Sant-R-CLS

[locarno24]

...This is probably something that has been done before, but I am but a bear of little brain and have only a small library of Paranoia-related goodies.

I was thinking about the RPG sessions closer to christmas, and the thought popped into my head:

~ Individual from outside Alpha Complex
~ RED clothing & fur-lined headgear (traditional Commie clothing)
~ Able to fit down heating shafts despite his size (rubber skeleton mutation?)
~ Breaks into the private quarters of citizens of all clearance levels
~ Provides loyal citizens with items they have not paid for, thus destabilizing the Alpha Complex economy
~ Provides treasonous citizens with bags of combustible materials, tempting them to commit arson

...anyone ever done a Paranoia mission where the objective is to detain or terminate this obvious Mutant Commie Traitor? It strikes me as the sort of thing which might exist already somewhere.

 

[Clangador]

No but it does sound interesting.

 

[locarno24]

Might well actually try to run this as a one-shot this Christmas. I've got a couple of weeks to figure out a script, and I think I might run it with my player group as a Christmas present to myself (because few things are as satisfying as GM-ing Paranoia).

Any advice or suggestions for plot, or nasty things to do to the players, is welcome.




Hmm... being given a mission outline of "locate and terminate this known commie mutant traitor" is a simple enough start, but I'm not sure where to go from there.
A big part of it is whether Sant-R-CLS should actually be encounter-able or should simply be a confused memory on the part of the computer.

[Wanders away to consume caffeine and decide]

......Or should be "encounter-able" but turn out (post termination by excessive quantities of laser-fire) to be a senior member of the Romantics who was dressing up for Mid-X Wintermas Festival. Obviously there's no way shooting a high-clearance citizen in front of witnesses could possibly cause the trouble-shooters problems. Especially if his next clone is their debriefing officer.


That needs them to actually 'find' Sant-R-CLS - which means tracking him down - either by help from secret societies (romantics or similar) or actual investigation work (or more likely, trying to navigate the INTSEC bureaucracy until they locate the surveillance report telling them where he's going to be, which for Alpha Complex is about as close as you get to 'investigation').

An inevitable "death-by-briefing-room" scene wouldn't hurt, too. Making them get to a secure comp-node/briefing room and receiving the briefing from Friend Computer directly would immediately escalate things. Receiving the mission alert by some potentially-lethal medium would be good, too. As ever, the players can't just be killed on a whim; they have to unknowingly (or knowingly) participate in their own demise.

Being in a transbot en route to work would be a good start. Friend Computer can flash the mission alert up in a window on the transbot's control screen. It's not their fault that they don't realise that the control screen is still live, so scrolling around on the mission briefing might fiddle with the transbot's control settings....

The briefing room.....getting past some sort of guard would be good. If it's a computer's private comp-node/briefing room, normally used for high-clearance or high-security briefings, then ol' paranoid FC would always have it guarded, but using a bot would make more sense. An over-paranoid, or over-morose INTSEC bot, or a gun-happy ARMED FORCES bot, would make sense. Although, this being Alpha Complex, a confused and slightly traumatised TECH SERVICES bot brain refitted in a heavily armed mini-tank that it's not quite sure how to use seems just as likely.
The possibility for the troubleshooters to cause this thing to go on a murderous downtown rampage around the surviving sector should not be discounted!


Equipment - It's paranoia. Something from R&D has to make it's appearance, and R&D are probably feeling festive too. I kind of feel like we need some variations on:

Wrapping paper - some sort of self-wrapping smart paper? Great for detaining mutant commie traitors for interrogation. Not so great if it decides to wrap you up mid-firefight.
Festive Headgear - I'm not sure what R&D function 'bobbly antlers' could have. Some sort of sensor system? Force field generator? It obviously won't work properly, but it should be claimed to do something.
Mince Pies - Emergency Rations? Drugs? Something geometry related which minces the user?
Christmas Jumpers - Extra body armour - RED-clearance, of course. Surprisingly comfortable but given to building up a lot of static....
Not sure what else?


Probably the Troubleshooters would need to access a high clearance area.....so some sort of "Name-specific Unrestricted Temporary Certificate Assigning Security-clearance Elevation", or N.U.T.C.A.S.E. permitting the troubleshooters to go into the sort of high-clearance club area where someone might decide to dress up as Sant-R-CLS on a whim or a dare, but not actually to grant them said clearance for any other reason.

Which give all sorts of possibilities for clearance violations. Such as accidentally finding themselves attending a High Programmer's Romantics Christmas Dinner.

'Name-specific' would also only be appropriate for a specific named clone.....so Ithinkwe-R-DED-1 is a separate named individual to Ithinkwe-R-DED-2.....and if he gets killed, he's going to need a new form. Which may or may not be available.

Obviously, figuring out a way to 'sneak' into a high clearance club whilst a Christmas party is on is a lethal-ish challenge in itself. After all, we're talking about high programmer's personal security here. Laser grids, Ninja droids, minefields, cloned mutant dodos.....

 

[hivemindx]

I would start this as an investigation and let the players figure out what is going on for themselves.

+ Someone is breaking in to secure quarters in a mysterious way. They have all the fun (fun is mandatory) of visiting some high sec level clone in their quarters with the associated risks of doing something treasonous by accident. They discover that, somewhat unusual for a burglar, the mystery clone is leaving things behind. There is more fun to be had investigating the mysterious (R&D) items left behind, including the mysterious black rocks which turn out to be very flammable. Take some typical Christmas items and Alpha Complex them up. It's a small box but when you touch it a certain way a tiny robot springs out and scans the surroundings and then attacks with a sonic weapon. (Santa may have gone over the top with some of the toys).

+ Someone has sabotaged the food vats in Sector CKY. They are no longer producing the normal fun food but strange foodstuffs like hard multi-coloured (!) disks and a strange white liquid that nobody can drink because they are not cleared for it. It turns out someone from a previously unknown secret society has reprogrammed the vats because HE will need to have a few snacks when he visits Alpha Complex.

+ There are strange noises and climate issues in sector POL. The citizens complain of a ringing in their ears from time to time and then sometimes hear loud clumping from the ceiling tiles. The temperature varies a lot and some sort of white dust (maybe insulation?) is blowing through the corridors. Investigation may find strange prints in the dust in the ceiling vents.

+ Some nature loving secret society has started trying to convert Alpha Complex. They have been handing strange bundles of shiny green leaves with red berries around the corridors. Why are they doing this? If they manage to interrogate someone they get told it's the season.

I wouldn't go overboard on this, the idea is to give them a preamble before they find out about Sant-R-CLS. Once they have figured out what's going on then I'd go ahead with mutant hunt as described earlier.