MGP Paranoia - The Big Book of Conspiracies - 30 Treasonous Paranoia Plots

Written b y P a ra noi a cr e a t e d by
GA R R E T T CR OWE D AN G EL BER
Encoded Editin g b y G REG C OS TI K Y AN
Designs SHA WN MER WIN & ROBERT M. EVERSO N ERI C G OL D BERG
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The Big Book of Conspiracies:
30 Treasonous Paranoia Plots
Sector I: 30 Treasonous Plots ........................................ 3
Sector II: Best Practices For Plotting ............................ 38
Sector III: Two (2) Delectable, Correctable Plots ........... 51
Writing by Garrett Crowe

Development by Christopher M. Sniezak
Editing by Shawn Merwin
Copy editing by Robert M. Everson
Proofreading by Encoded Designs
Graphic Design and Cover Art by Timothy Jones
Art Reference by John Arcadian
Plot contents by Encoded Designs.
E-mail questions and comments to Encoded Designs at info@encodeddesigns.com.
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Paranoia TM & © 1983, 1987, 2016. Eric Goldberg & Greg Costikyan. All rights reserved.
Mongoose Publishing Ltd., Authorised User. The reproduction of material from this book
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retrieval, is prohibited. You may copy book contents for personal use. Published by Mongoose
Publishing, Ltd. Published 2016.
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Thank the Computer for Paranoia
In the summer between my junior and You never forget your first plane
senior year of college—I think it was crash scene. A field in the middle of
1997—I interned for the CBS affiliate nowhere, late at night, spotlights on the
television station in Indianapolis, field, police tape and emergency vehicles
Indiana. I’d gone to Butler University everywhere. The Red Cross sets up a
with a plan to become a news reporter, concession stand where you can get a
if not an anchor. Running around with hot meal, as a first responder or media.
the reporters and performing some of The shadowy forms of the fuselage
the duties handed to me made me hate dot the landscape outside the burning
my to-be occupation. brightness of the spotlights. Somewhere
Let’s say Betty Smith from out there, recently deceased people
Brownstown, IN was an aviation begin the process of decay. Want a hot
student at Purdue University. Her plane lunch? It’s free.
crashed. She died. My job was to call I don’t blame all news media for
all Smiths from Brownstown to ask if acting like this, let alone having their
they were related to the girl who died interns perform these actions. The News
in the crash… and could we broadcast Director of a Chicago radio station found
from her front lawn? I tracked down it repulsive what I was asked to do, so I
the deceased girl’s aunt and learned had some hope.
the family was huddled at her abode to I took a job with the station as
comfort one another over this horrible production crew, attempting to pay
loss… and please stay away. I told the the mortgage on a seven-buck-an-hour
producer this, and he said, “Great. Tell paycheck, getting up at 3:30am every
Scott and Marcus to hurry over there. day to get the morning show on the
We’ll broadcast from the street in front air…hoping the engineers had fixed the
of her house. They can’t stop us from TelePrompter controls the day before.
doing that.” Most of the time they hadn’t, and we
I was told to shadow the reporter had little control over the words flying
and photographer that night as we sat in front of the anchors’ eyes.
out front of the quiet suburban home, I got out of there about a year later
where the grieving family hid from our and never looked back. I’d seen how the
bright lights and cameras, like penned- news was made, and like knowing how
in gazelles. sausage is made, you stay away from
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it. I never watched the news or read the love us and are in control of the machines
paper after that. This exercise, creating they wield. Thank heavens for Greg
Paranoia plots from the news, has me Costikyan, Allen Varney, and James
in a small way paying attention to the Wallis for giving us a coping mechanism
media machine again and remembering that isn’t escapist in its form, but elevates
why I hated it. Smiling people eating hot the horror of our existence and personal
sandwiches at a plane crash site. A dozen Alpha Complexes to slapstick comedy.
reporters, cameramen, and interns sitting
on the floor of the city courthouse,
telling bawdy jokes while waiting for the Introduction
verdict that will determine whether a
Newspapers are great places to find
man gets put to death.
inspiration for your gaming sessions. In
It also makes me take a more
fact Garrett decided to make 30 plots for
serious look at the catastrophic state of
Paranoia by picking up pieces straight
the city, state, country, and world. The
from the headlines. So with the blessing
filter and veil the media uses is thin. The
of friend computer, I give you 30
sickness and greed that motivate the
Paranoia Plots.
local and global leaders is horrifying.
Some headlines only need a cop to be
turned into a Troubleshooter, and a
minority to be turned into a mutant.
Eleven days in, I’m so thankful we
have Paranoia, which by its nature holds
a magnifying glass up to the collapsing
illusion that all is well, that our leaders
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I : u s
T O R n o
E C a s o t s
S Tre P l o
0
3 an o i a
P a r
#1 >> Go Team Go
Background
The Billy Goat Reds are a sports team franchise that hasn’t been doing particularly
well. What I mean is they lose all the time. Because they lose all the time, morale in
GOT-Sector is horrid. Friend Computer can’t have unhappy citizens.
Enter the Troubleshooters

To deal with the unhappy citizen situation, Friend Computer has decided to send the
Troubleshooters in to arrest the owner of The Billy Goat Reds, turn The Billy Goat
Reds around in 24 hours, and win the big game. The only reason The Billy Goat Reds
are in the big game is because every other team but one was discovered to consist
entirely of Mutants.
Oh, while the Troubleshooters are out there, Friend Computer would also like
them to oversee the development of a new sector near the stadium.
A catch: There’s already a sector in that area; it accidentally got deleted from the
Computer’s navi-software… but appears in all other records. So, the group can either
evict the current sector residents… and be blamed for the complete lack of productivity
in the evicted sector… or they can be blamed for not erecting the new sector.
#2 >> Political Head Hunting
Background
Jeb-B-Ush is a politician who’s earned a few Treason Stars that keep him from
climbing further up the political ladder, so he found a politician who had an
impeccably clean record, Giv-V-LTY, and cut his head off in a wifi dark zone. Jeb
then installed Giv’s Cerebral CoreTech into his own head so the Computer thinks all’s
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well with Giv. Of course, Jeb couldn’t go to meetings in Giv’s stead, so he had Secret
Society friends hack the Computer and change the rules so all committee meetings
are now done via video chat, using intricately detailed settings. During the chats, Jeb
used Giv’s head on a stick as a puppet, while pushing his own agenda.
To keep the charade going, Jeb hired a team of bioengineers. They’re in his
compound trying to genetically mix Jeb’s genetic code with Giv’s, so Jeb can look
like Giv, pass any biological tests to confirm his identity as Giv, and continue his rise
up the political ladder without anyone knowing what he’s done. He’s even faked his
own death to throw off further suspicion. Unfortunately for Jeb, the result of his
bioengineering experiments is a lab of monstrous creatures, all with Giv’s head. On
the bright side Jeb found a process that works to become Giv, but Jeb’s 4th clone got
squished by a transbot when the Giv monsters got loose.

The Troubleshooters get involved when Friend Computer sends them to apprehend
terrorists who successfully hacked the Computer (these are Jeb’s people who hacked
the computer). Along the way the Troubleshooters are reprimanded by a high
clearance citizen who looks remarkably like the supposedly-deceased respected
clone, Jeb. It actually is Jeb, or rather Jeb 5. This clone just popped up after Jeb 4
was killed by the transbot and hasn’t gotten back to the compound to get the Giv
treatment yet. While trying to get back, he unfortunately runs across the lower
clearance Troubleshooters. He’s scared and annoyed at being seen so he takes out
some of his frustrations on them.
After this, various secret societies hear about the Troubleshooters running
into Jeb. Members of these secret societies are on the same committees as Giv and
have noticed his odd behavior, a personality shift and business-political position
flip-flops. Starting to put two and two together, they urge the Troubleshooters to
look into Giv. Once he has the opportunity, Jeb gets his Giv treatment and sends
the Troubleshooters to arrest his fellow committee members for not complying
with committee vidchat standards (which they weren’t aware of, because Giv once
again had the Computer hacked to make those changes). Where it goes from here is
anyone’s guess with secret societies, committee members, and mad science labs all
thrown into the mix. It’ll probably end with a shootout in Jeb’s mad science lab,
confronting the megalomaniac Jeb 6 morphed into a Giv-Jeb monstrosity, surrounded
by his Giv monstrosity experiments gone wrong.
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#3 >> Lamp Thing
Background
Alpha Complex is dying. Radiation leaks. Explosions every twelve feet. Whole
sectors flooding and going vertical like the Titanic. Troubleshooters are blasting
infrareds with their lasers then strangling them to death because they won’t smile
and say, “I got lasered on Cops Gone Corrupt!” to the cameras. Whole sections of the
roof have fallen in, and an alien presence attacks. It’s cold, white, and it vanishes
when you touch it, leaving behind a wet residue.

The Troubleshooting team is removed from handling these life-threatening code
red incidents by Friend Computer to guard a crate being delivered to an Orange
clearance PLC clerk by a famous video blogger. The crate and blogger must get to
the PLC clerk unharmed. Once opened, and you will make sure it’s opened in the
Troubleshooters presence, they’ll see the crate contains a replica of a clone’s leg
that glows in the dark… which the clerk claims is a prop replica from a touching
Computer-produced movie.
Point of fact, the glowing leg was a subversive attempt by Pro-mutants to get the
public to accept clones with glowing legs and other body parts. The whole scandal
is classified. Once the Troubleshooters realize this, and you better make sure they do,
the clerk and video blogger must be arrested and publicly executed. Pro-mutants and
Free Market secret society members will have major issues with this.
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#4 >> Bandwidth Bonanza
My Thought Process and a Bit of Background

If it makes you frustrated, it can’t be that bad… for writing. I had another
day away from work and was staring at the front page of the Buffalo News
(without leaving the house). Then I went to see what wonders WIVB.com
were trying to pass off as news.
I anticipated the top story to be the weather, since it was icy, then rainy,
then windy, then all three shaken together in a bottle. I got that news story,
accompanied by a live feed from Warn Doppler.
It reminded me of my days working at a television station, as part of
the morning newscast crew. More importantly, it reminds me of the new way
information is relayed to Troubleshooters in the Paranoia reboot. All info is
delivered directly into the brain via wifi. So, it’s like looking through your eye
with all the annoyances of looking at popups when surfing the internet.
What do the two things have to do with the other? News stations always
want to get images of their patented dumbly-named weather technology in your
face, especially when you don’t want it. This leads to Bandwidth Bonanza.
Background
R&D has formed an alliance with Computer Services to create BANDWIDTH BONANZA.
Whenever there’s a spike in computer bandwidth being used in a sector, a Mystic hyped
on caffeine fills the citizens eyes with a psychedelic swirl of vision overlaying what’s
supposedly a map of Alpha Complex. The newsman gleefully explains to you where
bandwidth is being used in great amounts and then spends twenty minutes asking a
panel of unqualified experts with at least three Treason Stars about the significance of
the bandwidth spike. Then, he cuts over to a reporter from HPD&MC standing beneath
a main computer node in a wind tunnel on a narrow bridge with no handrails over a
nuclear reactor… as terrorists repeatedly try to destroy the node.
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Aside from this, a fleet of docbots reprogrammed by Death Leopard heard that
a garage dispatch has revolted against Alpha Complex. This garage dispatch was
inspired to revolt by an infrared sector monitor polisher who has a treasonous but
powerful Machine Empathy power.
On top of this the Troubleshooters’ immediate superior, who screwed up
badly when he tampered with the Bandwidth Bonanza anchor’s supply of Mystic
pharmaceuticals—hence the crazy visions the citizens are having—has set up
the Troubleshooters to take the fall by producing evidence implicating them as
the ones who screwed up at the Bandwidth Bonanza station. Taking this one step
further, the Bandwidth Bonanza station has been taken over by the Bandwidth
Bonanza anchor, and he’s slaughtering everyone from the R&D team who made the
Bandwidth Bonanza.

First, friend Computer sends the Troubleshooters to deal with the garage dispatch
machine revolt. While they’re handling that situation, they get a message from
their immediate superior that there is trouble at the Bandwidth Bonanza station.
The anchor of the Bandwidth Bonanza has turned traitor and needs to be dealt
with, and any evidence as to why should be brought back to their superior. How
the Troubleshooters deal with the situation is up to them, and whether or not they
discover the evidence that implicates them is also left up to the Troubleshooters’
choices during play.
Mechanic for this Plot

Roll two computer dice instead of one for this adventure. Whenever two computer
symbols are rolled, all the Troubleshooters are deaf and dumb for the rest of the
scene because of the Bandwidth Bonanza overlay on the Cerebral CoreTech.
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#5 >> The Red Clearance
Fruit of My Eye
Background
Donald-U-MMP-2 has a secret apple tree somewhere in Alpha Complex. Not
hydroponic or chemically recreated—a real apple. Donald’s assistant and FCCCP
Secret Society member, Gilbert-I-EED-2 orders, on Donald’s behalf, a Troubleshooter
team to deliver an apple to MMP Tower. Fruit not grown by the Computer is
blasphemous. Donald caught Gilbert in the act and contacted ALPHA COMPLEX
LOCAL HISTORY RESEARCH GROUP, the sworn enemy to FCCCP. The two secret
societies prepare to ambush the Troubleshooters in MMP Tower’s 27-floor food court.

The Troubleshooters are chosen because of a previous job well done (or almost well
done) and are trusted to deliver a rare item (an apple) to High Programmer Donald-
U-MMP’s penthouse. Along the way, Free Enterprise, having infiltrated HPD&MC,
buy and sell the names of the main corridors leading to the High Programmer’s tower,
which is also repeatedly bought and sold during the mission’s duration.
After a head-spinning journey to the tower, the Troubleshooters battle FCCCP
fanatics and ACLHRG librarians on the 27-story escalator ride to the top of the food
court. There, Gilbert shows up with a flybot and offers to fly the Troubleshooters to
Donald’s penthouse. Then, Donald turns on the tower’s defense system, involving
massive weaponry, to try and blow Gilbert and the flybot out of existence.
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>> Exploding Heads and
#6 Bullet Trains
Background
There once was a Machine Empath. He hated, just hated, the sunny disposition
of trans-station clones working for HPD&MC. The cheery songs they sang about
riding the trains to work and back to the barracks again just made him so mad. The
Machine Empath also had this transbot he liked to work on. The transbot decided to
help his Machine Empath buddy by going on a killing spree, jumping the rails, and
taking out every annoying trans-station singer one by one.

