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| Allandaros |
 Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:52 pm Post subject: Simple (Mean) Tricks Section |
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Armed Forces General
Joined: 26 Dec 2003
Posts: 3195
Service Group: Armed Forces
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It might be a good idea to list some of the simpler, more basic, tricks pulled on players, so that they could be included in the new edition.
The one I have that comes to mind was an evil little trick with grenades. The PLC clerk is quite emphatic about the instructions (like Q in various Bond movies), reiterating to "pull the pin and throw."
Combat situation. Troubleshooter Bob-R-BOB heroically takes out his grenade and chucks it...only to hear a ticking sound coming from his hand.
The clerk did say to pull the pin and throw.
Next time they hurl the grenade (or the pin, in this case), make it be a standard type grenade. If they're like my players, they hurl the pin and keep the casing...boom.
When they start hurling both the pins and the grenades, point out that they need to keep hard evidence of how many grenades they used...i.e. the portion that doesn't explode.
Any other diabolical ideas?
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:09 am Post subject: Re: Simple (Mean) Tricks Section |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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I forget where I read it, but one reccomended "hosejob" is to have all the lights go out :]
Great opportunities for treason there (not to mention that the GM has the fun of choosing when the lights go back *on* and what the clones might be doing just then...)
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Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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| Mike-V-LEM |
| Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:02 am Post subject: |
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HPD&MC Executive Coordination Officer
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 1173
Service Group: HPD&MC
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You mean this?
Lights Out!
Little trick I pulled back during my "Nightcycle of the Living Clones" game. First 3 deaths of the session thanks to a simple power outage![/i]
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-Mike-V-LEM, Head of HPD&MC |
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 3:04 am Post subject: |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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| Mike-U-LEM wrote: |
You mean this?
Lights Out!
Little trick I pulled back during my "Nightcycle of the Living Clones" game. First 3 deaths of the session thanks to a simple power outage![/i] |
Yes!
Thanks, that's exactly what I was thinking of :]
Very simple, yet very diabolical...
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Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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| Zogar |
| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 21 Feb 2004
Posts: 151
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Giving the Hygiene Officer industrial strength cleaners is usually good for a couple player deaths, the clone with the dirty jumpsuit and the Hygiene Officer for wrongful termination. 
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Paranoia will get you through times of no enemies better than enemies will get you through times of no paranoia |
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| riffraff |
| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 03 Mar 2004
Posts: 153
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I once simulated a faulty light fixture by turning out the lights in our game-room and turning on a strobe light. Then I gave the players a complicated form to fill out.
A good time was had by all! ...well, by me, anyway.
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"Drinking your own blood is the paradigm of recycling!"
--Gary Busey |
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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| riffraff wrote: |
I once simulated a faulty light fixture by turning out the lights in our game-room and turning on a strobe light. Then I gave the players a complicated form to fill out.
A good time was had by all! ...well, by me, anyway. |
I have a lamp in my room that's connected to the remote-control outlet thingy from RadioShack. It can be used for *great* fun if you need a prop, mostly because you can plug almost anything into it... :]
E.G. Let's just say that one time, I had great fun hooking it up to a radio that was turned on (& to full volume) then switched off at the plug via the remote, which fit in my pocket and could be sneakily activated/deactivated on command, much to the confusion (and chagrin?) of all... ;] (Yes, I really did find an excuse to do this at school. Yes, I could think up even worse things to hook up to one if I had to... there are just so many interesting things that can be done with a remote controlled outlet...) I wonder if Friend Computer, or even the troubleshooters ever get devices like this? There are so very many evil uses that say, a remote detonation device (experimental, no doubt?) can be used for... :]
_________________
Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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| El-R-KIN |
| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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YELLOW
Joined: 17 Dec 2003
Posts: 458
Service Group: HPD&MC
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Clap twice, and the Computer shuts itself down.
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Clone number: 1
Status: Doing some final arrangements to the shootings of the new season of Teela-O-MLY. |
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| Red Finn |
| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:57 am Post subject: The Mission from Hell |
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RED
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 10
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Well I quess everyone has tried this, but... The good old mission briefing:
Briefing officer:
"Greetings citizens. You are required to perfom a very important, vital mission for the Computer. It is imperative that you complete it swiftly, without delay and promptly. The safety of the Alpha Complex depends on it. Good luck"
(A small silent pause)
Troubleshooters: "Err... about the mission?"
