INTRODUCTION Introduction This product is for use with the PARANOIA This product is multiplied by the rate of change roleplaying game. This product is for use by to determine the fi nal delta-v. This product is qualifi ed gamemasters only, and is supplied an interaction between your optic nerve and Viva La Revolution without warranty or guarantee of fi tness for your brain. This product is farm-fresh and tasty! this or any other purpose. This product is rated This product does not exist. The Troubleshooters fi nd themselves trapped for use at temperatures between -10 degrees in YUC Sector when a revolution overthrows centigrade and +50 degrees centigrade. This This product is Alpha Complex Nights 2. The Computer. To survive, they must adapt product is not to be exposed to naked fl ames to a strange new world where The Computer or toxic chemicals. This product may contain is the enemy, traitors are the good guys, nuts. This product contains adult concepts and Instructions for Use and…well, that’s actually the full extent of the situations. This product contains recipes, but changes, apart from the greater incidence of you are urged not to try these recipes at home. Don’t bother reading this introduction. Instead, food shortages and public executions. You This product contains excessive violence read either of the two missions – there’s never appreciate Friend Computer until it and scenes of danger – you’re urged not to Viva La Revolution on page 38, and The explodes in a shower of sparks… try that at home as well. This product should Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy on not be used as a guide to overthrowing your page 07. Both take the semi-radical step of government or running your own cafeteria. giving the Troubleshooters a considerable The Communist This product is treasonous. This product is a amount of infl uence and authority, then making product of a sick mind. This product is made of them exercise it, and fi nally judging them on Cafeteria Conspiracy 100% recycled words. This produce endorses how they screw up. It’s rather like handing a the Humanist society. This product is rated for child a live hand grenade, sending him out A sector-wide panic over a Commie Mind Control voltages of 110/220 volts. This product may not to play in the garden, and then complaining Ray and the machinations of an ambitious be used in the state of California. This product about how hard it is to mow the lawn when INDIGO combine to give the Troubleshooters supports the People’s Glorious Revolution. it’s covered in…well, actually, that’s a horrible control over a prestigious cafeteria. They’re This product is a contractual obligation. This simile, but the point is that having authority supposed to use it to track down the nefarious product is for ages 8 and up. This product is and power isn’t necessarily at odds with the Commie Mind Control Ray, but they get caught not carbon neutral. This product is censored essential powerlessness of PARANOIA. up in the usual problems of running a cafeteria by HPD&MC. This produce is [[[ censored ]]]. – assassins, artillery emplacements, mutant This product is inherently happy. This product In addition to these two fi ne missions, there are uprisings… you know, the usual. is covered under the terms of the Alpha six pregenerated Troubleshooters on page 2, Complex End User Agreement. This product suitable for immediate use. may explode. This product may not explode.
1 ALPHA COMPLEX NIGHTS 2 Roland-R-AND-1 Harry-R-ISP-1 Nigel-R-RIP-1 Male CPU Team Leader Male Armed Forces Equipment Offi cer Male R&D Happiness Offi cer
Service fi rm: Pockomatic Pockets Service fi rm: ThreatWatch Service fi rm: Alpha Complex Progressive Bots Service fi rm type: Pocket Protector Refurbishers Service fi rm type: Threat Assessors Service fi rm type: Bot Processing Security Clearance: RED Security Clearance: RED Security Clearance: RED Credits: 540 Credits: 205 Credits: 301 Tic: Always states things dramatically and Tic: Always responds to a question with Tic: Ends most sentences with the name of poses as if he’s the hero in an action movie another question the person he’s talking to Tic 2: ______Tic 2: ______Tic 2: ______
Example of tic in use Example of tic in use Example of tic in use Troubleshooter 1: We’ve got to take the Troubleshooter: Do you have any spare Roland-R: Nigel-R, do you have your PDC transbot to FUD Sector. laser barrels? handy? Roland: Yes! But! Can we make it…in Harry-R: What makes you think I do? Nigel: I sure do, Roland. time!?! Troubleshooter: You’re the equipment Roland-R: Can you use it to call The Troubleshooter 1: Sure, it’s the next offi cer! Computer? stop. Harry-R: Why did you use up all your barrel’s Nigel: I’ll get right on that, Roland. Roland: Or! Is! It! charges? Roland-R: It’s nice to have someone who obeys orders on the team. Action Skills & Specialities Action Skills & Specialities Nigel: I’ve got your back, Roland.
Management 04 Management 04 Action Skills & Specialities Bootlicking 08 Intimidation 08 Oratory 01 Moxie 01 Management 05 Writing unintelligible things on forms 10 ______10 Con Games 09 Stealth 09 Stealth 05 Hygiene 01 Sleight of Hand 13 Security Systems 09 Forging Sindy-R’s signature 11 High Alert 1 Disguise 01 Stealth 04 ______15 Faking Security System Footage 11 Concealment 08 Violence 10 Violence 08 High Alert 01 Energy Weapons 14 Energy Weapons 12 Scavenging damaged bits of equipment 10 Unarmed Combat 14 Field Weapons 12 Violence 06 Vehicular Combat 1 Projectile Weapons 01 Energy Weapons 10 Posing Dramatically For The Camera 16 Hand Weapons 12 Agility 10 Really Cool Trick Shots 14 Field Weapons 01 Knowledge Skills & Specialities ______12 Knowledge Skills & Specialities Hardware 09 Knowledge Skills & Specialities Weapons & Armour Maintenance 13 Hardware 07 Nuclear Engineering 1 Vehicle Ops & Maintenance 11 Hardware 06 Tailoring & Uniform Repair 15 Chemical Engineering 01 Bot Ops 10 Software 07 Kicking Things Until They Work 13 Electronic Engineering 01 Data Analysis 13 Software 06 ______12 Data Search 13 Bot Programming 01 Software 08 Financial Systems 1 C-Bay 10 Financial Systems 12 ______13 Security System Hacking 12 Hacking 01 Wetware 04 Bot Programming 12 Wetware 05 Outdoor Life 08 Bot Sabotage 14 Pharmatherapy 09 Suggestion 01 Wetware 07 Medical 01 ______10 Biosciences 01 Medical 11 Open slots for narrow specialities: Open slots for narrow specialities: Holding your breath when you spray aerosols 13 2 (Stealth, Software) 2 (Management, Wetware) Open slots for narrow specialities: 2 (Violence, Hardware)
