Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Six: Nuclear War, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu
The article by John Harris from the Fundamentals of Game Design series provides a detailed overview of the most popular board games, including traditional chess and go, role-playing like Call of Cthulhu, European ones like Colonialists, and many others who have a lot to learn.
Previous articles in the series:
')
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part one: go, chess, Parchis.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part two: backgammon, monopoly, scrabble.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Three: Pente, Colonialists, Puerto Rico.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Four: Train ticket, Carcassonne, Colonialists.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Five: Munchkin, Contract Bridge, Arkham's Terror.
Description:
Players act as heads of nuclear powers. There are 2 types of attack, applicable in two different phases of the game. One of them adds a walking player population, but can only be used in peacetime. To use another type, you will need 2 moves, but it unleashes a war, in which the first type of attack is simply not applicable. Having lost the population, the player leaves the main game, but he gets the last chance for retribution. There is also a possibility that there will be no winners in the game.
Game Review
Compared to previous games, this one is so simple that all its rules can be found in this article. There are 2 types of cards in the game: maps with population and order cards. At the very beginning of the card with the population are distributed to all players. Each of the cards can contain from 1 to 25 million people. The population of a nation is equivalent to health points: once they end, you lose right away. The number of cards with the population is known, but the population itself is hidden from the players, so they do not know how long their opponents can hold out and who has the most advantageous position.
During the game, you can replace the unused cards with the population of the cards from the deck, if someone loses a smaller number of people than indicated on the card. Also, players are dealt cards orders. Some of these cards contain a certain action, marked "Secret". If one of the players draws such a card, it shows it to everyone. The card is immediately recouped, and in return, the player receives another card from the deck. (The fact that secrets are instantly known to all players is a sarcastic allusion to world events.) The secret either immediately gives the player a large population increase, or destroys people in large quantities.
Before each player is a board, on which he will lay out cards in specially designated areas. The most important of them are called orders. Before the very first move, each player puts his 2 cards face-up on these areas. This forms a queue; when the turn comes, the player puts the third order, then turns over the first one, which will be his action on that turn. After that, the second and third orders move up in turn. Thus, players are obliged to think 2 moves ahead, which gives their actions some inertia.
In addition to the Secrets, there are 4 more types of cards. Propaganda cards are the easiest to use. When a player receives such a card, he can instantly assign a part of his opponent’s population to himself. These cards are very strong, and, with the exception of random Secrets, propaganda is the only way to increase its population, but it only works in peacetime.
Peacetime ends in the event of a successful attack, which is activated by two other types of cards - Missiles and Warheads. These cards are used in combination with each other, in turn for 2 consecutive moves. For example, a Rocket is launched first, and a Warhead suitable for this rocket (this is indicated on the Rocket card) is launched on the next turn.
This allows players to make false attacks in peacetime (by playing one card and not running a second card) in order to force opponents to quickly prepare their own attacks. A successful attack entails a declaration of war. From this point on, all players enter the war stage, and it continues until one of the players leaves the game. In this case, all the Propaganda cards in the queue are invalid.
On each type of warhead it is written how many people it destroys, but before it hits the target, the attacker rotates the drum, after which the effectiveness of the attack can fluctuate significantly (for example, triple damage, additional casualties or survivors, unexploded warhead). One of the items on the drum can instantly complete the game and not leave the winners, if the attack is performed by the most powerful warhead.
The only possible missile strike protection is a suitable anti-missile card. There are few such cards, but if you have one and are going to attack you, you can repel the attack and gain an advantage in the next turn.
If one of the parties in the game ends up with a population, before it leaves the game, it has the opportunity to deliver the final blow. A losing participant can take all the cards from his orders, pick up suitable missiles and warheads and inflict as many blows on the enemy as he can. Usually, the goal of retaliation is the player who struck the fatal blow, but it can easily become a player with a small number of cards or with the most powerful warhead. Each such attack is made by rotating the drum. If the other player has a population over this time, he gets the opportunity to retaliate after the attacking player finishes his final blow. It is possible that this will trigger a chain reaction - all the players will be destroyed in turn, and in this case, no one will win. If there is only one survivor, he becomes the winner. If several players remain, the world is declared, all remaining players can take all their cards from the order board, put 2 new orders and start the game again.
