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Paranoia (role-playing game)
Encyclopedia
Paranoia is a dystopia
n science-fiction
tabletop role-playing game
originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan
, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg, and first published in 1984 by West End Games
. Since 2004 the game has been published under licence by Mongoose Publishing
. The game won the Origins Award
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 and was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007.
set in a dystopian future
similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four
, Brave New World
, Logan's Run
and THX 1138
among others; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor
, frequently tongue-in-cheek
rather than dark and heavy.
AI
construct. The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist
, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutant
s, and secret societies
(especially Communists
). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. Player character
s are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles.
The player characters frequently receive missions that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory, or fatal, and side-missions which conflict with any other instructions the players may have received, and are issued equipment that is dangerous, faulty or "experimental" (i.e. almost certainly dangerous and faulty). Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and/or a secret society member, and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Thus, missions often turn into a comedy of errors, as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a "six-pack," which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. The game lacks a conventional health system; most wounds the player characters can suffer are assumed to be fatal. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed, yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family. Additional clones can be purchased if one gains sufficient favour with the Computer.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
which heavily restricts what the players can and cannot legally do; everything from corridors to food and equipment have security restrictions. The lowest rating is Infrared, but the lowest playable security clearance is Red; the game usually begins with the characters having just been promoted to Red grade. Interfering with anything which is above that player's clearance carries significant risk.
The full order of clearances from lowest to highest is Infrared (visually represented by Black), Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and Ultraviolet (visually represented by White). Within the game, Infrared-clearance citizens live dull lives of mindless drudgery and are heavily medicated, while higher clearance characters may be allowed to demote or even summarily execute those of a lower rank and those with Ultraviolet clearance are almost completely unrestricted and have a great deal of access to The Computer; they are the only citizens that may (legally) access and modify the Computer's programming, and thus Ultraviolet citizens are also referred to as "High Programmers". Security clearance is not related to competence or even authority, though there is often a correlation; clearance is instead a measure of The Computer's trust in a citizen.
tend to be based on sketchy and spurious knowledge of historical matters. For example, previous editions included societies such as the Seal Club (that idolizes the Outdoors but is unsure what plants and animals actually look like), the Knights of the Circular Object, the Trekkie
s, and the First Church of Christ Computer Programmer. In keeping with the theme of paranoia, a lot of secret societies have spies or double agents in each other's organizations.
Of special notice is the secret society known as the Wobblies. The game's backstory indicates that the Computer was worried about this society, and sent a pack of Troubleshooters to investigate. Since the society didn't actually exist, the Troubleshooters found nothing to report, and were terminated for laziness and insubordination. After a couple of Troubleshooter groups were thus disposed of, a newly sent group founded the society themselves in order to have something to report on. By the time the game setting takes place, a number of other secret societies have sent spies to join the Wobblies, resulting in a group that consists entirely of spies for other groups. The in-joke for the Commie-hating computer is that this group is loosely modeled on the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW), the original "wobbly" trade union movement that attempted to stand up to the robber barons at the start of the 20th century.
The Paranoia XP book and The Traitors Manual supplement include the following societies. The actual societies which would be encountered in a game, like the mutant powers available to PCs, depends on the playstyle; some societies are more suited for more light-hearted games (Zap-style, or the lighter end of Classic), whereas others represent a more serious threat to Alpha Complex and are therefore more suitable for Straight or the more dark sort of Classic games.
The 1st Edition also included secret societies such as Programs Groups (the personal agents and spies of the High Programmers at the apex of Alpha Complex society) and Spy For Another Alpha Complex.
1st edition (ISBN 978-0-87431-025-2) - written by Greg Costikyan
, Dan Gelber
, and Eric Goldberg
- published in 1984 by West End Games
. In 1985, this edition of Paranoia won the Origins Award
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984. This edition, while encouraging dark humour in-game, took a fairly serious dystopian tone; the supplements and adventures released to accompany it emphasised the lighter side, however, establishing the freewheeling mix of slapstick, intra-team backstabbing and satire that is classically associated with a game of Paranoia.
2nd edition (ISBN 978-0-87431-018-4) - written by Greg Costikyan
, Dan Gelber
, Eric Goldberg
, Ken Rolston
, and Paul Murphy - published in 1987 by West End Games
. This edition can be seen as a response to the natural development of the line towards a rules-light, fast and entertaining play style. Here, the humorous possibilities of life in a paranoid dystopia are emphasised, and the rules are simplified considerably from the first edition.
Dragon
magazine issue #132 gave the initial 2nd edition release a glowing review while discussing some of the perceived shortcomings of the first edition:
The review does offer one common reservation about the game: "It doesn't lend itself easily to long-term campaign play. This game is best treated as a succession of short adventure sessions in which players get to enjoy themselves doing all those despicable things that would spoil a more 'serious’ game.". However the conclusion of the review stated that "As a tongue-in-cheek science-fiction game, this one is hard to beat."
"Fifth Edition" (ISBN 978-0-87431-171-6) - published in 1995 by West End Games
- was in fact the third edition of the game released. (The game skipped two editions as a joke, and possibly also as a reference to the two major revisions to the game released during the lifetime of the Second Edition with the Crash Course Manual and the Paranoia Sourcebook.) It has since been declared an "un-product" (cf. "unperson") by the writers of the current edition, due to its extremely poor commercial and critical reception. Almost none of the original production staff were involved, and the books in this line focused less on the dark humor and oppressive nature of Alpha, and more on cheap pop culture spoofs, such as a Vampire: The Masquerade
parody. As well as the lighter, sillier atmosphere, fans also disliked the lower production values of the new edition, in which most of the internal art consisted of extremely cartoonish and sketchy illustrations as opposed to the more detailed and thematically-appropriate Jim Holloway illustrations of previous editions.
In his introduction to Flashbacks, a compilation of Paranoia adventures from the West End Games era, Allen Varney fully details the management decisions which led, in the eyes of many, to the decline of the Paranoia line, and cites rumours that the line saw a 90% decline in sales before West End Games went into bankruptcy:
began planning a new edition of the game, which would be released as the "Third Edition". Pages from this planned edition were exhibited at Gen Con
in 1997 - this being a mere two years after the release of the Fifth Edition, suggesting that work began on the Third Edition extremely soon after the ill-fated Fifth Edition release. Due to West End Games' financial issues this edition was never completed. In an interview in 1999 Scott Palter of West End expressed hopes that the Third Edition would be published that summer; however, he also disclosed that court proceedings had been begun by the original designers in order to reclaim the rights to the game. The designers would ultimately succeed in purchasing the rights to the game, putting an end to any possibility that the final West End Games edition would be released.
A single adventure has surfaced which contained a brief summary of the third edition rules.
Following the bankruptcy of West End Games, the original designers of Paranoia banded together and purchased the rights to the game from West End in order to regain control of the line. The designers in turn granted a license to Mongoose Publishing
to produce a new version of the game, with the result that Paranoia XP (ISBN 978-1-904854-26-5), written by Allen Varney
, Aaron Allston
, Paul Baldowski, Beth Fischi, Dan Curtis Johnson and Greg Costikyan
, was published in 2004. In 2005, Microsoft
requested that the XP be removed. As such, the name was shortened to just Paranoia. This edition of the game has received a much warmer critical reception, as well as selling well.
This edition also introduced three different styles of play, with some game mechanics differing between the various modes to support the specific tone being sought-after:
Primary designer Allen Varney, in the designer's notes, explained that his aim with the new edition was to return to the game's roots whilst updating both the game system and the satirical setting to take account of twenty years of game design progress. In both the core rulebook and the Flashbacks supplement - a reprint of classic adventures originally published by West End Games - Varney was highly critical of West End Games' handling of the product line in its latter days. In a posting on RPG.net he explained that the point of including the three playstyles in Paranoia XP was to counteract the impression that "Zap"-styled play was the default for Paranoia, an impression which had in part been created by the more cartoonish later supplements in the West End Games line (as well as "Fifth Edition").
