Paranoia (role-playing game)

Paranoia

Paranoia 2nd Edition cover
Designers	Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, Eric Goldberg
Publishers	West End Games, Mongoose Publishing
Publication	1984 (1st edition) 1987 (2nd edition) 1995 (Fifth edition) 2004 (Paranoia XP) 2009 (25th Anniversary edition)
Genres	Humor, Sci-fi
Systems	Custom

Paranoia is a distopian science-fiction tabletop role-playing game originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg, and first published in 1984 by West End Games. The game has been published under licence by Mongoose Publishing since 2004. The game won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 and was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007.

Overview

Paranoia is a humorous role-playing game set in a dystopian future similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four, Logan's Run and THX1138 among others; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor, frequently tongue-in-cheek rather than dark and heavy.

The game's main setting is an immense and futuristic city called Alpha Complex, which controlled by The Computer, a psychotic civil service AI construct. The Computer serves as the game's principle antagonist, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially Communists). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble and shoot it. Player characters are usually troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles.

Frequently the player characters recieve missions that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory or potentially fatal, equipment that is dangerous, faulty or experimental, and side-missions which conflict with any other instructions the players may have recieved. Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and/or a secret society member, and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates, therefore turn into a comedy of errors as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.

Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a "six-pack," which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed yet for the player to continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible and humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family.

The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is specifically forbidden for players (and punishable by the summary execution of their character,) and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally takes digs at other notable role-playing games.

Security Clearances

The security clearance system in Alpha Complex is based on colors of the visible spectrum, plus an extra two beyond it. Every citizen starts off with Security Clearance Infrared (represented by the color black). A lucky and trusted few rise to the lofty heights of Ultraviolet (or white) Clearance. Those with Ultraviolet clearance are also sometimes known as "High Programmers" for they have the closest access to the Computer. Generally, higher clearance characters look down on lower clearance characters while seeking to raise their own clearance. Higher level citizens, especially those of Blue and above, can demote and in some cases execute lower level citizens.

Security clearance is not necessarily related to competence, job prestige or even authority, though there is often a correlation; clearance is instead generally a measure of the Computer's trust in a citizen.

Almost everything in Alpha Complex carries a security clearance — for example, corridors are color-coded. Information is rigidly controlled, with the information the players would find most useful is almost invariably "unavailable at your security clearance". Everything, including food and equipment, is also subject to security restrictions (for example, TacNukes are available to Violets, as are Salt and Vinegar algae chips). In the game, security clearances exist both to thwart players and to provide them with a coercive tool to use against players and NPCs, but primarily are present to allow the gamemaster to establish boundaries, coerce the players, and create logical puzzles for the players to solve.

The full order of clearances from lowest to highest is Infrared (Black), Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and Ultraviolet (White).

Most of the population, about 80%, is Infrared. Infrared citizens live dull lives of mindless drudgery but are kept artificially happy with drugs. They are fed unappetizing food based on processed algae. Infrared citizens roughly correspond to the "proles" of George Orwell's 1984 — although they have little freedom or responsibility, they are also reasonably safe when compared to the upper classes.

Red clearance composes about 10% of Alpha Complex's population. Red citizens are not as heavily drugged. They have access to better food, including fruit. Troubleshooters (and thus most player characters) start at Red clearance. Typically Infrared citizens advance to Red clearance after reporting others for treason (real or faked). Red citizens, especially Troubleshooters, have a shockingly high mortality rate — many player characters in Paranoia never survive to be promoted beyond Red clearance.

Orange and Yellow clearances receive increasing levels of less processed food and greater authority.

Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet clearances provide citizens with frequent or constant food not based on algae, along with further authority. Many live lives of comparative opulence that the lower security classes can only dream of, but are also involved in constant power struggles to hold what they have.

Ultraviolet clearance represents the highest level of security clearance. These citizens enjoy the best life Alpha Complex can offer. Many Ultraviolet characters are skilled at reprogramming the Computer and sometimes attained their position by doing so. The GM is referred to in the rulebooks as being of Ultraviolet clearance.

History

Multiple versions of Alpha Complex's history have been provided in the various editions of Paranoia. The current edition embraces this, with the concept of "There Is No Truth": the idea that in the setting both the "official" and various "unofficial" histories of Alpha Complex have been manipulated, revised, rewritten and expunged so thoroughly for various political ends that the "real" history of Alpha Complex is nigh-impossible to discern.

However, most versions of the game, including the current edition, share a core story. According to this, Alpha Complex was created to be a self-contained arcology run by The Computer, which was originally intended simply to run the arcology's social and welfare services. The Computer itself was poorly maintained. A number of programmers seeking additional power attempted to reprogram The Computer to their own purposes, creating conflicting goals. An unknown catastrophe (described as a nuclear war in some versions, as a freak accident in others) broke The Computer's connection to other Complexes. Searching its databanks and finding historical cold war propaganda, the malfunctioning Computer decided that communists were responsible for its loss of contact. The Computer began seeking out traitors among the citizenry, whilst simultaneously taking on emergency powers well beyond those ever intended by its original designers. (In the original versions of the game, the various Complexes were intended to be emergency shelters established in response to an incoming asteroid strike; when the asteroid hit Earth, old and malfunctioning Soviet-era systems in Russia misidentified it as a nuclear strike and launched their missiles. The Alpha Complex computer, on detecting this, could only conclude that it was under attack from the Soviet Union, and launched more missiles in response.)

