Anyone in the UK or with access to Channel 4′s on demand output on 4od should check out the Charlie Brooker trilogy Black Mirror. Tonight’s episode, 15 Million Merits, took a glance at star making popular TV and the potential it gives the masses to rise above the role of drones. From a PARANOIA perspective there was food for thought here. Troubleshooters fill the role played by the bikers, building merits to buy possessions that don’t really mean anything. And if you do make a name for yourself and get the attention you think you deserve, is the prize really worth it. Is life easier when you’re YELLOW or BLUE Clearance? Or does it just mean you have a bigger living space and more things? Interesting viewing.
I spent 99 pence on this item. Plus postage. I do not have high expectations. Actually, I have no specific expectations. Do not judge me on this purchase – I needed to complete my pre-Mongoose PARANOIA collection, and this item remained outstanding. Admittedly, I might later choose to disassociate the volume from any link to the word ‘outstanding’.
I will return with comments of some kind. I doubt I can regret a mere 99 pence. The eBay seller should have the book to me in the next few days.
The CCCP settlement of Pyramiden, on an archipelago belonging to the Norwegians, provided a utopian lifestyle of work and plenty as an example to the people back home. However, when the Communist might of Russia collapsed, the people steadily abandoned the dream rather than struggle in the face of insurmountable hardship.
I daresay this subsidised paradise in the chilly north could easily form the backdrop for some modern day PARANOIA or perhaps some spin on the The Prisoner, with happy workers leading happy family lives amidst a basically fabricated and unsupportable community. Mandatory sports days, social events and art classes anyone?
Perhaps Pyramiden could be that colony set up on the agreement of The Computer, or one of the High Programmers, as a way to understand the way a small, above-ground community might work – or to comprehend the Communist mindset? Could the Troubleshooters wake to find they have led happy, ordinary lives as honourable and loyal Communists with loving families and generous prospects? Take them through the routine of labour in the mines, followed by swimming, song, and sitting around the fire telling stories to the children – but, over time, introduce clear signs of hardship, of a lack in essential maintenance skills and materials (because the central office back home always sends a replacement) and the remoteness of the colony. Then cut the lifeline completely, pull the plug, and leave them with nothing but static. Invariably, panic will grow, desperation follows when bellies grumble, and The Computer will send in ‘support‘, highly likely to be mistaken by the mind-altered inhabitants of the colony as a Capitalist invasion force… What fun!
I have been mulling over using a new set of rules to run a PARANOIA adventure, transplanting the setting on to a new system. I have been quietly impressed by the potential of Hollowpoint (a violent game of action, ammo and adrenaline – briefly reviewed on my other blog) as the basis for game about capable characters facing potentially overwhelming odds in pursuit of a shifting objective. Yes, capable people – but, not necessarily well-informed or in complete control.
Hollowpoint boils down to achieving something without getting too bogged down in the business of initiative and hit points. First edition PARANOIA had lasers, sure – but the eye always drifted towards the cone rifle, the plasma generator, and the tacnuke. Why would someone worry too much about getting the right clearance barrel for the right colour Reflec, when you could wipe them all out with a well placed tacnuke strike? I mean… it’s the only way to be sure, right?
It seems to me, that the simplicity of the system and the ultra-brutal potential of the combat make Hollowpoint a potentially ideal fit for the concept. Mind you, I can also see the game needing to be set-up in just the right way. I can’t see a pure Troubleshooter game really working, because they genuinely don’t seem to have the right level of competency. At least, I don’t see them having the right level of competency straight out of the box. I could see them working at agents of Internal Security, however, and having the right resources on hand to get the job done. Perhaps, ORANGE Clearance, a little above the ‘rookie’, but nothing so significant as to make a great difference in the scheme of things. A Troubleshooter Agent can have the backing of an Agency that doesn’t need to worry about being questioned too closely about it’s motives and intent, because in the end a scapegoat will always present itself (or, at least, represent a tertiary Objective for the Agents to achieve in every mission they pursue).
I suspect you could have the game centred on Internal Security members themselves, but then again that might be too competent… and I can see IntSec reps as more sort of Operative level. When an Agent bites the dust and moves on, an IntSec Operative can step in to show the lowly Troubleshooter just how it’s done.
PARANOIA Hollowpoint becomes an act of outsourcing, providing moderately capable Troubleshooters with the weapons and support they need to accomplish the goals of their higher clearance supervisors. At the end of the day, the characters stalk the corridors of Alpha Complex to keep the citizens in line and suppress the threats of villainous terrorists; and IntSec plan to operate efficiently, effectively and without any dangling strings attached in achieving their objectives.
I’ll start to rough out the Hollowpoint essentials over forthcoming posts and then test the idea out on unsuspecting guinea pigs…
It has occurred to me that I haven’t posted here in a while. Rather like a box in the garage that you don’t inspect unless you’re clearing it, it does suggest maybe I have outgrown the need for this blog. On the other hand, like the Lottery, I fear the moment I dump something, to save a few quid, I will find that I need it again. I think it might be in order to use this blog for purposes specifically relating to the running and writing of games, though I have done similar posts elsewhere. Maybe, I can just keep this blog for whim posting of whatever. Maybe PARANOIA may figure enough in proceedings to warrant the continue existence and focus of this blog as is. I suppose that if I made an effort to run PARANOIA more often, I would have enough stuff to post about on here.
Following on from my last post (in March!), I have been reading Traveller. Reading through the content of the last post, it dawned on me that a serious game of PARANOIA might be run with the Traveller rules. I’m not sure why that makes sense to me; but, I do know that it does for whatever reason. Perhaps it has something to do with the presence of a rulebook. If I turn up with the PARANOIA rules, then I will be playing that game. If I turn up with the Traveller rules, then I will be playing Traveller – even if the adventures I run with those rules have a striking resemblance to PARANOIA missions. With reference back to the previous post, it would be like playing Warhammer with War Machine rules and tri-fold paper miniatures. I may be using the background and battle setups of the Warhammer world, but because I’m using different rules and different figures it might be perceived that I’m not actually playing Warhammer.
It would be interesting to have a go at dressing up PARANOIA in new clothes and giving it a go. I might not necessarily attempt it with Traveller, but using some other system will certainly draw players off the scent; and if I muddy the waters then they may never realise they have been led up the garden path (to seriously mix up a metaphor).