In order to distance the new edition from the less commercially and critically successful aspects of the West End Game line, and to discourage new players from wasting time and money on what he considered to be inferior products, Varney additionally used the designer's notes to declare many West End products, including the "Fifth Edition" and everything published for the 2nd Edition after The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure, to be "unproducts" - no longer part of the game's continuity, and not recommended for use with the new edition. An upshot of this is that much of the poorly received metaplot established late in the West End Games line, from the Secret Society Wars to the Reboot and beyond, was disposed of. Varney has explained that this is due mainly to his distaste for the direction the metaplot took the game line in, a distaste he asserts is shared by the game's fan community. He has also stated that he personally has little affection for the "Zap" style, and therefore may have given it short shrift in the main rulebook, although later supplements for Paranoia XP did provide more support for Zap play.
Long-time Paranoia artist Jim Holloway
, called "the master of the fun-filled illustration", drew the cover art and much of the internal art for the game until 1986. His art for the series generally portray comedic scenarios that capture the essential "deathtrap" feeling of Alpha Complex. Paranoia XP marked his return to the line as well; he has designed every cover of the XP edition, and many books contain both his classic and new Paranoia art.
While Paranoia XP kept Communists as the big bad scapegoat in spite of the Cold War
being long over, the updated edition integrates several 21st century themes into its satire. Troubleshooters carry PDCs (Personal Digital Companion) that are reminiscent of PDA
s and smartphone
s and can try to acquire gear by bidding on CBay (obvious pun on eBay
). New threats to Alpha Complex include file sharing
, phishing
scams, identity theft
and WMD
s. Consumerism
in Alpha Complex has been tooled into its economy and has taken on an element of patriotism, echoing sentiments expressed after 9/11 along similar trends. A mission pack released in 2009 titled War On (Insert Noun) lampoons government initiatives like the War on Drugs
and the War on Terror
.
In writing the new edition, Varney, Goldberg and Costikyan reached out to and actively collaborated with Paranoias online fan community through an official blog and through Paranoia-Live.net. In addition, Varney ran an online game, the Toothpaste Disaster, where players took the role of High Programmers documenting the titular disaster in a Lexicon
format. Many ideas established in the Lexicon game were written into the rulebook. Later, some of the best players and writers from the game and a few other places were formally integrated as the Traitor Recycling Studio to write official Paranoia material; their first credited work was the mission supplement Crash Priority.
In 2006, Varney's fellow Paranoia writer, Mongoose Publishing employee Gareth Hanrahan, took over as primary writer for the Paranoia line. During the lifetime of the XP line Mongoose released numerous supplements and adventures for the game. Notable amongst the supplements was Extreme Paranoia, which provided ideas for scenarios based around characters of security clearances Orange to Violet, with premises differing greatly from the standard Red-clearance Troubleshooter concept but remaining thematically appropriate to the game's setting at atmosphere. (This included an updated reprint of the 1st Edition supplement HIL Sector Blues, which focused on playing Blue-clearance IntSec agents.) The idea of devising new and varied concepts to base Paranoia adventures and campaigns around would be revisited for the next edition of the game.
Each of the three books is an entirely self-contained and playable game: Paranoia: Troubleshooters, Paranoia: Internal Security, and Paranoia: High Programmers. The Troubleshooters volume presents a slimmed-down version of the XP rules, the most notable difference being the removal of the Service Firms and the advanced economy of the XP edition, with the focus firmly on the game's traditional premise of casting the player characters as Red-clearance Troubleshooters. The Internal Security volume casts the player characters as Blue-clearance Internal Security agents, a refinement of the premise of the 1st edition supplement HIL Sector Blues (reprinted in the XP line as part of Extreme Paranoia). The third game, Paranoia: High Programmers, casts the player characters as the Ultraviolet-clearance elite of Alpha Complex society and focuses on the political plotting and infighting that dominates the High Programmers' lives, a premise not dissimilar to the Violet-level campaign ideas presented in Extreme Paranoia.
The Troubleshooters volume retains the play styles of the XP rulebook; however, the "Classic" playstyle is assumed by default, with "Zap" and "Straight" relegated to an appendix. Allen Varney, designer of the XP edition, explained in a posting on RPG.net that this decision came about as a result of the XP edition successfully convincing the wider gaming public that "Zap" was not the default playstyle for the game; since it was now generally accepted that Paranoia could have a variety of playstyles and each GM would interpret it somewhat differently, it was considered no longer necessary to emphasise the different playstyles in the main text.
The Internal Security volume includes an appendix listing three new styles tailored for the game - "Heist", "Overkill" and "Horror". High Programmers does not specify playstyles.
Second edition:
Part of the "Secret Society Wars" arc.
Part of "The Crash" arc, also called the "MegaWhoops".
Part of the "ReBoot Alpha" arc.
Part of the "Vulture Warriors of Dimension X" arc.
----
Fifth edition:
Paranoia XP:
25th Anniversary Edition:
Other Game Products
fan-made software specifically created for playing Paranoia over the Internet and can be downloaded from the fansite Paranoia Live. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine
and consists of a client and a server with built-in features for character and gameplay management. In September 2004, both attracted some mainstream attention when the UK edition of PC Gamer
magazine ran an article about Paranoia as one of their "Extra Life" columns and showcased JParanoia and Paranoia Live; coincidentally the publicity came right before the site was poised to celebrate the launch of the new Paranoia edition from Mongoose.
Paranoia was also made into a video game called The Paranoia Complex
released in 1989 by Magic Bytes. It was available for Amiga
, Amstrad CPC
, Commodore 64
and ZX Spectrum
. It took the form of a top-down maze shooter dressed in a Paranoia plot and trappings; reviews of the game from hobby magazines of the period pegged it as mediocre to poor.
Finally, a Paranoia-themed piece of "choose-your-own-adventure" hyperfiction (or gamebook
) was published in issue #77 of SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer
magazine in the late '80s. Since then, various unauthorised automated versions of the story (a Troubleshooter's assignment to undermine the subversive activity known as Christmas) have been circulating through mainframes and PCs, with machine-independent ports to C
, Python
and Inform
as well as to Adventure Game Toolkit
and for Applix
, CP/M
and the Cybiko
.
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n science-fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
tabletop role-playing game
Role-playing game (pen and paper)
A tabletop role-playing game, pen-and-paper role-playing game, or Table-talk role-playing game is a form of role-playing game in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech...
originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X" , is an American game designer and science fiction writer.Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile...
, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg, and first published in 1984 by West End Games
West End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
. Since 2004 the game has been published under licence by Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
. The game won the Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 and was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007.
Overview
Paranoia is a humorous role-playing gameRole-playing game (pen and paper)
A tabletop role-playing game, pen-and-paper role-playing game, or Table-talk role-playing game is a form of role-playing game in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech...
set in a dystopian future
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
, Brave New World
Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
, Logan's Run
Logan's Run
Logan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, it depicts a dystopic ageist future society in which both population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by requiring the death of everyone reaching a particular age...
and THX 1138
THX 1138
THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. The film is based on a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch...
among others; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, frequently tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
rather than dark and heavy.
Setting
The game's main setting is an immense and futuristic city called Alpha Complex, which is controlled by The Computer, a civil serviceCivil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
construct. The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutant
Mutant (fictional)
The concept of a mutant is a common trope in comic books and science fiction. The new phenotypes that appear in fictional mutations generally go far beyond what is typically seen in biological mutants, and often result in the mutated life form exhibiting superhuman abilities or qualities.-Marvel...
s, and secret societies
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
(especially Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. Player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles.
The player characters frequently receive missions that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory, or fatal, and side-missions which conflict with any other instructions the players may have received, and are issued equipment that is dangerous, faulty or "experimental" (i.e. almost certainly dangerous and faulty). Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and/or a secret society member, and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Thus, missions often turn into a comedy of errors, as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a "six-pack," which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. The game lacks a conventional health system; most wounds the player characters can suffer are assumed to be fatal. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed, yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family. Additional clones can be purchased if one gains sufficient favour with the Computer.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
Security clearances
Paranoia features a security clearance system based on colors of the visible spectrumVisible spectrum
The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 390 to 750 nm. In terms of...
which heavily restricts what the players can and cannot legally do; everything from corridors to food and equipment have security restrictions. The lowest rating is Infrared, but the lowest playable security clearance is Red; the game usually begins with the characters having just been promoted to Red grade. Interfering with anything which is above that player's clearance carries significant risk.
