Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Judge Holden · Seasoned Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 366

I've never played this RPG before and I'm a pretty old gamer. I remember seeing the ads for it in Dragon when I was still playing AD&D.

Searching the internet for Sci-Fi (I was going to Savage Star Frontiers) I came across alot of webpages that really love the Paranoia RPG. There seem to be alot of hard core fans - but I want to hear from the unbiased.

Searching our forums I have never seen anything Savaged for Paranoia other than a nice character sheet. So I'm wondering is this a really immature game like Toon or Ghostbusters? I've tried to play 'zany' type games before and they always fall flat on their faces.

My group loves to joke about and occasionally follow through on back stabbing each other. As a GM I take a certain amount of perverse pleasure in seeing the PCs bicker amongst themsleves. But an entire game based on betrayal seems like it might not work.

Anyone have any thoughts?
_________________
I once shot a man just to watch him die... but then I got distracted and missed it.

- Dave Foley

Ogma · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:40 am Post subject:

I didn't go the jokey/in-game route for my answer. I voted "Yes I Loved It" and this can be supported by the fact that every product released by Mongoose over the past couple years is sitting on a shelf behind me. Note, however, I did play it originally back in the mid-80s, it just took the "XP"/Mongoose edition to inspire me to pick it up myself.

Cutter XXIII · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:41 am Post subject:

Listen, Paranoia is fun. Other games are not fun. Not having fun is treason.

You don't want to engage in not-fun, treasonous behavior, do you, Citizen?

Of course you don't.

It's as wacky as you want it to be. The Mongoose version includes tips for three styles of play: Zap! (cartoony, wild, slapstick, over-the-top), Classic (humor, social satire, rapidfire dialogue, Catch-22s abound), or Straight (actual cloak-and-dagger intrigue in a future so outlandishly perverse it's scary). I like Classic the best.

With a group that likes to joke, you'll absolutely have a ton of fun. Get the classic adventures book that includes The Yellow Clearance Black-Box Blues (one of the finest RPG adventures ever written), and go to town.

Or else you may proceed to R&D and volunteer yourself for portable munitions testing. Wouldn't that be fun? I thought so.

I played it back in the day (high school shenanigans) and recently (bourbon & pretzels), and both times were sheer joy. It's good for your health to spend a single evening laughing that much.
_________________
Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

Wendigo1870 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:54 am Post subject:

I thought it was sheer fun, backstabbing other players and watching your back, all the while 'pretending' to care about the mission! However, out of 8 players, only about 6 were willing to try it, and only 2 have been regularly asking for another session (me and one other).
Definitely don't expect a serious game with in-depth character roleplaying and to be able to count on your fellow players! (Which is what ruïned it for most of my group.)

Likewise, because it's a unique game, it probably hasn't been really savaged: there's no need for quick but detailed combat rules, extra allies or other things that work well in SW.

Anyway, my advice; try it. If it's fun, do it more often.
Fun is MANDATORY! (So if it's not fun, turn yourself in for treason, and stop playing).
_________________
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Noshrok Grimskull · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:

What is this "Paranoia" you speak of, citizen?
There's no entry for this in The Computer's memory banks, and The Computer knows everything!
Please report to the nearest execution center, citizen. Have a nice day-cycle.

Paranoia is fun (Remember: Happiness is mandatory!), but you really need the right kind of players to get full potential. If you take your roleplaying serious and want developed characters, involved backgrounds and long-running story arcs, then Paranoia is NOT for you.
If you want fun, a bit of whacky silliness and the occassional commie-mutant-traitor around you, it is.

Take a Happy Pill, follow the orders of The Computer, and be a good citizen. The Computer is your friend.
_________________
"If you think I'm crazy, you should see the people I'm locked up with." - Steamdriven

"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff." - The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Snate56 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject:

Cutter, did you use the original rules?

This is one game that probably can't be Savaged! Unbelievable as that may seem. You definately can't use bennies, they would spoil the game!
You start with six clones, treat it like a character with six wounds; you are not gonna make it through with all of them, period. Just expect it to happen, as in you die, and a rocket shuttle bringing your replacement clone blows up spectacularly while delivering it.

SteveN
_________________
"We've got a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." <The Shoveller>

Cutter XXIII · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 7:28 am Post subject:

Snate56 · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

Yeah! That's what I mean by not being Savagable! Kind of like the setting wont stand up to a concise set of rules.

SteveN
_________________
"We've got a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." <The Shoveller>

Tuesday · Heroic Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1067

It's a great game, Judge. Find a copy of Paranoia XP and read it - it's brilliant.

Adam Baulderstone · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:49 am Post subject:

I ran Paranoia back in the day, and found it to be hilarious. YCBBB is propbably the funniest adventure I've ever read. Unfortunately my group hated it. I don't think it was the dark tone and high fatality rate. They loved Call of Cthulhu. I realized as I was running I'd that the best jokes were behind the scenes with the game hiding them from the player.