What can be learned from this game?
“Nuclear war” is a fast and fun game that does not require serious strategic thinking. Obviously, mainly because of the merry apocalyptic themes. The game was created in the 1960s, at the height of the arms race between the United States and the USSR, and at that time game design standards were not that high by modern standards.
I can not fail to note that the game has somewhat lost its relevance in our days, but still it is sometimes quite funny to sit down and play at the end of the world. This game is pretty pointless to play together, and this is a bit strange, considering that the Cold War was unfolding between the two superpowers.
The game has some very good mechanics. For example, the ability to hide the current number of people is an excellent means to reduce the effectiveness of attacks aimed at destroying specific players.
The system of orders placed in the queue, works fine before the onset of war, but becomes meaningless after. The war affects all players, any of them can unleash it in 2 moves, which will stop the leakage of the population from well-populated "countries", and often this happens at the earliest opportunity.
Another not very well implemented idea is the missile launch system. The fact that a booster rocket is required for each warhead does not greatly affect the game, besides the fact that it becomes necessary to prepare counterattacks on the aggressor player. But if they destroy him, he enters a state of final retribution and immediately launches the superataku. And the most effective strategy is to attempt to destroy all opponents with Propaganda cards - this is the only way to win, without launching retribution.
If during the game you have no luck with the population, anti-missile cards, warheads and / or secrets, you are doomed to defeat. And the worst of all is to stay with a few Propaganda cards during the war. In this case, it remains only to make weak attacks and wait until the cards appear more serious.
It is difficult to somehow characterize the strategy of the “Nuclear War”, because, in fact, it is limited to attacking players who either deserve it most or lead, or just behave like cattle. The strange theme of the game does not really work in its favor, but it is still much more popular than such games like Uno.
Description
Role-playing game in which players act as agents of the authoritarian city-state Alpha Complex - in the best traditions of Orwellian "1984". The task of these bloodhounds, armed to the teeth as a rule, is to fight underground sabotage groups and any manifestations of dissent.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, “Paranoia” is an extremely fun and exciting game. This is because during the stripping of marginal elements your main goal is to annoy the opponents as much as possible.
Game Review
Paranoia is one of two role-playing games on this list that are played with paper and pen. But it is so atypical that it deserves special attention. Empathy for the characters and even some elements of the narrative fade into the background if only to provoke the players into conflict.
It goes well with the spirit of the game, encouraging all sorts of machinations and squabbles (best of all, this mechanic works when rivalry between the characters provoke the players themselves). At the same time, one should not forget about the safety of his character - despite the fact that each agent has 5 spare lives, they must be managed wisely in order not to spend everything ahead of time.
Death is waiting for agents at every step - both when performing tasks, and at the hands of other players. Therefore, initially everyone has several lives, or "clones." Sometimes an agent is simply not able to fulfill a mission, and given that a defeat is equal to treason, you need to find an excuse for yourself - for example, by blaming one of your opponents.
The essence of the game is as follows. The Alpha complex is controlled by despotic artificial intelligence - Computer. In the role of his agents, players must search for and eliminate traitors, so all tasks are somehow related to this goal. The most malicious enemy of the system is the communists, but there are other criminal groups in the game.
All members of secret organizations and mutants are traitors by definition. In this game characters are those and others, and in general do not stop any illegal methods. It can be assumed that everyone in this city has its own skeletons in the closet, and all for some "merit" one way or another can be attributed to the traitors.
The trick is that the Computer does not suspect the existence of traitors among its agents. Do not forget that, thanks to the secret police, he holds the whole city in frenzy, and with his bloodthirstiness even the GLaDOS from the Half-Life universe could not be compared. Therefore, if you value your life, you better not attract attention to yourself. In addition, the fight against dissent is one of the few ways to move up the social hierarchy in the game world. And, as if on purpose, potential traitors are right at your side - these are your rivals.
