PARANOIA

As seen in my last post, the forthcoming PARANOIA XP rules supplement The Mutant Experience, by R. Eric Reuss, features dozens of new mutant powers and lots of rules variants. Here are a couple more for which I'm soliciting comment:

Addictive powers

In this variant, when a mutant uses his power, his body releases endorphins and other chemicals, causing him to feel happy and satisfied. This sensation is not merely pleasant but downright addictive—a mutant who goes too long without activating his power is afflicted with a strong desire to use it..

The higher the mutant’s base Power, the better he feels—and the harsher the addiction. Someone with a Power of 8 or lower might merely feel kind of good when he uses his power, cranky or irritable when he hasn’t done so in a while—kind of like a mild caffeine dependency. On the other hand, a citizen with a Power of 20 might know the highs and lows of crack or heroin, with commensurate cravings between uses.

If a citizen obstinately suffers through the privations of withdrawal, somehow managing to avoid accidental activation... well, if you’re feeling generous, you can decrease his Power by one or two points and tell him he’s reached a new plateau. He doesn’t need to activate his (less-strong) mutation as frequently or as badly as he used to.

But as PARANOIA isn’t generally a game about the triumph of raw will over adversity, we recommend simply killing the poor sod. Maybe next time he’ll use his power to try getting ahead rather than keeping it bottled up inside like a pipe bomb in his chest cavity.

Motivated powers

With this variant, some or all mutant powers have—well, ‘a mind of their own’ is stretching it a bit, but not too much. They have a certain... volition, which a mutant feels as strange urges coming from inside his own head. A citizen who has only just discovered his mutation probably can’t differentiate between these desires and ones originating from his own subconscious, but more experienced mutants (the definition of which is left deliberately vague) can generally tell when it’s their power causing an unusual impulse.

Pick a motivation for the mutant’s power. It’s easier to remember during play if you make it simple, such as ‘harm those who have frustrated us,' but if you want to come up with something more elaborate, go ahead. Motivations may be tied into the nature of the power—‘extinguish all fires’ for Cryokinesis, for instance—or completely separate, such as ‘when we see IntelliFluid, drink it.’ Feel free to improvise during the game; perhaps the power takes a dislike to one of the mutant’s fellow Troubleshooters, producing homicidal impulses. This will (of course) shock and dismay the compassionate player, but he’ll cope.

When the mutant has been fighting the impulses of his own power, he has a harder time using it—reduce all margins of success by up to 5 points, depending on how recalcitrant he’s been. This can cause failure on a roll that would ordinarily have succeeded. Use descriptions such as ‘your power escapes your control’ and ‘your mutation lashes out wildly.’ If you wish, accidents may become more common, as the mutation attempts to activate on its own.

On the other hand, when the mutant has been regularly acceding to his power’s impulses, he has an easier time wielding it for his own purposes. Increase all margins of success by up to 5 points, depending on how much he’s been going along with it. Use descriptions such as ‘your power flows smoothly’ or ‘your mutation bends to your will with surprising ease.’

(If you don’t like the notion of a mutant power having volition or motivation, think of it as ‘the part of the mutant’s mind in control of his power has its own subconscious agenda.’ It all works out the same.)

The Mutant Experience, the 64-page PARANOIA XP rules supplement by R. Eric Reuss due in January from Mongoose Publishing, includes a short chapter of variant rules for mutant powers. I'll post some of them here over the next few days; I'd be interested in feedback. Here's the first:

Power and Control is an alternate mechanic that, if used, should be used for all mutations.

Rather than controlling all mutant activity with a single attribute (Power), use two: Power and Control. The former governs the strength of a mutation, the latter represents the mutant’s ability to do what he wants with his mutation. Determine Power as usual (1d20, with a minimum Power of 8). Generate Control by rolling 1d20, with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 16.
When a mutant wants to use his power, roll 1d20. Compare the result to his Control and use that margin for any effects that require finesse or precision (such as getting the fine details right with Polymorphism). Then compare the same roll to the mutant’s Power and use that margin of success for any effects that require raw ability or mutanty strength, such as trying to use Polymorphism to turn into a cone rifle. Mishaps are governed by Control, overkills by Power. If the roll is a success for Control but an outright failure for Power, treat as a margin of 0 on the Power roll. Perversity points spent help (or hinder) both Control and Power.

Alternately, you can determine whether a given use of a mutation relies more on Control or Power and roll only against the appropriate attribute, using it for all of the margins.
More alternately still, you can make two rolls, one against each attribute. Only do this if you like rolling lots of dice.

