Starting out with Paranoia

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.

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.

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

Here's a copy of the one I used.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Thanks.

And keeping the rules from the players?

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
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there really isn't anything more they need to know anyway. Just make impossible scenarios. Give them trap-loaded equipment that is useless to the mission. Everything there is to be a problem.
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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!