The tasks that players receive from their secret organizations are related to the elimination of other agents or sabotage of official missions. At the same time, being mutants, they can use their unique abilities - just like the X-Men. The main thing - do not do it openly, if you do not want to sign a death warrant. Likewise, you can’t just take and shoot somebody - first you need to find evidence of treason. That is what distinguishes "Paranoia" from games where you need to destroy rivals in all ways.
The most important weapon in the game is knowledge. Passing a briefing in their organization, each player will learn something (about the underground, super powers or traitors) that his rivals do not know. An intricate network of interrelated, often contradictory tasks, opportunities and dangers makes the game extremely interesting - especially for experienced players. Strangely enough, while many consider “Paranoia” to be a frivolous and superficial game. But with an experienced gamemaster, this is not at all the case.
Perhaps "Paranoia" got such a reputation due to the fact that the characters are constantly dying. You can catch an opponent in treason just out of the blue and just shoot him as well. I want to kill someone - please. In the end, agents have 5 spare lives, so why not? In this regard, the characters do not have health points, but there are states: “healthy”, “stunned”, “wounded”, “disarmed”, “dead” and “incinerated” - just for fun. In general, sudden death in the game - a common thing.
In the latest editions of Paranoia, a new interesting mechanic appeared - the so-called “distortion points”, like “merit” in the classic role-playing game “Ghostbusters”. These points in the form of round chips are awarded by the leader as a reward for good wagering, and players can use them at their discretion.
One chip represents one point of distortion and can increase or decrease the result of a die roll of any player by 5%. You can spend them to help yourself or to prevent your opponent. If you can not wait for a misfortune with another player, you can contribute to this by spending your points. But be prepared that they will be equally used against you.
The distortion points belong to the player, not the character, so even if your agent plays a box, the points will go to the next clone. And if the death of the character turns out to be especially funny, the next clone will start the game with even more chips.
As already mentioned, the game becomes more fun when betrayal provoke the players themselves. In this sense, distortion glasses perfectly complement the game. In fact, they are a kind of game karma, because good things happen more often to good players.
What can be learned from this game?
It is surprising that there are not so many such RPG-games as “Paranoia”, where players do not so much help each other as they compete. Remember my words: the company that first adapts Paranoia or a similar game to the MMORPG genre will go down in history. Multiplayer first-person shooters are a good start, but confronting them is too straightforward to create the right paranoid atmosphere. Similar gameplay can be identified except in the Spy class from the game Team Fortress.
The atmosphere of the game depends on the players. The latest editions of “Paranoia” include 3 styles: “Pee-paf”, “Classic” and “Right” - in order of increasing severity.
Most game lovers prefer the classic rules, but those who are familiar with the game only by hearsay or played only a couple of times think that “Paranoia” comes down to “Bang-Puff” - the constant shootings of cartoon characters. The right “Paranoia” is the most serious, takes a lot of time and more resembles the traditional RPG, but in its severity it goes to extremes - just like “Bang-Puff” in its excessive freedom.
Description
A role-playing game in which players take turns investigating mysterious events, colliding with the terrible forces of the Cthulhu Mythos - ancient god-like creatures, who do not put up the human race for nothing. The game is not as fatal as Paranoia, but still rather merciless.
Game Review
This is the second and last full-fledged role-playing game presented in this list. Howard Phyllis Lovecraft worked in the horror genre in 1920-1930. Being a staunch atheist, Lovecraft was keenly aware of the senselessness and pettiness of human life in the context of the incomprehensible infinity of the universe, and his work is thoroughly imbued with this philosophy.
Lovecraft had many friends, and together they created one of the most popular universes in literature, the Myths of Cthulhu, that is, a whole pantheon of eerie, otherworldly deities endowed with an unknown force. Cthulhu's myths have grown so widely that on their basis a whole role-playing game, Call of Cthulhu, has appeared.
