Starting out with Paranoia

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 02:44 AM

Okay, so I have heard quite a lot about this game and am interested in getting it. So my questions are:

What book/s do I need to get?

How much information do I pass on to the players?

As well as some general tips on running it and getting started. One of my players, who has left my SW campaign, is interested in this as from what I have decsribed it is right up his alley.

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 03:01 AM

That information is above your clearance, citizen.

In all honesty, just whatever single rulebook you can get is all you need. I'd avoid the XP version. The old stuff, while the Cold War was going on, is golden.

Basically, if you've got a favorite system, you can just run a Paranoia-style adventure in that system. All the players need to know is: They live in a big underground postmodern complex. The Computer is your friend. The Computer takes care of everything for the citizens. There is a rainbow-color based hierarchy of clearances, with Infrared (black) at the lowest level and Ultraviolet (white) at the top. The PCs are Troubleshooters. They find trouble and shoot it. Trouble is typically traitorous activity, such as belonging to a Secret Society, having a mutant power, or not being happy. Each PC has six clones--The Computer is so generous! Names are typically a given name, their one letter clearance code (none for Infrared, then ROYGBIVU), the three-letter code of their home sector, and then the clone number, like Grumpy-O-MAN-3.

Now please report for termination. Have a nice daycycle.

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 03:04 AM

The XP one is the one which is more readily available, to be honest.

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 03:16 AM

Here's a copy of the one I used.

Also, the Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues is classic, classic Paranoia.

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 03:25 AM

Looks good, but can you handle the rest of my questions? What to tell the players and how different running it is, as I understand everyone is playing against each other.

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 03:28 AM

Given that everyone starts out both with a mutant power and a secret society, and that being caught with one is treason, and killing traitors makes The Computer like you and promote you, the players will catch on soon enough. Within a few clones, I assure you.

Don't forget to check your Kafka and Orwell. Get the feel down, and everyone will fall in line quickly.

If anything is going to be a stumbling block, it's going to be sure that the players understand that they won't be winning, and that's okay. Keep it lighthearted.

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 03:31 AM

And from what I have read, it's more of a oneshot than a serious campaign.

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 03:34 AM

It can work both ways. The first few games, one-shot. But then you'll find someone surviving an adventure or two. Then everyone gets a bit more paranoid and bureaucratic. Suddenly, you've got a campaign on your hands. One that still ultimately ends in messy, hilarious death, but one just the same.

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 03:37 AM

Thanks.

And keeping the rules from the players?

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 03:57 AM

Once you have the books, there's a (short) player's section that gives the rules you need.

What your players aren't supposed to know is

Spoiler:

Here are a couple characters that I and my friends had over the years:

Walt-R-PPK: A fat R&D nerd with a nasally voice who successfully completed all 4,729 cycles of Extreme Vocabulary Processing. Proud inventor of the Reusable Grenade! Simply pull the pin from the grenade, throw the grenade and have it explode, retrieve the grenade with the Kwik-E-Last cord, and stick the pin back in the grenade for next time! Big lover of Infrared Happy Sauce and explosives, he became a troubleshooter when he deduced that the disgusting slop he was being served was a Commie attempt to make him unhappy, so he blew up the kitchen personnel.

They-R-ERE: A surly cook from Procurement, Logistics, and Commissary (official title: Culinary Engineer), he always proudly wore his standard-issue hazmat suit, gas mask, and set of ginsu knives. He spoke with a hard-to-place accent ("Not Commie! Is not Commie!"). He valiantly protected the Alpha Complex stores of Improved Extra-Yummy Infrared Happy Sauce during a firestorm in a nearby kitchen in SUX sector. He then "make special dish, over-easy!" for the denizens responsible for the attack (in Cafeteria 2BU). When all those Commie traitors refused to be happy, The Computer had the cafeteria cleansed.

Hope this helps!

Katana_Geldar · 9th July 2010, 04:07 AM

Somehow, I think they'll like it. I kinda wish I could play, but as I'll be the GM I kinda can't, I guess.

Piratecat · 9th July 2010, 04:18 AM

My favorite game!

I have a ton of good Paranoia resources for you; I'll link them later when I'm not using my phone.

InVinoVeritas · 9th July 2010, 04:22 AM

Also, feel free to change up the basic premise. I can't speak to XP, but the Second Edition was still very much Cold-War America in feel: the greatest traitors were the Commies, secret societies included groups like Death Leopard and the First Church of Christ, Computer Programmer. In a more recent version of the game, for example, I had the Ultraviolets declare that the name of their color is White, and so all their names went from George-U-BSH to George-W-BSH, Barack-W-OBM, etc. Lots more information was available on the WWW, short for (Censored) White (Censored). You might find that a change here or there could skewer a local political problem cleanly.

ced1106 · 9th July 2010, 04:32 AM

The Paranoia rulebooks do an *excellent* job setting the stage of the game. If you haven't read the GM advice, it's one of the best roleplaying advice I've read.

Tips:

* Tell your players that you're going to run Paranoia. Ask *them* to tell the others what the game is about. They'll probably tell the other players what dire horrors await them. Use them, since they'll be even more dire than what you originally planned.

* Don't hesitate to ad-lib a scene or use a player not in the scene to play an overpowered NPC. The player will relish the opportunity to be drunk with power, yet he won't imbalance the game because the NPC will walk off the scene when you're done with it.

* Get some bric-a-brac from around the house and stick it in a large manila envelope marked "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL RESEARCH MATERIALS". At the research debriefing, hand out the envelope to one of the players. If and usually when they open it, begin the debriefing by saying, "Please do not open the sealed envelope until given permission to do so. Opening the envelope without permission is treason."

* Come up with your own shticks and running jokes. Besides the envelope, I'd add a scene where a cloud of poisonous gas was slowly pumped into the Troubleshooter's room "to encourage them to attend the debriefing", an innocent-computer terminal with an on/off switch in a suspiciously recessed hole, and the climactic ending where *every* adventure I ran ended at the same time, melting down Alpha Complex in an apocalyptic mess.

Crothian · 9th July 2010, 04:59 AM

Paranoia XP is a good book with easy to understand rules and fun to read. Give the players the basics of what a utopia Alpha Complex is and how good and trustworthy friends computer is. Explain the security clearence colors, that mutants are traitors that should be shot on sight, and that anyone in a secret society is a traitor and also should be killed. Then give them each a character that is part of a secret society and a mutant.