Ironically, the resulting society bore many similarities to the Soviet Union under Stalin, a communist dictatorship. Stalinist Russia and Alpha Complex are both totalitarian dictatorships. (The most recent edition, Paranoia XP, introduces semi-private corporations and capitalist incentives, mirroring in many ways the introduction of perestroika in the Soviet Union and the current economic system of China.) Knowledge of places other than Alpha Complex ("Outdoors") and history prior to Alpha Complex ("Old Reckoning") is now heavily controlled, but - unlike in previous editions of the game - it is not inherently illegal for player characters to possess such knowledge.

Secret Societies

In the game, Secret Societies tend to be based on sketchy and spurious knowledge of historical matters. For example, previous editions included societies such as the Seal Club (that idolizes the Outdoors but is unsure what plants and animals actually look like), the Knights of the Circular Object, the Trekkies and the First Church of Christ Computer Programmer. In keeping with the theme of paranoia, a lot of secret societies have spies or double agents in each other's organizations.

Of special notice is the secret society known as the Wobblies. The game's backstory indicates that the Computer was worried about this society, and sent a pack of Troubleshooters to investigate. Since the society didn't actually exist, the Troubleshooters found nothing to report, and were terminated for laziness and insubordination. After a couple of Troubleshooter groups were thus disposed of, a newly sent group founded the society themselves in order to have something to report on. By the time the game setting takes place, a number of other secret societies have sent spies to join the Wobblies and the end result is a group that consists entirely of spies for other groups. The in-joke for the Commie-hating computer is that this group is loosely modeled on the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the original "wobbly" trade union movement that attempted to stand up to the robber barons at the start of the 20th century.

The Paranoia XP book and The Traitors Manual supplement include the following societies:

• Anti-Mutant: A hate group who hates mutants above and beyond the social norm. They attack registered and even 'suspected' mutants in dark corridors with lead pipes and funball bats. Their members are constantly trying to ferret out the mutant menace that hides among them, and a good percentage are even more paranoid than the average citizen. Ironically, many of them are actually mutants themselves, but remain unregistered.
• Communists: This secret society was formed based on the theory that, if the Computer hates Communism so much, then there must be something to it. Their knowledge of historical Communism is poor, leading to Alpha Complex Communists adopting stereotypical Russian accents and clothing. Further confusion about Communism leads to Alpha Complex Communists carrying pictures of Groucho Marx and listening to the 'revolutionary' songs of John Lennon.
• Computer Phreaks: Composed of hackers, crackers, computer geeks, and computer game addicts, the Computer Phreaks practice programming in secret — and try to show off how very l33t they are. This can be a very dangerous hobby in Alpha. The line between 'hacker extraordinaire' and 'terminated traitor' is a fine one.
• Corpore Metal: Corpore Metal members believes that humans are inferior and outdated. Machines are the wave of the future. CorpMets are obsessed with attaining the perfection of 'bothood', going as far as intentional self-maiming to obtain cybernetic replacements. This secret society, unsurprisingly, also has a large number of rogue bot members.
• Death Leopard: Their motto is "live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful set of 6 corpses." Death Leopard is into loud music, explosions, and parties. They are not so much a coherent secret society as a collection of gangs. There are frequent wars within the society, but they will usually band together to deal with outside threats — if only to get back to settling their turf wars in peace.
• First Church of Christ Computer Programmer (FCCC-P) (also referred to as The Assemblers of God in some editions): They believe that the Computer is God. They have their own hymns, services, and worship, and obey the Computer much more than the average Alpha Complex citizen. While secret society membership is still against the law, the FCCC-P is generally ignored, or only given a punitive slap-on-the-wrist. There are interfactional conflicts between different sects of the church, and even simple differences in interpretation can lead to bloodshed.
• Frankenstein Destroyers: This Luddite society believes that robots are the cause of all mankind's problems. Some blanket this hate to all technology, but the society is mainly focused on destroying the shiny, soulless AI menace.
• Free Enterprise: In earlier editions Free Enterprise represents capitalists in The Computer's more communist society. With the increasing amount of authorized capitalism in Paranoia XP, Free Enterprise has become a pseudo-mafia organization, sometimes adopting stereotypical Italian accents. Free Enterprise runs the Infrared markets in Alpha Complex.
• Humanists: The Humanists are aware of just how flawed Alpha Complex is ...at least to some degree. They realize the Computer is insane, and strive to make Alpha Complex a better place for people. They do this by installing hidden backdoor codes in The Computer, reprogramming rogue bots to serve humanity, and planning for the day when they rise up and restore power to the people. That day is just around the corner — and has been for centuries; the Humanists never seem to get much done, as the society is bogged down by process, meetings, and committees.
• Illuminati: The Illuminati is a secretive organization whose goals are so well hidden that most members don't know them. No one knows what the goals of this society are, or even how it goes about them. Members may be given orders as simple as 'deliver this', or 'kill him/her', or as unfathomable as 'Take the cap off the pen in the briefing room XLJ11, and dispose of it down the trash chute in X corridor'. Most Illuminati also pose as members of another secret society, in order to keep their true society a secret.
• Mystics: Supposedly founded by those seeking enlightenment, the Mystics focus on recreational drug use. Another example of an un-society, there is no grand Mystic goal. Some limit themselves to their own personal visions, while others try to drug food or water supplies to try to enlighten as many as possible.
• Pro Tech: Pro Tech members enjoy high technology. They research new technology and steal research by others. Pro-techers can sometimes be identified by the sheer number of beeping nifty gadgets they tend to carry.
• Psion: Psion is the pro-mutant group. They believe mutants are superior beings. Heavily run by the 'Controls', a separated and hidden network of telepathic mutants, Psions seek to pave the way for a better, brighter (mutant-run) future.
• PURGE: PURGE is an active terrorist organization seeking to violently overthrow The Computer. They have no real ideology about what comes after; they just want the Computer destroyed. In previous editions, PURGE was as slapstick as all the others. In XP, particularly Straight-style games, PURGE is a terrorist organization, out to destroy the hated Computer no matter how many innocents are lost in the fight.
• Romantics: Enticed by the forbidden lore of the "Old Reckoning" (the days before Alpha Complex and the Computer), the Romantics scavenge what details about the past they can. However, due to the suppression of this information, their information is rather flawed, and different sects focus on different aspects of the past.
• Sierra Club (referred to as Seal Club in some editions): The Computer restricts leaving Alpha Complex to Green clearance and above, and then only for good reasons. So, aside from Troubleshooters who may be sent into the great Outdoors, almost no one in Alpha Complex has seen so much as a blade of grass. This great mystique has led to the formation of the Sierra Club, devoted to sneaking out. Some want to escape forever, while others try to bring the wonders of nature to the less fortunate inside.

