By Steve Bean Shield of Faith Studios DCC/Unamerican - and a major reskin at that Level 0
WELCOME TO THE FANTAS-TI-PLEX! A lovely underground dystopian complex ruled by the ever beneficent Autocrat. Here all drones live in peace and prosperity, because the Autocrat says so. I mean, why would any of the drones doubt him, EVER. It is a perfect place to barely live and no one would EVER want to leave, right?
As I work through my wishlist you gotta take the bad lumps to get to the things you were hoping for …
This forty page adventure attempts to marry Paranoia to … Logans Run? Or MCC/DCC? Bureaucracy, a surveillance state, that Paranoia vibe, combined with some post-apoc vibes. It’s also VERY loosy goosy with what’s going on, to the extent that one might argue that there is NOT an adventure here, but rather a few ideas that the DM could use to string together to make an adventure. And that’s on purpose.
Logan’s Run! That’s my fav of all time! “There is no sanctuary!” is a mantra for all time! And Paranoia! That was a great game! And post-apoc! I love post apoc! And DCC is great! I’m gonna love this! Well … there’s not much, if any, Logan’s Run. I guess you’re inside and there are clones. But, that kind of describes Paranoia. And this is absolutely a reskinned Paranoia, with mutants, secret societies, and that Brazilesque bureaucracy. It’s an overseer now, instead of Friend Computer. But the chants, tone, and demeanor are all Paranoia. The system is DCC< with the clones taking the place instead of multiple level 0 funnel characters. And, once you break out of the complex that is definitely not Alpha, you get to a post-apoc world, all THX-1138 style, and thus you’re now in the Unamerican setting. I’m not going to cover much of the tone or the reskin. It’s the same tone as the early Paranoia adventures, or just a tad more to the Zany side of things.
The start is full of mountains of read-aloud in italics. A mighty disgorgement of information. That no sane player is going to sit through or pay attention to. But, that’s not the worst of things.
There are five locations here. Which means there are five scenes, of sorts … including the traditional briefing room scene. But, more than that, those five scenes, which are actually locations, take place on about six pages of text. The rest of the forty pages is taken up with the Paranoia setting reskin, mutations, secret societies, etc. Those locations present a short scene. A set up/environment, if you will, for other things to take place. You are characters in a game show at one point. These little scenes … I hesitate to call them scenes. They are more Places Where Things Can Happen, serve as a backdrop. A few pages of the adventure contain Things That Can Happen, or, perhaps more accurately, Zany Robot and Friend Computer Things That Can Happen. They are some rough guidelines for how to use the various robot types, and such, to cause problems for the characters. Thus if you are in the SToreroom location then the DM can theme the Filebot to that location, and if you are in the Game SHow location then you can theme it to that location. Not much guidance on the theming aspect, by the way. This is how we get to, say, fifteen pages of “Adventure” in a forty page booklet that allows for about six pages of Location.
So, you are almost exclusively doing improv. And, yes, there’s a bit of improv in every adventure. But as the main treat? With, of course, lots of advice to drop things in when there is a lull or stop when things get tiresome. This is an activity, not a game. And, as such, I deem thee Not An RPG Adventure.
I will note that, in the first real location, you get some clones bound up with duct tape to chairs in front of monitors. One has a live grenade wedged in him. One is an annoying shit. One is competent, and one is an imposter robot. Cure little setup, and one of the most solid of the bunch.
I understand that I am working on razor thin definitions of Game, but, I leave unanswered the elephant: Can Paranoia be a game, and, thusly, do I judge harshly on criteria unbecoming? Nay, nay! I say! For even in an activity we can ground our scenes more and make them more use friendly.
This is $4 at DriveThru. No preview. SUCK!
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/256922/slave-drones-of-the-fantas-ti-plex-dcc?1892600
Yo, I also picked up “Outlying Farms”, a supplement about farms you might encounter. Two pages. Twelve farms/families. They come in a very terse outline, which is exactly how they should come. I wouldn’t buy it; there’s just no content here that I would find useful.
Lerana Scissorfinger
(she, felter, 40 yrs old)
AC: 9, HP: 3, Dmg: 1d4
Possessions: scissors, felt, 2d5 hats, pouch, 36 cp
Traits: sassy, fashionable, disorganized, tired
Motivations: sell hats, “they are a sign of station!”
Backstory: never married, always wanted to move
to Illis but it seemed impossible, will pay for escort
Family: Grigin (dog 6) & Nord (dog 3)
Logan’s Run is one of my favorite movies too. I’m not sure if it’s gameable though. There was talk of a remake but nothing’s come of it. If they do a remake they should focus on the movie and not the book.
But yeah, that blurb at the beginning has Paranoia all over it.
A shame, since Logan’s Run could, in fact, be a basis for an excellent adventure. You wouldn’t even have to rip off Paranoia for it.
Pronouns in the NPC bio, sure sign that this product is an utter trainwreck.
Show us an adventure that doesn’t use any pronouns.
The reference is to ‘preferred pronouns’ which is indicative of fatherlessness, mental illness and willing service to Moloch.
NPCs having genders is a harbinger of the apocalypse. No more can we threaten the gods as children of the moon like a fork stuck on a spoon.
The surname “Scissorfingers” was A-OK, though?
Ok Grandpa. Time for your nap!
I, for one, am always able to tell the gender of NPCs with made up fantasy names, without having to be told.
Like, the Thri-kreen name, Chit’al? Definitely female. What else could it be?
Horrific bigot, that’s clearly gender x337, invented just yesterday.
I’ve always wanted to run a Paranoia game; that is an unrequited gaming goal …
On the few occasions I have run Call of Cthulhu the game has invariably descended into farce.
I worry that if I ever ended up running Paranoia it would turn into Blade Runner.
I think you mean you’ve always wanted to run a Paranoia *activity* – Bryce was very clear that this is all an activity, not a game.
Because, as we all know, the “G” in “TTRPG” stands for “Activity”
With oceans of modules available, no reason for me to roll the dice on one that overtly panders to either party or courts political controversy. I don’t want preaching from this product any more than I want it from jesters or jugglers, especially when they can barely tell jokes and juggle as it is.
courts political controversy? That tin hat is a lil too tight methinks. What an idiot.
Yes, nothing reflects political reality better than “slave drones of the domed Edens of future apocalyptia”. I often confuse this product and real life, as both are so very filled with androids.
Paranoia using DCC/MCC game mechanics has some potential. I think it calls for a full conversion rather than a light reskin though. So I see what the publisher is going for, but it might need a brick of a rulebook before it gets the line of adventures.