Paranoia?
MagicPrime
FiresideWizardRegistered User regular
FiresideWizardRegistered User regular
My friend called me and said we are going to try playing a new game this weekend. It is apparently about mid-generation game (first edition published in 1984) with a new edition having come out in 2004.
It's name is Paranoia, and apparently from what I've read (aka Wikipedia) it looks to be a fun game that has a lot to do with screwing over the other players.
Has anyone here played this game? And if so what are you opinions of it?
Also, to anyone who has played - any tips for the first game?
Snip'd from Back of Book:
"The computer is your friend!
Paranoia is an award-winning role-playing game set in a darkly humorous future ruled by a well-meaning but deranged cocmputer.
The Computer is happy. The Computer is crazy.
The Computer will help you become happy. This will drive you crazy.
Being a citizen of Alpha Complex is fun. The Computer says so, and The Computer is your friend.
Many traitors threaten Alpha Complex.
Many happy citizens live in Alpha Complex. Most happy citizens are crazy.
Whis is more dangerous--traitors or happy citizens?
Rooting out traitors will make you happy. The Computer tells you so.
If you are not happy, The Computer will use you as reactor shielding.
Being a Troubleshooter is fun. The Computer tells you so.
Do you DOUBT The Computer, citizen?
Troubleshooters get shot at, stabbed, mangled, incinerated, poisoned, stapled, blown to bits and accidentally executed.
This is so much fun many Troubleshooters go crazy.
You work with many Troubleshooters. They all carry lasers.
Aren't you glad you have a laser too? Won't this be fun?
Stay alert! Trust no one!
Keep your laser handy!"
It's name is Paranoia, and apparently from what I've read (aka Wikipedia) it looks to be a fun game that has a lot to do with screwing over the other players.
Has anyone here played this game? And if so what are you opinions of it?
Also, to anyone who has played - any tips for the first game?
Snip'd from Back of Book:
"The computer is your friend!
Paranoia is an award-winning role-playing game set in a darkly humorous future ruled by a well-meaning but deranged cocmputer.
The Computer is happy. The Computer is crazy.
The Computer will help you become happy. This will drive you crazy.
Being a citizen of Alpha Complex is fun. The Computer says so, and The Computer is your friend.
Many traitors threaten Alpha Complex.
Many happy citizens live in Alpha Complex. Most happy citizens are crazy.
Whis is more dangerous--traitors or happy citizens?
Rooting out traitors will make you happy. The Computer tells you so.
If you are not happy, The Computer will use you as reactor shielding.
Being a Troubleshooter is fun. The Computer tells you so.
Do you DOUBT The Computer, citizen?
Troubleshooters get shot at, stabbed, mangled, incinerated, poisoned, stapled, blown to bits and accidentally executed.
This is so much fun many Troubleshooters go crazy.
You work with many Troubleshooters. They all carry lasers.
Aren't you glad you have a laser too? Won't this be fun?
Stay alert! Trust no one!
Keep your laser handy!"
BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
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Screwing over the other players is a very integral part of the game. :winky:
Have you played it?
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR THIS INFORMATION, CITIZEN
During my time I kept trying to shoot people in the back with a raygun but I kept managing to pass it off as really poor luck
Eventually I think I ended up face down in a pool of Coldfun because I tried to stick my finger into a broken vending machine and got electroctuted. I forget what events lead up to me choosing to do that, but I remember enjoying them!
Edit: Here you go!
[IC]
[OOC]
pity the game died out
Who did I murder with napalm and a robot suit?? I can't remember...
So what about these playstyles? Zap? Classic? Straight? What exactly do they mean anyway?
Straight is actually playing it like a serious RPG, and the comedy quickly becomes Orwellian horror
Classic is a mixture of the two
EDIT: Arcanis. I should've known all along, you Commie.
In classic, he'd probably wait until there was some sort of logical evidence against him. Or at least go through the effort of making it up.
