newb GM requesting help

[stickmangrit]

i'm running the second half of Mr. Bubbles tonight (from Marco-G's introduction on), and i need some help. i'm not sure what to do with my players. i've had to pull so many punches so far it's not even funny. i've got an attention whore Happiness officer who can't go ten seconds without a sing-along or a drug administration to get perversity, a team leader who seems to get the general gist (he managed to convince the equipment guy that they were a scrubbot, causing them to beat themselves to death with a broom) but he just won't stop rushing in to his doom, no matter how many times i kill him. my C&R officer just sits there pantomiming the camera, and my loyalty and hygiene officers are rampant power gamers who just get more and more pissy every time one of their brilliant strategic plans doesn't work out. we're all newbs, and i was forced to run a week ahead of schedule due to a mishap with one of our other GMs, so that had a lot to do with it. we're all veteran gamers, so the key problem here is the desire to be good little scouts. do you guys have any good techniques of breaking these guys of old habits?

 

[PlayWithBob]

If they mistrust each other enough to set each other up to be terminated, if they are mostly having fun and entertaining you...Then your not doing anything "wrong".

It takes a few sessions before the players start to "get it"

 

[stickmangrit]

that's the problem. my loyalty officer is obsessed with his notepad, and is constantly writing irrelevant crap in it, and my hygiene officer doesn't seem to understand that walking up and randomly blasting others never works. these are the two who keep getting frustrated. the constant chourus of "I don't understand what's going on" is really annoying me, and the "you're not supposed to" response doesn't seem to have much effect. i think these two may just not be the Paranoia type, but if anyone else has suggestions to win them over, i'm all ears.

 

[PaulB]

Can you clarify the history of the group? Have these players played earlier versions of PARANOIA, and therefore have a set concept of what a PARANOIA session should run like (in this instance heavily weighed down by perceived stereotypical behaviours). Or are they complete newbies to PARANOIA as a whole? If the latter, how did you prepare them for PARANOIA? Are they hitting Mr Bubbles from a blank slate or did you provide them with some kind of background as to what PARANOIA's about?

 

[Allen Varney]

Tough crowd, tough crowd... I recommend asking each player in turn to read the Player's Guide section of the rulebook. If time is too short for that, photocopy the five-page Chapter 11, "Tips for traitors" (the player advice section), give each player a copy, and go over it together with them at the table.

Based on your description of play, it sounds like some of your players aren't sufficiently respecting your authority. This is always worth a few treason points. When a loudmouth player makes a die roll, allow everyone else except him to spend Perversity affecting his roll.

It shouldn't necessarily take a few sessions for players to catch on. But it's true, gamers do show different rates of comprehension of Alpha Complex psychology.

 

[stickmangrit]

Can you clarify the history of the group? Have these players played earlier versions of PARANOIA, and therefore have a set concept of what a PARANOIA session should run like (in this instance heavily weighed down by perceived stereotypical behaviours). Or are they complete newbies to PARANOIA as a whole? If the latter, how did you prepare them for PARANOIA? Are they hitting Mr Bubbles from a blank slate or did you provide them with some kind of background as to what PARANOIA's about?

they were completely new to Paranoia, as was i. i had given some players more info than others, but generally they knew very little. i had intended to let them read the player's section, but it didn't work out that way due to time. i also didn't get to read high programmer Varney's post until after the game. i'll be sure to have everyone read it before we play again.