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However, this Little Red Book has its uses, and at £5 is not too expensive ( the price of a couple of beers using the beer exchange rate mechanism ). If you look on it as a luxury handout and don't expect too much from it you will not be dissapointed.
Paranoia games thrive on the watchwords of fear and ignorance and many GM's hesitate before letting players anywhere near the main rulebook. The rulebook is a large red book and its mysteries are a wonder to players. When you tell them only to read the parts which are shown as red clearance they obey..... until they get bored and start to flip through the rest. Although there is no great harm in players knowing the rules ( as long as they don't admit they know them )it reinforces the games attitude to the rules to hand the players a slim booklet detailing only the parts they are cleared to know. Its almost an Idiots Guide to Paranoia, a simplified summary of all they need to know.
So whats in the Little Red Book ? Well first off there are no illustrations. This is a bit of a dissapointment, as they could have been useful to emphasise the mood and tone of the game for new players. However, that said they obviously did not want to add to the cost of this mini-supplement by taking up more pages. So we are left with a few Paranoia fortune cookies, and some words of wisdom from our friend The Computer.
It starts with a section clearly aimed at players new to Paranoia and repeats almost word for word the first chapter or so of the Paranoia rulebook. This is not as useless as it sounds as it can be a nice introduction to the game for new players to be handed a small booklet which tells them what they are letting themselves in for. Typically new players have to deal with the intimidatingly large players handbook of any new system, or a brief and uninformative summary from experienced players "Yeah, you just have to do what the computer says, but while trying to kill each other off. Just stick with me and do what I say and you'll be fine..." I've tried handing the Little Red Book to new players, and found they take to it like a copy of the old government "Protect and Survive" booklet.
Beyond a simple introduction to the game is a more detailed explanation of basic game elements like Service Firms, Clones, Paranoia Names and Mandatory Bonus Duties. Having these readily available in a booklet helps having to repeatedly explain these terms to less experienced players. It also stops them monopolising your nice expensive rulebook which you want to keep behind the screen to make it look like you are in charge.
Other elements to be found within the pages of the "small rouge one" include details of what is and isn't treasonous behaviour. Careful players pay close attention to this section. There is information on standard troubleshooter equipment, salary and living expenses and what all those weird numbers mean on your character sheet under "Skills". Again this is all just replicating what is in the players section of the main rulebook but it makes it more accessable than buying another copy of the rulebook just for the players when they only need the first 48 pages.
So, what isn't in the Little Red Book ? Well, a copy of the IR Market goods would have been useful, players always like browsing through equipment sections. Tips For Traitors would have been a welcome addition for more experienced players. Common knowledge about Secret Societies and Mutations would also have been nice to have here. So yes, even for something that replicates the main rulebook it does have a few obvious omissions.
I'd reccomend the Little Red Book only to those players who wish to study the Red clearance rules in the privacy of their own home, or generous GM's who want to help out new players. It does save a lot of time answering questions if you can tell players that the information is in their book. It doesn't give away any more than was previously available in the players section of the main rulebook, so even with this supplement the players will still be ignorant of most of the rules but will at least be aware of the aim of the game. Its certainly a luxury item to buy but if you want to impress your group with expensive handouts this is the way to go.