Despite the fact that with its temporary roots, the game rests on the heyday of Dungeons and Dragons and contains certain similarities with it (for example, the importance of character characteristics), there are differences between them. First, in the "Call of Cthulhu" there is no system of experience. The best way to get better is to get as many skill points as you can. Secondly, many monsters are basically unkillable. In computer role-playing games, especially in Japanese, cliché is very common: throughout the game you try to prevent the monstrous sorcerer from awakening an ancient deity to rule over the earth, but he still succeeds in his plan, and you have to fight with his deity, as they say, with bare hands.
The similarity with the Myths of Cthulhu is so great that there is practically no space for randomness, but still in the “Call of Cthulhu” events develop a little differently. The highest entity, the Great Cthulhu himself, for one round can automatically absorb up to 3 people, and this is just a warm-up. Destroy him, too, will not work: in half an hour he will recover with full force.
The characteristics of these monsters are mainly listed in the book, so the gamemaster can accurately lay out to the losing players what awaits them, because when they meet with Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth or, God forbid, Azathoth, the best choice is flight. In the adaptation of the game according to the d20 system, these characteristics are not represented at all, since it is quite naturally assumed that the appearance of these creatures in the game simply means the beginning of the end for the players. To win the Call of Cthulhu, you need to stop the cult before they wake Cthulhu.
Unlike most role-playing games (including empowerment fantasy), in The Call of Cthulhu, characters often lose their power over time. In fact, the purpose of the Myths of Cthulhu is to show us that no matter what magical powers people would possess, for the gods, they will still remain small insects.
Players have such an indicator as mental health (SAN), which increases as the adventures or monster battles end, but more often it decreases. Having lost a relatively small amount of mental health, a character can temporarily go insane, which in certain situations can be fatal. If the player's mental health is zero, he loses his sanity completely and leaves the game.
One of the most important skills in the game is named after the Myths of Cthulhu. Representing knowledge of the unimaginable otherworldly nature of the real universe, it reduces the maximum indicator of mental health. Many important roles in the game are the roles of Cthulhu Myths, but the players with the most pumped-up myths are most influenced by images that are crazy during investigations.
In addition, for the sake of different types of spells have to sacrifice power (POW), and this is a permanent indicator. Due to this, the characters in the game do not have the ability to rapidly pump through only through adventures; on the contrary, they have a very short lifespan, which paradoxically makes this horror one of the best RPG counterparts in real life.
What can be learned from this game?
In The Call of Cthulhu, the most interesting thing is not in battles with otherworldly monsters and desperate attempts not to go crazy, although they are quite funny. But battles, in fact, are for the most part deadly, and lose their mind, most likely, will have to one way or another in the course of the investigation.
It is the investigation - the main means of involvement in the gameplay. Many scenarios begin with the so-called investigation phase, when, upon receiving a task, players explore everything possible and impossible before encountering a one-on-one danger.
To get involved in anything without prior preparation means inevitable death. In order to get to the root of evil, it is necessary to carry out a lot of searches and folding of separate facts into one picture. Detectives have to wander through the city council building, police stations, newspaper shops, morgues and, of course, libraries to understand at least a little the nature of the horror they had to face. One of the well-known advantages (or disadvantages, how to look) of the game is the importance of using the library, which is an integral part of the research.
Other useful skills include a reliability rating (respect from others positively influences your trust in you), psychology (in time to discern pretense, as well as the motives out of that weird person with a goatee who might well be a sorcerer) and “See the hidden” (because that in the end you still have to go down to the dungeon and try to find the very secret passage).
The game not only fascinates with fascinating information, and sometimes with the magic needed to defeat the enemy, but also creates a magnificent atmosphere of the ordinary world of the 1920s, in which the details of strange and terrible events are gradually revealed. For example, a house that has been in the same family for 400 years ... Its owners have always been people with the same name, who always looked for about 40 years, and for all the time they could not find a single certificate of their death ...
Previous articles in the series:
')
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part one: go, chess, Parchis.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part two: backgammon, monopoly, scrabble.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Three: Pente, Colonialists, Puerto Rico.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Four: Train ticket, Carcassonne, Colonialists.
