zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 I think the idea of Prisoner Hero came up before...here's some thoughts I had, first voiced just randomly in the Longest Thread in NGD, but for more serious consideration, here's what I sent to my gaming group: This is to be filed under "games to be played 'someday'". I'd forgotten just how amazing the TV show The Prisoner was until watching it again. Very cool to see the restored versions on DVD. I sort of would consider running Prisoner Hero. You are all ex-spies. You retired for personal, ethical reasons. But just after your resignation, you were ambushed and spirited away to a place known only as "the Village", bounded by "the Sea", and "Mountains". You wake up, every session, in your room, and the group is visited by (the usually new) Number Two. The player-characters of course are known by their numbers, which are spread out between, say, four and twelve. Some are working for Number One...just to make it interesting and genre-specific. Some may even be working for Number One out of hopes that they may be freed...who knows, they might! Bizarre mind-games happen. Most sessions end in a sense of futility but one never knows when it's the final episode. And there must be the sense and possible reality of mortality. Would be cool for 4-6 sessions. There are no XPs...just knowledge gained of how the absurd world works. Of course please note it would also be very, very strange. In many respects much like Paranoia, too. I would run it with a climax in which the surviving members would have a possibility for escape, perhaps as in the series a revolution or perhaps the characters crack or perhaps some other form of escape or loss. Maybe even join those who run the Village. I'd be glad to show four episodes to the unenlightened as the first session of the game - the first, one from the middle, and the two ending episodes. Of course in the TRUE spirit of the series, the best way to play would be over a 3-day weekend with little rest... ***** Anyway, while the above was to my group, for those into the idea, how else would you GM Prisoner? What would you bring into it? Try to limit spoilers, or declare them please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero I can't think why you would use Hero though. The kind of setting and characters - I would have thought systemless would be best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy_The_Ruthles Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero i'd love to see a rover writeup, even though it's just an entangle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Maybe not Hero, but not systemless. I dunno...Hero can do some weird stuff well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero i'd love to see a rover writeup' date=' even though it's just an entangle.[/quote'] One thing to recall is that the Rovers can cause physical debilitation, seemingly beyond the steps of simple suffocation. It may be the impact of a drug, as, after being hospitalized for "no reason", Number Six recovers immediately and thoroughly although he clearly went down earlier, and it seems that drugs were a prevalent control means of those controlling the Village. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Well, I GM Heroic games; I want to run campaigns where the characters are struggling to do the right thing, to help others, to serve a cause greater than themselves. I want what they do to be meaningful. I do not guarantee that they will win, or even that they will survive, but they should have a chance. I love The Prisoner, but I would not GM it in the style of the series as a campaign in and of itself. I might send the characters to the Island, and keep them trapped there until they were able to find a way to escape. I might play some mind games. Still, there would need to be a greater purpose than just survival and escape for me to enjoy running the game, and (very much unlike the series) I'd need to play fair with my players by providing a real chance of figuring out what was going on and a chance to do something about it. Side Note: While I loved reading Paranoia, I never GMed that either. I've always assumed that there was someplace like The Island in my campaign worlds, where Heroes and Villains, their powers somehow blocked, had been stored by the Conspiracy, against the day when they might prove useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Remember, the Prisoner has a chance, unless you subscribe to the notion that the end of the last episode is an entry to the first episode - which is a hotly debatable proposition. Whoops, as far as purpose, well, that depends on what you think the series was an allegory for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero In the miniseries set after the series ended, it is hinted that London is just a big Village. I think this is talked about as a notion for expanding beyond the original setting. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Remember' date=' the Prisoner has a chance, unless you subscribe to the notion that the end of the last episode is an entry to the first episode - which is a hotly debatable proposition.[/quote'] Been years since I saw it, but I remember thinking that at the end of the series he'd just fallen into complete insanity. Whoops, as far as purpose, well, that depends on what you think the series was an allegory for... I thought it was a riddle wraped in an enigma and then deep fried in the grease of our lost illusions, served with the sauce of bitter anger and a side of the rice of artistic escapism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero I am not a number! I am a free poster! Sorry... I just could'nt resist the temptation. Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero There is a Prisoner sourcebook for GURPS for source material, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Been years since I saw it' date=' but I remember thinking that at the end of the series he'd just fallen into complete insanity. [/quote'] IMHO, I don't think so, though it could be. I think that while a circularity is hinted at, it may be a diferent sort of one, a more spiral sort of level of rise and challenge, but I'm really not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero There is a Prisoner sourcebook for GURPS for source material' date=' etc.[/quote'] I thought there was something out there but couldn't recall - thanks very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero I am not a number! I am a free poster! Sorry... I just could'nt resist the temptation. Major Tom Then it's time to leave the capsule, if you dare... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Been years since I saw it, but I remember thinking that at the end of the series he'd just fallen into complete insanity. I thought it was a riddle wraped in an enigma and then deep fried in the grease of our lost illusions, served with the sauce of bitter anger and a side of the rice of artistic escapism. PS - I do think a lot of the art is "nonsense" but in the best way, the way we did in a group I was in, and sort of along the lines of dada, of creating interesting ideas and visuals and sounds for their own sake as independent entities, concepts consistent with a general madness, if you will, but not given a specific meaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy_The_Ruthles Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero it'd be funny to have the players make up what they think they are being held, and have the GM make up something else completely diffrent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Maybe run it like the Truman Show. They think they are living in a small town, but they are really under a dome, under constant surveillance. Of course the Secret disad should be required. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Actually - you could have some PCs playing real prisoners, and some playing infiltrated agents of "them" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted August 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero Yeah, I was thinking that as one of the options re those in league with "them", to actually be a part of the group. Curufea, congrats on 1K! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Re: Prisoner Hero I hadn't realised - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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