Minireview: Termination Quota Exceeded (Paranoia)
I’ve generally liked the new Paranoia books a lot, but I have to say this one is one of the best (or at least funniest) collections of scenarios I’ve read in a good long while.
Termination Quota Exceeded is a slim collection of three scenarios for Paranoia “Internal Security”, where the PCs play members of the Alpha Complex police force. While the action at times resembles the mayhem lowly Troubleshooters get up to, Troopers are trusted by the Computer to be professional and do their jobs efficiently (hence the Blue security rating). Of course, the Computer is also batshit insane and has little idea of what really goes on behind the scenes.
The first romp is titled “Where’s the Beef?”, and it has the PCs chasing after… something which has escaped from a (probable) biological testing facility. The fact that the “something” very possibly has rows and rows of sharp teeth, excretes acid, and otherwise in no way resembles a well-known horror movie critter is totally irrelevant (and above their security rating, anyway). It has escaped, and the PCs have to recover it. Fast. Before it causes serious damage to Alpha Complex, no to mention their prospects for advancement (and avoiding termination). To make things more “interesting”, they have various totally contradictory orders on what to do about the situation. It’s hilarious, and definitely not too serious… included are jokes about Warhammer games, including people with Spiky Chaos Bits. As the scenario states, “in Alpha Complex nobody cares if you scream”.
Next up is “The Survivor”, which is heavily influenced by The Prisoner (as noted in the scenario), even though it’s not a 1:1 Prisoner spoof. The PCs chase a suspect down twisty transtubes, all alike, until they crash in a weird subterranean village, occupied by very strange people. Perhaps mutants, perhaps commies, but decidedly lacking the protection of Friend Computer. The PCs get to decide what to do: accept fate and begin a new life harvesting mushrooms and avoiding Grues (which lurk in the darkness), try to escape (avoiding said Grues), take over the village (and do what, exactly?), or something completely different. To make things interesting, the scenario has a bunch of different explanations for “what’s really going on” for the GM to choose from, or just roll a die if undecided. All explanations get separate writeups as regards to how certain NPCs behave and what happens if the PCs do different things. It’s almost multiple scenarios in one, and pretty impressive as such. Reads like it should be a lot of fun, and it’s also a nice curve ball to throw at players who may be a bit jaded with “standard missions”. This is anything but.
Lastly there is the titular “Termination Quota Exceeded”, where a bureaucratic snafu causes the PCs to get tasked with terminating a lot of known traitors. A lot. And fast, they only have a few hours before they get in trouble for disobeying the Computer. Trouble is, they only have their standard termination quotas for the job (since said snafu is totally separate from those). So they need to terminate a vast horde of traitors without using up their termination quota, and do it on a timetable. Impossible? Bah, I’m sure the players will think of something creative. How hard can it be to “accidentally” kill someone in Alpha Complex, anyway?
Especially the first two scenarios are very strong, and the last one isn’t bad either. The first two could be converted to “standard” Troubleshooter missions without too much work, while the last one really depends on the quota mechanics in “Internal Security” and doesn’t really work outside that.
(Very) good stuff, recommended. Also funny as hell to read. […]
Minireview: Alpha Complex Nights
Alpha Complex Nights is a fairly new book for Paranoia XP. It’s a collection of three new adventures, all written by Gareth Hanrahan. I’d say it’s a very good – with some minor disclaimers.
All three adventures share two elements: they all contain a non-standard twist, and they are all quite complicated. Complicated in that they all actually have a back story, and there’s a lot to keep in mind when running them. That complexity also makes them quite interesting, so it’s a some-good-some-bad feature. The twists add to the interest factor.
The first of the bunch is Spin Control, which features the need for the Troubleshooters to control the “truth”. While always being an important survival skill in good ol’ Alpha Complex, here it becomes a mandate. There are also zombies. Yes, zombies. Lots of them. Of the brain-eating kind. Yes, that’s the twist. Sporks also feature heavily. The whole thing is insanely complex, quite funny, and very good.
Second up is My First Treason, where the Troubleshooters… aren’t. Aren’t Troubleshooters, that is. Instead, players play “junior citizens”, fresh from the creche and straight into school (or what passes for it in Alpha Complex). There’s a lot of Harry Potter spoofing going on and lots of opportunities to stab people in the back, blame others, and try to survive. Situation normal, in other words. While good fun and a nice twist, this is possibly the weakest of the three – though that is mostly due to the high quality of the other two.
Last up, there’s Sweep Of Unhistory, where (due to a fairly unlikely plot gimmick) the Troubleshooters get re-cloned time and time again… each time further in the future. While staying quite “normal” in the beginning, the whole thing degenerates into an insane version of The Time Machine, with lots of jokes and references thrown about in all appropriate directions. Alpha Complex where the Commies won (sorta)? Flying Alpha Complex sky fortress? No computer, just lots of slaves and coconuts? Giant mutant cockroaches? All here. It’s a lovely time travel spoof and great Paranoia adventure, rolled into one. Keeping up player interest through the zillion possible futures may be a challenge, of course.
All that is based on how the things read, of course – they sound like lots of fun, but the proof is in the play, as always. […]