Basics of game design: 20 board games. Part Five: Munchkin, Contract Bridge, Arkham's Terror.
Nuclear war
Publisher: Flying Buffalo
Type: aggressive nuclear card game for 2-6 players
Level of difficulty: very low
Creator: Douglas Malewicki
Luck factor: high
Description:
Players act as heads of nuclear powers. There are 2 types of attack, applicable in two different phases of the game. One of them adds a walking player population, but can only be used in peacetime. To use another type, you will need 2 moves, but it unleashes a war, in which the first type of attack is simply not applicable. Having lost the population, the player leaves the main game, but he gets the last chance for retribution. There is also a possibility that there will be no winners in the game.
Game Review
Compared to previous games, this one is so simple that all its rules can be found in this article. There are 2 types of cards in the game: maps with population and order cards. At the very beginning of the card with the population are distributed to all players. Each of the cards can contain from 1 to 25 million people. The population of a nation is equivalent to health points: once they end, you lose right away. The number of cards with the population is known, but the population itself is hidden from the players, so they do not know how long their opponents can hold out and who has the most advantageous position.
During the game, you can replace the unused cards with the population of the cards from the deck, if someone loses a smaller number of people than indicated on the card. Also, players are dealt cards orders. Some of these cards contain a certain action, marked "Secret". If one of the players draws such a card, it shows it to everyone. The card is immediately recouped, and in return, the player receives another card from the deck. (The fact that secrets are instantly known to all players is a sarcastic allusion to world events.) The secret either immediately gives the player a large population increase, or destroys people in large quantities.
Before each player is a board, on which he will lay out cards in specially designated areas. The most important of them are called orders. Before the very first move, each player puts his 2 cards face-up on these areas. This forms a queue; when the turn comes, the player puts the third order, then turns over the first one, which will be his action on that turn. After that, the second and third orders move up in turn. Thus, players are obliged to think 2 moves ahead, which gives their actions some inertia.
In addition to the Secrets, there are 4 more types of cards. Propaganda cards are the easiest to use. When a player receives such a card, he can instantly assign a part of his opponent’s population to himself. These cards are very strong, and, with the exception of random Secrets, propaganda is the only way to increase its population, but it only works in peacetime.
Peacetime ends in the event of a successful attack, which is activated by two other types of cards - Missiles and Warheads. These cards are used in combination with each other, in turn for 2 consecutive moves. For example, a Rocket is launched first, and a Warhead suitable for this rocket (this is indicated on the Rocket card) is launched on the next turn.
This allows players to make false attacks in peacetime (by playing one card and not running a second card) in order to force opponents to quickly prepare their own attacks. A successful attack entails a declaration of war. From this point on, all players enter the war stage, and it continues until one of the players leaves the game. In this case, all the Propaganda cards in the queue are invalid.
On each type of warhead it is written how many people it destroys, but before it hits the target, the attacker rotates the drum, after which the effectiveness of the attack can fluctuate significantly (for example, triple damage, additional casualties or survivors, unexploded warhead). One of the items on the drum can instantly complete the game and not leave the winners, if the attack is performed by the most powerful warhead.
The only possible missile strike protection is a suitable anti-missile card. There are few such cards, but if you have one and are going to attack you, you can repel the attack and gain an advantage in the next turn.
If one of the parties in the game ends up with a population, before it leaves the game, it has the opportunity to deliver the final blow. A losing participant can take all the cards from his orders, pick up suitable missiles and warheads and inflict as many blows on the enemy as he can. Usually, the goal of retaliation is the player who struck the fatal blow, but it can easily become a player with a small number of cards or with the most powerful warhead. Each such attack is made by rotating the drum. If the other player has a population over this time, he gets the opportunity to retaliate after the attacking player finishes his final blow. It is possible that this will trigger a chain reaction - all the players will be destroyed in turn, and in this case, no one will win. If there is only one survivor, he becomes the winner. If several players remain, the world is declared, all remaining players can take all their cards from the order board, put 2 new orders and start the game again.
What can be learned from this game?
