You might be asking "What makes you an expert on this?", well I don't claim to be. I've run quite a few missions (2nd and 5th editions) and my players have always enjoyed themselves. I don't claim to be an expert on the rules, I run with the "make it up" system that seems to have made it's way into fifth anyway. If I don't know the exact rule, I make it up and sound convincing. If they question me, then I ask "And how do you know that, Citizen? Been reading material above your clearance?" and that's that. So, without further ado, here are my tips-o-plenty to running a good campaign.
- Planning is Everything
Make sure you plan out the adventure in advance. I try to draw out a fairly detailed map of the rooms the mission will involve, and quite a few hallways and rooms within the sector itself. This is usually necessary so thatifwhen the party gets involved in a gunfight, you're not scrambling for room sizes and hallway directions as they spread out. This also allows for a small amount of exploration (if they somehow get misdirected somewhere). - New Characters
When players roll new characters, I take a very hands-on approach to helping them. I like to give advice, but they don't have to take it. When it comes time for mutant powers and secret societies, I supervise closely. Random rolls are fine, but sometimes it's fun to alter the results to better fit the player's personality or to force them into roleplaying a type of character they normally wouldn't. I also try to avoid giving out conflicting powers and societies. Anti-Mutant is a big problem here, and I rarely give this society out. The only exceptions would be if the person's mutant power is latent (like regeneration) or the player specifically asks for it. I also try to limit giving communist out to new players. Experienced players roleplay and understand better, and can usually survive much longer than a newbie. Finally, I avoid putting the player too deep into treason land, such as giving out communist or purge and then machine empathy. Any one of these is death anyway, why lay it on too thick. - Give them more than enough rope
I rarely kill off a troubleshooter just for grins, unless the situation really demands it. Players are more than willing to take each other out, so I simply play into their desires. Secret Society missions are spread wide and thick in a web of demands, counter-demands and requirements. I will usually sit down and draw out all of the secret society mission goals in a "web" so that I can keep up with who's trying to kill who, who wants to keep who alive, and what else their society has ordered of them. It is a classic moment when, finally, after everyone's been tiptoeing and plotting for an hour, someone finally yells out "COMMIE MUTANT TRAITOR!" and the laser fire just starts a-flying. - Mission Briefing
The mission briefing step is a very important one. Instead of giving them a ton of information, I try and have hand-outs ready with the mission clearly defined on it. Somehow, and I am at a loss as to why, troubleshooters just can't focus on the Computer's well-thought-out mission sometimes. They all seem to have their own little agendas and ideas as to what should be getting done. I also leave quite a bit out and allow for question and answer at the end. Smart troubleshooters will ask questions, and smarter ones will try and get a second alone with the briefer to get the real information while the rest of the group is off polishing their armor or whatever. Bribes and con and such get brought up here a lot in my games. I'm not sure why, I guess they think that the guy with all the information might be convinced to give it up to them and that this might help them. Just a thought. It does make for some great role-play, though. - R&D
I try to give my troubleshooters equipment from R&D that actually works. No, not like that. The equipment I hand out has some sort of functionality, perhaps not the obvious one, perhaps not what R&D told them, but something. Troubleshooters who figure this trick out have a valuable tool for the mission, which is a bonus for roleplaying and thinking. In this way, the smart troubleshooters will actually begin thinking and planning and even *gasp* volunteering for equipment. Of course, the random useless item just for grin value is always good, but I try to keep those to a minimum and mainly to prevent abuse of my good nature. - Paint - Ten for a Plasticred
Ah, the eternal drive to paint things. I almost always give my intrepid troubleshooters a chance to upgrade the weapons and armor issued by PLC. Usually they'll be able to procure a better weapon, or better armor, but rarely both. I take very careful notes at this point, making sure that I know who has what. In the end, they usually have a motley gaggle of lasers and reflec of various tones and hues (all carefully painted red or orange) in their possession. Of course, they seem to forget somehow that everyone in the party has the same realistic chance of convincing their Secret Society that they need this stuff, and any decent society will provide. This makes for some interesting gunfights, and never does better armor or better weapons guarentee a kill. For fairness sake, everybody can get something, but only those who've been extra good to their society are worth both a better gun and armor. This is a great incentive for missions. - PLC
Ah, PLC. I try not to overlook this very important step in the game process. At PLC, I make sure and issue specific equipment to each player based on their assignment, and that it's made clear that this equipment is to be carried only by that troubleshooter. This prevents the team leader or equipment guy from stripping them later and making them targets. I think this gives the players a fighting chance and allows some of the weaker players the opportunity to carry large cone-rifles or such without leaders using them to their own gains. - The Burden of Proof
On the first or second clone of a six-pack, I am always lenient on troubleshooters who shoot first and ask questions later. After all, these are usually red troubleshooters who are just learing the ropes. I require some sort of evidence that this smoking corpse was, indeed, a commie mutant traitor. Otherwise, heavy treason points or execution is issued. This evidence can be fairly weak, a single witness, a well-detailed account, or the infamous "smokin-gun" of a commie handbook tossed carefully on the body. However, killing clones beyond number 3 requires more and more proof of treason. I figure the Computer has GOT to be concerned when clones near the end of their six-pack. - Personal Possesions
