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Paranoia RPG

RPG Name: Paranoia

Description: Paranoia RPG originally West End Games, later Mongoose Publishing a satire of dystopian futures

What are your reviews for this classic role-playing game? Would Paranoia play by post work well? If you have actually used this system please give your reviews both as a player or game master.

Played As: Paranoia PBP RPG? or See more RPG systems

RPG Paranoia

Paranoia is extraordinarily well named, no matter which edition you play. It another game that has seen a new edition recently, with much of the same atmosphere, while losing some of the details. In the version of the game I read (And yes, this is another of those games I have read, but never actually played. I have a lot of them.) the primary enemy the Computer has is Communists, since it was made in the eighties, when that word sent shivers up the spines of he entire (Allegedly) free world.

In the latest edition the bogeyman is terrorists. They don't get the luxury of a political affiliation. They have to deal with being classified by mere ill intent, which doesn't matter in the end, because they don't exist. They are a fantasy enemy dreamed up by the programmers of the Computer, which runs all aspects of life in the setting, otherwise known as Alpha Complex.

In game, Alpha Complex is your world. You have never been Outside.Its dangerous there. You know because the Computer told you so, and the Computer is your friend. (It tells you that, too.)

This game is one tiny step above beer and pretzels role-playing. You don't play a character, you play a clone family, so you can be killed in really entertaining ways and not feel bad. It changes to role of the GM, from entertainer and arbiter of balance to gleeful mass murderer, and if they do it right, you laugh all the way through it.

Stay alert. Trust no one. And keep your laser handy.