2 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 INTRODUCTION Janine-R-UIL-1 Yancy-R-OCK-1 Sindy-R-SIN-1 Female Tech Services Comm & Recording Male HPD&MC Loyalty Offi cer Female PLC Hygiene Offi cer Offi cer REGISTERED MUTANT Service firm: Bureau of Post-It-Note Service fi rm: Offi cial Fun Food Additive Review and Censorship Logistics (OFFAL) Service firm: Poke-It-With-A-Stick- Service fi rm type: Semantics Control Service fi rm type: Food Vat Control Incorporated Security Clearance: RED Security Clearance: Red Service fi rm type: Slime Identifi cation Credits: 455 Credits: 327 Security Clearance: RED Tic: Really really likes Bouncy Bubbly Tic: Pretends to be very clumsy Credits: 102 Beverage Tic 2: ______Tic: Pokes things with sticks as her first Tic 2: ______approach to any problem. Example of tic in use Tic 2: ______Example of tic in use Troubleshooter: Sindy, hand me that Troubleshooter: Ok, we’ve got to sneak highly explosive and very unstable chemical Example of tic in use: up on those Commies! Be quiet! canister Roland-R: Is that a bomb? Pssst! Sindy: Oops. Janine-R: I’ll poke it with a stick! Troubleshooter: What was that? Nigel-R: What if it’s got a tamper-sensitive Yancy-R: I opened a can of B3. *glug glug Action Skills & Specialities switch? glug* Management 09 Janine-R: Ok, I’ll poke it carefully with Troubleshooter: Fine, fi nish that and then Interrogation 13 a stick. we’ll sneak over. Moxie 01 Yancy-R: Okay, okay. *glug glug glug* Screaming Arguments With Superiors That Annoy Action Skills & Specialities Troubleshooter: And…go! Quietly! Them So Much They Punish Everyone 15 Management 09 *sneak sneak sneak* Stealth 07 Bootlicking 13 Yancy-R: *burp* Sneaking 11 Interrogation 01 Surveillance 01 Accidentally spilling liquids onto important Action Skills & Specialities ______13 paperwork 15 Management 04 Violence 04 Stealth 04 Con Games 08 Energy Weapons 08 Shadowing 08 Moxie 08Bootlicking 01 Agility 08 Security Systems 01 Handwriting Analysis on Post-It Notes Only 10 Demolitions 01 ______10 Stealth 07 Violence 10 Surveillance 11 Knowledge Skills & Specialities Energy Weapons 14 Sneaking 01 Hardware 08 Fine Manipulation 14 Concealing B3 cans about your person 13 Habitat Engineering 12 Thrown Weapons 01 Violence 09 Vehicle Ops & Maintenance 01 Poking things with sticks precisely in the right Energy Weapons 13 ______14 place 16 Fine Manipulation 13 Software 10 Projectile Weapons 01 Hacking 14 Knowledge Skills & Specialities ______15 Vehicle Programming 01 Hardware 05 Hiding One Window With Another When Using Chemical Engineering 09 Knowledge Skills & Specialities A Computer 16 Habitat Engineering 09 Hardware 04 Wetware 08 Electronic Engineering 01 Mechanical Engineering 08 Bioweapons 12 Use of industrial cleaning chemicals in non- Chemical Engineering 01 Medical 01 standard ways 11 Encyclopaedic Knowledge of Glues & Solvents Identifying Food Additives By Taste 14 Software 04 10 Bot Programming 08 Software 08 Open slots for narrow specialities: Vehicle Programming 01 Data Analysis 12 2 (Stealth, Hardware) ______10 C-Bay 01 Wetware 10 Secretly Sending Text Messages From Your Biosciences 14 PDC 14 Cloning 01 Wetware 09 Slime Sample Identifi cation 16 Suggestion 13 Open slots for narrow specialities: Biosciences 01 2 (Stealth, Software) ______15
Open slots for narrow specialities: 2 (Violence, Wetware)
3 ALPHA COMPLEX NIGHTS 2 Roland-R-AND-1 Harry-R-ISP-1 Nigel-R-RIP-1 Male CPU Team Leader Male Armed Forces Equipment Guy Male R&D Happiness Offi cer
Mutation: Polymorphism Mutation: Slippery Skin Mutation: Empathy Society: Sierra Club Society: Psion Society: Pro Tech Secret Skills: Wild Lore 13, Birdwatching Secret Skills: Power Studies 14, Comic Secret Skills: Experimental Equipment 8, Bioweapons 16 Book Trivia 20, Twitchtalk 08 Repair & Maintenance 07, Video Games 15, WMD 12 Background Background You’ve always known that you were destined You were raised not in a standard crèche, but Background for greatness. You know with total certainty that in a secret Psion breeding program designed This isn’t good at all. You were happily you are going to be remembered for all time to produce the ultimate mutant. It didn’t work, working away in your little niche in R&D, as a Hero of the Complex, as a champion of so they snuck you back into Alpha Complex refi tting bots with experimental gadgets, when the people and a legendary Troubleshooter! society to serve as a Psion agent. Your your boss handed you a handful of forms You’ve made it to RED clearance, but that’s credentials are all faked, though, and anyone – Troubleshooter aptitude forms. You fi lled just the fi rst step on the ladder! Get a few looking into your background too closely them out without thinking, and suddenly you missions under your belt, and you’ll zoom up may fi nd out that there’s something odd and were being volunteered for Troubleshooter the security clearances until you reach the treasonous about you. Your social skills are duty. On one hand, promotions, benefi ts and ranks of the exalted! also poorly developed. access to experimental weapons. On the other, near-certain repeated and painful death. You The problem, though, is jealousy. Everyone, Fortunately, your cover role as a Threat suspect your boss knows this. He’s never from the other junior citizens in the crèche Assessor means that most people are more liked you. to your co-workers at Pockomatic to your scared of you than you are of them, and you fellow Troubleshooters, tries to hold you back can deflect questions by interrogating the You want out of the Troubleshooters, but and denies your glorious destiny! You