This is very fitting. Because people who worked for WOTC and much of the YouTube 5E D&D community admit they are trying to replicate Disney Star Wars and MCU with art and tone of writing. BG3 is probably the closet we saw D&D take itself seriously for years.
they've been told it's bad by similar idiots. 5e's tourists believe Gygax was evil and have over the years been progressively trying to erase his legacy.
Gary Gygax likes the optimism and heroism of Tolkien-style fantasy but likes the grounded nature and grit of Robert E Howard. Greyhawk was both fantasy takes at the same time. The alignment system meant something in Greyhawk. Something modern day fantasy writers hate.
This is true. Not to mention 5E, Spelljammer is the MCU guardian of the galaxy that's trying to be quirky and goofy like James Gunn-style writing. I suspect 5E tourists hate Planescape because they don't like the idea of religions being right in D&D. Souls face judgment in the afterlife and the gods are very real. 5E clerics are barely connected with religion or faith anymore like the older editions.
Long answer. Bit of a powerlevel. Even though I've been playing RPGs for a better part of a decade now, I still feel like an outsider, the new kid needing advice. One of the problems with RPGs (and video games too) is that there are certain common opinions and popular pundits who's advice doesn't work in reality. One I like to bring up is how I was told repeatedly that 5e dragonborn and monks are completely broken and not worth playing. But I've seen both played frequently and they almost always kick all kinds of arse. I learned that most internet theorycraft is bullshit as it assumes a straight purely mechanical scenario, like two fighters standing face to face trading average damage per round.
This brings me to Greyhawk. I don't know Greyhawk, but what I understand is that it's Gygax' personal setting with a focus on dungeon crawling. Said dungeons are now "realistic", and are described as a "monster funhouse". It's not unusual to see complaints like "there's goblins in this room, a dragon in this room, and zombies in this room. What do the goblins eat?". When the correct answer if "fight the goblins it'll be fun."
Long answer. Bit of a powerlevel. Even though I've been playing RPGs for a better part of a decade now, I still feel like an outsider, the new kid needing advice. One of the problems with RPGs (and video games too) is that there are certain common opinions and popular pundits who's advice doesn't work in reality. One I like to bring up is how I was told repeatedly that 5e dragonborn and monks are completely broken and not worth playing. But I've seen both played frequently and they almost always kick all kinds of arse. I learned that most internet theorycraft is bullshit as it assumes a straight purely mechanical scenario, like two fighters standing face to face trading average damage per round.
This brings me to Greyhawk. I don't know Greyhawk, but what I understand is that it's Gygax' personal setting with a focus on dungeon crawling. Said dungeons are now "realistic", and are described as a "monster funhouse". It's not unusual to see complaints like "there's goblins in this room, a dragon in this room, and zombies in this room. What do the goblins eat?". When the correct answer if "fight the goblins it'll be fun."
I can't speak to monks, but dragonborn have always been a bit weak when compared to the other PHB races. The breath weapon is neat because who doesn't want to breathe destruction on their enemies, but it scales poorly and can't be used that often. Aside from a damage resist, that's literally all that dragonborn get. Compare that to something like wood elves, who get a skill proficiency, darkvision, advantage on charm saves, better sleep, weapon proficiencies, faster movement speed, and a camouflage ability. The only race worse than PHB dragonborn are standard humans, but nobody uses them when variant human exists.
(The Fizban's variants make for better dragonborn by giving each kind an additional ability at level 5: temporary damage immunity for chromatic, temporary flight for gem, and an extra breath weapon for metallic. It also improves the damage scaling of the regular breath weapons and changes the number of uses to proficiency bonus per long rest instead of once per short or long rest.)
That said, you're right in that it all boils down to how you play them. Just because you minmax a character to make it the best possible, that doesn't mean that you're going to succeed at every challenge. Likewise, someone who builds their character mechanically suboptimal can still make it work. I do think it's generally important to think about your build instead of picking things willy-nilly, but you're certainly not as locked in as some players would believe.
As to Greyhawk, I honestly think the fact that it's basically been ignored for all of 5e is why it gets such harsh criticism lobbed at it. Tourists assume that it must be out of date and irrelevant if Wizards hasn't put out any material for it, not to mention the fact that it was made by an old white chud. Never mind that the hobby they pretend to enjoy for internet clout wouldn't even exist without said chud.
