Interview with Ken Rolston
 

[H]Consumer has very nice interview with ken Rolston, the guy behind Oblivion and the P&P RPG Paranoia (*gasp*!).

I didn't know that he worked on Paranoia. Good to see more old RPGers still designing kick-ass stuff (like Sandy peterson). Paranoia had a cult status when I was still playing P&P RPGs.

I didn't know this guy worked on Paranoia either.. That is kind of neat.

I still have my old paranoia books. Always a G.M., never a player. :(
That RPG ruled. One of the few games where the G.M. had as much, if not sometimes more fun than the player.

I'm glad he admits the world leveling feels artificial.

It does feel VERY artificial and it did rob me of lots of thrills. I could go into ANY dungeon knowing in advance that there was no threat there that I could not face. I miss the old feeling of going into a Dungeon and not knowing what kind of hellish creature I might run into at the end. That simply does nto exist on Oblivion.

Oh Shit!! Paranoia?! That game was ridiculous! I was not a pen and paper d&d player at all but I did purchase and play the paranoia game. It was truly novel and amazing. A highlight in gaming history.

Now That would be an awesome game to see come to the 360. I would be sold on the 360 if I could play a well-executed Paranoia game. It would be so open-ended yet so mission focused and the comedy and gadget appeal as well as player stat building would be great. Plus the player live limitations and deaths are already covered in the game setup! The way other games handle deaths of the main character is pretty artificial. Multiple lives? WTF? In Paranoia it is already built-in.
Wow, I'd completely forgotten about that game. I have to give Oblivion props for that. I had no idea.

Message to Rolston and Microsoft!!!!!!

If you are reading this, Make a Paranoia 360 Game!!!!!!!!

Please!!!!

dear god we need a petition.

Leveling does more than simply make the world feel "artificial", it guts part of the essential experience of a free-form game, which is the exploration. Why explore when the items and enemies you find everywhere are essentially the same? Why try to get better and level up when you could, in essence be making it harder on yourself?

And I'll never get the whole "trying to fix the easiness of Morrowind" problem, because instead of it being easy at a high level, all they did was make it really, really easy at a low level, especially if you level "backwards".

Leveling was a big freaking issue in that game (one of the main reasons I stopped playing after a week), though it wasn't the only one.

Citizen: The Computer is Your Friend.

I wonder what this red button does... *press*

You've summed up the main reason why I can't play Oblivion anymore. After doing some guild quests, and watching someone beat the main plot, I just can't get any interest in wondering around the woods and searching dungeons and ruins. I really wish every dungeon did feel unique like they said originally, right now they feel little better than Daggerfall's randomly pieced together romps.

Paranoia kicked arse!

Warren Spector also wrote some modules for Paranoia before he bacame a computer game designer.

Warren Spector made EVERYTHING COOL.
I want to have his babies.

(hope my wife doesn't read Ev Av)

I think the Paranoia universe went "open" a year ago. The game was being rewritten with hackers, file sharers, and the RIAA/MPAA in mind.
I'd still prefer a game in the original universe.