VTT: Fork in the Road

Taking out security cameras

This week sees the last of the PAYDAY focused articles on VTT. I'm ending it simply with a feature of the game that is a core idea of most tabletop RPGs: multiple paths to success.


Having options in tabletop games is really a basic staple that most share. There is the dreaded 'railroading' that may occur, but I'd say that type of play is in the minority. After all, what's a tabletop RPG without choices?

Computer games, on the other hand, are generally the opposite. You have linear games with no real choice. PAYDAY does have some of that, certainly, but it also has some optional actions and routes that can be taken. One such instance is in the map 'No Mercy', which is taken from the Left 4 Dead universe. (and, while unofficial, does give a potential explanation for why the infection originally spread -- money!)

The map starts off with the 'safe' route as primary -- you have to eliminate the security cameras with a silenced pistol in just a few short seconds. Fail to do so, or accidentally kill a civilian or accidentally let one of them hit an alarm button and you'll be moving down the 'hard' route.

Answering phones, 'stealthily'

The 'hard' route involves grabbing a saw , cutting through the doors to the infected ward and then finding the correct room that the patient is in (there are three rooms, random spawn between them and you have to saw into them).

Back to the 'safe' route, after dispatching the cameras and ensuring the civilians are staying down, you need to access the computer database, answer phones, deal with repairmen, more civilians and security guards -- ensuring no one can raise an alarm. Failure at any step would result in an instant switch to the 'hard' route. If you manage to make it through, find the files, set up the fake sentries and get yourself into scrubs, you'll gain access to the ward (without having to cut through it) and a doctor will take you around the three different rooms and explain the patient's conditions -- allowing you to know which one you need. After that it's just a matter of breaking in to the right one and grabbing blood samples to test.

A stylish saw

Basically, the two routes converge here. One with plenty of fighting and the other with stealth. A very simple idea and one that has been used countless times, but it is still quite good and quite useful.

Very basic example time (I'm still working on getting a better chart system for detailed info): A giant tribe residing in the nearby mountains has recently developed an unusual disease within the bodies of some of their kin. The disease is in fact manufactured by the tribe's religious leader/healer as a means of biological weapon against those of the lower lands that have weaker constitutions than the giants. In an effort to stop the giants the band of adventurers must get into the heart of the giant's camp, capture a sample of the disease and destroy as much of the rest as possible. The sample will be taken by the healers of the low lands and used to find a cure, in case the giants attempt to re-create and use this disease in the future.

And there you have it. I would go with giants, or some other fairly strong creature, in order to make frontal attacks slightly less appealing (note that is only a 'slightly less appealing' -- if they want to charge in they should be able to, they just have to accept the consequences). During the stealthier route there should be various potential hazards that spring up (patrolling giants, sleeping giants that are in the way, pets of the giants, etc.). I would likely create a specific 'wandering monster' table for this area that contains such hazards, rather than just have pre-scripted events set up.

In fact, I really should do that. Next week I'll see about taking this example and turning it into a useful adventure/encounter idea.