Paranoia Secret Societies

[Olibarro]

[Hey cool... it's my stuff.]

Part of what I was looking for with the new Paranoia XP was topical. Part of the original's appeal was its very topical nature, playing off the fads and fears and stereotypes of the day. It was very much a product of the cold war era, and that cold war mentality pervades it.

And so I was a little apprehensive and a little excited by all of Costikyan's talk about revamping Paranoia to make it a modern, topical game once again... losing some of the out of date stuff and incorporating more of our modern information society fears and twitches.

So imagine the utter anti-climacity of it when I got the draft version and found... nothing had changed. Sure, the rules were updated (and improved in my opinion), and everything was greatly expanded, and they specifically laid out the various play styles that had evolved over the decades. But on matters of substance... nothing. Maybe some tweaks (a few new powers and revisions here and there), but essentially exactly the same setting.

So the societies I selected for this article fill exactly that gap. I have a dozen or so really good ones that I've used over the last 15 years, but these I thought were especially topical, and reflected aspects of society that A) mesh well with the Paranoia setting and mentality and B) can always use a good lampooning.

I'm glad to see people have been reading it. Thanks.

[PS--don't get me wrong... I adore Paranoia and always have, and I think XP so far seems to be a good solid remake. I just have a ton of stuff I'd like to see in the new supplements.]

 

[Plane Sailing]

The computer has reassigned this thread to d20 system and OGL games

The computer is your friend

Dissent is treasonous

Have a nice day.

 

[fanboy2000]

The computer has reassigned this thread to d20 system and OGL games

Oh what a treasonous irony given that Paranoia is neither d20 or OGL!

The computer is your friend

The computer is my friend.

Dissent is treasonous

Dissent is treasonous

Have a nice day.

Fun is mandatory.

Edit: It seems the computer has overwritten Plane Sailing and put Paranoia XP in it's original board. (Actually Plane Sailing put it back himself, talking in Paranoia speak can be a bit confusing at times. )

 

[Olibarro]

Oh what a treasonous irony given that Paranoia is neither d20 or OGL!

Huh. How about that.

I only have a draft copy of XP, so when he said it, I checked Mongoose's site and saw the WotC/d20 disclaimer stuff all over the XP page and figured something must have changed.

Veddy interesting...

 

[wandmlaw]

But these I thought were especially topical, and reflected aspects of society that A) mesh well with the Paranoia setting and mentality and B) can always use a good lampooning.

I always thought this was the cool part of secret societies- its funnier because its topical. For the most part, players are playing over the top characters in many respects. What better way to add a nuance than to have a topical, modern, satirical secret society?

 

[Fieari]

I'm one of the playtesters for XP, and we did have extensive talks about the Secret Societies, and about new ones. It was basically decided that the Societies listed covered the niches that were needed. Just about any screwball extreme stereotype more or less fit under one of the existing societies, making the need for new ones... unnessesary. This is also why the supplement will be including fractious societies, not NEW ones.

The only real society, to my memory, added that wasn't in 2nd edition, was "Spy for another Alpha Complex" from 1st edition. I argued vehimently to have that one put back in, since I use it frequently to great effect.

You might want to read at least bits of "The Toothpaste Disaster", which was a wiki-game run during development in order to obtain some new source material and so that the authors could find a talent base to write additional material. Specifically, the section on Secret Societies Involved in the Toothpaste Disaster. Please note that BOTH of the above links are cleared for ULTRAVIOLET CITIZENS ONLY, which means that if you play paranoia as a player, ever, you should not read it. Only traitors read stuff above your clearance. It's for your own protection, you see. This higher clearance stuff could BLOW YOUR MIND if not prepared for it, and so you should not read it. DON'T. NO! BAD PLAYER! STOP RIGHT NOW! REPORT FOR BRAINSCRUBBING IMMEDIATLY!

 

[wandmlaw]

I don't understand why new ss are deemed unnecessary. Is the purpose of the ss to "fill a niche" or to add flavor to characters? I understand that at some point there are so many ss that it gets out of hand, but does that mean we take the original from so many years ago and don't replace some of them, or even update them?

Ultimately, however, it's the author's decision and that's why we homebrew games, right?

