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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 2567743" data-attributes="member: 18549">I always liked to have the players be briefed by a trio of upper-ranked officers.  Two of the officers are normal, boring, bored officers.  One is an eccentric who talks in an overblown Russian accent and has a habit of going off on socialist tirades, stopping himself just before he gets to the really treasonous parts.  During the briefing he adds extra objectives that the other two don't mention.  Neither of the other officers seems to find anything wrong with this.  The player characters have to decide whether they should accuse a higher-ranking citizen of treason without evidence, or go along with what the obviously commie officer orders them to do, knowing that somehow it will turn out to be treason and they'll get blamed.I also, as a matter of course, send a secret society mission to each player that names one other player for assassination and has an objective that cannot be achieved surreptitiously and cannot be completed without major deviation from or ruination of the mission.  If I have more than 5 players, I make sure that two of the players are ordered to kill each other, and then swap their mission orders so that they each get the note that says to kill their own character.  They don't know who got the note intended for themselves, and would have great blackmail material if they can prove that the note was intended for the other guy...who has great blackmail material if he can prove...etc.Ensure that at least one character has a mutant power that has a flashy effect, and one character with Teleportation.Work on your computer voice.  Decide what it will sound like and never deviate from character.  That voice will eventually start to creep your players out, especially because once you've established the voice, you can have a monitor nearby suddenly spring to life just by talking like that.  Which is amazingly effective to do right after a major party schism or fubar has just occurred.Always remember that Paranoia is a game for DMs to relax and get back at their players in the most cruel and petty ways they can dream up.  The game actually works best if you keep this in mind.  Do not provide instructions, provide mandatory goals.  Do not provide help, provide experimental equipment.  Do not provide assistance, provide malfunctioning support bots.  Issue a metric ton of Bouncy Bubble Beverage, and then make sure that the players don't get to leave PLC without it.  If all the clones die in one shot somehow, set it up so the next bunch of clones are issued the same equipment that their clones had...the equipment that is still lost in the field, so they have to recover it in order to have any equipment at all.  Frustrate, blockade, and divert.  And then punish for deviating from the mission.  Eventually the PCs will start to get creative, and then the game really gets good.Also, make sure there is no shortage of incendiary explosive devices.  You wouldn't believe how bad the aim on an average troubleshooter is.</blockquote>

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