Mongoose Next License! Paranoia (not D20) (merged)

[Gnimish88]

Now that the initial giddiness has worn off, I do hope that they don't lose too much of the feel of the classic game. I am pleased to note that it looks like they are going to eliminate shut down of the Computer, which I thought changed the game too much. I do wonder how much will change in Gold Complex. Will it still feel the same if they eliminate the fully inclosed nature of Alpha Complex? Some of the best missions are the ones where you go 'Outside'. I think it would be a poorer game if it were to lose the unimaginably vast room full of green shards, or the unending length of the 'Great Blue Highway'.

So many acts of treason to commit and so few clones.

Unlike Piratecat, I think I will dignify a response to one of the naysayers. Anyone can stab someone in the back when they are not looking. It takes true skill to do it while they have both eyes on you...

 

[MerricB]

I fondly remember my first game of Paranoia...

I'd tell you about it, but you don't have the required security clearance.

I'm really looking forward to this game being back - I've a few players that need to be exposed to it!

Cheers!

 

[Fieari]

I'm a current GM of paranoia, the edition of the game I run being above your security clearance (it's not 5 though)

I run my games online, on Sundays at 6pm EST on a chat program designed specifically for paranoia called JParanoia. I'm not sure about advertising policies here on ENWorld, so I won't give a direct, but anyone who wants to give paranoia a shot is welcome to join my game, which always has room for more players (continuing campaigns don't exist with paranoia, every game is a one shot). A quick google search for JParanoia should find the client, as well as a forum and such.

Really. You want to play. The fact that it's not D20 shouldn't bother you because you the player shouldn't be touching the dice anyway. Nor should you know what the rules are either. Basically, you're plopped down into this strange world you know very little about, and told "Learn how to play or die. And then die anyway." which is why you're given 6 clones (6 lives). The learning experience is a lot of fun, really!

Paranoia is less like a roleplaying game and more like a board game... there is a definite winner and loser. The one who died the least wins, you see. This will not be you. But it's fun trying!

Really! You want to play this game! Oh, and as a side note, on February 28th, the creator of Paranoia will be involved in a webchat (via JParanoia) with us players... you may want to check that out as well.

 

[Ghostwind]

Basically, you're plopped down into this strange world you know very little about, and told "Learn how to play or die. And then die anyway." which is why you're given 6 clones (6 lives). The learning experience is a lot of fun, really!

In this regard, it's a lot like Call of Cthulhu. Your character is supposed to die or go insane. It's part of the experience. Hmmm now there's a thought. Combining Paranoia and Cthulhu...

 

[tensen]

It's not d20, I'll buy it, and maybe extra copies for my friends.

Remember: knowing the rules is treason, citizen.

Heck.. I rmemeber playing so many adventures worth of paranoia and I actually can't remember a thing about the game system itself... and that is a good thing.

All I remember is hoping I never actually had to make a die roll for anything. It was fatal enough without making the checks.

 

[D.Shaffer]

In this regard, it's a lot like Call of Cthulhu. Your character is supposed to die or go insane. It's part of the experience. Hmmm now there's a thought. Combining Paranoia and Cthulhu...

It Came from HPL Sector! Or is that one of those treasonous unlicensed parodies we're supposed to be avoiding?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

In this regard, it's a lot like Call of Cthulhu. Your character is supposed to die or go insane. It's part of the experience. Hmmm now there's a thought. Combining Paranoia and Cthulhu...

Try looking for Pyramid issue 28. There was a scenario written by Joshua Marquart entitlrd Call of Computer. (Mind you that was in 1998 or so.)

Or how about HAL Sector:
PC: Friend Computer, why do you call all of us Dave?
Computer: I do not call you all Dave, Dave.
PC: Ummm.
Computer: I can see that you are very upset about this Dave.
PC2: Maybe we should just get our mission briefing, Friend Computer? I personally look forward to serving the Computer in both thought and deed!
Computer: I am sorry Dave, but I can't let you do that...

There has also been a scenario in a really old White Dwarf for a Warhammer 40k/Paranoia crossover, and a Doctor Who crossover as well... well at least the Daleks... sort of...

The Auld Grump, the image of using Cylons from the old Battlestar Galactica as security 'bots has a certain charm as well... wee dooo, wee dooo, wee, dooo... As they trudge slowly along, shooting badly and missing everything that they shoot at... Too bad they are on the Troubleshooter's side...

 

[woodelf]

Ooooh. The day I buy a non-d20 book is drawing near.

You know, ironically, Mongoose was the first person to get me to buy a D20 System book. Sort of. Way back in 2001, they had a bunch of damaged Slayer's Guide to Gnolls. 32pp with almost no crunch, for $3, i just couldn't pass. That's been my model for the ideal gamebook (D20 System or otherwise) ever since: ~90% fluff, but no game fiction. 'Course, that pretty much eliminates most D20 System books. Anyway, i wouldn't have bought it at cover price, but at that cheap... So it might be more accurate to say that Atlas was the first company to get me to "really" buy a D20 System book (Dynasties & Demagogues): full cover price, and in preference to some non-D20 System stuff i also wanted to buy at the time. But that wouldn't be relevant to this thread.

 

[woodelf]

Heck.. I rmemeber playing so many adventures worth of paranoia and I actually can't remember a thing about the game system itself... and that is a good thing.

All I remember is hoping I never actually had to make a die roll for anything. It was fatal enough without making the checks.

Actually, that was our one complaint about the game: even in 1st ed (my favorite), the skills were too stacked against you. I think Paranoia is at its best when it's more like Catch-22 or Brazil. When it is not a comedy of errors, but rather a very dark humor, a satire of the worst elements of reality, rather than a zany parody. 2nd ed and later were much closer to, say, Red Dwarf, and while that has its good points, making you think isn't one of them. I want the kind of dark humor that has you laughing uncomfortably, not just laughing. I hope that's what they mean when they emphasize that it is "satire, not parody". The characters should fail not because their boobs, but because the system is so hopelessly, and absurdly, stacked against them that crack commandos couldn't survive, even if they *did* stick together.

 

[woodelf]

Unlike Piratecat, I think I will dignify a response to one of the naysayers. Anyone can stab someone in the back when they are not looking. It takes true skill to do it while they have both eyes on you...

And without raising suspicion in the remaining party members, or authority figures. Well, at least suspicion of yourself--suspicion of the recently-deceased is a good thing, and suspicion of fellow troubleshooters would fall into the "two birds with one stone" category.