 

[Fieari]

We need a certain number of antithetical societies to promote inter party conflict:

Anti-Mutants <-> Psion
Pro-Tech/Corpore Metal <-> Frankenstien Destroyers

We need the black market: Free Enterprise

We obviously need the Communists: Communists

We need to reflect certain aspects of society--

Enviornmentalists: Sierra Club
Drug Culture: Mystics
Religion: FCCCP
Rebellious Youth: Death Leopard

We need at least one destructive, Anti-Computer society: Humanists/PURGE

We need people tampering with the Computer: Computer Phreaks

We need inquisitive people: Romantics

And we need a REAL mystery: Illuminati

If anything, we could have pared down the societies a little, dropping Humanists and Corpore Metal, as they're almost redundant. To be honest... what isn't covered? Varney said to us that it was a testament to how well written the original societies were that there really hasn't been any NEED for changes. Anything more is just going into specific little quirks, which is the purpose for the next suppliment.

With two exceptions. There's the xenophobic "outsider" niche that needs to be filled (Spy for Another Complex) and there's the occassional need to focus on the conflicts between service groups instead of between societies (Spy for a Service Group)... both of which are available in 1st edition and I use.

Trekkies, Earth Mothers... they never really caught on. Fun for a session or two, but they don't have a LASTING place in Alpha Complex, as has been shown through the years. I can't even really think of any other societies that have been used.

And really, the societies have gotten some updates. Phreaks now are involved in the traitorous Filesharing, just as an example.

Here were some of our design goals:

* keeping the gameplay INTACT, while adding improvements
* keeping the gameplay SIMPLE, so that it can actually be played without spending hours and hours of study
* updating the setting to have a whole new relevance to today's age
* keeping respect for older editions, to satisfy the nostalgic base

Would adding new societies improve gameplay? Well, no. We have those bases covered. Would it simplify matters? Quite the contrary. Updating we can do, but how much is really needed? It's not like "Commies" weren't as much of a joke in the 80s as they are now. We have done quite a few things to update the setting to incorporate new fears (identity theft, just as one example)... but the societies didn't need much of a push, because they were already really broad charictures.

If you're looking for more detail and complexity and flavor... why not take a look at the optional Service Firms? Those can provide a LOT of what you're looking for, I think.

 

[Olibarro]

Let me preface this by saying that I think the choices of secret societies have been aces from the beginning. Remember that I'm a fan from first edition, and I think you are right that the existing core set of societies has stood the test of time. I was excited to see a revival of Paranoia, but nervous at all of GC's talk about revamping it for the new millenium. I would have liked to see maybe one or two new societies (just cuz we all like new goodies), but I don't have any serious issue with sticking with the classics.

NOTE: I'm quoting you out of order to make things clearer.

We need a certain number of antithetical societies to promote inter party conflict:

Anti-Mutants <-> Psion
Pro-Tech/Corpore Metal <-> Frankenstien Destroyers

We need the black market: Free Enterprise
We obviously need the Communists: Communists
We need at least one destructive, Anti-Computer society: Humanists/PURGE
We need people tampering with the Computer: Computer Phreaks

Absolutely agreed on all of the above points.

What XP has (just as the original did) is a great solid set of societies that provide a lot of variety, but I think it's a fallacy to try to justify them as the most logical set of choices as if they are predestined.

For example:

We need to reflect certain aspects of society--

Enviornmentalists: Sierra Club
Drug Culture: Mystics
Religion: FCCCP
Rebellious Youth: Death Leopard

We need inquisitive people: Romantics
And we need a REAL mystery: Illuminati

There's nothing wrong with these choices, but there are a lot of other options to "reflect certain aspects of society." What about Feminism or Political Correctness or Goths or X-Files style aliens/conspiracy theory stuff or Big Media? All of these are equally as valid and relevant as Environmentalists and Drug Culture. I mean, if you only had room to pick a few out of this lot, it makes sense to go with the traditional ones, but I think it's wrong to imply that these are the most logical choices to make if you were drawing this up today from scratch without the history of the game guiding you.

Anything more is just going into specific little quirks, which is the purpose for the next suppliment.

With two exceptions. There's the xenophobic "outsider" niche that needs to be filled (Spy for Another Complex) and there's the occassional need to focus on the conflicts between service groups instead of between societies (Spy for a Service Group)... both of which are available in 1st edition and I use.

I strongly agree with these two. I've always thought Spy for Another Complex and Service Group Spy were both awesome if played correctly, and I was disappointed when they were dropped from 2nd edition. But I don't agree that they are the only two exceptions. As I point out above, I think there's a good half dozen major elements of modern culture that have just as much credibility as Sierra Club and Romantics and Mystics but are more than just "tweaking" of existing groups.

Either way, I can't stress enough that while I may sit here and argue esoterica, I really have no problem with the game itself. I'm thrilled that it's out there, and I'm eagerly looking forward to any and all supplemental material.