must questioner. generally the only way out is in six identical overcome their jealousy and weakness so you body bags. There are two other possibilities. can fulfi l your infi nite potential! Of your teammates, you mistrust Yancy-R One, you do so well that you get promoted up – he hates mutants. Roland-R is a great a few security clearances, outrank your boss, You especially mistrust Harry-R-ISP and leader, though – just like in the vidshows. Stick cancel his orders and get him assigned to Janine-R-EAS. He’s after your job as Team close to him, and you’ll be fi ne. Troubleshooting duty instead. Option two is Leader, and she’s a fi lthy mutant! ensure that your group screws up so badly that Secret Society Instructions no-one ever trusts you with a mission again, Secret Society Instructions Your primary mission is to protect the Psion and you’re sent back to the labs fulltime. The Sierra Club has been having a lot of society by carrying out the instructions of trouble lately with Internal Security spies. Control. They will inform you of what you Of the rest of your team, Roland-R the team The society’s an easy target for infi ltration by need to know. leader seems like a parody of a Troubleshooter. IntSec spies, because we’re so nice and open. Someone that determined to impress has to Therefore, if you could get Internal Security to A more personal project is registered mutant be hiding something. You also know there’s focus on another bunch of traitors, say those and fellow Troubleshooter Janine-R. Recruit at least one undercover IntSec offi cer in the technological madmen at ProTech or Corpore her to the mutant cause! group – it’s probably Yancy-R, Sindy-R Metal, that would help a lot. They say that or Harry-R. You’ve worked with Sindy-R Nigel-R is in ProTech – get Internal Security Personal Equipment before back in the bot company – she’s really to focus on him! (100) mylar comic protectors (empty) clumsy, and you suspect she’s a drug addict, (20) back issues of Old Reckoning Comics in maybe even one of those Mystics. Personal Equipment plastic protectors One pocket lint vacuum cleaner A copy of the Alpha Complex Etiquette Secret Society Instructions One grenade (RED) Guide Your contact tells you: ‘ProTech is currently (12) Pocket Protectors (Used) (3) Laser barrels locked in a feud with the other two other (4) real apples from Outdoors technology-driven societies – the hacker (2) RED laser barrels Assigned Equipment Computer Phreaks and the freaky bot fetishists Laser pistol body (no barrel) at Corpore Metal. Your mission, which you Assigned Equipment Red Refl ec Armour don’t have any choice in choosing to accept, Laser pistol body (no barrel) Series 1300 PDC is to gather ammunition against Corpore Metal Red Refl ec Armour Toolkit and the Computer Phreaks. Steal or capture Series 1300 PDC (2) Laser barrels their stuff so we can use it as leverage over Pocket Protector Measuring Kit them.
4 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 INTRODUCTION
Oh, also, we’ve got a few gadgets left over that joined the Communists – if Alpha Complex Background we haven’t fi eld tested. You’re a Troubleshooter society is going to look down on you and You used to be a boring, persnickety, offi cious now, you’re probably doomed anyway, so you mistreat you, then you may as well throw your citizen, obsessed with fi lling out forms and may as well risk pressing the buttons.’ lot in with the enemy. You don’t really believe rotas and quotas and rulebooks. You hated in Communism, but you’re a bitter, bitter little traitors and Commies and mutants and obeyed Personal Equipment woman and are willing to work with anyone everything Friend Computer told you. Toolkit who screws over the authorities. Hey, they One roll of (20) Asperquaint stimulant tablets said you were a dangerous genetic deviant Then, a few months ago, you won a free can (10) illegal technological blueprints tattooed – you’re only conforming to expectations. of Bouncy Bubbly Beverage in a competition. onto your body It was spiked with something… wonderful. (2) laser barrels Your immediate priority is working out which Your mind opened and unfolded and woke up (1) experimental overcharged laser barrel of your fellow Troubleshooters is going to and burned brightly all at once. You were at (theoretically boosts weapon damage output try to kill you fi rst. Yancy-R keeps making one with the universe, and all its secrets were signifi cantly) snide comments about you, and Roland-R revealed to you. It was more than the perfect (1) spare bot brain is such a gung-ho Troubleshooter that he’d high – it was perfection in all forms. You’d do (1) black box with a button probably shoot you to make a point. The real anything to experience that high again. (1) white oblong with a button danger, though, might be Harry-R, who (1) glowy greeny thing with a button keeps watching you. After that, returning to a life of form fi lling and bureaucracy seemed impossible. It would be Assigned Equipment Secret Society Instructions much too dull. You arranged to have yourself Laser pistol body (no barrel) Comrade! You are valued member of transferred to the Troubleshooters. There’s a Red Refl ec Armour Communistic society. Is good, yes. Communism problem, though – your psychological profi le Series 1300 PDC makes great strides with your aid! Day of (which you managed to steal a copy of) states Gelgerine aerosol (Happy Gas!) glorious establishment of new society certain clearly that you’re a boring, persnickety, (2) Laser barrels to be soon, yes. But, Internal Security watching offi cious citizen, and if your observed behaviour Communist society closely. We can do nothing deviates too far from this profi le, you’ll be while capitalist runningdog spies are dogging identifi ed as a traitor and terminated (your Janine-R-UIL-1 our every move! Your mission, then, is to make handwriting analyses have doomed hundreds contact with Internal Security and volunteer to of citizens, so you know whereof you speak). Female Tech Services Comm & Recording become informant. You will be double agent, You’ll