Ignorance and Fear. Fear and Ignorance.

[yossarius]

This will be my first time running Paranoia (I played it a couple time back in the late '80, but that was with an established group). No one in my current group has ever played this game before, and they are a very cohesive group (that is, they are very good at working together to solve the problem at hand, and keep in-party fighting to a minimum). How do I get them to kill each other without using GM fiat ("you guys are killing each other because that's what you're SUPPOSED to do in this game.")?

 

[Allen Varney]

For your first time, I recommend leaning very heavily on their secret society missions. Make the society missions directly contradictory, and make sure each player understands he will enjoy enormous rewards for fulfilling his society's goals -- and experience great punishments for failure.

Have the briefing officer, and multiple NPCs the Troubleshooters encounter during the mission, drop a few interesting phrases, or make a few odd gestures, that each player can interpret as possible recognition signals. Security cameras turn mysteriously toward certain PCs and away from others. Make sure every player understands his progress is being monitored.

Have an NPC passerby slip a note into a character's pocket, notifying him of a specific upcoming opportunity, with place and time, that the society has set up to take out a rival PC, whom they have just learned belongs to an enemy society. "And we'll be watching!" Then do the same for two other players who have contradictory missions; specify the exact same time and place. Then, when the players arrive, have the lights mysteriously turn off.

They can probably take it from there.

 

[darth_azabrush]

Its an old trick but pair up the PCs in extreme rivaries.

Eg. Have a Psion or Registered Mutant PC and an Anti Mutant PC

Have an FCCCP and a Humanist

Also have a Commie in the group. Players will be much more freaked out if they find out Commies actually aren't a figment of the Computer's imagination.