I think, too, the game made a serious error in encouraging the GM to keep the rules away from the player, as it really made it hard for the players to understand how to approach the game. They were just baffled and angry. In 25 years of running games its the only game that was a total disaster. It almost destroyed the group.

I'd still recommend the game purely for the enjoyment I got from reading it. Just be sure your group is totally on board if you try to actually play it, or you may be in for a miserable time.

On the other hand Ghostbusters which was dismissed upthread as jokey fluff has a great simple system and developed into a long running campaign to my surprise, ranging in tone from broad satire to stark horror. Savage Worlds reminds me of it in some ways. It was the first game I ran where the rules didn't get on my way.

Adam Baulderstone · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:51 am Post subject:

I ran Paranoia back in the day, and found it to be hilarious. YCBBB is propbably the funniest adventure I've ever read. Unfortunately my group hated it. I don't think it was the dark tone and high fatality rate. They loved Call of Cthulhu. I realized as I was running I'd that the best jokes were behind the scenes with the game hiding them from the player.

I think, too, the game made a serious error in encouraging the GM to keep the rules away from the player, as it really made it hard for the players to understand how to approach the game. They were just baffled and angry. In 25 years of running games its the only game that was a total disaster. It almost destroyed the group.

I'd still recommend the game purely for the enjoyment I got from reading it. Just be sure your group is totally on board if you try to actually play it, or you may be in for a miserable time.

On the other hand Ghostbusters which was dismissed upthread as jokey fluff has a great simple system and developed into a long running campaign to my surprise, ranging in tone from broad satire to stark horror. Savage Worlds reminds me of it in some ways. It was the first game I ran where the rules didn't get on my way.

Adam Baulderstone · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:59 am Post subject:

Just one more note on Ghostbusters. The modules were jokey punning fluff and the campaign suffered the couple of times I fell back on them.

Snate56 · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:

Adam Baulderstone · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 4:32 pm Post subject:

Looking back on my attempt to run it, I should add two things. One, I was pretty green as a GM at the time. Two, I forced it on them when they would have rather played my ongoing WFRP campaign, so they started the session with a sulky, resentful attitude that only got worse. So itwas at least partly my fault, if not entirely.

Judge Holden · Seasoned Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 366

Thanks for all the input, guys. I went out and bought the book this weekend and it is a very funny read. Even if I never play the game I think it was well worth the money I blew on it.

At first I was thinking of savaging it ('what are they talkin about, I'll just make the weapons more deadly...') but I think Snate is right - this is the one system that probably cannot be savaged.

Its such a unique idea for a RPG I think I'm gonna try and sneak a session or two in between whatever (non-fun) campaigns our group ends up running. I can't see it being a long running campaign, and I would want to make sure everyone was into it before I ran it. I can see my group going through half their clones in the briefing room when they first figure out that they are allowed to kill each other. It will be so refreshing to have the players against each other rather than ganging up on the GM.

Even though its treasonous I still think Savage Worlds is a better system. What I like about Paranoia is that I've been playing Savage Worlds so long this new book is like planning a vacation thats either gonna be the best time or a total disaster.
_________________
I once shot a man just to watch him die... but then I got distracted and missed it.

- Dave Foley

Noshrok Grimskull · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:08 am Post subject:

You are in error, Citizen.
2 + 2 = 5.3817.
Please recalibrate your equipment accordingly.
Have a nice day-cycle.

Wink

_________________
"If you think I'm crazy, you should see the people I'm locked up with." - Steamdriven

"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff." - The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Snate56 · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:11 am Post subject:

Maybe it would work if you just took away the bennies.
It is after all, Paranoia. You are supposed to be paranoid, and bennies go a long way to releaving you of that feeling.

I don't know, there must be something we can do. Those rules still needed a lot of help.

SteveN
_________________
"We've got a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." <The Shoveller>

Wendigo1870 · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:20 am Post subject:

Use Bennies as Perversity points? Use'em for your own re-rolls OR force a Reroll on another Player, ...
_________________
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

AFDia · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:00 am Post subject:

I think a system like Paranoia cannot be savaged, because it is just too chaotic.

Besides, all of you know the SW rules, but knowing the Paranoia rules is treason ... You don't want to be traitors, right? #1eek13

jpk · Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject:

A friend of mine was once the Happiness Officer in a Paranoia game.

The group is going along and eventually runs into a tunnel filled with crawling land mines that are trying to scuttle under the characters' feet so they can be set off. The party becomes tense.

Well, a tense party requires the intervention of the Happiness Officer. He started leading a rousing rendition of If You're Happy and You Know It, and everyone is okay through the "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" verse and gestures.

Then came verse two. "If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet." Ba-boom.