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Paranoia RPG Returns in New Edition
Allen Varney writes "The classic tabletop roleplaying game PARANOIA, originally published by West End Games in the 1980s, returns in a new edition this August from Mongoose Publishing. PARANOIA, the game of a darkly humorous future, is set in an underground Alpha Complex ruled by an insane Computer. I am writing and (re)designing the main rulebook, under direction from original PARANOIA co-designer Greg Costikyan, with contributions from novelist and game designer Aaron Allston. I'd be happy to answer questions from Slashdot's gamers."
Its worth pointing out that the story/idea behind Paranoia was also the primary basis for Resident Evil. The original coders of Resident Evil had been playing Paranoia literally for weeks prior to writing the game. I know from personal experience. :)
um sorry to pick mods, but "Hot fun" is a reference to the RPG that this article is about, not just a random off-topic post. Please give him back his karma.
I recently forked over $75 for a set of the original first edition Paranoia because our local gaming group was getting way too obsessed with their stats and game mechanics. The ensuing pandemonium and infighting didn't solve the problem, but at least it entertains the game master, which is the point of it all, right?
I'm especially happy to hear that the new edition won't be using d20. I've been using Active Exploits, a free, diceless game system, and it has worked very well for keeping the game fast and simple -- an essential for Paranoia.
There are also some excellent resources for individuals who want to play Paranoia online; Paranoia-RPG is probably the best place to start.
And, finally, if Paranoia tickles your fancy and you want to try a different comic genre, check out Atlas Games' Over the Edge, a lightweight conspiracy game that makes Fox Mulders' wildest guesses seem tame.
Weapons of Mass Analysis
http://www.textfiles.com/rpg/song
Scroll down to THE ALPHA COMPLEX SONGBOOK
I mean, you've got 4 or 5 people doing stuff and you are trying to direct them along while at the same time dealing with notes from all of them coming at you as fast as they can write them.
Though, the fact that the game didn't really have any rules did compensate for the notes a bit. You didn't really have to roll dice if you didn't feel like it to determine outcomes.
ahh, great game. I hadn't even realized it was out of print.
Infared
Red
Orange
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
Ultaviolet
Posession of any colour tinfoil hat above your clearance is treason, but so is knowing that. AUGHHH. (Goes off to the confession booth with a laser pistol as I am a good citizen)
Well there is this song:
You can find similar songs here
Sapere aude!
Human Occupied Landfill is definately a more interesting read - but I always found myself more interested in actually playing Paranoia. That game rules.
HAVE A NICE DAYCYCLE!!
I have no regrets, this is the only path.
My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
Long live Pax Computer!
That said one of the things I most enjoyed about playing paranoia was the lack of character generation. You could generate a chracter if you wanted, but what was the point? It was going to be dead soon. This got rid of the four hour character generation marathons caused by people taking 20 minutes to decide if they wanted to buy an extra flask of oil or a ten foot pole with the last of there money. More games ended before they started due to the fact that character generation bogged the night down so bad the adventure never got started and no one was hooked to come back the next night. Paranoia was great, people got together, you handed them a character, they read it for ten minutes and bam you were playing and having a good time.
So I guess the question inherent in this babbling is. Are you going to keep the preferences for pre-generated characters in the new edition?
Papa Legba come and open the gate
Lunch Money : You play a catholic schoolgirl on a playground. You beat the crap out of your opponent(s). Suggested to use consumable items such as M&Ms as life counters. You buy the deck and you get the whole game- none of this Endless Diarrhea of Expansions that other CCGs suffer. Also an excellent card based hand-to-hand combat system. :)
It's not a CCG, it's a card game. There's no "collectable". There will be expansions - Lunch Money: Sticks and Stones is coming out soon, and Beer Money (a seperate game that can be combined with Lunch Money) was just announced.
My, citizen, you certainly do have a lot of questions! Such inquisitiveness suggests that your creche's teacherbots have been remiss in conveying Alpha Complex etiquette.
Mongoose will reissue a collection of classic Paranoia material, updated to match the new rules, within a few months after the main rulebook appears in August 2004.
We will certainly need playtesters (as beta testers are quaintly called in the backward paper-game business). No sign-up information yet, but keep checking Greg Costikyan's Paranoia blog for updates.
As for modifications to the "tech trees" -- that information is available only to Security Clearance ULTRAVIOLET. Thank you for your cooperation!
PARANOIA XP will use an updated and simplified version of the rules from PARANOIA's much admired second edition. The extent of the revision is still under discussion. More precisely, I have to type up a draft of my proposed rules and let everyone involved pass judgement.
In any case, the fundamental precept will remain: Players are not allowed to demonstrate knowledge of the rules. Knowledge of the rules is treason.
In 1991 West End published a book named Extreme Paranoia: Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive Shot that is set in the Paranoia universe. It is hilarious, and I highly recommend it.
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So far no one involved has raised that as a concern. PARANOIA co-designer Greg Costikyan has been inalterably opposed to such thought control for many years, as have I. I'll be writing the rulebook with the attitude that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.
It's a jab at Windows XP, but when Microsoft originally announced Windows XP, they explained that XP stood for "experience." This nod to roleplaying game terminology ("experience points") warmed my heart.
In any case, PARANOIA XP may not be the final title. None of us could think of anything better. We're certainly open to better ideas.
I'm drafting my proposed rules now, and then everyone involved will render a verdict. I'm aiming to emphasize the elements that have historically contributed to people's favorite PARANOIA anecdotes, and de-emphasize the elements that didn't.
In my experience the setting hasn't been suited to a continuing campaign in the traditional sense. But it's certainly possible to run episodes week after week as long as the jokes stay funny; I've done that myself. If anyone has ideas for making a conventional campaign fun and interesting, I'm listening.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still cheezed off that DISNEY owns paranoia.com. Any of you that are old enough to remember what used to be on paranoia.com should get a chuckle :)
If anyone else is up for some truly pointless fun, you can get the binary here
Just thought I would bring something to the attention of anyone interested in playing Paranoia over the net.
Paranoia-Live is a site dedicated to organizing and carrying out games of Paranoia over the internet, using a neat li'l Java app known amazingly enough as JParanoia.
The game dates from far back in the mists of time; it was originally adapted from a CYOA published in a magazine in 1977. It's a suprising amount of fun for something so small.
I use this to test new compilers and the such; it's a much more interesting variant on 'Hello, world!' (and not a lot more complicated).
File header follows:
* "SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer" magazine.
*
* Article by Sam Shirley.
* Implemented in C on Vax 11/780 under UNIX by Tim Lister
*
* This is a public domain adventure and may not be sold for profit
*
* $Source:
* $Author: tjcoppet $
*
*/