- Series: Paranoia XP Reviews, Book-by-Book
- Reading Paranoia XP: Paranoia [XP], Service Pack 1 (Core Rulebook)
- Reading Paranoia XP: The GM Screen, Mission Blender, and Mandatory Mission Pack
- Reading Paranoia XP: Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Alpha Complex and The Little Red Book
- Reading Paranoia XP: Service, Service!
- Reading Paranoia XP: The Traitor’s Manual
- Reading Paranoia XP: STUFF and STUFF 2: The Gray Subnets
- Reading Paranoia XP: The Mutant Experience
- Reading Paranoia XP: Extreme Paranoia
- Reading Paranoia XP: Criminal Histories
- Reading Paranoia XP: Big Book of Bots
- Reading Paranoia XP: The Thin Green Line
- Reading Paranoia XP: The Underplex
- Reading Paranoia XP: Flashbacks
- Reading Paranoia XP: Flashbacks II
- Reading Paranoia XP: Alpha Complex Nights
- Reading Paranoia XP: Alpha Complex Nights 2
- Reading Paranoia XP: Crash Priority
- Reading Paranoia XP: Sector Zero
- Reading Paranoia XP: War On [Insert Noun Here]
- Reading Paranoia XP: WMD
A while back, I became fascinated with the classic RPG Paranoia. I’d seen advertisements for it in Dragon as a kid, and been curious, but of course it’d never been easily available where I lived as a kid. Well, in 2017, I ended up picking up everything in the “XP” line while it was still available—barely—through various online sellers. (The core book had gone way up in price, and a few supplements were so rare it took me a while to track down copies. Indeed, I was only able to get the Little Red Book by trading a module with someone who’d gotten a copy ages ago but had no use for it, a random gamer I stumbled across online.)
Anyway, then the books sat for about six months. I didn’t have a regular game group at the time, so I had no strong impetus to read everything immediately. However, I decided that I would write some mini-reviews of the books, as a way of getting myself to read through all these books I’d accumulated. (I did the same with the collection of Wraith: The Oblivion books I picked up, and I’ll be posting that series next.)
CORE MATERIALS
- Paranoia XP, Service Pack 1 (Core Rulebook)
- The Little Red Book
- Gamemaster Screen & Mandatory Fun Enforcement Pack (Booklet), and the Mandatory Mission Pack
- Service, Service!
- The Traitors Manual
- Stuff and Stuff 2 – The Gray Subnets
[Character Options]
- The Mutant Experience & Form Pack
- Extreme Paranoia
- Criminal Histories
- Big Book of Bots
- The Thin Green Line
[Setting Expansions]
- The Underplex
[Mission Books]
- Flashbacks
- Flashbacks 2
- Alpha Complex Nights
- Alpha Complex Nights 2
- Crash Priority
- Sector Zero
- War on [Insert Noun Here]
- WMD
The order here is not the order in which I read the books, but it’s organized so as to make the series easier to parse. I started these reviews in 2018, and then finished the series in 2024, though I didn’t publish them until recently (early 2025). I am not sure anyone out there will have any use for reviews of gamebooks from three editions ago for this game line, but XP is regarded by many as the “best” traditional line that was ever done for Paranoia, and since the PDFs come up often enough in bundle deals, maybe it’ll be of use to someone. Mostly, though, I just wrote these posts to set down my thoughts while reading each book in the line.
I designed PARANOIA XP and packaged the first two years of its support line from Mongoose Publishing. (I left just after STUFF 2 and before “Sector Zero.” I had nothing to do with “Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Alpha Complex.”) Commendation point for your kind words about my tenure on the line! Treason point for misspelling Tella-O-MLY!
Regarding your review of “The Mutant Experience”: It never once occurred to me that Metabolic and Psionic mutations reverse the traditional M and P abbreviations for Mental and Physical. Oops.
In your review of the STUFF guides you expressed curiosity about the Traitor Recycling Studio. In 2005 I wrote an article for the online magazine The Escapist, “Player-Prompted PARANOIA,” that recounts the whole story:
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/player-prompted-paranoia/
Hey, thanks for your comment and the helpful added details! It’s wild you got so much done on Paranoia XP in just a couple of years!
Now I’m experiencing the Mandela Effect regarding Tella-O-MLY’s name. I think I must have misread it as “Teela” ages ago and then the misreading somehow stuck in my mind… I accept my treason point and imminent termination.