Neo
Explorer
Mongoose Next License! Paranoia (not D20)
Announcement from Mongoose below
*****
PARANOIA XP ANNOUNCED
Cult Roleplaying Game to Be Revitalized for the Digital Millennium
The Computer says that failure to feature this announcement prominently is
treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution. Thank you for your
cooperation.
Mongoose Publishing of Swindon, Wilts., UK (www.mongoosepublishing.com)
announced today agreement with the creators of the fondly remembered
tabletop roleplaying game Paranoia, to develop and publish a new edition of
the game, Paranoia XP. The new version will be written and produced by
legendary game designers Allen Varney and Aaron Allston, with participation
by Paranoia's original co-designer Greg Costikyan.
The developers will conduct their discussions about the game on a blog
hosted at www.costik.com/paranoia, and those interested in the game are
invited to comment and participate in the process.
Paranoia, originally published in 1984, has sold more than 200,000 copies
worldwide, and retains a fanatical following despite having been out of
print for almost a decade. Designed by Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric
Goldberg, it and its supplementary products have garnered numerous industry
awards, including several Origins Awards and the Gamer's Choice Award. It is
known not only for its hilarious, dark vision of a future world controlled
by an insane Computer, but also for its ability to attract world-renowned
authors to contribute to its supplements and ancillary material--people such
as multiple World Fantasy Award-winning author John M. Ford; Warren Spector,
whom PC Gamer magazine names as one of the top 20 creators in digital
gaming, and Ken Rolston, co-creator of the best-selling PC game Morrowind.
Paranoia debuted at a time when the Soviet Union was shooting down jet
liners and invading Afghanistan, and when many workers feared they would
lose their jobs as a result of the spread of desktop computers. With its
vision of an Orwellian world, a totalitarian society controlled by an insane
Computer that demands instant obedience at laser-point, it struck a
worldwide nerve. According to Costikyan, that vision is relevant now more
than ever. "Paranoia XP is not an attempt to bring back an old RPG for the
nostalgic. Its basic themes -- totalitarianism, fear of technology,
mistrust, and loathing--are, if anything, more relevant than they were in
1984. Spammers. Identify thieves. Blackhat hackers. The RIAA. Weapons of
mass destruction. Totally dysfunctional government. Just as it did lo these
many years ago, so shall the new Paranoia encapsulate and make funny the
terrors we live with every day... or remind us to be afraid of things that
we currently think are merely funny."
Alex Fennell, Mongoose's director, set down his Red Bull and Coke long
enough to say, "We're bloody delighted to be publishing Paranoia XP. Yanks
don't come any funnier than these blokes."
Allen Varney, who contributed to many early Paranoia supplements, looks
forward to revisiting the game's futuristic underground city, Alpha Complex.
"For years society has been inventing new material for Paranoia. I'll have a
great time transcribing it. I hope players will like our newly redecorated
setting, and I'll do my best to make them feel at home. Alpha Complex is not
a place but a state of mind. Oh, and ginger ale for me, please."
Eric Goldberg who since 1984 has become one of the most respected figures in
the online and mobile gaming industries, said, "For those who know the game,
Paranoia has settled into the deep hindbrain. Catch phrases like 'The
Computer is Your Friend,' 'Commies are Everywhere,' and 'Happiness is
Mandatory' come to mind at the most socially awkward moments. Back in the
80s, a concern with the social implications of technology was the purview of
a geeky few; today, it's of fundamental importance to everyone. Games, too,
are now a huge part of the vernacular. I believe Paranoia XP will be of
considerable interest not merely to the audience of tabletop roleplaying
gamers but also to anyone interested in and concerned with the
social-technological issues of today-the attempt to control IP, to police
the Internet, to suppress dissent. We're living Paranoia. By the way--what a
bunch of wimps. I'll have the pale ale."
The text-based online game rights to Paranoia have separately been licensed
to Skotos (www.skotos.com). Reports that Paranoia XP will also be published
in several other languages, and that film, computer, and console versions
are may be forthcoming are rumors. Rumors are treason. Treason is punishable
by summary execution. Have a nice day!