The full order of clearances from lowest to highest is Infrared (visually represented by Black), Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and Ultraviolet (visually represented by White). Within the game, Infrared-clearance citizens live dull lives of mindless drudgery and are heavily medicated, while higher clearance characters may be allowed to demote or even summarily execute those of a lower rank and those with Ultraviolet clearance are almost completely unrestricted and have a great deal of access to The Computer; they are the only citizens that may (legally) access and modify the Computer's programming, and thus Ultraviolet citizens are also referred to as "High Programmers". Security clearance is not related to competence or even authority, though there is often a correlation; clearance is instead a measure of The Computer's trust in a citizen.
Secret Societies
In the game, Secret SocietiesSecret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
tend to be based on sketchy and spurious knowledge of historical matters. For example, previous editions included societies such as the Seal Club (that idolizes the Outdoors but is unsure what plants and animals actually look like), the Knights of the Circular Object, the Trekkie
Trekkie
A Trekkie or Trekker is a fan of the Star Trek franchise, or of specific television series or films within that franchise.-History:In 1967, science fiction editor Arthur W...
s, and the First Church of Christ Computer Programmer. In keeping with the theme of paranoia, a lot of secret societies have spies or double agents in each other's organizations.
Of special notice is the secret society known as the Wobblies. The game's backstory indicates that the Computer was worried about this society, and sent a pack of Troubleshooters to investigate. Since the society didn't actually exist, the Troubleshooters found nothing to report, and were terminated for laziness and insubordination. After a couple of Troubleshooter groups were thus disposed of, a newly sent group founded the society themselves in order to have something to report on. By the time the game setting takes place, a number of other secret societies have sent spies to join the Wobblies, resulting in a group that consists entirely of spies for other groups. The in-joke for the Commie-hating computer is that this group is loosely modeled on the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW), the original "wobbly" trade union movement that attempted to stand up to the robber barons at the start of the 20th century.
The Paranoia XP book and The Traitors Manual supplement include the following societies. The actual societies which would be encountered in a game, like the mutant powers available to PCs, depends on the playstyle; some societies are more suited for more light-hearted games (Zap-style, or the lighter end of Classic), whereas others represent a more serious threat to Alpha Complex and are therefore more suitable for Straight or the more dark sort of Classic games.
- Anti-Mutant: A hate group who hates mutants above and beyond the social norm. They attack registered and even 'suspected' mutants in dark corridors with lead pipes and Funball bats. Their members are constantly trying to ferret out the mutant menace that hides among them, and a good percentage are even more paranoid than the average citizen. Ironically, many of them are actually mutants themselves, but remain unregistered; some are unaware that they are mutants.
- Communists: This secret society was formed based on the theory that, if the Computer hates Communism so much, then there must be something to it. Their knowledge of historical Communism is poor, leading to Alpha Complex Communists adopting stereotypical Russian accents and clothing, carrying pictures of Groucho MarxGroucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
and listening to the 'revolutionary' songs of John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. - Computer Phreaks: Composed of hackersHacker (computer security)In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, crackersBlack hatA black hat is the villain or bad guy, especially in a western movie in which such a character would stereotypically wear a black hat in contrast to the hero's white hat, especially in black and white movies....
, computer geeks, and computer game addicts, the Computer Phreaks practice programming in secret — and try to show off how very l33t they are. This can be a very dangerous hobby in Alpha. The line between 'hacker extraordinaire' and 'terminated traitor' is a fine one. - Corpore Metal: Corpore Metal members believe that humans are inferior and outdated, while machines are the wave of the future. CorpMets are obsessed with attaining the perfection of 'bothood', going as far as intentional self-maiming to obtain cybernetic replacements. This secret society, unsurprisingly, also has a large number of rogue bot members.
- Death LeopardDef LeppardDef Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
: Their motto is "live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful set of 6 corpses." Death Leopard is into loud music, explosions, and parties. They are not so much a coherent secret society as a collection of gangs. There are frequent wars within the society, but they will usually band together to deal with outside threats — if only to get back to settling their turf wars in peace. - First Church of Christ Computer Programmer (FCCC-P) (also referred to as The Assemblers of God in some editions): They believe that the Computer is GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. They have their own hymns, services, and worship, and obey the Computer much more than the average Alpha Complex citizen. While secret society membership is still against the law, the FCCC-P is generally ignored, or only given a punitive slap-on-the-wrist. There are interfactional conflicts between different sects of the church, and even simple differences in interpretation can lead to bloodshed. - Frankenstein Destroyers: This LudditeLudditeThe Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life...
society believes that robots are the cause of all mankind's problems. Some blanket this hate to all technology, but the society is mainly focused on destroying the shiny, soulless AIArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
menace. - Free Enterprise: In earlier editions, Free Enterprise represents capitalists in The Computer's more communist society. With the increasing amount of authorized capitalism in Paranoia XP, Free Enterprise has become a pseudo-mafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
organization, sometimes adopting stereotypical Italian accents. Free Enterprise runs the Infrared markets in Alpha Complex. - Humanists: The Humanists are aware of just how flawed Alpha Complex is ... at least to some degree. They realize the Computer is insane, and strive to make Alpha Complex a better place for people. They do this by installing hidden backdoor codes in The Computer, reprogramming rogue bots to serve humanity, and planning for the day when they rise up and restore power to the people. That day is just around the corner — and has been for centuries; the Humanists never seem to get much done, as the society is bogged down by process, meetings, and committees.
- Illuminati: The IlluminatiIlluminatiThe Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
is a secretive organization whose goals are so well hidden that most members don't know them. No one knows what the goals of this society are, or even how it goes about them. Members may be given orders as simple as 'deliver this', or 'kill him/her', or as unfathomable as 'Take the cap off the pen in the briefing room XLJ11, and dispose of it down the trash chute in X corridor'. Most Illuminati also pose as members of another secret society, in order to keep their true society a secret. - Mystics: Supposedly founded by those seeking enlightenment, the Mystics focus on recreational drug useRecreational drug useRecreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
. Another example of an un-society, there is no grand Mystic goal. Some limit themselves to their own personal visions, while others try to drug food or water supplies to try to 'enlighten' as many as possible. - Pro Tech: Pro Tech members enjoy high technology. They research new technology and steal research by others. Pro Techers can sometimes be identified by the sheer number of beeping nifty gadgets they tend to carry.
- Psion: Psion is the pro-mutant group. They believe mutants are superior beings. Heavily run by the 'Controls', a separated and hidden network of telepathic mutants, Psions seek to pave the way for a better, brighter (mutant-run) future.
- PURGE: PURGE is an active terrorist organization seeking to violently overthrow The Computer. They have no real ideology about what comes after; they just want the Computer destroyed. In previous editions, PURGE was as slapstick as all the others. In XP, particularly Straight-style games, PURGE is a terrorist organization, out to destroy the hated Computer no matter how many innocents are lost in the fight.
- Romantics: Enticed by the forbidden lore of the "Old Reckoning" (the days before Alpha Complex and the Computer), the Romantics scavenge what details about the past they can. However, due to the suppression of this information, their information is rather flawed, and different sects focus on different aspects of the past.
- Sierra Club (referred to as Seal Club in some editions): The Computer restricts leaving Alpha Complex to Green clearance and above, and then only for good reasons. So, aside from Troubleshooters who may be sent into the great Outdoors, almost no one in Alpha Complex has seen so much as a blade of grass. This great mystique has led to the formation of the Sierra Club, devoted to sneaking out. Some want to escape forever, while others try to bring the wonders of nature to the less fortunate inside.
The 1st Edition also included secret societies such as Programs Groups (the personal agents and spies of the High Programmers at the apex of Alpha Complex society) and Spy For Another Alpha Complex.
History
Five editions have been published. Three of these were published by West End Games - the 1st, 2nd, and "Fifth" Editions - whereas the later two editions (Paranoia XP and the 25th Anniversary editions) were published by Mongoose Publishing. In addition to these five published editions, it is known that West End Games were working on a "Third Edition" - to replace the poorly-received Fifth Edition - in the late 1990s, but their financial issues would prevent this edition from seeing the light of day.1st edition
Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X" , is an American game designer and science fiction writer.Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile...
, Dan Gelber
Dan Gelber
Dan Gelber is a former prosecutor, a candidate for Attorney General of Florida and is a member of the Florida Senate, representing the 35th District. He is a Democrat and previously represented the 106th District of the Florida House from 2000 - 2008...
, and Eric Goldberg
Eric Goldberg
Eric Goldberg may refer to:* Eric Goldberg , Canadian painter* Eric Goldberg , American animator and film director...