I was an early adopter of 5e and I still like it as a rule system because it's simple, fast and intuitive. If you say resistance, I immediately know "half damage". If you say advantage, I immediately know "Roll 2d20 and keep highest." As to what has happened to it in the last four years? The game is completely unrecognizable to me. So, I use only things that were published up to Xanathar's and the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer is still out there and it's still edition neutral. Dragonborn were a Suel bio-weapon, the setting is lousy with fiends and so Tieflings slot right in and Eladrin are Grey Elves.
And now for a contrary opinion: I like the Greyhawk wars and what they did for the setting. Greyhawk was originally the example world and with the rise of The Forgotten Realms, it needed it's own flavor and the Greyhawk Wars gave it that.
I don't think Tex has said anything yet, he really should as he's a major element of the community but as far as I know he's not commented on any of the drama.
And he won't. I would be very interested to find out who holds which parts of the battletech IP vis a vis editions so that I can put together a guide to CGL free Battletech.
Apparently in 5.5e you can start with a feat on top of a bunch of other things that just seem to feed into 5e being where you can make your characters superheroes.
Gary Gygax brought immense amounts of fun to millions of people. This is why fun-hating people, starting with fundamentalist Christians but now entirely consisting of SJWs, hate classical RPGs. It's time to start obliterating shit fora like rpg.net that are ruining the hobby. Not that anyone here should do that, obviously.
Apparently in 5.5e you can start with a feat on top of a bunch of other things that just seem to feed into 5e being where you can make your characters superheroes.
I think this was already the case, since variant human starts with a free feat and that racial rules edit that happened some time ago now optionally allows people to transplant racial abilities onto other races. I don't really remember why they felt the need to make that some official thing as opposed to tables that wanted purely aesthetic races just houseruling that though.
Technically in 3.5 an optimized caster was essentially a god, and you can't hit those same peaks in 5e anymore, but a higher level of power out the gate does certainly seem to be there, particularly with how 5e characters have a harder time dying.
This brings me to Greyhawk. I don't know Greyhawk, but what I understand is that it's Gygax' personal setting with a focus on dungeon crawling. Said dungeons are now "realistic", and are described as a "monster funhouse". It's not unusual to see complaints like "there's goblins in this room, a dragon in this room, and zombies in this room. What do the goblins eat?". When the correct answer if "fight the goblins it'll be fun."
If you played greyhawk you can see that it was designed from the inside out as needed. While there were differences between the original setting by Gygax and the published setting, the basics remained the same. Gygax started with a map derived from North America, put Greyhawk where Chicago would be, built a castle near by, drew some basic notes like "great kingdom" and "orcs are here" then added in the rest as needed. Many of the kingdoms were named by the characters themselves who played them on domain level when DnD was much more wargame oriented.
There was no overarching plot to his campaign..the players would decide where to explore, and Gygax would take it from there resulting in organically evolving adventures and stories that emerged due the players actions. When he needed to create a new kingdom, he would. But otherwise, things were a kind of "here be dragons".
The big thing to note though was that the original versions of DnD incl 1st were far more lethal. Characters died like flies. And the art and atmosphere reflected that. The idea of representation or self identification with a character in a game where a first level party could run into a dragon as a random enocunter is laughable. Your transfurry genderqueer communist elf with zers lovingly crafted backstory is highly likely to die horribly and quickly.
I know the focus of conversation here is D&D, CoC and a few others, but I wanted to lament the release of a new edition of Paranoia (that gets rid of the dumb cards and returns to a more faithful flavor of the game) and the fact that I can't find anyone local (in a very big city) to run a game for.
For some reason in recent times playing a game in which you and your friends -- all commie mutant traitors -- go on missions to hunt down and kill commie mutant traitors has become a tough sell. So much so that the new edition downplays the "communist" element of it, scoots that actual faction into a slot alongside the rest of the secret societies, and focuses more on the "traitor" aspect and the fact that Friend Computer is, as always, batshit insane.
I was an early adopter of 5e and I still like it as a rule system because it's simple, fast and intuitive. If you say resistance, I immediately know "half damage". If you say advantage, I immediately know "Roll 2d20 and keep highest." As to what has happened to it in the last four years? The game is completely unrecognizable to me. So, I use only things that were published up to Xanathar's and the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer is still out there and it's still edition neutral. Dragonborn were a Suel bio-weapon, the setting is lousy with fiends and so Tieflings slot right in and Eladrin are Grey Elves.