BO: "Yes, Citizen?"
TS: "Any specific instructions?"
BO: "No, dear Citizen, proceed ASAP" (Looking a bit nervous)
TS: "Any extra information on the location of the mission... say, the respective Sector?"
BO: "Such information is given on a need-to-know-basis and you..." (Looking even more peeved)
TS: (Unpolitely interrupting) "We don't need to know, yes... Well, what is our objective?"
BO: "What is your security clearance, citizen?"
TS: "Okay, okay..."
The point being of course that the clerk has misplaced the mission files and is trying to cover for himself. Of course this old trick will be fun only once, and it will require some nice ideas in order for the players not become bored. I introduced the R&D "Protable Field Work-Efficiency Testing Device", a 2000 kg hunk of metal that kept testing how efficient the TSs were in completing their imaginary mission... Of course broadcasting the results.
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Revolution will be televised. |
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| Moto42 |
| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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R&D Brain Consortium Representative
 
Joined: 03 Aug 2003
Posts: 465
Service Group: R&D
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On the Spot
The troubleshooters are in a briefing-room that is of a higher clearance than they are, on a big red spot, the exit is about thirty feet away. They are given their orders and the briefing-officer(s) leave.
IF they leave the spot, they are executed and either returned to the spot or delivered to an area off the spot.
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If the purpose of the experiment is to see what will happen, then the experiment will be a success no matter what happens!
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| Fennec |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:11 am Post subject: |
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RED
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 5
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Just give the players a simple baby-sitting mission. (Here, this is the nuclear power plant. Please see to it that this switch is flipped every five to ten minutes for the next six hours. Have a good day.) The PCs sit around, getting really, really bored (and maybe grasping at straws- give them some straws to grasp). If they don't kill each other, next send a citizen of a higher rank over who instructs them to do something really, really stupid/trivial which drags one or more of them away from their mission. (Nuclear meltdown optional.)
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. |
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| riffraff |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:28 am Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 03 Mar 2004
Posts: 153
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| Fennec wrote: |
| Just give the players a simple baby-sitting mission. (Here, this is the nuclear power plant. Please see to it that this switch is flipped every five to ten minutes for the next six hours. Have a good day.) The PCs sit around, getting really, really bored (and maybe grasping at straws- give them some straws to grasp). If they don't kill each other, next send a citizen of a higher rank over who instructs them to do something really, really stupid/trivial which drags one or more of them away from their mission. (Nuclear meltdown optional.) |
There was a module that began that way... I think the title was The Iceman Returneth.
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"Drinking your own blood is the paradigm of recycling!"
--Gary Busey |
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| Fennec |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 4:23 am Post subject: |
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RED
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 5
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| riffraff wrote: |
There was a module that began that way... I think the title was The Iceman Returneth. |
Never saw that. =/
In general, give them conflicting orders from Friend Computer, Service Group, Secret Society, and other Citizens. Mutual exclusivity is good here. If possible, give them two different sets of orders from two different terminals of Friend Computer... 
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. |
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| Splat-R-EDD |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:40 am Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 16 Dec 2003
Posts: 185
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Oh what I wouldn't give for some glue and a convenient excuse to leave the sector in that switch flipping mission...
In a mission I'm going to run at a local convention, i'm going to borrow the "trans dimentional collapseatron" from orcbusters. There are so many fun things you can do with that, though I'm afraid that information will not be available until after the game. I'll post the highlights after the con. |
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| Fennec |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 8:41 pm Post subject: Deliver this anvil. |
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RED
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 5
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Deliver this anvil.
This... anvil? Erm... OK. I suppose. Where do you want it delivered? 
That information is above your security clearance.
 Okay... How long do we have?
Twenty minutes. Thank you for your cooperation.  <signoff music>
Uhh... 
If the group is still around in twenty minutes, you can reveal that the destination for the anvil is this very room that it's in. And then, in the spirit of Progress Quest, give them an Ostentatious Spangle of Perspacacity as a reward. 8)
To generalize- an impossible mission. Perhaps a mission that seems impossible but has already been completed (should they but know!)
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. |
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