- published in 1984 by West End Games
West End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
. In 1985, this edition of Paranoia won the Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984. This edition, while encouraging dark humour in-game, took a fairly serious dystopian tone; the supplements and adventures released to accompany it emphasised the lighter side, however, establishing the freewheeling mix of slapstick, intra-team backstabbing and satire that is classically associated with a game of Paranoia.
2nd edition
Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X" , is an American game designer and science fiction writer.Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile...
, Dan Gelber
Dan Gelber
Dan Gelber is a former prosecutor, a candidate for Attorney General of Florida and is a member of the Florida Senate, representing the 35th District. He is a Democrat and previously represented the 106th District of the Florida House from 2000 - 2008...
, Eric Goldberg
Eric Goldberg
Eric Goldberg may refer to:* Eric Goldberg , Canadian painter* Eric Goldberg , American animator and film director...
, Ken Rolston
Ken Rolston
Ken Rolston is an American computer game and board game designer best known for his work with West End Games and the hit computer game series The Elder Scrolls...
, and Paul Murphy - published in 1987 by West End Games
West End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
. This edition can be seen as a response to the natural development of the line towards a rules-light, fast and entertaining play style. Here, the humorous possibilities of life in a paranoid dystopia are emphasised, and the rules are simplified considerably from the first edition.
Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
magazine issue #132 gave the initial 2nd edition release a glowing review while discussing some of the perceived shortcomings of the first edition:
The review does offer one common reservation about the game: "It doesn't lend itself easily to long-term campaign play. This game is best treated as a succession of short adventure sessions in which players get to enjoy themselves doing all those despicable things that would spoil a more 'serious’ game.". However the conclusion of the review stated that "As a tongue-in-cheek science-fiction game, this one is hard to beat."
Metaplot and the Second Edition
Many of the supplements released for the Second edition fall into a story arc set up by new writers and line editors that was intended to freshen up the game and broaden roleplay possibilities. While they undoubtedly did so, giving roleplayers the opportunity to transcend time and space, play in a post-apocalyptic Computerless Alpha Complex, or play in a post-post-apocalyptic Alpha Complex in which the Computer battled for control with other factions, many fans felt these new settings ran counter to the spirit of the game. In particular, many felt the removal of the Computer - and thus the power structure associated with it - and the greater freedom given to player characters effectively wrecked the very premise of the game, which required that player characters had little freedom, had to appease the demands of the Computer, and were presented with insane situations that arose from the ludicrous rules of Alpha Complex society. Second edition supplements can generally be divided into four eras:- Classic: No metaplot.
- Secret Society Wars: Introduced in The DOA Sector Travelogue, and supported by a series of Secret Society Wars modules. Individual missions can be run in the Classic format, but running themes and conspiracies persist from book to book.
- The Crash: Detailed in The Crash Course Manual, and supported by the Vulture Warriors of Dimension X series of time-travelling modules. Adventures occur in a fractured Complex in which there is no Computer, possibly as a result of the Secret Society Wars, possibly not.
- Reboot: Detailed in The Paranoia Sourcebook, and supported by a few modules and supplements. The Computer returns, but does not control all of Alpha Complex - plays as a hybrid of the other eras, with players free to choose sides.
"Fifth" Edition
West End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
- was in fact the third edition of the game released. (The game skipped two editions as a joke, and possibly also as a reference to the two major revisions to the game released during the lifetime of the Second Edition with the Crash Course Manual and the Paranoia Sourcebook.) It has since been declared an "un-product" (cf. "unperson") by the writers of the current edition, due to its extremely poor commercial and critical reception. Almost none of the original production staff were involved, and the books in this line focused less on the dark humor and oppressive nature of Alpha, and more on cheap pop culture spoofs, such as a Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
parody. As well as the lighter, sillier atmosphere, fans also disliked the lower production values of the new edition, in which most of the internal art consisted of extremely cartoonish and sketchy illustrations as opposed to the more detailed and thematically-appropriate Jim Holloway illustrations of previous editions.
In his introduction to Flashbacks, a compilation of Paranoia adventures from the West End Games era, Allen Varney fully details the management decisions which led, in the eyes of many, to the decline of the Paranoia line, and cites rumours that the line saw a 90% decline in sales before West End Games went into bankruptcy:
Art director Larry Catalano left West End in 1986. Catalano’s successor fired (illustrator) Jim Holloway and brought in a succession of increasingly poor cartoonists. (Writer/editor) Ken Rolston left shortly thereafter for unrelated reasons. In Ken’s wake, developers Doug Kaufman and Paul Murphy in turn briefly supervised the PARANOIA line. After they too departed, editorial control fell to—how do I put this tactfully?—people with different views of the PARANOIA line.
Unreleased West End Games Third Edition
Following the extremely negative reception of the Fifth Edition, West End GamesWest End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
began planning a new edition of the game, which would be released as the "Third Edition". Pages from this planned edition were exhibited at Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
in 1997 - this being a mere two years after the release of the Fifth Edition, suggesting that work began on the Third Edition extremely soon after the ill-fated Fifth Edition release. Due to West End Games' financial issues this edition was never completed. In an interview in 1999 Scott Palter of West End expressed hopes that the Third Edition would be published that summer; however, he also disclosed that court proceedings had been begun by the original designers in order to reclaim the rights to the game. The designers would ultimately succeed in purchasing the rights to the game, putting an end to any possibility that the final West End Games edition would be released.
A single adventure has surfaced which contained a brief summary of the third edition rules.
Paranoia XP
Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
to produce a new version of the game, with the result that Paranoia XP (ISBN 978-1-904854-26-5), written by Allen Varney
Allen Varney
Allen Varney is an American writer and game designer born in St. Louis, Missouri. He has a dual B.A. in English and History from the University of Nevada, Reno....
, Aaron Allston
Aaron Allston
Aaron Allston is an American game designer and novelist of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for several role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's...
, Paul Baldowski, Beth Fischi, Dan Curtis Johnson and Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X" , is an American game designer and science fiction writer.Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile...
, was published in 2004. In 2005, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
requested that the XP be removed. As such, the name was shortened to just Paranoia. This edition of the game has received a much warmer critical reception, as well as selling well.
This edition also introduced three different styles of play, with some game mechanics differing between the various modes to support the specific tone being sought-after:
- Zap is anarchic slapstick with no claims to making sense and little effort at satire. Zap represents Paranoia as popularly understood: troubleshooters who open fire on each other with little to no provocation. It is often associated with the "Fifth Edition". The symbol of this game style is two smoking boots, much like the front cover.
- Classic is the atmosphere associated with the 2nd edition. While conflict inside of troubleshooter teams is common, it is less common and less frequently lethal. The symbol of this game style is a computer (representing The Computer).
- Straight represents a relatively new style for Paranoia, although it is not entirely without precedent in the darker portions of the original 1st edition rules. Straight Paranoia is more serious and focuses more on dark, complex satire. In Straight Paranoia, players are punished for executing other characters without first filing evidence of the other character's treason; this encourages slower, more careful gameplay and discourages random firefights and horseplay. The symbol of this game style is an enormous eye, much like the eye on the front cover.
Primary designer Allen Varney, in the designer's notes, explained that his aim with the new edition was to return to the game's roots whilst updating both the game system and the satirical setting to take account of twenty years of game design progress. In both the core rulebook and the Flashbacks supplement - a reprint of classic adventures originally published by West End Games - Varney was highly critical of West End Games' handling of the product line in its latter days. In a posting on RPG.net he explained that the point of including the three playstyles in Paranoia XP was to counteract the impression that "Zap"-styled play was the default for Paranoia, an impression which had in part been created by the more cartoonish later supplements in the West End Games line (as well as "Fifth Edition").
In order to distance the new edition from the less commercially and critically successful aspects of the West End Game line, and to discourage new players from wasting time and money on what he considered to be inferior products, Varney additionally used the designer's notes to declare many West End products, including the "Fifth Edition" and everything published for the 2nd Edition after The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure, to be "unproducts" - no longer part of the game's continuity, and not recommended for use with the new edition. An upshot of this is that much of the poorly received metaplot established late in the West End Games line, from the Secret Society Wars to the Reboot and beyond, was disposed of. Varney has explained that this is due mainly to his distaste for the direction the metaplot took the game line in, a distaste he asserts is shared by the game's fan community. He has also stated that he personally has little affection for the "Zap" style, and therefore may have given it short shrift in the main rulebook, although later supplements for Paranoia XP did provide more support for Zap play.
