[industry] PARANOIA returns August 2004 from Mongoose
Allen Varney
Hash: SHA1
I'm happy to report that I'm the main writer and (re)designer for a new
edition of the classic roleplaying game PARANOIA.
Originally published by West End Games in the 1980s, the new
PARANOIA XP appears in August 2004 from Mongoose Publishing.
I co-wrote an early PARANOIA module, SEND IN THE CLONES, with Warren
Spector, and I contributed to several other early supplements. I'm glad
to get back to Alpha Complex at long last!
The attached press releases should answer most questions. The first
is for a general audience, and the second is oriented toward experienced
gamers such as those in this newsgroup. Feel free to forward one or both
press releases to anyone you think may be interested.
-- Allen Varney
www.allenvarney.com
Remove second "austin" to reply
*****
PARANOIA XP ANNOUNCED
Cult Roleplaying Game to Be Revitalized for the Digital Millennium
The Revolution Will be Blogged
February 19, 2004 - New York, NY - For Immediate Release
The Computer says that failure to feature this announcement prominently
is treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution. Thank you for
your cooperation.
Mongoose Publishing of Swindon, Wilts., UK (www.mongoosepublishing.com)
announced today agreement with the creators of the fondly remembered
tabletop roleplaying game Paranoia, to develop and publish a new edition
of the game, Paranoia XP. The new version will be written and produced
by legendary game designers Allen Varney and Aaron Allston, with
participation by Paranoia's original co-designer Greg Costikyan.
The developers will conduct their discussions about the game on a blog
hosted at www.costik.com/paranoia, and those interested in the game are
invited to comment and participate in the process.
Paranoia, originally published in 1984, has sold more than 200,000
copies worldwide, and retains a fanatical following despite having been
out of print for almost a decade. Designed by Dan Gelber, Greg
Costikyan, and Eric Goldberg, it and its supplementary products have
garnered numerous industry awards, including several Origins Awards and
the Gamer's Choice Award. It is known not only for its hilarious, dark
vision of a future world controlled by an insane Computer, but also for
its ability to attract world-renowned authors to contribute to its
supplements and ancillary material--people such as multiple World
Fantasy Award-winning author John M. Ford; Warren Spector, whom PC Gamer
magazine names as one of the top 20 creators in digital gaming, and Ken
Rolston, co-creator of the best-selling PC game Morrowind.
Paranoia debuted at a time when the Soviet Union was shooting down jet
liners and invading Afghanistan, and when many workers feared they would
lose their jobs as a result of the spread of desktop computers. With its
vision of an Orwellian world, a totalitarian society controlled by an
insane Computer that demands instant obedience at laser-point, it struck
a worldwide nerve. According to Costikyan, that vision is relevant now
more than ever. "Paranoia XP is not an attempt to bring back an old RPG
for the nostalgic. Its basic themes -- totalitarianism, fear of
technology, mistrust, and loathing--are, if anything, more relevant than
they were in 1984. Spammers. Identify thieves. Blackhat hackers. The
RIAA. Weapons of mass destruction. Totally dysfunctional government.
Just as it did lo these many years ago, so shall the new Paranoia
encapsulate and make funny the terrors we live with every day... or
remind us to be afraid of things that we currently think are merely funny."
Alex Fennell, Mongoose's director, set down his Red Bull and Coke long
enough to say, "We're bloody delighted to be publishing Paranoia XP.
Yanks don't come any funnier than these blokes."
Allen Varney, who contributed to many early Paranoia supplements, looks
forward to revisiting the game's futuristic underground city, Alpha
Complex. "For years society has been inventing new material for
Paranoia. I'll have a great time transcribing it. I hope players will
like our newly redecorated setting, and I'll do my best to make them
feel at home. Alpha Complex is not a place but a state of mind. Oh, and
ginger ale for me, please."
Eric Goldberg who since 1984 has become one of the most respected
figures in the online and mobile gaming industries, said, "For those who
know the game, Paranoia has settled into the deep hindbrain. Catch
phrases like 'The Computer is Your Friend,' 'Commies are Everywhere,'
and 'Happiness is Mandatory' come to mind at the most socially awkward
moments. Back in the 80s, a concern with the social implications of
technology was the purview of a geeky few; today, it's of fundamental
importance to everyone. Games, too, are now a huge part of the
vernacular. I believe Paranoia XP will be of considerable interest not
merely to the audience of tabletop roleplaying gamers but also to anyone
interested in and concerned with the social-technological issues of
today-the attempt to control IP, to police the Internet, to suppress
dissent. We're living Paranoia. By the way--what a bunch of wimps. I'll
have the pale ale."
The text-based online game rights to Paranoia have separately been
licensed to Skotos (www.skotos.com). Reports that Paranoia XP will also
be published in several other languages, and that film, computer, and
console versions are may be forthcoming are rumors. Rumors are treason.
Treason is punishable by summary execution. Have a nice day!
Mongoose Publishing is one of the leaders in the RPG market, producing
games such as Babylon 5, Conan, and Judge Dredd for roleplayers all over
the world. Its publications are available in all good hobby and book stores.
Greg Costikyan (www.costik.com) and Eric Goldberg have collaborated on
various games since they first met at Simulations Publications, Inc. in
the 1970s, including on the first online game to attract more than a
million players.
Greg has designed more than 30 commercially published board,
roleplaying, computer, online, and mobile game, has won numerous
industry awards, and has been inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of
Fame for a lifetime of accomplishment in the field. He writes about
games, game design, and game industry business issues for publications
including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal Interactive, Salon,
Game Developer magazine, and his blog (www.costik.com/weblog), which is
one of the most widely-read blogs dealing with games. He is also the
author of four science fiction novels.
