Watch Well Games: Issue #36
Are you experiencing PARANOIA? The Adventure Archive AP: An Interview.
Welcome to our RPG community newsletter!
I’m glad to be here, and hope you are as well. Nothing like a long road trip to give you a bit of perspective on life.
Here’s What We Bring to You Today:
Accounts of Adventure: Running My Own RPG: Part 2
Guest Writer Warren Davidson Shares His PARANOIA
Interview with Jason from The Adventure Archive
Hi, I’m K.J. I post a Note every few days. Join in the conversation if you’d like. You can find the Notes section of my substack here.
Accounts of Adventure: Running My Own RPG - Part 2
We left off where Jimmy Locke (a human and former detective) and Kau-bluey (a [REDACTED] kin) traveled back to the US to discover Kau-bluey’s true origin. Along their journey, they tapped into a lead that world-famous explorer Evan Stanton would be revealing a secret, mystical island’s location during an unveiling ceremony in downtown Chicago (on an alternative Earth-like planet).
For the pair to stop this event from happening, they decided this required them to set up an otherwise neutral automaton as a bombing suspect and active threat during the opening remarks of the ceremony. The crowd flees to safety as law enforcement tackle the prototype machine to the ground and haul it off to police HQ. Locke and Kau-bluey are able to temporarily kidnap Evan Stanton as the diversion unfolds. They lead him to a location very familiar to Locke - a resourceful district known as The Dark Alley. A keen reporter is on their heels though, and once she catches up to them there, she insists that she has an aligned interest in getting Stanton to talk. A generous portion of currency is doled out to a gatekeeper of The Dark Alley, and in no time, he escorts them to a secure, air-tight room where conversations can take place without any fear of monitors, spies, or denizens on any side of the situation (and there are many sides of all situations in this world, as almost everyone has a vested interest in many going-ons for some reason).
Stanton ultimately confesses that he doesn’t really have a device that will reveal The [REDACTED] Island. He was merely hoping to secure funding from affluent investors to develop the technology that would allow him to do so. Time is up, and the gatekeeper sees the party out of The Dark Alley. The explorer leaves, tail tucked between his legs, so to say. The reporter feels she now has leverage to stop someone in power who she is at odds with by exposing the explorer as a phony. Locke and Kau-bluey hear their stomachs rumble and decide to grab as bite to eat at a nearby greasy spoon that the former detective frequented when working cases in this worn shanty of a neighborhood just past the lofty financial district.
Locke notices that Bones, the manager of the short-order restaurant, seems to be preoccupied while they are making small talk and catching up. After eating, the two adventurers slip out quietly, only to hear two grunts roughing up Bones in the back alleyway behind the diner. Locke and Kau-bluey use the power of physical persuasion to not only stop them from doing further damage, they also learn that a new threat has recently taken control of the district. Known as The Messenger, he extorts “window insurance” (or pizzo) from the residents and businesses. Anyone who doesn’t pay up will find themselves on the bad end of a raw deal.
Locke and Kau-bluey are determined to locate The Messenger, but time is running out, as the next day, Bones and his two employees have disappeared. The burning diner reminds everyone that The Messenger is untouchable - an idea that Locke refuses to accept as fact. A brief detour to a remote island just off the mainland distracts the pair, and Kau-bluey advances to the next stage of his kinhood (from youth to adult).
How did such a deviation near the continent’s shores take place, and who or what is Kau-bluey now? How do the adventurers stop The Messenger from destroying the lives and livelihoods of everyone in the district? What, if anything, does the automaton do, once released from law enforcement?
Tune in next time.
Wazza’s Rambunctious Rambling Roleplaying Reminiscences: Part One: Paranoia (1984)
by guest writer Warren Davidson
IMPORTANT: THIS REVIEW IS FOR RED SECURITY CLEARANCE ONLY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! WAZZA IS YOUR FRIEND!
Wazza wants you to be happy. If you are not happy, you may be used as reactor shielding. Wazza is crazy. Wazza is happy. Wazza will help you be happy. Being a subscriber of Well Watch Games is fun. Wazza says so, and Wazza is your friend! Rooting out non-subscribers will make you happy. Wazza tells you so. Being a subscriber is fun. Wazza tells you so. Of course, Wazza is right. This is so much fun that many subscribers go crazy. You will be reading this article with many other subscribers. Won't this be fun? There are many non-subscribers in Well Watch Games. There are many happy subscribers in Well Watch Games. Most of the happy subscribers are crazy. It is hard to say which is more dangerous: non-subscribers or happy subscribers. Watch out for both.Stay alert! Trust no one!