Long-time Paranoia artist Jim Holloway
Jim Holloway (artist)
-Background:Jim Holloway was self taught in illustration, although he was able to study some oil paintings by his father.-Works:Jim Holloway has continued to produce interior illustrations for many Dungeons & Dragons books and Dragon magazine since 1981, as well as cover art for The Land Beyond the...
, called "the master of the fun-filled illustration", drew the cover art and much of the internal art for the game until 1986. His art for the series generally portray comedic scenarios that capture the essential "deathtrap" feeling of Alpha Complex. Paranoia XP marked his return to the line as well; he has designed every cover of the XP edition, and many books contain both his classic and new Paranoia art.
While Paranoia XP kept Communists as the big bad scapegoat in spite of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
being long over, the updated edition integrates several 21st century themes into its satire. Troubleshooters carry PDCs (Personal Digital Companion) that are reminiscent of PDA
PDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
s and smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and can try to acquire gear by bidding on CBay (obvious pun on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
). New threats to Alpha Complex include file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
, phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
scams, identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
and WMD
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
s. Consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
in Alpha Complex has been tooled into its economy and has taken on an element of patriotism, echoing sentiments expressed after 9/11 along similar trends. A mission pack released in 2009 titled War On (Insert Noun) lampoons government initiatives like the War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
and the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
.
In writing the new edition, Varney, Goldberg and Costikyan reached out to and actively collaborated with Paranoias online fan community through an official blog and through Paranoia-Live.net. In addition, Varney ran an online game, the Toothpaste Disaster, where players took the role of High Programmers documenting the titular disaster in a Lexicon
Lexicon (game)
Lexicon is a computer-assisted role-playing game invented by Neel Krishnaswami and popularised by the indie role-playing game community. As originally proposed, it is played online using wiki software. Players assume the role of scholars who write the history and background of a particular...
format. Many ideas established in the Lexicon game were written into the rulebook. Later, some of the best players and writers from the game and a few other places were formally integrated as the Traitor Recycling Studio to write official Paranoia material; their first credited work was the mission supplement Crash Priority.
In 2006, Varney's fellow Paranoia writer, Mongoose Publishing employee Gareth Hanrahan, took over as primary writer for the Paranoia line. During the lifetime of the XP line Mongoose released numerous supplements and adventures for the game. Notable amongst the supplements was Extreme Paranoia, which provided ideas for scenarios based around characters of security clearances Orange to Violet, with premises differing greatly from the standard Red-clearance Troubleshooter concept but remaining thematically appropriate to the game's setting at atmosphere. (This included an updated reprint of the 1st Edition supplement HIL Sector Blues, which focused on playing Blue-clearance IntSec agents.) The idea of devising new and varied concepts to base Paranoia adventures and campaigns around would be revisited for the next edition of the game.
25th Anniversary Editions
In June 2009, Mongoose Publishing announced that they would be retiring the books in the XP line to clear the way for the 25th Anniversary Edition line - revealing a new edition of the rulebook as well as two new rulebooks, one casting the players as higher-clearance Internal Security investigators and one as Ultraviolet High Programmers. They stated that the XP material would "maintain a 90% compatibility rating with the new Paranoia books".Each of the three books is an entirely self-contained and playable game: Paranoia: Troubleshooters, Paranoia: Internal Security, and Paranoia: High Programmers. The Troubleshooters volume presents a slimmed-down version of the XP rules, the most notable difference being the removal of the Service Firms and the advanced economy of the XP edition, with the focus firmly on the game's traditional premise of casting the player characters as Red-clearance Troubleshooters. The Internal Security volume casts the player characters as Blue-clearance Internal Security agents, a refinement of the premise of the 1st edition supplement HIL Sector Blues (reprinted in the XP line as part of Extreme Paranoia). The third game, Paranoia: High Programmers, casts the player characters as the Ultraviolet-clearance elite of Alpha Complex society and focuses on the political plotting and infighting that dominates the High Programmers' lives, a premise not dissimilar to the Violet-level campaign ideas presented in Extreme Paranoia.
The Troubleshooters volume retains the play styles of the XP rulebook; however, the "Classic" playstyle is assumed by default, with "Zap" and "Straight" relegated to an appendix. Allen Varney, designer of the XP edition, explained in a posting on RPG.net that this decision came about as a result of the XP edition successfully convincing the wider gaming public that "Zap" was not the default playstyle for the game; since it was now generally accepted that Paranoia could have a variety of playstyles and each GM would interpret it somewhat differently, it was considered no longer necessary to emphasise the different playstyles in the main text.
The Internal Security volume includes an appendix listing three new styles tailored for the game - "Heist", "Overkill" and "Horror". High Programmers does not specify playstyles.
Related publications
First edition:| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia | Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg | 1984 | ISBN 978-0-87431-025-2 | First edition of the game. Consists of Player Handbook, Gamemaster Handbook, and Adventure Handbook with introductory adventure Destination: CBI Sector. Boxed set also includes two 20-sided dice. |
| Paranoia (Games Workshop) | Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg | 1986 | ISBN 978-1-869893-01-9 | A Games Workshop Games Workshop Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000... printing of the first edition. Contains all three books of the basic set in one hardcover volume, as well as the three short adventures (Robot Imana-665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches and Das Bot: Nearly a Dozen Meters Beneath the Sea) from the first edition Gamemaster Screen. |
| Acute Paranoia | Ken Rolston and various | 1986 | ISBN 978-0-87431-034-4 | Articles on supplementary rules and flavor material, including Sanity Tests, Playing Robots, New Secret societies and Better Living Through Chemistry. Contains the full-length adventure Me and My Shadow, Mark IV, mini-adventures Botbusters, Warriors of the Nightcycle and The Harder They Clone, and 8 short missions designated "Code 7": An ARD Day's Night, Reboot Camp, Whitewash, The Second Coming, Plumber's Helper, Miami Laser, Paranoid Clones in Savory Vulture Stew, and Outland-ISH. "Code 7" refers to a mission that takes Troubleshooters seven clones to finish; therefore, in 1st through 5th editions with a finite six clone limit, a suicide mission. |
| Clones in Space | Eric Wujick | 1986 | ISBN 978-0-87431-042-9 | An adventure in which the player characters are sent into space by The Computer. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed on the inside covers). |
| Double Paranoia | John M. Ford John M. Ford John Milo "Mike" Ford was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet.Ford was regarded as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions... and Curtis Smith |
1986 | ISBN 978-1-869893-03-3 | Contains The YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues and Vapours Don't Shoot Back (British spelling) reprinted in one volume by Games Workshop Games Workshop Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000... in the UK. |
| Gamemaster Screen | Ken Rolston and Steve Gilbert | 1985 | Gamemaster's screen and three short adventures: Robot Imana-665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches and Das Bot: Nearly a Dozen Meters Beneath the Sea. The player side of the screen contains reference tables for players. | |
| HIL Sector Blues | Ken Rolston | 1986 | ISBN 978-0-87431-051-1 | A campaign pack for playing and gamemastering Blue-clearance Internal Security troopers. Contains three short adventures: First Blood and Then Some, IntSec Agents at the Earth's Core, and One of Our Petbots Is Missing. Also includes "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures) and rules for using miniatures. The name of the supplement references Hill Street Blues Hill Street Blues Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ... . The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (new reference tables are printed on the inside covers). |
| Orcbusters | Ken Rolston | 1986 | ISBN 978-0-87431-050-4 | An adventure in which an inter-dimensional portal causes a stereotypical fantasy roleplaying dungeon and its residents to appear in Alpha Complex. Dungeons & Dragons Dungeons & Dragons Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997... parody, takes place in the "DND sector". The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed in |
| Send in the Clones | Warren Spector Warren Spector Warren Spector is a role-playing game designer and a video game designer. He is known for having worked to merge elements of role-playing games and first-person shooters. He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, fantasy writer Caroline L. Spector... and Allen Varney |
1985 | ISBN 978-0-87431-033-7 | An adventure in which the player characters track Commie traitors through the sewers while someone is singing treasonous old hit songs over the Alpha Complex public address Public address A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in... system. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed in |
| Vapors Don't Shoot Back | Curtis Smith | 1985 | ISBN 978-0-87431-026-9 | An adventure containing three missions in which the player characters attempt to carry out contradictory, incomprehensible, and usually lethal instructions from The Computer and a High Programmer. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed inside). |
| YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues, The | John M. Ford John M. Ford John Milo "Mike" Ford was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet.Ford was regarded as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions... |
1985 | ISBN 978-0-87431-027-6 | An adventure in which every secret society is after a black box of unknown content. Winner of the H.G. Wells Award Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly... for Best Role-playing Adventure of 1985. Includes a two-page cardboard gamemaster's screen with reference tables for this adventure. |
Second edition:
Part of the "Secret Society Wars" arc.
