Our Iron Ref Event

Josh and I ran this, billing it as 2 events, one for 4 contestants / GMs, and one for 16 judges / players. Predictably, the GM slots filled, and the player slots didn't. We kept the slots separate, fearing not enough folks would want to GM, so we're not that good at predicting. Next time, it should be one event, with a description saying that a certain number of participants will have a chance to GM, and the rest will judge them.

One of the contestants didn't show, but we managed to get 3 walk on judges with generics. This brought us to a total of 7 judges and 3 contestants. Adding Josh and me into the mix gave us 9 judges, which divided nicely. Josh worked out the rotation randomly except for deliberately not pairing us.

I think 3 judges works better than 4. There's a tight focus that I've found I only get with 3 or fewer players. More than that dilutes the GM's attention noticeably. At the same time, with 3 players, there is a synergy that allows the GM to sit back as the players amuse each other.

All GMs chose simple systems. Rich Debora ran TFOS. Jim Beecher ran OTE. Clint Feld ran Paranoia. The Theme Ingredient was Changing Places. The GMs had an hour to create their scenarios, but only Clint came anywhere close to using the full time. He was also the only one who had pregenerated PCs.

Josh used this rotation:

Clint's first run: Susan, Shoe, Eric Clint's second run: Lisa, Bryant, Lindsay

Jim's first run: Lisa, Bryant, Mark Jim's second run: Drew, Josh, Eric

Rich's first run: Drew, Josh, Lindsay Rich's first run: Susan, Shoe, Mark

Judges rated Contestants in l areas: GMing (Preparation), Scenario (Presentation), Use of Theme (Theme), and Fun / Enjoyment (Flavor). Each area was rated on a scale of 1-10, and the numbers totaled. The Judge's vote went to the Contestant with the highest total. The actual numbers would have been used in case of a tie. 9 Judges made a tie unlikely, another advantage to our numbers.

The final score: 3 votes for Jim; 6 votes for Rich. Everyone gaming with Rich gave him the vote. The rest all gave Jim the vote over Clint. Pretty definitive. We hadn't time to get a proper prize, but I did bring a large d20 and wrote "Winner Iron Ref 2004" with a sharpie.

In Clint's Paranoia game, the Troubleshooters were sent to rearrange the quarters of 2 Ultraviolet programmers, WANT U DED and HURT U BAD, each of whom told the Troubleshooters how to rearrange the other's room.

My group managed to do this, despite homicidal transbots (Bryant: Where's the commie mutant traitor who did this to you? Just point.) and paranoid transbots. (We tended to wreck them.) My PC was made Team Leader, and totally missed that Bryant's Equipment Guy was my contact for my secret society. Lindsay was Internal Security.

Bryant: And you're doing an excellent job. None of us are traitors.

Everyone was executed at the end, and fun was had by all. IMO, however, the adventure was too much like any good Paranoia adventure, despite the theme.

We created our own PCs for Jim's OTE game. Bryant played a Mick Jagger impersonator who wanted to become his idol. I played a female hunchback to a female mad scientist, coming to the island to get her patron supplies and information. (I had My Life With Master on the brain.) Mark played a female AI in a Stepford Wife type body.

After leaving the Terminal, the PCs accepted a ride in a weird contraption driven by an old lady who turned out to be a mad scientist. The PCs' thoughts started leaking into each others' minds, or perhaps their minds started bouncing around. We had fun imitating each other's PCs.

Then, the PCs got mind swapped with a group of NPCs who worked for an autistic genius. The PCs-in-NPC bodies were knocked out, and we played the NPCs-in-PC bodies. Bryant now played Motor Mouth, a foul mouthed mechanic who could talk to machines, including the nanites who'd performed the mind switch. I played Lulu, a sentient gorilla in love with Bryant's PC. Mark played a male magician with real power. His new character and mine wanted their original bodies back, but Motor Mouth decided he liked his.

Regardless, the group had to follow Oliver's clues and dodge the mad scientist's assassination attempts. And, they all went for make overs, coming out looking much better. They saw a man steal something from the store area of the makeover place. He dashed out the door, and the alarms failed to go off.

The group caught up with him, assured him that they weren't the cops, and learned that if you found an item truly meant for you, the alarms wouldn't go off.

Bryant / Motor Mouth (voicing the general sentiment): Works for me.

Eventually, the group tracked the mad scientist to a rickety old ship that begged Motor Mouth to be allowed to die. He obliged, and the group began to decide that their new bodies were pretty good. Then, Oliver showed up, distraught that he couldn't Save the Day with his machine. As a tear fell from his eye, his mother scolded the group, and everyone decided that they couldn't let their patron down. He used the machine to restore all to their rightful bodies, now happy. The nanites were still there, so the singer figured he could take over his idol's body. The hunchback correctly guessed that her patron would be delighted to have nanites to play with.

Josh's criticism of the scenario is that players wound up with NPCs shortly after the start. It's a valid criticism, but I had a blast. Josh tells me that the TFOS game also started with character creation. A teacher was mind swapping students under the guise of offering an extra credit program. NPCs were affected at first. The players kept their own PCs, regardless of whose body the mind was in. And, at the end of the run Josh played in, the Vice Principle took away the Evil Professor, having the sense to know it was now the frog he wanted.