Mongoose Publishing is one of the leaders in the RPG market, producing games
such as Babylon 5, Conan, and Judge Dredd for roleplayers all over the
world. Its publications are available in all good hobby and book stores.
Greg Costikyan (www.costik.com) and Eric Goldberg have collaborated on
various games since they first met at Simulations Publications, Inc. in the
1970s, including on the first online game to attract more than a million
players.
Greg has designed more than 30 commercially published board, roleplaying,
computer, online, and mobile game, has won numerous industry awards, and has
been inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame for a lifetime of
accomplishment in the field. He writes about games, game design, and game
industry business issues for publications including the New York Times, Wall
Street Journal Interactive, Salon, Game Developer magazine, and his blog
(www.costik.com/weblog), which is one of the most widely-read blogs dealing
with games. He is also the author of four science fiction novels.
Allen Varney (www.allenvarney.com) has published three boardgames, over two
dozen roleplaying supplements (including several for Paranoia), seven books,
and 250+ articles, stories, and reviews, including regular columns in four
national gaming magazines. Varney recently designed and ran the UT Executive
Challenge, a three-day business ethics simulation for 100 second-year MBA
students at the University of Texas McCombs Business School. He is now
developing a Web-based "business simulator" with the e-learning company
Enspire Learning (enspire.com).
Aaron Allston (www.aaronallston.com) is the author of a dozen science
fiction and fantasy novels and the award-winning designer of more than forty
tabletop role-playing games and game supplements. He has recently written a
script for a feature-length horror movie intended to carry his trademark
humor into the realm of ultra-low-budget filmmaking.
For more information, contact
Greg Costikyan
+1 646 489 8609
===========================
MONGOOSE GETS PARANOID
New PARANOIA XP edition and support line debut in August 2004
The Computer: Greetings, citizen! How may I help you?
Player: I hear Mongoose Publishing is releasing a new edition of the
Paranoia roleplaying game this August. What can you tell me about it?
The Computer: State your reason for requesting this information.
Player: Uh... I guess I was wondering whether to buy it.
The Computer: Excellent, citizen! You wish to legitimately purchase this
product, rather than steal The Computer's valuable intellectual property
like a traitorous data pirate. This demonstrates your loyalty to the ideals
of Alpha Complex.
Brought to you by The Computer's brilliant researchers in the R&D service
firms of MNG Sector, PARANOIA XP is the entirely updated and perfected
version of the darkly humorous RPG originally published by West End Games.
The new edition's writers include PARANOIA co-creator Greg Costikyan,
longtime paranoiac Allen Varney, and Famous Game Designer Aaron Allston.
There are also devious and subtle new contributions from the original
PARANOIA line editor, Ken Rolston.
Player: Is PARANOIA XP still about living in an underground city of the
future ruled by an insane Computer?
The Computer: The Computer is not "insane." Traitors lurk everywhere. In the
old days, The Computer's loyal Troubleshooters only worried about Commie
subversion, secret society sabotage, unregistered mutants, robot liberators,
feuding High Programmers, tainted drugs, exploding food vats, nuclear hand
grenades, and the occasional giant atomic cockroach. How naive!
Now your clone family faces not only these persistent threats, but a new
host of looming dangers such as viral licenses, closed-source genetic
retooling, identity rentals, subconscious post-hypnotic brain-spam,
Infrared-market WMD auction sites, and filesharing.
Player: Filesharing?
The Computer: Filesharing is Communism! Fortunately, The Computer's loyal
Central Processing service firms have devised many innovative digital-rights
management methods to shield you from temptation. The most promising methods
manage your actual physical digits. Would you care to get your fingerprints
remapped?
Player: Uh... maybe later. Is this new PARANOIA XP anything like the game's
earlier editions?
The Computer: PARANOIA XP combines the scary-funny, sardonic tone of
PARANOIA's first edition (1984) with the fast-playing, rules-light approach
of the second edition (1987).
Player: Are you using the d20 rules system?
The Computer: No. PARANOIA is fun. D20 games are not fun. The Computer says
so.
PARANOIA's second edition rules were, of course, perfect. The new PARANOIA
XP expunges certain imperfections introduced by subversive elements, and
will be even more perfect.
