Reading the rulebook

[Tankdriver]

I am working my way through the book, and making good progress, but I am hoping to run the game tomorrow, and I am stuck in the service firm section. Can I skip this and jump to the mission and still run a good game?

 

[PaulB]

Short answer - Yes!

Like any good role playing game (and PARANOIA is quite obviously one of the best), you can choose to run a game with as much or as little fluff and crunch as you care to. Service Firms are a little of the fluff you can come back to later (and that you can explore further in both the core rules and the excellent 'Service, Service' supplement).

PaulB

 

[Tankdriver]

I was thinking of going over the mutant powers and then the mission. Maybe hitting the secret societies that the players are in. Does that sound good?

 

[Allen Varney]

I recommend paying more attention to secret societies than to mutations. The secret societies are one of the Gamemaster's most valuable tools for turning players against each other.

For new players, your best choices are pairs of polar enemies: Psion and Anti-Mutant; Frankenstein Destroyers and Corpore Metal; and possibly FCCC-P and PURGE, depending on how violent you want them to get.

Give each player a secret mission that directly conflicts with the mission of at least one other player, such that success is zero-sum (one must lose for another to succeed). Then give each player secret information that at least one teammate belongs to the enemy society. Be sure to hint at prospects for promotion and other great advances if they take the initiative and terminate the enemy teammate.

That should carry you far.

 

[Tankdriver]

I will be using the characters from the book. does that help?

 

[Allen Varney]

Using the characters from the book should serve you well. Just make sure the players understand that their advancement in Alpha Complex depends as much on pleasing their secret society as it does pleasing The Computer.

 

[Tankdriver]

Thank you.