need to appear dull and boring while Offi cer feeding false information to Internal Security searching for any high to equal that magic, REGISTERED MUTANT and winning their trust. Tell them whatever you magic can. wish, as long as it is all lies. Mutation: Toxic Metabolism Society: Communists Personal Equipment Secret Society Instructions Secret Skills: Demolition 14, Tractor (12) long sticks You joined the drug-obsessed Mystics so they Maintenance 10, Communist Propaganda 08 (1) sharpened stick could help you fi nd enlightenment, but they’ve Collection of interesting toxic slimes sent you to spy on the Anti-Mutant society. Background Collection of Communist pamphlets You don’t have a big problem with mutants, There you were, working away at your not- (1) Laser Barrel but you’ve got to pretend you do. especially-fun and not-especially-safe job in (1) Pocket blaster pistol (ORANGE) Slime Identifi cation, poking slimes with sticks Your Mystic contact says: ‘We need to know and so on, when a rotting valve in a food tank Assigned Equipment what the Anti-Mutants are doing – we think burst and fl ooded the chamber with mutagenic Laser pistol body (no barrel) they’re trying to destroy mutagenic chemicals gunk. They tested you for mutation after that, Red Refl ec Armour that we need for experiments. Find out what found out about your toxic metabolism, and Series 1300 PDC they’re up to and report back. Bring drugs.’ suddenly you’ve got an ugly yellow stripe down So You’re A Mutant informational your sleeve and a permanent black mark on pamphlet Your Anti-Mutant contact says: ‘Beware! Our your record. As a registered mutant, you’re Multicorder spies report there’s a powerful mutant in your doomed never to get promoted; you’ll be the (2) Laser Barrels Troubelshooter team, one bred by the hated butt of every practical joke and the scapegoat Psion cult to be the ultimate mutant. Find it for every disaster. and kill it!’ Yancy-R-Rock-1 Therefore, you volunteered for the Personal Equipment Troubleshooters. It’s not like it’s any Male HPD&MC Loyalty Offi cer (12) cans of B3 more dangerous for you than not being a B3 fan club membership card Troubleshooter. People try to shoot mutants Mutation: Deep Thought B3 branded hat with two B3 holders everywhere, and maybe you’ve got a growing Society: Mystics, spying on Anti-Mutants (1) packets of 100 post-it notes (GREEN unconscious death wish anyway. You’ve also Secret Skills: Power Studies 08, Comic clearance borders) Book Trivia 10, Twitchtalk 12 (1) dose of Thymoglandin combat drug
5 ALPHA COMPLEX NIGHTS 2
(BLUE) blink at ripping you to pieces. They can’t even Secret Society Instructions (1) dose of Zybenzaphrene suggestion drug blink, you know. No eyes, just watchful, sinister Your FCCC-P contact says ‘child, the enemies (ORANGE) cameras. of the Holy Computer are everywhere. (6) doses of Geglernine happy drug (RED) You must smite them! Especially the hated You’re not sure when you fi rst became aware Communists! And PURGE! And the Humanists! Assigned Equipment that the bots were out to get you. Probably Smite them all! Laser pistol body (no barrel) when you were assigned the stressful job of Red Refl ec Armour spying on Production, Logistics and Conspiracy Oh, and one of our spies informed us that Series 1300 PDC – er, Commissary. Being an undercover agent there’s something odd about Harry-R’s CPU Offi cial Loyalty Offi cer armoured notebook is hard work, and you took to popping pills to record. Keep an eye on him. with lock stay awake and focussed. Your religion, your Offi cial Loyalty Offi cer armoured notebook absolute faith in the Holy Computer and the Your Frankenstein Destroyer contact informs key First Church of Christ Computer-Programmer you that bots are evil and should be smashed. Offi cial Loyalty Offi cer armoured pen was a great support to you in this hard time. So what else is new? (3) packets of 100 post-it notes (RED clearance But the bots started watching you, and you borders) realised that the church was wrong – the bots Personal Equipment (2) laser barrels were not created by Friend Computer to help FCCC-P holy symbol humanity, they are evil emanations of the hated Lump hammer AntiComputer, and must all be destroyed! You (1) Laser barrel Sindy-R-SIN-1 joined the Frankenstein Destroyers to fi ght Female IntSec agent spying on PLC against the bots, but your fi ght is at heart a Assigned Equipment Hygiene Offi cer holy crusade! Laser pistol body (no barrel) Red Refl ec Armour Mutation: X-Ray Vision Of the other Troubleshooters, your Internal Series 1300 PDC Society: FCCC-P, spying on Frankenstein Security training tells you to mistrust Roland- Hygiene kit Destroyers, R – he seems a little too loyal. Also, you’ve Skin Core sampler Secret Skills: Demolition +, Screwdriver worked with Nigel-R before, when reviewing (2) Laser barrels Ops & Maintenance 12, Bot Programming + the bot company he works for. You pretended to be clumsy so you could sabotage the hated Background bots when they were weak and vulnerable! They’re out there, you know. The bots. He’s a horrible bot lover. Heartless, soulless machines, who wouldn’t
6 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 O ™ TheP CommunistARAN Cafeteria ConspiracyIA Special duties for special troubleshooters GARETH HANRAHAN BEN ENGELSBERG CONTENTS Writer/Scapegoat Plot Developmer/Mad R&D Scientist Introduction 8 Breifi ng War 9 CHARLOTTE LAW DAN GELBER Cafeteria of the Damned 15 Editing, graphics/Drillbots GREG COSTIKYAN This Will Solve the Problem 19 ERIC GOLDBERG This Did Not Solve the Problem 24 JIM HOLLOWAY Original game design & development/ Cover /Blueprints Food Fight 29 Building committee The Commie Ray Job 34 ALISON BLACKWELL THE COMPUTER Triumph of the Tinfoil Hat Brigade 36 Interior Art /Treasonous Propaganda Looking after your best interests WILL CHAPMAN Layout/Infrared Drone
Security Clearance ULTRAVIOLET WARNING: Knowledge or possession of this information by any citizen of Security Clearance VIOLET or lower is treason punishable by a long spell of Armed Forces latrine scrubot maintenance duty.
