Reading Paranoia XP: War On [Insert Noun Here]

This is another review of a Paranoia XP book, for those interested. If you’re not interested in a review of a 20-year old game book, well… skip it!

In this case, I’ll be discussing the mission collection War On [Insert Noun Here], designed by Gareth [Ryder-]Hanrahan!

Paranoia XP: War On [Insert Noun Here] 

This 2009 book of adventures bears a dedication that’s worth quoting here:

DEDICATED TO PRESIDENT GEORGE WALKER BUSH, WHO DID MORE TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF PARANOIA THAN ANYONE IN RECENT MEMORY

The adventure seems inspired directly by the creation of the DHS in the United States, with the following over-arching premise: in Alpha Complex, unknown causes set off a cascading failure across a series of compnodes. The Computer, confused and alarmed, asks its High Programmers what the cause of the failure might be, and when they all give different answers—blaming various service groups and secret societies—the Computer panics and creates a whole new service group, the Department of Complex Operation Defence (DCOD). 

The book contains three mission scenarios, all of them linked into a longer multi-session adventure or what we might call a “mini-campaign” if we were playing certain other RPGs. 

Null Mission

This mission pretty much involves establishing DCOD as a new service group into which the PCs are recruited, and which they must help set up by transporting to the correct sector and then commandeer several spaces (offices, buildings) for DCOD’s use. It’s basically a nutty shoot-em-up and one of those cases where everything is, alarmingly, just a little too easy. It seems like it would be easy to stretch it out, or to skip bits and pieces of it in order to fit it into a single short session, according to the group’s needs. 

War On [Insert Noun Here]

This mission is set a few weeks after Null Mission. Basically, the PCs are tasked with coming up mission statement designating  an enemy for DCOD to root out and destroy—and since every PC is a member of a different Secret Society (and may have remaining loyalties to their previous Service Group) there’s a lot of finagling to be done. Representatives from each other major Service Group come to spy on, rip off, or screw with them, and then they’re invited to a party where they need to navigate a collection of Alpha Complex misfits, weirdoes, and celebrities… well, Teela-O-MLY is thee. Also, whoever they angered with their mission statement will attempt to assassinate them. 

Heck of a (Screw) Job, Citizen!

This last mission follows the morning after the fateful party in War On [Insert Noun Here]. Basically, DCOD is under attack on several fronts, and the Troubleshooters have to try survive the attacks and escape intact. Or, you know, without using up all their clones. It’s especially wild, and looks especially fun. I get the sense Gareth [Ryder-]Hanrahan’s favorite method of running a mission is to throw fifty things at the PCs at once, piling them on one after another, and that’s certainly what happens in this mission. 

All in all, I think War On [Insert Noun Here] is a great thread of linked missions and something I’d be eager to run for players once they were used to the ins and outs of Alpha Complex. Not to be skipped, even if it is late in the run of Paranoia XP products.