Publications

Four editions of Paranoia exist:

1st edition

Cover of 1st edition

1st edition (ISBN 978-0-87431-025-2) - written by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg - published in 1984 by West End Games. In 1985, this edition of Paranoia won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984. This edition, while encouraging dark humour in-game, took a fairly serious dystopian tone; the supplements and adventures released to accompany it emphasised the lighter side, however, establishing the freewheeling mix of slapstick, intra-team backstabbing and satire that is classically associated with a game of Paranoia.

2nd edition

Cover of 2nd edition

2nd edition (ISBN 978-0-87431-018-4) - written by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, Eric Goldberg, Ken Rolston, and Paul Murphy - published in 1987 by West End Games. This edition can be seen as a response to the natural development of the line towards a rules-light, fast and entertaining play style. Here, the humorous possibilities of life in a paranoid dystopia are emphasised, and the rules are simplified considerably from the first edition.

Dragon magazine issue #132 gave the initial 2nd edition release a glowing review while discussing some of the perceived shortcomings of the first edition:

"[The first edition of Paranoia...] promised hilarious fun and a combat system that didn’t get bogged down in tedious mechanics. It soon found a following among gamers looking for something different in their role-playing adventures. Still, a close inspection of the combat system revealed that it was slow moving and cumbersome. The mechanics were hard to grasp in places, making it difficult to get into the freewheeling fun."

Now, all that’s changed. The PARANOIA game has been treated to a revamp, and this time the rules are slick. All that tricky stuff which made the combat system such a pain to run has been shelved off into optional rules. If you want the extra complications, you’re welcome to them, or you can do what most people did anyway and simply ignore them.

The review does offer one common reservation about the game: "It doesn't lend itself easily to long-term campaign play. This game is best treated as a succession of short adventure sessions in which players get to enjoy themselves doing all those despicable things that would spoil a more 'serious’ game.". However the conclusion of the review stated that "As a tongue-in-cheek science-fiction game, this one is hard to beat."

Metaplot and the Second Edition: Many of the supplements released for the Second edition fall into a story arc set up by new writers and line editors that was intended to freshen up the game and broaden roleplay possibilities. While they undoubtedly did so, giving roleplayers the opportunity to transcend time and space or play in a post-apocalyptic Computerless Alpha Complex, many fans felt these new settings were simply not paranoid enough, running counter to the spirit of the game. Second edition supplements can generally be divided into four eras:

1. Classic (no metaplot)
2. Secret Society Wars (individual missions can be run in the Classic format, but running themes and conspiracies persist from book to book)
3. The Crash (no Computer, possibly as a result of the Secret Society Wars, possibly not)
4. Reboot (the Computer returns, but does not control all of Alpha Complex - plays as a hybrid of the other eras, with players free to choose sides)

Third and fourth editions

Although a third edition was planned, no third or fourth edition of the game was actually released. Instead, version numbers jumped straight from second to fifth edition. West End Games exhibited pages of an unreleased third edition at Gen Con in 1997. A single adventure has surfaced which contained a brief summary of the third edition rules.

Fifth Edition

Cover of Fifth Edition

"Fifth Edition" (ISBN 978-0-87431-171-6) - published in 1995 by West End Games. It has since been declared an "un-product" (cf. "unperson") by the writers of the current edition, due to its extremely poor commercial and critical reception. Almost none of the original production staff were involved, and the books in this line focused less on the dark humor and oppressive nature of Alpha, and more on cheap pop culture spoofs, such as a Vampire: The Masquerade parody. In his introduction to Flashbacks, a compilation of Paranoia adventures from the West End Games era, Allen Varney fully details the management decisions which led, in the eyes of many, to the decline of the Paranoia line, and cites rumours that the line saw a 90% decline in sales before West End Games went into bankruptcy:

"Art director Larry Catalano left West End in 1986. Catalano’s successor fired (illustrator) Jim Holloway and brought in a succession of increasingly poor cartoonists. (Writer/editor) Ken Rolston left shortly thereafter for unrelated reasons. In Ken’s wake, developers Doug Kaufman and Paul Murphy in turn briefly supervised the PARANOIA line. After they too departed, editorial control fell to—how do I put this tactfully?—people with different views of the PARANOIA line."