I remember my first time playing Pathfinder 1, and on level up being given a link to a list of 1000+ feats.
People get hyped for new content, but unless you're in that ecosystem as it happens, eventually, you end up with a system that has way too many options for a new player. For Pathfinder 2, I tried to limit it to players handbook, but the resident furry/furries wanted to play a lizard man and a kitsune, which are advanced races. I allowed it because they're the ones that went outside of the PHB to find them, but it's an ongoing issue.
In a way, PF2 has it worse because official campaigns have campaign specific character options. 5e did this with Ghosts of Saltmarsh adding things like the sailor backstory, and Eberron adding the Artificer class.
What's also frustrating is when using a "new" system like Savage Worlds, people don't want to read the 50 feats or whatever the game comes with, but are fine with ten times that amount in games they followed updates of.
I know the focus of conversation here is D&D, CoC and a few others, but I wanted to lament the release of a new edition of Paranoia (that gets rid of the dumb cards and returns to a more faithful flavor of the game) and the fact that I can't find anyone local (in a very big city) to run a game for.
For some reason in recent times playing a game in which you and your friends -- all commie mutant traitors -- go on missions to hunt down and kill commie mutant traitors has become a tough sell. So much so that the new edition downplays the "communist" element of it, scoots that actual faction into a slot alongside the rest of the secret societies, and focuses more on the "traitor" aspect and the fact that Friend Computer is, as always, batshit insane.
I thought Paranoia always focused on backstabbing and Friend Computer’s insanity? The game is not meant to be played straightforward.
If a simple courier mission doesn’t end in the destruction of a few complex buildings at minimum, half the team dying, and the objective being sent across dimensions by an R&D ray gun then it’s not Paranoia.
For some reason in recent times playing a game in which you and your friends -- all commie mutant traitors -- go on missions to hunt down and kill commie mutant traitors has become a tough sell.
If a simple courier mission doesn’t end in the destruction of a few complex buildings at minimum, half the team dying, and the objective being sent across dimensions by an R&D ray gun then it’s not Paranoia.
I think this was already the case, since variant human starts with a free feat and that racial rules edit that happened some time ago now optionally allows people to transplant racial abilities onto other races. I don't really remember why they felt the need to make that some official thing as opposed to tables that wanted purely aesthetic races just houseruling that though.
Technically in 3.5 an optimized caster was essentially a god, and you can't hit those same peaks in 5e anymore, but a higher level of power out the gate does certainly seem to be there, particularly with how 5e characters have a harder time dying.
It’s on top of the one you get with variant human. This is just upping the ante from “every class now has a caster” and adding more to one of the things I’ve never been keen on in 5e. It feels more like trying to become more accommodating and make things much more easier since they’ve wanted to put more focus on combat and make combat easier, even reducing the threat level of deadly encounters.
I miss the threats even lower CR enemies could pose towards players starting out. Permanent stat reduction used to be a good enough reason to not play fast and loose with engaging every monster you encounter, but now you can just take a long rest or have a cleric fix you up and never have to worry about the consequences of an unnecessary battle.
I understand why people don't go right for the anecdote especially since it would potentially identify them, but every time I read something like this, I'm basically salivating like a retard hoping for a few more details. Would always love to hear more, even if spoilered, about how others run games especially in systems I'm not proficient in because this sentence alone made me want to look into Paranoia.
I understand why people don't go right for the anecdote especially since it would potentially identify them, but every time I read something like this, I'm basically salivating like a retard hoping for a few more details. Would always love to hear more, even if spoilered, about how others run games especially in systems I'm not proficient in because this sentence alone made me want to look into Paranoia.
It's extremely easy to kill the entire party in the mission briefing. Just have one of the players say even a mildly suspect thing to the Friend Computer, and there we go. Everybody dead, deploying clones.
The last time I ran Paranoia I killed the players before we even started the game for asking for the rules/character sheets because it was above their security clearance.
If we're talking about systems that are fun that aren't DnD, I do have to give the Swedes who made the Alien RPG this: they did a great job making a great toolkit for sci-fi horror games in general. It has modular vehicle design, has unique rules for one shots and campaigns that work well, and it has a great stress system.
