Category Archives: Paranoia

Paranoia One Shot Post Mortem

Paranoia, post mortem, RPG

It actually happened. It actually bloody happened.

After a couple of delays I finally got Paranoia to the table.

Since I started DMing (which isn’t long) this is the first none D&D rpg I’ve run.

So how did it go?

Firstly the players had fun. Which is the important bit.

I used the introductory adventure [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE] from the Mission Book that came with the Paranoia Ultraviolet edition.

Earlier in the day I went to the library and printed out the pregen characters, and the adventure itself (despite having it in the book).

I have been singing the praise of this adventure because it really does hold your hand through running your first Paranoia game. This adventure is probably my second published adventure that I’ve run. And for me it was quite fun.

It was quite refreshing to have so much less behind the screen. Compare what I have in the photo above to the ones I share from my D&D sessions.

At the start of the adventure you are told to do the following, “Pass them the Players Handbook open to page 14 and tell them not to read it.” Not once did the players touch it! That really did surprise me.

Combat was interesting. Very different to others. It’s real time for starters! Players have five seconds to select an action card. Fail to do so and you get no turn that round. It’s also very much simpler than other systems. I kinda liked it.

I don’t do voices. So there was no computer voice. Plus I don’t feel I hammed it up enough as the computer or even Roz. So my roleplay needs improving.

We did complete the adventure in a single session which I wasn’t sure we would do. So that made it a great one shot on that front.

The overall opinion was fun was had, and keen to play again.

Paranoia One Shot Prep #3

Paranoia, RPG, session planning

Short post, and no warning!

I had to cancel the session for this evening. Plus also the D&D session tomorrow.

Life as we all know has a way of throwing a spanner in the works.

Which it did Wednesday when I got home from work.

I had just walked through my front door, when mum called out from the conservatory (her side).

She had just fallen over hitting the wall on her way down.

After lifting mum back onto her feet, and checking her over. I told her off for not using her walking frame.

Her actual injuries were some bruising above an eye, couple minor cuts above her lip, and a badly bruised finger.

There appeared to be no concussion or broken bones. So it was making sure mum rested and took things easy. Whilst keeping a close eye on her.

Luckily I had Thursday off.

But to give mum time to recover I thought it best to give her a break from looking after two very demanding little fur balls this weekend.

The bruising is starting to go down. Especially on the finger.

So there we have it. No role playing this weekend. I do have to set a new date for the Paranoia session. The D&D will roll over to our next scheduled session.

Paranoia One Shot Prep #2

Paranoia, RPG, session planning

Hi there.

Your security clearance may not be high enough to read this post.

SPOILER ALERT TO Troubleshooters! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming one shot. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

The introductory adventure [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE] really does hold your hand. It’s been a joy to reread it.

I’ve dug out the cards I’ll require for this introductory adventure. Which as far as I can tell reading through the adventure just the four item cards that it lists. Plus the action card deck. Oh and the all important “Number One Troubleshooter” card.

As the photo above shows I’ve also located and put to one side the rather lovely chunky computer dice that I got in the last Paranoia Kickstarter. These are so much more nicer than the original puny red computer die that came in the original Paranoia Kickstarter.

I had entertained for a day or two the idea of creating characters for the players at the start of the session. With a longer session I very well might have gone with it. I love how the whole process is a group activity giving each player the chance to influence the creation of the other players characters, creating tension and links that hopefully carry over into the game in a safe, healthy way!

So instead I’m going with the pregens from the Mission Book. There are five in the book. Naturally I’m going to have to nip into the library to print these off. I will give the players the opportunity to spend some moxie and/or clones to improve the stats of their character.

Sorry no great insights or anything interesting. My security clearance doesn’t allow me to share anything more!

Paranoia One Shot Prep #1

Paranoia, RPG, session planning

In two weeks, well more like a week and a half time, if all goes to plan, I should be playing my first game of Paranoia as the GM.

But before I go any further I need to say the following.

SPOILER ALERT TO Troubleshooters! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming one shot. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

For this one shot session I’ll be running the introductory adventure [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE] from the Mission book that makes up my copy of the Ultraviolet edition of the Paranoia RPG Kickstarter I backed.

Part of my prep for the one shot will be to rewatch the MCDM YouTube video of them playing the introductory adventure.

MCDM plays Paranoia

Followed by rereading the adventure itself.

I have read the adventure.

But it was many moons ago.

The one thing I will say about it (from memory) was how “friendly” it was towards new GMs. It really does hold your hands and talks you through the rules at the appropriate spots. I really do wish other systems had something like this. However will I feel this way about the adventure once I’ve run it in anger?

I think that’s enough for now. More soon.

Quest Models

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, DM/GM Tips, Eberron, genesys, Judge Dredd, Paranoia, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, Uncategorized, W.O.I.N.

This recent video by Sly Flourish is one of many short DM advice videos that he has released recently. They are rather nifty, and brilliant for those with busy lives.

The reason I’ve embed the video and talking about it here is that I think this advice is pretty universal to which ever RPG system you are playing.

