Slashdot Mirror
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."
This was one of the coolest games back in the day :)
Mmm, hot fun.
Is the computer still your friend in this edition?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Is there any other type?
i like this from their website. i found it quite humorous.
One Hasbro(R) to rule them all
One Hasbro(R) to find them.
One Hasbro(R) to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
Parker Brothers(R), Milton Bradley(R), Selchow & Richter(R), TSR(R), SPI(R), Avalon Hill(R), and Wizards of the Coast(R) are registered trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. Their use here is not to be construed as a challenge to their trademark status.
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.
Phiwum's law: anyone that names an obvious law after himself and then puts it in his own sig is just pathetic.
This is *awesome*.
As a somewhat younger and more recently-introduced gamer, I have never actually seen a copy of this game. However, I have heard about it.. heard very much about it. This game is absolutely legend and I always thought it was a shame it had been lost to the world.
What is different in the new edition? What do you think about the old ed needed revision? Has anything in particular changed about the spirit or tone?
It was an RPG where the people who did the dumbest and funiest things lived the longest which was about 10 min longer then the rest. PS: You don't know the rules, you must be a comiemutentterrorist!!!!!!
Long live to the computer! The computer is your friend and wants you to be happy! /me falsely smiles (don't want to get killed)
May the source be with you!
- Dave #2
Have you got your copy of the Paranoia RPG, citizen? What's that? The old version? SCRUBBERS!
what color paper is the book going to be published on?
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. :)
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.
Pretty widgets? What pretty widgets?
Anyone trolling this article must report to the nearest execution booth. Have a pleasant day, citizen.
Alas, Babylon.
So tell us...
Does the computer REALLY love us?
Knowing about the game is FORBIDDEN. Not knowing about the game is RESTRICTED.
Please report to the nearest termination center.
Thank you!
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.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
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?
Will the new version have a brand new system, use an existing system (D20, GURPS, ad infinitum), or use a mod of it's original system? Will we see Living Paranoia anytime soon?
Will the tinfoil for hats come in blue?
Can I get Ultra-Violet clearance now?
Oh wait, that's illegal...
(enter clone #2)
Can I get Ultra-Violet clerance now?
(enter clone #3)
(Happy Officer takes a core sample)
(enter clone #4)
Can I have a happy pill?
I think this is the only time I've ever seen a product-existance-denial actually be in-character.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
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
I'm sure the graphics will be quite a bit degraded from the original, as back in the 80s we had vivid imaginations driven by hormones and angst at what seemed like an inevitable nuclear confrontation. Now that young people thing with their thumbs I'm sure the graphics will take quite a hit.
-dameron
Well, I don't remember the "official" Alpha Complex song, but there was one that got bounced around a bunch of my college buddies that was sung to the tune of the "Oscar Meyer Weiner" song.
Oh, I'm glad I'm not an Alpha Complex commie,
That is what I'd really hate to be
Cuz if I were an Alpha Complex commie,
All the citizens would shoot at me.
Or this one, to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man":
It's 9 o'clock in Computer time,
A communist crowd shuffles in
There's a White-Class sitting next to me
But I'm not cleared to look straight at him...
Let's not go there, though. That was a silly time.
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
http://www.textfiles.com/rpg/song
Scroll down to THE ALPHA COMPLEX SONGBOOK
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.
killing several thousand citizens resulted from an over entusiastic attempt to retrive a bag of crunchy-time algea chips
You'd be a lot safer sticking to soilent green. In fact, there was a lot more of the stuff around after this accident. Not sure why.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
GET YOUR WEAPONS READY! --DR.LIGHT
This is going to be fun!
Like Slashdot with dice!
I may have heard of Paranoia once or twice in the past, but this is the first real discussion I've read of it, and it sounds like something worth looking into.
