The Inside Scoop on Gaming

How many times have you been running a game and thought to yourself, "God, if I could just kill this character! My campaign would run soo much smoother!"

Or maybe you've wanted to start playing with an entirely different group of players, because the game books you know and love have all been memorized by the guys and girls on the other side of the table?

Your prayers have been answered, guys.

A while back, I managed to find a copy of West End Games' Paranoia. At first glance, it didn't seem like much. All the pictures were in black and white, and seemed like after thoughts, for the most part. There were three columns to a page, but did't look too busy.

But, like many things, to see the beauty, you had to look closer. I guess that proverb about judging a book by it's cover is true, after all.

The Good...

Where do I start?

The creation of a character is very simple. A new character can be whipped up in five minutes, once everyone knows how. A new player can be introduced to role-playing very easily with this game, and this really helps in the eventuality (and, it -is- eventual) of a player losing his six lives. (Six lives? More on that later.)

There are no rules that bog down the game. If there were, before the GM picked up the book, they will be discarded before the night was over. This is illustrated by the interesting picture of a stylized GM carving paper dolls out of the "rules" section of a Paranoia book.

Paranoia encourages "Meta-Gaming." Tired of those other games, that allow players to grumble insults under their breath, and just say, "Hey. It's outta character!" In Paranoia, it's not. *g* Their PCs say whatever they do, within the GM's discretion, of course.

The setting is very interesting. A nuclear holocaust has submerged Earth's greatest city under the ground, and drove it's civil protection computer insane. Long story short, the Computer runs everything. EVERYTHING. It commands armies of loyal citizens, who are all very happy to do it's bidding. This is because it's treason not to be very happy. And treason is punishable by execution.

That's right, be happy. Or die. Have a nice day.

The bad...

Okay. The setting's cool. But the book looks like it was layed out by seven-year-olds. Most of the pictures are clumsy looking, and some of them are downright irrelevant.

Oher than the layout, there's not much bad about the game. Except that the game is set to encourage the players to backstab, kill, and betray other players at every opportunity. On top of that, the book actually instructs the GM to kill the PCs! That wouldn't be so bad, in and of itself (remember the six lives? That's right. Clones.), except that with all the other PCs trying to kill each other, six lives doesn't last long.

And new players could be frusterated by the rapid dispatch of their character(s).

All in all, though, my players and I found that nothing quite takes the edge out of playing an angsty Storyteller game better than an hour or two of Paranoia. Tired of folks taking their characters too seriously?

Look no further than Paranoia.

Paranoia (2nd Ed.) Chris French
Item type: RPG Product Name: Paranoia (2nd Ed.) Author: Gelber, Rolston, et al. Company/Publisher: West End Games Line: SKU: Cost: Page count: 134 ISBN: 0-87431-063-6 Ratings: Style 3 (Average) Substance 4 (Meaty) Review type: Capsule Review	How many times have you been running a game and thought to yourself, "God, if I could just kill this character! My campaign would run soo much smoother!" Or maybe you've wanted to start playing with an entirely different group of players, because the game books you know and love have all been memorized by the guys and girls on the other side of the table? Your prayers have been answered, guys. A while back, I managed to find a copy of West End Games' Paranoia. At first glance, it didn't seem like much. All the pictures were in black and white, and seemed like after thoughts, for the most part. There were three columns to a page, but did't look too busy. But, like many things, to see the beauty, you had to look closer. I guess that proverb about judging a book by it's cover is true, after all. The Good... Where do I start? The creation of a character is very simple. A new character can be whipped up in five minutes, once everyone knows how. A new player can be introduced to role-playing very easily with this game, and this really helps in the eventuality (and, it -is- eventual) of a player losing his six lives. (Six lives? More on that later.) There are no rules that bog down the game. If there were, before the GM picked up the book, they will be discarded before the night was over. This is illustrated by the interesting picture of a stylized GM carving paper dolls out of the "rules" section of a Paranoia book. Paranoia encourages "Meta-Gaming." Tired of those other games, that allow players to grumble insults under their breath, and just say, "Hey. It's outta character!" In Paranoia, it's not. g Their PCs say whatever they do, within the GM's discretion, of course. The setting is very interesting. A nuclear holocaust has submerged Earth's greatest city under the ground, and drove it's civil protection computer insane. Long story short, the Computer runs everything. EVERYTHING. It commands armies of loyal citizens, who are all very happy to do it's bidding. This is because it's treason not to be very happy. And treason is punishable by execution. That's right, be happy. Or die. Have a nice day. The bad... Okay. The setting's cool. But the book looks like it was layed out by seven-year-olds. Most of the pictures are clumsy looking, and some of them are downright irrelevant. Oher than the layout, there's not much bad about the game. Except that the game is set to encourage the players to backstab, kill, and betray other players at every opportunity. On top of that, the book actually instructs the GM to kill the PCs! That wouldn't be so bad, in and of itself (remember the six lives? That's right. Clones.), except that with all the other PCs trying to kill each other, six lives doesn't last long. And new players could be frusterated by the rapid dispatch of their character(s). All in all, though, my players and I found that nothing quite takes the edge out of playing an angsty Storyteller game better than an hour or two of Paranoia. Tired of folks taking their characters too seriously? Look no further than Paranoia.

Paranoia (2nd Ed.)