Skip to main content

Paperboy Delivers!

Paperboy C64 (Australian)
The 1985 Atari game Paperboy may be one of the first electronic games where you could work the same kind of job you might in real life so that you could afford to play, rent, or own the video game version - notwithstanding more adult occupations like bartender or tiny burger chef, which might have higher pay, but offer less free time due to the workplace realities of angry bar patrons and occasional pursuit by giant sausages. It's a precursor to the modern era, where we have dozens of games that focus entirely on things like mowing lawns or power washing - also the kinds of jobs (state law permitting) young folk might use to afford their hobbies ... or, these days, maybe just to barely survive. Newspapers themselves are fading into memory, and, with them, the paperboy job itself. The occupation may be all but dead, but delivery missions remain a staple of gaming . So, what exactly was Paperboy? Unlike  lot of other titles of its era, it hasn't received numerous rounds of remakes and, while it was ported to every conceivable system in the 80s, it's only been included in a couple compilations - so there's a good chance anyone who wasn't around for the original release might be completely unfamiliar. Luckily, the game is largely self-explanatory: you're a paperboy riding down the street (the original arcade game had a unique control scheme using bicycle handlebars), avoiding various obstacles and scoring points by throwing papers to customers, and damaging the homes of non-subscribers. The question then arises: can we learn anything from these missions that we can apply to tabletop games? Or, more specifically: can Paperboy deliver us tips for the tabletop? This Never Say Dice post we will ponder that very papery possibility. 

Delivery 

Our tabletop games are no stranger to the delivery quest itself. Take this MacGuffin to that volcano and throw it in. No bonus if you make it there and don’t throw it in. No, you can’t ride the eagles there, but maybe we’ll send them to pick you up. Snark aside, taking things from one place to another safely is a major job for many adventurers. The general premise of a delivery is a bit different than your standard MacGuffin quest, though. In Paperboy you have to at least attempt to make multiple deliveries. Certainly, settlers in both fantasy and sci-fi games are going to need supplies of sort or another. While you could absolutely make the trip a one-stop visit to some sort of common depot for these people, you can also make it individual stops to hand out portions of a supply or different items. This presents more locations where events can take place, more options for payments, and more places to pick up questions or story hooks. 

In contrast to the standard delivery, we have Paperboy’s darker side. The part that makes you more of a punk kid than some sort of paper-delivering hero. (And doesn't he look meaner in the pallate-swapped European box art?) We’re speaking, of course, of the "non-subscribers" - the people who don’t want your delivery, whether because they never signed up or because you failed in your duties on a previous delivery day. Whatever the reason, in Paperboy they’re your enemy, allowing you to gain points by smashing their windows. Adventurers in your campaigns might be picky in their quest choices at your table top (unless you’re railroading them) but it can be hard to be choosy at lower levels. That being said, not every quest giver is necessarily one with scruples - even if they’re supplying for those in need. They might be a less than benevolent ruler, some sort of warlord, or a leader of organized crime in your setting. Your players may not even realize this at first and end up with a quest to "convince" those "non-subscribers" that aren't already getting deliveries that they'll need to sign up for a "subscription."

Paperboy arcade machine ad
Hazards

The game of Paperboy itself isn’t just a simple paper-throwing joy ride down the street. There are numerous obstacles to dodge. In numerous game sessions of my youth, many a high score run was ended prematurely by construction workers, other kids, pets, traffic, runaway lawn mowers, and other oddities. (Tiny tornadoes? Really? What kind of fever dream was this game?) All of this is to say that you should give yourself permission to include more mundane threats and obstacles during your heroes' quests. Roads blocked by avalanches or trees felled by summer storms, travelers with broken axles on their carts needing help, angry swarms of bees, wild dogs who won’t leave them alone right away, Halloween decorations come to life (or was it Death itself?), hyperspace bypasses under construction... Just about any mundane thing could lead to an interesting player interaction. 

Bonus Level

In any video game, especially those of that era, can get pretty wild. If the main action in Paperboy is like a fever dream, the bonus levels are downright hallucinatory. I imagine the "training course" is intended to simulate some sort of surreal M. C. Escher skate park. You’d think a training mode would be just that, a tutorial at the start of the game, not some nightmare obstacle course to close out the level. Including a "training mode" is a bit different in a tabletop game. It isn’t a stretch, though, to include something lik,e a holodeck program or magic courtyard where your players can ‘"safely" try out new powers, spells, skills, or abilities. If you’re not interested in providing a space for that, consider having a session or two now and again that serves as a "Battle Royale" with cheese or test skirmish. Something that doesn’t carry over into the main game, but still allows your players to test out different ideas without risking supplies or their characters' safety. 