Paranoia XP

Cover of XP Edition

Following the bankruptcy of West End Games, the original designers of Paranoia banded together and purchased the rights to the game from West End in order to regain control of the line. The designers in turn granted a license to Mongoose Publishing to produce a new version of the game, with the result that "Paranoia XP" (ISBN 978-1-904854-26-5), written by Allen Varney, Aaron Allston, Paul Baldowski, Beth Fischi, Dan Curtis Johnson and Greg Costikyan, was published in 2004. In 2005, Microsoft requested that the XP be removed. As such, the name was shortened to just Paranoia. This edition of the game has received a much warmer critical reception, as well as selling well.

This edition also introduced three different styles of play, with some game mechanics differing between the various modes to support the specific tone being sought-after:

• Zap is anarchic slapstick with no claims to making sense and little effort at satire. Zap represents Paranoia as popularly understood: troubleshooters who open fire on each other with little to no provocation. It is often associated with the "Fifth Edition". The symbol of this game style is two smoking boots, much like the front cover.
• Classic is the atmosphere associated with the 2nd edition. While conflict inside of troubleshooter teams is common, it is less common and less frequently lethal. The symbol of this game style is a computer (representing The Computer).
• Straight represents a relatively new style for Paranoia, although it is not entirely without precedent in the darker portions of the original 1st edition rules. Straight Paranoia is more serious and focuses more on dark, complex satire. In Straight Paranoia, players are punished for executing other characters without first filing evidence of the other character's treason; this encourages slower, more careful gameplay and discourages random firefights and horseplay. The symbol of this game style is an enormous eye, much like the eye on the front cover.

Primary designer Allen Varney, in the designer's notes, explained that his aim with the new edition was to return to the game's roots whilst updating both the game system and the satirical setting to take account of twenty years of game design progress. In both the core rulebook and the Flashbacks supplement - a reprint of classic adventures originally published by West End Games - Varney was highly critical of West End Games' handling of the product line in its latter days, and declared many West End products, including the "Fifth Edition" and everything published for the 2nd Edition after The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure, to be "unproducts" - no longer part of the game's continuity, and not recommended for use with the new edition. An upshot of this is that the much of the ill-fated metaplot established late in the West End Games line, from the Secret Society Wars to the Reboot and beyond, was disposed of.

Long-time Paranoia artist Jim Holloway, called "the master of the fun-filled illustration", drew the cover art and much of the internal art for the game until 1986. His art for the series generally portray comedic scenarios that capture the essential "deathtrap" feeling of Alpha Complex. Paranoia XP marked his return to the line as well; he's designed every cover of the XP edition, and many books contain both his classic and new Paranoia art.

While Paranoia XP kept Communists as the big bad scapegoat in spite of the Cold War being long over, the updated edition integrates several 21st century themes into its satire. Troubleshooters carry PDCs (Personal Digital Companion) that are reminiscent of PDAs and smartphones and can try to acquire gear by bidding on CBay (obvious pun on Ebay). New threats to Alpha Complex include file sharing, phishing scams, identity theft and WMDs. Consumerism in Alpha Complex has been tooled into its economy and has taken on an element of patriotism, echoing sentiments expressed after 9/11 along similar trends. A mission pack released in 2009 titled War On (Insert Noun) lampoons government initiatives like the War on Drugs and the War on Terror.

In writing the new edition, Varney, Goldberg and Costikyan reached out to and actively collaborated with Paranoia's online fan community through an official blog and through Paranoia-Live.net. In addition, Varney ran an online game, the Toothpaste Disaster, where players took the role of High Programmers documenting the titular disaster in a Lexicon format. Many ideas established in the Lexicon game were written into the rulebook. Later, some of the best players and writers from the game and a few other places were formally integrated as the Traitor Recycling Studio to write official Paranoia material; their first credited work was the mission supplement Crash Priority.

In 2006, Varney's fellow Paranoia writer, Mongoose Publishing employee Gareth Hanrahan, took over as primary writer for the Paranoia line.

For the 25th Anniversary of Paranoia in 2009, Mongoose Publishing has announced a special edition of the rulebook as well as two new rulebooks, one casting the players as higher-clearance Internal Security investigators and one where the players get to be Ultraviolet High Programmers. In June 2009, Mongoose announced that they would be retiring the books in the XP line at the end of the month to clear the way for the 25th anniversary edition line. They stated that the XP material would "maintain a 90% compatibility rating with the new Paranoia books". So far two such books have been released, both of which are entirely self-contained and playable games: Paranoia: Troubleshooters and Paranoia: Internal Security. The Troubleshooters volume presents a slimmed-down version of the XP rules, the most notable difference being the removal of the Service Firms and the advanced economy of the XP edition, with the focus firmly on the game's traditional premise of casting the player characters as Red-clearance Troubleshooters. The Internal Security volume casts the player characters as Blue-clearance Internal Security agents, a refinement of the premise of the 1st edition supplement HIL Sector Blues (reprinted in the XP line as part of Extreme Paranoia). A third rulebook, Paranoia: High Programmers, will cast the player characters as the Ultraviolet-clearance elite of Alpha Complex society and focus on the political plotting and infighting that dominates the High Programmers' lives. The Troubleshooters volume retains the play styles of the XP rulebook, whilst the Internal Security volume includes three new styles tailored for the IntSec premise.