Basically stress is great, since it gives you more dice to work with. But by doing that, you open yourself up into a cascade failure at some point, since 1s on a stress die force a panic roll, and you will inevitably cock that up and burn out. This will very likely take the others with you.
Also game encourages you to cheat with the Alien or any other horrors you use for your game; it can multi act during a round and it also low key punishes you for hurting it, since it can weaponize its injuries.
Apparently in 5.5e you can start with a feat on top of a bunch of other things that just seem to feed into 5e being where you can make your characters superheroes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0TmWjJxEF5Q
Forgive me in advance for doing a bit of defending WotC here, but it's less serious than it might seem at first glance. Due to adding a level prerequisite for feats, only some can be selected at first level, and they're generally the weaker options. This might not be the most up-to-date list, but here's what you can take at first level:
Alert (updated: add prof. bonus to initiative roll instead of a flat +5, can swap initiative with an ally)
Crafter (three tool proficiencies, 20% discount on nonmagical item purchases, 20% faster crafting if proficient with the tool)
Healer (updated: can use a healer's kit to let someone spend a hit die and regain the roll + your prof. bonus HP, can reroll if you get a 1 on a healing spell or with the aforementioned ability)
Lightly Armored (updated: no more +1 STR/DEX, instead gain light and medium armor and shield proficiencies)
Lucky (almost identical to the existing, except you gain prof. bonus uses per long rest)
Magic Initiate (slightly updated: you can cast the spell you chose with spell slots if you have any, and you can change one of the spells with a different one from that spell list every time you level up)
Musician (three musical instrument proficiencies, can give prof. bonus allies inspiration after a short or long rest by playing a song)
Savage Attacker (slightly updated: can reroll damage with any weapon attack once per turn, not just melee)
Skilled (almost identical, except no longer lets you choose tool proficiencies because Crafter exists)
Tavern Brawler (updated: can reroll unarmed strike damage if you get a 1, can shove as part of an unarmed strike once per turn, and you can wield furniture as a weapon using certain weapon stats)
Tough (identical to 5e)
Aside from some options that have always been good like Lucky and Magic Initiate, most of these are fairly minor overall and not about to make a character superpowered at level 1, unless you think two extra HP or a couple more skill proficiencies would do that. Even then, a Lucky roll can still go sour or the spell you picked might not end up being used often. On top of that, this idea is not really new either, it's already been seeded in recent sourcebooks; starting with the Spelljammer set, various backgrounds have provided either new or existing basic feats at character creation, and if a player uses one of those backgrounds, all other players get to take a basic feat like Skilled or Tough.
I think it's not a huge deal overall, it just lets everyone do a bit more customization of their characters before they begin. And with the level requirement imposed on other feats, it means a bit less fuckery from variant humans (their bonus feat is also restricted to a level one feat); it should also hopefully make people less inclined to feel like variant human is always the best option.
I understand why people don't go right for the anecdote especially since it would potentially identify them, but every time I read something like this, I'm basically salivating like a retard hoping for a few more details. Would always love to hear more, even if spoilered, about how others run games especially in systems I'm not proficient in because this sentence alone made me want to look into Paranoia.
I think I've posted this once, or even more than once, but here's how that happened. The first TPK was R&D, you know, the Paranoia division that gives you items in the beginning, gave the party a number of items. One of them was grenade-shaped and had a big red button on the top. And had branded on it a label saying "DO NOT PUSH BIG RED BUTTON."
Guess what someone did? The device was a pocket nuke. Bye several buildings.
The second TPK during the briefing was someone basically admitted to being a mutant, and then everyone denounced each other as mutants and commies. And The Computer immediately executed them all.
I had a rule that the Computer was so dumb and insane it didn't realize the commie traitor mutants it had just executed were the same people as the clones.
So this particular scenario, after they got TPKed in the fucking BRIEFING, they ended up killing each other in Battle Royale situations with the sole survivor being executed by The Computer because they'd used obvious mutant powers to kill the others.
It was always a race as to whether I'd kill the entire party or they'd kill each other. And I would try to beat them to that. Even as an utterly evil, sadistic GM, I never actually managed that. They usually managed to kill each other before I could. And I was trying.