TM & Copyright © 1983, 1987, 2008 by Eric Goldberg & Greg Costikyan. All Rights Reserved. Mongoose Publishing Ltd., Authorized User. Based on material published in previous editions of PARANOIA. ILLUMINATI is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and is used by permission. The reproduction of material from this book for personal or corporate profi t, by photographic, electronic, or other means of storage and retrieval, is prohibited. You may copy character sheets, record sheets, checklists and tables for personal use. E-mail questions and comments to Mongoose Publishing at [email protected] or write to PO Box 1018, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 1DG, UNITED KINGDOM. On the World Wide Web: www.mongoosepublishing.com. Published by Mongoose Publishing, Ltd. Publication MGP 6642. Published August 2006. First printing September 2008. Printed in USA THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY Introduction Have you ever noticed that a lot of she read the transcript of Joe’s interrogation, Episode 2. Cafeteria of the Damned: PARANOIA missions have really long she seized upon it as clear evidence that The Troubleshooters are sent to the VitaYum titles? Vapours Don’t Shoot Back? the Commies had indeed perfected a Unified Citizenry Food Pyramid Court, a Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues? Communism Ray. massive cafeteria in the affected sector, to And now The Communist Cafeteria watch for signs of treachery. It turns out that Conspiracy. She escalated the report and soon every the whole cafeteria is fi lled with traitors but Service Group was concerned with the spectre none of them are anything to do with the It’s not that longer titles fi ll more space, we of the Commie Ray. Rumours began to spread Commie Ray. swear. about the Ray’s capabilities and infl uence. Soon, others began to ‘fall victim’ to the Ray, Episode 3. This Will Solve The And the editors wouldn’t let me call this one consciously or unconsciously using the rumour Problem: After getting to grips with the The Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy of the Ray to enable their own traitorous food service industry, the different service Constitutes A Clear And Calamitous behaviour. Treason becomes permissible if it groups begin their plans to fi nd the Commie Concern To The Computer! is not your fault… Ray. The Troubleshooters need to balance the plots of the Armed Forces, Internal Security, The following is absolutely not The whole Commie Ray situation was seized HPD&MC and R&D, while keeping PLC’s true in the slightest: The Communists, on by Dominic-I. He wants to humiliate his cafeteria running smoothly (for a suffi ciently dastardly enemies of Alpha Complex, have built rival INDIGO Section Supervisors, to ensure rough defi nition of smooth). a dastardly and evil machine, a Communism his promotion to VIOLET. By deliberately Ray! This insidious beam alters the brainwaves arranging a four-way train crash of initiatives, Episode 4. This Did Not Solve The of any citizen exposed to its baleful infl uence, he can shame the other service groups. Problem: The four plans escalate. The causing them to betray Friend Computer and effects of the Commie Ray get worse. It’s all give into their deepest, most secret, most blamed on the Troubleshooters. Furthermore, traitorous impulses! Unless this machine is Mission Overview they learn that they’re about to play host to a destroyed, the Communists will continue prestigious dinner for high-clearance citizens. to warp the minds of the citizens of Alpha The Communist Cafeteria Conspiracy Complex! You, an elite team of troubleshooters, revolves around something that does not Episode 5. Food Fight: The four plans must spearhead our efforts to fi nd and destroy actually exist but everyone thinks it does. start interfering with each other. Dominic-I the Communism Ray! Good luck! Therefore, the Troubleshooters had really tries using the dinner, the Troubleshooters better come up with some sort of Commie Ray and the preceding fi ascos to humiliate the The following is wholly accurate and someone to blame. The mission consists other INDIGOs but he’s killed by a PURGE and truthful: Some poor schmuck of an of a series of increasingly desperate attempts assassin. INFRARED named Joe was hauled in for to find the Ray, coupled with increasingly questioning by Internal Security after he was bizarre derangements caused by belief in Episode 6. The Commie Ray Job: caught on a restricted level of the VitaYum the Ray. R&D develop their own version of the ray Unifi ed Citizenry Food Pyramid Court. When but it is stolen by an awful lot of traitors. asked to explain his traitorous actions, he Episode 1. The Briefi ng War: The The characters have to chase it across the panicked and claimed that some mysterious Troubleshooters are briefed by a group of cafeteria as it beams genuine traitorous external force affected his mind and forced six briefi ng offi cers, representing fi ve different thoughts into the minds of passing citizens. him to behave treacherously. service groups, each of which has their own Then it explodes. mission for the Troubleshooters. Everyone This would have been the thinnest excuse in in Alpha Complex wants to deal with the Episode 7. Triumph of the Tinfoil history, if it were not for IntSec case offi cer Commie Ray Crisis. The compromise is that Hat Brigade: Debriefing, wherein the Toni-G. For years, she’s fostered her own the Troubleshooters will co-ordinate multiple Troubleshooters apply what they have paranoid delusion that the Commies were attempts to locate the ray, starting with learned. working on mind control techniques to subvert ground zero for the Communism outbreak the loyal citizens of Alpha Complex. When – the cafeteria.
8 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 INTRODUCTION Dramatis Personae Name Role Quirk Treachery Joe The INFRARED who started the Commie Ray rumour Dead Trespassing Karl-R Hulking mutant warehouse manager Speaks…hurr… slowly PSION mutant Kevin-R PURGE conspirator/diner Pontifi cates PURGE Morris-O Stressed fl oor manager Always stressed and whiny Frankenstein Destroyer Bert-Y Belligerent Armed Forces thug Shouts a lot Sierra Club Herman-Y Debriefi ng offi cer Bored all the time None Mike-Y Food Pyramid Security Offi cer Gruff None, tending towards Communism Alice-G Perky equipment manager Always cheery Death Leopard Larry-B Armed Forces briefi ng offi cer Violent FCCC-P Krystal-G HPD&MC briefi ng offi cer/yoga instructor Airhead Romantic Toni-G IntSec briefi ng offi cer Ice queen Insane Alphonse-B Snooty chef French PURGE/Romantic Chet-B PLC Restaurant manager/briefi ng offi cer Friendly Free Enterprise/fraud Victor-B R&D Briefi ng offi cer Mad Scientist Pro Tech Dominic-I CPU Briefi ng offi cer/responsible for this glorious disaster Avuncular good guy Illuminati Ingrid-I Cannibalistic restaurant supervisor Eats people Anti-Mutant Mathias-I IntSec Section Supervisor Hates people Unknown Rhonda-I R&D Section Supervisor Accountant Humanist George-I Armed Forces Section Supervisor Tells boring war stories Sierra Club Kenny-I Tech Services Section Supervisor Dead Being dead Ann-I Power Services Section Supervisor Says nothing. Illuminati