Remember, citizen, PARANOIA is a game of satire, not parody. It is not --
attend to this -- NOT "wacky." Expect NO awful misfiring "wacky" parodies of
Westerns, cyberpunk, Arthurian myth, post-holocaust Australia, or angsty
goth-punk blather.
Player: "Orcbusters" was a parody of fantasy games, wasn't it?
The Computer: "Orcbusters" obtained prior Internal Security approval using
Special Registered Parody Dispensation Form KR1986-12/j. All unregistered
parodies are treason.
Instead, the new PARANOIA XP support line recalls the illustrious releases
of 1984-88, such as Acute Paranoia, Send in the Clones, Alpha Complexities,
and the award-winning Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues. Mongoose will
reissue updated versions of much of this excellent material soon after
PARANOIA XP debuts.
Player: Does the new edition use material from the "Fifth Edition"?
The Computer: There is no Fifth Edition.
Player: Huh? Come on, I've seen it myself!
The Computer: You are mistaken, citizen. No Fifth Edition was published by
West End Games in 1995, nor did West End show pages from a projected "Long
Lost Third Edition" at GenCon in 1997. Note that there also has never been a
Crash Course Manual, nor any "Secret Society Wars," "MegaWhoops," or "Reboot
Camp" adventures.
These products never existed. They are now un-products.
Are you absolutely clear on this, citizen? Do you still doubt The Computer?
Perhaps you need to visit the Bright Vision Re-Education Center.
Player: Uh, no! I trust The Computer. The Computer is my friend! But Friend
Computer -- against all the dangers you so brilliantly enumerated, how can I
possibly survive?
The Computer: I'm sorry, that information is not available at your security
clearance.
PARANOIA XP. AUGUST 2004. MONGOOSE PUBLISHING. BUY PARANOIA. IT WILL BE FUN. FUN IS MANDATORY.
PARANOIA is a trademark jointly held by Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan and
used under exclusive license by Mongoose Publishing. Copyright (c) 2004 Eric
Goldberg and Greg Costikyan. All rights reserved.
Matthew Sprange
Mongoose Publishing
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com
Announcement from Mongoose below
*****
PARANOIA XP ANNOUNCED
Cult Roleplaying Game to Be Revitalized for the Digital Millennium
The Computer says that failure to feature this announcement prominently is
treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution. Thank you for your
cooperation.
Mongoose Publishing of Swindon, Wilts., UK (www.mongoosepublishing.com)
announced today agreement with the creators of the fondly remembered
tabletop roleplaying game Paranoia, to develop and publish a new edition of
the game, Paranoia XP. The new version will be written and produced by
legendary game designers Allen Varney and Aaron Allston, with participation
by Paranoia's original co-designer Greg Costikyan.
The developers will conduct their discussions about the game on a blog
hosted at www.costik.com/paranoia, and those interested in the game are
invited to comment and participate in the process.
Paranoia, originally published in 1984, has sold more than 200,000 copies
worldwide, and retains a fanatical following despite having been out of
print for almost a decade. Designed by Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric
Goldberg, it and its supplementary products have garnered numerous industry
awards, including several Origins Awards and the Gamer's Choice Award. It is
known not only for its hilarious, dark vision of a future world controlled
by an insane Computer, but also for its ability to attract world-renowned
authors to contribute to its supplements and ancillary material--people such
as multiple World Fantasy Award-winning author John M. Ford; Warren Spector,
whom PC Gamer magazine names as one of the top 20 creators in digital
gaming, and Ken Rolston, co-creator of the best-selling PC game Morrowind.
Paranoia debuted at a time when the Soviet Union was shooting down jet
liners and invading Afghanistan, and when many workers feared they would
lose their jobs as a result of the spread of desktop computers. With its
vision of an Orwellian world, a totalitarian society controlled by an insane
Computer that demands instant obedience at laser-point, it struck a
worldwide nerve. According to Costikyan, that vision is relevant now more
than ever. "Paranoia XP is not an attempt to bring back an old RPG for the
nostalgic. Its basic themes -- totalitarianism, fear of technology,
mistrust, and loathing--are, if anything, more relevant than they were in
1984. Spammers. Identify thieves. Blackhat hackers. The RIAA. Weapons of
mass destruction. Totally dysfunctional government. Just as it did lo these
many years ago, so shall the new Paranoia encapsulate and make funny the
terrors we live with every day... or remind us to be afraid of things that
we currently think are merely funny."