:)
:)
I used to be a hardcore tabletop gamer, but I stopped several years back for a whole heap of reasons. The only gaming supplies I still have are a set of stock DnD dice, a couple of first edition DnD books (my ex roommate needed money), the Lunch Money* CCG (best. CCG. EVAR.), and the HOL** manual and expansion.
If the Paranoia rulebook is even HALF as entertaining as the HOL manual, I'm buying two- the article links paint the game up into a similar category, which is good- this is the first I've even thought about tabletop gaming in months.
Good thing there's a gaming store about three blocks from work.
* 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.
** Human Occupied Landfill. The most heinously WRONG gaming manual ever written.
The Paranoia rule book (2nd Edition) actively encouraged the gamemaster to ignore the rules. It was one of the few RPGs I played (AD&D, Mechwarrior, various GURPS) that emphasized having fun above all else. I hope the new edition stays true to this spirit!
That - and I loved the wry satirical and self-referencing tone in which 2nd Edition was written. Sometimes I would sit and just read the rulebook for fun! Reading it as a teenager, I learned a lot about both pop-culture and serious political thought ("Imagine a world designed by Orwell, Sartre, Kafka, Stalin and the Marx Brothers...")
Basically, if The Onion did a sci-fi RPG, it would be Paranoia.
Can't wait to see the new edition!
and remember...THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND! ALL HAIL FRIEND COMPUTER!
in black citizen, as befits your infra-red security clearence.
Is there any point in asking questions?
We all know we won't have a high enough security clearance for the answers.
Player: Are you using the d20 rules system?
The Computer: No. PARANOIA is fun. D20 games are not fun. The Computer says so.
And we all know Friend Computer is always right.
I was also wondering, what does the "XP" stand for? Though...with my clearance, I probably shouldn't even ask.
-Car-O-LYN
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
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.
Do you have ultraviolet clearance?
Did you read this thread?
Not even close...see the PARANOIA Computer is completely and clinicly insaine, where the ones from Matrix and Terminator were only compulsive.
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
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
They're calling it "Paranoia XP", which I hope is a thinly-veiled dig at Windows XP. I hope the new game comes with a shrink-wrapped license and pages of bilious marketing screed, detailing just how much better Paranoia XP is over Paranoia 3.1 or even Paranoia 95. It won't mention Paranoia Me though - I hear it was a complete disaster.
My poor players never knew what they were in for when I ran that game. Hot fun and happy pills!
I always broke out Paranoia when my CoC or Champions players started getting a little too big for their britches with five hour character generations and rules lawyering.
This game was truly a masterpiece of catharsis for overworked gamemasters. I am so glad it's getting a rework, I could just implode with delight.
Thank you Greg! The computer is the bomb!
No wait! It's just an expression! I didn't really mean bomb! I just...ZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAPPP!
Mike-O-Phile2...you are lucky enough to have been activated for duty in service of the Great and Benevolent Computer! You are to report to Mission Room 5 in Slashdot Sector immediately for briefing.
Thanks to the vast improvements in modern graphics capabilities, it'll now be a side-scrolling platform game, a la "Super Mario Brothers." Other than that, however, no major changes are planned.
In high school, my friends and I would play all sorts of things. I ran a Shadowrun campaign, another ran a Star Trek RPG, another ran a Rifts campaign, etc. We'd switch it up pretty regularly, keeping it all fresh.
One of the guys decided to do a one-off Paranoia game. Here's how it started:
COMPUTER: Troubleshooters! Report to briefing room B-X-37-Y for your mission briefing!
ME: Friend computer, where might one find riefing room B-X-37-Y?
COMPUTER: What is your clearance?
ME: Red, friend computer.
COMPUTER: You are not cleared for that information.
Analiese: [sarcastically, momentarily channeling her D&D character] Well, I cast a spell to locate the briefing room.
ME: Argh! Mutant powers! Shoot her shoot her shoot her!
[Much expendature of Red lasers into Analiese.]
Analiese Clone #2: [arriving] You guys all suck.