Introduction
Are you paranoid yet? I hope so because we’re about to go down a particularly dark and humorous rabbit hole. Prepare for the first of many reviews of roleplaying games from the distant past, before the phrase "D20 system" existed, when virtual tabletops and the internet were mere science-fiction, and miniatures were made out of lead.
It was May 1985, and I had just been down to my local newsagent to pick up my monthly copy of White Dwarf magazine no. 65. Back then White Dwarf was the only real source of roleplaying gaming news (there was Dragon Magazine; however it was hard to come by in the UK.) I always turned to the review pages first, and a game called “Paranoia” caught my eye. The reviewer (the legendary Marcus Rowland) commented that, unlike most other RPGs, player characters have a less than reasonable chance for survival as they live in a post-apocalyptic society where back-stabbing and selfish behaviour is actively encouraged in service to the all-mighty computer. Boy, was I intrigued!
I also came across this advertising blurb for the game later in Space Gamer Magazine no 72: “Paranoia is an adventure role-playing game set in a darkly humorous future. A well-meaning but deranged computer desperately protects the citizens of an underground warren from all sorts of real and imagined traitors and enemies. You will play the part of one of the computer's elite agents. Your job is to search out, reveal, and destroy the enemies of The Computer. Your worst fear is that The Computer will discover you are one of its enemies.”
I saved up my newspaper round money and soon had the box set in my sweaty hands. I opened the lid to discover…
A 24-page Player Handbook with sections on role-playing, the setting, game concepts, character creation, bookkeeping, computer missions, dramatic tactical movement and combat, etiquette, and a solitaire adventure. It also included charts, tables, and a character sheet. Next was a 64-page Gamemaster Handbook with sections on the world of Paranoia, attributes, skills, combat, non-combat perils, mutant powers, secret societies, bookkeeping, and gamemastering (including charts, tables, and a gamemaster record form). Then there was a 52-page Adventure Handbook with sections on equipment, vehicles, and an adventure called: Destination: CBI Sector. The non-stapled removable cover of the Adventure Handbook included maps for the adventure. Finally, there were two inked dice and the obligatory West End Games mailing list postcard.
Paranoia the RPG is a dark game but humorous in a way that offsets the depressing subject matter of living in a dystopian future. It's as if you mix George Orwell’s 1984, Catch-22, Logons Run, and THX-1138. The artist James Holloway, who illustrated the box, book covers, and interiors, perfectly captured the darkly humorous tone.
Background
What is the game all about and what makes it unique? The post-apocalyptic setting has humanity’s survivors living in a sprawling underground city called Alpha Complex governed by a well-meaning, but insane computer. Players Characters are “troubleshooters” working for the computer and sorting out all sorts of messes, usually created by the computer in the first place. They are members of the same vat-grown clone family comprising six identical individuals, which allows the GM to kill them off guilt-free. PCs belong to one of eight Service Groups each of which has a particular function in the society of Alpha Complex. You have Internal Security who weed out traitors, Technical Services who are in charge of maintenance, Housing Preservation & Development and Mind Control, the Armed Forces, Production Logistics and Commissary are responsible for feeding the population, Power Services, Research and Design and finally Central Processing Unit who are the administrators. In Alpha Complex being a mutant and belonging to a secret society is considered treason and punishable by death, so guess what? Every PC has mutant powers and belongs to a secret society! I told you this game was different. The mutant powers are divided into normal powers - like superior attributes, telekinesis, and precognition - and extraordinary ones like Matter-eater, polymorphism, and levitation. Mutant powers cost power points to manifest, of which PCs have a limited supply.
