| |
  |
|
| Straight Commies |
« View previous topic :: View next topic » |
| Author |
Message
|
| Evan Waters |
 Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:40 pm Post subject: Straight Commies |
  |
|
ORANGE
Joined: 01 Apr 2007
Posts: 193
Service Group: HPD&MC
|
I'm tinkering with the idea of running a campaign one of these days, maybe, and I've been playing around with how the various societies work and so on. I've decided that it'll probably be Straight style, and I'll at least use those rules.
What I can't quite make work is the Communists, rather the role they play in Alpha Complex.
The brief for Commies in Straight Play has them as "nutcases who blow up buildings full of innocent people". But PURGE seems to already fill that niche- and if I emphasize their rootless indecisiveness instead, they end up more like the Humanists. So I'm trying to find out a good hook that doesn't make them overlap too much. How have other GMs taking the Straight approach played these guys? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
| Allen Varney |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
Gamma Very High Programmer
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 1083
|
The thing about Communists in PARANOIA, regardless of play style, is that they are fundamentally hapless -- basically small fitful bands of crazed contrarians who have become Commies simply because everybody has always told them not to. They're like self-styled "Satanists" who put reversed-pentagram decals on their skateboards, strictly because it weirds out the authority figures. These undirected antinomians are The Computer's threat of threats, the reason it has focused Alpha Complex into a totalitarian police state. (Parallels with the real world are perhaps too obvious to mention.)
If you think of PURGE as Al-Qaeda, Straight-style Communists would be more like Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber -- solo acts or small groups, but still dangerous annoyances.
By the way, welcome to citizen Evan Waters, who wrote the most insightful review of PARANOIA's current edition yet posted to RPG.net. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Bee-R-CAN |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
ORANGE
Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2665
Service Group: R&D
|
In short, they're loonies. But I've considered them loonies with a wider portfolio than PURGE or other more narrowly focused secret societies. Bringing down the Computer is nice, but there are other things to do too. Liberating the people for one thing. Propaganda is also important, and the propaganda worth not reading is commie propanganda!
It's probably the easiest secret society to end up feeling Classic, this way. Which is a shame, especially when you play your first game and the fear of Communism is drummed into you and you don't know of any other secret societies...
_________________
Werewolf/Mafia/With Hunt game! Starting in the PBEM area! Linky! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Evan Waters |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
ORANGE
Joined: 01 Apr 2007
Posts: 193
Service Group: HPD&MC
|
Interesting ideas, both. I'll keep thinking on the subject for a bit.
And glad to be here, Allen.
_________________
Name: Alan-O-KAN-1
Currently Wearing: RED Jumpsuit and Boots
Current Location: Wandering the corridors.
Current Status: Overstuffed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Zild |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
GREEN
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 1812
|
Commies have always had me a little confused (in all styles), but I think now I'm beginning to understand...
I was wondering recently why everybody is always blaming the commies, always warning the population about them, when, in fact, they seem to be one of the most disorganised and least dangerous secret societies.
But now Allen's explanation, tied in with bits of the core rulebook that I swear I didn't read, make things wonderfully clear: The Computer fears and suspects commies because of certain events mentioned in the rulebook, but it is only as a result of The Computer's concerns that the commies actually exist - those that wish to rebel (for whatever reason) call themselves commies. Perhaps The Computer could have forgiven / forgotten the original events that caused it to fear and hate the commies, but the commies that it has inadvertently spawned now go around, doing their thing, giving The Computer yet more reason to fear, hate and suppress them - which in turn leads to there being more of them!
Wow...
This certainly reinforces the point that they are indeed disorganised, generally operating in small cells at best, with both inconsistent aims and inconsistent methods.
Thanks you guys - hopefully this will really help me to portray them better in the future.
_________________
Blog: [DELETED FOR SECURITY REASONS] Is A Compliment |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Bee-R-CAN |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
ORANGE
Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2665
Service Group: R&D
|
Of course they're disorganised.
But maybe that's what they'd want you to think.
_________________
Werewolf/Mafia/With Hunt game! Starting in the PBEM area! Linky! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Allen Varney |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Gamma Very High Programmer
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 1083
|
| Zild wrote: |
| The Computer fears and suspects commies because of certain events mentioned in the rulebook, but it is only as a result of The Computer's concerns that the commies actually exist - those that wish to rebel (for whatever reason) call themselves commies. Perhaps The Computer could have forgiven / forgotten the original events that caused it to fear and hate the commies, but the commies that it has inadvertently spawned now go around, doing their thing, giving The Computer yet more reason to fear, hate and suppress them - which in turn leads to there being more of them! |
Again, parallels with the real world are perhaps too obvious to require elaboration. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Silent |
| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
BLUE
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 2885
Service Group: HPD&MC
|
| Quote: |
| The brief for Commies in Straight Play has them as "nutcases who blow up buildings full of innocent people". But PURGE seems to already fill that niche- and if I emphasize their rootless indecisiveness instead, they end up more like the Humanists. So I'm trying to find out a good hook that doesn't make them overlap too much. How have other GMs taking the Straight approach played these guys? |
The easy way to convert Communists to a more Straight atompshere is to basically have the Computer's properganda be...somewhat...right. "Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you."
