Pills Here!

It's been a while since I've posted here, mostly because I've only had the opportunity to play one game between then and now. The upswing to that is that it's a game that my friend and I completely planned out beforehand, making a nice one-session module that I'll publish here once it's publish-ready. One of my goals, you see, is to make digital versions of all the material I make for Paranoia. The NPC method of GMing has been a roaring success, especially if the NPC is skilled enough to GM their own game (which was the case in this game). I might sing the praises of NPCs again later, but suffice to say that they work. They really do.

Anyway, I said I'd outline pill cards last time, and dammit, I'm going to. Pill cards are a convenient way to deal with medications and their various effects. They also have the advantage of being easy to hand out, allowing for secrecy between GM and player, and speeding up communication. Making a pill card is easy. Simply take an index card and fold it in half. On the outside, write the name and appearance of the pill. Draw a picture if you'd like. A good example would be "Pyroxidine 2 (R)" or something. Now on the inside of the card, state what the pill actually does. In this case, Pyroxidine 2 instills a great sense of happiness and a can-do attitude. It also has a 20% chance of instant death and a 45% chance of causing itchy scalp. Instead of saying just that, write down the sense of happiness and can-do attitude. Then, in a fifth of the cards you make, include death, and include the itchy scalp in about half of the cards you make. That way, the odds are preserved, but the player doesn't have to roll all sorts of dice when they take their meds.

Then, close the pill card, and stick it together with stickers. I recommend motivational stickers. Not only are they cheap, but you also get the psychological effect of having pills labeled "You're great!" and "Do it, faggot!". The PCs will be more likely to eat your pills, you see. Then, you simply hand them out when they get them in game. If a player opens their pill card, they have already ingested their pill. If it's closed, then they haven't. Real simple.

I recommend having a stack of these, not all clearly labeled. It's totally fine to hand out a pill card simply labeled "Black Pill (IR)" or "Syringe of clear liquid (?)". Just have an explicit effect on the inside.

We've tried these out for a few games, and they're easy to make and fun to have around. It also makes it very easy to customize the meds in your game, or you can simply copy the ones in the book. Whatever works for you.

So, like I said, at some point soon, I'll start publishing some of the content that I've made. Probably. You know how consistent I am.

-Flare