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Five Missions for the Price of (Manditory) Fun.
Paranoia XP: Crash Priority consists of five missions of seven to eleven pages each, in a $14.95 64-page book. PXP:CP also comes with three six-player sets of pregenerated characters, plus a special Zap three-pack based on a certain group of stooges. Jim Holloway provides new hilarious art (in better quality than the core book), and layout is in the familiar three-column format. The authors are traitorous veterans from The Toothpaste Disaster, an online Paranoia game played in the summer of 2004 ( http://paranoia.allenvarney.com ). The writing style is just as irreverant as the core book.
Despite the back cover calling them "mini-missions", four of the adventures last 3-6 hours for six players. The last Zap adventure is designed for three (woob! woob! woob!) players for one session, but can be played with six players. I don't find any problem with the "short" format. In my experience, four demanding but fun hours was long enough for a Paranoia fix, and we ran out of clones and energy halfway through a published adventure. Also, while being "mini-missions", they're just as detailed as any Paranoia adventure. A GM will also find plenty of places for improvisation, or to expand an adventure. Stick in your favorite (SPOILER AIEE SPOILER AIEE SPOILER) indoor bits (SPOILER OVER EVERYTHINGS SAFE NOW) from other Paranoia adventures. I should also mention that, while the missions are tailored for the different styles of play, they should all be easily adapted to Classic play.
Okay, Spoilers: The Missions.
Stealth Train by Dan Curtis Johnson: Straight. 4-6 players. 1-2 sessions / 4-6 hours. See? It's there. Right in front of you. Really. Say, what's that loud chugging noise and all that steam from that other train entering the station? And where'd these INFRAREDS come from?
Traitor Backup by Beth Fischi and Allen Varney: Straight. 3-6 players, 1 session / 2-3 hours. The computer, in its infinite wisdom, has decided terminated-to-be traitors should be provided CoffeeLike and TeaSir by the troubleshooters. Of course, they don't need lasers. Hmm. How did your players get to the head of the termination list? Who are those armored goons breaking in through the roof?
Patch Job by Paul Baldowski: Straight / Classic. 4-6 players. 1-2 sessions / 4-6 hours. The troubleshooters must install the Circuit Override Interface Transfuser and properly apply the Experimental Hull Skin. Don't mind the nano-infected INDIGO-minded leader or his robots. Asimov-inactive robots.
Random Access Mission by Andy Fitzpatrick: Classic. 4-6 players. 1-2 sessions / 4-6 hours. Someone's infecting every PDC with a certain Commie-music-playing computer game. And an ULTRAVIOLET does not like his assignment as the mission's courier boy. Note that just because you're courier boy doesn't mean you can't sic your BLUE Vulture Squadron goon on some RED troubleshooters.
Nyuk Nyuck Nyuk by Jeff Groves: Zap. 3-6 players, 1 session / 3 hours. Troubleshooters guard a warehouse. Weirdos show up in different encounters. Hilarity and large explosions. Activate new clone. Three pregenerated Zap characters (do I really need to tell you who they're based on?) are included.
How Straight is Straight, Anyway?
I haven't playtested the missions, but, in my opinion, the missions don't read too differently from each other and can be adapted to any play style. The main differences between the three styles of play look more to be the craziness of the pregenerated player characters, quantity of lethal times available to the PCs, and amount of proof players need to supply to the computer for an execution. The Straight missions are a little more straightforward (yes, it's a pun) than the other missions, but have the same SNAFUs as any Classic mission. The Zany mission isn't too different from a Classic setup where the players take the fall.
More Spoilers: The Pregenerated Cannon Fodder.
What with conflicting character backgrounds an important part of Paranoia (none of this "We all meet in a tavern and the Paladin entrusts his life to the half-orc Assassin" business), and the GM responsible for creating them, pregenerated characters save important preparation time for the GM. (If those annoying players want to generate their own characters, let 'em write the stats and give them the pregen backgrounds.) PXP:CP has three pregenerated characters, one for each style of play. Character stats are based on a 1-20 range, so should be usable in second edition and, with a little fudging, first edition as well. One particularly good touch is that the fifth and sixth characters of a "six-pack" are designed to be optional. Character art is reused from the Traitor's Manual and the Core XP book. Dig the crazy Zap character with the Roosian accent. Fun.
Conclusion.
Despite my comments about the Straight and Zany missions, Crash Priority does a very good job following the smoking boots of the core book Mister Bubbles adventure. I'm particularly impressed at the level of detail in a "short" adventure, as well as the pregenerated characters. Happiness is manditory, and the Crash Priority makes this a little easier.
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