Debriefings

[Travire]

I'm still confused about these after many years of playing Paranoia in one version or another. As a GM I tend to deal with them differently depending on how much time I have left and how many clones the players have left. But are debriefings supposed to cover the actions of earlier clones, or just the current clones who enter the debriefing room ?

Often the final encounter involves a high mortality rate, so the clones who make it to the debriefing are usually fresh from the vat. That said they don't really have much to say and The Computer wants a report on the whole mission, not just the troubleshooters walk down the corridor to the debriefing room.

In general though a clone cannot be blamed for the actions of his previous clones. So a debriefing where blame is laid onto different clones at different stages of the mission cannot really result in the punishment of the current clone, can it ?

Which is the correct way of dealing with this ? As a GM should I only keep track of the actions of the clones who are present at debriefing and reprimand players who bring up the actions of previous clones ? Or should debriefing deal with the whole adventure and the troubleshooters previous clones treason ?

 

[Allen Varney]

If the players can adduce any guiding principle in debriefings, you're missing an opportunity to instill further paranoia. Ideally they have no notion, heading in, as to what offenses they will be blamed for. The "correct" way to deal with this is YOUR way, because you are the Gamemaster, and the Gamemaster is always, always right.

Technically, The Computer won't punish a citizen twice for the same offense. If the pre-debriefing clones were terminated in lawful and orderly fashion under (what we may call) the justice system, the particular offenses that merit termination legally shouldn't be invoked again. But debriefing officers can do whatever the hell they want.

If the pre-debriefing clones happened to perish in the usual accidental calamities and internecine firefights, then The Computer hasn't administered formal justice for those earlier clones' treasonous offenses. Thus, citizens who happened to die in a reactor meltdown would still be liable for their earlier clones' posting of treasonous graffiti.

Really, though, there should never be a guiding principle at debriefing. Except, of course, for those two eternal guiding principles: Fear and Ignorance.