Part of "The Crash" arc, also called the "MegaWhoops".
Part of the "ReBoot Alpha" arc.
Part of the "Vulture Warriors of Dimension X" arc.
| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia Second Edition | Dan Gebler, Greg Costikyan, Eric Goldberg, and Ken Rolston | 1987 | ISBN 978-0-87431-063-4 | Second edition of the game. Includes new introductory adventure Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera. |
| Paranoia Second Edition (Games Workshop) | Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg | 1987 | ISBN 1-869893-21-1(sic) | A Games Workshop Games Workshop Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000... printing of the second edition of the game. Same as the West End Games original, but hardcover. (The ISBN printed on the cover is invalid.) |
| Alice Through the Mirrorshades | Ed Bolme | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-154-9 | First adventure in the "Vulture Wariors of Dimension X" arc. Crossover with Cyberpunk Cyberpunk 2020 Cyberpunk 2020 is a cyberpunk role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R. Talsorian Games.- Overview :This role-playing game is based on the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and other authors of the "Mirrorshades group"... as the player characters travel back in time to pre-Alpha San Francisco. |
| Alpha Complexities | Ed Bolme | 1988 | ISBN 978-0-87431-080-1 | An adventure that takes the player characters into the Outdoors hunting for invisible Commies. |
| At Your Service, Citizen… | West End Games | 1992 | N/A | A series of official Paranoia newsletters with articles by various authors. Five issues published from 1992 to 1993 in addition to the issue "zero" that appeared in The Paranoia Sourcebook. |
| Bot Abusers' Manual, The | Ed Bolme | 1992 | ISBN 978-0-87431-164-8 | Revised rules for bot player characters (updates those in Acute Paranoia for ReBoot Alpha). Also contains the adventure Been Hurt: A Sporting Adventure for Mostly Bots. |
| Compleat Troubleshooter, The | Steven Gilbert and Doug Kaufman | 1987 | ISBN 978-0-87431-018-4 | Introduces Mandatory Bonus Duties for Troubleshooters. Included with the 2nd edition boxed set. |
| Computer Always Shoots Twice, The | Ken Rolston, Warren Spector and Allen Varney | 1988 | ISBN 978-0-87431-087-0 | Consists of Send in the Clones and Orcbusters updated for second edition. |
| Crash Course Manual | Doug Kaufman and Jonatha Caspian | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-153-2 | The Post-MegaWhoops (crash of The Computer) campaign setting. Includes introductory adventure A Passage to NDA Sector by Ed Bolme and Peter Corless. |
| Death, Lies and Vidtape | Allen Varney | 1990 | ISBN 978-0-87431-159-4 | The final "Secret Society Wars" adventure, in which Elizabeth-R is trying to bring the secret societies together to form a government in Post-MegaWhoops Alpha. |
| DOA Sector Travelogue, The | Steve Gilbert | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-078-8 | A campaign pack detailing the DOA sector of Alpha Complex. Contains some background for the "Secret Society Wars". Includes a poster-sized map of DOA sector. |
| Don't Take Your Laser to Town | Malcom Mouvis and Vern G. Hargett | 1988 | ISBN 978-0-87431-104-4 | An adventure set in old WST sector, an Alpha Complex re-creation of the American Old West American Old West The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century... (based on movie clichés) for amusement of citizens. |
| Form Pack | Steven Gilbert | 1988 | ISBN 978-0-87431-079-5 | Contains multiple copies of three Alpha Complex forms in triplicate, and a short bureaucratic adventure, A Hole in The Complex, which revolves around filling and filing these forms. |
| Gamma-LOT | Grant Boucher | 1990 | ISBN 978-0-87431-158-7 | An adventure in which a part of medieval England has been teleported to the LOT sector of Post-MegaWhoops Alpha. A sequel to Orcbusters. Contains parody of King Arthur King Arthur King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and... , Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood Robin Hood Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes.... . |
| Iceman Returneth, The | Sam Shirley | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-152-5 | An adventure featuring a frozen High Programmer from the past, who tries to "fix" The Computer. Includes one possible explanation for The Crash, which also forms the basis for Alice Through the Mirrorshades. Part 3 of the "Secret Society Wars". |
| Mad Mechs | Paul Murphy | 1991 | ISBN 978-0-87431-160-0 | An adventure featuring the return of The Computer after the Crash, and in which the player characters are sent to Australia to bring back a former Commie mutant traitor in order to save Alpha Complex. A parody of Mad Max Mad Max Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story... . |
| More Songs About Food Vats | Karl Hughes | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-151-8 | An adventure in which the player characters are assigned to prevent sabotage to the Food Vats. Part 2 of the "Secret Society Wars". |
| Paramilitary | Dave Lemon | 1993 | ISBN 978-0-87431-167-9 | A campaign setting for player characters in the Armed Forces of ReBoot Alpha. |
| Paranoia Excessory Pack | West End Games | 1987 | ISBN 978-0-87431-064-1 | Contains a gamemaster's screen for the 2nd edition rules, 12 character sheets, 9 forms in triplicate (three different forms with three copies of each), and "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures). The player side of the screen contains reference tables for players and lyrics for "Alpha Complex Battle Hymn" (a parody of The Battle Hymn of the Republic The Battle Hymn of the Republic "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a hymn by American writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It became popular during the American Civil War... ). |
| Paranoia Sourcebook, The | Ed Bolme | 1992 | ISBN 978-0-87431-163-1 | Campaign setting and sourcebook "update" for the world of ReBoot Alpha (where The Computer has returned but does not control all of the pre-MegaWhoops Alpha Complex). Includes Emergency Services Manual and issue "zero" of the Paranoia newsletter At Your Service, Citizen…. |
| Paranormal / CTV | Ed Gibson, Charles Ginsburg, Brian Schomburg, Jesse Van Valkenburg, and Bill Olmesdahl | 1994 | ISBN 978-0-87431-169-3 | An adventure flip-book. Contains three short adventures in the world of TV and two short adventures in the world of the paranormal. |
| People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure, The | Ed Bolme | 1989 | ISBN 978-0-87431-150-1 | An adventure in which the player characters are Commies in the CCCP (Communist Controlled Complex Population), under supervision of Tovarich Computer. Part 1 of the "Secret Society Wars". |
| R&D Catalog, The | Ed Bolme and C. J. Tramontana | 1990 | ISBN 978-0-87431-157-0 | A catalog of items sold by R&D in the Computer-less Post-MegaWhoops Alpha. Includes the mini-adventure Have Gizmo, Will Travel. |
| Recycled Pack | West End Games | 1989 | N/A | Contains multiple forms in triplicate, "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures), and a selection of 56 plastic miniatures. The contents of each pack are different. |
| Twilightcycle: 2000 | Sam Shirley | 1990 | ISBN 978-0-87431-155-6 | "Vulture Wariors of Dimension X", part 2. Crossover with Twilight 2000 Twilight 2000 Twilight 2000 is a role-playing game set in the aftermath of World War III . The premise is that the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact have fought a lengthy conventional war, followed by a nuclear war with all its consequences... as the player characters travel back in time to World War III World War III World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature.... . |
| Vulture Warriors of Dimension X | Joseph Anthony and David Avallone | 1990 | ISBN 978-0-87431-156-3 | Time-travelling campaign pack, including the adventure Dr. Whom and the Paranoids of Alpha ("Vulture Wariors of Dimension X", part 3). A parody of Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... . |
----
Fifth edition:
| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia: the Fifth Edition | Ed Stark, Greg Farshtey, and Daniel Scott Palter | 1995 | ISBN 978-0-87431-171-6 | Main rulebook of the "Fifth Edition". Contains new introductory adventure Back from the Outdoors, which is a sequel to the 2nd edition adventure Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera. |
| Creatures of the Nightcycle | Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler | 1997 | ISBN 978-0-87431-172-3 | An adventure spoofing Vampire: The Masquerade Vampire: The Masquerade Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world.... . The player characters are turned into "vampclones". |
| BUG Sector | Chris Helper and Jennifer Brandes | N/A | N/A | An unreleased adventure. The manuscript has been leaked on the Internet. |
Paranoia XP:
| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia XP | Allen Varney and various | 2004 | ISBN 978-1-904854-26-5 | Main rulebook of the "Paranoia XP" edition. Reprinted in 2005 with errata as Paranoia XP Service Pack 1. "XP" dropped from later printings, making the final title of this edition just Paranoia. Contains the new introductory mission Mr. Bubbles by Dan Curtis Johnson Dan Curtis Johnson Dan Curtis Johnson is a programmer and comic book writer, known primarily for his creation Dan Curtis Johnson (also DC Johnson, D. Curtis Johnson) is a programmer and comic book writer, known primarily for his creation Dan Curtis Johnson (also DC Johnson, D. Curtis Johnson) is a programmer and... . |
| Alpha Complex Nights | Gareth Hanrahan | 2007 | ISBN 978-1-906103-06-4 | Three missions: My First Treason, Sweep of Unhistory, and Spin Control. |
| Alpha Complex Nights 2 | Gareth Hanrahan | 2008 | ISBN 978-1-906103-80-4 | Two missions: Viva La Revolution! and The Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy. |
| Big Book of Bots, The | Gareth Hanrahan | 2008 | ISBN 978-1-906103-60-6 | A sourcebook on bots in Alpha Complex, including rules for bot characters. Includes a Mission Unthinkable, an adventure for bot characters. |
| Citizen's Guide to Surviving Alpha Complex | Mongoose Publishing | 2009 | N/A | A condensed version of the basic rules and Alpha Complex background, and the introductory mission Tube Jam. |
| Crash Priority! | Traitor Recycling Studio | 2004 | ISBN 978-1-904854-35-7 | Five short missions showcasing the different styles of play introduced in Paranoia XP: Stealth Train (Straight), Traitor Backup (Straight), Patch Job (Straight/Classic), Random Access Mission (Classic), and Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk (Zap). The Zap-mission Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk takes inspiration from The Three Stooges. |
| Criminal Histories | Bill O'Dea and the Traitor Recycling Studio | 2006 | ISBN 978-1-905176-80-9 | Supplemental rules for character background generation. The new rules replace the chapter on character creation in the main rulebook, and include the optional additions from Service, Service! and The Mutant Experience. Also includes Prehistory Pachinko, a set of over 50 tables for random background generation. |
| Extreme Paranoia | Traitor Recycling Studio | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-905176-24-3 | Supplemental rules for characters of security clearances higher than Red. After an introduction to security clearances in Paranoia, there is a section on each security clearance from Orange through Indigo. The Blue section contains a condensed and updated version of HIL Sector Blues, including two short missions. |
| Flashbacks | Various | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-904854-40-1 | Updated versions of the adventures Robot Imana 665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches, Das Bot, Vapors Don't Shoot Back, The YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues, Send in the Clones, Me and My Shadow Mark 4, Alpha Complexities, An ARD Day's Night, Reboot Camp, Whitewash, and the new introductory mission Pre-Paranoia by Jeff Groves. Updates to old missions include removal of puns from character names, but the original names are given in an appendix. |
| Flashbacks II | Various | 2007 | ISBN 978-1-905850-04-4 | Updated versions of the adventures Orcbusters, Clones in Space, and The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure. Does not include the original pre-generated player characters of any mission. |
| Gamemaster's Screen & Mandatory Fun Enforcement Pack | Aaron Allston, Allen Varney and members of Paranoia-Live.net | 2004 | ISBN 978-1-904854-49-4 | A gamemaster's screen and the Mandatory Fun Enforcement Pack, which includes 6 forms and "Mission Blender" tables for generating random missions. The player side of the screen contains humorous one-liners ("fortune cookies") about the game. |
| Little RED Book, The | Allen Varney | 2006 | ISBN 978-1-905471-56-0 | Abridged core rules containing just the information cleared for players (designated "RED clearance" in Paranoia materials; hence the title). |
| Mandatory Mission Pack | Gareth Hanrahan | 2008 | ISBN 978-1-906103-81-1 | Gamemaster ideas and aids for constructing Paranoia missions. |
| Mutant Experience, The | R. Eric Reuss | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-904854-65-4 | A sourcebook on mutants in Alpha Complex. Introduces new mutant powers and elaborates on the ones described in the main rules. Also includes rules for mutagens and medications affecting mutant powers. |
| Sector Zero | Gareth Hanrahan, Saul Resnikoff, and Jeff Groves | 2006 | ISBN 978-1-905471-52-2 | Contains three Classic-style "Sector Zero" missions: Bubblegum Run, The Dinner Party, and Lightning Rod. The term "Sector Zero" is introduced as jargon for punishment duty, or a dispiriting assignment nobody else wanted. |
| Service, Service! | Traitor Recycling Studio | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-905176-72-4 | A sourcebook on the service groups and service firms of Alpha Complex. Contains eight Classic-style missions, one for each service group: Spurious Targets (Armed Forces), The Lightbulb Missions (CPU), Rockumentary (HPD&MC), Nightcycle Shift (Internal Security), Going Postal (PLC), Both Sides Now (Power Services), Troublebots (R&D), and Three Up, Three Down (Technical Services). |
| STUFF | Eric Minton and the Traitor Recycling Studio | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-904854-86-9 | A sourcebook of equipment available for purchase in Alpha Complex, presented for players in the form of "CBay" listings with comments from "other buyers". |
| STUFF 2: The Gray Subnets | Eric Minton and the Traitor Recycling Studio | 2007 | ISBN 978-1-906508-16-6 | A sourcebook of (mostly) illegal/treasonous equipment, presented for players in the form of "CBay" listings with comments from "other buyers". The gamemaster's section lists the "real" properties of the same items. |
| Sweep of Unhistory / My First Treason | Gareth Hanrahan | 2007 | ISBN 978-1-906103-04-0 | A flip-book containing the adventures Sweep of Unhistory and My First Treason. The adventures were re-published in Alpha Complex Nights together with Spin Control. |
| Thin Green Line, The | Gareth Hanrahan | 2008 | ISBN 978-1-906103-76-7 | A sourcebook on running missions for player characters in the Armed Forces. Includes One Man Army, a short mission for Armed Forces characters. |
| Traitor's Manual, The | Gareth Hanrahan | 2004 | ISBN 978-1-904854-27-2 | A sourcebook on secret societies, detailing all 16 secret societies presented in the main rulebook of this edition. Includes the short Classic-style mission Down and Out in Alpha Complex. |
| Underplex, The | Paul Baldowski | 2006 | ISBN 978-1-905471-13-3 | A sourcebook on the abandoned and forgotten parts beneath and between the populated sectors of Alpha Complex. Includes the short Classic-style mission The One. |
| War on [Insert Noun] | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-905850-60-0 | Three linked missions: Null Mission, War on [Insert Noun Here], and Heck of a (Screw) Job Citizen. In these missions the player characters are assigned to an entirely new service group, "Department of Complex Operational Defence". |
| WMD | Traitor Recyclying Studio | 2005 | ISBN 978-1-905176-14-4 | Four Straight-style missions: Infohazard, Hunger, WMD, and Hot Potato. Hunger is based on The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... , and places the player characters in charge of a new "miraculous" method of food production. |
25th Anniversary Edition:
| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia: Troubleshooters | Allen Varney and Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-55-5 | Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games involving Troubleshooter player characters. Includes two missions: Robot Imana-665-C (from the 1st edition Gamemaster Screen supplement), and The Quantum Traitor (new). |
| Paranoia: Troubleshooters: Black Missions | Allen Varney and Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-62-3 | A limited edition (1,000 copies) of Paranoia: Troubleshooters, featuring a black cover and including a CD-ROM with interviews of Paranoia authors, a selection of Paranoia sound effects, a Paranoia screensaver Screensaver A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use... for Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... , and PDF versions of most supplements published for the previous edition (Paranoia XP). |
| Paranoia: High Programmers | Gareth Hanrahan | 2010 | ISBN 978-1-907218-09-5 | Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games with Ultraviolet-clearance High Programmers as player characters. Includes the mission Disaster Management. |
| Paranoia: High Programmers: White Washes | Gareth Hanrahan | 2010 | N/A | A limited edition (100 copies) of Paranoia: High Programmers, featuring a white cover in the same style as Troubleshooters: Black Missions. |
| Paranoia: Internal Security | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-69-2 | Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games with Internal Security Troopers as player characters. Includes two short introductory missions: Six Clones Before Breakfastcycle (new), and IntSec Agents at the Earth's Core (from HIL Sector Blues, but tweaked). |