Although it's outside the rules, I invoke a house rule I call "Personal Possessions". At any time a troubleshooter may place something in his "personal" bag. This bag is not taken from his corpse (it is very treasonous to do so) and is given directly to the new clone when they arrive (provided it survived the death). In this way, careful planning by a player is not completely destroyed when some other troubleshooter invokes a firefight. As GM I have supreme authority over this bag, what goes in, what stays in, and what survives if he's shot. When the new clone arrives, he is supposed to go through the bag for any treasonous material and immediately turn it over to the Team Leader (unless he is team leader), who makes note of it and either destroys it or saves it for debriefing. The new clone is not responsible for any treasonous material found on his previous clone's body. If he chooses not to turn it over, he is then fully responsible for it and is a traitor. This bag can be peeked into by others, but does not have to be opened for search unless the Computer orders it. - Hit the Deck
Sooner or later (usually sooner) someone will whip out a laser and start blasting. This is the cue (in my group at least) for everyone else to draw and start firing. In most cases the person getting a finger pointed at him by the guy yelling "Commie Mutant Traitor!" will get drilled right off. For some reason, though, it rarely stops there. Everyone left standing after the first exchange will continue shooting at most of the other people for a few more rounds. It is at this time that the true roleplaying begins. I like to encourage players to begin finger-pointing just as soon as the last laser is shot. Accusations of treason will often fly faster than lasers as people claim that so-and-so was in cohoots with the traitor (the former traitor) or that during the firefight so-and-so shot the other fresh corpse behind that bot over there. People will scramble for witnesses and scapegoats. I really encourage this. Good stories (plus skills and mutant powers) really come in handy here as some people might get shot for treason by the other survivors. This all adds greatly to the feeling of paranoia. - Completing the Computer's Mission
If, by some quirk of fate, your team manages to finish whatever hairbrained mission they were sent on, make sure they are rewarded greatly before the debriefing. It's important that they get some positive reinforcement from the computer, who loves this sort of thing. I usually do this before the debriefing so that they get a nice big head on their shoulders before I have some debreifing officer pop it in for them. My missions usually end with the team getting congratulated either by the Computer itself or by some Violet or Indigo officer. There'll be handshakes and pats on the back all around, yes sir. This is also an excellent time for team mates to come up with scapegoats, get their stories straight, and decide who they're going to send up the river. - Completing Secret Society Missions
Troubleshooters who complete secret society missions should be rewarded greatly. If you can, let them keep the cool stuff they got at the beginning of the misison. Give them more cool stuff. Make sure it's all treasonous. Also, promote them in rank within the society if they did well, or if they've finished a third or fourth mission for the group. Then, give them more information about the group, it's missions, it's goals, it's friends and enemies, and who else is in it. Setting up a repeat contact person (make sure to name them) will make the player feel more a member. I also give them a better place to live sometimes, or other non-mission stuff, it doesn't affect the game, but they still feel rewarded. On later missions, this should translate into better stuff and harder missions.
If they FAIL the mission, make sure the group expresses it's discontent. Repeated failure should result in being turned in by the group as a traitor. I've had troubleshooters come home to an apartment filled with communist stuff (EVERYWHERE) and a bunch of guards who wanted totalk toshoot him. - Mission DE-Briefing
This is a great point in the game. The troubleshooters have gone off on a simple mission and come back with casualties, stupid stories, and blatant treason all over the place. I usually have one big debriefing (where the "group" story is told) and then seperate individual debriefings (where all sorts of stories are told). It is in these individual debriefs that the best roleplaying often happens. I try to encourage blackmail, finger-pointing, scapegoats, lying, cheating, and so forth. Very smart troubleshooters will get together in groups of two or three with the same story in order to frame someone else. The different stories, the camera film (if they were foolish enough to allow it to survive) and the Computers random logic will help decide who is telling the "REAL" story. Make sure you punnish treasonous liars accordingly. - Promotions
I always promote someone. Even after the most dismal displays by a troubleshooter team, along with huge batches of treason and so forth, I still promote someone. Why? Because now someone is orange while everyone else is red. Now they have a yellow (painted orange) blaster and all those orange (painted red) blasters are much less useful. The conniving and treachery at this point is a joy to the GM's heart. The entire group, to a man, will sometimes join up and conspire against the person promoted. He is now a TARGET. Death follows promotions like a well-trained dog. - "Campaigns"
I usually follow up a mission with another that follows a "timeline". The results of the first mission often play a major role in determining what the second mission is, and what the goals of that mission are. For example, if a team was sent to kill the leader of a society and failed, the next mission might be a second attempt at him. If they succeeded, the information they gathered while attempting the mission should lead to the computer suspecting other people or that certain places are linked to the society. In any case, this adds a nice touch of realism to an otherwise crazy game. Troubleshooters begin to care more about the mission goals if they realize that failure might not be as easy to shrug off as just saying "oh well, tomorrow's another mission". - End of a 6-Pack
I strongly encourage allowing players to buy clones beyond their 6. This usually requires bribes to high ranking hackers (to edit the records in the clone-vat computer files) and money paid to various people to actually get the clone created. I make sure this is an outlandish amount of money, and that they realize that this is extremely treasonous. Other members in the team will sometimes notice that Extrab-O-DEE has moved beyond his six, which makes for great roleplay (con and fast talk are good skills, but try and convince someone that you aren't on clone number 8 sometime). The price for extra clones is usually so high that players will go on whole missions just to fund the purchase of a new clone. All of this lends to the feeling of paranoia as clones desperately attempt to further their own life span. My favorite event is when a clone finishes a mission to make enough plasticreds to buy a new clone and the computer executes him for treason committed during that mission.