I’m interested in starting a game of Paranoia for some friends. This would be the latest edition. I’ve never run this game before, and I see plenty of online discourse about how to stoke intrigue and backstabbing betteen PCs. What has confused me when reading about the game (Core book, but also online comments) is how the GM is encouraged to mix in-game and out-of-game actions/consequences. Eg: In the rulebook, it gives an example of the GM removing XP from a PC because their player IRL asked a question that in-game would be considered treason. Opposite examples would be when a PC has to fill out a crazy requisition form to get their equipment, so the GM prints out a sheet and makes the player fill it out under a time constraint.

I’ve always enjoyed games where the skills/knowledge of players IRL is not reflected in-game. I always felt that if your character is a world-class orator, then the ability of a player to RP that oration should be inconsequential (except for fun, obviously) to what happens in the game.

I would consider my players trustworthy. I can be reasonably sure they’re more interested in a good story than rules lawyering or metagaming. Can I run a Paranoia game according to these principles, or should I look at another system?

  • The Bard in GreenAEnglish
    3•2 days ago

    it gives an example of the GM removing XP from a PC because their player IRL asked a question that in-game would be considered treason.

    I’ve run lots of Paranoia (most recently last weekend for my 15 year old son and his friends) and I would never do this. It’s perfectly adequate (and makes much more sense) to have the Computer (and the other players) threaten the character about their treasonous behavior (the other PCs WILL just do this).

    I have never once had a Paranoia game last long enough for the characters to earn XP and level up. My last game ended with the two surviving PCs, on their last clones, being captured and “reeducated” by commies (one clone was permanently blind too, after two other players used a device on him that triggered his “laser eyes” mutant power on super over charge… the funny thing was, he wasn’t even the intended target… they were trying to hit the PC who’s mutant power was “making things explode” and they misguessed who that was). The commie PC absolutely won that game, though she explosively sacrificed her last clone in the process. From character creation to this took about 6 hours.

    so the GM prints out a sheet and makes the player fill it out under a time constraint.

    I have absolutely done this. Here’s some other ideas from my games for you.

    • “Reward” the characters for good behavior and punish them for bad behavior with drugs (happiness is mandatory and chemically enforced). Bonus if the drug dispenser has been hacked or sabotaged and the drugs do something other than what the computer thinks they do. Failure to take your medication is treason.

    • I ran a game once that included a Pokemon GO mechanic… the computer had created a “training simulator” where the object was to catch commies. You could play it on your com device and various “commies” would spawn around the world as they were playing. The Computer assumed that whoever had the highest score was the best at catching commies, so that clone was automatically promoted to team leader… giving the players a huge incentive to drop what they were doing and try to catch high value commies, even at stupidly inconvenient and dangerous times.

    • I ran a game where the characters were all Green clearance and were part of an “elite” team of troubleshooters called Team Eagle Justice. However, 1) Team Eagle Justice were actually just actors, who do a patriotic “reality” holoshow to inspire the citizens of Alpha Complex. 2) Team Eagle Justice had actually just been lured into an ambush by Commies and massacred and their clone vats had been sabotaged. So the Computer just promoted a bunch of random Infrared clearance clones to Green and made them into the new Team Eagle Justice. A bunch of secret societies took advantage of the situation to hack the Computer and have their own agents put on Team Eagle Justice. Mayhem ensued on live holovision.

    I also usually throw in some home brewed secret societies.
    Examples:

    • In the Pokemon game, I had a secret society called the Trainers who’s goal was to “collect” members of other secret societies and “train them” to unlock advanced mutant powers (highly treasonous).

    • In the game I recently ran for my son, there were two PCs who were members of the Philosophers and the Historians (they also encountered the NPCs Arist-O-TEL, Sock-R-TIS, Xen-O-Fon and Herod-R-TUS). These two societies were both trying to get an ancient text… but they were also fighting a brutal gang war between each other.

    • In one game I ran for a friend’s birthday, I had a secret society called the Cultists who were trying to summon Cthulu from the nutrient vats. Of course, this was what actually ended up happening and the party went insane and died. (I assume IIA sector is now just permanently off limits).

    Also, remember that knowledge of the rules is treason (as is knowledge of the existence of Role Playing Games). That means the rules are what you say they are and if a player wants to debate them with you or rules lawyer, that player is committing treason and treason is punishable by death. That means you can run Paranoia however you want. The important thing is having fun. Paranoia is silly and goofy. Play it that way.