Paranoia

[Jontom Xire]

Playing Werewolf with ever more complex rules gave me this cool idea which I have now fleshed and rounded to make it more polished.

It's a similar basic idea as Werewolf in that everybody belongs to a faction of sorts. It's loosely based on some ideas from the RPG Paranoia, hence the name.

Some people may belong to various factions, but only has true loyalty to one - although if the faction you're loyal to gets killed off then winning as part of the other is an acceptable tactic.

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The time is the future - a future run by a paranoid computer who thinks that everyone is against it. You are the inhabitants of a housing block. Every day the inhabitants report their suspicions to the computer, voting for the person they think is a traitor, trying to undermine society as part of a secret society. Failure to vote for two days in a row is also treasonous, punishable by death. Once the computer sees enough accusations being made against a person it arranges for that person to be executed by the secret police.

Many/most of the inhabitants belong to one of several secret societies, divided into cells. The goal of a secret society is to seize control by wiping out the secret police (their main enemy) and enough of the other secret societies to get a majority. Members of a secret society only know other members of the same cell, so don't know all the members of the secret society. That person you view with distrust and plan to vote for may be a member of the same secret society as you!

The secret police carry out the computer's instructions. Their aim is to discover and wipe out all members of all secret societies.

The civilians are civilians. Their aim is to stay alive. If all the secret police are dead then there are no executions, but they may get hit by secret societies. If all the secret societies are dead then there is no need for the secret police to execute anyone. Essentially they want one faction to win but don't care which as long as they survive.

Some players are spies. Secret society members who have infiltrated the secret police, or visa versa.

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To keep it simple, other rules such as secret societies recruiting new members from amongst the civilians, and players being able to change allegiance will be left out until later games.

Moderators/The Computer:

Jontom Xire
Korith

Currently signed up:

Alive:
Alarra
Altharis
Atreyu the Masked Llama
Captain van der Decken
Eldritch Knight
Ink

Under suspicion (failed to submit vote):
weebl

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Cleansed:
caw
DarkLightDragon
Death, your friend the Reaper
Deckmaster
Lucky
Selrahc
Silkenfist
Tormsskull

[Korith]

Spoiler

Show

I'm willing to help run such an endeavour.

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

i'll play!

[Deckmaster]

That first post confused the hell out of me, but I'm willing to try to figure it out.

[Weebl]

I'll play too.

[Captain van der Decken]

I think I get it, I'll try.

[Tormsskull]

That first post confused the hell out of me, but I'm willing to try to figure it out.

My thoughts exactly. Maybe we need some pictures or a diagram to explain this better. I am sure I understand the basics, but to get a real understanding of it we (I at least) need something else.

Either way, worse that can happen is I lose/get killed/whatever. So count me in.

[Alarra]

*throws her hat into the ring as another extremely confused potential player*

v aww, thanks caw, i appreciate your concern for my safety.

[caw]

i'll play. so i can keep an eye on alarra.

[Altharis]

I'm in! I already know this game by name, but have never played.

I'll help run, even.

[Jontom Xire]

Thanks, Korith.

As for being confused, don't worry. When the game starts you will be PM'ed with your role and your goals. It will be completely chaotic. Just try to stay alive, and don't worry too much about overall goals. The game is called paranoia for a reason. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone dies in the end. It's just tons of fun.

In the real original RPG all the members of the party basically spend the entire game trying to kill each other. I imagine this game will be much the same. Total bloodbath.

And the more people the better. I could just about run it with the numbers we have, but we really need more. I reckon 22 is a good minimum.

[DarkLightDragon]

Confusing, but I'll give it a go.

[Death, your friend the Reaper]

I'll come on to keep my eye on the Giant.

[Ink]

Not sure I understand the rules entirely, but I'd like to play too.

[Jontom Xire]

I've modified the first post to simplify matters slightly.

I've also added names.

[Altharis]

As I said but was overlooked, I'll mod. But if not, I'll play.

[Jontom Xire]

Hi, Altharis.

Sorry I should have said. Korith volunteered already, so he's modding with me. You're playing, ok?

[Jontom Xire]

We need at least 15 people and we currently have 11, so get recruiting people! ;)

[Silkenfist]

I'm in. The Computer is your friend. Still it would be nice if we were not to start before Sunday. I'm away until then. The Computer is your friend. The Computer is your friend.

[Lucky]

Eh, sure! Count me in.

[Jontom Xire]

Two more people needed!

Come on, sign up, this is gonna be CRAZY!! (And lots of fun)

[Captain van der Decken]

What happens if enough people accuse a secret police member? Seeing as they do the executions.

[DarkLightDragon]

THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND!

*fatal exception has occurred. You will be exterminated.*

[Selrahc]

I'll play.

Finally get to be something other than a standard villager.

[Captain van der Decken]

I'll play.

Finally get to be something other than a standard villager.

Well, not if you're a civilian.

[Eldritch Knight]

I'm in. With my usual DM being one of the Moderators/computers I'm bound to get some morbid enjoyment out of this... (How did I miss seeing this, anyway?)

[Jontom Xire]

We now have the bare minimum required. Korith and I will start randomly calculating roles. Or at least working on a way to do it easily since it's a little more complex than Werewolf. Sign up will remain open until I get to work on Monday and possibly a little longer as I am very busy today and will probably be fairly busy at work on Monday, though I should be able to find a spare moment here and there.

To answer your question about what happens if everyone votes for a secret policeman:

Knowing the rules is treason and punishable by death.
Asking about the rules is treason and punishable by death.
Everyone is a suspect. Anyone could be a traitor to The Computer.

Just remember that The Computer makes the laws/rules and it is paranoid and somewhat mad and liable to announce extra executions on a somewhat whimsical basis.

[Jontom Xire]

All the roles have now been (randomly) assigned. Role PMs will be going out now even though I really have a ton of other things to do. I haven't heard from Korith so I'm having to do all this myself.

[caw]

...I haven't heard from Korith so I'm having to do all this myself.

execute him! now!

and why is alarra at the top of the list? is she somehow alphabetically superior? hmmmmmmm...



(sorry, just getting ready. or am i?)

[Tormsskull]

From what I have seen Korith is usually very reliable. If for some reason he doesn't have time for Paranoia or whatnot, I'm happy to drop out as a player and help as a narrator, you'd just have to find a replacement player and explain to me what to do. But, I'm probably getting ahead of myself because Korith will probably pop on shortly and post with a "I'm still here" post .