Paranoia...
and see who survives more than 24 hours (in real life as well) ;-)
The short of it:
The game's main setting is an immense and futuristic city called Alpha Complex, which is controlled by The Computer, a civil service AI construct. The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially Communists). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble and shoot it. Player characters are usually troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles.
Frequently the player characters receive missions that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory or potentially fatal, equipment that is dangerous, faulty or experimental, and side-missions which conflict with any other instructions the players may have received. Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and/or a secret society member, and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Missions can therefore turn into a comedy of errors as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a "six-pack," which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is specifically forbidden for players (and punishable by the summary execution of their character) and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
The full of it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)
I would highly advocate a system that spans multiple genres like Hero system or GURPS. The later being my choice, as I haven't played the former. There is also a greater likelyhood of having multiple D6, versus D20, etc.
So, you're stuck on an island with no hope of rescue with 4 friends. You had time to grab ONE (and ONE only) RPG book. What was it?
I'm torn between 1e WHFRP or TSR's 3rd ed. DragonQuest. Call of Cthulhu and perhaps Traveler New Era are tempting.
S.
PS: You have dice... :)
Only one choice for me
Warhammer Fantasy RPG v1.
The only game I would even consider second (and it would be a long way in second) would be Rules Cyclopedia D&D. As always with questions like these limiting it to a single book cuts down on choice a lot.
Why Freehold of course!
rules cyclopidia. everything you need in one book. do we have paper, pencils and dice also?
Gurps, becuase you can do any kind of game.
Gurps, becuase you can do any kind of game.
+1
Can do it all, Just like Hero System, but easier and less time consuming!
Only one book is limiting...otherwise I'd pick GURPS 4E (two core books). I guess I'd probably take Pathfinder, though I'd get awfully tired of Fantasy so maybe we'd have to work up modern and sci-fi rules for it.
M
Gurps, becuase you can do any kind of game.+1
Can do it all, Just like Hero System, but easier and less time consuming!
Really? I found Hero System the simpler and faster of the two. of course it has less for non-combat stuff....
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If I'm able to grab enough insuline to last, probably Eden Studios Armageddon - enough character rules tu play Witchcraft, superhero, horror or even fantasy games, easy enought to modify. If I don't have enough insuline probably Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane - great setting, easy rules and a short enough campaign ;)
I think Savage worlds because with that one little book you can run nearly any game, and it's a fast easy little system to learn, or maybe Mutants and Masterminds because you can pretty much run any game with that book as well, and it would do superheroes better than Savage Worlds.
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Well, I'm tempted to go with Pathfinder...especially if I can go beyond the "Big Two" and bring the APG.
The other one I'd be tempted to bring would be Green Ronin's True20. Just enough crunch to keep things interesting, without crossing over into the "too much crunch" criticisms that are bandied about by d20 anti-fans, and it's got campaign settings or genre toolkits for almost anything, from Fantasy to Space Opera to Huge Anime Mecha.
PF. You can make a raft out of it.
Hero 5th Edition. 6th Edition is broken into two books, so no go. I would also choose Hero over G.U.R.P.S. because G.U.R.P.S. really needs all those support supplements to really shine. You can not do supers with core G.U.R.P.S. and magic and psionics are really limited.
Mutants & Masterminds would be a close second, but again, I think it needs some of the support to extend its potential.
Hero 5th Edition. 6th Edition is broken into two books, so no go. I would also choose Hero over G.U.R.P.S. because G.U.R.P.S. really needs all those support supplements to really shine. You can not do supers with core G.U.R.P.S. and magic and psionics are really limited.
Mutants & Masterminds would be a close second, but again, I think it needs some of the support to extend its potential.
~GASP~ YOU would bring Hero? No! NEVER!!!
~GRINS~
Hero 5th Edition. 6th Edition is broken into two books, so no go. I would also choose Hero over G.U.R.P.S. because G.U.R.P.S. really needs all those support supplements to really shine. You can not do supers with core G.U.R.P.S. and magic and psionics are really limited.
Mutants & Masterminds would be a close second, but again, I think it needs some of the support to extend its potential.
I second Hero 5th, revised for a *single* book. Two bad about 6th following GURPS into multi-book territory. I'm also tempted by Savage Worlds, but it can't compare (sans supplements) to Hero's "do everything" ability.
What's a "friend"? Is that like an enemy, but they are dead? Cause I'd probably just eat the corpse.
Think of it as a pony luver, but less creepy. ~thinks~ maybe.
~GASP~ YOU would bring Hero? No! NEVER!!!
