PARANOIA

Last week I talked about the ransom model of distributed patronage. The multi-talented Dennis Detwiller, of Pagan Publishing and Delta Green fame, posted on an RPG.net forum that he was considering the ransom model for an unpublished Call of Cthulhu project, Insylum. Bam! A day later, a single anonymous patron paid him the funds he was seeking, before he'd even set a ransom.

So next Dennis set up a "tip jar" on the remarkable Fundable.org website, asking for $500 for unspecified future writing projects. Two days later, two days!, he gets the entire $500 courtesy of a bunch of generous donors/patrons.

Man, I'm getting seriously interested in this concept. Hey, rich gamers, I'm available! This is me, holding up a torn cardboard sign reading WILL DESIGN FOR FOOD.

A new venture just announced at GenCon, Otherworld Excursions, combines tourism and roleplaying. For US$175 per person, big-time game designer Kenneth Hite will take a party of six on a walking tour of Chicago's occult architecture, treat them to a catered hotel dinner, and then run them through a tabletop horror RPG adventure. For $550 you can go on a weekend excursion through the Pacific Northwest with former Pagan Publishing doyen and Delta Green co-designer John Tynes, with Tynes-run tabletop gaming session, overnight hotel stay, dinner, and brunch included.

I find this idea intriguing, though it isn't clear how strong the market might be. Would anyone out there be interested in a PARANOIA-themed walking tour and accompanying tabletop game session, run by me or other Famous Game Designers to be named later? What might be your ideal PARANOIA vacation?

The Cambridge, UK roleplaying convention drew about exactly 100 people this past weekend, and I seem to have survived my guest-of-honor gig with honor intact. I ran the Straight mission "Hot Potato" by Jeff Groves (from the new mission collection WMD), took part in three panels, and gave a speech to a politely attentive audience of some two dozen or so. David Young, sales guy for Mongoose Publishing, demonstrated the new PARANOIA card game debuting at Gen Con Indy next weekend. UK actor and gamer Graham Walmsley twice ran (with superb skill) a PARANOIA/Cthulhu crossover LARP, "Will All Elder Gods Please Report for Termination," that drew enthused favor from all participants. I finally got to meet a member of the Traitor Recycling Studio in person: Paul Baldowski, contributor to the PARANOIA rulebook, Crash Priority, and STUFF, and proprietor of Omega Complex.

The whole convention went smoothly -- congratulations to the chair, my good friend and fellow designer Phil Masters, as well as his talented and well organized staff.

I'm still bopping around the UK for a couple of weeks, and still unlikely to have anything useful to post here for that time. But I just thought I'd check in, say hi.... But enough about me, how are things with you?

I leave tomorrow for England, where I am a guest at Consternation. I'll be running PARANOIA there, and I look forward to meeting the game's many British fans. After that I'll be bopping around the UK for a couple of weeks in some fashion still undetermined. Although electrical power is widely available in Britain, and (as I understand it) even modern telephony, I may not have ready access at all times to this blog and so may not post frequently.

In my absence, look out for Extreme PARANOIA, the big 128-page rules supplement debuting at Gen Con Indy; this landmark book by the Traitor Recycling Studio has rules for playing characters of all security clearances from ORANGE through VIOLET. And I've just sent the complete 128-page service-group supplement Service, Service! to Mongoose for publication this October.

After that, the 64-page character generation supplement Criminal Histories is scheduled for December, assuming Bill O'Dea and the Traitors finish writing it and I don't get hit by a passing lorry in Manchester. Criminal Histories, specially designed to enhance two- and three-player games, lets players create a detailed resume for their Troubleshooters, complete with (yay!) bonus specialties, (ooo!) cool illegal equipment, and (darn!) specific past felonies and named NPC rivals that other players can investigate and potentially exploit. Remember how in the original Traveller, your player character could die during character generation? During the Criminal Histories "Prehistory Pachinko" process, your character can die multiple times!

So things continue active on the PARANOIA front, even if this blog falls dormant while I venture into the remote and primeval land of Cambridge. Stay loyal, citizens!

This post has nothing much to do with PARANOIA. But it may possibly determine, in some part, the course of my career, so I'll talk about it here anyway.

Game designer Greg Stolze has successfully used his innovative ransom model a second time -- the first was a boardgame he co-designed with Daniel Solis, Meatbot Massacre -- to fund the development and release of his new tabletop roleplaying game, ...In Spaaace! Through Fundable.org (a Web site that, I suspect, will in the next 4-10 years dramatically change the world), Greg collected promises of funds from interested gamers willing to pay up front to see this game released to the public as a free .PDF download. Today the assembled patrons of gamerdom met his goal of $750, so now we can all enjoy ...In Spaaace! for free, assuming we are so inclined.

Greg's ransom model prompted a lengthy, argumentative, dull-witted RPG.net thread about the merits of the approach. Some posters announced, repeatedly and with increasing froth, that they would never, ever, ever pay for something if they knew someone else would eventually get it free.