He was a mutant
And he was a traitor questioning the judgment of Friend Computer (praise him)
He was too dangerous to let live.
edit...damn beat to the punch.
YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR THIS INFORMATION, CITIZEN.
They were all mutant commie traitors and also trying to get into Blue security clearance doors
Meh.
FRIENDLY DEATHBOTS ARE NOW BEING DEPLOYED TO YOUR POSITION TO EDUCATE YOU AS REGARDS TO YOUR CLEARANCE
ANSWER ME
IT IS RUDE TO NOT RESPOND
I AM NOW FORCED TO DISPENSE FURTHER MEASURES OF HARMONY GAS
*ears perk up*
Ooh, something I can help with.
The three different styles weren't really codified until Paranoia XP came out, but they were always sorta around. The first two are kinda hard to describe.
The most cartoonish, and the one people ususally start at is referred to as Zap. You know all those stories of Paranoia games where it almost seems like a Three Stooges episode, with random firefights, and people not getting out of the briefing room without going through a six-pack? (I've had this happen many times.) That's Zap. To sorta quote the book, "Players are often forced in other role-playing games to heroically work together as a team. When they hit Paranoia for the first time, a liberating adrenaline rush of pure anarchy gives them twitchy laser fingers."
Classic's more stable than Zap. It's still definitely a comedic, slapstick style, but you could probably get through a mission in a six-pack. Classically, it's what people think of most of the missions that have come out in the past. You know, the ones that weren't Code 7. Weird and funny stuff happens, but not absurdly.
Straight's probably my favorite, since it can get dark. Doesn't mean it isn't funny (it still can be), it's just a different beast. To quotith doth book, it's a darkly satiric style that emphasizing tension, mutual suspicion, spying and subterfuge, and careful collection of evidence. Alpha Complex is a oppressive totalitarian bureaucracy that works scarily well, using its own insane but comprehensible logic. The All-Powerful Computer, though willing to listen to reason, is usually four steps ahead of the players. Troubleshooters aren't automatically rivals from the first minute, but they can build up personal enmities and evidence dossiers.
Player death happens, but it's usually more rare, and actually makes sense. Instead of summary execution all the time, fines and rehabilitation are more the order of the day. This is the style where it's actually plausible to run a campaign, players get a bit more connected to their characters, and you can scare the shit out of them.
Grab some Kafka, 1984, Brazil, Soylent Green, and Catch-22, and blend.
There's a book out, WMD, which is filled with Straight missions. One of them, "Hunger", is probably my favorite "mission" (I say "mission" since it's really more of a campaign framework..) ever written, since it's all about "yes." What if players actually taste success, due to a lie? And what's the cost of their success? It just snowballs so beautifully...
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
nah I'll let someone else do it
There's actually alot of funny stuff if you look at the R&D weapons...
Tactical nuclear firearms that have a maximum range that is WELL inside the area of effect of the weapon = classic.
I'd love to get a chance to play it, but I lack, if such is necessary, any of the reference material required.
It makes me cry that I never got to play some of the really fun games.
I hear the rules really don't matter, especially if you're just a player.
DOUBLY so if you're a player. (Most of the system stuff's in the GM section.) If you're a player, the Little Red Book's all you need. You can get a PDF version here for $6. A print version's not that much more. There's also a "full-sized preview" on the DTRPG page of the Little Red Book, which is the first six or so pages, and will probably mostly bring you up to speed on some of the general ideas.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
This is correct, fellow Citizen! Any knowledge of rules by Infrared person who have not played Paranoia is Treason, punishable by death!
Perhaps some of my fellow Red-Clearance Citizens would like to perform some Troubleshooting with me? Why, we can do it using our PDCs! Of course we will need an Ultraviolet-Clearance Citizen to facilitate our Troubleshooting!
It will be Fun! Fun is Mandatory!
Tisk tisk, Edcrab! You're such a bad traitor, impersonating The Computer and obviously being a commie! I hope your next clone has much less treason in his brain!
*Shoots Edcrab.*