~GRINS~
Given that I am mostly playing M&M these days.
World of Darkness.
Probably Rifts, it's got everything you could think of and more in it, and the rules are so broken you could spend your lifetime on the island trying to fix them!
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I'm gonna throw in with the Savage Worlds crowd. The reason being how versatile the little book is. I was torn between that and World of Darkness, except that the latter is almost inherantly depressing and I don't think a bunch of castaways really need that. Not good for morale. At least with Savage Worlds you can be a bit optimistic and distracting with the campaigns.
Though the reason given above for RIFTS makes it a pretty good choice too...
Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.
Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.
I'll always have a little place in my heart for that first edition BESM book. I've actually run a game out of it. Not my best game, but that had as much to do with inexperience as with the game.
my choice would be 3rd ed shadowrun.
It's pretty much self contained.
? do we have the option of not saveing 1 of the friends and getting ALL of our gameing stuff?
Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.I'll always have a little place in my heart for that first edition BESM book. I've actually run a game out of it. Not my best game, but that had as much to do with inexperience as with the game.
The first edition was good. I have picked up a copy of the third edition, but just cannot get to grips with it.
The first edition was good. I have picked up a copy of the third edition, but just cannot get to grips with it.Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.I'll always have a little place in my heart for that first edition BESM book. I've actually run a game out of it. Not my best game, but that had as much to do with inexperience as with the game.
Never realised there was a 3rd edition, I stopped following the system a while back. I take it there were a LOT of changes?
So, you're stuck on an island with no hope of rescue with 4 friends. You had time to grab ONE (and ONE only) RPG book. What was it?
I'm torn between 1e WHFRP or TSR's 3rd ed. DragonQuest. Call of Cthulhu and perhaps Traveler New Era are tempting.
S.
PS: You have dice... :)
I have a bunch of classic RPG games listed at http://zhalindor.com/tempreloc/staatsrpglib.htm to whet the appetite.
RuneQuest or the BRP from Chaosium. You can do most anything with it. I've taught it to folks from all over the world. (I had to keep bribing the penguins with fresh smelt though.)
In service,
Rich
www.drgames.org
Ah yes paranoia...
Great fun for a session (maybe two) but I can't see how you could run a campaign of it. As a beer and pretzels roleplaying game it very much is the best though.
The WEG folks put out a supplement called HIL Sector Blues that had the characters start as blue level operatives. You could get a little longer runs with that set-up.
Most standard Paranoia games that I played in never made it out of the ready room.
:-D
In service,
Rich
www.drgames.org
So, you're stuck on an island with no hope of rescue with 4 friends. You had time to grab ONE (and ONE only) RPG book. What was it?
I'm torn between 1e WHFRP or TSR's 3rd ed. DragonQuest. Call of Cthulhu and perhaps Traveler New Era are tempting.
S.
PS: You have dice... :)
Ptolus of course.
I played long enough (26 years) to improvise any rule, so I don't need a rule book
On an island, I will see enough of nature not to play a wilderlands game
I will finally have enough time to prepare and reread Ptolus
Ptolus has enough inspirational power to drive a campaign for eons :)
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Probably Starblazer Adventures. Not because it's my favorite RPG (don't get me wrong, I love it).
I'd pick it because it's massive, easily customized, easily prepped for, easy to add options and content, and the FATE system is easily adjusted to just about any genre I might want to play in.
Other contenders would be True20, GURPS, or one of the other FATE 3 games such as Spirit of the Century or Diaspora. Pathfinder is only out of the running because it's two books and having to do without the monsters (or rules for making them) would drive me insane.
This is a good question. I'd have to go with the oft-overlooked and oft-disliked dp9 CORE book. It can very easily be used for a high fantasy or a simulationist game, sci-fi or realism. The down-side being it has a bit of a learning curve. But hey... YOU'RE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND! WHAT ELSE YOU GONNA DO?
: shrugs :
but that's just me.
Oh, and it only requires d6 dice... surely those are the easiest to care out of coconuts, right?
Ptolus.
Because its *big*. And all that paper (and glue and bookmark cord) might be useful on an island.
-S
Cybergeneration.
It's not big, but it's deep. I can't think of another game where the premise was so simple as "go to the corner store for tampons" or "get food at Senior Falafel" where such pointedly simple ideas could extend into 3-5 hour adventures that everyone enjoyed.
And, once you tire of that, advance the plot arc ('cause R. Tas sure avoided doing that)!
Mutants and Masterminds (2e) core rulebook. Fairly flexible and self-contained ruleset and already contains lots of cannon fodder/baddie archetypes.