The Troubleshooters are sent in by Friend Computer to figure out who is killing the
trans-station clone workers. This ends up being difficult since there’s no sentient killer.
Oh, by the way, PLC has just released a new type of gum called Radioactive Red
(which has a great jingle). The bad news, it causes people’s heads to explode. Whenever
a Troubleshooter accepts and chews a stick of this gum… and you will find a way to
offer it at every opportunity… roll the Computer dice. Rolled the computer? Boom.
Splat. Next clone please.
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#7 >> Foolproof Education Solution
Background
We now come to a staple of Alpha Complex occurrences: school construction funds
misused, government officials squirreling away tons of money, HPD&MC wanting to
build a pro sports stadium, and the development of laser beams.
The High Programmer’s newest project is a machine that can fire huge laser
beams anywhere... and boy was it expensive. They got the money for this frivolous
project from the creche education program funds based on this plan: destroy the
creche in the sector, and the number of young clones failing exams will drop
dramatically. With this HPD&MC saw an opportunity and have been drawing up
plans to build a pro sports stadium after the area is cleared. Now the managers of the
creche education program fund, the High Programmers, and the HPD&MC just need
to find someone to frame for all that death and destruction.

The Troubleshooters’ immediate superior has put the Troubleshooters in charge of
Alpha Complex’s High Programmers newest project: manning a machine that can shoot
giant laser blasts. They’re also given the mandate to destroy a threat beyond Alpha
Complex with the laser. They’re told where to fire but not what they’re firing at, since
it’s treasonous to know what the weapon is targeting. Whether they shoot or not is the
first thing you’ll discover in this plot. After that it’s play to find out what happens.
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>> The Bankbot Job
#8
A Typical Episode of Helpy the Bankbot

A typical episode features a teary-eyed clone stuck in a situation where his
life will be ruined if he can’t get xp immediately. He tries several heartfelt
(but not at all treasonous) attempts to solve his problem. This teaches self-
reliance and a go-to attitude. One of the characters dies a horrible death
stopping terrorists from sullying beautiful Alpha Complex. Even if the
terrorist is simply painting graffiti, the protagonist ends up falling into a pit
that suddenly appears and gets churned in the Say Cheese snack food vat. The
surviving protagonist makes a wonderful speech about how his problems don’t
matter. As long as Alpha Complex endures, he has everything he needs. That’s
when Helpy the Bankbot smashes through a wall and dispenses the right
amount of xp to help the surviving protagonist get a ticket for the Teela-O
Live! Concert or buy patriotic shoes.
Background
Alpha Complex provides zero frills (including door and safety belts) to the infrared
citizens and offers rewards to the first three employees to reach their Service Service
each day cycle. The result is a daily bloodbath through the hallways (and a successful
high clearance gambling establishment that bets on clones getting to work).
To go along with this, a criminal mastermind in Alpha Complex wants control
over the distribution of xp. They trick a Secret Society into burning up a banking
kiosk. The Computer reacts to this by deciding it’s important not to lose productivity
due to the damage and has the bank load up its supply of xps and xp-dispensing
machines into an Old Reckoning camper as the criminal mastermind expects. To hide
the ridiculousness of this, HPD&MC creates a cartoon character about a talking bank
transbot they call Helpy the Bankbot, who delivers xp to all the good clones in the
nick of time.
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The Troubleshooters are told to secure and move the Old Reckoning camper—which
is now a mobile bank—to a safe house. This command comes from their direct
superior, but the superior got it from the criminal mastermind who was posing as
their direct superior. While doing this, the Troubleshooters need to protect the Old
Reckoning camper from a supposed terrorist attack and drive it through rush hour
(with the clones all smashing into each other in their personal transbots). The safe
house they arrive at happens to be in a sewage pipe and a wifi dead zone. This leads
to the criminal mastermind arriving with his own transbots and an appearance by
Helpy the Bankbot, because of course it’s real, and shows up as directed by Friend
Computer when it notices the Old Reckoning camper leaving the wifi zone. Helpy the
Bankbot has thermonuclear rounds in its gun. Just saying.
#9 >> Every Good Traitor

Does His Business
Background
The High Programmer wants to move up to be the head of Internal Security, so they
concoct a virus to give themselves all the xp.

The Troubleshooters are on a different mission (please feel free to start them on one of
the other plots in this book) when an agent of the High Programmer approaches one
of the Troubleshooters and offers them tons of xp if they stick a thumb drive in a slot
in the heavily classified area the team’s being sent to. If they do and pretend nothing
has happened, they will get tons of xp. Once the drive is inserted, every time the
team members should get xp, they only get a half point, and the Troubleshooter who
planted the virus gets twice the xp.
It shouldn’t take very long for the group to figure out what’s happening,
especially since Friend Computer is blaming them for this xp problem. If it does
take them some time, have the traitorous High Programmer’s contact assure the
Troubleshooter everything will be just fine and all the Troubleshooters and
deathbots coming for them will be handled. They won’t be handled. This gives the
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Troubleshooters a chance to follow the contact to a scrap yard that happens to be
lying around Alpha Complex. This is the traitorous High Programmer’s junk yard
and a place where they can find evidence to use against the High Programmer and
clear their names. Unfortunately the High Programmer has a guard cranebot which
transforms into a warbot, and then a lunch lady bot, and then into a stuffed animal
bot (traitorous— no one should know what an animal is), and back to a war bot…
and attempts to terminate the team. Searching the scrap yard finds an old terminal
not connected to the wifi, registered to the High Programmer with the original virus
code on it.
#10 >> Intoxication in the Complex
Background
Troubleshooters are not adored but feared by Alpha Complex citizens. The
Computer plans to fix this by having Frowny-Faces-Shooter Fun Day, where
Troubleshooters stand in front of public transbot loading stations and sing songs
to each citizen individually while spraying an exciting new perfume in their faces.
Resistance to this is treason.
Over the course of these duties, a Mystic freaks out when sprayed with the
perfume, which in combination with his own mutation and the chemicals he’s
ingested, turns him into a rampaging hulk with wheels for feet.

Once this happens the Troubleshooters will either deal with it on their own
initiative or the Computer will tell them to do so. This leads to a Mad Mad Mad Mad
World chase scene throughout the complex. During the chase the Troubleshooters
encounter a bot-scrubber, who’s intoxicated from the fumes of his mandatory
cleaning kit, repeatedly plowing into a scrubbot (these might look like robots with
plungers from a popular time traveling TV show with a doctor as the main character).
Make sure the Troubleshooters encounter the poor bot-scrubber at least six times,
or at least his clones six times, as he keeps crashing into the Troubleshooters or their
method of transportation.
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The chase ends when the Hulk Mystic arrives at a public ceremony where a
young creche lady has been deemed a Hero of the Complex for designing a new
popular perfume. She’ll be flattened if the Troubleshooters don’t stop the Hulk
Mystic. If that happens the Troubleshooters are caught on camera as it happens,
looking ineffective. They’re partially blamed for the HotC’s demise. If they stop the
Hulk Mystic they might even become HotC.
#11 >> A Blissful Loss of Memory
Background
The Computer decides less security is better, since increased security won’t cut down
terrorist attacks. To that end the Computer has decided to send Troubleshooters on
humanitarian missions instead. One such humanitarian mission requires escorting
a clone to the dangerous sector she comes from, now a classified sector. To make
matters worse this clone has short-term memory loss and relies on notes written
in her datapad. The source of her memory problem comes from a faulty chip in
her Cerebral CoreTech… but scanners and their operators keep failing to find the
problem. This also makes her highly suggestible.

The Troubleshooters are assigned to assist this clone in a trip to the dangerous sector
she comes from. Of course, all information about this sector is classified. Even worse, the
clone has no short term memory, relying on notes she’d written in her datapad to keep
things straight. So, with a highly suggestible clone and a mission to go to one of the most
dangerous places in Alpha Complex, the group ventures through an air conditioning
pipeline as big as a tank, where the weather drops 70 degrees whenever it gets turned on
and threatens to blow the Troubleshooters hundreds of meters back down the tunnel. Of
course there are pits where the pipes are broken. It’s also a nest full of terrorists.
Should the group actually get to the fabled dangerous sector, they find an actual
utopia functioning somewhat similarly to a village of small blue gnome-like creatures.
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Background Part 2
In the utopian village, the router power cable was broken. The community has been
sending people back and forth to fill out the proper paperwork for most of a year, until
finally they were given the thumbs up to pick up a spare power cable. That’s when the
short-term memory loss clone was sent to pick up the cable. When she entered an area
with wifi-coverage, the defect in her Cerebral CoreTech kicked in, zapping her mind and
causing the short-term memory-loss issue.
Enter the Troubleshooters Part 2

A chance for a happy ending? But this whole sector’s happily living without paying
heed to the Computer or its demands from the past year. They’re all traitors! What
will the Troubleshooters do?
#12 >> Too Close to Home
Background
The Computer has ordered all the citizens of Alpha Complex to march along an
ordained route as a sign of unity that they will not be shaken or dismayed by
terrorist attacks. The route was hacked and changed repeatedly, leading citizens
through an infrared barracks slated for demolition. This action has painted a target
on the march by every terrorist and secret society in the complex.

First thing’s first. A new team leader has been appointed by the Computer! The
person who was in the lowest slot now gets the highest, and the Computer’s going to
be quadruple picky on that unfortunate clone’s performance. In fact, they’re made
Hero of the Complex, and their every move and word is broadcast to all citizens
Complex-wide, making them a sitting duck for a terrorist attack.
Next, the Troubleshooters are sent to watch the march through the infrared
demolition zone, make sure none of the citizens are recruited by secret societies, and
16
deal with any terrorists who may be plotting to ruin the march. They also should
avoid being squashed by construction bots and crazed Death Leopards. So to recap,
the Computer and all of Alpha Complex is watching the Troubleshooter named HotC,
every secret society and terrorist is planning to mess up the march and the HotC
Troubleshooter, and death lurks around every corner.
#13 >> Paranoia Inception
Background
Social media in Alpha Complex is accessed by the Cerebral CoreTech. Sometimes
clones get wrapped up in all the wonderful stuff the Computer and its underlings
produce. Sometimes those clones have so many windows open on their CoreTech
interface they can’t see the real world any longer. Because the sounds fed directly
into their brains, they can’t hear the outside world. This means these citizens
might go for days without any contact beyond the cyberworld. This isn’t what the
Computer wants. It understands and wants to help heal these individuals.

The Computer has a plan and orders the Troubleshooters to implement it.
- Step one: identify the addicts. This is usually done by waving a hand in front of
the suspected addict’s face and shouting really loud in his ear. This usually results in
violence by non-addicts.
- Step two: install adapter. An adapter needs to be connected to the clone’s CoreTech.
This does require using R&D’s Universal Jackhammer, which punctures the skull and
carves out a perfect jack for the Troubleshooters to plug the adapter into.
You may be asking why are we giving lobotomies to clones who are watching too
much Teela-O on Complex Tube? This leads to the next step.
- Step three: the dive. The only way to make contact with the addicts is by entering
their virtual awareness by hardwiring reality to the addict’s brain. Then, the
Troubleshooters must compete with all the digital diversions (if the clone’s watching
a lot of marching band videos, the Troubleshooters must wade through a thousand-
clone marching band to get the audience’s attention— and these social media
17
addicted clones will fight. They don’t want their attention dragged from their favorite
diversions). Now we can move to the final step.
- Step four: the parental lock. Once attention is attained, the Troubleshooters need to
read the Computer’s user agreement and install a parental lock in the addict’s Cerebral
CoreTech software. To install the lock the Troubleshooters need to navigate the
addict’s subconscious filled with mutants, secret societies, and bizarre dreams until
they find the right node to drop in the software.
Aftermath: The parental lock has the unfortunate side effect of telling the PLC
everything that’s in the clone’s subconscious. Now these addicts, which have been
lobotomized, are aggressively targeted with things they can’t resist purchasing. They
spend their xp like Bouncy Bubbly Beverage flows into the gullets of the citizens of
Alpha Complex. Some of these addicts go on killing sprees. I mean, wouldn’t you
be mad if you couldn’t come up with the xp to purchase all the lovely things being
offered to you at great deals? The blame for these malfunctioning clones goes directly
to the Troubleshooters.
#14 >> A Slaughterhouse Adventure

(This one is Grade X Rated Beef)
The Background
Teela-O, renowned celebrity, makes an offhand comment about how sparkling clean
and wonderful Bouncy Bubbly Beverage’s facilities are compared to Moo Meat Meals
in a Can’s facilities. Moo Meat’s products are simply baby cows cloned in Alpha
Complex and raised by robots. The cows, who are chained forever to the floor of the
pens until they’re old enough to be chopped up and blended into meal shakes, are
set free by a Sierra Club member, who works at the plant. He gives bunches of pills
to the cows, which he thinks will help them shake off the entropy done to their legs.
Instead, it turns them into rampaging mad cows who want to eat brains and engage
in sexual acts with anything metallic that moves.
Knowledge of cows isn’t common, so rampaging, sexually charged cows will be
a big fright. Add a slaughterhouse with fewer safety rails than the Death Star, and
we’re off to the races.
Did I mention the cows rampage when Teela-O is receiving her tour of the
facilities, where everything is decorated and covered to hide the fact that it’s a
bloody slaughterhouse?
18
Teela-O losing another clone, especially when she’s being broadcast to everyone in
the complex, would be bad for Alpha Complex. It would lead to lowered happiness
of the citizens and the Computer can’t have that. That means the Troubleshooters are
sent in to save Teela-O from and deal with the mad cows, while attempting to make
sure no cameras record anything that would upset the citizens of Alpha Complex.
#15 >> Promotion Day with