The three common quest models Sly briefly covers in the above video are:

  • Kill the boss quest
  • Recover the artifact
  • Rescue somebody

Sly points out that it’s the flavour that makes these quest models interesting. To aid in that flavour I think the adventuring party needs a patron of some kind. Whether that patron is a crime lord, guild leader, a fixer, wealthy, powerful, a corporation (I think you get the idea) they are a handy plot device to use to introduce one of the quest models above, and not just away to give the party useful equipment.

For instance they could have to eliminate a rival crime lord, steal a top secret device/plans from a rival corporation, or rescue hostages.

This isn’t the first time that Sly has talked about quest models. In the video below he talks about “The Three-of-Five Collection Quest”.

“The Three-of-Five Collection Quest” is a variation of “recover the artifact” quest. Sly also lists three other quest models within the above video, the “heist”, “kill the lieutenant” and “destroy the thing”. But in reality to the initial list from the quest models video we are only adding one new quest to our tool box.

  • Kill some-one
  • Recover the thing/heist
  • Rescue somebody
  • Destroy the thing

I would argue a heist is a variation of the recover the thing quest model, if not the same thing. I don’t see any difference between the “kill the boss” and “kill the lieutenant” quests. They are basically go kill some-one for some reason. So I think count as one.

UPDATE: adding a fifth quest model escort/protect someone/thing.

With these handful of quest models it should be easy to come up with quests for your campaign or even at a push on the fly.

Oh while I’m talking RPGs. It struck me as I was binge watching Leverage for the third or fourth time that the Leverage team is the perfect party make up for a cyberpunk (Red or Android) party.

I’m not sure what the mastermind role would map to, but they are basically the brains of the group. But every other role maps I believe. At a push this could be a D&D party too. What do you think?

Green level pledge arrived

Paranoia, RPG

Just under a week ago the Project Infinite Hole Kickstarter for the Paranoia RPG dropped through my letterbox.

It was a very pleasant surprise as I was not expecting it so soon after fulfillment had started. It was the very next day. At I best I thought it’d be about a week before I’d receive it. But that quick! Mind blown.

However after opening up the package and checking the contents, I spotted one issue. I had two Thriftylist decks and was missing the Disaster deck. A quick email exchange with Mongoose Publishing and a “replacement” Disaster deck was going to be put in the post (it turned up this morning).

Contents of the Green level pledge

Basically this Paranoia Kickstarter goes into depth on the R&D department. Introducing new equipment, NPC’s, locations and ways to combine items.

Obviously there are new missions, with four iirc making up a campaign! Yep a Paranoia campaign. Apparently this is a first.

As we ease into meeting up in real life I’m hoping I can get enough interest to run one or two Paranoia sessions once they can be safely done. I’m also hoping I can get one or two of the other RPGs to the table too.

Gifts from friend computer

Paranoia, RPG

Having backed the now fully funded Kickstarter Project Infinite Hole Paranoia project recently. (Which by the way is “…a sourcebox full of tasty tidbits from Alpha Complex’s most thought-provoking service group, Research & Design! And yes, it will provoke a lot more than just thoughts.”)

I was reminded that there was some card decks that I didn’t have for the game. Ok there are three adventures I don’t have either. But they will come at some point.

At this moment in time I’ve prioritised getting the card decks. My thinking is these will add the most to game play per buck (once I get the game to the table with some unsuspecting troubleshooters).

Out of the four available I went with the RAM deck, and the Perfectly Safe Gear deck.

The RAM deck has 50 cards containing words of wisdom from friend computer, a blank card to create your own words of wisdom for, and a how to use card.

As you can see from the example cards above the top half of the card has “humorous” inspiring words of wisdom from friend computer. A banner across the middle with the cards name/title. And the lower half describing the actions the group has to complete, some maybe be triggered by particular events during game play.

They look fun, and will certainly shake things up. I like the idea of handing these out as a “reward” for a player doing something good.

“Well done troubleshooter. Friend computer has decided to share some sage advice with you.” And then hand them a random card from the deck. Obviously if the troubleshooter doesn’t act on that advice it’s obvious they are a traitor and should be dealt with severely.

The Perfectly Safe Gear deck is all about gear that troubleshooters can be allocated to “help” complete their mission.

In the deck you get 50 new pieces of perfectly safe equipment, a blank card to add your own designed piece of perfectly safe gear to, plus a how to use card.

What can I say? More equipment, some more useful than others. There are bound to be some WTF am I meant to do with this? moments.

The remaining two decks for me to get are the Mutant Explosion and More [redacted] Societies. Which as their names suggest add more secret societies and mutants to the game.

Paranoia Friend Computer

Paranoia, RPG

I may have started repeating myself. Forgive me if I have I’m getting old and my memory isn’t what it used to me.

In the past when talking about the Paranoia RPG I may have mentioned possible influences to use when as the GM you play friend computer.

For me there are four famous or infamous computers that come to mind that can be channeled when playing the computer.

Those being GlaDOS from the Portal games, Eddie the computer from Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Max Headroom from the tv series and the most obvious of all Hal9000 from 2001.