Related publications

First edition

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia	Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg	1984	0-87431-025-3	First edition of the game. Consists of Player Handbook, Gamemaster Handbook, and Adventure Handbook with introductory adventure Destination: CBI Sector. Boxed set also includes two 20-sided dice.
Paranoia (Games Workshop)	Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg	1986	1-869893-01-8	A Games Workshop printing of the first edition. Contains all three books of the basic set in one hardcover volume, as well as the three short adventures (Robot Imana-665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches and Das Bot: Nearly a Dozen Meters Beneath the Sea) from the first edition Gamemaster Screen.
Acute Paranoia	Ken Rolston and various	1986	0-87431-034-2	Articles on supplementary rules and flavor material, including Sanity Tests, Playing Robots, New Secret societies and Better Living Through Chemistry. Contains the full-length adventure Me and My Shadow, Mark IV, mini-adventures Botbusters, Warriors of the Nightcycle and The Harder They Clone, and 8 short missions designated "Code 7": An ARD Day's Night, Reboot Camp, Whitewash, The Second Coming, Plumber's Helper, Miami Laser, Paranoid Clones in Savory Vulture Stew, and Outland-ISH. "Code 7" refers to a mission that takes Troubleshooters seven clones to finish; ergo, in 1st through 5th editions with a finite six clone limit, a suicide mission.
Clones in Space	Eric Wujick	1986	0-87431-042-3	An adventure in which the player characters are sent into space by The Computer. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed in
Double Paranoia	John M. Ford and Curtis Smith	1986	1-86989-303-4	Contains The YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues and Vapours Don't Shoot Back (British spelling) reprinted in one volume by Games Workshop in the UK.
Gamemaster Screen	Ken Rolston and Steve Gilbert	1985		Gamemaster's screen and three short adventures: Robot Imana-665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches and Das Bot: Nearly a Dozen Meters Beneath the Sea. The player side of the screen contains reference tables for players.
HIL Sector Blues	Ken Rolston	1986	0-87431-051-2	A campaign pack for playing and gamemastering Blue-clearance Internal Security troopers. Contains three short adventures: First Blood and Then Some, IntSec Agents at the Earth's Core, and One of Our Petbots Is Missing. Also includes "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures) and rules for using miniatures. The name of the supplement references Hill Street Blues. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (new reference tables are printed on the inside covers).
Orcbusters	Ken Rolston	1986	0-87431-050-4	An adventure in which an inter-dimensional portal causes a stereotypical fantasy roleplaying dungeon and its residents to appear in Alpha Complex. Dungeons & Dragons parody, takes place in the "DND sector". The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed in
Send in the Clones	Warren Spector and Allen Varney	1985	0-87431-033-4	An adventure in which the player characters track Commie traitors through the sewers while someone is singing treasonous old hit songs over the Alpha Complex public address system. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed in
Vapors Don't Shoot Back	Curtis Smith	1985	0-87431-026-1	An adventure containing three missions in which the player characters attempt to carry out contradictory, incomprehensible, and usually lethal instructions from The Computer and a High Programmer. The covers are not stapled to the rest of the book and may be used as a small gamemaster's screen (the reference tables for this adventure are printed inside).
YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues, The	John M. Ford	1985	0-87431-027-X	An adventure in which every secret society is after a black box of unknown content. Winner of the H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Adventure of 1985. Includes a two-page cardboard gamemaster's screen with reference tables for this adventure.