“Nuclear war” is a fast and fun game that does not require serious strategic thinking. Obviously, mainly because of the merry apocalyptic themes. The game was created in the 1960s, at the height of the arms race between the United States and the USSR, and at that time game design standards were not that high by modern standards.
I can not fail to note that the game has somewhat lost its relevance in our days, but still it is sometimes quite funny to sit down and play at the end of the world. This game is pretty pointless to play together, and this is a bit strange, considering that the Cold War was unfolding between the two superpowers.
The game has some very good mechanics. For example, the ability to hide the current number of people is an excellent means to reduce the effectiveness of attacks aimed at destroying specific players.
The system of orders placed in the queue, works fine before the onset of war, but becomes meaningless after. The war affects all players, any of them can unleash it in 2 moves, which will stop the leakage of the population from well-populated "countries", and often this happens at the earliest opportunity.
Another not very well implemented idea is the missile launch system. The fact that a booster rocket is required for each warhead does not greatly affect the game, besides the fact that it becomes necessary to prepare counterattacks on the aggressor player. But if they destroy him, he enters a state of final retribution and immediately launches the superataku. And the most effective strategy is to attempt to destroy all opponents with Propaganda cards - this is the only way to win, without launching retribution.
If during the game you have no luck with the population, anti-missile cards, warheads and / or secrets, you are doomed to defeat. And the worst of all is to stay with a few Propaganda cards during the war. In this case, it remains only to make weak attacks and wait until the cards appear more serious.
It is difficult to somehow characterize the strategy of the “Nuclear War”, because, in fact, it is limited to attacking players who either deserve it most or lead, or just behave like cattle. The strange theme of the game does not really work in its favor, but it is still much more popular than such games like Uno.
Paranoia
Publisher: First released by West End Games, then reprinted by Mongoose Publishing.
Type: dystopian role-playing game for three or more players
Difficulty level: moderate
Creators: Greg Kostikyan, Dan Gerber, Eric Goldberg, Allen Varney and others.
Luck factor: moderate
Description
Role-playing game in which players act as agents of the authoritarian city-state Alpha Complex - in the best traditions of Orwellian "1984". The task of these bloodhounds, armed to the teeth as a rule, is to fight underground sabotage groups and any manifestations of dissent.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, “Paranoia” is an extremely fun and exciting game. This is because during the stripping of marginal elements your main goal is to annoy the opponents as much as possible.
Game Review
Paranoia is one of two role-playing games on this list that are played with paper and pen. But it is so atypical that it deserves special attention. Empathy for the characters and even some elements of the narrative fade into the background if only to provoke the players into conflict.
It goes well with the spirit of the game, encouraging all sorts of machinations and squabbles (best of all, this mechanic works when rivalry between the characters provoke the players themselves). At the same time, one should not forget about the safety of his character - despite the fact that each agent has 5 spare lives, they must be managed wisely in order not to spend everything ahead of time.
Death is waiting for agents at every step - both when performing tasks, and at the hands of other players. Therefore, initially everyone has several lives, or "clones." Sometimes an agent is simply not able to fulfill a mission, and given that a defeat is equal to treason, you need to find an excuse for yourself - for example, by blaming one of your opponents.
The essence of the game is as follows. The Alpha complex is controlled by despotic artificial intelligence - Computer. In the role of his agents, players must search for and eliminate traitors, so all tasks are somehow related to this goal. The most malicious enemy of the system is the communists, but there are other criminal groups in the game.
All members of secret organizations and mutants are traitors by definition. In this game characters are those and others, and in general do not stop any illegal methods. It can be assumed that everyone in this city has its own skeletons in the closet, and all for some "merit" one way or another can be attributed to the traitors.
The trick is that the Computer does not suspect the existence of traitors among its agents. Do not forget that, thanks to the secret police, he holds the whole city in frenzy, and with his bloodthirstiness even the GLaDOS from the Half-Life universe could not be compared. Therefore, if you value your life, you better not attract attention to yourself. In addition, the fight against dissent is one of the few ways to move up the social hierarchy in the game world. And, as if on purpose, potential traitors are right at your side - these are your rivals.