Dan Adamski
Background
There are dangerously low levels of non-contaminated water in Alpha Complex.
Revealing this data would likely cause an epic decrease in citizen happiness levels,
preventing the Ultraviolets from collecting their Happiness Bonus Check. So, the
Ultraviolets came up with a fun little challenge for the Troubleshooters. There is
a shaft that must be climbed to access a valve that opens beneath a lake. This lake
outside of Alpha Complex can restore the non-contaminated water levels of Alpha
Complex. What Troubleshooter would go on a suicide mission like this? Opening the
valve means you get washed down the shaft to your death. So the Ultraviolets send
out this email:

“Congratulations Troubleshooters. The Computer has decided that Alpha Complex needs
more heroes to inspire the Infrareds. Six new Ultraviolet positions are now available. All
you have to do to claim a spot is ascend this slick, goo-covered disused shaft and climb
through the trapdoor at the top to enter your new personal luxury living space and office.
Contact the Computer once you enter the trapdoor, and one of the six Ultraviolet positions
is yours.”
There is some fine print below it, but it looks to be corrupted data. The data
states that the number of available positions can be changed at any time. Also, any
Troubleshooter who does not participate in the attempt to claim one of the spots will
be deemed a traitor and publicly executed.
19
This mission requires the Troubleshooters to climb a pipe with an unpleasant
and deadly end. The stakes are so high that everyone is in for a piece of the action
regardless if they decoded the corrupted fine print data or not. Do your best to
keep the pace high for this mission. It might even be preferable to run this plot
once the Troubleshooters have a bunch of xp and IOUs to cash in. That way the
Troubleshooters can call in secret societies, other Troubleshooters, and a variety
of other favors and people to screw their competitors trying to get to the top of
the shaft. I would suggest letting the Troubleshooters reach the top and be the
ones to open the shaft to the lake. As I mentioned above, this will wash them and
every other Troubleshooter down to their death, and there will be no Ultraviolet
positions available.
Mechanic for this Plot

As the Troubleshooters climb higher, the number of available Ultraviolet positions
changes between six and one. Also the shaft, although disused and covered
in slick slime, contains wall panels that change colors. Have fun switching the
Troubleshooter’s panel a different color whenever they roll a Computer symbol on
the die. You could also randomly determine current segment colors they’re on by
rolling a d6 if it’s obscured by the slime and then uncovered.
1. Red
2. Orange
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Indigo
20
>> Easy Meals In 4.5 Seconds
#16 or Less
Background
Hitch-O-CKK-3 is the producer of the streaming viddoc Terror Snarer, a program where
a loud and ridiculously dressed clone lures secret society members to a nondescript
barracks to solicit a junior creche member into its ranks… only to be confronted by the
host and a warbot. The viddoc didn’t receive a nomination for Best Comedy or Musical
Involving the Disintegration of a Terrorist in the Streamies Awards. Hitch-O-CKK-3
decides to off his competition by using techniques similar to his program: luring the
producers of the nominated programs, including SME-Zone (a program that uses puppets
to indoctrinate citizens to proper behavior in Alpha Complex), and Quick Meals in 4.5
Seconds (in which every episode involves the host Rachel-R-AAY fretting she’ll never
have time to prepare a meal before her scheduled appointment at the confession booth,
as she opens a freeze-dried package in four and a half seconds, eats it, and heads down to
the confession booth, where she gets her brain reformatted, so she forgets she ate—then
Rachel-R-AAY then returns to the studio to do another episode... brainwash... repeat).
So far the plan has gone well. The puppeteers for SME-Zone all died at Scary
Terrorist Statues Belching Fire and Lava Fun Park (which has been shut down for years
following a messy Troubleshooter mission involving plasma grenades). Several other
nominees all died similar deaths. All were sent false messages inviting them to the
locations of their demise to “meet with innocent, wide-eyed junior creche citizens, who
certainly exist; this wouldn’t be a horrible trap meant to ensnare you. Even if it was, I bet
you’re too stupid to avoid showing up.”

The Computer has noticed the happiness level of the citizens decrease in response to
these deaths and has identified Rachel-R-AAY as the next victim. It’s down to saving
Rachel-R-AAY as she receives weight loss surgery, all while opening a packet of I Can’t
Believe It’s Not Bacon. Unfortunately, the exact type of surgery the cooking show host
is getting performed was deemed unnecessary in a subforum committee last week (not
that anyone was told), so it would be proper to arrest the cooking show host Rachel-
R-AAY as she has her stomach sliced open by a team of docbots and then follow her
invitation to the meeting with Hitch-O-CKK-3 to deal with him and his warbot.
21
#17 >> Rampage at the Mall
Some Thoughts
What is a mall like in Alpha Complex? Following the examples of other social gathering
areas from previous modules, I’d say it’s a glorious pyramid with Breakstone Plus at
the top. By that, I mean Ultraviolets sit in comfortable chairs as robots roll beneath the
real white leather, massaging the citizen’s muscles, as they use remote control drones
flying throughout the mall to select the products and stores they’d like to buy… and of
course keeping them energetic by making necessary runs to the cookie stand. The drones
are, of course, armed with stun guns, so the Ultraviolet citizens won’t be forced to wait
any longer than necessary. BTW, the drones are controlled via the Ultraviolet citizens’
brains, linked to the drone transmitter by the Universal Jack.
Infrareds stand in lines that aren’t labeled, and they are choked and beaten if they
ask what the lines are for or if they try to sneak closer to the front to see what’s there.
Background
A Machine Empath named Carrie-B-STN-2 was zapped by a drone while waiting
in line at the cookie stand of the Alpha Complex Mall. Being annoyed by this, she
decides to use her machine empath abilities to convince a drone to override their
programming and attack the controlling Ultraviolet Citizen, Corin-U-CKR. Corin uses
the Breakstone Plus’s demo drone, a fire-spitting fifty-foot-tall lizard called God-Chill-
Ya. Corin remotely controls the giant lizard robot to tear apart the mall, pursuing the
mutant Carrie. Caught in the crossfire, a transbot carrying junior citizens gets flung
through three walls and sinks in a vat of Sticky Fun. Because of her Ultraviolet status,
Corin can’t be accused of the crime, so the bus driver, Janet-I-SSS-5, is charged with
harming the junior citizens.
Carrie also liberates several xp transaction machines from the Computer’s
shackles, and they literally start dancing throughout the mall, overjoyed with their
independence, and crushing anyone who asks for their xp.
22
The Troubleshooters are of course called in to deal with the situation. They need
to capture Carrie, save the kids, and get the xp transaction machines back in line
without angering any of the Ultraviolet citizens. In a strange twist, a number of the
xp transaction machines go missing but maybe Plot #18 (below) can shed some light
on the situation.
Note: The names for the characters come from the band Sleater-Kinney. The Computer
requires you to check them out.
#18 >> New Location For

Alpha Complex
Background
Let’s make a sequel. In Plot #17 Carrie-B-STN-2, a machine empath, convinced xp
transaction machines to throw off their shackles. This resulted in them dancing
through the Alpha Complex Mall. Frankenstein Destroyers found the ones the
Troubleshooters didn’t destroy and lured them into a transbot with a sign by the
door saying SUPER FUN DANCE PARTY! BOT NIGHT!
The bots got inside, the doors closed, and the Frankenstein Destroyers took
the bots to their idea of a fun night: smashing the bots to scrap. Tonight’s a super
special night, because their Bot Smash Fun Time is hosted in conjunction with the
Frankenstein Destroyers of Beta Complex (who look like bipedal walruses).

You can have the Troubleshooters be asked to track the missing xp transaction
machines from Plot #17 or have this plot be a continuation of Plot #17. Tracking
them leads the Troubleshooters to ASK Sector, which is littered with refuse (since it
is the Alpha Complex dump) and contains access to the surface, which surprisingly is
the exposed surface of an iceberg. Global warming took its toll, and Alpha Complex,
it turns out, is in the belly of a drifting iceberg. On the slopes of the iceberg, the
dancing xp transaction machines are assaulted by Frankenstein Destroyers and the
Beta Complex Frankenstein Destroyers, who arrived on an ancient submarine called
23
the Red October. Retrieving the xp transaction machines from the Frankenstein
Destroyers without blowing up Alpha Complex might be a bit tricky. Good luck.
>> The Evil of Sheryl Crow

#19
Background
PLC has noted a significant drop in infrareds buying Bouncy Bubbly Beverages, after
their monthly xp pay rate was halved for efficiency costs. Bouncy Bubbly Inc. solved
this problem by convincing the Computer to randomly draft hundreds of clones to work
second and third shifts of backbreaking work building their new Blast Ball stadium. In
exchange for each shift, the infrareds got one can of Bouncy Bubbly Beverage.
This program’s proven so successful in moving BBB product, it’s been expanded
to include Red Clearance citizens, and that means most of the Troubleshooting team.
Those of higher clearance have the joyous opportunity to supervise the penniless
masses, using Thank-You-For-Motivating-Me Lightning Sticks.
The clones delve too deep beneath the complex and awaken an ancient evil: a
video jukebox that plays Alanis Morissette, Counting Crows, and Sheryl Crow music
videos. A sect of infrareds declare the video machine to be the Computer’s originator,
which should be worshiped above the Computer. Adopting their behavior and speech
to reflect the wisdom from the Originator, the cult quickly takes over the stadium and
construction bots, preparing to wage war at the request of the Originator Machine…
as soon as they understand what Tom Petty’s singing about.

With this mass defection and huge number of traitors, the computer suspends the
BBB efficiency plan and re-tasks all Troubleshooters to deal with the traitors and the
video machine.
Optional Mechanic for this Plot

Craft a 2000s music mix. Whenever a Computer is rolled on the dice, hit shuffle and
24
play to see what instructions are given to the cult. The Computer allows GMs to cry
if the Spice Girls are randomly selected.
#20 >> My Heart Will Pay On
Background
The Computer decides on a whim to start broadcasting a song for children to all of
Alpha Complex. The content of this song is as follows: “I am a chicken. Cluck. Cluck.
Cluck. Won’t you be a chicken too?” The Computer is doing this because HPD&MC
got infected by a Deviant Artificially Intelligent Virus, Eggbot.
To combat this virus, the High Programmers print up “We’re all chickens”
jumpsuits to be worn by everyone in Alpha Complex. Also, the approved greeting
between clones is changed to clucking and strutting like a chicken.

“Go get the hacker who put the DAIV into HPD&MC,” commands the
Troubleshooters’ direct superior while wearing his “We’re all chickens” jumpsuit,
strutting out of the room like a chicken and clucking at the other clones he sees. All
the while, that chicken song is still playing over all the speakers.
The hacker, Matt-O-CNY-2, performed the hack from the new Fun Grenade
stadium HPD&MC press box. When the Troubleshooters arrive, they find two
hundred clones whose hearts were deemed too weak for continued service. These
clones were scheduled for cremation and a new clone but instead are tethered to an
artificial heart the size of a food vat. Tubes run from the artificial heart to and from
the clones, who are forced to constantly do customer service work.
The Twist
The situation is diabolical. These clones are believed to be destroyed by the
Computer; however, they were purchased by a High Programmer who manages a
customer service firm. The Computer thinks the High Programmer is doing all the
25
work by himself and has no idea he literally controls the lives of clones deemed
not worthy of heart replacement or repair. Because of all the bonuses the High
Programmer gets for productivity, he can afford to pay for his own Fun Grenade
stadium.
Unfortunately for the High Programmer, the hacking was done on the premises by
one of the tethered employees, hoping for a Troubleshooting team to arrive and vape him.
Enter the Troubleshooters Post-Twist

The High Programmer, Don-U-MMP-1, is committing treason and all of these clones
should have been vaped. Now it’s on the Troubleshooters to decide what to do.
#21 >> The Clearance is Greener

on the Other Side
Background One
There’s a mix-up sending orders.
Enter the Trouble Briefers?

The actual mission briefing folk are called in to be Troubleshooters, and
the Troubleshooters are called in to run the briefing. It works best if the
Troubleshooters have dealt with these execs before and are itching for revenge.
After sending their bosses to their doom, the actual Troubleshooters might think
they get some great downtime. Let them know the mission briefers get real food
and massage bots upon request.
Background Part Deux

HPD&MC need someone to write a song that will be an instant hit and will have a
chorus that includes something about good citizens offering every Vulture Squadron
trooper they see a cold can of Bouncy Bubbly Beverage. Failure to do so is unpatriotic.
26
It’s a good thing there’s an idle troubleshooting briefing team eating and taking
advantage of massage bots. Time to get songwriting. To make matters worse, as the
team is composing the song, they’re called in to debrief another Troubleshooting
team (the actual briefing officers were found to be terrorists and executed). One of
the Troubleshooters is found covered in blood, carrying a machete and the severed
head of the Loyalty Officer. He doesn’t remember how he got there, what happened,
and his Cerebral CoreTech recording only shows video of chickens eating. Is he guilty
of murder? Actually, the entire team conspired against the Loyalty Officer. They’re
prepared to make a last stand against their briefing officers if caught.
To wrap it all up, the Troubleshooters keep getting updates from the field as the
actual briefing officers send in frantic messages, such as, “Everybody’s dead! I killed
them all!” to “This experimental pair of binoculars welded themselves to my eyes,
and now I’m blind!” Every time one of these updates comes in, a request is made
by the system to write up a report in triplicate, once by hand, once digitally, and
once recorded verbally, but they’re coming in so fast it’s hard to keep up. After some
of these requests for reports pile up the Troubleshooters are reminded that filing
paperwork in a timely manner is mandatory and to not do so is treasonous.
This ends when the briefing officer team that was out on the mission is either all
dead or some return, sharing how terrible the experience was. The Computer catches
the error and puts the true briefing officers back in charge. Oops.
#22 >> Once Upon a Time

in Alpha Complex
Background
Friend Computer gets hacked by Old Reckoning folk, who try to access a folder
called “Yensid Vault.” In their failed attempt to hack the Computer, the Computer
“views” the files and becomes convinced there is a perfect clone in a castle who’s
in grave danger. She is better than all the other clones, and everyone’s lives must be
thrown upside down so a full military operation can commence to rescue her.
A man experienced in Old Reckoning lore decides to take advantage of this by
actually building a castle and placing a warbot in princess clothes with long golden
hair flowing from the tower to the ground. Death Leopard teams up with the Old
27
Reckoners by building a giant fire-spitting bot that somewhat resembles a dragon
drawn for them by the Old Reckoning expert.
This is all a trap. There’s a dead man switch attached to the warbot so if
it’s moved, a thermonuclear device will detonate, destroying the bulk of Alpha
Complex’s military. Why do this? The Old Reckoners believe most of Alpha Complex’s
woes come from corrupt abusive military forces.
Enter the Troubleshooter

The Troubleshooters are sent in as the scouts to discover what’s going on. From there
they can proceed without the help of the military, call them in once they assess the
situation, fight with the Dragon Bot and discover it’s Death Leopard technology, track
it back to the Death Leopards who built it, learn it was based on an Old Reckoning
idea, and then find and deal with the Old Reckoning expert.
>> The Emperor of

#23 Alpha Complex
Background
Fred-R-Sin-3 is a brilliant business clone who turns Chew Toy Gum vending
machines repair and distribution’s PLC firm into a power beyond comprehension.
By exploiting mandates in subsection 3.729.99 of Alpha Complex laws and orders,
he’s able to consume other PLCs and even incorporate a branch of Internal Security
into his service firm. He even gains access to the clone template database and is
able to order the erasure of his enemies. Successful higher level clones vanish as if
they never existed.