Also other Paranoia things. Once instead of giving the mission briefing from the pre-packaged scenario, I instead copied a map from a completely different scenario, then poured coffee on it and let it suck that up a bit, then crumpled it, poured salt on it, let it age for a day, then when it got dry, photocopied it. Then crumpled up the photocopy. And ripped it into pieces.
And when the mission briefing came, I put a styrofoam coffee cup in my mouth and yelled the mission briefing through it like it was a microphone so it was completely unintelligible.
I thought Paranoia always focused on backstabbing and Friend Computer’s insanity? The game is not meant to be played straightforward.
If a simple courier mission doesn’t end in the destruction of a few complex buildings at minimum, half the team dying, and the objective being sent across dimensions by an R&D ray gun then it’s not Paranoia.
Correct. No team in any game I've ever run has made it out of R&D on clone #1, or PLC with clone #2. I never kill them myself at these points -- I always let them screw (i.e. blow) something up, enrage a higher-clearance NPC, or get lost and stumble into somewhere incompatible with human life (like a power sector with a "well maintained" nuclear reactor).
I understand why people don't go right for the anecdote especially since it would potentially identify them, but every time I read something like this, I'm basically salivating like a retard hoping for a few more details. Would always love to hear more, even if spoilered, about how others run games especially in systems I'm not proficient in because this sentence alone made me want to look into Paranoia.
The basic game structure is very straightforward -- a group of people who've never met before (sound familiar?) are summoned by their ruler to a location of its choosing to be given a Very Important Mission(tm). They are then sent to acquire equipment and materials needed to carry out the mission. Next, they embark on the mission proper, and finally they return to report the results.
What makes Paranoia so special is the setting, which adds so many wrinkles to the game that it's unlike anything else you'll ever play:
Everyone lives in a giant underground complex (called Alpha Complex) originally constructed as a society-sized nuclear fallout shelter and long-term survival bunker to protect a large population from a world-shattering nuclear war (or worse).
Said nuclear war has occurred. The existing government and society above-ground is gone. Therefore Alpha Complex is controlled and operated by a highly-intelligent well-connected benevolent computer system creatively called The Computer (capital "T" capital "C"). The Computer's programmed goals are to protect Alpha Complex and its citizens from all dangers and threats, from the outside and from within. It wages a constant war against the never-ending scourge of traitors and other miscreants it finds in Alpha Complex.
Also called "Friend Computer" by Alpha Complex's citizens, The Computer is the ultimate authority in Alpha Complex. Disobeying The Computer is treasonous. Treason is punishable by summary execution. Unlike in other less fun RPGs, The Computer is not at all malevolent, mean, cruel or angry at any point. It legitimately and genuinely cares about Alpha Complex and its citizens above all else, including Itself (this is not sarcasm). It always considers summary execution to be an unfortunate last-ditch effort to stamp out treachery and takes no pleasure in ordering it (or carrying it out Itself). It cares about Its citizens so much that even when a clone is terminated for treason, their next clone is "washed of their sins" and is treated as if the former clone had never so much as hurt a fly before.
Regrettably, The Computer has very incomplete records of happenings prior to the Big Whoops (as it's come to be called) and a sizeable portion of its irreplaceable hardware (its builders, designers and manufacturers having been vaporized long ago) is breaking down. It knows Its primary purpose is to defend Alpha Complex and its people from internal and external threats, but the nature of those threats is not clear to It. All It has been able to glean is that Its pre-Whoops makers were extremely concerned about "communists" (a.k.a. "commies") and "treason." Little more than the flags and symbols (i.e. the hammer and sickle, the color red, the word "comrade," etc.) are known to It. It has determined that the notion of "treason" involves disobedience and/or words or deeds that undermine Its authority or harms Alpha Complex in some fashion. This includers belonging to any secret societies or possessing any mutant powers (which both exist in-game).