This system lets you have mutants who are very powerful without having much control over that power—sort of the equivalent of epileptic baboons with plasma generators. The disadvantage is that it’s more fiddly—though as always, you can just use the numbers as a guide and improvise.

Greg Morrow, who helps out with Owlcon, a game convention at Rice University in Houston, is looking for someone to GM Paranoia there. It'll be held over the weekend of Feb 4-6.

If you're interested, he can be contacted at dr (dot) elmo (at) whiterose (dot) org. His note doesn't say, but I'd certainly try to scam a free con membership out of it, anyway.

If you do wind up doing this, let me know--we can probably get Mongoose to contribute some kind of 'Noia product as a prize. Not that "prizes" make sense in a roleplaying context, but, you know...

I am laying out The Mutant Experience, the 64-page PARANOIA XP rules supplement loaded with all kinds of new mutant powers, mutation-related drugs and mutagens and game ideas, new variant Alpha Complex change-of-pace settings that treat mutation in various offbeat ways, etc. If it's mutant-related, this is its book.

All PARANOIA XP products have a different humorous little motto, saying, or aside at the lower right of each two-page spread. I call these "fortune cookies." I need fortune cookies of this kind for The Mutant Experience -- anything mutant-related that's witty or funny, but mainly terse. Please post your fortune cookie one-liners in the comments to this thread. I need these by Monday, November 29th, 2004, so if you're reading this after that date, thanks anyway but too late.

If I use your fortune cookie(s) in the supplement, you won't receive financial compensation of any kind whatever and won't get a free copy of the book. It's the gaming business, so really, you're lucky I don't go to your house and kick you in the shins. However, if you give your real name, I will do my best to list it in the credits of the supplement.

Cedric Chin turns in the first RPG.net review of Gareth Hanrahan's The Traitor's Manual, the first supplement for PARANOIA XP. Score: Style 5 (out of 5), Substance 5.

For the comprehensive 64-page rules supplement The Mutant Experience, due in January from Mongoose Publishing, designer R. Eric Reuss actually went so far as to conduct (shudder) research. No, no, it's all right -- I'll make sure it doesn't happen often. PARANOIA should never be excessively sullied with actual science.

Still, it's sort of interesting to read Eric's "Mutagens" chapter, which lists lots of environmental influences that do, in the real world, really induce real mutation -- though not necessarily Machine Empathy or Pyrokinesis. You already know about nuclear fuel, UV radiation, X-rays, et al -- but what about chemicals like diethyl azodicarboxylate (aka DEAD)? Ethidium bromide? Nitrogen mustard?

But do not think ill of Eric for this mucking about in reality, for he also rises above mere pedestrian research. He devises mutagens specific to Alpha Complex, such as these:

• CaustiClean: Official R&D policies and procedures call for this cleaning agent after sandblasting has failed but before calling in an Ultra-7 experimental scrubot. Higher-clearance citizens are well aware it's mutagenic, but sometimes, having to terminate a few mutated underlings is easier to deal with than doing poorly on a Premises Cleanliness Inspection.
• Vat slime strain 66-7/E: One particularly malignant and stubborn variety of vat slime has proven mutagenic when forced down the throats of unwilling volunteers. CPU has recommended that PLC mandate testing of all active food vats for strain 66-7/E among all its service firms, but the recommendation is hung up in subcommittee. Anyhow, outbreaks hardly ever crop up outside of INFRARED-destined supplies.
• WunderSmell: Most of Alpha Complex's synthesized foodstuffs have their origins in a food vat of some sort. The algae harvested therefrom is just the beginning, though - any given cuisine (and we use that term loosely indeed) is likely to have at least a dozen other ingredients: softeners, stiffeners, preservatives, texture modifiers, flavorings, pharmaceuticals, waxes, dyes, aroma enhancers, hormones, hormone suppressants, antibacterials, carbonation, thickeners, thinners and the occasional insecticide. WunderSmell is an aroma enhancer -- the scent of any food treated with it tends to trigger a salivation reflex -- which also happens to be mildly mutagenic.

The Mutant Experience devotes a few pages to mutagens and medications (Freak Suppressant, Smooth Groove), a few more to mutation-related equipment (brain amplifiers, MindShields, psionic interference grenades), and a couple of chapters to new rules and to roleplaying. But the bulk of the supplement is lots and lots of new mutant powers. I'll present a few of these as the January publication date approaches.

