Posted in: Games, Movies, Recent Updates | Tagged: Bundle of Holding, entertainment, gaming, Paranoia RPG

Work For The Computer And Open The Paranoia RPG Bundle Of Holding

By Christopher Helton

The newest offering at the Bundle of Holding site is the latest version of the Paranoia roleplaying game. Darkly satirical, the game features "troubleshooters" who serve and protect the Computer of Alpha Complex, in a world inspired by 1984, Brazil and Brave New World. These troubleshooters are a series of clones that have to deal with security and political issues, public safety and threats from groups that would undermine the authority of the Computer and threaten the safety of all of the citizens of the Alpha Complex.

As always, the PDFs offered in this bundle are completely DRM-free and 10% of the total proceeds will go to Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch.

Not everyone likes comedy games, I know that I certainly don't. The irony of this is that most "straight" game campaigns end up being comedic, whether the people involved intend that or not. With Paranoia, a lot of the tropes of gaming and gaming groups are satirized, making it easier for a group to get a hook into playing this game. Paranoia has a long pedigree in gaming, having originally been published by West End Games (best known for the original Star Wars RPG) and the most recent edition being published through Mongoose Publishing. Currently out of print, and unavailable in PDF except for this bundle, it is the edition that was sold by Mongoose Publishing that is being offered up in this bundle.

My experience with Paranoia is an interesting one, in that "let me tell you about my character" kind of way. Years ago, at a local gaming convention back in Ohio, I was asked to run a number of games because I was the only person that they knew who ran games that weren't Dungeons & Dragons. Among the games that the organizers wanted for me to run was Paranoia. I had never actually run Paranoia, but the Gaming HQ people told me that, with the game, that wasn't necessarily an issue. It turned out that it really didn't matter for the people playing in this event, and a lot of fun was had by everyone. We caused a bit of trouble for the convention, but that is a different story.

Back to this bundle, however. For the price of $9.95 you receive the core PDFs of the core Paranoia rules (with errata incorporated from the first printing), Criminal Histories (which expands the basic character creation rules) and the GM Screen and Mission Blender (expanded help for the harried GM that needs an adventure that can be put together quickly). These three books give the inspired gaming group everything that they would need to explore the future world of the Alpha Complex.

But if you pay over the threshold amount (currently over $23 at the time of writing), you also receive a number of PDFs to help the Paranoia GM and player with their campaigns. In Extreme Paranoia you get an expansion of the "security clearances" available to player characters. In The Mutant Experience you have new, interesting and dangerous mutant abilities for your characters (even though being a mutant is traitorous to the Computer, everyone is of course a mutant). With Stuff you can get new and innovative equipment for your characters to use and abuse. Other of the supplements, like Flashbacks and Crash Priority, are geared towards the game master with adventures and setting materials that can expand your campaigns.

There is a lot of material in this bundle and more than enough books to get a campaign up and running, and keep it running for quite a while.

Paranoia is a fun game. It can be played as a serious game, for those who may not like comedic games, and there is advice scattered through the core rules and many of the supplements for game masters that will show how to play the game in that style. When played "straight," the game does become a lot more dangerous for characters. Any version of the Alpha Complex is a dangerous place to be poking around in. Fans of the satire in comics like Judge Dredd may find interest in Paranoia. If you imagine Alpha Complex troubleshooters as a less effective and comedic version of the Judges of Mega City One, you are already half way to understanding the game.

As always, the Bundle of Holding is only open for a limited time. The Paranoia bundle closes in the morning of June 23rd to make room for another gaming deal.

Christopher Helton is a blogger, podcaster and tabletop RPG publisher who talks about games and other forms of geekery at the long-running Dorkland! blog. He is also the co-publisher at the ENnie Award winning Battlefield Press, Inc.  You can find him on Twitter at @dorkland and on G+ at https://plus.google.com/+ChristopherHelton/ where he will talk your ear off about gaming and comics.

Christopher has a crowdfunding page to help raise money to defray the costs for going to the Gen Con gaming convention and cover it for his Dorkland! blog and Bleeding Cool. Please click here to go to the page and help out.

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