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Paranoia (role-playing game)

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Paranoia is a humorous role-playing game set in a dystopian future similar to 1984, Brazil, Brave New World, the "downunder" civilization of A Boy and His Dog, and especially Logan's Run; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor, frequently tongue-in-cheek rather than dark and heavy. The game is set in Alpha Complex, an immense and futuristic domed or underground city (GM's decision) controlled by The Computer, a schizophrenic civil service AI. The Computer has made happiness mandatory. Failure to be happy is punishable by summary execution.

The Computer fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, secret societies and of course communists. Ironically, Alpha Complex is inhabited solely by mutant secret society members. To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to find trouble and then shoot it. These are usually the player characters (PCs) (although later game supplements offered other roles for player characters, such as robots or Blue IntSec troopers), and they are invariably traitors of the very sort feared by The Computer. The PCs are given incomprehensible or self-contradicting mission goals, faulty or experimental futuristic gizmos as equipment, and sent off to their (usually humorous) deaths.

The Troubleshooter's credo is, "Stay Alert! Trust No One! Keep Your Laser Handy!"
The Computer's credo is, "Trust The Computer. The Computer is Your Friend."

Contents

The Basics

In most scenarios, each player character is in fact a mutant, commie and/or secret society member, and is given a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving swindling or killing teammates. Hence the name, Paranoia. Therefore, Troubleshooter missions invariably turn into a constant comedy of errors as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross the others while keeping their own secrets. The game encourages an air of suspicion between the players, offering several tips on how to make Paranoia as paranoid an experience as possible. If the lasers come out before the players are out of the briefing room, the game is on the right track.

Cover of XP edition
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Cover of XP edition

Since every character comes in a six-pack of clones, death is less of an issue than in most RPGs, allowing Troubleshooters to be routinely killed (either deliberately or accidentally); instead of leaving the game, the player simply portrays the next member of the clone family, who is assigned to continue the mission. This easy spending of lives tends to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and frequent horrible and humorous demise. The term 'six-pack' is intentional, and is allegedly part of game design, where each player is given a six-pack of beer to represent his remaining clones.

Intended as a spoof on other RPGs, the Paranoia rulebook is unique in a number of ways. For example, in earlier versions of Paranoia, the entire chapter on rules is labeled 'optional', and player knowledge of the rules is treasonous (treason, of course, being punishable by summary execution). Most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that scoffs at how screwed the players are and frequently takes potshots at other notable RPGs. It also had outrageous mechanics--such as the 'Falling From Great Heights' table, which would start with a five-foot fall and end in a category labeled 'Orbital' (which has actually been used in official supplements).

The Mutant Experience
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The Mutant Experience

Equipment includes futuristic weapons such as tangler guns and plasma rifles, but also Heisenberg uncertainty projectors, personal force shields working on a fusion reactor kept stable by a hand crank, robots with obnoxious personalities, and small boxes with a load of different buttons, dials and LEDs (the manual for which is not available at your security clearance).

Mutations include abilities such as invisibility or pyrokinesis, ranging to more exotic ones such as a constantly runny nose or machine empathy (the latter being the only mutation which, upon discovery, will always result in termination). It is rumored that mutations are the result of cloning humans into six-packs. Spreading or creating rumors, though, is considered treason, and the penalty for treason has already been mentioned.

Security Clearances

The security clearance system in Alpha Complex is based on colors of the visible spectrum, plus an extra two beyond it. Every citizen starts off with Security Clearance INFRARED (or black). A lucky and trusted few rise to the lofty heights of ULTRAVIOLET (or white) Clearance.

Almost everything in Alpha Complex carries a security clearance - for example, corridors are colour-coded. Most information is never "available at your clearance". Food and equipment are also restricted (for example, TacNukes are only available to Ultraviolets, as are Salt and Vinegar algae chips). Failure to comply with security clearances is treason.

INFRARED: Most (80%) of the population is Infrared. Every player starts off at this level, though they will happily forget it. Infrareds are permanently in a drugged-up stupor. They never receive real food - instead they are fed FunFoods made from processed algae. These foods come in a variety of unappetizing textures, and all taste pretty much awful. All other citizens hold Infrareds in complete contempt (Infrareds, for the most part, are too zonked out on mandatory happiness medication to care).

