Paranoia

A Role-Playing Game
of a Darkly Humorous Future

Reviewed John T. Sapienza, Jr.

By Daniel Seth Gelber, Greg Costikyan, Eric Goldberg, and Ken Rolston
West End Games, Inc., 251 West 30th St., New York, NY 10001
Release Date: August, 1984
Catalog No. 12001
Price: $15.00
Complexity: Beginner
Solitaire Suitability: Low
Rating: *****

"Logan runs through Brave New 1984 -- laughing" is a good summary of this game, for anyone familiar with the science-fiction novels Logan's Run, Brave New World and 1984. All three feature totalitarian societies of the future, as does Paranoia. All three novels also feature pursuit and fear of detection, but Paranoia emphasizes the humor of the situation. It's one of the few games I've played where the gamer has a good chance of laughing at the way his character is killed.

This boxed game comes with a 24-page Adventure Handbook with removable map/cover, an errata sheet, and two pre-inked 20-sided dice. A useful plus: the Player Handbook is available for sale separately for $4.00 for those who want extras.

Production quality is high. Color is used to make charts easy to read, and to spice up the booklets. The artwork has a comic-book look, that fits the flavor of the game nicely One aspect of the humor of the game is that some interior drawings appear in more than one book-but with different captions. Virtually all the information you need to play the game is available in chart form in the back of the three books. A Gamemaster screen is scheduled for release in early 1985.

Right off, let me say this game is fun, it's also-funny The designers clearly don't take themselves seriously, and invite the reader and player to join in the fun. I've played Paranoia once and refereed it once, and I'm convinced it will be enjoyable to play for a long time to come. If there's any reservation, it's this: I don't think the subject matter lends itself well to long-term, twice-a-week play because of the high death rate and general hysteria built into the game. However, it makes an excellent change of pace from whatever role-playing game you play seriously.

Paranoia will be in the running for the best role-playing game released in 1984. West End Games has chosen classic literature, subject matter, added its own treatment, and developed mechanics that don't get in the way of evoking the atmosphere of the situation. Whats more, everything is presented in easy-to-learn ways that are delightful. The design and execution are excellent, and the game is so much fun to play it tends to produce a lot of in-jokes in the players' conversations outside of the game-a sure sign the game is a "grabber."

The Player Handbook quickly introduces the player to the outlines of role-playing games, and die nature of this one in particular in a few pages, you learn enough about life in Alpha Complex to play a character who has never been anywhere else, in part through a short example showing what the game is like to play.

Even experienced gamers will enjoy learning the game from the way these sections are written. You're then taken step by step through the process of creating a character.

Much of this is quickly done by rolling dice and consulting tables in the back of the book, although the proper choice of skills takes some thinking out of your options. A blank character sheet is provided here for copying and theres a sample solitaire scenario to introduce you to the world of Paranoia. By this time, you should be able to understand the advice that begins and ends the Player Handbook: "Stay Alert! Trust No One! Keep Your Laser Handy."

The heart of the game is in the Gamemaster Handbook, with information that's kept secret from the players' characters. it includes data omitted from the Player Handbook concerning details of mutant powers that may he encountered in the world, of secret societies formed by traitors, of the true history of the way things got into their present mess, of skills so treasonous that they're not listed in the Player Handbook, and other joys.

Society is rigidly divided into security clearance levels, and the referee has guidelines as to what information should be available at what level. The upshot is there's a lot of information hidden, mainly in computer banks, that might save the Player characters" (PC) lives but they don't have the necessary clearance to access it. In the case of certain categories of information, its treasonous even to ask for them.

The "paranoia" referred to in the game title is that of The Computer that runs Alpha Complex, it believes society is full of traitors, spies, commies, mutants, and members of secret societies. As it happens, The Computer is entirely correct, and the PCs all fit more than one of these categories. The question is not whether you're guilty, but whether you can avoid getting caught and executed by members of your own party during an adventure. "Do unto others before they can do unto you" is the character philosophy here.

The trick to running a successful game is to foster suspicion, fear, and ignorance among the characters, while keeping players entertained as you do it. The Gamemaster Handbook has much good advice on how to do this. One of the things that distinguishes Paranoia is the way it teaches players and the referee how to make the game enjoyable.

Combat is inevitable, but Paranoia is not a war game, and combat mechanics are simplified to keep combat dramatic rather than calculated. Results are descriptive: a character is either in good shape, stunned, wounded (partially disabled), incapacitated, killed, or vaporized.

Players of "superhero" games will recognize the flavor. The point is to keep it lively and keep it amusing. The results of attempted actions are entirely subject to the referees discretion and sense of the dramatically appropriate.

The rules are relatively simple, but they, achieve the desired result of maintaining atmosphere, and they're complete enough for a novice to understand with little study.

This is a world of deadly weapons, used freely to destroy traitors. To make the kill-rate this produces acceptable, characters are created in sets of six clones. Whenever a character "buys the farm." The Computer promotes the next clone from a dull desk job to the exciting role of Trouble-shooter, and you're ready to continue play. There may be a delay to allow for arrival of the replacement so as to discourage totally foolish behavior by the players. Since casualty rates are typically in the 50%-100% range, you don't invest a lot of personal involvement in your characters.

Skill and planning play much the same role in Paranoia as in other role-playing games. Assess the situation well, and you may not only live through your assignment but come back to receive the commendation of The Computer, some extra money, and maybe even a promotion to a higher security clearance.

On the other hand, you're just as likely to be killed by another Troubleshooter, because life for a Troubleshooter is dangerous. A good referee will keep the game interesting to play- whether you manage to hold onto your first character's first clone, or go through characters that die like flies laughing all the way. The Adventure Handbook contains a good multi-session starting scenario, which includes pre-generated characters to copy and hand out to the players.

Paranoia also contains innovative mechanics, a fact thats slightly disguised by the simplicity of the rules. Skills are arranged in "skill trees," with sets that are learned by taking a general course in the area, then a sub-specialty course, and so on, down the tree's branches of skills, Other games have grouped skills, but Paranoia formalizes the concept of prerequisite skills in a definite series that must be followed.

I expect to see later games from West End Games, and perhaps other companies, that will apply this concept to more complex role-playing games, thus giving the hobby a more realistic approach to learning skills.

To sum up, Paranoia is a game for anyone who enjoys role-playing games. It gives the dedicated fantasy, science-fiction, or superhero role-player a chance to switch to something completely different, where the traditions or expectations of other types of games are stood on their heads, and where the horror of sudden death becomes high comedy.

The verdict? Highly recommended.

Paranoia Scenario: Massacre in D-18
Sample Game Overview: Paranoia

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© Copyright 1999 by Dana Lombardy.
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