Alternate Alpha Complexes - A website

[Silent]

Alright then, I hope what I am doing is allowed and tolerated, because I'm still a little hesitant.

There has been hints of other Alpha Complexes existing outside of the Alpha Complex the players are in. This serves as a useful mission hook for players, as well as the basis for the mysterious "Spy for another Alpha Complex" society. The problem is that these hints are...usually just that. There has not been, to my knowledge, a supplement made about these other Alpha Complexes. There is, of course, Brave New Complex which may be eventually published in the future, but that seems to be focused on providing new settings for people to play PARANOIA in, as opposed to adding new background for a pre-existing PARANOIA campaign.

This made me realize that despite the fact that there was no actual supplement about other Alpha Complexes, alternate Complexes were in fact made. The published mission "Sweep of Unhistory" had a couple of these complexes for instance. So did fan-made missions like Alphacology. Or even Flashback's Alpha Complexities. They just had to be...complied into one resource for easy access.

Which is why I made this website called "Alternate Alpha Complexes" so that other people can know about these complexes and use them in their own PARANOIA setting. When 'extracting' complexes from published Mongoose books, I try to scrub out any information that is unique to the book/mission (to encourage people to buy said book/mission) while still retaining the inherent idea of the complex. I probably went overboard in citation, in the sense that if the book had an idea that I then converted into a complex, I cited that book as being its originator even if the complex itself was not present or named in said book. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Again, still not sure if it is such a great idea, and I am afraid of stepping on Mongoose's toes, but I felt such a resource is necessary to make alternate Alpha Complexes more likely to be used and that if I do not do it, then nobody else will.

The website:
https://sites.google.com/site/alternatealphacomplex/

EDIT: I should also point out that I plan on updating this site when I find more Alpha Complexes online or are able to extract more Complexes from PARANOIA missions/supplements made by Famous Game Designers.

 

[BFalcon]

But surely even hearing of such things, I should be reporting for termination immediately?

 

[Iron Domokun]

I always thought that Spy For Another Alpha Complex implied that all Alpha Complexes were more or less the same. A typical Paranoia character knows next to nothing and what he does know is mostly wrong, so the Spy may know very little about his own Complex, or even (in true Paranoia fashion) think that he's spying for another complex when in fact he is spying on his own complex for a faction within his complex (or another complex... or another planet... or another dimension... or...).

 

[Silent]

Considering how 1st Edition and Internal Security* both agree with Iron Domokun, and that it is a way to easily generate an Alpha Complex, I really should add that "complex" onto the website. It is, after all, just as "legitimate" as the other complexes on that site.

However, Iron Domokun, the published material has also leaned in the opposite direction by having the complexes have differences (however slight). I'm guessing the inconsistencies are there to give the GM a wide enough room to help keep the players on their toes. Truth is relative in PARANOIA after all.

*1st Edition implied that all complexes are alike and hate the same enemy (Commies), while Internal Security raised the idea that the "spies" may actually be from the same Complex, just a different sector.

 

[Iron Domokun]

Alpha Complex is like Springfield in The Simpsons. It has whatever is required for the needs of the plot, whether it's Springfield Gorge, the Monsterhorn mountain, only one bridge out of town, etc. And these geographical features are completely ignored in any subsequent episode they are not needed. I personally believe that it's counter-productive to define any Complex with much detail, it limits your ability to screw the players.

 

[Da Boss]

May not be relevant but one of the Old White Dwarves had anotehr Alpha Complex which had been invaded by aliens - The Computer had a feminine personality - softer spoken but no less paranoid and mad.

 

[Silent]

That is very relevant, thanks Da Boss. I have added the complex to the Alternate Alpha Complexes website.

 

[Silent]

Recently updated the site to include information on the Mezcalinzan complex and the elusive "Spy For Another Alpha Complex" secret society. Probably will no longer be updating the site, due to me no longer playing PARANOIA. But it might still be useful for you.

When writing this site I gave links to a lot of resources from Paranoia-Live in the past. As Paranoia-Live is down, that means you have a lot of dead links. So it goes.

 

[Senjuu56]

Alright then, I hope what I am doing is allowed and tolerated, because I'm still a little hesitant.

There has been hints of other Alpha Complexes existing outside of the Alpha Complex the players are in. This serves as a useful mission hook for players, as well as the basis for the mysterious "Spy for another Alpha Complex" society. The problem is that these hints are...usually just that. There has not been, to my knowledge, a supplement made about these other Alpha Complexes. There is, of course, Brave New Complex which may be eventually published in the future, but that seems to be focused on providing new settings for people to play PARANOIA in, as opposed to adding new background for a pre-existing PARANOIA campaign.