The tasks that players receive from their secret organizations are related to the elimination of other agents or sabotage of official missions. At the same time, being mutants, they can use their unique abilities - just like the X-Men. The main thing - do not do it openly, if you do not want to sign a death warrant. Likewise, you can’t just take and shoot somebody - first you need to find evidence of treason. That is what distinguishes "Paranoia" from games where you need to destroy rivals in all ways.
The most important weapon in the game is knowledge. Passing a briefing in their organization, each player will learn something (about the underground, super powers or traitors) that his rivals do not know. An intricate network of interrelated, often contradictory tasks, opportunities and dangers makes the game extremely interesting - especially for experienced players. Strangely enough, while many consider “Paranoia” to be a frivolous and superficial game. But with an experienced gamemaster, this is not at all the case.
Perhaps "Paranoia" got such a reputation due to the fact that the characters are constantly dying. You can catch an opponent in treason just out of the blue and just shoot him as well. I want to kill someone - please. In the end, agents have 5 spare lives, so why not? In this regard, the characters do not have health points, but there are states: “healthy”, “stunned”, “wounded”, “disarmed”, “dead” and “incinerated” - just for fun. In general, sudden death in the game - a common thing.
In the latest editions of Paranoia, a new interesting mechanic appeared - the so-called “distortion points”, like “merit” in the classic role-playing game “Ghostbusters”. These points in the form of round chips are awarded by the leader as a reward for good wagering, and players can use them at their discretion.
One chip represents one point of distortion and can increase or decrease the result of a die roll of any player by 5%. You can spend them to help yourself or to prevent your opponent. If you can not wait for a misfortune with another player, you can contribute to this by spending your points. But be prepared that they will be equally used against you.
The distortion points belong to the player, not the character, so even if your agent plays a box, the points will go to the next clone. And if the death of the character turns out to be especially funny, the next clone will start the game with even more chips.
As already mentioned, the game becomes more fun when betrayal provoke the players themselves. In this sense, distortion glasses perfectly complement the game. In fact, they are a kind of game karma, because good things happen more often to good players.
What can be learned from this game?
It is surprising that there are not so many such RPG-games as “Paranoia”, where players do not so much help each other as they compete. Remember my words: the company that first adapts Paranoia or a similar game to the MMORPG genre will go down in history. Multiplayer first-person shooters are a good start, but confronting them is too straightforward to create the right paranoid atmosphere. Similar gameplay can be identified except in the Spy class from the game Team Fortress.
The atmosphere of the game depends on the players. The latest editions of “Paranoia” include 3 styles: “Pee-paf”, “Classic” and “Right” - in order of increasing severity.
Most game lovers prefer the classic rules, but those who are familiar with the game only by hearsay or played only a couple of times think that “Paranoia” comes down to “Bang-Puff” - the constant shootings of cartoon characters. The right “Paranoia” is the most serious, takes a lot of time and more resembles the traditional RPG, but in its severity it goes to extremes - just like “Bang-Puff” in its excessive freedom.
Call of Cthulhu
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Type: role-based horror based on Howard Lovecraft's works for two or more players
Difficulty level: moderate
Creators: Sandy Petersen and Lynn Willis
Luck factor: moderately low
Description
A role-playing game in which players take turns investigating mysterious events, colliding with the terrible forces of the Cthulhu Mythos - ancient god-like creatures, who do not put up the human race for nothing. The game is not as fatal as Paranoia, but still rather merciless.
Game Review
This is the second and last full-fledged role-playing game presented in this list. Howard Phyllis Lovecraft worked in the horror genre in 1920-1930. Being a staunch atheist, Lovecraft was keenly aware of the senselessness and pettiness of human life in the context of the incomprehensible infinity of the universe, and his work is thoroughly imbued with this philosophy.
Lovecraft had many friends, and together they created one of the most popular universes in literature, the Myths of Cthulhu, that is, a whole pantheon of eerie, otherworldly deities endowed with an unknown force. Cthulhu's myths have grown so widely that on their basis a whole role-playing game, Call of Cthulhu, has appeared.
