This Week’s post looks at a veritable RPG classic.
I've always been aware of Paranoia, but I only played it for the first time at Grogmeet in December.
Its reputation as a silly game of backstabbing and betrayal sounded perfect for a convention one-shot.
This was true! I had a lot of fun playing it, but it stuck with me more than I expected. I've been hoovering up what I can from the new Mongoose edition, the older XP-edition, and any other scraps I can find around, with one eye on running a one-shot when my Traveller campaign wraps up. I'll probably use the core system of the latest edition with bits and pieces pulled from XP. For those in the know, I'm leaning somewhere between straight and classic styles.
Players-conflict is all good fun, but I think it works best when the objectives are carefully designed. It reminds me of Matrix Games, and the importance of setting clear objectives that drive conflict with the rest of the group, but still allow opportunities for cooperation... or at least conspiring.
This is al turned up to eleven with Paranoia because you're likely to start the game with... well, up to six objectives each depending on how you look at it!
Let's see them one-by-one, working our way down the Iceberg of Secrecy. They differ by edition, but here's the configuration I'm working with.
Troubleshooter Job
The only objective that's shared by the whole group. It could be as simple as "deliver a sandwich to this address" or something bigger like "scout out this lost sector and deliver a full report". At first you might think this is the most important objective, but I really see it as a way to shove the group together and kick off the game. There's so much going on beneath the surface that I think this one can be anything that pushes the group into interesting locations.Mandatory Bonus Duty
Everybody in the team gets a special role, from equipment officer to hygiene officer. The member least qualified for any of them is declared Team Leader instead. The group know each other's MBDs, so it gives some immediate surface-level tension. They're all-responsibility, zero-power, but the Computer will assess your performance during the debrief.Experimental Gear
R&D are always looking for opportunities to test their creations, so everybody gets one experimental device that they should put through a proper field-test when the opportunity arises. Potentially useful, likely disappointing, often devastating.Service Group Mandate
The other players know which Service Group (essentially government department) you belong to, but not necessarily the special Mandate you've been handed as their representative. A member of the Power Service might need to recall all batteries from unused devices to recycle their energy, while an Internal Security member might be tipped off to Communist activity in the area you're headed to. These are generally legal, so can be shared with the group, but you never know if one of them is working against you. Maybe it's best to keep it to yourself.Secret Society Mission
Every character also belongs to a secret society. These are completely illegal, so you definitely don't want the other players to know! In addition to offering the chance to call in favours, you'll be given a secret mission. If you're a member of Haxxors you might need to copy a virus from a rampaging bot you've been advised to avoid, or if you're a Free Enterprise spiv you might have a case of stolen pharmaceuticals to sell-on. Yeah, selling stuff is illegal, so be careful. These missions are especially fun when designed to conflict with each other.Mutant Power
As if that wasn't enough, you each get a mutant power. Being an unregistered mutant is treasonous in Alpha Complex, but registered mutants often have it even worse, so keep it to yourself. You can just ignore this power and never use it, but I like the powers that tempt you into using them just this once.Winning the Game
Most RPGs say there's no such thing as "winning the game" but I absolutely plan to count up how many of these objectives each player has achieved and declare a winner.No reward beyond the victory, but what a victory it could be!
Elsewhere
The Lost Bay Podcast invited me back to talk about Mythic Bastionland
Hexed Press has a very nice, simple reaction system combining the results of two d6 rolls.
RPG Backpack has recorded a very thorough review of Mythic Bastionland, with some very kind words.
Coming Soon
Over on Patreon I think about what I want from an RPG book.
My favourite RPG books do their work in three distinct stages:
GRAB: Get the reader excited to prep and play the game, and make it an easy sell to players.
PREP: Give the GM what they need to get ready to play.
PLAY: Make it easy to play the game once you get it to the table.
In short, they help the person who bought the book to make the game happen.
Expect the full post here and on the blog next week.
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Loving your dive into Paranoia! The game has always interested me but I've never got it to table. I know some GMs use similar secret-missions for players in games like Mothership, and I think they'd work well in other games like Swyvers too to foster that sense of... err... paranoia. Good write up!
Paranoia made a big splash when my friends and I were devouring RPGs in the 80s. But the game never satisfied me. I never GMed the game and as a player I always felt left out of the joke, as if the game was incredibly entertaining for the GM but all that humor was largely obscured from the players. It was as though we were expected to bicker and backstab like puppets for the GMs amusement.
Of course, teenage role-players in those early days of RPGs didn't have resources to understand what makes a game fun or not, and your experience is much greater, but I offer this anecdote by way of advice. Really think hard about the player experience, what they are allowed to know (because conventional Paranoia scenarios hide a lot from the players) and how to make it fun or satisfying for them.
I'm interested to hear how it turns out for you!