All good things must eventually come to an end, and TTRPG campaigns are no exception. Usually, the conclusion of a long campaign is accompanied by a sense of accomplishment, and rightfully so. Taking a group of PCs from meager beginnings to the heights of power requires serious commitment (and often, a bit of luck) on the part of the players. In the groups that I have played with, it is customary to hand in a copy of the character sheet to the GM at the conclusion of the campaign. This allows the GM to immortalize the character as an NPC in the game world. This serves as a fitting retirement for PCs who have undoubtedly left their mark on the history of the game world.
Once the campaign is over, the group needs to decide what to play next. When a campaign has reached the end of the line, it is usually a good idea to take a break before jumping into another one. Now, I am not suggesting taking a break from TTRPGs altogether, I am talking about running one or two sessions of one-shot adventures. One-shot adventures are a great way for players to try something completely different and perhaps blow off some steam without the long-term consequences that doing so within a campaign setting would incur. One-shot sessions are also a great opportunity to try out a different TTRPG without the commitment a campaign requires. In that vein, I recommend you try a classic TTRPG called Paranoia for your group’s next one-shot adventure.
Originally published in the mid-1980s, Paranoia takes the cooperative team dynamic that characterizes most TTRPGs and turns it on its head. In Paranoia, PCs are nominally working together to accomplish a goal, but in reality, their real goal is to screw over the other party members and (hopefully) be the last character standing at the end of the adventure (called a mission in Paranoia). At its inception, Paranoia was a product of American cold war cultural anxieties about the threat of nuclear war and communist infiltration into the highest echelons of society. Paranoia took these anxieties and extrapolated from them a worst-case scenario wherein the PCs play as maladjusted cogs in a twisted surveillance state run by an insane computer that is nothing short of tyrannical. While Paranoia has gone through a number of iterations over the course of its publication history, the core themes remain unchanged, as the cultural anxieties that gave rise to the original edition remain relevant, though the sources of these anxieties have changed over time. Rather than lean into the gravity of these serious topics, Paranoia approaches them with dark humor and irreverence. As a consequence, gameplay in Paranoia is rather slapstick and tends toward the absurd. Because Paranoia explores these themes with levity and absurdity, it isn’t particularly viable for “serious” roleplaying in a prolonged campaign. It is, however, perfect for a one-shot adventure.
Welcome to Alpha Complex, Citizen.
As mentioned above, the Paranoia setting has been altered over the decades with the publication of different iterations of the game to reflect the social realities prevalent at the time of publication. That being said, the Paranoia setting follows the same core narrative assumptions throughout its publication history. Characters in Paranoia live in an immense underground compound called Alpha Complex. While there is no fixed truth in Paranoia, it is generally accepted (among those with the proper clearance to ponder such things) that Alpha Complex began as a contingency plan in the semi-distant past to preserve society in the event of nuclear war. In response to a real or imagined crisis, Alpha Complex was populated and placed in the care of a sophisticated artificial intelligence which was designed to organize and manage the human populace in order to ensure their survival. Fast forward to the present (the semi-distant future to us) and it becomes clear that the original plans for Alpha Complex have gone horribly awry.
The Computer is responsible for running the show and is certifiably insane and its madness touches every aspect of life in Alpha Complex. Every citizen in Alpha Complex belongs to a caste system of security clearance, based on the visible light spectrum, with infrared citizens being at the bottom of the hierarchy and ultraviolet citizens enjoying a position at the top. A citizen’s clearance is indicative of The Computer’s trust in that citizen. Everything in Alpha Complex is color-coded (with black for infrared and white for ultraviolet), and citizens who lack sufficient clearance are not allowed to interact with anything that has a color above their clearance level. It is important to note that every citizen starts off with infrared clearance from the moment they are decanted from the cloning vat. Only by gaining The Computer’s trust can a citizen ascend to a higher level of clearance. Unfortunately, due to The Computer’s insanity, this means that only the most devious and maladjusted citizens rise to positions of power within Alpha Complex. Even worse, ultraviolet citizens are granted the privilege of maintaining The Computer’s programming, which allows them to reprogram The Computer to suit their own agendas. It is quite possible that The Computer’s current state of insanity can be traced back to generations of ultraviolet citizens reprogramming The Computer in order to secure power and game the system. Whatever the reason, The Computer is a paranoid schizophrenic and is convinced that terrorists, mutants, and traitors abound within the citizenry of Alpha Complex. Despite being completely insane, The Computer is correct. Often, enemies rush in to fill the spaces reserved for them, and this is where the PCs come in.
Playing Paranoia isn’t about playing an obedient citizen seeking to uphold the rule of The Computer. Rather, it is about playing a subversive element seeking to undermine a totalitarian system of oppression for personal gain and advancement. Every PC begins as a red clearance troubleshooter. Troubleshooters are disposable (thus the red clearance) assets who work for The Computer solving problems that higher clearance citizens are too busy or important to deal with. Common jobs given to troubleshooters include averting a nuclear meltdown in a power distribution center or finding and detaining a monstrosity that has escaped from a higher clearance lab. Troubleshooters are issued experimental equipment from R&D with which to accomplish their mission. This equipment is likely to malfunction, often in catastrophic ways. Troubleshooters are responsible for all equipment issued to them and will face punishment if they fail to return it in working order (misuse of Alpha Complex property is treason). More often than not, these “jobs” are really a cleverly orchestrated pretext by which higher clearance citizens cover up their own misdeeds by making the PCs into the fall guy.
Lest you feel bad for the PCs, know that every PC is a mutant and a member of an illegal secret society (most of which actively aim to overthrow The Computer); in short, the PCs are traitors. Though every PC is a traitor, the other PCs are not aware of this fact. Your goal as a PC is to expose or frame the other party members as traitors before they can do the same to you. The last PC standing at the end of a mission can speak without fear of contradiction. This is the true goal of the PCs. Any PC trying to metagame in an attempt achieve this end will quickly be accused as a traitor for possessing knowledge beyond their clearance. Clever troubleshooters will find a way to frame the other party members for their own crimes or eliminate them outright. Treason is the only crime in Alpha Complex, but the severity of the punishment depends on the nature of the treason. Punishment varies from a brainscrub (reeducation) to summary execution. A PC has six clones, and if all of them die during the course of the mission (highly likely), that character is dead.
Most sessions will result in all the PCs dying before the end of the mission. This is to be expected. Character creation is easily accomplished by randomly rolling for character attributes, so rolling up another character isn’t really a big deal. Players should go into a Paranoia game expecting to fail because, let’s face it, there are no winners in Alpha Complex (with the possible exception of ultraviolet citizens). The fun of the game really comes from the players trying to screw each other over in novel and devious ways. The mission is simply an excuse to let them do this. It’s incredibly entertaining for both the GM and players alike. While Paranoia it isn’t really feasible for running an ongoing campaign, it can be great for a one-shot session in-between campaigns. I strongly recommend you give it try next time your group is in-between campaigns. Happy gaming!