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."

Comments

Christ! That brings me back!

[phiwum]

Paranoia! Late night playing sessions in the dormitory bathroom (helped the atmosphere of the game somehow). Jeez, what a game.

Of all the old roleplaying games, the only one I still own and cart with me when I move is Paranoia. I'll probably never play it again, but I can't bear to get rid of such an entertaining rulebook.

Good luck with the next edition. It will be hard to write a book that stands up well next to the original.

SYB Notes

[mwheeler01]

The most intriguing part of the game for me was the encouraged use of screw your buddy notes. AKA FYB notes, these were fun because you really did get the feeling that everyone was out to get you and this prompted you to scribble off another note the to GM to perfrom a preemptive strike on your team mate because he was obviously a communist.

There is a god! er I mean computer, dont shoot me!

[August_zero]

I pulled out my old second edition Paranoia stuff one night with the group I played D&D with. They had never even heard of the game before, but got the hang of it quick enough. Within the first 30 minuets 2 players were already down 3 clones apiece, several others had lost a clone, and a major reactor leak killing several thousand citizens resulted from an over entusiastic attempt to retrive a bag of crunchy-time algea chips from a fission powered snack machine. Even if I never get the chance to play it, I will definately be buying the book.

In short, it's the best pen and paper RPG ever made. Not that I am biased or anything.

Beta Testers old Module

[dougermouse]

As a long time Paranoia player (I love Randy the wonder lizard), is there going to be a beta testing program? Where can I sign up? And are the modules going to be updated as well? What mods to the tech trees are you going to add considering "pre-whoops!" developments like the Internet?

My kind of MMORPG

[droleary]

Now I know that the article is mainly about an update to the RPG rules themselves, but I can't help but think how awesome a computer game set in that universe would be. One of the great points of Paranoia is that you go in knowing you're probably going to die a number of times, so you get really attached not to the clones, but to the game play. There are levels of sorts, but not in such a way that the game is about leveling up, so it would still be fun for new players (and/or yourself when you've run through your clones). With the "unseen enemy" angle, you can constantly have the goals of a troubleshooter changing so it would never get stale. The article states rights have been sold for a text version, but if someone wants to make a killing they should snap up rights for a graphic version.

Is Paranoia a joke between GM and author?

[ChaosDiscord]

I like Paranoia, but I like it in much the same way I like HOL or Orkworld. Great read, fascinating ideas, but is it actually playable? The best summary of Paranoia's problems I've seen amounted to basically, "Paranoia feels too much like a private joke between the author of a given adventure and the gamemaster." To players things (notably death) seems a bit arbitrary. The jokes often aren't comprehensible if you don't have context that only the GM has. (The "disco" scene in Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues comes to mind).

If Paranoia is just social commentary and satire, well, that's and interesting read, but it's a basis for a game I play more than once. If it's about humor than the jokes need to be visible to everyone; I'm not going to play a game to amuse my GM. I think that the core game play of Paranoia is supposed to be about the struggle to survive in a bureaucratic nightmare, but that's not the feeling I've gotten from the games I've played. It's unfortunate, because it's such an appealing premise.

I see a lot of potential, but I've never seen it pay off in actual game play. Maybe I've just been unlucky and didn't have GMs up to the task (I've been in love with Shadowrun since the second edition, but only recently actually played in a game I enjoyed), but Paranoia seems like a fundamentally difficult game to get right. The only "famous" module I've played was YCBBB. YCBBB is is generally held to be one of the best modules for the game. What I saw wasn't terribly impressive and appeared to have a strong "private joke between the author and the GM" element. (To be fair, given that the players weren't haven't alot of fun, we stopped playing after only a few sessions.)

So, is the accusation that Paranoia is a private job between the creators and the GM fair? Is there any truth too it? Is Paranoia fundamentally an extremely difficult game to run? Are you changing anything to address these concerns (including possibly working to clarify incorrect perceptions)? What do you feel is the key attraction to playing for players?

Re:Is Paranoia a joke between GM and author?

[Allen Varney]

Is the accusation that Paranoia is a private job between the creators and the GM fair? Is there any truth to it?

Yes, historically. Too many adventures were written solely to be fun to read, as opposed to fun to play.

Is Paranoia fundamentally an extremely difficult game to run?

No. PARANOIA is generally an extremely easy game to run. Players aren't allowed to demonstrate knowledge of the rules (no rules-lawyer arguments). The Gamemaster has absolute and unquestioned authority. Players generally entertain themselves by busily plotting against one another.