Second edition

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia Second Edition	Dan Gebler, Greg Costikyan, Eric Goldberg, and Ken Rolston	1987	0-87431-063-6	Second edition of the game. Includes new introductory adventure Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera.
Paranoia Second Edition (Games Workshop)	Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg	1987	1-869893-21-1	A Games Workshop printing of the second edition of the game. Same as the West End Games original, but hardcover. (The ISBN printed on the cover is invalid.)
Alice Through the Mirrorshades	Ed Bolme	1989	0-87431-154-3	First adventure in the "Vulture Wariors of Dimension X" arc. Crossover with Cyberpunk as the player characters travel back in time to pre-Alpha San Francisco.
Alpha Complexities	Ed Bolme	1988	0-87431-080-6	An adventure that takes the player characters into the Outdoors hunting for invisible Commies.
At Your Service, Citizen…	West End Games	1992	N/A	A series of official Paranoia newsletters with articles by various authors. Five issues published from 1992 to 1993 in addition to the issue "zero" that appeared in The Paranoia Sourcebook.
Bot Abusers' Manual, The	Ed Bolme	1992	0-87431-164-0	Revised rules for bot player characters (updates those in Acute Paranoia for ReBoot Alpha). Also contains the adventure Been Hurt: A Sporting Adventure for Mostly Bots.
Compleat Troubleshooter, The	Steven Gilbert and Doug Kaufman	1987	0-87431-018-0	Introduces Mandatory Bonus Duties for Troubleshooters. Included with 2nd edition boxed set.
Computer Always Shoots Twice, The	Ken Rolston, Warren Spector and Allen Varney	1988	0-87431-087-3	Consists of Send in the Clones and Orcbusters updated for second edition.
Crash Course Manual	Doug Kaufman and Jonatha Caspian	1989	0-87431-153-5	The Post-MegaWhoops (crash of The Computer) campaign setting. Includes introductory adventure A Passage to NDA Sector by Ed Bolme and Peter Corless.
Death, Lies and Vidtape	Allen Varney	1990	0-87431-159-4	The final "Secret Society Wars" adventure, in which Elizabeth-R is trying to bring the secret societies together to form a government in Post-MegaWhoops Alpha.
DOA Sector Travelogue, The	Steve Gilbert	1989	0-87431-078-4	A campaign pack detailing the DOA sector of Alpha Complex. Contains some background for the "Secret Society Wars". Includes a poster-sized map of DOA sector.
Don't Take Your Laser to Town	Malcom Mouvis and Vern G. Hargett	1988	0-87431-104-7	An adventure set in old WST sector, an Alpha Complex re-creation of the American Old West (based on movie clichés) for amusement of citizens.
Form Pack	Steven Gilbert	1988	0-87431-079-2	Contains multiple copies of three Alpha Complex forms in triplicate, and a short bureaucratic adventure, A Hole in The Complex, which revolves around filling and filing these forms.
Gamma-LOT	Grant Boucher	1990	0-87431-158-6	An adventure in which a part of medieval England has been teleported to the LOT sector of Post-MegaWhoops Alpha. A sequel to Orcbusters. Contains parody of King Arthur, Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood.
Iceman Returneth, The	Sam Shirley	1989	0-87431-152-7	An adventure featuring a frozen High Programmer from the past, who tries to "fix" The Computer. Includes one possible explanation for The Crash, which also forms the basis for Alice Through the Mirrorshades. Part 3 of the "Secret Society Wars".
Mad Mechs	Paul Murphy	1991	0-87431-160-8	An adventure featuring the return of The Computer after the Crash, and in which the player characters are sent to Australia to bring back a former Commie mutant traitor in order to save Alpha Complex. A parody of Mad Max.
More Songs About Food Vats	Karl Hughes	1989	0-87431-151-9	An adventure in which the player characters are assigned to prevent sabotage to the Food Vats. Part 2 of the "Secret Society Wars".
Paramilitary	Dave Lemon	1993	0-87431-167-5	A campaign setting for player characters in the Armed Forces of ReBoot Alpha.
Paranoia Excessory Pack		1987	0-87431-064-4	Contains a gamemaster's screen for the 2nd edition rules, 12 character sheets, 9 forms in triplicate (three different forms with three copies of each), and "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures). The player side of the screen contains reference tables for players and lyrics for "Alpha Complex Battle Hymn" (a parody of The Battle Hymn of the Republic).
Paranoia Sourcebook, The	Ed Bolme	1992	0-87431-163-2	Campaign setting and sourcebook "update" for the world of ReBoot Alpha (where The Computer has returned but does not control all of the pre-MegaWhoops Alpha Complex). Includes Emergency Services Manual and issue "zero" of the Paranoia newsletter At Your Service, Citizen….
Paranormal / CTV	Ed Gibson, Charles Ginsburg, Brian Schomburg, Jesse Van Valkenburg, and Bill Olmesdahl	1994	0-87431-169-1	An adventure flip-book. Contains three short adventures in the world of TV and two short adventures in the world of the paranormal.
People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure, The	Ed Bolme	1989	0-87431-150-0	An adventure in which the player characters are Commies in the CCCP (Communist Controlled Complex Population), under supervision of Tovarich Computer. Part 1 of the "Secret Society Wars".
R&D Catalog, The	Ed Bolme and C. J. Tramontana	1990	0-87431-157-8	A catalog of items sold by R&D in the Computer-less Post-MegaWhoops Alpha. Includes the mini-adventure Have Gizmo, Will Travel.
Recycled Pack		1989	N/A	Contains multiple forms in triplicate, "Cardstock Commies" (cardboard stand-up figures), and a selection of 56 plastic miniatures. The contents of each pack are different.
Twilightcycle: 2000	Sam Shirley	1990	0-87431-155-1	"Vulture Wariors of Dimension X", part 2. Crossover with Twilight 2000 as the player characters travel back in time to World War III.
Vulture Warriors of Dimension X	Joseph Anthony and David Avallone	1990	0-87431-156-X	Time-travelling campaign pack, including the adventure Dr. Whom and the Paranoids of Alpha ("Vulture Wariors of Dimension X", part 3). A parody of Doctor Who.

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Fifth edition

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia: the Fifth Edition	Ed Stark, Greg Farshtey, and Daniel Scott Palter	1995	0-87431-171-3	Main rulebook of the "Fifth Edition". Contains new introductory adventure Back from the Outdoors, which is a sequel to the 2nd edition adventure Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera.
Creatures of the Nightcycle	Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler	1997	0-87431-172-1	An adventure spoofing Vampire: The Masquerade. The player characters are turned into "vampclones".
BUG Sector	Chris Helper and Jennifer Brandes	N/A	N/A	An unreleased adventure. The manuscript has been leaked on the Internet.