ME: Argh! Questioning the wisdom of Friend Computer! Commie traitor! Shoot her shoot her shoot her!
[Much expendature of Red lasers into Analiese's second clone.]
COMPUTER: Well done, citizen! You are now cleared for Orange access.
And things degenerated from there. I don't think we made it out of the briefing room.
Paranoia is one of the few RPG games that new players do the best.
If you are a regular player, you care about your character. Newbies go for broke.
I once knew a cop that attended a Nancon convention here in Houston (back in the day) who had never played Paranoia, but threw himself into the role and won the tournament.
I always wondered if being a cop gave him an edge in that game....i.e. maybe he is a professional Paranoia player...
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
ALL HAIL KING TORG! Oops, sorry, was thinking of Kobolds Ate My Baby.
Sounds about right to me. In a first-time Paranoia party, if they survive all the way to the mission briefing room, you are clearly doing something wrong. :)
Warning: The following text is classified ULRAVIOLET. Do not read if you are not a Game Master. Should you accidentally make out some of the words as you scroll by, terminate yourself immediately. Your clone will be commondated for your loyalty.
One campaign which I designed that I never get tired of running with new groups of players is a scenario where key high-level people in Alpha Complex who were members of the "trekkie" secret society conspired to have a fully-functional "Enterprise" built. The party is sent up to command the bridge. Lots of great conflicting interests from secret societies (The "Whovians" consider it blasphemous and want it destroyed, for example), lots of tech that can go wrong: There are the insanely dangerous transporters. All five clones are stored in stasis on board for faster activation from the captain's chair (now you know what all those buttons are for!) An android First Officer who suffers from MPD (fans of different eras of Star Trek wanted him to be like different "logical" characters from the series, so one moment he talks and acts like Spock, the next like Data.) Lasers are replaced with "Phasers," which penetrate reflective armor, but are prone to "overload" and violently explode.
I even wrote an element of the campaign where they actually encounter a "Klingon" opponent, but the one party that lived long enough to encounter them never even turned on the view screen. When they were detected by the ship's sensors, the conversation between me and the guy playing the Communication Officer went sort of like this:
"A red light starts blinking on your console."
"Does anybody else seem to have noticed."
"No, everybody else is too preoccupied"
"I ignore it then."
A few minutes later...
"The light has begun blinking again, faster this time."
"I unscrew it and pretend nothing is wrong." (Note: clearly an experienced Paranoia player, that one!)
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
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?
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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.
If you want a game to just read rather than play, the highest honors go to Macho Women With Guns.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I remember the days when I was in college at the University at Buffalo and a member of their gaming club. I learned to play Paranoia by signing up for their LARP version of Paranoia. It's a lot more fun with evil props and no rules. Challenges were arbitrated with the use of old land cards from Magic: The Gathering. If you drew a color that was lower than your security clearance, you won the challenge. Of course the "computer" would always stack the deck against you...
I think this is the URL for the club web page: http://wings.buffalo.edu/sa/sarpa
--The Programming goddess from Gorflaz
o/~ Join us now and share the software
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.
Check out Chad's News
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.
(Fry) "I'm not so sure I--"
(booth) "Slow and Painful. Thank you, have a nice day."
(Bender) "Bring it on!"
(Fry) "Aaaaaah!"
With apologies to Matt Groening. That really was the greatest space opera ever (Star trek, of course, being prophecy). =)
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
I'm surprised at you, citizen! Don't you see that traitors are everywhere? The Department of Unspecified Threat Assessment has recently raised the Unfocused Anxiety Index to THREE, and I don't have to tell you what that means.
We will keep the Communists -- that is, the absurdist PARANOIA flavor of Communists established in past adventures -- but we'll also add plenty of new and subversive secret societies, new "service firms" (privatized service groups) in bitter commercial rivalry, and weirdly altered bot behavior provoked by zealous open-source bot-liberation advocates. Among many other things. Trust me -- enemies are everywhere!