That said, good gamemastering does call for a sharp sense of humor and a willingness to improvise. This can alienate certain prospective Gamemasters.

Are you changing anything to address these concerns (including possibly working to clarify incorrect perceptions?

The PARANOIA supplement line will have to do this. I'm just writing (most of) the basic rulebook. I hope the Mongoose line editor will avoid the trap of PARANOIA's adventures from the latter 1980s and early 1990s, which had The Computer deliberately setting up traps to kill its Troubleshooters. This is all wrong. The Computer means well; it wants loyal Troubleshooters to survive and thrive in its service. The problem is that The Computer is totally nuts and inevitably finds treason even where none exists.

I will certainly include campaign advice along this line in the rulebook, which may help Gamemasters detect and correct errant supplements.

What do you feel is the key attraction to playing for players?

In every other RPG on the market, you're supposed to cooperate with everybody, be a team player, know the rules, and generally behave. In PARANOIA you are specifically enjoined against any of this. You aren't allowed to behave. For players this can be an exhilarating and genuinely liberating experience.

Re: Alpha Complex Dandy

[Allen Varney]

I'm an Alpha Complex Dandy
(Sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy)

Those lyrics were written by Warren Spector, my collaborator on the early Paranoia adventure Send in the Clones. Truth! Warren has since become a well-known producer of computer games, including Deus Ex, and runs the game studio Ion Storm Austin.

Anyone remember InFiNiTy CoMpLeX for Galacticomm?

[Hobart]

There was a fantastically fun game based on Paranoia called InFiNiTy CoMpLeX ... I think it could best be described as sixteen player text-based Quake Deathmatch...

It was largely based on Paranoia, there were up to twenty-six "Commies" running around the complex who would occasionally take potshots at characters, or group together and start behaving silly (if three or four of them grouped together, they would start singing "Twist and shout", etc).

The game had one of the more innovative solutions to handle players quitting the game that I've seen -- if you quit, outside of the allowed "savepoint" type room, you became an NPC and the computer would make you behave like a commie...

You could build up your own 3-dimensional structures by blowing holes in walls, fling grenades into roomfuls of people and then slam the door and glue it shut, etc... All back in the 1200/2400 baud modem era...

A quick skim of Google / Google Groups shows that the game's been being saught after for quite some time...

Ah, looks like at least a few telnettable majorBBS' have it! telnet://grnet.com and telnet://onix.com

Y'all kids owe it to yourselves to check it out. :)

You're in Briefing Room 34, which resembles nothing so much as an employment office. The walls are covered with recruiting posters which state with much authority that "MASTER CONTROL wants YOU!.
Exits: North, south, and west
Eternalloy walls: East, ceiling, and floor
A ladder joins the ceiling and floor.
North : Damaged wall. Hole.
South : Hole.
West : Hole.
On the floor are:
0: M2 laser 1: M1 laser 2: nothing
3: nothing 4: nothing 5: nothing
There are no other people in sight
-

Re:And its the basis for...

[lysander]

Actually, there's a little-known crossover mission between CoC and Paranoia called Call of Computer. It took me forever to find the requisite Pyramid magazine that had it (thanks ebay!).

There's original author has (or had?) a website up with supplemental mission information and scenarios. I can't seem to find it now; google's turning up 404s. I've got a hardcopy of it somewhere...

Haven't ran it yet, mainly because the people I game with don't follow Cthulhu and thus wouldn't get any of the jokes.

Ia! Ia! Ultraviolet programmer with a thousand clones!

The computer is your friend.

[Stephen Samuel]

This is, essentially the motto of Paranoia, but there's an extended (and illegal) version of that

• The computer is your friend
• 
  The computer is your only friend
  Trust the computer
  Trust only the computer,
  and remember: in all likelihood the computer wants you DEAD

Basically, every player starts out with 6 clones, a couple of mutant abilities and membership in a small handful of secret societies.

You (usually) start at one of the lowest security ranges (InfraRed) and your goal is to climb to the highest security range (Ultraviolet -> programmer) -- mostly by fixing the damage done by secret societies, commies and mutants.

Oh, and did I mention that exposure of either your mutant abilities or your secret society membership is cause for instant termination??

In any case, my favorite mission occured with a couple dozen of us playing at a science-fiction convention (Orycon, if I remember corectly). Within 45 minutes we had about 8 dead and another dozen or so seriously wounded.

We hadn't made it out of the briefing room.