Alex Fennell, Mongoose's director, set down his Red Bull and Coke long
enough to say, "We're bloody delighted to be publishing Paranoia XP. Yanks
don't come any funnier than these blokes."
Allen Varney, who contributed to many early Paranoia supplements, looks
forward to revisiting the game's futuristic underground city, Alpha Complex.
"For years society has been inventing new material for Paranoia. I'll have a
great time transcribing it. I hope players will like our newly redecorated
setting, and I'll do my best to make them feel at home. Alpha Complex is not
a place but a state of mind. Oh, and ginger ale for me, please."
Eric Goldberg who since 1984 has become one of the most respected figures in
the online and mobile gaming industries, said, "For those who know the game,
Paranoia has settled into the deep hindbrain. Catch phrases like 'The
Computer is Your Friend,' 'Commies are Everywhere,' and 'Happiness is
Mandatory' come to mind at the most socially awkward moments. Back in the
80s, a concern with the social implications of technology was the purview of
a geeky few; today, it's of fundamental importance to everyone. Games, too,
are now a huge part of the vernacular. I believe Paranoia XP will be of
considerable interest not merely to the audience of tabletop roleplaying
gamers but also to anyone interested in and concerned with the
social-technological issues of today-the attempt to control IP, to police
the Internet, to suppress dissent. We're living Paranoia. By the way--what a
bunch of wimps. I'll have the pale ale."
The text-based online game rights to Paranoia have separately been licensed
to Skotos (www.skotos.com). Reports that Paranoia XP will also be published
in several other languages, and that film, computer, and console versions
are may be forthcoming are rumors. Rumors are treason. Treason is punishable
by summary execution. Have a nice day!
Mongoose Publishing is one of the leaders in the RPG market, producing games
such as Babylon 5, Conan, and Judge Dredd for roleplayers all over the
world. Its publications are available in all good hobby and book stores.
Greg Costikyan (www.costik.com) and Eric Goldberg have collaborated on
various games since they first met at Simulations Publications, Inc. in the
1970s, including on the first online game to attract more than a million
players.
Greg has designed more than 30 commercially published board, roleplaying,
computer, online, and mobile game, has won numerous industry awards, and has
been inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame for a lifetime of
accomplishment in the field. He writes about games, game design, and game
industry business issues for publications including the New York Times, Wall
Street Journal Interactive, Salon, Game Developer magazine, and his blog
(www.costik.com/weblog), which is one of the most widely-read blogs dealing
with games. He is also the author of four science fiction novels.
Allen Varney (www.allenvarney.com) has published three boardgames, over two
dozen roleplaying supplements (including several for Paranoia), seven books,
and 250+ articles, stories, and reviews, including regular columns in four
national gaming magazines. Varney recently designed and ran the UT Executive
Challenge, a three-day business ethics simulation for 100 second-year MBA
students at the University of Texas McCombs Business School. He is now
developing a Web-based "business simulator" with the e-learning company
Enspire Learning (enspire.com).
Aaron Allston (www.aaronallston.com) is the author of a dozen science
fiction and fantasy novels and the award-winning designer of more than forty
tabletop role-playing games and game supplements. He has recently written a
script for a feature-length horror movie intended to carry his trademark
humor into the realm of ultra-low-budget filmmaking.
For more information, contact
Greg Costikyan
+1 646 489 8609
===========================
MONGOOSE GETS PARANOID
New PARANOIA XP edition and support line debut in August 2004
The Computer: Greetings, citizen! How may I help you?
Player: I hear Mongoose Publishing is releasing a new edition of the
Paranoia roleplaying game this August. What can you tell me about it?
The Computer: State your reason for requesting this information.
Player: Uh... I guess I was wondering whether to buy it.
The Computer: Excellent, citizen! You wish to legitimately purchase this
product, rather than steal The Computer's valuable intellectual property
like a traitorous data pirate. This demonstrates your loyalty to the ideals
of Alpha Complex.