The Troubleshooters are brought in by briefing officers who are being framed for
the murder and erasure of several Internal Security and PLC high clearance citizens
(framed by Fred). They send the Troubleshooters to find the real killer before they
get arrested (or even erased themselves).
28
Roughing up some citizens at the clone database leads to the Troubleshooters
beating down Fred’s door. Unfortunately, before a shot gets fired, the Troubleshooters
are recalled to become a synchronized swimming team to perform for Fred’s pleasure.
Will they swim or fight?
#24
>> Optical Receptors Wide Shut
(X Rated)
Background
A Mystic is distributing a drug called Lohan-Cyrus, which undoes the sexual
repression drugs the Computer distributes. A couple of clones start charging xp in
exchange for performing sexual acts. Of course the party at the club, Hilton-Spears,
never ends… and the Service Service managers get upset by their employees not
turning up to work. One manager tracked their employees down to Hilton-Spears.
They were then torn apart by the people at the orgy, and abused bots were told to
deliver the various body parts to the other Service Service managers, covered in a
contact version of Lohan-Cyrus.
Now, after calling in Internal Security about the body parts delivered to them,
the middle managers become randy. Those middle managers get arrested for fondling
the IntSec officers.
A Brief Thought about Alpha Complex

This plot deals with prostitution, but clones don’t desire sex or have any hormones
raging through their bodies, thanks to chemicals pumped into them by the
Computer. A prostitute wouldn’t be able to make a living there unless those
repressing chemicals were undone. Now lets see what happens...

The Troubleshooters are sent to find all the delivery bots before they infect more
citizens. Once a couple of bots are located, they’re identified as waiter bots, property
of Hilton-Spears. This will lead the Troubleshooters to the great free love party. Now
the problem can be dealt with at its source.
29
New Mechanics for this Plot
Anytime a Computer is rolled on the dice when dealing with a situation where
Lohan-Cyrus is involved, you may say a Troubleshooter made contact with the drug
and starts to lose control of their urges. First they become warm, then have desires
they’re not used too, then act upon those desires unless they can get a dose of the
drug that represses those urges. Have the player sitting to the left of the infected
character narrate to the infected Troubleshooter how Lohan-Cyrus is affecting him at
inopportune moments.
#25
>> Time For a
Soylent Green Joke
Background
A group of PLC citizens decide it’s their patriotic duty to help citizens through the
bureaucracy of Alpha Complex when it comes to ordering fast food. In the process
of untangling the Teela-O-My-What-A Tasty-Burger ordering and billing system
(which could take three years to complete a transaction), the PLC samaritans uncover
the nasty truth: Soylent Green Burgers are Orange clearance citizens and not the
advertised Green Clearance citizens.
There is also a new technology being tested to see if it increases citizen
happiness: the Sense-Surround Sports Simulation 3D glasses/receiver. It allegedly
captures the experience of a Slipping-Swinging-Sports-Spectacular professional
event. To utilize the technology, you must be at the Alpha Complex Tooth Gap
stadium, which is an invitation-only event.
This provides an opportunity for the Teela-O-My-What-A Tasty-Burger’s
surviving management staff. They have acquired tickets for the Tooth Gap event
and plan to snuff out the PLC samaritans who were rewarded for their civic duty by
getting tickets for the Tooth Gap game.
30
The Computer decides to initiate a campaign of cracking down on false advertising
and sends the Troubleshooters to check out the claims of the SSSS 3D glasses/
receiver. While at the event these things happen:
● The managers of this event and the SSSS 3D glasses/receiver are Sierra Club
members. They’ve heard about the Troubleshooters investigating them and
decide to make the event feel even more real. They use their resources to
unleash the most lethal of ice monsters: penguins. So, penguins run amuck
in the stadium.
● In the penguin chaos, the Teela-O-My-What-A Tasty-Burger’s managers try
to kill the PLC samaritans themselves.
Now the Troubleshooters are caught in the middle of a crazy situation between
vicious penguins, Slamball players, the Teela-O-My-What-A Tasty-Burger’s
surviving management staff, and the PLC samaritans. How it plays out is up to the
Troubleshooters, but whatever they choose to do, it probably doesn’t go well for them.

If a Troubleshooter is wearing the 3D glasses/receiver and rolls a Computer, they
suffer a sports injury.
>> While We’re Talking

#26 About Cannibalism
Background
Teela-O is concerned because her burgers (made of clones deemed too low of quality
to enter society— see Plot #25) are causing customers to have sudden outbreaks
of mutant abilities. She’s afraid she’ll be erased if she can’t get this under control.
She suspects one of the clone creche directors is deliberately turning potential meat
stock into mutants, trying to ruin her. She’s right! One of the directors is trying to
purposely ruin Teela-O. Teela-O didn’t read the director’s letter on her vidcast. The
rest of the creche directors are just insane… or just as insane?
31
The Troubleshooters are called in to Teela-O-My-What-A Tasty-Burger by Teela-O
herself. She wants them to check out several clone creches and investigate the
directors. These clone creches have the feel and look of inner city schools with
broken nanny bots being dragged out and destroyed for poor performance (even
though their legs have been torn from their bodies by the naughty juniors), clones
ignoring the nanny bots and watching violent programming on their Cerebral
CoreTechs, and jealous clones sneaking up behind the popular clones and stabbing
them to death with safety chainsaws.
As mentioned earlier, the directors are insane. One of them is open about
purposely failing the creches so the clones get served as meat (she feeds them lots
of candy to fatten them up and get a good price). One director believes she’s Snow
White (Old Reckoning secret society member), while the junior clones are her
dwarves. Another is training the clones military style to be prepared to fight the
Zom-B threat. Zom-B is the creche director’s boss. Finally, there’s the creche director
who wrote the letter to Teela-O which wasn’t read on-air. She’s making sure Teela-O
is getting mutant clone meat. Determining which creche director is targeting Teela-O
isn’t difficult since they’ll admit it, and then the Troubleshooters can decide what to
do with them.
To make matters worse, shortly after the Troubleshooters enter the first of the
four clone creches, the gravity in Alpha Complex starts acting strange.
New Mechanic for this Plot

When a Computer is rolled, roll a d6. On another Computer, the gravity is a chaotic,
lethal force flinging something or someone fun in a strange direction.
On a 2 through 6:
2. The Troubleshooter gets a bonus die to actions involving chasing or lifting.
3. The Troubleshooter is lifted a few inches off the ground and can’t walk.
4. The Troubleshooter does cartwheels in zero-G out of control across the room.
5. The Troubleshooter is flung against the ceiling (hope the citizen is wearing his
safety helmet).
6. The gravity increases, and the Troubleshooter loses a die when trying to do
physical actions.
32
#27
>> Clone Smash!
Background
Felicia-V-Day-3, a Violet-clearance citizen, is in charge of both a Service Service for
food and health products for the military and billing citizens for medical expenses.
She generously offered to lower citizens’ medical bills by a factor of ten if they
submit to trying new protein shakes for a month. These protein shakes are R&D
prototypes designed to foster aggression and strength in Vulture Squadron members.
Long story short, the shake turns them into giant green rage monsters. The
transformation kicks in just after the Wakey-Wakey pills leave the system, which is
a little before the Nighty-Nighty pills are taken… which is usually when the clones
unwind at their social clubs.

The Computer, assisted by Felicia, blames the social clubs and targets several clubs
to be shut down by our team of Troubleshooters. Club Secrets and Societies is up to
no good terrorist acts, the Holy Roller’s club is too wholesome for words, and in the
Down the Middle club a couple of clones turn into the aforementioned rage monsters
and start smashing Troubleshooters.
If the Troubleshooters deal with the hulkish monsters, they find both have
bottles of Vulture Squad Smash Protein Shakes Beta Test bottles on their bodies. This
can be traced back to Felicia. You can also have more of the hulkish monsters start
smashing up Alpha Complex to complicate the Troubleshooters’ lives.
33
#28
>> The Big Coke Deal
Background
A version of Alpha Complex was started in the 1970s. This version of Alpha Complex
is a Disco Complex. Yes, a Disco Complex, so everyone here still talks, looks, and acts
like they’re in the 1970s. They were members of Coca-Cola’s R&D and decided to
escape the threat of a world gone mad by burrowing deep beneath the Earth, where
they immediately started their own Coca-Cola factory and bottling plant. The Coke
makes everyone happy. Everyone worships the Coke. It’s interesting to note that
when these Coca-Cola employees went missing, a new staff had to be hired. These
new people produced the Coke 2.
It’s time for the Really Big Deal. It’s considered unpatriotic to not watch the
Really Big Deal, the pinnacle event in the sport known as Air Bang, a combination of
table hockey and dueling. No one knows how the game’s really played, but there are
days of build-up to the big event, and HPD&MC releases its biggest advertisements
during the game.
How do these two things fit together? The Internal Security found a hole in the
middle of a corridor in the Really Big Deal Stadium that leads “way down.” Damage
to Alpha Complex is of course the work of terrorists.

The Troubleshooters are sent to deal with the problem by whichever authority
figure deems it necessary. First R&D assigns the Troubleshooters with a prototype
sensor called I-Sad. This device weeps openly and loudly about anything and
everything it detects. “Boo hoo! This is so dangerous! I’m going to need an update.
Would you like to download one? Do you accept the user agreement? Why don’t
you like me? Boo hoo!”
The Troubleshooters must climb down the steep, slimy shaft and discover what
made the hole. When they reach the bottom they discover the Disco Complex.
Unfortunately for the Troubleshooters, even though they’re on a mission, the
Big Deal is also being broadcast. They are expected to give as much attention to the
broadcast via their Cerebral CoreTech as they are to the mission. Inform the Loyalty
34
Officer they are allowed to randomly quiz the team about the commercials and game
as they see fit, to ensure the team members are complying with the Computer’s will.
Note: The Disco Complex Coke is very acidic. The Disco Complex people are used to it,
but anything else that comes in contact with the Coke will suffer the effects of drinking or
wearing hydrochloric acid.
#29
>> Inspired by the
National Enquirer
Background
The Teela-O Show has a number of famous guests from Alpha Complex on it, but
some of them have recently been receiving death threats. The culprit is the Power
Services guy who maintains the studio computers, Danny-R-EJO-4. He put a virus
in the system so that every time someone’s invited on the show, they’re sent a death
threat. He’s a little jaded because he never got his shot at fame even though this is
his 4th clone working in entertainment, and he wants to see those successful clones
suffer like him. That’s treasonous.

The Troubleshooters are called in by Che-V-CHA-6. He looks very familiar to everyone
as the actor who made the hilarious movie Alpha Complex’s Vacation. That was three
clones ago. This clone of Chevy hasn’t done much of anything, but he’s hoping things
will turn around. He received one of the death threats sent from the Teela-O-Show
production office. Chevy doesn’t know why anyone’s targeting him, but he can’t afford
more clones.
This leads the Troubleshooters to the Teela-O show studios, where recording is
underway. During this recording, co-host Kath-B-LEE-5 downs far more happy pills
than she should and breaks into fits of tears every few minutes, rolling around on
the floor, yelling that she’s going to quit this time. The guest is Lindsay-O-HAN-3, a
popular model who always has Troubleshooter teams sent after her for treasonous acts.
She has a four-star treason rating. Lindsay is best friends with Teela-O and turns to her
for support every time something negative happens, which is about every two minutes.
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A Twist
Lindsay recently joined the Old Reckoning secret society and watched The Wizard
of Oz. She’s coming on the show to announce she wants to be the White Witch. She
throws ruby slippers at everyone and tells them to click their heels three times.
She also puts on a white dress, which of course is very treasonous. Only High
Programmers may wear white. A number of Old Reckoning secret society members
are in the live studio audience and could cause the Troubleshooters problems if they
try to deal with Lindsay in typical Troubleshooter style.
Back t o the Troubleshooters

Rooting around the studio for the culprit isn’t the safest thing to do, as most of the
safety regulations that have little to do with Teela-O are ignored. Falling lights are
a normal occurrence, electrical fires an everyday happenstance, and craft services
might not serve the safest food. To throw a little more gas on this fire, the death
threat to Lindsay-O-Han-3 is sent while the show is recording. You can have this
event provoke the Old Reckoners in the audience to drastic measures like releasing
DNA spliced flying monkeys into the studio, or dropping a house onto the set.
Eventually the Troubleshooters should end up in the studio offices, where they
find the virus and determine it was Danny-R-EJO-4 who planted it there.
#30
>> The Cowboy, the Patient
and the Robotic Underwear
Background
A train contains a car in which a patient resides. This patient has been dubbed
Patient X. Patient X needs to be quarantined for the good of Alpha Complex. If
you’re curious about what disease Patient X has, he won a lottery and the prize was
to be a test bunny to see what happens if a Flubber-like substance was injected into
his body. This caused the patient’s body to transform into the size and shape of the
last item he touched... but with all the properties of a Wacky Fun Ball (the ability
to bounce very hard and very fast, causing great harm to anything it hits). This
disease is passed on when someone touches the shape-shifted patient. The patient can
periodically switch back to his normal self.
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The Troubleshooters are called in to guard the train car en route to R&D HQ. They
are not told what’s in the train car, only that it’s quarantined and must not be
breached. Unfortunately every Secret Society knows what’s in the train car and
either wants Patient X destroyed, liberated, or captured to experiment on.
When the first Troubleshooter enters the quarantined car, they discover a plate
of Meaty BBQ Bites, the food Patient X was eating when he changed... and which
Patient X changed into. Someone might consume Patient X. Oops.
Complications
Old Reckoners dressed as cowboys amuse themselves by robbing the train. They ride
robotic horses, board the train, declare this is a robbery, then thank everyone for
their time and leave.
The train passes a burning warehouse full of robotic underwear for high-clearance
citizens who don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. This
underwear detects the need to relieve oneself and activates like a flying suit of armor
from a beloved comic book movie. The suit flies the occupant to the restroom and
handles all tasks involving excreting waste for the sleeping occupant.