French roleplaying game writer Thomas B. is starting Le Secret du Roi, a Noteworthy blog-based roleplaying game using the rules I mentioned here in October. Thomas's historical Noteworthy game, conducted in English (whew), is set in the court of Louis XV during the 1760s. Think Dangerous Liaisons, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and lots of international intrigue as a member of Louis's intelligence service. Thomas is looking for players, so if you're interested in that era and can handle weekly turns, e-mail him at archange.didier (at) laposte (dot) net.

What? What does this have to do with PARANOIA? Why do I keep mentioning Noteworthy in the PARANOIA blog? Oh, no reason, no reason... yet...

The fans at Animalball Games are big fans of PARANOIA (at least of the 2nd edition rules -- they don't appear to know about the XP edition yet).

One of Animalball's masterminds, known only as "Mike," has posted no less than 30 pregenerated Troubleshooters he designed, evidently for various play-by-mail games. The character descriptions are stat-free and thus suited for adaptation to your favorite PARANOIA edition. You'll need the free Adobe Reader to view these .PDF files. The same page offers plenty of other pregenerated PCs for D&D, Shadowrun, Mutants and Masterminds, and other games.

The Animalball folks say, "If you have a character you'd like to include in the Rogues Gallery, email it to RoguesGallery (at) animalball (dot) com in any format -- we'll convert it to .PDF and put it on the page."

What's that you say, citizen? The roster of mutations in the PARANOIA XP rulebook lacks the exact power you want for your Troubleshooter? You're looking without success for the mutations Acidic Spit, Adaptive Metabolism, Bouncy, Call Bots, Chromativariation, Clean Slate, Creeping Madness, Cryokinesis, Enervating Darkness, Environmental Control, Find Location, Forgettable, Gravity Manipulation, Haze, Hyperreflexes, Jump!, Light Control, Magnetize, Mind Sense, Pouches, Psychometry, Push Mutant Powers, Radioactivity, Sculpt, Second Skin, Sonic Scream, Speed, Spikes, Stasis, Stench, and Stretchy?

Relief is at hand, citizen! Acquire, by any legal means, the fine new 64-page PARANOIA supplement by R. Eric Reuss, The Mutant Experience! Due in January 2005 from Mongoose Publishing, The Mutant Experience describes all these powers in loving detail for all players of RED Clearance or above.

What's that, PARANOIA Gamemaster? You want new ways to mess over your player characters with new mutation mishaps that will make them regret the day they were decanted? You want new mutagens, mutation-enhancing drugs, mission ideas and (yum!) edible Perversity points? You want to make your players regret ever asking for their new mutant powers? If your security clearance is ULTRAVIOLET, consult previous description re: The Mutant Experience, due in January 2005.

Gareth Hanrahan's The Traitor's Manual, the first supplement for PARANOIA XP, is finally stealing onto game store shelves. A lengthy treatise of all the major secret societies in Alpha Complex, The Traitor's Manual also includes a full-length mission in the Classic play style, "Down and Out in Alpha Complex."

A Traitor's Manual topic on RPG.net discusses the supplement. One post voices a minor complaint about the "Down and Out" mission: "[A]t the end of the adventure [the player characters] all get killed by fiat (for PARANOIA adventures I guess that isn't much of a spoiler). I'd hoped they'd kinda moved on from that for XP."

What do you think about that objection? The hose-job finale is a long-established tradition in PARANOIA -- established, but not necessarily hallowed nor sacred. Of the five missions in the upcoming collection Crash Priority, only one (a Classic mission) ends with an explicit hosing. The Straight missions are all totally survivable. The single Zap mission doesn't kill everyone at the end, but really, how likely is it that Zap characters will reach the end alive?

For later supplements, designers should attend to the wishes of the player base. Having no strong opinion myself, I'd like to take the temperature of the community: How do you feel, in principle, about mission endings that offer and/or expect mass Troubleshooter extermination as a punchline?

Remember the mission blender included in the PARANOIA XP Gamemaster Screen 24-page insert booklet? Designed by Aaron Allston and a dozen or more loyal citizens on Paranoia-Live.net, the blender lets you generate a complete PARANOIA mission, start to finish -- including central conflicts, mission alert, briefing, service service, secret society missions, main mission, debriefing, and entertaining random calamities -- with nothing but a few dozen 1d20 rolls on its 72 tables.

Longtime PARANOIA fan Saul Resnikoff got hold of the mission blender and, on a Paranoia-Live.net forum thread, has recounted how he turned its results into a fun, fulfilling, and perhaps halfway believable plot.

Who else will recount their blender-related activities in that fine thread? Go on, go on, don't be shy!