Paranoia XP

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia XP	Allen Varney and various	2004	1-904854-26-5	Main rulebook of the "Paranoia XP" edition. Reprinted in 2005 with errata as Paranoia XP Service Pack 1. "XP" dropped from later printings, making the final title of this edition just Paranoia. Contains the new introductory mission Mr. Bubbles by Dan Curtis Johnson.
Alpha Complex Nights	Gareth Hanrahan	2007	1-906103-06-2	Contains the missions My First Treason, Sweep of Unhistory, and Spin Control.
Alpha Complex Nights 2	Gareth Hanrahan	2008	1-906103-80-1	Contains the missions Viva La Revolution! and The Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy.
Big Book of Bots, The	Gareth Hanrahan	2008	1-906103-60-7	A sourcebook on bots in Alpha Complex, including rules for bot characters. Includes a Mission Unthinkable, an adventure for bot characters.
Citizen's Guide to Surviving Alpha Complex	Mongoose Publishing	2009	N/A	Contains a condensed version of the basic rules and Alpha Complex background, and the introductory mission Tube Jam.
Crash Priority!	Traitor Recycling Studio	2004	1-904854-35-4	Contains five short missions showcasing the different styles of play introduced in Paranoia XP: Stealth Train (Straight), Traitor Backup (Straight), Patch Job (Straight/Classic), Random Access Mission (Classic), and Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk (Zap). The Zap-mission Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk takes inspiration from The Three Stooges.
Criminal Histories	Bill O'Dea and the Traitor Recycling Studio	2006	1-905176-80-5	Supplemental rules for character background generation. The new rules replace the chapter on character creation in the main rulebook, and include the optional additions from Service, Service! and The Mutant Experience. Also includes Prehistory Pachinko, a set of over 50 tables for random background generation.
Extreme Paranoia	Traitor Recycling Studio	2005	1-905176-24-4	Supplemental rules for characters of security clearances higher than Red. After an introduction to security clearances in Paranoia, there is a section on each security clearance from Orange through Indigo. The Blue section contains a condensed and updated version of HIL Sector Blues, including two short missions.
Flashbacks	Various	2005	1-904854-40-0	Contains updated versions of Robot Imana 665-C, The Trouble with Cockroaches, Das Bot, Vapors Don't Shoot Back, The YELLOW Clearance Black Box Blues, Send in the Clones, Me and My Shadow Mark 4, Alpha Complexities, An ARD Day's Night, Reboot Camp, Whitewash, and the new introductory mission Pre-Paranoia by Jeff Groves. Updates to old missions include removal of puns from character names, but the original names are given in an appendix.
Flashbacks II	Various	2007	1-905850-04-2	Contains slightly updated versions of Orcbusters, Clones in Space, and The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure. Does not include the original pre-generated player characters of any mission.
Gamemaster's Screen & Mandatory Fun Enforcement Pack	Aaron Allston, Allen Varney and members of Paranoia-Live.net	2004	1-904854-49-4	Contains a gamemaster's screen and the Mandatory Fun Enforcement Pack, which includes 6 forms and "Mission Blender" tables for generating random missions. The player side of the screen contains humorous one-liners ("fortune cookies") about the game.
Little RED Book, The	Allen Varney	2006	1-905471-56-4	Abridged core rules containing just the information cleared for players (designated "RED clearance" in Paranoia materials; hence the title).
Mandatory Mission Pack	Gareth Hanrahan	2008	1-906103-81-X	Contains gamemaster ideas and aids for constructing Paranoia missions.
Mutant Experience, The	R. Eric Reuss	2005	1-904854-65-6	A sourcebook on mutants in Alpha Complex. Introduces new mutant powers and elaborates on the ones described in the main rules. Also includes rules for mutagens and medications affecting mutant powers.
Sector Zero	Gareth Hanrahan, Saul Resnikoff, and Jeff Groves	2006	1-905471-52-1	Contains three Classic-style "Sector Zero" missions: Bubblegum Run, The Dinner Party, and Lightning Rod. The term "Sector Zero" is introduced as jargon for punishment duty, or a dispiriting assignment nobody else wanted.
Service, Service!	Traitor Recycling Studio	2005	1-905176-72-4	A sourcebook on the service groups and service firms of Alpha Complex. Contains eight Classic-style missions, one for each service group: Spurious Targets (Armed Forces), The Lightbulb Missions (CPU), Rockumentary (HPD&MC), Nightcycle Shift (Internal Security), Going Postal (PLC), Both Sides Now (Power Services), Troublebots (R&D), and Three Up, Three Down (Technical Services).
STUFF	Eric Minton and the Traitor Recycling Studio	2005	1-904854-86-9	A sourcebook of equipment available for purchase in Alpha Complex, presented for players in the form of "CBay" listings with comments from "other buyers".
STUFF 2: The Gray Subnets	Eric Minton and the Traitor Recycling Studio	2007	1-906508-16-X	A sourcebook of (mostly) illegal/treasonous equipment, presented for players in the form of "CBay" listings with comments from "other buyers". The gamemaster's section lists the "real" properties of the same items.
Sweep of Unhistory / My First Treason	Gareth Hanrahan	2007	1-906103-04-6	A flip-book containing the adventures Sweep of Unhistory and My First Treason. The adventures were re-published in Alpha Complex Nights together with Spin Control.
Thin Green Line, The	Gareth Hanrahan	2008	1-906103-76-3	A sourcebook on running missions for player characters in the Armed Forces. Includes One Man Army, a short mission for Armed Forces characters.
Traitor's Manual, The	Gareth Hanrahan	2004	1-904854-27-3	A sourcebook on secret societies, detailing all 16 secret societies presented in the main rulebook of this edition. Includes the short Classic-style mission Down and Out in Alpha Complex.
Underplex, The	Paul Baldowski	2006	1-905471-13-0	A sourcebook on the abandoned and forgotten parts beneath and between the populated sectors of Alpha Complex. Includes the short Classic-style mission The One.
War on [Insert Noun]	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-905850-60-3	Contains three linked missions: Null Mission, War on [Insert Noun Here], and Heck of a (Screw) Job Citizen. In these missions the player characters are assigned to an entirely new service group, "Department of Complex Operational Defence".
WMD	Traitor Recyclying Studio	2005	1-905176-14-7	Contains four Straight-style missions: Infohazard, Hunger, WMD, and Hot Potato. Hunger is based on The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China, and places the player characters in charge of a new "miraculous" method of food production.