Morphing - If a clone touches Patient X he becomes infected. From then on, when
a Computer is rolled on a die, a contaminated clone switches form to the last item
he touched. When another Computer is rolled, he switches back. What happens if
a clone turns into a laser gun and is fired by another clone? Your guess is as good as
mine. Make it messy and embarrassing.
Robotic Underwear - If a set of robotic underwear attaches itself to a
Troubleshooter and that Troubleshooter rolls a Computer, the occupant is detected as
needing to pee. The robotic underwear dedicates itself to helping the occupant with
that task, even during a laser battle.
37
I I: es
T O R t i c
C a c
SE t Pr ing
e s o t t
B P l
Fo r
Day 1
When I first started dating Mari in the mid-90s, she was part of a weekly
roleplaying group. As happens when relationships start to become a bit more
serious, the significant other was invited to the gaming table. This usually ends
badly. I can see why.
The game was Shadowrun. The PCs were in Chicago and unhappy about it
because of all the mutant bugs. One of these giant insects slew Mari’s character. It
happened quickly. It made Mari a bit sad. The others dragged her character’s body
with them into the sewers and used it as payment to the creatures dwelling beneath
the streets as a toll for safe passage. So, my girlfriend’s character, whom I knew she’d
grown attached to and was proud of his accomplishments, ended up as food and
clothing for sewer dwellers. Few of the players batted an eye.
How was this fun? I’d been given a template character to play. I hadn’t grown
close to that character in the way an actor grows to cherish a character she’s had
the pleasure of bringing to life over multiple episodes or movies. I hadn’t put a
single thought into developing his personality or the mechanics that determined his
strengths and weaknesses. However, I knew how amazingly squishy he was. I found
myself thinking how heartbreaking it must be to pour a bit of yourself (and time)
into creating a character you inhabit in a collaborative storytelling world, only to
have it gruesomely and suddenly slashed to leather and burgers.
From the tension at the gaming table, I could tell the other players, who had
poured hours into going through sourcebooks and played over fifty hours walking
in their characters’ shoes, were stressed by the prospect of their characters meeting
a horrid fate.
Several months later, the group took an intermission. The story arc of the
Shadowrun campaign had come to an end. In a few weeks we’d make characters for
a new Earthdawn campaign, which we’d play weekly for about a year. To transition
between the two campaigns, cleanse the pallet, and get rid of the tension from the
previous campaign, Mike Bostick broke out a game called Paranoia.
I don’t think we even made the characters ourselves. They were all pregens.
There was no before-game bonding with the PC, mothering it into existence. The
Paranoia PC, like my Shadowrun template PC, was simply handed to me on a page,
still smelling of its trip through the office copier.
Unlike Shadowrun, characters were not brutally slaughtered every session or so.
They were ripped apart, melted, blown up, and eaten by creatures from the sewers
every thirty seconds or so. This time, everyone was laughing. The more outrageous
the kill, the gorier the incident, the more the players roared with laughter. Also, this
time, the PCs were gunning for one another. Boy, did they have itchy trigger fingers!
Paranoia has no delusions about what it is. It doesn’t pretend to be a fairly
39
balanced simulation. It takes the feelings of hopelessness, the soul-crushing angst of
being hyper-micromanaged, the frightening nihilistic philosophy of life, work, and
relationships—it takes all that and hands everyone heavy weapons. Many of those
weapons are never explained. Cut loose. Cut a head off or two. Craft plots to bring
about the destruction of your teammates. And one in four sessions end with the
end of the world itself. Then, the players all laugh and feel better about themselves.
Paranoia is the original stress-release RPG.
The new edition of Paranoia covers the art of writing and running the game
quite well. I don’t wish to regurgitate that information, but rather share my personal
journey with this game.
Writin g Paranoia
The Gamemaster’s Guide to the new edition simply says the best way to write
Paranoia is to
“Make Shit Up.”

I think for the majority of the game, this is perfect. Think of a Paranoia session as a
rollercoaster ride. The vast majority of your work should be constructing the steep
angle the cars ascend before going over the peak. Then, have a few notes about the
first twist or two. Beyond that, the players are in charge. There’s a reason the GM
doesn’t roll the dice during the game. The whole point is to begin things by loading
the players and characters with the tools needed to create paranoia, make them form
alliances, give them the tools to destroy one another, then set them loose. Then the
PCs tear themselves and each other apart for the next three hours.
The GM needs to worry about set pieces and extras for those three hours,
and they better not be attached to a single one of them, because quite likely those
characters and set pieces will be blown up in seconds.
40
Act One: Where All Your
Work Should Go
Raise the curtain on the team just before they receive the call to their mission
briefing. Many GMs find it simpler to have everyone in the same barracks when
the call arrives. It saves time. I prefer to have them all separated and have to deal
with a system-wide problem in their own way. It lets them get comfortable with
the mechanics and getting into their character without the usual result of the alpha
gamers stealing the scene.
Opening Scenes
Usually, I have the opening scene foreshadow an element of the major plot. For
instance, if there’s a major sports event as part of the story, I might begin with the
Troubleshooters at their day jobs, where they learn they’re supposed to show team
spirit by being dressed like the team’s mascot. Of course, the message to do such
never reached the team members. Actually, I’d write the memo down and give it
to one player. How did I choose this player? Why do they get special treatment?
This sets the correct tone. Then, have the Troubleshooters hear their bosses chew
out other office workers about why they aren’t properly dressed. This gives the
Troubleshooter a quick moment to use whatever’s handy in their job environment
to whip up a costume. This might involve removing valves or pipes that keep things
from exploding, but at least they’ll have a costume, right?
Finding the Briefing Room

Most GMs have the team bumble through
the amazingly complex task of finding
the briefing room. I prefer this variant:
“A funny thing happened to me on the way
to the briefing room.” This involves the
Troubleshooters being forced to interact
with a set piece or a character that may
or may not recur in the adventure. If the
interaction seems promising, write down
a note for yourself to have the character
or set piece show up at an inopportune
moment. A set piece can be reused for up
to three Troubleshooters, whereas a civilian
or special NPC might not last through
one or two Troubleshooters before being
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destroyed. They can be citizens in genuine need or be plot devices to spread rumors
related to Secret Societies for the mission. The purpose of this scene is to allow the
Troubleshooters to have a few more minutes to get their bearings with the system
and bring their character to life.
Alpha Complex
This is also a vital time for the GM to paint a compelling picture of Alpha Complex.
No longer are the corridors gleaming. Scrubbots are not there to clean up every
disintegration or accident. It’s the difference between a stadium being managed on
Super Bowl Sunday… and an abandoned mall. Go ahead and Google the terror that is
“abandoned mall.” Break into an abandoned mall. (Legally, this isn’t advised, but who
am I to tell you how to conduct your gaming research.) Go through previous Paranoia
modules and jot down notes on established sectors. Then update it to fifty years of
sheer neglect and being the victim of Troubleshooter missions. The horror!
S ecret Societies
If you use Secret Societies, this is a great place to have the contact show up and
deliver the Secret Society mission. The previous edition had a wonderful sourcebook
full of details about member code phrases, routines, and interactions. Pick what
you want from there and make up the rest. Remember, some Societies have vanished
since the last edition, and relationships between the same Secret Society in different
sectors might be violently different.
I recommend having a Paranoia notebook with a page for each Secret Society. Include
sample greetings and typical methods the contacts use when they approach the
Troubleshooters. Come up with three different contacts of different ranks within
each organization. Give them some quirks, a catchphrase, or something they’re
very passionate about. Some might be obsessed with vidcasts and want to babble
forever about the latest edition of the Walking Uncloned show. Periodically, switch
these characters’ rankings in the organizations. Some might have been turned in for
activity unbecoming a member of the Secret Society by another contact. Grudges
fester. Troubleshooters might be made aware there’s a power vacuum, and the
organization is looking at promotions. Could the Troubleshooter be who they’re
looking for? There’s no need to write original Secret Society members and schticks
for each adventure. Have your evolving slice-sized sampling of the organization, and
use them for every adventure. Congrats. You’ve saved a lot of time for future games
and have created a living Alpha Complex. The Computer is proud of your efficiency.
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The Mission Briefing
Like Secret Societies, I’d put together two or three different Mission Briefing teams.
It’s always more fun when there’s a cluster of in-fighting bureaucrats in charge of
the team’s fate. Know why they dislike one another. Know how close to the edge
any one of them is to executing a fellow briefing officer. Is one of them a Secret
Society member? Does one of them have evidence a Troubleshooter on the team
is a member of a rival Secret Society? How will they use that knowledge during
debriefing or in future briefings. Give these folks quirks and goals. Give each
briefing team their own page in your notebook.
Why multiple briefing groups? First, the Troubleshooters will learn how to suck
up to specific members of one team, so having an untampered backup team will keep
that clever Troubleshooter from always having an advantage when dealing with the
briefing officers. Second, missions related to High Programmers or IntSec/Armed Forces
will be delivered by officers who work more closely to these niche divisions of Alpha
Complex. Always have your friends oversee missions that you have a vested interest
in. You can’t trust the regular goofy briefing officers, right? Mix it up, possibly by
temporarily replacing the “good cop” briefing officer with the personal assistant of
the High Programmer or Armed Forces Commander. Play this out like those scenes
in X-Files where the Smoking Man stands suspiciously in the back of Skinner’s office
during Mulder and Scully’s briefing. Change breeds tension and paranoia.
The briefing shouldn’t be too complex, but the Troubleshooters should be led
to either believe the task is amazingly simple or the fate of Alpha Complex hinges on
this task being performed perfectly. The truth behind this is totally unimportant.
Another thing about briefing scenes is that the mission briefers usually don’t
have all the information or, because of security clearances, cannot reveal vital
information. This can be played out by having the briefing officers flip through blue
or green colored files, shake their heads, mutter things like, “nuclear meltdown,” “be
sure they never talk to …” and cryptic things like that.
The most important part of the briefing is to designate the team positions.
This can be based on the Troubleshooters’ “Go get ‘em” positive attitudes or
by throwing paper in the air and seeing which player gets hit by the badges.
Both work well. Just don’t have the best qualified Troubleshooter get the job he
deserves. For instance, if someone has a lot of skill in mechanics and repair, he
should not be made Equipment Guy.
43
Take Time to Explain
If this is a convention game or the first time the group’s gone through Paranoia, take
the time to explain to each player what their team role entails. This isn’t just for the
sake of the person being addressed, but it also clues the entire team in on which
team members will be most dangerous in different situations. Always gun for the
Recording Officer. He has the most damning evidence… if he’s doing his job.
Announce the Jackpots

Remember, the total available xp for completing this mission should be enough for
each team member to advance. Let the players drool. Then sweeten the deal with the
bonus xp duties. These smaller tasks that pop up during the course of the mission
are awarded to the first person to accomplish the task. If you’re GMing, you should
be aware of these and have a chart showing the bonus xp tasks displayed in a place
the players can always see it. They should be tied to NPCs encountered during the
“Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Briefing Room,” Secret Society mission
spoiling or accomplishing, and for reaching key set pieces first. The highest value
bonus xp award should be given to someone who accomplishes a suicidal task
directly tied to a set piece near the climax of the adventure.
Going to R&D
Send the team to R&D to receive and sign their lives away for the receipt and proper
usage of the experimental gear. Play it as a mad science laboratory or an enormous
warehouse with forklifts constantly knocking over crates marked “Explosive.” Make
it like scenes from the Bond films where Q distributes gear… only Q is replaced with
Carrot Top. There are no instruction manuals for how this stuff works. The most
innocent gear is often the most dangerous. The most dangerous weapons might be
very dangerous but require a whole lot of steps to get them ready for action. There
can be redundant security systems, like R&D Youtube videos made by a nine year
old that walk the Troubleshooter through the process of preparing the gear for use
and showing all the cool features. Unfortunately, the video blocks the entire vision
field of the user’s Cerebral CoreTech and is out of focus when it shows what buttons
or switches used to acquire the intended result. If someone is trying to watch a video
during combat? Then the video buffers for prolonged times and asks the user to type
in their username and password to continue (neither of which was provided).
Where Do You Get These Cool Toys From?