Brought to you by The Computer's brilliant researchers in the R&D service
firms of MNG Sector, PARANOIA XP is the entirely updated and perfected
version of the darkly humorous RPG originally published by West End Games.
The new edition's writers include PARANOIA co-creator Greg Costikyan,
longtime paranoiac Allen Varney, and Famous Game Designer Aaron Allston.
There are also devious and subtle new contributions from the original
PARANOIA line editor, Ken Rolston.
Player: Is PARANOIA XP still about living in an underground city of the
future ruled by an insane Computer?
The Computer: The Computer is not "insane." Traitors lurk everywhere. In the
old days, The Computer's loyal Troubleshooters only worried about Commie
subversion, secret society sabotage, unregistered mutants, robot liberators,
feuding High Programmers, tainted drugs, exploding food vats, nuclear hand
grenades, and the occasional giant atomic cockroach. How naive!
Now your clone family faces not only these persistent threats, but a new
host of looming dangers such as viral licenses, closed-source genetic
retooling, identity rentals, subconscious post-hypnotic brain-spam,
Infrared-market WMD auction sites, and filesharing.
Player: Filesharing?
The Computer: Filesharing is Communism! Fortunately, The Computer's loyal
Central Processing service firms have devised many innovative digital-rights
management methods to shield you from temptation. The most promising methods
manage your actual physical digits. Would you care to get your fingerprints
remapped?
Player: Uh... maybe later. Is this new PARANOIA XP anything like the game's
earlier editions?
The Computer: PARANOIA XP combines the scary-funny, sardonic tone of
PARANOIA's first edition (1984) with the fast-playing, rules-light approach
of the second edition (1987).
Player: Are you using the d20 rules system?
The Computer: No. PARANOIA is fun. D20 games are not fun. The Computer says
so.
PARANOIA's second edition rules were, of course, perfect. The new PARANOIA
XP expunges certain imperfections introduced by subversive elements, and
will be even more perfect.
Remember, citizen, PARANOIA is a game of satire, not parody. It is not --
attend to this -- NOT "wacky." Expect NO awful misfiring "wacky" parodies of
Westerns, cyberpunk, Arthurian myth, post-holocaust Australia, or angsty
goth-punk blather.
Player: "Orcbusters" was a parody of fantasy games, wasn't it?
The Computer: "Orcbusters" obtained prior Internal Security approval using
Special Registered Parody Dispensation Form KR1986-12/j. All unregistered
parodies are treason.
Instead, the new PARANOIA XP support line recalls the illustrious releases
of 1984-88, such as Acute Paranoia, Send in the Clones, Alpha Complexities,
and the award-winning Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues. Mongoose will
reissue updated versions of much of this excellent material soon after
PARANOIA XP debuts.
Player: Does the new edition use material from the "Fifth Edition"?
The Computer: There is no Fifth Edition.
Player: Huh? Come on, I've seen it myself!
The Computer: You are mistaken, citizen. No Fifth Edition was published by
West End Games in 1995, nor did West End show pages from a projected "Long
Lost Third Edition" at GenCon in 1997. Note that there also has never been a
Crash Course Manual, nor any "Secret Society Wars," "MegaWhoops," or "Reboot
Camp" adventures.
These products never existed. They are now un-products.
Are you absolutely clear on this, citizen? Do you still doubt The Computer?
Perhaps you need to visit the Bright Vision Re-Education Center.
Player: Uh, no! I trust The Computer. The Computer is my friend! But Friend
Computer -- against all the dangers you so brilliantly enumerated, how can I
possibly survive?
The Computer: I'm sorry, that information is not available at your security
clearance.
PARANOIA XP. AUGUST 2004. MONGOOSE PUBLISHING. BUY PARANOIA. IT WILL BE FUN. FUN IS MANDATORY.
PARANOIA is a trademark jointly held by Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan and
used under exclusive license by Mongoose Publishing. Copyright (c) 2004 Eric
Goldberg and Greg Costikyan. All rights reserved.
Matthew Sprange
Mongoose Publishing
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com
Yay!!! 