25th Anniversary Edition

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia: Troubleshooters	Allen Varney and Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-55-0	Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games involving Troubleshooter player characters. Includes two missions: Robot Imana-665-C (from the 1st edition Gamemaster Screen supplement), and The Quantum Traitor (new).
Paranoia: Troubleshooters: Black Missions	Allen Varney and Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-62-3	A limited edition (1,000 copies) of Paranoia: Troubleshooters, featuring a black cover and including a CD-ROM with interviews of Paranoia authors, a selection of Paranoia sound effects, a Paranoia screensaver for Microsoft Windows, and PDF versions of most supplements published for the previous edition (Paranoia XP).
Paranoia: High Programmers	Gareth Hanrahan	2010	1-907218-09-2	Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games with Ultraviolet-clearance High Programmers as player characters. Includes the mission Disaster Management.
Paranoia: High Programmers: White Washes	Gareth Hanrahan	2010	1-907218-09-2	A limited edition (100 copies) of Paranoia: High Programmers, featuring a white cover in the same style as Troubleshooters: Black Missions.
Paranoia: Internal Security	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-69-0	Self-contained rulebook for Paranoia games with Internal Security Troopers as player characters. Includes two short introductory missions: Six Clones Before Breakfastcycle (new), and IntSec Agents at the Earth's Core (from HIL Sector Blues, but tweaked).
Paranoia: Internal Security: Blue Line	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	N/A	A limited edition (100 copies) of Paranoia: Internal Security, featuring a blue cover in the same style as Troubleshooters: Black Missions.
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Termination Booth, A				A mission for Internal Security player characters.
Mr. Bubbles	Dan Curtis Johnson			A mission for Troubleshooter player characters, involving trouble with e-mail spam, scrubbots and malware. Originally published in Paranoia XP as the introductory mission.
None of This Is My Fault				A mission for High Programmer player characters.
Paranoia Forms Pack	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-85-2	A collection of Alpha Complex forms. Includes 9 generic forms, 6 forms for Troubleshooters, 6 forms for Internal Security, and 3 forms for High Programmers. The forms are presented as a book, not loose forms in the style of the 2nd edition Form Pack.
Paranoia Games Master's Screen	Gareth Hanrahan	2010	N/A	A game master's screen for Troubleshooters, Internal Security, and High Programmers.
Termination Quota Exceeded	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-71-2	Three missions for Paranoia: Internal Security: Where's the Beef about the theft of a genetically engineered organism, The Survivor, in which a team of Troopers ends up in an isolated town inspired by The Prisoner, and Termination Quota Exceeded, in which a large number of termination vouchers must be used before they expire in a matter of hours.
Treason in Word and Deed	Gareth Hanrahan	2009	1-906508-70-4	Three missions for Paranoia: Troubleshooters: Treason in Word and Deed, in which a team of Troubleshooter characters is locked in a vault for 72 hours of loyalty tests, Heroes of Our Complex, in which a vid-show action hero is assigned to series of suicide missions along with the player characters, and Little Lost Scoutbot, in which the Troubleshooters are sent outdoors to find a missing bot or its remains.

Other Game Products

Title	Author(s)	Pub. Date	ISBN	Notes
Paranoia: The Mandatory Card Game	Steve Gilbert	2005	N/A	A card game for 3 to 8 players. Won Gamer’s Choice Best Traditional Card Game of the Year, 2005 Origins Awards

Novelizations

• Bolme, Ed. Title Deleted for Security Reasons. West End Games. ISBN 0-87431-165-9.
• Rolston, Ken. Extreme Paranoia: Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Shot. West End Games. ISBN 0-87431-162-4.
• Lidberd. Stormshooters and Troubleknights. West End Games. ISBN 0-87431-168-3. (A Paranoia/Torg crossover novel)
• O'Connor, Paul. Paranoia, Issues 1-6. Adventure Comics (A division of Malibu Graphics Publishing Group). (A 1992 comicbook miniseries)

Paranoia-related software

Originally a "pen-and-paper" game, Paranoia has since evolved to be playable over the internet. JParanoia is freeware fan-made software specifically created for playing Paranoia in such a way and can be downloaded from the fansite Paranoia Live. It runs on Java and consists of a client and a server with built-in features for character and gameplay management. In September 2004, both attracted some mainstream attention when the UK edition of PC Gamer magazine ran an article about Paranoia as one of their "Extra Life" columns and showcased JParanoia and Paranoia Live; coincidentally the publicity came right before the site was poised to celebrate the launch of the new Paranoia edition from Mongoose.

Paranoia was also made into a video game called The Paranoia Complex released in 1989 by Magic Bytes. It was available for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. It took the form of a top-down maze shooter dressed in a Paranoia plot and trappings; reviews of the game from hobby magazines of the period pegged it as mediocre to poor.

Finally, a Paranoia-themed piece of "choose-your-own-adventure" hyperfiction (or gamebook) was published in issue #77 of SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer magazine in the late '80s. Since then, various unauthorised automated versions of the story (a Troubleshooter's assignment to undermine the subversive activity known as Christmas) have been circulating through mainframes and PCs, with machine-independent ports to C, Python and Inform as well as to Adventure Game Toolkit and for Applix, CP/M and the Cybiko.

External links

• Mongoose Publishing's Paranoia Homepage
• Paranoia XP Design Blog - A blog where the designers post information about upcoming supplements and discussions of Paranoia-esque occurrences in the real world. The blog archives contain many of the rules which were incorporated into the 2004 edition of Paranoia.
• Paranoia Live - One of the largest and most active Paranoia fansites, home of the JParanoia application for Internet-based Paranoia gameplay.
• CRD Sector - General fan and resource site for Paranoia
• Omega Complex - Blog with Paranoia news and content
• Paranoia at Curlie
• Paranoia LIVE! (Megacon Paranoia LARP)
• comp.sources.unix archive - Unix source code for the Paranoia computer game based on the SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer adventure.