Mandatory Card Game: 2

While the PARANOIA: Mandatory Card Game manages an admirable, if highly simplified, recreation of an average Zap game, it lends itself significantly less to the whole business of crime and punishment over death by plasma cannon. PARANOIA’s Straight style fosters a subtle approach. Troubleshooters accumulate treasonous information over time, and then present a solid case that brings about a terrible fall from grace for one or more previously trusted team members. Once charged with treason, Troubleshooters undergo punishment suitable for the degree of treason committed, as opposed to simply being reduced to their component atoms.

While I can think of many ways to Straighten up the Card Game, one concerns the reduced mortality rate of the Internal Security review, matching the punishment fits the crime approach of the style. Whereas a Troubleshooter currently stands to lose a clone for exceeding his Treason Maximum, the correction options of the Straight style offer more potential for inconveniencing a player without simply destroying his entire clone line. As players will lose clones more slowly using this method (but no less entertainingly), you might want to run the game with a three clone maximum, or thereabouts.

Emphasizing Troubleshooters accumulation of Treason over just hitting maximum shifts the focus of the game, so that players can either resort to risky acts of direct physical violence, or else seek to ‘cripple’ their opponents with punishments that make it more difficult for them to succeed in the next mission. Players careful use of Action Cards can still potentially wipe the slate clean or turn the tables in an instant, but that’s just a fact of PARANOIA.

Alternate Internal Security Interrogation

As an alternative to immediate termination, players entering the Internal Security Interrogation phase with Treason tokens equal or exceeding their maximum should deduct their Treason Maximum value from their final Treason token amount, resulting in a minimum value of 1 and a maximum of 6 (if the value exceeds 6, treat it as 6). Check the result against the table below:

  1. Probation. During the next mission, whenever you receive one or more Treason tokens as a result of an Action Card or treasonous act (e.g. shooting a Loyal citizen), flip a coin. If you flip a heads, you lose your next turn.
  2. Censure. You automatically start the next Mission with Treason tokens equal to half your Maximum Treason (rounded down).
  3. Fines. You start the next Mission drawing TWO fewer cards than you would normally get according to your Security Clearance.
  4. Demotion. Lose ONE Security Clearance AND the position of Team Leader, if you currently hold it.
  5. Brainscrub. You play the next Mission with all your Action Cards face up on the table.
  6. Termination. You lose a clone.