Past editions provided whole books about this type of gear. If you have access to one of
these, lift one or two favorites from those tomes. Provide an armor that does something
you’d expect to see in an Avengers movie… but turns out to act like a Transformer,
44
crushing the wearer… or causing the wearer to experience vast amounts of heat while
using the special functions… like being trapped inside a microwave. One device should
work as normal. One device should work normal, but there are multiple buttons and
switches to select before operating it. Each setting does something different. A gun
with three switches might have a switch that causes a booming voice to announce:
“You are about to have the pleasure of being shot by this Troubleshooter. Enjoy your
day!” A second button might make the ammo storage open up, causing hundreds of
bullets (or a radioactive rod) to spill onto the floor. The third button fires every piece of
ammo loaded inside it at once and announces it’s time for a virus check that will take
17 hours.
Then, there are the seemingly worthless devices. Walk through Target and look
at what’s on clearance on the ends of the aisles. Jot down these items (hair color dye,
holiday candles, root beer) and think how a mad scientist could weaponize them. Don’t
tell the Troubleshooters what they do. Just give a name for the device that has at least
twenty syllables. Make sure you know what each device does and who has what device
at what moment. Oh yes, there will be many attempts to steal the perceived cool gear.
Once you’ve given out the toys, allow the Troubleshooters to argue, steal weapons,
and kill themselves several times over. When you start to tire of this, have the voice of
the Computer arrive and announce resources and efficiency allotted to this mission are
suffering. The total available xp has dropped.
The Chart
It would benefit you to have a chart showing the names of the players, which clone
they’re on, their characters, their Secret Societies, their Secret Society missions,
people and bots they got on the good and bad side of already, the gear they’re
carrying, and what it really does. A initiative tracker—like the ones with the
magnetic pieces—might be a good idea, since gear will repeatedly be stolen.
Ready to Roll
That’s the hard work. From there, the players go off with plenty of ammo to wreak
havoc on one another and an already collapsing Alpha Complex. Remember those
notes about enemies, allies, and set pieces from the start of the game. If they were
really funny or memorable, be sure to bring them back. From this point in the game,
the players will carry the game forward and your prep, from this point on, can and
should be minimal.
45
Act Two: Keep the Game Moving
The Troubleshooters might not get their cool vehicle out of the garage as they fight
over who drives. They might start taking out aggression on one another too early or
too often. Don’t let this happen, at least not at this stage of the game.
The Computer Cares

The Computer really does care about its
R&D offices and Troubleshooter HQ. The
Computer needs to be able to broadcast
live across the Complex glorious footage
of Troubleshooters hurrying to action.
If there’s a threat to this, the Computer
intervenes by sending an appropriate
agent, or bot, to jumpstart the situation.
Vulture Squadron troops escorting the
Troubleshooters out the door at blaster-
point and accountants deducting xp for the
insubordinate act of dragging their heels are
excellent options. It also provides focus and
drive for the Troubleshooters to get to acting. Also, feel free to remind the players
that attacks against the Computer’s agents are not viewed well by the Computer, and
there will be consequences during debriefing.
Traveling to the Target

The route to the target location should have the Troubleshooters pass through several
set pieces, escalating in complexity and lethality. What’s a set piece? Watch any
Bond movie. The insanely complex villain lair is a prime example of a set piece. In
The Temple of Doom, the huge temple is a set piece. These are spaces that (if this
was a movie) would fill one or more sound stages. The most exciting, dangerous, and
dramatic moments should happen here. There might be puzzles and traps, like the
temple Indiana Jones goes through at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s any
location in a Star Wars movie where there’s a bottomless pit and a lack of railings.
Important things happen here.
Set pieces aren’t just the cool expensive sets and special effects. They include
both hordes of extras and imposing antagonists. For The Temple of Doom set, think
of all the Thuggees chanting and getting riled up during the human sacrifice scene.
Think of Mola Ram, wearing that wild costume, ripping the prisoner’s heart out. You
know a significant moment of the movie will take place here.
The same is true in Paranoia. Perhaps the team has to pick up a VIP at the
46
most luxurious hotel in Alpha Complex: antigrav elevator shafts, a swimming pool
caught in the middle of an antigrav field, lasers patrolling the halls for unpatriotic
behavior—like stealing sundries from the maidbot’s cart, the concierge a twelve foot
tall, twenty-armed, four-headed bot that can reach out the door into the parking
lot and carry the guest’s auto to the front door, the hotel personal sanitizers go
from freezing to 400 degrees in two seconds. After describing this setting to the
Troubleshooters, they know they’re going to have to deal with several of the hotel’s
dangerous or unique properties. And of course, things will explode.
From the hotel of doom, the Troubleshooters travel to a bot blimp that will carry
the them and the VIP to the stadium so he can avoid screaming fans, land directly on
the stage, perform the halftime show, and be returned to his hotel. The bot blimp is
amazingly technical, has conflicting AI personalities, and is a huge fan of the VIP—
ignoring the Troubleshooters’ requests. Also, it’s been infiltrated by Secret Society
members who want the VIP killed. Spinning gears, engines that fire jets of flame into
the balloon at random moments, and the complete lack of instructions how to fly the
bot blimp all add up to increased tension within a cool environment.
Write in your Paranoia adventure a brief description of the set pieces, the bots
and characters present, and three or more social or physical threats the set piece
provides. Two or three set pieces should get you through an adventure.
But Troubleshooters are Unpredictable

This is so very true. The Troubleshooters might discover the Secret Society members,
get in a fight, and blow up the bot blimp before it even takes off. Now how will the
Troubleshooters get the VIP to the stadium?
Don’t tell them. They need to create the roots of another set piece for you. Gonna
hijack a plane from Armed Forces? The threats and consequences are fairly obvious. A
trip through the sewers, bypassing traffic? Think back to every movie where the group
goes through the sewers. I think back to my first Shadowrun session.
Don’t Kill Them Yet

It’s tempting to make everyone spontaneously combust, leaving nothing behind but
a smoking pair of boots. You can do better than that. Weld a character to a giant
bot. Start slashing off limbs. Bleeding citizens are unhygienic citizens. Provide
opportunities for the Troubleshooters to “help” their own. Let them perform surgery
using a laser sword and a toy frog. You don’t have to come up with the gory details.
Your strategy is to make things worse for the clone until his player is worried you’ll
never kill him off so they can start with a fresh healthy clone. Drag it out.
47
While we’re talking violence, there’s no real failure in this game. There’s “things
don’t go as planned” by a degree. Always ask this question,
“How bad can things go?”

Other Troubleshooters can get hurt or knocked onto the wing of a speeding plane.
The mold can be affected by a can of Bouncy Bubbly Beverage to become sentient
and crave human flesh. When everything is burning and trying to kill the group,
there’s always the “running in slow motion while everything explodes behind them”
roll. It’s my favorite roll in any game.
Notice I never said the GM gets to make these rolls. The GM only responds to
the degree of successes and failures, plus the results of the cards played. The fate of
each clone is determined by the actions and reactions of the players. The GM simply
interprets the dice like tea leaves and should never let the players take that role
amongst themselves.
Debriefing
Finally, the mission has been completed and the Computer and debriefing agents
go from clone to clone, asking how one another did during the mission. All the
dirt should come out. Resist passing sentence until the end. Make them sweat. To
run a good debriefing scene, be sure you’ve kept track of all evidence gathered by
the Troubleshooters, so that you can calmly ask, “What’s this footage about, where
you’re slipping a grenade down the Loyalty Officer’s pants?”
A Process of Killing Time

Twenty years ago my friends formed a writing group. We were supposed to bring in
works-in-progress and give very helpful critiques. Few of us ever brought in material
to be reviewed. We all came for the writing exercises. One of these involved writing
a one-page story where the first line was randomly selected by flipping through
a book and dropping a finger on a random page. It was cool to see how so many
different ideas could be inspired by a single sentence. Another exercise involved
writing random phrases on notecards and throwing them in a hat. We each drew
three notecards and had to write a few paragraphs of a story based on the contents of
those notecards.
From the latter exercise I developed a writing exercise to kill time at work. I
picked up the newspaper, looked at the front page, and challenged myself to come up
with a plotline based on three different articles. Sometimes I’d limit myself to a genre
or roleplaying system. It was fun creating Ghostbusters or Doctor Who stories from
48
the bizarre headlines of the Buffalo News.
In January 2015, excited by the Paranoia Kickstarter, I decided to do the writing
exercise daily and post the results in the form of a blog. This book is based on my
work on that blog. Now that you know how I made these plots, I’ll go through one of
them with you and what I was thinking when I came up with it.
An Example
Buffalo media works great for this, because Buffalo doesn’t work great. I’m sure
Detroit and Chicago media will also fill this role. Buffalo’s government and school
systems have proven so incompetent, and corporations now oversee everything. How
very Paranoia.
When I listened to an interview with Ken Hite at Aethercon several years back,
he was asked about good sources for creating original worlds. He recommended only
our world’s own history. We’ll never find anything truer or with more inspiring
stories than by flipping through actual history books.
Though I find recent history depressing to the point of tears, there’s nothing
better than to turn to the Buffalo News to be inspired for a good Paranoia story. Let’s
check out the current headlines:
● How state’s search for Athenex site ended at officials’ Dunkirk properties
● Hiking near coast, Italian finds dog tag of Buffalo GI killed in 1945
● Smiles at Cirque de la Lune
The Athenex article details how a biotech company wanted a lot of land for a new
plant, and a group of government officials who own adjacent tracts of land in a prime
area conspired to sell to the biotech company, without telling everyone who they
were selling to.
The dog tag story lends itself to Armed Forces. A soldier who supposedly
died doing something to save Alpha Complex actually perished a different way in a
different place, but the publicity machine of HPD&MC changed the facts. The truth
comes out with the discovery of the dog tag.
Finally, what could go wrong at a circus?
The Plot
R&D wants to acquire several sectors to expand their Hamster Super Soldier program
in association with Armed Forces. Several PLC & Logistics executives are interested
in giving the land to R&D but wouldn’t if they knew it was going to those smug
bastards at R&D. So, R&D convinces PLC & Logistics they need to close the deal in a
daycycle… but don’t want the PLC execs to actually read the documents, identifying
49
the new purpose for the sectors. R&D decides to get around this by throwing a
circus. No one in PLC can resist a good circus!

HPD&MC plans to make a documentary about Armed Forces hero Itchy-R-GER-4,
who died single-handedly taking out a DAIV in ITY Sector. The Troubleshooters
are sent to BNM-Sector to scout locations and cast extras for the documentary. They
discover Itchy’s Armed Forces gear in a ProTech Lab. Itchy was actually infiltrated
with BOZObot, a DAIV that makes citizens want to become clowns. Itchy destroyed
ITY Sector but carried the BOZObot to BNM-Sector, where he infected many others,
creating Alpha Complex’s largest community of clowns. Some ProTech people
changed his identity, so it looked like Itchy vanished from Alpha Complex. The
Troubleshooters try to unmask the war hero and stumble into a war zone between
the PLC execs who did read the forms and don’t want to sell to R&D. Any nearby
Troubleshooters must be after either side of the problem.
We have the set pieces of the Protech Lab with realistic era Armed Forces
artifacts, evidence about Itchy’s whereabouts, and Secret Society members trying
to hide this information at all costs. Then, there’s the circus set piece. Lionbots,
tigerbots and bears (not bots), oh my!
The Names
The Player’s Guide reveals how to create a name for an Alpha Complex resident.
I like to use celebrities who best represent the role of the NPC. You’ll see lots of
Lindsay Lohan references when I want to portray the NPC as slutty and prone
to abuse medications. In the last section, I made a joke about soldiers with itchy
trigger fingers. Enjoy your puns and celebrity references. The name isn’t gratuitous
but should use real-world references to showcase the qualities of the Alpha
Complex citizen.
50
: l e ,
I II t a b
O R l e c t s
E C T D e l o
S 2 )
( abl e P
o
Tw rect
C o r
Tune Out Using the
Armed Forces Plot >a<
Choose half of the Troubleshooters to be gathered at a
briefing. Their gruff officer, Arnold-GNER-5, marches in front
of them chomping on his Super Patriotic Vape-Cigar and tells
them the following:
“Alright, vat scum. This is how we’re going to be doing things. I don’t want
to hear, ‘We never did it this way before,’ or ‘This is stupid,’ or ‘I bet my
briefing officer has a tattoo of Friend Computer on his butt cheek.’ From now
on, and this comes from the highest levels of power… from Friend Computer
Himself… from now on and forever and ever afterward, when you are in a
combat situation and feel anxiety of any level, you will combat it by singing
a song from your songbook, thanking Friend Computer for letting you fight in
defense of High Programmer Ted-U-CRZ-3. It is an honor to put ourselves
at risk for his protection and glory. Got it? Now sing, recycled urine filters!
I know the songbooks have been held up by PLC, but effective immediately,
when you feel stress, you must sing one of the approved—and only the
approved—songs while performing the choreography that will be taught to you
by the educational video HPD&MC hasn’t finished yet… but you need to do it
perfectly starting immediately! Got it! Now sing! Dance! Let’s hear how happy
you are to kill for Ted-U-CRZ-3!”
Give the Troubleshooters a chance to try and fake something or try to get a teammate
killed. If the Troubleshooters don’t start shooting each other, Arnold starts motivating
them by providing the familiar comforting feeling of lasers flying past their ears.
You can move on when a few bodies have piled up or you feel its time by having a bot
that looks like a flying trash can crash-land in the room. It will knock over (or kill) a
Troubleshooter when it enters. It says, “Friend Computer wishes to announce the Ted-
U-CRZ-3 Singalong Initiative has been terminated.”
Then a second bot crashes into a Troubleshooter and says, “Top secret message for
Troubleshooters [insert their names]. They are to report to Headquarters immediately.”
Arnold-GNER-5 has to get some last words in at this time.
“Hear that, Coffee Sir triple used filters? You have a mission. You aren’t as
important as High Programmer Ted-U-CRZ-3, but you’re important. I’ll let
you take the Super Killing Eyeball of Peace.”
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The Super Killing Eyeball of Peace looks a lot like a spaceship from a popular movie
franchise that has a galactic empire. The Troubleshooters will get to fly it through the
narrow corridors of Alpha Complex… and come upon the other Troubleshooters in the
PLC Walker (See the next section)... it moves at the speed of progress in Alpha Complex.
The Other Half