Basically, the Communists are a threat. But why?
Simple. Remember that there are thousands of other Alpha Complexes out there? And what if one of them were embracing Communism and what if they are actually secretly backing a military invasion of Alpha Complex? They aid Communism, providing the society aid and assistance. They could have even created it out of whole cloth.
Instead of having them be like PURGE or Humanists, you can have the Communists be imperialist lackeys working for the enemy Alpha Complex.
_________________
| Phial, in ARC wrote: |
| I know I'm a dummy but, I realised as recently as yesterday why the IC game is in PLN sector. |
Silent-B-PLN-6
Chief of Security(pending)
Works in: HPD&MC, Internal Security
Wearing: BLUE Jumpsuit
Silent-V-PLN-10 (deceased) Runs XAI Subsector |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Vatman22 |
| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 4:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
GREEN
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 127
Service Group: Internal Security
|
I'm reading a copy of The Communist Manifesto printed in 1939 - the easiest way to make Straight Commies is to find a copy of this thing, read it, and use the parts that don't make a lot of sense. There's plenty of that in here. Marx had some "interesting" ideas about history and human nature. Either that or take the parts that make a little bit of sense and elaborate.
Like this bit: "The workingmen have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got. Since the proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word." Italics are in the original, by the way.
Basically he's calling for the proletariat to obtain power and somehow make itself the only voice in the country that matters. The way to do that in Straight is to make the Commies more subtle than PURGE. PURGE would plant a bomb to wipe out a whole transtube platform full of Citizens to get one of them. The Communists would only blow up the platform if all other options were exhausted - they couldn't blackmail or bribe the target. Basically I'd make them a cross between the KGB and the Russian Mafia - they'll try every dirty trick in the book, but if those don't produce results fast enough, things start blowing up or being machine-gunned.
_________________
"Heads don't USUALLY explode for no reason."
-Friend Computer NugoWis #224. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Pad-R-AIC |
| Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
YELLOW
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 164
Service Group: HPD&MC
|
Yeah, the Classic view of Commies was very Boris Badenov. I'm not a major proponent of Straight, myself -- I think Straight offers the best bureaucracy, but overall, I'm a Classic kinda GM -- but here's another angle on it:
How effective Communism in Alpha Complex is depends on several factors:
1) How oppressive is Friend Computer viewed as being?
2) How effective have Romantics been in accidentally uncovering old CommieProp material, identifying it and either (a) passing it on to suspected Commies to get it out of Romantic hands or (b) disposing of it, thus preventing the Commies from getting any real information.
3) How much anti-Commie propoganda have the Romantics uncovered that portrays Communism inaccurately?
IMO, 2 and 3 are more important than most GMs would think. Although their views are not compatible, Romantics are the ones obsessed with Old Reckoning information, and therefore the most likely source of information about Communism. The Commies themselves, remember, were formed out of the basic notion "If The Computer hates them, they can't be all bad," and due to FC's incredibly heavy-handed (heavy-processored?) influence, reliable information about real, honest-to-gosh COMMUNISM is harder to come by than a VIOLET-clearance citizen who honestly LIKES eating in the IR mess hall.
Commies are much less overt than PURGE. I've always thought of PURGE as sort of Death Leopard without a sense of fun, or maybe a bunch of survivalists - only with Plasma Generators. Commies KNOW they are Complex Enemy #s 1-100, with some occasional appearances further down the list as well. So they're going to be a LOT subtler than PURGE.
CompNode get blowed up? PURGE.
CompNode spontaneously shut down, reboot again, and order clones to stop-whatever-they're-doing-right-now-and-get-it-some-Cold-Fun-vat-dammit? Phreaks.
CompNode working fine, but all the security cameras shut down simultaneously for exactly five minutes at 1300 every day? That could be Commies, checking to see who among the Proletariat take advantage of this opportunity to commit acts of sabotage. Or IntSec or FC doing exactly the same.
_________________
STATUS
Wearing: RED Jumpsuit & Boots, carrying ORANGE clearance forms organizer
Location: CPU Central Office
Activity: Using the system against itself?
ITEM GAME STATUS
Location: R&D Testing Facility
Doing: Filling out forms. Lots and lots of forms. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
Posting new topics in this forum is not available at your clearance
Replying in this forum is not available at your clearance
Editing new topics in this forum is not available at your clearance
Deleting your posts in this forum is not available at your clearance
Voting in this forum is not available at your clearance
|
|
|
|