Setting
The fun stuff is the descriptions of the sixteen secret societies. We have such wacky groups as the Frankenstein Destroyers whose mission is to destroy all robots and computers in a society governed by a computer and reliant on robots! The Romantics want to re-establish the by-gone world of fast-food restaurants, Frisbees, and Star Trek, and the Communists fight for the oppressed masses and want to smash the computer. As you can imagine most of the fun comes from juggling these elements whilst partaking on perilous missions with your fellow troubleshooters who are also mutants and traitors. It’s usually not long before accusations are made and lasers are drawn! Another unique aspect of this peculiar society is the ever-present security clearance. Everyone has one based on the colours of the electromagnetic spectrum or as I prefer the rainbow. So, starting at rock bottom are the INFRAREDS, the unwashed masses who do all the work. PCs have been pulled from this innumerable stockpile and promoted to RED clearance, designated troubleshooters. Next up are ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, VIOLET, and the rarely seen white uniform-wearing ULTRAVIOLETS known as high programmers. Everyone wears a uniform colour-coded to their security clearance, along with all weapons and equipment. Your laser is less effective against those wearing higher clearance armour, so good luck shooting at a GREEN Vulture Squadron Soldier! The aspiration of every troubleshooter is to climb the security clearance ladder with ever-improving consummate benefits. Don’t worry though you’ll barely make ORANGE due to the lethality of the missions.
Game Mechanics
They’re nothing ground-breaking, a simple percentage-based task resolution system with standard attributes you’d expect such as Strength and Agility although there are two standouts: Moxie and Chutzpah - the former being your ability to comprehend unusual phenomena and the latter defined as the quality of someone who kills both their parents then pleads for mercy because they are an orphan! Secondary attributes affect skills by adding or subtracting a percentage modifier. It’s serviceable and simple, perfect for this game. The game creates an atmosphere of genuine anxiety, distrust, and paranoia from the outset. Your troubleshooters are given a mission and sent on their merry way. They must navigate the tortuous bureaucracy (the Central Processing Unit) to requisition their equipment and partake in the field trials of experimental and highly unstable gizmos from Research and Design whilst rooting out mutants and traitors in their own group! Suffice it to say, you burn through your allotment of six clones quickly. A mention here of the unique aspect of naming them. It’s broken down into a first name, your security clearance, and clone family identifier. Example: David-R-URK-1. So here we have the first clone of the URK family with RED security clearance. As your clones bite the dust, the next one in line is immediately sent along to replace them, so you’ll soon be playing David-R-URK-2 and so on. It’s a brilliant way to circumnavigate the GM’s dilemma of killing PCs and replacing them mid-adventure. It also allows the players to come up with silly names. Here are two of my favourites: Cup-R-SUP and Toys-R-US!
Conclusion
I have extremely fond memories of this game. It’s certainly in my top three. My friends and I would play together at our local Boy Scouts' hut for hours. Missions never went as expected as we spent most of the time sending secret notes to each other regarding who might be traitors and mutants. If we ever made it back alive then a typical debriefing session with the computer had everyone drawing their lasers and diving for cover! One particularly memorable session had the computer test our troubleshooter’s aptitude by placing objects in different shaped holes. Though in this instance the holes were covered up. My friend promptly drew his laser and created his own, now that’s initiative! Paranoia was a ground-breaking game back in 1984 and still is today. There is nothing else like it, and I urge you to pick up a copy on eBay or purchase the PDFs on DriveThruRPG. There have been several editions published in the four decades since its release: first edition back in 1984 by West End Games (still my favourite); second edition in 1987 which collected all three books into a single hardcover; fifth edition in 1995 (yes, you’re reading that right they skipped third and fourth edition as an in-joke to the gaming industry). Mongoose took over after West End Games went under, releasing several versions: Paranoia XP (as a side swipe to Microsoft) in 2004; Paranoia 25th Anniversary edition in 2009; Paranoia RED Clearance edition (also known as Paranoia Rebooted) in 2017; and finally Paranoia Perfect edition in 2023. The game mechanics may have changed, but the spirit remains the same. That’s it for now, I bring you a short musical interlude for my next trip down memory lane. Try and guess what it might be: DA, DA, DAAH, DA, DA-DAAH, DA, DA-DAAH. See you on the flip side, and remember your friend Wazza is watching.
Interview with Jason from The Adventure Archive
Note from K.J.: The Adventure Archive, a ttRPG Actual Play, shares a YT channel with The Weekly Scroll, which provides in-depth game reviews, creator interviews, and project spotlights. I was able to secure an interview with Jason, the Gamemaster who just began guiding players through Season 2 of their Dragonbane adventures. Please enjoy.