Serious question:
Is waiting until after you've released PARANOIA XP, and until after I've purchased my copy, before reporting both of you for treason on the grounds of that remark, itself an act of treason?
(Or is reporting you for "being inalterably opposed to such thought control" treason, on the grounds that as the sole protector of our freedoms, The Computer is also inalterably opposed to such thought control?)
Now this game was a blast from the past. I remember spending a ton of hours with friends playing Paranoia and Junta. Do you think they'll add /. as a secret society within the Paranoia Universe?
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.
Will there ever be a new edition of Globbo?
As the only white clearance troubleshooter of the bunch, you are all in direct violation of your security clearance by reading this white backgrounded forum!
Computer, I request immediate authority for summary execution of all fellow forum readers! I'll fill out the termination vouchers in triplicate later.
Damn I love Paranoia!
- OrbNobz
It seems all the paranoia games I've played in have lead to charges of treason even before getting to the mission briefing. Its a gag game, and as long as you take down your fellow citizen, who cares if you get vaporized as well? Is there going to be an attempt to address this problem, or are the people we play with just curs?
If anyone else is up for some truly pointless fun, you can get the binary here
tenths of books, eh?
so you and your brother played a lot of Synnibar?
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
It's called Brazil....
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
I seem to recall the Armed Forces sourcebook containing a variant marching cadence that ended with:
Treason is the life for me,computer's now my enemy!
People would blanch as the Sargeant lead them up to this line. Singing it was obviously treason and grounds for termination. Breaking cadence was obviously treason and grounds for termination. Good times.
One thing I really wish I could find was my copy of the R&D Catalogue. The description of the "IT" superweapon remains possibly the funniest piece of game writing I have ever read.
IT is finished!
-- YLFIOne god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
For example, if you are a group of high school seniors, invite a freshman kid over to play. He will try way too hard, and will be way gullible. If he's not, then congratulations, you actually found one worth keeping.
Always make sure that nobody knows more than one other person present (excluding gamemaster).
It's a lot easier to fear the unknown.
Always take each individual aside and assure them that you are on THEIR side against everyone else.
Everyone wants to feel special
ABOVE ALL ELSE: Don't forget the tactical nuclear hand greandes.
Boom ---- Yeah, way cool about the continuation of this game. This literally made growing up bearable. Reading and grocking paranoia makes it a lot easier to understand the world, and try to keep going. BTW, anyone ever read the six part comic series? Beautiful work, I miss my copies.
HaXXXor.com - Naked Chicks Teach You How To Ha
- The computer is your friend
Basically, every player starts out with 6 clones, a couple of mutant abilities and membership in a small handful of secret societies.The computer is your only friend
Trust the computer
Trust only the computer,
and remember: in all likelihood the computer wants you DEAD
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.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
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.
1. One of my players realizing the full, evil power of his role as Hygene Officer, in a roomfull of "Real Role Players". He brought along some old bottles of cologne, Listerine, and, soap for the washing of commie, mutant traitors. The poor bastards even went along with it.
...and the side-effects that happen when you take 'em all at the same time.
2. A paranoia mission known as "Whitewash", wherein players were tasked with painting an Ultraviolet-clearance hallway Black. A Code-7 masterpiece, it was fully capable of killing dozens of clones with literally no prompting on the part of the GM.
Experienced players don't even bother with that one.
3. Telescopalmine. Visomorpain. Rolactin.
4. Invisible Commies, sub-bots and Plaid-clearance rooms in "Alpha Complexities".
5. The sheer, character destroying joy of "Me and My Shadow", in which characters are tasked with guarding a Mark IV Continental Siege machine.
Anyone remember the simple joy of "A Piece Falls Off"?
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
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 $
*
*/
Paranoia: Like Logan's Run crossed with a Microsoft Ad.
(At least I think I remembered the wording correctly)