As a result, Alpha Complex is organized with careful consideration for security. There are different ranks of security clearance, arranged by the colors of the rainbow, with infrared (black in-game) being the lowest clearance, followed by red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and ultraviolet (white in-game) being the highest. A citizen's clearance level is an indication of The Computer's level of trust in that character, and nothing else, meaning an absolute nutjob idiot who can't find his own butt can be a Blue because The Computer trusts him, while his chauffer might be a Red or Orange because he's less trusted, resulting in a chauffer who lacks the security clearance needed to actually get his Blue boss to places he wants to go. At this point I should point out that disobeying the orders of a higher-clearance clone is treason, as is entering areas with a higher clearance than yours. Exceptions can be made, of course, and nobody ever forgets to file them or inform The Computer of that. Security personnel also never fail to be notified of this and absolutely never choose to ignore those notifications when they arrive.
Into this fun world comes the player characters, called "Troubleshooters," whose job is -- simply put -- to go out and find trouble and shoot it. There are some "wrinkles" though. For one thing, they're only Red-clearance, meaning they're only one rank above the lower-class dormitory dwelling protein paste eating infrareds. For another, every player character is a member of a secret society and also has a mutant power. While the players know this about each other, they do not know which societies or powers they have. Their characters also do not know that their teammates are secret society members or mutants. They only know their own affiliations and afflictions. This absolutely never causes problems on a mission.
Sessions begin with the call to the briefing. Each player is ordered by The Computer or a high-clearance citizen to proceed to a mission briefing. Such orders may be delivered by a variety of means, including by direct verbal command by The Computer, via courier (carrying a spoken message or a printed one), a simple printout, an email, an announcement over the PA, or a coffee-stained crumpled piece of paper with barely-legible handwriting. This order is never garbled, incomplete, unclear, or improperly delivered. It always clearly states where the briefing will be held, and at what time. The briefing is always delivered on time, giving the team plenty of time (at least sixty seconds!) to find and reach the briefing location. This location is always well-known, easy to find, of a security clearance the team is authorized to enter, and easily accessible by a route well-known to the team that requires no traversal of areas above their clearance.
Mission briefings are given either directly by The Computer or by one of Its loyal citizens authorized to give the Troubleshooters their mission. Briefings are always clear and concise. The Troubleshooter team selected for the mission has been painstakingly assembled based on the requirements of the mission and their qualifications to accomplish it quickly and effectively, so everyone is imminently qualified. If a citizen is giving the briefing, that citizen is acting solely in the best interests of Alpha Complex and Friend Computer and certainly has no ulterior motives behind giving the briefing (or ordering the mission in the first place). Troubleshooters are always encouraged to ask questions about the mission and it is always perfectly safe to question higher-clearance citizens and The Computer.
Prior to most missions, the Troubleshooter team is graciously assigned equipment and material requisitions to help complete their task. They are then tasked to go get it. In the interests of efficiency, The Computer firmly believes it can "kill two birds with one stone," so to speak, by asking the Troubleshooters to also swing by R&D to help test out exciting new equipment that's perfectly safe, easy to operate and always works (the testing is a formality, you see). This means that post-briefing, the team will first need to stop by R&D to be assigned absurdly expensive, experimental and irreplaceable gear, then haul it around with them on the mission, including their next stop -- PLC (provisioning, logistics and commissary) to acquire more mundane supplies, like weapons, ammo, food & drink (for prolonged missions), armor and any other equipment needed.
At some point during these festivities pre-mission, each player will be contacted (privately and separately) by their secret society to give them a special mission assignment from their secret society. This mission is often treasonous -- execute a citizen, destroy or steal something important, valuable or rare, vandalize something publicly to undermine The Computer's authority, deliver information or items to another contact somewhere in Alpha Complex without being detected, etc. It could, however, be a secret mission from e.g. Internal Security to monitor and potentially execute a high-clearance unit commander of the Armed Forces for treason. Troubleshooters are never used as patsies for petty political in-fighting, no siree.
The mission then begins. It is always possible for Troubleshooters to accomplish their missions (The Computer would never have authorized a mission for a team It knew couldn't accomplish it), so failing to accomplish it is treason. Missions are always accessible to everyone on the team and never require traveling through high-clearance areas, the OUTdoor sector (which does not officially exist), or defunct, missing or destroyed sectors (which also do not officially exist). None of the equipment provided to the Troubleshooters is defective, damaged or inoperative, and it always does what it's supposed to. Therefore any equipment failure is obviously its operator's fault, either by failing to maintain the equipment properly or by intentionally misusing it. These are both treasonous actions.
Fun(tm) occurs.