This made me realize that despite the fact that there was no actual supplement about other Alpha Complexes, alternate Complexes were in fact made. The published mission "Sweep of Unhistory" had a couple of these complexes for instance. So did fan-made missions like Alphacology. Or even Flashback's Alpha Complexities. They just had to be...complied into one resource for easy access.

Which is why I made this website called "Alternate Alpha Complexes" so that other people can know about these complexes and use them in their own PARANOIA setting. When 'extracting' complexes from published Mongoose books, I try to scrub out any information that is unique to the book/mission (to encourage people to buy said book/mission) while still retaining the inherent idea of the complex. I probably went overboard in citation, in the sense that if the book had an idea that I then converted into a complex, I cited that book as being its originator even if the complex itself was not present or named in said book. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Again, still not sure if it is such a great idea, and I am afraid of stepping on Mongoose's toes, but I felt such a resource is necessary to make alternate Alpha Complexes more likely to be used and that if I do not do it, then nobody else will.
paris taxi Airport
The website:
https://sites.google.com/site/alternatealphacomplex/

EDIT: I should also point out that I plan on updating this site when I find more Alpha Complexes online or are able to extract more Complexes from PARANOIA missions/supplements made by Famous Game Designers.

even hearing of such things, I should be reporting for termination

 

[Silent]

Here's some more updates to Alternate Alpha Complexes...

- Time Tunnel
- Vatman22 Complex
- How To Create Your Own Complex/Setting

I think that last link may be super-important. Obviously, Alternate Alpha Complexes cannot be a complete documentation of every single complex ever made by fans or Famous Game Designers. Even if it could though, you may not find the complex that best fit the type of game you want to play. I also strongly endorse the idea that "The Best Self-Help Should Be Self-Defeating", and that it's usually better to know how to build something on your own than to remain dependent on external resources.

 

[Silent]

More Alternate Complexes for you to look at...

- Dungeon
- Cold War Complex
- Vapor Complex
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As an interesting side-note, both "Vapor Complex" and "Vatman22 Complex" came out of a debate between Dystopian Rhetoric and Vatman22 over what ULTRAVIOLETs actually do in the complex. Dystopian Rhetoric believed that ULTRAVIOLETs don't actually do anything meaningful at all, since Friend Computer have absolute trust (so they wind up wasting their time pursuing pointless feuds against each other)...while Vatman22 disagreed, thinking that the ULTRAVIOLETs are little more than tools that The Computer use to enforce its will (and that The Computer doesn't trust their ULTRAVIOLETs all that much).

This debate took place way before the High Programmer supplement was released - that supplement tended to agree with Vatman22 that the ULTRAVIOLETs are still expected to do "real" work for The Computer, but mostly sided with Dystopian Rhetoric on other key points in this debate.
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I'm also trying to back up the Alternate Alpha Complexes site onto another domain, in case sites.google.com shuts down (hey, if it happened to Google+, it can happen to sites.google.com). Backup is fairly slow though; I'll post the link in this thread once its done.

 

[Silent]

As an interesting side-note, both "Vapor Complex" and "Vatman22 Complex" came out of a debate between Dystopian Rhetoric and Vatman22 over what ULTRAVIOLETs actually do in the complex

Er...it turns out that I might have misremembered the details of that argument. I strongly suspect the argument was actually between Dystopian Rhetoric and Gerzel, another poster on Paranoia-Live. So Gerzel is the one who came up with most of the details surrounding Vatman22 Complex, and really, the complex should be named after him...but Google Sites doesn't allow for page redirects (to my knowledge) and changing all the URLs would be a chore, so as a compensation prize, I credited Gerzel on the Vatman22 Complex page. To justify keeping the name "Vatman22 Complex" I also added some content that Vatman22 did create, such as elections and sector border details (so I could claim that Vatman22 deserve some credit as well).

So the end result of this fiasco is now the GM has more content to play with. More content is always good.

To formally correct my previous error, here's a rewritten version of my previous post, conforming to HPD&MC History-Revision mandates.

As an interesting side-note, both "Vapor Complex" and "Vatman22 Complex" came out of a debate between Dystopian Rhetoric and Gerzel over what ULTRAVIOLETs actually do in the complex. Dystopian Rhetoric believed that ULTRAVIOLETs don't actually do anything meaningful at all, since Friend Computer have absolute trust (so they wind up wasting their time pursuing pointless feuds against each other)...while Gerzel disagreed, thinking that the ULTRAVIOLETs are little more than tools that The Computer use to enforce its will (and that The Computer doesn't trust their ULTRAVIOLETs all that much).

This debate took place way before the High Programmer supplement was released - that supplement tended to agree with Gerzel that the ULTRAVIOLETs are still expected to do "real" work for The Computer, but mostly sided with Dystopian Rhetoric on other key points in this debate.

"Vapor Complex" represents the views of Dystopian Rhetoric, while "Vatman22 Complex" represents the views of Gerzel.