exchange of gold & silver coinage is worth a quick trip to the chopping block.
Mess with the Setting
Sometimes to mess with your players you need to keep them in the dark. You need to conceal the true nature of the campaign on which they've embarked until the critical moment. This doesn't work for all settings but with the right pairing you can pull the carpet right out from under them. For example what if your Mission Impossible Force encounters what appears to be sorcery? Players will expect you will respect for the genre. They'll expect that any apparent sorcery is in fact some kind of technological trick- part of the mystery to unravel. But what if the demon isn't a hologram? What if they are forced to conclude actual demon summoning is at work?
Or maybe you've got a traditional fantasy on the table. What if those "gods" aren't gods? What if those gods are actually aliens visiting from another world? What if orcs and elves and whatnot aren't mythology come to life, but rather the product of genetic engineering?
Or here's one to cause a stir: at the close of a session while in the middle of a Star Wars campaign have one of the major NPCs glance upwards and say, "Computer? Save program." before walking out of the holodeck door. Come on, I can't be the first one to think of that!
Mess with the Paradigm
Arguably all of the above could be considered messing with the Paradigm. But this is by far the most soul raping of the lot.
Unless you're running a rogue style game, and as a rule of thumb if you're designing encounters to be level appropriate you're not, then your players are going to expect to win. Put that 'you can't win an RPG" myth next to the Easter Bunny and Toothfairy in your lies people told you box. Players are going to expect to win. They know their characters are the protagonists of the story and so in the end they expect to be the heroes. This goes even for the "I want to play an Evil character" munchkin. Better than nine times out of ten that "I want to play an Evil character" player is just looking for an excuse to stab orphans for a few coppers. They all see their characters as the Han Solo of the story. They'll rake in as much coinage as they can for the majority of the campaign then turn around and make one generous gesture at the end to secure their place as one of the good guys of the story.
But what if there is no way to win?
[Capt Kirk image forthcoming]
Suppose the characters set out on a quest to stop an evil cult that has been doing human sacrifices and hooray they did it! The cult is destroyed, the children are home, the saddlebags are full. But wait! What's up with the disasters lately? Storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions? A new quest for an audience with a deity begins. And at the audience we learn exactly why the disasters AND the human sacrifices... Maybe the deities are low on juice and they can't keep the primal forces in check any longer and the only way to save the world is to drain enough souls. Or maybe the population is too great and this has thrown the spirit world out of balance. Now the mortals must be greatly reduced in number or the whole world will end. Or maybe the gods are just dicks so they've set the world to end until they get enough sacrifices to sate their egos.
Whatever the case, this story doesn't have a happy ending. Either the players pony up some human sacrifices (extra credit if they volunteer to sacrifice themselves) or the world comes to an end. Either way, they lose.
Yeah, I know, it's a mess. Any ideas?