Allen Varney (www.allenvarney.com) has published three boardgames, over
two dozen roleplaying supplements (including several for Paranoia),
seven books, and 250+ articles, stories, and reviews, including regular
columns in four national gaming magazines. Varney recently designed and
ran the UT Executive Challenge, a three-day business ethics simulation
for 100 second-year MBA students at the University of Texas McCombs
Business School. He is now developing a Web-based "business simulator"
with the e-learning company Enspire Learning (enspire.com).
Aaron Allston (www.aaronallston.com) is the author of a dozen science
fiction and fantasy novels and the award-winning designer of more than
forty tabletop role-playing games and game supplements. He has recently
written a script for a feature-length horror movie intended to carry his
trademark humor into the realm of ultra-low-budget filmmaking.
For more information, contact
Greg Costikyan
+1 646 489 8609
===========================
MONGOOSE GETS PARANOID
New PARANOIA XP edition and support line debut in August 2004
The Computer: Greetings, citizen! How may I help you?
Player: I hear Mongoose Publishing is releasing a new edition of the
Paranoia roleplaying game this August. What can you tell me about it?
The Computer: State your reason for requesting this information.
Player: Uh... I guess I was wondering whether to buy it.
The Computer: Excellent, citizen! You wish to legitimately purchase this
product, rather than steal The Computer's valuable intellectual property
like a traitorous data pirate. This demonstrates your loyalty to the
ideals of Alpha Complex.
Brought to you by The Computer's brilliant researchers in the R&D
service firms of MNG Sector, PARANOIA XP is the entirely updated and
perfected version of the darkly humorous RPG originally published by
West End Games. The new edition's writers include PARANOIA co-creator
Greg Costikyan, longtime paranoiac Allen Varney, and Famous Game
Designer Aaron Allston. There are also devious and subtle new
contributions from the original PARANOIA line editor, Ken Rolston.
Player: Is PARANOIA XP still about living in an underground city of the
future ruled by an insane Computer?
The Computer: The Computer is not "insane." Traitors lurk everywhere. In
the old days, The Computer's loyal Troubleshooters only worried about
Commie subversion, secret society sabotage, unregistered mutants, robot
liberators, feuding High Programmers, tainted drugs, exploding food
vats, nuclear hand grenades, and the occasional giant atomic cockroach.
How naive!
Now your clone family faces not only these persistent threats, but a new
host of looming dangers such as viral licenses, closed-source genetic
retooling, identity rentals, subconscious post-hypnotic brain-spam,
Infrared-market WMD auction sites, and filesharing.
Player: Filesharing?
The Computer: Filesharing is Communism! Fortunately, The Computer's
loyal Central Processing service firms have devised many innovative
digital-rights management methods to shield you from temptation. The
most promising methods manage your actual physical digits. Would you
care to get your fingerprints remapped?
Player: Uh... maybe later. Is this new PARANOIA XP anything like the
game's earlier editions?
The Computer: PARANOIA XP combines the scary-funny, sardonic tone of
PARANOIA's first edition (1984) with the fast-playing, rules-light
approach of the second edition (1987).
Player: Are you using the d20 rules system?
The Computer: No. PARANOIA is fun. D20 games are not fun. The Computer
says so.
PARANOIA's second edition rules were, of course, perfect. The new
PARANOIA XP expunges certain imperfections introduced by subversive
elements, and will be even more perfect.
Remember, citizen, PARANOIA is a game of satire, not parody. It is not
- -- attend to this -- NOT "wacky." Expect NO awful misfiring "wacky"
parodies of Westerns, cyberpunk, Arthurian myth, post-holocaust
Australia, or angsty goth-punk blather.
Player: "Orcbusters" was a parody of fantasy games, wasn't it?
The Computer: "Orcbusters" obtained prior Internal Security approval
using Special Registered Parody Dispensation Form KR1986-12/j. All
unregistered parodies are treason.
Instead, the new PARANOIA XP support line recalls the illustrious
releases of 1984-88, such as Acute Paranoia, Send in the Clones, Alpha
Complexities, and the award-winning Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues.
Mongoose will reissue updated versions of much of this excellent
material soon after PARANOIA XP debuts.
Player: Does the new edition use material from the "Fifth Edition"?
The Computer: There is no Fifth Edition.
Player: Huh? Come on, I've seen it myself!
The Computer: You are mistaken, citizen. No Fifth Edition was published
by West End Games in 1995, nor did West End show pages from a projected
"Long Lost Third Edition" at GenCon in 1997. Note that there also has
never been a Crash Course Manual, nor any "Secret Society Wars,"
"MegaWhoops," or "Reboot Camp" adventures.
These products never existed. They are now un-products.
Are you absolutely clear on this, citizen? Do you still doubt The
Computer? Perhaps you need to visit the Bright Vision Re-Education Center.
Player: Uh, no! I trust The Computer. The Computer is my friend! But
Friend Computer -- against all the dangers you so brilliantly
enumerated, how can I possibly survive?
The Computer: I'm sorry, that information is not available at your
security clearance.
PARANOIA XP. AUGUST 2004. MONGOOSE PUBLISHING.
BUY PARANOIA. IT WILL BE FUN. FUN IS MANDATORY.
===========================
PARANOIA is a trademark jointly held by Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan
and used under exclusive license by Mongoose Publishing. Copyright (c)
2004 Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan. All rights reserved.
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