Finally, on page 15 of the thread (!), an intelligent comment by Clint, which I take the liberty of quoting in full, brought light:

The ransom model is just patronage in distributed form. By patron, I mean "a wealthy or influential supporter of an artist or writer" definition (like painters, sculptors and so on have had). The distributed form of ransom makes the wealthy part less important. The fact that the work is already complete is a new angle, but not essential to the idea (although it serves to make patrons feel more secure that they'll see results).

Pay the artist, and he'll give something to the world. Many public institutions and works of art came about and still exist via this method. The idea is not stupid or genius, it's just different than generate-product/sell-product.

Some people want to actively sponsor the writer's general body of work, as mentioned earlier in the thread. Some people are curious about the particular product, and are willing to buy in to see it. The ransom model is for both of these groups.

The fact that some people want to be patrons is fine. The fact that some people don't want to be patrons is fine. I don't understand where the argument is coming from.

There followed a remarkably insightful -- profound, in a way -- comment by, uhh, "Laughing Cow Cheese":

The only weakness in the ransom model as currently implemented:

• The artist needs to keep track of the patrons and develop a relationship with the big patrons.


• There should be no limit to the donation via the interface. There should be a minimum, but the payor should be able to enter as large an amount as s/he wishes. That includes a "you push it over the top right now!" button.


• There should be a button for contributing to future works and some description of those. Once you've got live eyes on a site and the checkbook out, grab that opportunity!


• It would be nice if there was an egoboo option for the large donors. Those who are fans who have the discretionary income to contribute to their hobby probably aren't going to not donate because they don't get donor credit, but it would be nice to offer that option.


• How well the ransom system works may vary based on the product and the demographic segment that will use that product. Thus, an accurate portrait of that demographic would much improve the model.


• Just as there are some individuals who don't like being charged for something that others will get for free, there are individuals who enjoy the opportunity to donate money for the greater good. Both personality types are gamers.

Gamers with money do exist. This is a good way to have a reliable channel of communication with them once it reaches critical mass.

The ransom model further develops the principle of player-guided online collaboration PARANOIA has used so successfully. It extends the idea from design to financing. However, there are no plans whatever to use the ransom model for PARANOIA, nor is this ever likely.

Still, Greg Stolze's success -- twice -- does inspire interesting speculation. If some gamers are willing to be patrons whereas others aren't, what is the ratio? Might a small group of well-heeled patrons fund a supplement if, for instance, the designer wrote in their favorite player characters as important personages? Though it's still too early to tell, this new financing model may, I hope, turn out to be a breakthrough, just as its earlier design equivalent was for PARANOIA.

I'm finishing up the October release for PARANOIA, the service group supplement called Service, Service! This 128-page book by the Traitor Recycling Studio offers new service firm types, NPC personnel "monsters" to annoy your Troubleshooters, new "mandates" rules and eight yes eight complete missions.

It's almost done. I just need the last few illos from the great Jim Holloway (the One True PARANOIA Artist) and -- oh gosh! I forgot! -- the fortune cookies.

PARANOIA's "fortune cookies" are the little one-line jokes and slogans that run along the bottom right corner of every two-page spread. I have a huge stock of them from previous requests online, both here and on Paranoia-Live.net. But the cookies that work best are those that comment directly on their context. In Service, Service! that would be the eight sprawling service group bureaucracies of Alpha Complex: Armed Forces, CPU, HPD & Mind Control, Internal Security, PLC, Power Services, R&D;, and Technical Services. I'd like half a dozen fortunes pertinent to each group.

If I use your fortunes in the book, Mongoose Publishing won't pay you anything or give you a free copy of anything. Ordinarily I try to credit those who provide such niceties, but in this case the book is already completely laid out, with no room for credits. I dunno, I'l try slip you into the index or something, but I can't promise anything. Well, okay, if we ever meet in person, I'll promise not to spit in your eye or kick you in the shins, and that assurance must count for something, right?

In the last few weeks I've been writing for a new online gaming magazine, The Escapist. (Past issues.) The current issue 4, about user-created content, has my article "Player-Prompted PARANOIA." Though The Escapist covers electronic games, this piece concerns the lessons I learned in marshalling PARANOIA's extensive fan base to help create the 2004 edition, and offers lessons I hope will translate to electronic media.

This blog's July 21 post spawned a comment thread that meandered far from the topic. Actually, most of the posts had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. Rather than resort to probation or censure of these discursive citizens, let us experimentally start an open thread. If you have anything PARANOIA-related to inquire or expatiate about, feel free to post in the comments. (You might also join the 1,000+ loyal citizens on the Paranoia-Live.net forums.)

See it now, citizens: the all-new, all-friendlier, all-perfect-er than ever FriendComputer.net! Famous Game Designer Bill O'Dea of the Traitor Recycling Studio writes, "I've made some big changes to FriendComputer.net that I wanted to bring to your attention. Firstly, I ditched GeoCities for a real host. No more bandwidth problems! Secondly, I redesigned the site to reflect service groups a lot more. It has all the old pages but a lot more.

"To help ensure this project doesn't eat into my Traitor Recycling Studio design time, I'm trying to find writers who want to add content. I'll do the actual coding (I can add paragraph tags easily), but they can write the creative stuff and I'll post it."

Interested? Contact Bill O'Dea: biggles (at) friendcomputer (dot) net.