Paranoia

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 28th, 2009, 20:25

Paranoia is another tabletop RPG, but with a difference. As the name suggests, every player will spend most of their time trying to screw the others over. Fear not, though! Everyone has clones to replace their corpses should someone succeed, and it's not as easy as it sounds - after all, fitting up a colleague is treason.

The game is set in Alpha Complex, a future dystopia ruled over by the schitzophrenic AI The Computer. The Computer is your friend. Characters take the form of Troubleshooters, performing missions at the whim of The Computer and for the benefit of society. Usually by rooting out Commies.

Along the mission the characters will be vigilantly keeping their eye on fellow Troubleshooters for signs of being a Commmie, a member of a Secret Society, an unregistered and dangerous mutant, or all of the above. All the while trying to hide the fact that they are also members of Secret Societies and dangerous unregistered mutants.

As previously mentioned, Paranoia plays differently from SLA and Shadowrun. For a start, knowing the rules is against the rules. Additionally, there's not a whole lot of distinction between the characters and players, so an indescretion by a player might lead to the punishment of the character. Don't worry though, the GM knows what he's doing and is your friend.

I'm considering giving the game a few sessions to see how it plays. I think 5punkers would lap it up. However, I'm already running one game and while I'm capable of running another I thought I'd open this up to the floor. I'm thinking that it might interest players who're put off by the rules and seriousness of the other games too - Paranoia is like the Spy Vs Spy of RPGs.

Go on, it'll be fun. It has to be. Fun is mandatory.

Post by **Roman Totale** » April 28th, 2009, 20:42

Post by **HereComesPete** » April 28th, 2009, 20:46

Sounds good. I may watch a few missions first before dipping a toe however. I've got a bit 'run crazy and got a 3 part story arc, a 6/8 part story arc and a few sweeteners ready to run already. Might be a tad busy for this and I was thinking of trying SLA too.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 28th, 2009, 20:49

Fair enough. Oh, and I'm not looking to dilute our existing and soon-to-be campaigns, but I reckon we've enough people interested to have a few on the go. There's a max of 6 places here, and the rules are a bit funny, stuff like pregenerated characters and lots of PMs to the GM. Don't let that put you off though.

Post by **deject** » April 28th, 2009, 20:53

I'm willing to give it a shot.

The Shutting Downs · Post by **The Shutting Downs** » April 28th, 2009, 21:31

Please may I express friendship for the computer and exclaim my mandatory happiness at this activity?

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » April 28th, 2009, 21:41

This sounds fucking fun, as if it was hand-tailored for 5punk. Sign me up. When do we start?

Post by **Joose** » April 28th, 2009, 21:49

Me and my clones are definately up for some of this.

Doubt it'll impact on the other campaigns at all, its pretty low-complexity silly fun.

Post by **Grimmie** » April 28th, 2009, 22:23

The Computer is my friend.
Was discussing with Joose some months back what might make good player advantages/disadvantages (I forget what they're called in paranoia).
I'm very interested in this, and promise I'll make some interesting characters :D

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » April 28th, 2009, 22:28

That's 7 plus GM.

Although.. isn't knowing the rules an instant disqualification for Grimmie?

Post by **Grimmie** » April 28th, 2009, 22:40

I dunno the rules, and resisted downloading the rulebook.
I know very little, basic character setup.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » April 28th, 2009, 22:43

Ooooh, yeah, character sheets, I guess those don't count as rules since you'll have them.

Question, do you guys want me to quickly whip up a character sheet manager application? I'm working on an SLA one when I'm bored in IT class, but the fact that there isn't that many stuff to follow here should allow me to create one relatively fast.

Post by **deject** » April 29th, 2009, 1:08

An excel sheet would be better for me actually, as that way I can keep it synchronized on my dropbox like I do with SLA and Shadowrun.

Post by **deject** » April 29th, 2009, 1:56

Wikipedia article on Paranoia wrote:The PCs are usually given incomprehensible or self-contradicting mission goals, dangerous, faulty or experimental futuristic gizmos as equipment (such as a tactical nuclear grenade marked "Throw Hard!"), as well as contradictory missions from their secret societies. Paranoia missions are typically fatal for the Troubleshooters.

Throw Hard!

I'm completely sold.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 29th, 2009, 7:51

I've already made Excel character sheets that look exactly like the ones in the book. I'll also be creating and distributing the characters, at least for the first campaign (they're usually short). If people want to read any of the books I'd recommend The Little Red Book, which is basically the player's section of the rule book.

Oh, and even if you have read the rules it encourages the GM to make them up as he goes along. Probably be starting this weekend or soon after, as I'll have had a few days off.

Anery · Post by **Anery** » April 29th, 2009, 7:51

Baliame wrote:Although.. isn't knowing the rules an instant disqualification for Grimmie?

You must know the rules also then, you must also be a traitor?! HL

death for you sir!

Sign me up too please Mr Pants.

punkchuck · Post by **punkchuck** » April 29th, 2009, 11:02

Sounds fun but it looks like you have your 6 people

If anyone drops lemme know!

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 29th, 2009, 11:36

I was considering giving priority to people who are playing the least already, so Bali and Anery get first dibs as they're not already playing SLA or Shadowrun, then Pete and Punkchuck get next priority, then the guys who're playing both. I don't particularly want to upset anyone though, and whoever doesn't get on this one will have the opportunity to get on the next. Normally I'd be happy to run a game for as many people as wanted to play, but I'm wanting to try running pregenerated characters first so I can set it up that everyone will have potential allies and enemies. That's a lot of work, and over six people would probably melt my brain. If I run a second group I might give player rolled characters a shot and see how it changes things.

Anyway, ultimately it's less stressful for you guys to work out for yourselves who the first six <s>victims</s> players are. Like I said, I don't want to disappoint anyone.

For those interested, here's mk1 of the character sheet I made;

http://www.5punk.co.uk/b3ta/Pants/Paranoia_v1_1.xls

Post by **HereComesPete** » April 29th, 2009, 11:47

I'll skip it for now, plenty going on for me with shadowrun. Pluse I've got more than enough paranoia without playing THE GAME with the same name.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » April 29th, 2009, 12:00

So 7 character pages... does that mean each clone can have different skills?