Tell the Troubleshooters this:
“You’re so lucky. You all won the Alpha Complex Lottery. The prize: the
chance to scrape the gunk out of the Alpha Complex sewers. Aren’t you
lucky?”
You’re now in one of the sewer pipes of Alpha Complex chiseling excrement
off the inside of the pipe. [insert troubleshooters name], you notice a hovering
droid painting the words “Jaffrey Lives” on the pipe not too far from you,
“What do you do?”
Give the Troubleshooters a moment to decide what to do about the bot, but if any of
them tries to interact with it, a tentacle monster emerges and destroys the bot. If they
wait longer than you want them to, the tentacle monster emerges, destroys the bot,
and then looks for other food in the form of the Troubleshooters. After a round, during
which the monster might grab a Troubleshooter or two, it vanishes into the filth.
A bot identical to the one that was spray painting earlier hovers up to the group and
says this:
“[insert Troubleshooters names], you’ve been summoned to Troubleshooter
Headquarters for an important mission. Hey, have you seen my brother bot?
He was here just a minute ago. We were going to have a wonderfully fun
evening together calculating pi. I can’t wait.”
After the Troubleshooters deal with this bot and the other bot’s disappearance, the bot
tells them it’s been authorized to lend them the PLC Turtle Walker which moves at the
speed of progress in Alpha Complex.
Turtle Walker is a four-legged walker armed with Heat Seeking Missiles with the RU-
Sure Safety feature. This feature, a holographic app icon, will fly around the gunner
asking three times if they’re certain they want to destroy the target before it fires the
missiles. The detonation of the missiles will take out the entire block, including the
Turtle Walker.
The Turtle Walker sluggishly makes its way down a narrow hall, with taxi bots backed
up behind it. That’s when the Eyeball of Peace shows up and is unable to get past the
PLC Turtle Walker. Ask them what they do.
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A Briefing
It’s possible some groups might actually get to Troubleshooter Headquarters. If they do,
they’re led to Briefing Room 22A. Inside, they find the most ancient clone they’ve ever
seen. He has a mountain of paperwork on his desk and reads extremely slowly. Every
now and then he’ll show a document to a Troubleshooter and ask this:
“Is that a hyphen?”
If they look at the doc he’ll follow up with these questions as they are needed:
● “Are you Blue clearance or higher?”
● “Who’s going to terminate this clone who looked at documents
beyond his clearance?“
Once the laser blasts have settled, if there were any, he’ll finish up with this:
● “Clones aren’t like they used to be. They don’t have respect for the
chain of command.”
Eventually this ancient clone will get to the point and tell the Troubleshooters this:
“You might be aware we briefly instated the Ted-U-CRZ-3 Singalong
Initiative for Armed Forces. Friend Computer deemed it ineffective and canned
the program. Trouble is, a Vulture Squadron unit shipped out after being
briefed to use the initiative… and now they’re handling a situation in AZN
Sector, which has a problem with their WiFi… so we can’t get a hold of them
through the usual channels. We need you to go to AZN Sector, find Vulture
Squadron Leader Tony-Y-STK-4 and inform him to ensure his troops do not
implement the Ted-U-CRZ-3 Singalong Initiative. That’s all. Deliver the
message. Can you young whipper snapper citizens handle that much?
“If you’re successful, every one of you who walks back through that door will
split a 1500xp jackpot. But wait, there’s more. Bonus xp. The FIRST one of
you to accomplish any of these tasks will get an instant xp bonus…”
The old man relates this list:
● 250xp for the first one of you to terminate a terrorist using the Glorious
Nightcycle.
● 300xp for pulling the BIG PLUG .
● 400xp for singing a song about High Programmer Ted-U-CRZ-3 to Vulture
Squadron Private James-R-YAN-1 .
He then continues:
“Now, R&D is graciously letting you use their new weaponized submarine,
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the Glorious Nightcycle. You can cut through the sewers to AZN Sector. Be
reminded, the zone is cut off from Alpha Complex’s complimentary WiFi, so
you won’t be able to contact Friend Computer for help… not that you’ll need
that since you’re just delivering a message. Now sign these forms saying you’re
personally and financially liable for any damage to the submarine.”
The ancient clone then gives them directions to the Glorious Nightcycle.
S ecret Society Briefing

On the way to the submarine, various Secret Societies contact the Troubleshooters.
● Death Leopard: Your course through the sewers will take you directly
beneath my idiot boss in PLC Bathroom Tissue Fluffiness Efficiency’s office.
Be sure when you reach the 112 hc marker to fire a missile straight up to
teach my boss a lesson.
● Communists: We’ve heard there’s some kind of mind control software being
used in AZN Sector. Recover it and bring it back to us.
● Mystics: Tony-Y-STK-4 led a raid against one of our production facilities.
We want you to disgrace him in front of his men by injecting him with this
needle [it will essentially turn him into the roadrunner— Meep! Meep!]
● Antimutant: There’s a new mutation in AZN Sector. We don’t know what it
does, but it’s called binging. Kill any binging mutants.
● Free Enterprise: There’s big money in cruise lines. Dock the sub at 112 hc
and pick up the ten Green-clearance citizens we milked for lots of xp, and
let them ride with you.
● Illuminati: There’s a new player in Alpha Complex, stealing power from us.
Destroy them.
● Phreaks: There’s a new app that’s really popular in AZN Sector. You have to
protect it at all costs.
● PSION: The Society of Friendship is targeting Natalia-O-MOV-4. She is a
powerful mutant. Protect her at all costs. You can find her at 112 hc.
● FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST THE COMPUTER PROGRAMMER: There
are signs that the fallen computer has risen and will wage war on Friend
Computer. Destroy this blasphemous computer.
● THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDSHIP: Free Enterprise is going to try to use
the submarine as a cruise ship. Let them succeed… but kill one of the
passengers, Natalia-O-MOV-4. She is at 112 hc.
● FREEDOM CORPS: The Cruz initiative was canceled by freedom-hating
liberals. Make sure your primary mission fails. If it has a chance to be used
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in the field, it will be readopted.
● [NOT FOUND]: There’s a new network in AZN Sector. Log on to all their
forums and leave negative comments.
Tips for Dealing with these Secret Societies

You do not have to use every single Secret Society listed here. Choose whatever seems
most fun for your players. Adding too many factions and elements to the game will
slow it down and make your job far more cumbersome. What you should do is drop
in any Secret Societies that the Troubleshooters belong to and maybe one or two more
as you feel comfortable. The Societies should offer the Troubleshooters a rise in their
ranks or a reward that would appeal to the specific Troubleshooters. For instance,
Troubleshooters interested in life before Alpha Complex would probably blow up half
the Complex to get their hands on a Mickey Mouse watch.
Glorious Nightcycle
When the Troubleshooters reach the submarine docking bay read this:
You reach the docking area for your submarine. It’s massive, three stories high
and half a mile long. It has a bar complete with a fridge filled with chilled
Bouncy Bubbly Beverage and Algae Fun Ships - R Clearance Cafeteria Style.
There’s an exercise room complete with weight lifting gear and treadmills…
and the restroom has a hot tub and steam room. There’s a weapon room filled
with heat-seeking, fun-seeking, buzz kill-seeking, mopiness-seeking and Don’t-
Feel Like Seeking Missiles [last one is nuclear missile]. There’s a huge reactor
in the middle of the room that makes a disturbing rattling noise. There’s
also a sign on it that says FRAGILE. UNSTABLE NUCLEAR REACTOR.
The bridge has plush carpeting and fake leather recliner chairs. Plus more
monitors and buttons than you’ve ever seen before.
Let the Troubleshooters play with the Submarine for a little while and have
some fun. When things get dull or they choose to move the mission forward
and undock the Submarine and start moving though the Alpha Complex
sewers, an announcement comes over the WiFi network.
“Important Announcement! Incoming Message to All Alpha Complex Citizens.
Friend Computer wants to make Alpha Complex more fun for all and will
alleviate crowding by having segments of the population randomly selected to
hibernate for an indefinite period of time. Do not resist the Z-Time Specialist
Team assigned to put you into hibernation. Thank you for your cooperation.”
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From this point forward whenever a Computer is rolled on the die a team of Z-Time
specialists target that Troubleshooter, providing a warm Milk-Like substance,
patriotic lullabies, and R&D’s Ultra-Sleep 3000 Pillow (they smother their targets). The
Troubleshooter needs to spend their next turn actively avoiding falling asleep or they
will be unconscious at the end of their next turn.
If you have some other complications you’d like to throw the Troubleshooters way, this
is the place to insert them. Otherwise they will reach 112 hc.
112 hc
When the Troubleshooters reach 112 hc, Natalia-O-MOV-4, Thor-B-HMR-2, Bruce-
B-NER-1 and Steve-O-GRS-5 are waiting on a dock overlooking the sewers. A hastily
made sign declares this Happy Scrappy Cruises. Thor is a Communist who will try to
plant a bomb (kept inside his big hammer) on the submarine. There are also ten Green
Clearance citizens who are waiting for their cruise.
AZN Sector
The Glorious Nightcycle eventually reaches AZN Sector. The sub can’t go any further,
and the Troubleshooters will have to climb the ladder out of the sewers. If you feel
the troubleshooters haven’t lost enough clones, have the tentacle monster from earlier
attack while they’re climbing the ladder.
The sector is filled with clones who sit with amazed expressions on their faces. If
questioned, all they’ll say is, “Have you seen Kimmy Schmidt/Walking Dead/Game of
Thrones/House of Cards/Daredevil? I’ve been binging on it all weekcycle. You’ve got to
try it. I can get more shows if you sign up. Hang on.”
Then the Troubleshooter gets a message in his Cerebral CoreTech saying he’s been
gifted a trial membership to Webflix. This is the problem with the WiFi signal. It’s been
overtaken by Webflix.
From this point on any time a Computer symbol is rolled, the PC accidentally accepts
the membership and binges on episodes pumped into their brain. This replaces the
Z-Team rule. Roll on the table:
1. Kimmy Schmidt - Learn you’re being lied to, there’s nothing above ground—
lead everyone to escape!
2. Daredevil - You’re stronger if blind. Blind yourself to gain power.
3. House of Cards - Those in power are corrupt. Down with the establishment.
4. Arrested Development - You can travel back in time if you provide narration
about what you’re doing OUT LOUD.
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5. Game of Thrones - Throw off your clothes and attack the nearest person.
6. Walking Dead - A horde of zombies are about to enter the room and attack
you. Get them first!
The Troubleshooters will then find their way to the origin of the WiFi signal problem
and see this:
There’s a tower surrounded by a fiery pit with a single bridge reaching across
it. Barriers saying “Treasonous to cross” have been knocked aside. Dozens of
nude clones stand wielding pipes and table legs as weapons shouting, “Long
live Jaffrey” and “For Westeros.”
A half dozen Vulture Squadron members stand on the bridge doing a chorus line, singing,
Ted-we’re so happy to be fighting for you.
Compared to the high programmers we’re recycled poo.
Those Vulture Squadron members are being systematically slaughtered by the nude crazies.
Behind the chorus line, the group sees Tony-Y-STK-4 wearing high tech battle armor,
shouting, “You call that a can-can, maggot? You’re flat. You’re a disgrace to the unit. I’m
glad they killed you.”
Now ask the troubleshooters what they do.
The Heisenberg
Once the troubleshooters are Inside the tower read the following:
Red lights are flashing in a single tall room where a single old computer rests
on a pedestal. The screen shows a red background with the words Webflix
Server Active. Alpha Complex takeover 2% complete. That’s when a hidden
door slides open and a bald man wearing glasses steps out. “My name is
Heisenberg. I am the Webflix guardian. You will leave this place or be
destroyed. Say my name!”
Heisenberg has complete control over the Webflix and can beam it straight into any
of the Troubleshooters’ receivers, causing them to see any of the shows he wants them
to—distracting the Troubleshooters and making them shoot or kill each other when
they think they’re killing him. When a Troubleshooter attacks Heisenberg and misses,
use the amount the Troubleshooter missed by as the random number to determine what
program gets zapped into the Troubleshooter’s head.
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If they destroy the Webflix computer, it stops the signal that’s disrupting the WiFi,
successfully completing the mission, and Heisenberg can no longer beam the Webflix
into the heads of the Troubleshooters—making him much easier to deal with.
Epilogue
If the Troubleshooters made sure the Ted-U-CRZ-3 Singalong Initiative wasn’t
implemented and they returned to HQ, the mission is over and they are rewarded with
their 1500xp to be split among whoever is left. The xp might be significantly decreased
because of unnecessary terminations and destruction.
Troubleshooters meet with the ancient clone once again, and are asked one by one
how they thought they did in their various team roles. Then, the others are allowed
to confirm or deny… or flat out accuse the team member of treason. Check out the
Debriefing Section in the GM’s Handbook.
Shutting Down the Club Scene

Using The Clone Smash Plot >b<
Armed Forces C lones
First thing, pull aside the Troubleshooters who are in Armed Forces, Armed Forces
associated Service Firms, and Internal Security Agents infiltrating Armed Forces. Then
tell them this:
You’re going about your routine of training (it was awfully nice of those
citizens to volunteer to be live targets to help you hone your skills. Thanks to
their sacrifice, no terrorist will get past you!) by arranging paste that looks
like guacamole—but tastes like playdough—around a crumbled Synth Ginger
Domicile.
You’re aware this paste is Spicy-Sauce #42, a chunky concoction that
gives a real kick to any meal… and sometimes causes clones to spontaneously
combust… but that has to be due to the excitement of getting to eat something
so yummy and spicy! Anyway, you use the chunky #42 to spell out the words
‘Sorry for blowing up your neighborhood… but it really had to be done. Get
over it and eat some spicy food.’
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of time to get that slogan spelled
out in food paste. You’re about halfway through when you hear the pleasant
pentatonic scale dinging in your ears. Time for your two and a half minute
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break. The Computer and fine folks at HPD&MC provide you with quality
and informative advertisements you’re sure will change your life. All of this
is viewed as if you had a set of virtual reality glasses placed over your head,
and headphones welded to your skull over your ears. This is because of the
Cerebral CoreTech chip installed in your head.
The first ad features a muscular Vulture Squadron soldier running
amongst thin, tired and sweaty soldiers. He starts knocking them over
and stepping on their heads. Then, he jumps in the air and gracefully leaps
head to head.
“Do you want to get ahead of your platoon clones? Do you want to be
always alert, always ready to tear the terrorist threat apart limb by limb?
Then click on this link to sign yourself up for Vulture Squad Smash Protein
Shakes. The Beta Test is happening now, maggot! Get an edge. Sign up today!
We’re so confident these shakes will increase your health, we will decrease all
your existing medical bills by 70 percent! Get out of debt! Step on heads! Get
back to work now, maggot!”
Ask the Troubleshooters if they wish to click the link and sign up. Don’t tell them, but
the first Troubleshooter to successfully sign up for the Vulture Squad Smash Protein
Shakes and drinks one gets 200xp.
Clicking the Link

