The New Paranoia?
 

I just got my ultraviolet version of the new Paranoia RPG by Mongoose Publishing.

Anyone know whether anyone is planning Paranoia content for RW or HL?

Also, for those of you (looking at you Parody) who are familiar with this version as well as older versions, how easy is it to upgrade older adventures to the new version?

Are you sure you're cleared for such information?

Are you a communist spy? Am I a communist spy?

Computer is your friend

Since the statistics don't matter that much in Paranoia, converting adventures around is pretty easy. I tend to write a light framework for my adventures and then wing the rest as we go. For plot-important items, I come up with a summary of what role each NPC, R&D equipment, bot, or whatever has in that scene/the adventure/whatever, and go from there.

Something that may trip you up a bit is the changes in the backgrounds between versions. Between 1st/2nd and the later versions the Cold War aspects have been downplayed and you may find your players know nothing about what they were parodying in the first place. XP heavily plays up the Internet and capitalism, mostly in an attempt to make a campaignable version. 6th drops a lot of everything that doesn't fit on a card.

Speaking of cards, one thing I'm worried about in 6th (assuming you're using the cards) is that players will forget about anything they have that isn't represented by a card. I don't know if I want to make cards for, say, the various R&D devices I give my Troubleshooters in every adventure. Again, this is Paranoia and the rules are above the players' security clearance, so you can just drop the cards if you feel they aren't helpful.

Mongoose is rewriting Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues for 6th, so comparing their treatment of that vs. the original or XP/25th Anniversary versions should give you a good guideline for conversions.

I like the cards, but for me Paranoia is mainly for "one offs". It do get the flavor of advancement by playing long sessions (about 8 hours). The cards and their role in action sequence is a fun mechanic that mixes some card play and bluffing in with your role play. I wouldn't like such a mechanic in D&D, but it works well for Paranoia. But you are right, the equipment cards are more for "special" items. They don't print multiple cards for lazer pistols for example. If they came out with a deck with multiple cards for more common items, I'd buy it. I'm not planning on making a lot of content up for my games, as I just will not play it more than a 2-3 long sessions a year.

BTW, did you get the GM screen? Is it worth it? The picture on Mongooses site tells me nothing about the screen. Neither could I find details on the KS page. I was also surprisied that I couldn't find a YouTube or blog review with pictures. I'll probably use The Worlds Greatest Screen by Hammerdog games to have my own custom made reference tables.

I've got the GM's screen; it's got some charts on the GM's side, while the player's side (if you lay it flat) has places where the players can play cards to try to influence what's going on. You can get a...pretty good idea of what it looks like if you download the full-size preview from DriveThruRPG.

I think what I'm going to do is run a demo event using everything (probably even character creation) at Nuke-Con or GameHoleCon (depending on what we decide to attend) so I can get an idea of what I like and don't like about it.

Wait, what?!?

How can everyone be a pinko commie mutant spy if they downplayed the Cold War aspects of the game? Why is everyone living in a sealed underground bunker being cared for by Friend Computer if not for a nuclear war with the pinko commies?

Congratulations, Citizen! Due to possession of knowledge above your security clearance, you have been approved for emergency termination! (::zap zap zap zap::) Please report to the nearest termination booth. Thank you!

My favourite from another player, "I go into the computer booth and tell the computer everything". (It blew up!)