Trust nothing
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When I want that style of game, I play paranoia. I agree, that style of game CAN be fun! And sometimes I do want it! It’s just… there’s this whole awesome game based on it, that makes it work. DnD scratches an entirely different itch for me, and I’d rather keep it distinct.
I always tell my players that unlike other TTRPGs, Paranoia is a game that actually has winners and losers at the end. And since I only run it as one shots, we can have some time at the end going over what was really happening at each stage, letting everyone in on all the jokes, and having a grand time with it. While I’m not into kink, I’ve heard it’s similar. Consent is king, and you still gotta make sure everyone is enjoying it.
Paranoia, the game where every character is technically engaged in a crime punishable by death at basically all times, and you’re given a number of clones because you are expected to die…a lot. Also the R&D gadgets, like the personal disintegrator which does exactly what it says on the tin - disintegrates your person.
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Did not roll perception check ; the chowder was bad and will hit the intestines in a few hours during the dungeon delving.
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Trust nothing, especially cutlery. I have zero sympathy for the wizard who burns every Detect Magic on bowls and chairs, but I also have even less for the DM who treats player tools like a punchline. Detect Magic telling someone “it’s chowder” is a cop-out, same as a DM saying “you failed the skill check because you looked suspicious.” If a spell exists to reveal a magical aura, use it to reveal an aura, not to sass the player.
Play smart, but don’t be that paranoid asshole who thwarts every fun thing. And DMs, if you want to surprise people, do it with plot and stakes, not constant item ambushes. Let spells do their job, let players have some agency, and yes, keep an eye on the spoon.
Detect Magic telling someone “it’s chowder” is a cop-out, same as a DM saying “you failed the skill check because you looked suspicious.” If a spell exists to reveal a magical aura, use it to reveal an aura, not to sass the player.
My answer in that case is “You detect no aura” from the non-magical chowder (or maybe they do detect one if it was flavored with prestidigitation), unless it’s an edition where the effect is a cone, and they are sitting across the table from their friend blinged out in magical gear, in which case they are definitely detecting an aura. Several of them. And they’re going to have to take time, focus, and make checks to recognize that none are coming from the chowder.
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What school of cuisine is the chowder?
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IT’S CHOWDAH YOU IDIOT!
Showwdair!
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Ah yes, like The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A classic.
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Paranoia, the game where every character is technically engaged in a crime punishable by death at basically all times, and you’re given a number of clones because you are expected to die…a lot. Also the R&D gadgets, like the personal disintegrator which does exactly what it says on the tin - disintegrates your person.
Not one crime, at least two: belonging to a secret society, and having an unregistered mutant power. Except some secret societies might actually be sponsored by the state— not that the players know that. And you can register your mutant power, except that this will make you a targeted minority subject to massive discrimination, not to mention being forced to use your power in service— and your own power might kill you, and you don’t really know how to use it fully, and being forced to use it also means being put on the front lines of deadly combat…
But that’s not what makes the adversarial play in paranoia so great. It’s that everyone has a different true objective that they are following in secret, while ostensively all being on the same team. That’s what I mean by “there are winners and losers in this game”. You can objectively determine who succeeded and who failed, and a good mission will make those secret missions mutually exclusive. It’s great fun!
It’s like in d&d when you get the asshole player who really just wants to steal from the rest of the party and not get caught, except everyone is in on it and everyone is trying to do something different to everyone else, to very different degrees, and everyone expects to be betrayed at all times, and often is— except you get extra lives so you can keep playing anyway… and then you get to laugh about it together at the end! It’s great!
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Ah yes, like The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A classic.
That happened to my buddy Eric
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If Detect Evil and Good detects creature type then sure, maybe Detect Magic detects chowder.
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No magic. No curse. Just your average every day poison.
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I know this is just a meme and all but do people still play 'adversarial GM’ games these days? I never enjoyed that dynamic as a player or a GM.
The only idea I even have for such a campaign is one where all the BBGs are dopplegangers of the party and the players are trying to defeat me, playing as their dopplegangers.
I would only be able to do what the players themselves can do. So it becomes a test of who understands the build better. The player or the DM.