Those who click on the link see a popup that says all personal information, including
banking, health, illegal download torrents, and websites about virtual cheese you’ve
been to in the past month cycle will be sent to Crushed Skulls Protein Shakes and
Collection Services.
Note: The Skull Crusher mascot pays a visit to the Troubleshooter at the first social
club, Bullwinkles. The Troubleshooter has a chance to resist the Skull Crusher
mascot using whatever skill seems most interesting. On a failure, all personal
information about banking and torrent downloading gets directed to the Loyalty
Officer. (See Bullwinkles section)
The Rest of the Troubleshooters

Read this to them:
You’re doing your jobs as diligently as you can when you hear the pentatonic
scale chime in your head. That means it’s time for your two and a half minute
work break. You sit back, and it’s like virtual reality goggles have been placed
over your eyes, thanks to the Cerebral CoreTech chip installed in your brain.
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Friend Computer and its trusted agents at HPD&MC provide you with
important information that could save your life and save you lots of xp on
Spicy Sauce #42.
This transitions into a fiery field of vision with scary music. A dark shape
emerges from fire. It’s a four legged creature with large bone-like things
protruding from its head. It grinds its teeth menacingly. The announcer says,
“The mythic animal known as the moose used to be an object of terror, visiting
clones in the middle of the night who hadn’t properly filled out their weekly gum
and teeth measurement UB-OD Form EZ. The moose eats them alive, leaving
behind only their sickly gums and teeth. Mutant terrorists may have adopted the
evil moose as a symbol of destroying clones who wish to have healthy mouths.
Terminate anyone who idolizes this symbol of evil and bad hygiene. This
message brought to you by Clones For a Perfect Smile Think Tank.”
Achievement possibility unlocked: Kill the Moose Idol. 200xp.
Moving On
Once you’ve relayed the advertisements to both sets of Troubleshooters, Lisa
Loeb’s “Stay” plays over the speakers. You can actually play it from YouTube here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoZ2J4ajiOA or describe as follows:
This horrible sound is pumped into your ears as a klaxon, informing you it’s
time to report to Troubleshooter HQ for a very important mission.
The Briefing at Troubleshooter HQ

When the group reaches HQ the following happens:
You approach the doors to Troubleshooter HQ and are stopped by a Yellow
Clearance Troubleshooter who raises his right hand and says, “I turned the
radio on, the radio on.”
This is standard Troubleshooter greeting of the week. However, only those who
work full time inside the building know this inside greeting. The guard waits for the
Troubleshooters to respond. Whatever they say, short of anything treasonous, will let
them get inside without incident.
They enter the briefing room and find a 63-year-old female Green clearance clone
screaming and throwing herself at the wall. She’s put a few holes in the wall already.
There are fifty security cameras scattered throughout the room and six knocked over
red chairs.
Once the group’s seated, the exhausted briefing officer turns to face them and pants
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heavily for three minutes as she gets her breath back. Feel free to breath heavily for
a few moments to make the situation as uncomfortable as possible, or just tell the
Troubleshooters she’s breathing really hard and then wait until it’s weird.
Finally, she says the following:
“I’m Hiller-Y-CTN-3. It’s my ultimate pleasure to deliver your briefing. As you
probably know, the Computer generously allows clones to congregate at social
clubs for an hour and a half after dinner and before sleep. Mutant traitors have
infiltrated and contaminated several of these recreational clubs, resulting in rude
destruction of Computer property and unauthorized terminations of citizens. So,
we’re shutting down every last social club… to teach those terrorists we will not
alter our way of life because of their antics.
“You’ll personally be responsible for closing three of these clubs. I’ll provide
you with the location of the first. Once the club’s shut down, you’ll fill out the
Social Club Liquidation Form EZ and get it validated by HPD&MC’s Television
Show Complaints & Not Giving the Terrorists What They Want by Eliminating
Elements of our Lifestyle Department. When that’s validated, return to me,
and I’ll give you the next assignment. Every member of your team who walks
through that door with the third validated SCL Form EZ will split 1500 xp.”
Other xp bonuses can be gained by the person who first does the following:
● 250xp for successfully pulling a rabbit out of the Magician’s Hat.
● 300xp for partaking of the sacrament of the Angry Birds and getting the high score.
● 400xp for getting the Skull Crusher mascot to think it’s high.
If anyone asks about equipment, Hiller-Y starts throwing herself against the walls
again. She motions for the Troubleshooters to do the same. The first one to do so gets
a grenade. The second person gets a mini gun, the third a scrubbo-vac, the fourth a
porta-taxi. Beyond that, they only find reporters from Fox News Sector hiding in the
walls, accusing the Troubleshooters of hiding the truth.
Returning to Troubleshooter HQ
Every time the Troubleshooters reach the room, more of it’s been destroyed. More of
Hiller-Y’s bones are broken, and she keeps shouting, “Look! Nothing to hide! I’ll show
you everything! Take a look!” More and more Fox Sector News reporters are there
shouting angrily about Hillar-Y hiding information.
62
Secret Society Missions
● Death Leopard: Those FCCCP freaks would be cool if they liked loud
rock music. Slip a torrent program into a congregation’s computer, get
Black Sabbath downloaded to their computer and convince the FCCCP
it’s an act of God!
● Communists: Bullwinkles has a way-back machine. Kidnap its designer
and bring him back to the Commies so they can change history and make
Communism’s plans perfect.
● Mystics: Convince sales/spokesbots to become Mystic dealers.
● Antimutant: There’s rumors of a Big Green mutation beginning. Snuff it out.
● Free Enterprise: There’s rumors of a Big Green mutation beginning. Capture
one of these mutants so they can be studied and capitalized off of.
● Illuminati: There’s rumors of a Wayback machine. Destroy it and kill its designer.
● Phreaks: There’s rumors of a Wayback machine. Use it to go back in time
and plant a virus in the Computer that will go off five minutes earlier and
give the Phreaks complete control over the Computer.
● PSION: Protect the new strain of mutants, the Big Green.
● FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST THE COMPUTER PROGRAMMER: Protect the
Sacrament of the Angry Birds from nonbelievers.
● THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDSHIP: Kill Sethmic-R-LAN-2. He stole a Friend’s
seat in the cafeteria last week.
● FREEDOM CORPS: Terrorists are controlling funny looking drones. You
haven’t seen one yet. They’re still practicing. Find the drone pilots and
slaughter them.
● [NOT FOUND]: Force a FOX Sector news reporter to give you the Fox
computer network passwords so your group can have access to all of FOX’s
dirty secrets.
Bullwinkles
The first stop is a social club called Bullwinkles, found in Sector RKY used by R&D in
making classified animals that can fly. A few have escaped. R&D Scientists chase them
with nets.
When the Troubleshooters enter the club read the following:
There are thirty people wearing moose-antler hats, packed around a six-inch
black-and-white television, watching a video showing an animated white creature
wearing glasses, explaining about his new invention, the “Wayback Machine.”
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There’s a citizen dressed as the animated Wayback Machine inventor. He
pantomimes the cartoon in front of a cardboard replica of the Wayback
Machine. Inside it there’s only an alarm clock and a chair.
One of the clones wears a full-body costume of a moose. One of the club members
is a mutant who teleports into the hat. The moose costume-wearing character
uses his mutant ability to turn the teleporter into a mutant. As a result, it looks
like the moose is pulling a lion out of an empty hat.
The club members are only interested in watching and re-enacting the cartoons.
However, the social club’s on the list of establishments the Troubleshooters must shut
down. The members are more likely to act like old cartoon characters, begging for
mercy, than to fight back.
Control Alt Worship

The second stop is Control Alt Worship, the FCCCP Lasers of the Faithful. Found inside
a crowded, filthy market, with clones carrying barrels and baskets about—and lots of
fake fruit stands—Control Alt Worship is through a clearly labeled door.
In contrast to the market, the club is perfectly clean, a black platform surrounded
on all sides by computers and electronics, including several 500 inch monitors.
Currently, the group is saying the Computer’s prayer:
“Our Founder, who art perfection
binary be thy name…”
Then, the Laser Deacon announces, “It is time for all believers to take part in
the sacrament of the Angry Birds. After the holy sacrament, I will give a sermon
titled: Measuring Sinfulness of Fun Proportionate to its Temperature.”
They start to hand out the Have You Been Saved from Treason leaflet.
There are several ways to shut the club down: shooting everyone, blowing up the
building, or turning off the consoles.
The church members won’t let anyone get near the servers or the gear unless they have
pledged themselves to the church… and won a game of Angry Birds, which is the
sacrament. Of course, there are ways around this.
64
Gothitbyanukeintheface
The third social club is Gothitbyanukeintheface, a Free Enterprise meeting spot that
serves as a typical bar. Read the following when they enter.
Gothitbyanukeintheface looks like a bar where everyone would know your name.
Three overweight clones sit at the far end of the bar drinking foaming yellow-
colored beverages and watching the BTN-Grenade games on monitors. Two
other clones sit at a booth chatting. A couple of clone sized holes in one of the
walls is the only thing out of place about the bar.
The three clones at the bar are Norm-TERS, Cliff-AVN and FRASIER-R-AIN and the
foaming yellow-colored beverages are not beer, it’s just how the local water comes out
of the faucet.
Diane-CBR, a cafeteria worker with a huge ego, and Lilith-R-NIM, a master Scientist
Sanity Assessor for R&D, are the occupants of the booth. The pair are worried about
their health, having watched Norm, Cliff and Frasier become weak and overweight the
longer they’ve been members of the club.
The ladies scored a couple of the Vulture Squad Smash Protein Shakes from a couple
of Vulture Squadron guys who were in yesterday—but they got rowdy and ran out…
literally through the wall, the hole is still there. The ladies took the shakes. You should
turn them into Hulks at the moment that would create the most fun. The empty
bottles of those protein shakes are in the corner booth, where Lilith and Diane enjoy
complaining that Cliff, Norm and Frasier are wasting their lives away, sitting at this
club every nightcycle.
Once the ladies turn into Hulks, they could get out into Alpha Complex and cause
quite a mess. If the Troubleshooters don’t deal with them, they’ll be blamed by the
Computer for any property damage they cause.
65
HPD&MC’s Television Show Complaints & Not
Giving the Terrorists What They Want by
Eliminating Elements of our Lifestyle Department
Sethmic-R-LAN-2 is the clerk there. He can’t believe anyone would come here
except to complain about poor quality television shows. He keeps referring to
program design flaws.
Bureaucracy checks are needed to get through the paperwork.
● What secret society are you closing?
● What secret society do you belong to?
● How did you know about that secret society? Do you have the Internal
Security Secret Society Declassification EZ SEX form signed by an Internal
Security agent?
● What’s your favorite television program?
● What color hat should a spokesperson wear to help you pay better attention to
the advertisements?
● Why aren’t you already paying full attention to the advertisements?
● When you torrent programs, do you share with your friends?
● Why are you here again?
Epilogue
If the Troubleshooters get all three validated SCL Form EZ’s through Sethmic-R-LAN-2,
the mission is over and they are rewarded with their 1500xp to be split among whoever
is left. The xp might be significantly decreased because of unnecessary terminations
and destruction.
Troubleshooters meet with their mission briefers and are asked one by one how they
thought they did in their various team roles. Then, the others are allowed to confirm or
deny… or flat out accuse the team member of treason. Check out the Debriefing Section
in the GM’s Handbook.
66
You have six lives, you carry a blaster, and you
better not step foot outside the red corridor.
Oh, and your teammates are trying to kill you.
Get your Paranoia game started with no planning, no fuss, and minor
treason. The Big Book of Conspiracies, 30 Treasonous Paranoia
Plots not only teaches you how to create Paranoia adventures using
only the headlines of your local newspaper, it provides 30 outlines for
hilarious and lethal adventures for your group of Troubleshooters.
Keep your blaster handy. Play more Paranoia.
Pr oject by L icensed fr om
E N COD E D D E SIG NS MONG OOSE PUB L ISH ING LTD.
W r itten by Par anoi a cr eated by

GARRE T T CROW E D AN G E L B E R
G RE G COST IK YAN
Devel op m ent by E RIC G OL D B E RG
C H R I S TO PHE R M. SNIE Z AK
Cover & L ayout by
E d iting by T IMOT H Y JONE S
SH AW N ME RW IN
R O B E RT M. E VE RSON D esig n Refer ence
JOH N ARCAD IAN
Encoded
Designs
67

MGP Paranoia - The Big Book of Conspiracies - 30 Treasonous Paranoia Plots

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MGP Paranoia - The Big Book of Conspiracies - 30 Treasonous Paranoia Plots

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Written b y P a ra noi a cr e a t e d by

Sector I: 30 Treasonous Plots ........................................ 3

Sector II: Best Practices For Plotting ............................ 38

Sector III: Two (2) Delectable, Correctable Plots ........... 51

Writing by Garrett Crowe

E-mail questions and comments about this game to Mongoose Publishing at

Enter the Troubleshooters

#2 >> Political Head Hunting

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters

My Thought Process and a Bit of Background

Enter the Troubleshooters

Mechanic for this Plot

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters

A Typical Episode of Helpy the Bankbot

#9 >> Every Good Traitor

Enter the Troubleshooters

#10 >> Intoxication in the Complex

Enter the Troubleshooters

#11 >> A Blissful Loss of Memory

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters Part 2

#12 >> Too Close to Home

Enter the Troubleshooters

#13 >> Paranoia Inception

Enter the Troubleshooters

#14 >> A Slaughterhouse Adventure

#15 >> Promotion Day with

Enter the Troubleshooters

Mechanic for this Plot

Enter the Troubleshooters

#18 >> New Location For

Enter the Troubleshooters

>> The Evil of Sheryl Crow

Enter the Troubleshooters

Optional Mechanic for this Plot

#20 >> My Heart Will Pay On

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters Post-Twist

#21 >> The Clearance is Greener

Enter the Trouble Briefers?

Background Part Deux

#22 >> Once Upon a Time

Enter the Troubleshooter

>> The Emperor of

Enter the Troubleshooters

A Brief Thought about Alpha Complex

Enter the Troubleshooters

New Mechanics for this Plot

>> While We’re Talking

New Mechanic for this Plot

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters

Enter the Troubleshooters

Back t o the Troubleshooters

New Mechanics for this Plot

“Make Shit Up.”

Finding the Briefing Room

Announce the Jackpots

Where Do You Get These Cool Toys From?

The Computer Cares

Traveling to the Target