Despite the fact that with its temporary roots, the game rests on the heyday of Dungeons and Dragons and contains certain similarities with it (for example, the importance of character characteristics), there are differences between them. First, in the "Call of Cthulhu" there is no system of experience. The best way to get better is to get as many skill points as you can. Secondly, many monsters are basically unkillable. In computer role-playing games, especially in Japanese, cliché is very common: throughout the game you try to prevent the monstrous sorcerer from awakening an ancient deity to rule over the earth, but he still succeeds in his plan, and you have to fight with his deity, as they say, with bare hands.
The similarity with the Myths of Cthulhu is so great that there is practically no space for randomness, but still in the “Call of Cthulhu” events develop a little differently. The highest entity, the Great Cthulhu himself, for one round can automatically absorb up to 3 people, and this is just a warm-up. Destroy him, too, will not work: in half an hour he will recover with full force.
The characteristics of these monsters are mainly listed in the book, so the gamemaster can accurately lay out to the losing players what awaits them, because when they meet with Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth or, God forbid, Azathoth, the best choice is flight. In the adaptation of the game according to the d20 system, these characteristics are not represented at all, since it is quite naturally assumed that the appearance of these creatures in the game simply means the beginning of the end for the players. To win the Call of Cthulhu, you need to stop the cult before they wake Cthulhu.
Unlike most role-playing games (including empowerment fantasy), in The Call of Cthulhu, characters often lose their power over time. In fact, the purpose of the Myths of Cthulhu is to show us that no matter what magical powers people would possess, for the gods, they will still remain small insects.
Players have such an indicator as mental health (SAN), which increases as the adventures or monster battles end, but more often it decreases. Having lost a relatively small amount of mental health, a character can temporarily go insane, which in certain situations can be fatal. If the player's mental health is zero, he loses his sanity completely and leaves the game.
One of the most important skills in the game is named after the Myths of Cthulhu. Representing knowledge of the unimaginable otherworldly nature of the real universe, it reduces the maximum indicator of mental health. Many important roles in the game are the roles of Cthulhu Myths, but the players with the most pumped-up myths are most influenced by images that are crazy during investigations.
In addition, for the sake of different types of spells have to sacrifice power (POW), and this is a permanent indicator. Due to this, the characters in the game do not have the ability to rapidly pump through only through adventures; on the contrary, they have a very short lifespan, which paradoxically makes this horror one of the best RPG counterparts in real life.
What can be learned from this game?
In The Call of Cthulhu, the most interesting thing is not in battles with otherworldly monsters and desperate attempts not to go crazy, although they are quite funny. But battles, in fact, are for the most part deadly, and lose their mind, most likely, will have to one way or another in the course of the investigation.
It is the investigation - the main means of involvement in the gameplay. Many scenarios begin with the so-called investigation phase, when, upon receiving a task, players explore everything possible and impossible before encountering a one-on-one danger.
To get involved in anything without prior preparation means inevitable death. In order to get to the root of evil, it is necessary to carry out a lot of searches and folding of separate facts into one picture. Detectives have to wander through the city council building, police stations, newspaper shops, morgues and, of course, libraries to understand at least a little the nature of the horror they had to face. One of the well-known advantages (or disadvantages, how to look) of the game is the importance of using the library, which is an integral part of the research.
Other useful skills include a reliability rating (respect from others positively influences your trust in you), psychology (in time to discern pretense, as well as the motives out of that weird person with a goatee who might well be a sorcerer) and “See the hidden” (because that in the end you still have to go down to the dungeon and try to find the very secret passage).
The game not only fascinates with fascinating information, and sometimes with the magic needed to defeat the enemy, but also creates a magnificent atmosphere of the ordinary world of the 1920s, in which the details of strange and terrible events are gradually revealed. For example, a house that has been in the same family for 400 years ... Its owners have always been people with the same name, who always looked for about 40 years, and for all the time they could not find a single certificate of their death ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/307776/
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