Official development blog for the PARANOIA roleplaying game. No description is available at your security clearance. The Computer is your friend.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

PARANOIA equipment list 

Some years back I happened upon Arthur Boff and Kevin Sigmund's venerable PARANOIA Geocities site, while I was designing the current Mongoose Publishing PARANOIA edition. Sharp-eyed citizen Saul Resnikoff has noticed some comparatively recent (post-Mongoose) additions to the site, including this useful PARANOIA standard equipment list arranged by security clearance. The list partakes of both earlier and current editions.

Citizens Arthur and Kevin have also worked like switch engines to update the "Reboot Alpha" metaplot continuity West End Games introduced into its late-1980s and early '90s adventures, after the departure of founding line editor Ken Rolston. The "Restart page" and "Restart Secret Societies" tell what happened to Alpha Base, Clem Unger, Elizabeth-R, Randy the Wonder Lizard, and many others.

In my biased view, the labored quality of this retrofit validates the new edition's smoother approach. Instead of wrestling with the Gordian Knot of continuity, the new edition severs it. From Day 1, Hour 1, Minute 1 of my design work on the current PARANOIA edition, like an HPD&MC History Remaker, I was determined to retcon those old West End books right out of existence. I summarily, not to say cockily, declared they had never happened. Another validation: No one -- not one single player -- has ever complained. Though I haven't heard from Arthur or Kevin....

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Posted by: Allen Varney / 2:30 AM (1) comments

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