A Trio of Killer Robots A Trio of PURGE assassins Guards, Warbots and Artillery Pieces Diners, Cannibals, Mutants, WaiterBots in full chorus And no communists whatsoever. 1. The Briefi ng War Episode Summary: Six mission alerts, to proceed immediately to Briefi ng ‘ARMED FORCES INTERNAL one briefi ng, no waiting. Room 2910, Level 87, Sector FOG for OPERATION, CODENAME ‘TEAL a briefi ng by Internal Security Case YOGHURT’, CLASSIFICATION Offi ce Toni-G-TLD. This message is RED EYES ONLY. You are ordered The Alerts, The classifi ed RED clearance. Further to report to Briefi ng Room 2910, details are not available at your Level 87, Sector FOG for a briefi ng Endless Mission security clearance.’ by Lieutenant Larry-B-OMB. This order has been designated SUPER Alerts You stand, proud to have another HIGH PRIORITY by Troubleshooter Tension 10 chance to serve Alpha Complex Dispatch.’ as an elite Troubleshooter. Your Read the following to your players: co-workers stare at you as you It is another perfect day in Alpha leave. Something is different this A Funny Thing Happened Complex under Friend Computer’s time, though. Normally, the eyes benevolent, omnipresent watchful of the other citizens in your service On The Way To The Mission cameras. You are all happy in your firm are filled with a mixture of assigned service firms, working jealousy, fear and pity when you Tension 10 away at your assigned fun jobs, get a mission alert. This time, they The characters all meet up at the local when your PDCs bleep and you are nervous and jumpy, as if they transtube station, an ugly grey lump of receive a mission alert. How fun! cannot wait for you to leave or concrete, semi-feral scrubbots, empty vending maybe they just really need to go machines and security cameras. As they wait It reads: ‘TROUBLESHOOTER! You to the bathroom. for the transtube, they get another mission have been assigned to a fun and alert. challenging mission. This mission No time to worry about that now, is designated HIGH PRIORITY by though! You just got another ‘Attention, Troubleshooter. You are Troubleshooter Dispatch. You are mission alert! scheduled for a meeting in Briefi ng
9 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
Room 2910, Level 87, Sector FOG with added Chewy Bits! VITA-YUM with built in computer interface, with HPD&MC Briefing Officer – THEY’RE YUMMY. a stylish minimalist podium and Krystal-G-RMS. Estimated briefi ng matching comfortable chairs for time is twenty-nine minutes. This Attention, consumer! There’s a Troubleshooters being briefed. message is security clearance RED special offer on briefings right and has been designated ULTRA right now at Briefi ng Room 2910, Unfortunately, all of the chairs HIGH PRIORITY. Thank you for your Level 87, Sector FOG. Your briefi ng are occupied already and the attention. Have a nice daycycle.’ officer is Chet-B-BQU, VitaYum room is crammed with two dozen Unified Citizenry Food Pyramid aides, flunkies and bodyguards. While reading this third mission alert, a Court Supervisor and he’ll be glad Six briefi ng offi cers ignore you as dishevelled looking INFRARED shuffl es up to instruct you on your assigned you enter. At the podium, dozing to the characters. He plucks the sleeve of a mission. This has been designated slightly, is an elderly citizen in random Troubleshooter to attract his attention. PRIORITY ZERO by Troubleshooter INDIGO with a long white beard. ‘Hey buddy,’ he asks, ‘got any drugs? Dispatch. Have a great daycycle! He’s wearing a CPU badge and Good stuff, right?’ He asks this question is using a large stack of reports right in front of a security camera, which should Mention the code BARGAINS as a pillow. Around the table are sound alarm bells in the brain of any paranoid BARGAINS BARGAINS for a another five citizens, all GREEN Troubleshooter. This wannabe Mystic (Horace) special offer on Troubleshooter or BLUE. They’re all arguing with has heard that you can do any traitorous stuff equipment!’ each other. you want, as long as you ‘blame it on the rays’. Of course, the characters haven’t yet The transtube follows a path through the The argument continues until one of the heard this rumour, so Horace is likely get tangle of magnetic rails before eventually Troubleshooters say something (if none of severe demerits if not termination for his depositing the Troubleshooters in a corridor the Troubleshooters say anything, then wait a impromptu drug dealing. that’s open to the main concourse on one side. minute, then have Larry-B the Armed Forces (There’s a fragile railing; standard Death Star officer whirl around and demand to know Once they’ve dealt with Horace, the transbot architecture.) As they walk along the (oddly why the Troubleshooters didn’t announce arrives to whisk the characters away to FOG sticky) corridor outside the briefi ng room, they their arrival – don’t they know the urgency of Sector. The transbot that arrives is out of get a sixth and fi nal mission alert. the mission?), at which point Larry-B spins keeping with the grimy transtube station around and snaps ‘What? How dare – it’s a brand-new and very shiny bot, all ‘MISSION ALERT. Estimated reading you interrupt! You will stand to streamlined and clean. FOG Sector is a time for this alert is 32 seconds. You attention, Troubleshooters, and you wealthy and prestigious sector, a showcase are instructed to travel to Briefi ng will wait until we are ready to deal for new technologies and initiatives, the pride Room 2910, Level 87, Sector FOG with you!’ of Friend Computer. (standard Troubleshooter travel allowances, ref CPU/4232/trans/3120/ On the transbot, the characters get another B) for a briefing chaired by CPU The Briefi ng Offi cers two mission alerts. The fi rst comes as they’re Administrator-Citizen Dominic- boarding the transbot: I-FOG. This message is security So, who are these six briefi ng offi cers? clearance RED (see ‘Security ‘Troubleshooters. Briefing at Clearances & You! Revised Citizen’s Larry-B-OMB, Armed Forces: Loud, Briefing Room 2910, Level 87, Guide) and priority ZEROPLUSPLUS abrasive, gung-ho, Larry-B believes that Sector FOG with R&D Chief Field (see CPU Report ‘Misleading the biggest threat facing Alpha Complex is Testing Co-ordinator Dr. Victor- and Confusing Priority Codes in Communism and the only solution are guns, B-RSQ! Immediately! Priority Troubleshooter Dispatch’).’ lots of guns. He despises civilians, he despises DOUBLEPLUSULTRA.’ traitors and he especially despises anyone From inside the briefing room, the who does not think the Armed Forces are the The second message comes as they enter Troubleshooters hear what sounds like a best and most loyal servants of The Computer. FOG Sector. It’s a breathtaking sight, as heated argument. He’s wearing a formal dress uniform with a the transbot emerges over a vast multi-level big ‘Vulture Warriors’ pin on his lapel and a canyon. The bot is suspended over this abyss non-standard but very impressive slug thrower by a narrow magnetic rail; below them, the Briefi ng, Plural strapped to his belt. characters can see level after level of meeting Tension 10 rooms, shopping malls, offi ces and confession Toni-G-RTE, Internal Security: A cold, booths, all shiny white with newly-painted Briefing Room 2910 is airy and pale blonde female citizen, Toni-G is almost colour-coded clearance stripes. spacious, with a one-way window ghost-like. She moves completely quietly and offering a view over the balcony and only raises her voice when furious. She’s ‘This message is sponsored by a selection of abstract art decorating immensely paranoid and is convinced that VITA-YUM CHOCCO BARS! Now the walls. It’s got a wide table absolutely everyone else in Alpha Complex
