Paranoia LARP?

[Gabriel_Luna]

Our production group has been given carte blanche to run a Paranoia LARP at DragonCon, in Atlanta, GA.

Who out there has run/played in Paranoia LARPs?

Can anyone offer do's and don't's to a first time (LARP, anyway) group? Any things to avoid or include? All advice welcome.

And finally, is there a good, streamlined system out there to use, or do we need to write our own?

 

[Allen Varney]

There is a category for PARANOIA LARPs on the Paranoia-Live.net forums, though it gets little attention. You might look around there and perhaps strike up conversations with those who seem voluble on the subject.

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

I'll look over there too, thanks.

Anyone else? Any thoughts at all?

 

[Bee-R-CAN]

From what I understand, Paranoia LARPs are easily filled with puzzles for people to try to unlock. The classic green corridor and red troubleshooter team stands out here, of course.

I haven't done a LARP before, but if I did I'd take advantage of Paranoia's in-built underhandedness and do some sort of "Dinner Murder Mystery". Just a simple one, such as people having to put together a story, er, theory as to why Plot Device A happened, like a murder or sabotage, etc. Assign people a secret society, mutation and a few tidbits of info and let them mingle.

At the end, get the group into a mass debrief and get them to inventively accuse their fellow player of causing the incident based on the facts they've accumulated. Extra points should be awarded to people who bend the facts to their twisted reasoning and make it seem logical, and are entertaining. The facts they can accumulate should support multiple stories and wild theories. This is to be expected, and the players congratulated. Any attempts to share info without proper bargaining and dealing should be dealt with terminations and censure (actually, censure is probably a fun one if you get creative rather than making it a point'n'laugh fest).

That's just my idea, anyway. It does away with the linear tabletop format so you don't need to babysit the whole thing, and lets people pretend to be cold emotionless robot-loving psychos or Computer-loving loony-bins. This can only be a good thing, in my opinion.

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Given the size of the Con, I'm not sure a mass debrief would be practical. Even the small LARPs there can easily go over 50 people.

Investigation and research are good ideas though, I'll add them to the list. Most of the base missions (complicated by High Programmer and Secret Society meddling of course) are of the "go here", "fetch this", "protect that", "don't touch the blue widget while fetching the blue widget" variety. But now we can add "get shot while asking questions above your clearance level" to the list. Thanks, citizen!

 

[Mongoose Gar]

I've played in a few small ones run at Irish cons.

The GM put coloured tape down to designate areas of the room as being of different security clearances. (I think something happened that meant that everyone had to go to the zone matching their clearance, and the YELLOW zone being about one foot square, and there were three or four YELLOWs.) There were lots of loyalty songs and calisthenics. There was also a confession booth at the back of the room, which was hooked up to a computer and camera so others could observe what was being confessed.

I also remember smashing the ceiling light accidentally during a particularly enthusiastic salute.

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Tape for zones = good idea. Passed it along.
Also pointed out calisthenics and singing, but that is less likely to fly...

Note to self: point out it is treason to break the Computer's thoughtfully provided light sources...

 

[Bee-R-CAN]

Given the size of the Con, I'm not sure a mass debrief would be practical. Even the small LARPs there can easily go over 50 people.

Ah. I was thinking of a small group and people trying to top the previous accuser in outlandish Alpha complex logic. Fifty people is probably a bit too large for that.

 

[Mongoose Gar]

Given the size of the Con, I'm not sure a mass debrief would be practical. Even the small LARPs there can easily go over 50 people.

Ah. I was thinking of a small group and people trying to top the previous accuser in outlandish Alpha complex logic. Fifty people is probably a bit too large for that.

What if you break it down into committees? After the disaster, the computer assigns every citizen present to one of several committees. The committees then have, say, 30 minutes to determine who was to blame for their particular section of the disaster. You'd have the Committee on Commie Sabotage, the Committee on Reactor Overflow, the Committee on Committee Incompetence and so on.

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Since we'll have both a full time Computer GM and several High Programmer GMs, I think we'll end up taking the usual Alpha Complex approach and assign missions and troubleshooter teams. With half a dozen (minimum, our staff is still in flux) GMs, we ought to be able to handle it. Most people will report to the Computer for official missions, with High Programmers serving as both less official mission sources and overflow for the Computer if that GM is busy. Since part of the plot is that everyone is sealed off in one run down sector (CON sector, naturally), there's only one Computer terminal to report to. Saves us having to make the Computer omnipresent.

But yeah, keep the ideas coming, this is all helpful stuff.

 

[Zach-O-RLY]

Paranoia LARP @ DragonCon, eh? I may just have to buy a ticket now

Do you have a definitive time and day you'll be doing this? I've got my own orange jumpsuit and a big boffer wrench, so if you're needing costumed NPCs I'm your man.

 

[Zach-O-RLY]

Also, I had the opportunity to do the "Mega-PARANOIA" LARP @ Origins, and if there's anything it taught me, it's that while the game is about fear and ignorance, players should be able to look at a participant and know

1) Are they a GM or an NPC
2) What their Clearance Color is (provided the clothes are correct)
3) Whether they're holding a weapon or not.

Beyond that, I'm sure anything goes.

How do you plan on handling combat? Real-time? P-R-S?

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

A few clarifications:

First off, this is in no way an official announcement. We're meeting today to finalize our plans and write up the proposal. I have been assured that we're free to do it at the con, but it's last minute. If we do it, we want to be sure to do it right. If we can't do it right in the time we have, we'd rather put it off a year.

Second, once we DO have an official announcement, I'll be sure to post here (as long as that's ok w/ the Mongoose folks).

Third is that it won't be a boffer game, but so long as it's just for show, a giant wrench might be fine. We'd clear it at registration. We're also not going to expect people to have Paranoia-specific clothing to wear, but if you do that's great. Might even get you extra consideration as it will prove you're familiar with the setting.

Fourth I'm glad you're interested! Everything is in flux at the moment (see above) but once I have solid details I'll let you and everyone else know.

On to your recommendations!

1) our badges are big, character names are big, clearance levels are stuck right to the badge with color stickers. GMs will all be High Programmers, so white will make them easy to spot. Bots will have something to make them distinctive (like a tin foil armband, for example). NPCs will end up treated just like PCs for the purposes of the game, and won't be responsible for rules disputes anyway, so no problems there.
2) See above. Clearance levels will be clearly defined and easy to spot. That is something we made sure of right from the start as it figured prominently into our badge design requirements.
3) This one is tougher and I'll be sure to mention it. As it stands right now, I think we're doing item cards, but I'll try to figure out a way to make weapon cards stand out from the pack.

Our rules system is kind of in flux and I don't want to go into it until it's finalized and play tested. It won't be boffer, it won't be P-R-S, and it will resolve very quickly. That's all I'm comfortable saying right now.

 

[Allen Varney]

clearance levels are stuck right to the badge with color stickers.

Don't forget the yellow stripes for registered mutants!

If you can get ribbon in the security clearance colors, it is helpful to fashion simple ribbon sashes players must wear. This lets others identify their clearance from behind, a situation frequently of pivotal importance in Alpha Complex.

 

[Zach-O-RLY]

For the fashion conscious, I was able to find some very cheap yellow foam visors @ WalMart / arts & crafts store that you can write-on, which I used during my Origins sessions. Not only are you easily recognizable as a Registered Mutant, but you also are now vulnerable to death from above!

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

We're looking for cheap cloth, so we can do armbands or sashes for security clearances. Yellow for registered mutants are also on the list. If we have to we'll do ribbons, but that's second choice. Still good advice, glad to know we're on the right track.