Dystopian 1984-inspired RPG Paranoia is receiving a Perfect Edition
The Computer is still your friend.
A new edition of the dystopian dark-comedy tabletop roleplaying game Paranoia is on its way.
Called Paranoia: The Perfect Edition, the upcoming tabletop RPG will have players becoming Troubleshooters for an all-powerful machine called The Computer. Designed to be entirely competitive, Paranoia: The Perfect Edition will enable players to betray and backstab each other once again.
The Perfect Edition will see the return of classic characters from the tabletop roleplaying game series, such as the funbots, as well as the main antagonists of the game being communists once again – at least, according to The Computer. Combat will apparently be “fast,” and the new edition will include references to key events in the universe timeline, including that of Project Infinite Hole: which saw a black hole being created in the middle of the main city of the series, Alpha Complex.
An additional book set to be released for the sci-fi TRPG series called the Accomplice Book, will enable game masters and players to convert any Paranoia books released for older editions into The Perfect Edition, from the original first edition released in 1984 to the more recent Red Clearance Edition that launched in 2017.
Paranoia: The Perfect Edition will be published by Mongoose Publishing, the studio that has been releasing the roleplaying game since 2004, alongside the sci-fi TRPG Traveller – which has players venturing across strange planets and universes – and the official tabletop RPG adaptation of the video game Sea of Thieves.
Originally created by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber and Eric Goldberg and published by West End Games in 1984, Paranoia is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the likes of classic dystopian literature and films such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, Logan’s Run and THX 1138. The RPG has players becoming Troubleshooters for a tyrannical machine called The Computer, who tasks the players with performing various jobs in order to uphold the ‘perfect society’ of the futuristic city Alpha Complex.
A dark comical satire that pokes fun at various political factions and beliefs, Paranoia often sees the player characters having to perform ridiculous, sometimes impossible tasks, set by The Computer. Unlike many other TRPGs, players are encouraged to directly work against one another in order to succeed in a vicious and deliberately unfair system, with failure usually resulting in termination.
A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Paranoia: The Perfect Edition is set to be launched sometime this month, with pledge amounts and estimated delivery dates yet to be confirmed.