Paranoia - 5th Edition - RPG.pdf

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INFRARED CLEARANCE ... APPROVED FOR USE BY ALL CITIZENS ... READ AND ENJOY
Ed Stark
Design
Greg Farshtey, Daniel Scott Palter
Additional Material
Greg Farshtey
Editing and Development
Stephen Crane, Brian Schomburg
Cover Design
Stephen Crane
Graphic Design and Logo Design
Steven Brown, Brian Schomburg
Graphics
William O'Connor
Cover Illustration
Tim Bobko, Steven Brown
Interior Illustrations
Rob Caswell, James Holloway, Russ Steffens
Additional Interior Illustration
Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, Eric Goldberg
First and Second Edition Design
Greg Costikyan and Ken Rolston
First and Second Edition Development
Ed Bolme, Steve Brown, Stephen Crane, Rich
Hawran, Dave Lemon, Bill Olmesdahl, Brian
Schomburg, Ron Seiden
Playtesting and Advice
Steve Gilbert and Doug Kaufman
The Compleat Troubleshooter
Original
Design
Ed Stark
Troubleshooter
Contribut-
Authorized By
INFRARED CLEARANCE ... APPROVED FOR USE BY ALL CITIZENS ... READ AND ENJOY
Wakey, wakey, friend Citizen! Another daycycle, another chance to Serve the Com-
puter in a fantastically fun and semi-dangerous way! Clear the sleep-drops out of your
eyes and expunge your system of all Nitey-Nites (there's a bucket near your bunk) and get
ready for work!
What's that? You don't know what you're supposed to be doing here? You don't even
know where "here" is? Sigh. Well, that's PLC for you ... ask for a "new clone" to work in
the commissary and that's what they send me — a
new
clone.
What do you mean, who's a clone? You are! That's right, Buck-O — thanks to your
friend and mine, the Computer, we've discarded all that messy "breeding" stuff and gone
right to the full-grown human model. I believe you are an XT109-4f7GOoof-BAAL model
6 ... yeah, I saw one of you come through a while ago. Hope you do better than the last one
— that sorry clone went through a six-pack in less than a daycycle. Instead of serving food,
that clone ended up being it! Ha!
Oooh, I see you still haven't processed all your Nutritional FoodLyk Product yet ...
maybe you better stay near that bucket for now. Don't want to mess up the floor any more,
now do you? Untidiness makes the Computer ... upset, don't you know.
What's
the
Computer!?
Boy-O, you must have lost your MemoMax sampler or
something. It's a good thing I woke you up and not one of your supervisors ... I've got time
to answer a few questions. But don't make me late for my workcycle; that'll get us both
in trouble.
Say ... I've got an idea. Why don't you plug into this MemJack? It's got all the
information you're allowed to know on it, and you won't have to worry about asking me
any awkward questions. Go ahead ... plug it right into your ear and —
ZZZZAAAAPPPPP!
Tsk, tsk. Electrocuted. Gotta get that thing fixed ...
As can be seen from the preceding passage, getting even a little information
about
Paranoia
is a little more tricky than in most game settings. Not
everyone is willing to answer your questions or help you out... in fact, most
clones would like to see you run over by a transtube because they can breathe
a sigh of relief and relax for a moment, stating the Alpha Complex motto of
survival:
"Thank the Computer it didn't happen to me!"
There is only one place where you can safely obtain information about
Alpha Complex and the world
of Paranoia
and that's here, in the
Paranoia:
Fifth Edition
rule book. Read this book, learn from it, and learn how to live
with the information you find here. Not all of it is pleasant, not all of it is
safe ... but it should be fun, nonetheless.
INFRARED CLEARANCE ... APPROVED FOR USE BY ALL CITIZENS ... READ AND ENJOY
By this, I don't mean "Don't share your book." While I would prefer it if you forced all
your friends who want to play
Paranoia
to go out and buy their own copies of this book
(hey, I might get a raise if they bought a
lot
of these books), that's not what I had in mind.
What I mean is, don't share
information.
There are two reasons for this.