Tell us how you got introduced to Dragonbane and how it was decided to make an AP around it. I (Jason) have always been an avid player of Free League's games and follow their Kickstarter campaigns closely. When I saw Dragonbane come up, I decided to run the starter adventure, Riddermound, on stream with the Quickstart rules. Since we enjoyed the flow of the game, and I hadn't run a full campaign on stream yet, I thought Dragonbane would be the perfect opportunity. At The Adventure Archive, my goal is to use our APs as introductory resources for people seeking out new games, so I try to present them as accurately as possible and run them RAW (rules as written). This involves me running the introductory adventure that comes with the game, and if we enjoy it, we keep moving forward. We had such a blast with Dragonbane that we continued with the full campaign and are still going. Although with Path of Glory on the horizon, I need to bring this campaign home.
How did all of you members of the AP for the Dragonbane series meet?* We had a home game of 5e run by Ryan (The Weekly Scroll), and then COVID hit, which made us all put a halt to our gaming. We decided to take the game online because we missed it so much and have expanded from there.
For fun: Describe the Dragonbane AP in 10 words or less. Always late. Always off the rails. Always a blast.
There are so many actual plays, which is great to have so much content available to us. How do you differentiate yourself - if at all? I focus on presentation. I know people are watching for fun, so I try my best to up the quality of the presentation with visuals and audio. I have a background in graphic design and video production, so it's allowed me to play around in that world again on my own terms, creating the kind of content I want. This involves custom stream overlays for every game, soundtracks, theater of the mind visuals, battle maps, and intro videos.
Do you hang out together (in-person or virtually) when not recording? We all live far apart, mostly in different time zones, so no. Except for me and Jess, whom I'm married to, so I see her quite a bit.
What is your favorite Dragonbane AP episode and why? That's a tough one, but if I have to pick, Episode 19. The entire adventure was homebrewed because Ryan once said, while looking at the Misty Vale map at a ruined tower by a lake, "I want to go there." So I created a full adventure there based on a previous character/npc development between Darrow and Antelia. Clues sent them to the tower to investigate where they met a mysterious Wolfkin. I had vague ideas of who I wanted him to be, only settling on it during the live session. What resulted was a great RP session with Ryan's character, Mourningcloak that steered his character's development. I highly recommend other Dragonbane GMs out there to look at all the cool stuff on the map that is not an adventure site, and see if they can weave their own connective tissue into the story they're creating together with the players.
Real talk: Do you ever get tired or bored with recording actual plays? What do you do to find the motivation to keep going in those challenging moments? I love playing live. In full transparency, we've gone through, and lost, most of our original crew from the "play around the table" days, so I understand how some people don't like the experience. For someone like me, who enjoys the production aspect of it as well as the audience interaction, I never get tired of it. What I do get tired of is prep. And when you're playing online with presentation in mind, prep takes far longer than it does if you're just hanging around the table.
What advice or pointers would you give someone who wants to start an AP? As in, is there anything you would've done differently now that you've got some experience under your belt? Find a way to stand out. Don't just be a collection of floating heads in boxes. Remember, people are WATCHING you for enjoyment, so add some visual flair, up your RP more than you normally would, and always look for opportunities to slay dead air. A quiet stream is a boring stream. As for what I'd do differently, I can't say I regret the journey. It's been a huge learning experience and taken a lot of time, but I wouldn't change anything.
Where do you hope to see The Adventure Archive go in the future? Any certain goals you hope to reach (especially any related to Dragonbane)? No particular goals outside of adding varied content. We're planning on experimenting with solo play or two-player games in the future. I'm also in the middle of a game book series based on The Exquisite Corpse in Maggots' Keep, where the audience chooses the path. It's been a ton of work but rewarding. As far as Dragonbane goes, the plan is to wrap up The Secret of the Dragon Emperor Campaign and then move on to Path of Glory, and keep playing until Free League is done publishing or the players get tired of it.
Where can folks watch to your AP? The full Dragonbane playlist can be found here. Everything is free and without ads as we haven't monetized on YouTube.
That’s a wrap, folks. Remember:
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Hedgehogs are natural RPG dungeoncrawlers; they enjoy exploring mazes.