Choosing any of them as the inspiration for playing friend computer would be cool. But even cooler mashing up the personalities during a session. I like the idea of a multiple personality computer. You could use a die roll to choose which one makes an appearance when friend computer has to interact with the troubleshooters.

I think having a sheet or two of appropriate quotes for which one(s) you are using as inspiration is a good idea. For instance this website has all the lines of dialog for GlaDOS. Go0gle is your friend here, as is watching/reading the source material.

If you are a patreon of Matt Colville you can get a pdf of the computer dialog he wrote for the introductory mission [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE]. Which was by the way inspired by Eddie the computer. I’ve also included the streamed play through below. There aren’t many streamed play throughs of RPGs I can watch, but this is one of the few I can.

Mongoose publishing have an official product the RAM deck that is full of wisdom from friend computer for a GM to share with the troubleshooters.

Which ever way you decide to play friend computer, wherever you get inspiration from, it’s an opportunity to have fun.

GM/DM Screens

Alien, D&D, Judge Dredd, Paranoia, RPG

To use a DM/GM screen or not to use a DM/GM screen? That is the question.

There’s not a right or wrong answer. It’s all done to your personal preferences.

Some prefer not to use them, and have everything in the open. Others like using them and keeping an element of surprise.

I fall in the later camp. I like them.

For me a GM/DM screen does the following. It firstly gives me access to handy tables that I use and refer to during a session. Secondly the side the players see with it’s art work helps set the tone etc for the campaign/session. Thirdly it allows the DM/GM organise and have things like miniatures, props, maps ready without being seen by the players and keep that element of surprise. Finally if you want to roll dice without the players seeing the result, and thus fudge the result if need be (but the discussion whether that’s a good thing or not is a whole different post all by itself.) I also like that a screen gives me somewhere to clip NPC character cards, or pictures relevant to the current encounter/location.

My personal preference is that a screen is landscape. It gives you the benefits I talked about above, without totally feeling you are cut off from the players.

It’s possible to purchase (or make) a generic DM/GM screen. These are blank screens that you can attach your own sheets of paper to that contain the exact information that you require. These are a bit more expensive than the dedicated screens you get for particular systems. I haven’t gone this route yet.

Naturally I have built up a small collection of screens for different RPGs that I own (which I may or may not have played yet). What follows is a brief look at the ones I own and my thoughts about them.

Official D&D DM Screen – This is a landscape screen that has four sections. The art the players see is cool, but generic D&D (image above ‘borrowed’ off the Internet). I really like this screen. For a noob DM like me it’s perfect. There is a lot of information on the DM side, such as status conditions, available actions, encounter distances (a very very handy table), DC levels, plus lots more. Information that you will use a lot during a session. I really do like this screen a lot.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (GoS) DM Screen – When WotC release a campaign book usually a third party like Galeforce 9 get the licence to produce a DM Screen for it. This is by said licensee for the GoS book. Like the official screen this is landscape with four sections. The information naturally contained on this screen is geared towards running a GoS campaign or one that involves a lot of sea travel. We have tables for generating random ships, encounters on open water and hazards at sea. I love the art on the player side, and think it sets the tone and atmosphere really well for a sea based adventure. In fact to date that has been my main use for the screen! I have this in front of the official screen when the characters are at sea.

In an ideal perfect world I’d have this screen up along side the official screen.

Judge Dredd and Worlds of 2000 A.D. RPG GM Screen – this is a four section portrait screen. So it stands taller than the previous two mentioned and is not as wide. The player side of the screen has some great comic book art on it that definitely sets the tone, especially if playing judges. I like that it also has a handful of tables that players would find useful having access to for sentencing, and for their standard equipment the lawgiver and lawmaster. I’m conflicted with this screen. I feel that the publisher wasted a section by focusing on character creation. For me I’d preferred if this was replaced with information on creating dice pools and combat. Something a GM would use a lot more than the character creation information. I like the table listing NPCs and the page in the rulebook they can be found. The on patrol table is handy to have for generating on the fly crimes for players to handle. But the whole character creation stuff keeps niggling me from making this a must buy for the RPG. I hope that if they release a Strontium Dog version of this that they don’t make the same mistake.

Paranoia RPG – another portrait screen with four sections. This is a different screen to the others. The player side is designed to be used by the players! You actually need to keep the sheet of paper that comes with the screen as it has instructions and a table for when the players do use the screen. It’s very thematic. There are lots of tables on the GM side covering the cost of equipment, rewards, security levels, etc. Not the prettiest screen by far. Very practical with a fun player interactive element. I feel that alone is in keeping with the tone of the game. I think the only way this could be improved is to have a table of computer speak.

Alien RPG – my newest screen. This one is a landscape screen with three sections. So once again this is not as wide as the D&D screens. The player side art just oozes Alien, suspense and horror. The information on the GM side looks useful, there is the panic roll table, critical injuries, and other tables relevant to combat. There isn’t much I can say apart from this is a nice GM screen, and I’m glad I have it for the RPG.

There we have it, I hope you found this a helpful post.