[MUD-Dev] Re: [DESIGN] To kill or not to kill? (non-violent conflict)

[The Wildman]

On Sat, 3 Oct 1998, Richard Woolcock wrote:
> I have vague memories of The Prisoner (although the only bit that comes to
> mind is: "You, are number six" ... "I am not a number, I am a free man!" ;)
> I've also heard a fair bit about Paranoia (although I've not played it), so
> I can picture the sort of thing you have in mind - I would guess puzzle-
> orientated, in a controlled environment of some sort.

Not really puzzle-oriented, although I suppose in a way it could be thought
of that way.
 
> Paranoia-style conflicts sounds very interesting - but how will you turn the 
> players against each other?  How will you let them resolve their conflicts
> without combat?

Turning the players against each other is VERY easy. When I did this as a
tabletop RPG I would pass blank notes around, take one player into another
room to talk about the weather, and other stuff like that. 
Basically, you have two groups of players: Those who run the prison, and
those who are the prisoners. (I'll refer to them as Warders and Prisoners
respectivelly.) Some of the Prisoners may really be Warders, and some
Warders may be helping the Prisoners.
You have one side trying to escape (or help their fellows escape) and the
other side trying to spoil those efforts. The BEST sessions we had in my
paper games was when all the players were Prisoners, but each thought the
others were Warders.
For this to work, the Warders have to be organized. Therefore, I'll have two
openings (if I ever go anywhere with this) - one would be for the Warders,
who will be instructed on how to handle things. Then another opening once
they are ready - this will be for the Prisoners, who will be thrown into the
thick of things.
One thing to note - combat will be possible, but (hopefully) very rare and
only as a last resort. If the Prisoners plan to escape is "we'll overpower
the guards and steal a helicopter" they'd be rather disappointed if they
were not even allowed to try. (Of course, the Warders might learn of the
plan and "prepare" the helicopter for them.)

The Wildman
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