RED: Not much higher than INFRAREDs, except they aren't drugged up and occasionally get real food. They are awarded a real apple with their promotion (usually after turning in a traitor companion), though this is mostly an incentive to strive further (and die a lot). Troubleshooters start at Red clearance. Reds sometimes get to drink BouncyBubbleBeverage, and can also eat Soylent Red and REDiMeals.

ORANGE: Oranges are still at a relatively low level, but "can coerce the occasional Infrared". They are the lowest clearance that get any free time. Fed ORANGEyouGladMeals, Soylent Orange, and unlimited BouncyBubbleBeverage.

YELLOW: Yellows are fed FunFoods, Soylent Yellow, and MelloYELLOWMeals. At this clearance citizens get their own room, which is under constant surveillance. Yellows can travel by Transtube and Autocar Hack. They are also allowed their own schedule and have some authority. Most Yellows obtain staff through threats.

GREEN: Greens are fed real food (along with GREENGood and various Soylents). They are the lowest level which have any decent status (lower citizens engage in "spontaneous bootlicking" - that is, "not at laser point"). Greens can hand out fines and demote Red citizens. NOTE: There is an unofficial class barrier between Yellow and Green. Infrared through Yellow are more or less the 'lower class'. Green clearence is when a citizen can start getting respect, even when not currently aiming a large weapon.

BLUE: Blues are always fed real food. They are also allowed to have a private suite, autocar and full staff. Citizens at this level get a quality of life rarely seen by Infrareds. Blues can demote anyone lower than them and their underlings must grovel. They also have compulsory life-saving and a real private life.

INDIGO: Indigos are fed gourmet food, and have a "lovely big corridor". Their autocars now come with a Chauffeur. They can promote and demote most citizens (not that they often see them). Indigos can always skip queues and secure tables. They even have Vidshows about them. Indigos are sometimes allowed to research into Old Reckoning.

VIOLET: Violets have their own Subsector of Alpha Complex, and have a full motorcade, complete with escort, at their disposal. Violets can promote and demote almost everyone, and can also order executions and clone template erasures. Perks (as in Service Pack One) include: "You see this sector? It's yours. You don't go to managers, they come to you. You can freely say almost anything short of outright Commie propaganda. 'Internal Security? Oh, you mean my staff police.'"

ULTRAVIOLET: If there is anything they cannot have, it not only doesn't exist, it probably can't. The illustrious High Programmers are at this level.

Secret Societies

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: This section contains information intended only for gamemasters.

Secret Societies tend to be based on sketchy and spurious knowledge of pre-apocalyptic matters. In previous editions they included societies such as the Seal Club (that worships animals but is unsure what an animal actually looks like), the Knights of the Circular Object, the Trekkies and the First Church of Christ Computer Programmer. And of course, Communists, who tend to speak in Slavic accents, wear furry hats, and eat borscht. This being Paranoia, a lot of secret societies have spies or double agents in each other's organization.

Of special notice is the secret society known as the Wobblies. The Computer was worried about this society, and sent a pack of troubleshooters to investigate. Since the society didn't actually exist, the Troubleshooters found nothing to report, and were terminated for laziness and insubordination. After a couple of Troubleshooter groups were thus disposed of, a newly sent group got smart and founded the society themselves in order to have something to report on. Since then, a number of other secret societies have sent spies to join the Wobblies, and the end result is a group that consists entirely of spies for other groups.

Paranoia XP (and The Traitors Manual) book include the following societies:

Publications

Four editions of Paranoia exist:

Related publications

Novelisations

Paranoia-related software

Originally being a "pen-and-paper" game, Paranoia has since evolved into a game played over the internet. A program specifically created for playing Paranoia in such a way, "JParanoia", has been released and can be downloaded from [Paranoia Live].

Paranoia was also made into a video game called The Paranoia Complex released in 1989 by Magic Bytes. It was available for Amiga, Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64.

Finally, a Paranoia-themed piece of "choose-your-own-adventure" hyperfiction was published in issue #77 of SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer magazine in the late '80s. Since then, various unauthorised automated versions of the story (a Troubleshooter's assignment to undermine the subversive activity known as Christmas) have been circulating through mainframes and PCs, with machine-independent ports to C, Python and Inform as well as to AGT and for Applix, CP/M and the Cybiko.

External links

 

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