At the end of the mission, survivors make their way to the mission debriefing, where they are interrogated (sorry, "questioned") by either The Computer or Its trusted agent -- sometimes the same citizen who briefed them initially -- and asked to detail (in their own words, which are never used against them) what happened and to answer important questions, such as "why did this mission take so long to complete?", "where is the rest of the experimental Mark VI Wound Cauterizer and Portable Fusion Reactor?", "why is only half your team present?" and "why are four sectors (including R&D) missing?" Each team member is given the opportunity to explain their actions, denounce and implicate their teammates in various crimes, and push blame away from themselves, all while proudly boasting of all the great deeds they themselves accomplished in spite of the treasonous people all around them. In judging who is lying and who is telling the truth, The Computer values physical evidence first, recorded evidence second, and hearsay a distant third. Of course, it also trusts rank zeroth, e.g. if someone outranks you and they "tattle" on you, you're probably doomed.
Justice is "dispensed" as needed, and survivors go on to pursue future excitement and adventure. In session terms, this is the end of the session, and the point where the GM awards perks and XP (in whatever form it takes, depending on edition) pretty much arbitrarily.
Most importantly, the IRL players are given as little information as possible in order to play the game. Though the latest edition softens up on this, in previous editions it was considered treasonous for an in-game character to display any knowledge of the game's rules beyond what's explained in the "for players" section of the source book. In other words, if you (as a player) were to go all rules-lawyer on the GM, the GM can simply ask you (in his best Friend Computer voice) "Citizen, what is a 'chutzpah check' and how do you know what it is or that it exists? That information is above your security clearance. Please report for termination. Thank you!"
It's fucking great, man. It's designed to get the players and their characters into a mental state where they don't trust fuckin' anything going on around them, or even their fellow players. Players are encouraged to pass notes to (or DM in modern parlance) the GM to take or plan actions in secret, the GM will do the same to inform specific players when something "secret" happens (like a secret society interaction or even just something like "you happen to notice out of the corner of your eye that your teammate Suck-R-BUT-3 is fidgeting an awful lot with the latch of the sealed container you're supposed to be transporting on this mission").
Players are told from the start that their characters are essentially disposable. Most Paranoia games are one-offs. Though it's possible to run a long-running campaign in the setting, it requires a few concessions (like lifting the restriction on how many clones you get before you have to write off the character) and isn't a perfect fit to the setting. Nobody lasts too long in Alpha Complex and you know you're gonna die.
The best part is that it's all done in good fun. Characters are disposable for a reason -- the point of the game is to have a blast role-playing total fuckups trying to do the impossible in an unintentionally but hilariously broken world that's technically not out to get them in particular (because its "god" truly does care about them), but is in practice a very hostile work environment.
Importantly, a good GM teaches (through example) their players that he is not being arbitrary or cruel to them individually or as a group out of meanness, but rather that he is being arbitrary or cruel to them because it's fucking hilarious. The game rules explicitly tell you (as a GM) to occasionally (but not always) just completely ignore dice rolls if it would be funnier for a different outcome to happen instead.
It's the only RPG I've ever run where the rulebook literally tells you "these rules are here to help shape the game, but if it's funny to do so in the moment, throw them out and do the funny thing instead."
It's extremely easy to kill the entire party in the mission briefing. Just have one of the players say even a mildly suspect thing to the Friend Computer, and there we go. Everybody dead, deploying clones.
I'm generally fairly forgiving during the mission briefing itself in the games I run. Mind you, getting there is often a merciless process and I'm not above seeing to it that it's a player's second clone that strolls into the briefing room, but once at the briefing I prefer to make them sweat without actually killing them.
I view the mission briefing as the player's first real taste (in-mission, that is) of how dysfunctional and broken everything around them is. I let them soak in how impossible-sounding the mission is, and let them feel the fear of being terminated for asking simple questions without actually killing them for it yet. Make them sweat, yes, but don't outright kill. There are times, of course, where it's necessary to make an example out of a player if they're being especially obnoxious.
It's on the trip to R&D that I start turning the screws, and the trip back from R&D (with shiny new toys in-hand) always sees at least a few deaths, and sometimes a full team wipe. Especially if they start playing with a cone rifle and the box of unlabeled cones that came with it while they're on the long, boring transtube ride back to Alpha Complex proper from the wisely-distant R&D sector.
