Tag: Paranoia

What Works Inspired Paranoia?

Paranoia is obviously descended from dystopian works such as 1984 and Logan’s Run with black comedy that I have sometimes heard is inspired by Monty Python’s Flying Circus. For a long time I had thought that Paranoia was directly inspired by the film Brazil being that it mixed a dystopian future with black humor, but I realized recently that Paranoia was first released in 1984 with Brazil being released the following year, so it couldn’t have been an inspiration.

Which works inspired which aspects of the Paranoia setting? I’d especially like to see citations from the creators, if they exist.

I realize that Paranoia has been around for over 25 years. If certain works have influenced different editions over time, I’d like to know that too.

Paranoia Play-by-Post GMing Techniques

I am planning on running a play-by-post (pbp) Paranoia Troubleshooters game. Due to the nature of a pbp, its possible that the dramatic tension of a properly run Paranoia game will be lost.

What are ways to increase tension, inter-party distrust, and character information leakage (i.e. players trying to sneak a peak at the "secret" side of the character sheet, or trying to look at other player’s notes to the gm) while retaining the asynchronous aspects of a pbp?

Which published campaigns that melds d&d and paranoia was my DM talking about? [closed]

Years ago I was a player in a game that started as a really intense high action d&d one shot and then within about an hour we learnt that we where in a simulation designed to help us function better as a trouble shooter team.

The effect was made even better by the fact none of us knew we where getting into a paranoia one shot. At the time the GM said he had taken the idea from a published campaign but I can’t find what that might have been.

I know that there is an old adventure Alice through the mirror shades that melds together Paranoia and Cyberpunk. Is there anything similar for d&d or any other role play system? If not has anyone ever tried doing something like this and have any suggestions. I will say our group loves it when I throw together a paranoia adventure for them. My printer not so much, so many forms to print off.

What is Exalted Paranoia Combat?

Having spent some time reading, and occasionally posting on, the official Exalted forum, I’ve come across a number of people talking about “paranoia combat” What does this mean? They also generally seem to view it as bad, why is this?

Another term used in relation to this whose definition would help is “2/7 filter“.

How can I simulate paranoia in a Call of Cthulhu One-Shot?

I’m a new GM to Call of Cthulhu. I want to play a One-Shot where paranoia and hallucinations play a big role (English isn’t my first language, so sorry if some phrases are weird).

My idea is basically to play a mix of “The Thing”, “The Colour Out of Space” and “The Swarm”.

A strange “thing from out of space” lands on an isolated island where the players are trapped (because their boat crashed in a storm). The Thing sends out some kind of pollen or gas which makes animals and humans hallucinate. Pets and wild animals will attack, sea mammals will strand and overall, he environment will change for the worst. The number one goal for the characters is to get away from this evil island. But I want them to believe that they and/or another character is corrupted by the “evil thing”.

My idea is to give them secret notes that will tell them things they saw on other characters or themselves to make them question who they can trust. I thought about maybe also “hinting” to them that they are in a “The Thing”-like setting to set them up for mistrust and simulate the paranoia. Or would the secret notes be enough?
How do I simulate hallucinations and paranoia?

How can a character make use of the Communist Propaganda skill in Paranoia?

I am designing a Paranoia one-shot with pre-generated characters. One of the characters belongs to the Communist secret society. Members of the Communist secret society have the mandatory skill Communist Propaganda. How does/can the character use this in the game?

  • Can it be used against the other players?
  • Is there any way they can use it on NPCs in view of the other players without being immediately gunned down?

It seems that this skill would be relegated to solo interactions with NPCs. Is there any other (amusing) way the player can use it?

For clarity – I am running a classic game, XP version.

Paranoia Rebooted: Is the expectation that every mission in Paranoia begins with new characters?

I’ve run one-shots, I’ve heard the stories, and now I’m about to start a real long-running Paranoia campaign. And there’s one thing I’m not sure of:

Is the expectation that every major adventure begins with a whole set of new clones?

Also…

Is there anything that players can carry from adventure to adventure?

The Player’s Handbook claims that security clearances can be upgraded by spending XP Points… is this false hope? Do players roll up whatever security clearance they need for the specific adventure?

I’d expected that players would try to keep their clones alive through as many adventures as possible; this was implied by the Mission Book that comes in the Red Clearance boxed set. There are three missions, and the characters survive through the three. OK.

However, in the Mission Book 2.0 that comes with Acute Paranoia‘s boxed set, there are three larger adventures; and each one ends poorly for the Troubleshooter team. For example, the end of one mission has…

That’s a pretty terminal ending. The other two aren’t as brutally terminal, but they DO end with the party pretty much screwed.

The adventure in the Mission Book seems to expect a story arc for clones. The arc of missions end…

So, assuming the clones are supposed to have an arc, do you just gen up new clones when the last clone of a party member dies? This implies new clones.

Assuming the clones are supposed to die, what’s the point of Achievements that trigger at the end of the plot?

Is there some sort of Last-Will-And-Testament system that can be used to pass on XP Points and/or loot and/or information between adventures? Or is the expectation that it all gets vented to the Underplex?

How does Body Armor work in MGP Paranoia (2017)?

I’m just starting a series of Paranoia (2017), having not run Paranoia since 5th Edition (a long time ago).

I’m confused about the cards, in particular, ‘Body Armour’. The card states that it has an Action Order of Athletics-2 and is a level 2 item. Following the rules for actions, that suggests that a player can choose to use the armour by playing it as an action, getting an initiative of Athletics-2, and when doing so, they get a bonus of +2 against taking damage.

Does this mean that if a player who has Body Armour doesn’t specifically use it as an action, that it does nothing? That would make for rather odd armour, as you’d have to choose between getting the defence bonus from armour OR performing any other action.

I feel I’m missing something important…?

Can I choose a skill that the person on my left already has, during character creation in Paranoia Red Clearance Edition?

In 2016 Paranoia during character creation player on my left gets the exact opposite of what I choose. If I write +4 in Throw, she gets -4.

I cannot choose a skill I got negative modifier previously to get positive modifier. So if the player on my right got guns for +2, I’m stuck at -2. But what happens in the opposite situation? What if the player on my left has +2 in guns and it is my turn, and I want to get +4 in guns?

  1. She gets -4 to guns, leaving her at -2?
  2. I simply cannot choose guns?
  3. Something else?

If I run a game of Paranoia, will knowing the rules lead to a worse experience if/when I participate as a player in the future?

I received the boxed starter set of Paranoia for Christmas, and find myself in the classic dilemma of tabletop players everywhere: do I want to run this game, or try to find someone else to run it, so I can actually play for once?

In Dungeons and Dragons, experience as the DM is generally very good for your abilities as a player, and experience as a player is generally very good for your skill as a DM. However, Paranoia includes a note in their rules that players should not have any understanding of how the rules actually work.

This, to me, suggests that if I run a game of Paranoia, I’ll be setting myself up for a lesser experience as a player.

Am I overthinking this? Is this rule something I should worry about, or should I repeat to myself it’s just a game, and I should really just relax?