Im GMing a sifi setting and my players have just been sent to a prison.
The prison is basically a reality show where the prisoners try to gain the viewers interest.
They do this to get benefits and if they get enough points they are given a parachute.
The prison is a floating building high above some shitty town no one cares about.
As you can see totally original story.
Does /tg/ have any experience or good advice concerning this type of setting?
Events that go on, ways to gain points and so on.
>>36042071
It is a lie. There are no parachutes. No functioning ones at least.
If you become popular with the viewers you gain benefits and power, but it also raises expectations. Never fail your audience!
Maybe there's regular duels or gladiator battles? Purge days? Sudden traps. Anything to entertain, right.
Rewatch Running Man and Truman Show.
>>36042556
Also imagine Cube as a game show rather than a survival story.
>>36042071
sooo... it's deadman wonderland?
>>36042071
They can be sent "care packages" from the audience. Ranging from fan mail to cakes. Things to be used for escape are confiscated however.
>The prison is basically a reality show where the prisoners try to gain the viewers interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nz9-NWdsis
>>36042687
>A lethal poison is constantly injected into his bloodstream through the collar, but it can be neutralized by consuming a peculiar candy-like medicine every three days
I like it. Creating a real currency with this.
>>36042071
>Sci-fi shit allows for instant regeneration.
>If you don't get enough of a positive crowd reaction, you don't get as much regen shit
Not pulling in a crowd? Enjoy those battle wounds, better luck next time.
Drawing in viewers will earn you points. These are called publicity points.
You buy food and other essential items with your publicity points. Luxury items (like weapons and medicine) cost a large number of points. Theoretically, you could buy your freedom, but it costs so many points it is virtually unattainable.
10% of your publicity points are also automatically removed every day. If you run out of points, a collar around your neck explodes.
Being dull is the biggest crime within the prison. Uninteresting prisoners will quickly run out of points and be "fired".
Points can be traded between prisoners.
Prisoners who have managed to survive for a long time have a pseudo-celebrity status. These "celebrities" have so many points that the can afford to buy fancy accommodation, smart clothing and luxury foods.
These "celebrities" use their vast wealth in publicity points to hire minions and underlings.
There are regular state sponsored "games" that prisoners can choose to compete in. These games are one of the few ways that new prisoners can draw the attention of viewers and earn points. However, these games can often be extremely deadly.
The games come in many shapes and forms.
Sometimes they require that prisoners work together to overcome an obstacle, while sometimes the game will be a free for all that pits each prisoner against one another.
Sometimes a game might be a puzzle that test the prisoners intellect. Sometimes it might be a battle royal to test their fighting capabilities. Sometimes a game might be a horrifying and twisted test of morality.
Prisoner have no way of knowing what sort of game it will be prior to choosing to enter.
Not a prison so much, but the difference is semantics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYPbZNTbnko
Black Mirror, every episode a dystopian revelation.
>>36043089
A cute prisoner begins hitting on one of your players.
What your player doesn't know, is that this prisoner is already in a relationship. She's deliberately trying to start a love triangle in order to manufacture drama, in a desperate attempt to become more interesting.
A friendly NPC offers advice and guidance to your players.
What your players don't know, is that this NPC is a serial killer. He befriends newcomers to the prison, and then murderers them during the regular scheduled games. This has earned him a lot of points.
Some NPC's act like exaggerated caricatures to try and become more interesting.
>>36042714
>They can be sent "care packages" from the audience. Ranging from fan mail to cakes. Things to be used for escape are great for ratings
Fixed that for you.
>>36043357
>the administration will sometimes anonymously send care packages filled with tools of escape to a prisoner whenever things become too boring
>>36042071
There's no parachutes. They just kill the successful characters to maintain the charade, like they do withold peoplein the Giver.
>>36043089
I'd go with being able to be voted points by viewers rather than drawing in viewers.
Like American Idol. They take the survivors of whatever bloodsport and the announcers ask the viewers to call in and vote for who they want to see next week. This includes current point totals, which get deducted during the event by color commentators. Running out of points during the show results in PENALTY TIME!
PENALTY TIME is shown on the screen in giant letters and klaxons play loudly near the "contestant" and shit gets much worse for him in some way. If he's fighting for his life in hand to hand combat against an opponent, perhaps his opponent is given a weapon. If he's doing a timed maze, perhaps he is given fast-acting narcotics that make his task more difficult. If he's going a deadly trap gauntlet, bonus traps are added or traps begin to speed up.
Being reduced to zero points isn't necessarily lethal, but until the contestant is awarded or earns points, it's still PENALTY TIME until he gets some points... or fails a task and dies, of course.
You should use SS13 for inspiration.
It is prison land. So you should have 2-3 gangs minimum which help run the day to day stuff. Organized crime within the walls would be pretty normal. And finally depending on the status before they entered, some of the new prisoners should have a pretty good idea as to what happens in the show, and ultimately what some prisoners do and or are capable of.
I also do not think death should be found easily. Death is an escape too easy for the heinous crimes of the prisoners. Some form of science should keep them from dying overall.
>>36047239
When a prisoner runs out of points he is put in a Redemption Trial. These trials are brutal and well loved by the masses, both for the inventive cruelty on display as well as the occasional displays of skill from inmates.
Failure to complete the Redemption Trial means that a prisoner's life is forfeit. They might be ground down into meat to be fed back into the prison population, lobotomized and turned into cyborgs (for use as maintenance or as challenges for other prisoners to face), or branded with a mark stating that the inmate is worth 100 points to whoever kills him; and then tossed back into GenPop.