| Paranoia: Internal Security: Blue Line | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | N/A | A limited edition (100 copies) of Paranoia: Internal Security, featuring a blue cover in the same style as Troubleshooters: Black Missions. |
| Flashbacks Redux | Various | 2011 | ISBN 978-1-907702-09-9 | Updated reprint of the the Mandatory Mission Pack and the following adventures for Troubleshooter player characters: Clones in Space, Orcbusters, My First Treason, Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, Me and My Shadow Mark IV, Pre-Paranoia, Vapours Don't Shoot Back, and the short "Code 7" missions from Acute Paranoia. |
| Flashbacks Redux Redux | Various | 2011 | ISBN 978-1-907702-33-4 | Updated reprints of the following adventures for Troubleshooter player characters: Spin Control, Citizens' Guide to Surviving Alpha Complex, My First Treason, Sweep of Unhistory, The Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy, Viva la Revolution!, and The Peoples' Glorious Revolutionary Adventure. |
| Flashbacks Redux Redux - Materials Treasonously Deleted | Various | 2012 | Updated reprints of adventures for Troubleshooter player characters. The adventures were supposed to appear in Flashbacks Redux Redux but were mistakenly left out. | |
| Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Termination Booth, A | Gareth Hanrahan | 2010 | ISBN 978-1-907218-17-0 | A mission for Troubleshooter player characters, who are ordered to escort a a noted traitor to his public execution. The cover incorrectly states that the adventure is "for use with Internal Security", even though the adventure is for Paranoia: Troubleshooters. |
| Great Outdoors, The | Gareth Hanrahan | 2012 | A sourcebook about the world outside of Alpha Complex in Paranoia, and a mission for Troubleshooter player characters. | |
| Mr. Bubbles | Dan Curtis Johnson Dan Curtis Johnson Dan Curtis Johnson is a programmer and comic book writer, known primarily for his creation Dan Curtis Johnson (also DC Johnson, D. Curtis Johnson) is a programmer and comic book writer, known primarily for his creation Dan Curtis Johnson (also DC Johnson, D. Curtis Johnson) is a programmer and... |
2010 | ISBN 978-1-907218-41-5 | A mission for Troubleshooter player characters, involving trouble with e-mail spam E-mail spam Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE... , scrubbots and malware Malware Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior... . Originally published in Paranoia XP as the introductory mission. |
| None of This Is My Fault | Gareth Hanrahan | 2010 | ISBN 978-1-907218-22-4 | Two missions and a minigame for High Programmer player characters: Joy in the Morningcycle where the player characters fight over the services of a famous chef, The Iceman Returneth (Again) in which a member of the Computer's original support staff is found cryogenically frozen (a remake of the 2nd edition The Iceman Returneth from a High Programmer perspective), and the minigame When Things Were Interesting in which each player character manages their own FunBall team. |
| Paranoia Forms Pack | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-85-2 | A collection of Alpha Complex forms. Includes 9 generic forms, 6 forms for Troubleshooters, 6 forms for Internal Security, and 3 forms for High Programmers. Unlike the 2nd edition Form Pack, the forms are presented as a book, not as actual forms in triplicate. |
| Paranoia Games Master's Screen | Gareth Hanrahan | 2010 | ISBN 978-1-906508-67-8 | A game master's screen for Troubleshooters, Internal Security, and High Programmers. |
| Termination Quota Exceeded | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-71-5 | Three missions for Paranoia: Internal Security: Where's the Beef about the theft of a genetically engineered Genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest... organism, The Survivor, in which a team of Troopers ends up in an isolated town inspired by The Prisoner The Prisoner The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former... , and Termination Quota Exceeded, in which a large number of termination vouchers must be used before they expire in a matter of hours. |
| Treason in Word and Deed | Gareth Hanrahan | 2009 | ISBN 978-1-906508-70-8 | Three missions for Paranoia: Troubleshooters: Treason in Word and Deed, in which a team of Troubleshooter characters is locked in a vault for 72 hours of loyalty tests, Heroes of Our Complex, in which a vid-show action hero is assigned to a series of suicide missions along with the player characters, and Little Lost Scoutbot, in which the Troubleshooters are sent outdoors to find a missing bot or its remains. |
Other Game Products
| Title | Author(s) | Pub. Date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paranoia: The Mandatory Card Game | Steve Gilbert | 2005 | N/A | A card game for 3 to 8 players. Won Gamer’s Choice Best Traditional Card Game of the Year, 2005 Origins Awards |
Paranoia-related software
JParanoia is freewareFreeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
fan-made software specifically created for playing Paranoia over the Internet and can be downloaded from the fansite Paranoia Live. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
and consists of a client and a server with built-in features for character and gameplay management. In September 2004, both attracted some mainstream attention when the UK edition of PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
magazine ran an article about Paranoia as one of their "Extra Life" columns and showcased JParanoia and Paranoia Live; coincidentally the publicity came right before the site was poised to celebrate the launch of the new Paranoia edition from Mongoose.
Paranoia was also made into a video game called The Paranoia Complex
The Paranoia Complex
The Paranoia Complex is an unlicensed video game based on the pen and paper role-playing game Paranoia. It was released in 1989 by Magic Bytes for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.-External links:* on World of Spectrum...
released in 1989 by Magic Bytes. It was available for Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
. It took the form of a top-down maze shooter dressed in a Paranoia plot and trappings; reviews of the game from hobby magazines of the period pegged it as mediocre to poor.
Finally, a Paranoia-themed piece of "choose-your-own-adventure" hyperfiction (or gamebook
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
) was published in issue #77 of SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer
The Space Gamer
The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 70s through the mid-80s...
magazine in the late '80s. Since then, various unauthorised automated versions of the story (a Troubleshooter's assignment to undermine the subversive activity known as Christmas) have been circulating through mainframes and PCs, with machine-independent ports to C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
and Inform
Inform
Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7 , a completely new language based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor.- Z-Machine and...
as well as to Adventure Game Toolkit
Adventure Game Toolkit
The Adventure Game Toolkit is software that supports the development of adventure games. It was written in 1987 by David Malmberg. It was a revision on Mark J. Welch's GAGS , which was written in 1985. AGT was produced until 1992, after which time it was released as freeware...
and for Applix
Applix
Applix Inc. was a software company founded in 1983 based in Westborough, Massachusetts that published Applix TM1, a MOLAP database server, and related presentation tools, including Applix Web and Applix Executive Viewer. Together, Applix TM1, Applix Web and Applix Executive Viewer were the three...
, CP/M
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
and the Cybiko
Cybiko
The Cybiko was a hand-held computer introduced in May 2000 designed for teens, featuring its own two-way radio text messaging system. It has over 430 "official" freeware games and applications. Because of the text messaging system, it features a QWERTY Keyboard that was used with a stylus. An MP3...
.
External links
- Mongoose Publishing's Paranoia Homepage
- Paranoia XP Design Blog - A blog where the designers post information about upcoming supplements and discussions of Paranoia-esque occurrences in the real world. The blog archives contain many of the rules which were incorporated into the 2004 edition of Paranoia.
- Paranoia Live - One of the largest and most active Paranoia fansites, home of the JParanoia application for Internet-based Paranoia gameplay.
- CRD Sector - General fan and resource site for Paranoia
- Omega Complex - Blog with Paranoia news and content
- Paranoia LIVE! (MegaconMegaConMegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, gaming, and multi-genre community, occurring between late February and early March at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, USA.An attendee will find over of exhibit...
Paranoia LARP) - comp.sources.unix archive - Unix source code for the Paranoia computer game based on the SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer adventure.