The simple
Paranoia
reason for not sharing information is this: If they
know more than you do, you won't survive as long. That's a fact. In other
roleplaying games, I hear that players and characters work together toward
a common goal. That would be true
of Paranoia
as well ... if the common goal
were the eradication of the entire party. You see, in
Paranoia,
it isn't "us against
the world" — it's more "me against you, and if the world gets in the way, we'll tell it to
bugger off while we kill each other."
Not everyone is supposed to know everything. In other roleplaying games, players like
to "bone up" on every rule they can, hoping to get that last little bit of advantage out of
every situation. How often have you sat around the gaming table and heard:
"But it says in the rules I get +15 for flank
and
+20 for rear — I should have hit!"
"It says
right here
that if I allocate my [deleted for trademark reasons] and
complete my escapade, I get to rule the world!"
"I rolled a twenty! That means I cut the monster's head off, get all the treasure, and
rescue the princess as well! Yay!"
And, as a gamemaster, how often have you wished to just say, "No — I'm sorry; you
APPROVED FOR USE BY ALL CITIZENS ... READ AND ENJOY
failed. Your character has a fifty-ton weight dropped on his head, and he dies with his
intestines forcing their way up his esophagus and out his mouth."
Well, maybe not in those
exact
words, but you get the idea.
The rules of
Paranoia
are sacred and should be known only to the gamemaster.
Knowledge of the rules is treason, and any player who exhibits knowledge of the rules —
beyond what the gamemaster has graciously allowed him or her to know — is subject to
termination.
Whoops. I mean, the
character
is subject to termination. The distinction is hard to
make sometimes in
Paranoia.
Generally, if a player says something in a
Paranoia
game
session, it is assumed his character said it or did it in a game session.
So, if a player starts to chime in with, "But in the rules it says that a roll of 1 is an
automatic success —" the gamemaster can chime in with:
"I'm sorry, Citizen, what did you say?"
The player looks confused, then continues. "On page 122, it says that —"
"Page 122 of what, Citizen?"
The player looks a little more confused, brings out his copy of the rules. Other players
edge away from him visibly. "Right here, it says —"
"ZAP!
Mark off a clone, friend Citizen. Unauthorized possession of confidential
information is a treasonous offense." The gamemaster takes the rulebook out of the
player's limp hand, smiling helpfully. "I'll just keep this over here until the end of the game
session."
In so many roleplaying games, it seems like it is "the players versus the gamemaster,"
and the gamemaster is outnumbered. Not only that, but the gamemaster is expected to
be "fair" and "play by the rules," even when the player characters are way too tough for
an adventure. And, when the gamemaster designs a challenging adventure and a few
favorite characters get limbs or heads hacked off, the gamemaster has to put up with sighs
and whining for the next several weeks — unless he caves in right away and brings the
poor, dead sucker back to life.
In
Paranoia,
the gamemaster could be seen as "against" the players. Certainly, the
odds are stacked against the player characters. Everything they have, everything they do
is under the watchful eye of the Computer, and, if the gamemaster so decides, he can kill
them off at any time. Not only that, but players who want to survive must learn to sacrifice
each others' characters to the bloody grip of the gamemaster — "better you than me" is
definitely the
Paranoia
motto.
If you have a sense of humor, it can be hysterical. If you are a player who feels he always
has to win or at least look good, you better rethink your whole gaming attitude. In
Paranoia,
you're
supposed
to lose — but the style with which you lose determines how
much fun you, and the other players, have.
To help you get into the "mood"
of Paranoia,
this text has been compiled with some
insider notes and comments that may give you some idea of what you will be dealing with
in the world
of Paranoia.
The following are brief descriptions of some of the commentators
who may chime in at any given moment with "helpful hints" and comments on the text.
This is the symbol for the Computer, the Big C. It is the official ruler
and still champion of Alpha Complex, so you better listen to what It says.
Of course, It can get Its wires crossed or Its chips shuffled now and again,
so be careful.
Roy-G-BIV is supposed to be your average clone-on-
the-transtube. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. All we know
is he's way too cheerful and outgoing for a citizen of his
security clearance ... especially for someone who is
daring to speak his opinions aloud.

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