Perhaps newspapers are all but dead, but the spirit of Paperboy lives on in our games. Even if we never got an official remake beyond the weird 3D version on the N64, there's still a little bit of it in all subsequent biking games (even if we're still waiting for a home version of those handlebar controls). Think of Paperboy any time you consider a delivery quest (especially if it's a multi-step process), maybe throw in a common everyday hazard or two, and possibly even a "bonus level" for your players to get used to their characters as they grow and develop. Until next week folks, enjoy your papers, your dice, and your tables. 

- A 

Send questions, comments, and PTSD therapy bills for the C64 version to neversaydice20@gmail.com.

Paperboy Famicom Box 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Lewd Dungeon Adventures with Phoenix Grey

While we here at Never Say Dice try to bring you our own creations every week, be they on storytelling, video games, tabletop games, or any number of other nerdly topics, we thought it'd be good to talk to some other creators so you, dear readers, can hear from others right here on our blog. We haven’t included an interview since our popular MDRF posts , and thought now would be the perfect time to start including them again. One creator I’ve personally backed in the past has developed a risqué game series called Lewd Dungeon Adventures: An Adult Tabletop Role-Playing Game for Couples . So this week, here at Never Say Dice you’ll get some background on that series from the creator herself, Phoenix Gray. - A We should point out that, like the game itself, this conversation will involve sexual topics, so if the subject of sex and gaming (in this case, both in-universe and among the participants themselves) doesn't interest you, you may want to move on to another post. I've be...
Read more

An Introduction to Risus

While roaming the internet in the late nineties/early noughties, I came across a TTRPG that was rules-lite and called itself “the anything RPG.” Want to play a high school cheerleader/samurai-in-training part-time goth enthusiast fast food cashier? The hot pink stick figure art glared back at me. Nah, not interested. But I was wrong. The stick figures were actually purple, and Risus is a surprisingly versatile, handy and down right fun TTRPG. I wouldn’t figure that out though till I discovered it again several years later. Even though it was written as a comedy system (and somewhat lighthearted response to GURPS) you really can use it for just about anything: space opera, high fantasy, pulp, vampires,western, any movie setting you could think of...seriously anything. You can read a far more detailed and interesting history in a number of other places should it strike your fancy. It is time for your Risus indoctrination introduction. Risus really is versatile and fairly easy to learn...
Read more

Devouring "Roll for Sandwich"

Good timezone to Never Say Dice fans, adventures in Aardia, TikTok and beyond. No, I’m not the Roll for Sandwich guy (neither of us is), but if you haven’t heard of him already (or especially if you have), this week I wanted to talk about the TikTok/YouTube show Roll for Sandwich hosted by Jacob Pauwels. The premise is exactly what it sounds like: every episode, the host rolls dice to determine the various items that comprise a sandwich (except when the episode is about s’mores). He assembles the sandwich, then actually eats and critiques his random creation. If it sounds pretty niche to you... it is. You should  probably be both a bit of a foodie and a TTRPG fan in order to truly appreciate both the strange layered creations and the roleplaying references. My eldest son has been so interested in the web series that he decided he wanted to try doing it for himself. So, for the last week of summer this year, we took stock of our cupboards, made our own charts, and proceeded to con...
Read more

Peasant Railgun

Peasants are the common commoner amongst the NPCs of many a tabletop role playing game. It doesn’t matter the setting, there's going to be a variety of "common" NPC that's peasant-like in some way. The subject of peasants has come up in my Dungeons and Dragons gaming group once again as the Peasant Railgun meme makes its way through the internet once again. A crazy idea that's been around for many years. Not sure what we’re talking about? The concept goes something like this: we find a big bad target, line up a group of 2,280 peasants all in a row over the distance of two miles, have them all ready their action, and then have them pass an object (usually a spear) down the line over the course of a six-second round, until it reaches the last person in line who throws the ammo at the target - gaining  "velocity damage" based on falling object damage, and dealing somewhere near 400d6 worth of damage. If this idea sounds ridiculous to you, and you’re a reg...
Read more