Review of Paranoia Interactive Screen

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Blurb from the publisher: 'Who wants just a normal Gamesmaster's Screen? This is Paranoia - get the Paranoia Interactive Screen!

(1) Prizes may include termination.'

What you get: Your USD 19,99 or GBP 14,99 will buy you the Paranoia Interactive Screen, a four-panel screen in portrait mode for the Paranoia Rebooted game line, the second iteration of Paranoia to be published by Mongoose Publishing, the previous being Paranoia XP, published back in 2004. The screen includes a loose cover sheet with instructions on how to use the players' side. You understood that right: the players' side is actually usable. Or so you think. Or not. Or?

The electronic version version is a 4-page pdf that costs USD 11,99 or GBP 9,33.

Contents: Each panel of the screen has a size of 28 x 22 cm for a total length of 88 cm. The GM's side contains useful information for the game, broken down in nine different parts. These are: Determining Node (p.20 from the Gamemasters Handbook contained in the Red Clearance Edition boxed set), Achievement Reward Levels (idem, p. 91), Improvement (p. 54 of the Players Handbook contained in the Red Clearance Edition boxed set), Increased Security Clearance (idem, p. 69), Equipment (idem, p. 67), Conspirational Motivation, Alpha Complex Locations, Items of Questionable Provenance, and Achievements. The last tables are effectively idea mines for on the fly answers to questions that arise during a session like 'where?', 'why?' and 'what with?'.

The players' side looks like a playing field where players should lay their cards for purposes unknown. Too bad this alleged field is vertical to the table/ground, and the screen itself casually demands that you 'report to your nearest supervisor if you have any understanding of this screen's function. That is beyond your security clearance'. The instruction sheet provided with the screen explains what each card slot does when used, without of course explaining how a card can stay in mid-air (maybe a hand is holding it there, or a post-it or duct tape, or, god forbid, chewing gum), or what 'control pressed' means.

The strong points: If it weren't a paranoid screen, it wouldn't have been a screen for Paranoia. The material on the GM's side is useful and particularly relevant to his job. Not everything is covered by rules; Paranoia can be situationally demanding, and the random locations/items/motivations tables cater to those needs.

There is not a single square cm of space lost. This is one of the most information-intensive screen I have ever perused and I am mightily impressed. If it weren't for the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack whose screen is practically a masterpiece, the present one would have occupied the top spot. I am extremely surprised myself by how they managed to cram all this material in it, and even more so, in capital letters, Paranoia's standard modus operandi. The fact that it remains readable is nothing sort of a small miracle.

The design is sleek, using only letters, blue tones and just a bit of colour here and there, in line with the current edition of Paranoia. There is no art. The cardboard is of excellent quality; the screen is here to stay. What danger would a screen run anyway, I hear you ask, and there is an answer to that: the players. The players are supposed to tamper with the screen. Sacrilege!

I have never seen a screen include a mini meta-game at its front, yet that is precisely what this screen does. Absurd, surreal, call it what you like, yet the players can hold or attach cards on top of eleven predefined spaces from their side. Fun fact: these spaces have names like Rotate +0, Help +0 and Do Not Use +1. Fun fact two: they create bonuses, produce disastrous effects, or otherwise create random effects that have nothing to do with their aforementioned name. Fun fact three: depending on how and where one touches the screen, the results of placing a card on a particular slot will differ. I had to google myself what 'control pressed/control not pressed' means, and lo and behold, I had the answer provided by Matthew Sprange himself during the game's kickstarter. If you are a Paranoia player, be a sport and don't go looking for the answer; it will spoil a part of your fun. If you are a GM on the other hand, do so immediately, you bozo. You don't want the players taking over!

Think about it. The blurb from Mongoose Publishing does not lie. This is an interactive screen, a screen everybody on the table is supposed to do something with, even though it is a piece of cardboard. Knock it over and suffer the painful consequences. A pity you don't know what they are. I guess you are playing Paranoia, aren't you?

The price is fantastic; Simply put, there are no other screens as cheap as this, and even more so, screens that add a mini game in the basic game. Thus, the price to entertainment ratio is off the scale.

The weak points: If anything, the screen has the exact opposite problem of most of the screens out there: it feels too crammed with info at times. You will instinctively know what is where after only minimal use, yet I won't claim that you won't need a few seconds or more in order to find precisely what you are looking for. On a game that demands wit and fast reactions from the GM, and depending on how well-tuned to the game your players are, this might cause problems.

Even though Paranoia was never a game about rules, having some of the rules on the screen on the GM's side would have been desirable. I am talking about a few one-liners on combat and action resolution, a few one-liners on clearances etc. This might sound incoherent to my previous comment about the screen having too much info, but then again, why are there only four panels and not five? Or, why not optimize the configuration in landscape mode instead of portrait, as most screens nowadays do? Or, even more easily, why not include the pages in the rulebooks that the screen's tables refer to?

I am not sure I understand the use of the pdf alone. Brilliant as the physical product might be, the electronic version is a lazy piece of work. Two of its pages are the front and the back cover of the accompanying page, while the front and back of the screen occupy one page each. Errr... what?! The discrepancy between the sizes of the physical edition and the pdf edition is enormous. How can this pdf be even remotely useful? Or visible? Or printable by people who do now own professional printing equipment? One can't find the information with ease, while the minigame cannot be played if the screen is displayed on a tablet. Presenting a single page as a single side is good, but that's in addition to providing it on a page per panel format. I cannot in good faith recommend the purchase of the pdf alone.

Conclusion: The Paranoia Interactive Screen is a great product that goes beyond stylish, sturdy or useful; it actually fits the premise of Paranoia by creating some itself. The meta-game it introduces is unique; your players are as likely to want you to have the screen as you do. Unfortunately, the product's grading is bogged down by a pointless pdf that I can't wait to see quietly improved. With such a ridiculously low price for the physical edition, it doesn't really matter.

For more info on the Paranoia Interactive Screen and Mongoose Publishing, visit its website at www.mongoosepublishing.com.

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