10 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 1. THE BRIEFING WAR is hiding something (and they usually are). face and a habit of grabbing your hand and sort of mind control ray that causes loyal Her especial fear is that Communists will fi nd shaking it for the duration of the conversation. citizens to turn traitor. We are deploying an some way to infect her mind, so she always He’s also a Free Enterprise gangster who immediate armed cordon around the affl icted wears thick black scrambler glasses that has skimmed thousands of credits from the zone that-’. cover her eyes with a grey haze of static (and Food Pyramid accounts. He’s using the theoretically block viral thought patterns and Troubleshooters’ intrusion as an excuse to fl ee Toni-G: interrupting ‘You wouldn’t know other brain-infecting propaganda). FOG Sector with his ill-gotten gains, a plot that about the Communism Ray if it wasn’t for my will become apparent in Episode 5. research, you dolt. It was I who identifi ed its Krystal-G-RMS, HPD&MC: Krystal- deleterious effects on the populace. This is G used to work in the crèches with Junior Dominic-I-FOG, CPU: A canny old clone, clearly a matter for Internal Security’s agents Citizens, until her Uncanny Luck mutation Dominic-I is very much aware that success in to deal with.’ manifested itself and she found herself Alpha Complex is not defi ned as ‘completing promoted from INFRARED to GREEN in a few your mission’ but by ‘being able to pin the Krystal-G:‘It’s, like, mind control and I’m, weeks through a clerical error. She’s absolutely blame on everyone else’. His primary goal, like, in Housing…Housing…what’s the P stand clueless about everything, so she falls back therefore, is to ensure that everyone else for again? Anyway, we also do mind control. to using the same techniques that worked screws up in such a way to cripple themselves That’s one of our bits. So, I should, like, do on Junior Citizens – hugging them, talking to but leave him unscathed. He’s carefully this briefi ng.’ them in simple words with a sing-song voice cultivated a reputation as a wise, genial and and pumping the little brats full of drugs when slightly doddery old bureaucrat, while he’s Victor-B: ‘Ha! A form of remote brainwave their backs are turned. She’s a fl uffy pink actually capable of sending his own clone manipulation, undetectable by the most marshmallow but a fl uffy pink marshmallow brother to the termination booths with a smile sensitive of instruments, with no physical with a dangerously powerful mutation. and a cheery wave. transmitter or liminal signal? HPD&MC dreams of such a technology! You have no more Victor-B-RSQ, R&D: Is your standard understanding of this situation than a scrubbot issue mad scientist, prone to breaking into The Briefi ng does of anything other than scrubbing! This will bouts of cackling. He’s got a cybernetic require SCIENCE to unravel!’ His artifi cial arm that he keeps tinkering with; his arm When the briefi ng properly begins, it’s Larry-B arm fl ails wildly. occasionally fl ails wildly or makes insulting who takes charge initially. The Troubleshooters gestures until he takes the battery out and barely get a word in edgeways. Chet-B: fl ashing the Troubleshooters resets it. a ‘it’s not my fault, I barely know these Larry-B: ‘Troubleshooters, the threat we people’ grin ‘Look, I’m the manager of the Chet-B-BQU, PLC: Chet-B’s a smarmy face is COMMIE MIND CONTROL! Those premier cafeteria complex in this sector, the manager, with a fake grin plastered onto his Commie bastards have developed some VitaYum Unified Citizenry Food Pyramid
Left to right – Larry-B, Toni-G, Dominic-I, Krystal-G, Victor-B, Chet-B
11 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
Court. It’s got multiple levels for different Toni-G: interrupting ‘investig- oh, you said be the solution to the problem and by having security clearances. A customer went up the that one already.’ an external party oversee the execution of the wrong stairs-’ plans, it ensures that the service groups can Chet-B: ‘Ok, co-operate fully with any work smoothly together. Toni-G: interrupting ‘And IntSec swooped investigation, military action, fi eld testing or in and arrested the Troubleshooter! I mean, any other initiative, as long as we meet Dominic-I presents this in a conspiratorial tone troublemaker. We interrogated him and do you our sales targets. And we’re not going to of voice, suggesting that the Troubleshooters know what his defence was? “I don’t know do that while we sit here arguing over who gets are his allies in this bureaucratic end run what made me do it!” MADE ME DO IT! He the Troubleshooters.’ around the other groups. Let the players decide was COMPELLED by an OUTSIDE FORCE to which of them will oversee each plan. Dominic- commit treason!’ Larry-B: interrupting ‘Armed Forces!’ I then instructs the Troubleshooters to go and Krystal-G: interrupting ‘HPD&MC!’ get a private briefi ng from the appropriate Larry-B: ‘That’s why I’m saying we must take Victor-B: interrupting ‘R&D!’ officer – so, the character who’s going to a stand against Communism! A forceful stand! Toni-G: interrupting ‘IntSec.’ co-ordinate security goes to see Larry-G, the We secure the whole sector with disciplined Dominic-I: awakening suddenly character who wants to run fi eld testing goes Armed Forces troops whose stronger minds ‘Aaagh!’ to Victor-B and so on. will resist Commie mind control! Meanwhile, the Troubleshooters investigate the source of Everyone stops and waits for the Take each Troubleshooter aside and present the Commie ray and-‘ INDIGO citizen to speak. the appropriate briefi ngs individually. None of the briefi ng offi cers are happy with Dominic-I’s Victory-B: ‘These Troubleshooters, fi nd the Dominic-I: ‘Hmm…you all make excellent, compromise but are each determined to be the transmitter? Ha! Unthinkable! If the ray is as excellent cases. I need to consult privately with one who solves the threat of the Commie Ray. I believe it to be, it will require the use of the the Troubleshooter team for a moment. Please All the briefi ngs end with the offi cer promising most advanced and experimental technologies wait in the ante-room, all of you.’ the Troubleshooters full and absolute support available to us! We must immediately fi eld but don’t call us, we’ll call you. test our own psychotronic devices! We Everyone troops out except for cannot afford a mind control gap with the Dominic-I, the Troubleshooters, and Communists!’ Dominic-I’s bodyguards. IntSec Briefi ng Krystal-G: ‘Look, the important thing to do Dominic-I: ‘Please, sit down. Sit, sit. Let’s Toni-G’s briefi ng is short and to the point – the is to warn people to stay alert, so they’ll know get this briefi ng started properly’. Communists exist as part of the traitorous not to give into Commie mind control if the underground. All the characters need to do Commies try to mind control them. I’ve got is infi ltrate one or more secret societies and some pamphlets and educational materials The Actual Briefi ng follow them back to the Commies. The Food here…’ Pyramid is a large, public venue and Internal Dominic-I explains that the actual problem Security suspects that it is full of society Toni-G: ‘Informing the common citizenry – locating and destroying the source of the message drops and secret meetings. The is not an option. The Troubleshooter mission Commie Ray that turns ordinary citizens fi rst step is to reduce the obvious security requires strict information control. The into traitors, apparently – has become a presence, encouraging traitors to act more Commies cannot know we have discovered departmental hot potato. Every service group openly within the Food Pyramid. Then, once their ray!’ – well, apart from Power and Tech Services they have learned of secret society meetings, – has an interest in the case. Therefore, infi ltrate the meetings and fi nd the Commies. Victor-G: ‘You have not discovered the ray! to avoid a bureaucratic logjam, Dominic-I You have only surmised the existence of the suggested they call in Troubleshooters, who ray from observation of its effects!’ are outside the service group structure. Armed Forces Briefi ng Chet-B: ‘Look, guys, it’s getting close to The mission is to take control of the Food Larry-G fi lls his briefi ng with military jargon and dinner time and I’ve got a cafeteria to run. We Pyramid, which seems to be the primary target codes. The 215th Infantry is standing by at Fort need to make a decision about the course for Commie Mind Control, probably because it’s Insurmountable, ready for insertion into the of action. You know that as long as the PLC a newly-built facility and therefore a high-profi le mission zone. Once deployed, the 215th will targets are hit, we will co-operate fully with any target. Then, they must locate and destroy the secure the area and be ready to strike against investigation –‘ Commie Ray, by implementing the various the Commie foe. Civilians, Larry-G proclaims, service group plans. The Troubleshooter have weak minds, untempered by military Larry-B: interrupting ‘Military action!’ team members should each oversee one of discipline. The Troubleshooters’ mission is to Krystal-G: interrupting ‘Educational the plans (pairing into teams if there are more co-ordinate deployment of the 215th and ensure campaign!’ that fi ve Troubleshooters, taking multiple plans the civilians ‘don’t get in the way’. Victor-B: interrupting ‘Field testing!’ each if there are less). One of the plans should
12 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 1. THE BRIEFING WAR
HPD&MC Briefi ng R&D Briefi ng PLC Briefi ng
Krystal-G informs the characters handling the Victor-B laughs and reassures the R&D Chet-B is quite optimistic. He’ll give the HPD&MC liaison that she wants to educate liaison that he is taking a personal interest Troubleshooters a tour of the Food Pyramid the common citizens about the dangers of in the Commie Ray Crisis. Already, his lab before handing the keys over to them and the Commie Ray. A HPD&MC documentary technicians are working on new and grander the cafeteria has a skilled staff who basically team will be sent to meet the characters at devices that will detect, counteract or maybe run the place anyway. The only thing the the Food Pyramid and the characters are to even reverse the effects of the Commie mind characters need to worry about are the design an informational video on the dangers control beam! All the Troubleshooters need to targets – the Food Pyramid needs to make of the Commie Ray. They must also ensure do is ensure that these devices are installed 100 Consumption Tracking Metric Units per that the population are kept happy, reassured correctly by precisely following the instructions daycycle (incorporating breakfast, lunch, and informed of what they’re cleared to know that Victor-B will send along with them. dinner and mandatory snack breaks), so the – remember, higher-clearance citizens on the Troubleshooters need to ensure that the efforts upper levels of the Food Pyramid deserve to to stop the Commie Ray don’t interrupt the know more about the ongoing crisis. business of serving food to the citizens.
Consumption Tracking Metric Units The CTMUs used by the Food Pyramid are based on the simple principle that feeding a high-clearance citizen is worth more than feeding an INFRARED. A CTMU is a complex metric derived from both the income from food sales and credits for completing your assigned duties of feeding the masses. You get one CTMU for every:
256 INFRAREDS 64 RED/ORANGE 8 YELLOW/GREEN 1 BLUE OR HIGHER
The number of CTMUs earned by the Food Pyramid is determined by a random roll, modifi ed by the level of chaos in the cafeteria. The tables for CTMU earnings are given in Episodes 4, 5 and 6. The characters need to earn 100 CTMUs per daycycle. Earning few or excess CTMUs will cause problems for the Troubleshooters.
Consumption Tracking Metric Unit Tracking CTMUs Result 50 or less Food Court has dropped below starvation levels; higher-clearance citizens authorised to eat lower-clearance ones. Troubleshooters get called to account for themselves by Chet-B’s vicious supervisor, Ingrid-I. She doesn’t need authorisation to eat people. See page 28 for more on Ingrid-I. 51-74 Food Court food budget severely overstretched. CPU auditors called in. They discover Chet-B’s embezzling but blame the characters. The characters need to somehow refi ll the budget by earning 125-149 CTMUs. 75-89 Food Court is running dangerously low on credits. The Troubleshooters are instructed to earn more credits – or else. Fined 250 credits 90-99 Below optimum CTMU earnings. Shape up. Fined 100 credits each. 100 Optimum CTMU earning! Well done! 101-110 Above optimum CTMU earning! Have a bonus 100 credits! 111-125 Well above optimum CTMU! You earn an extra 250 credits each. Also, supplies are running low. 125-149 Supplies massively overstretched, especially drug supplies. Populace is now longer in a happy druggy haze. Chance of food riots, spontaneous mutant power use, raids on upper levels. 150+ Biblical level disaster. INFRAREDs like a plague of locusts, eating everything. Doom, doom.
13 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
of a Troubleshooter, then that offi cer gives FCCC-P: There is a stack of Church leafl ets the mission; other missions are given by hidden behind a false wall on the third shelf Secret CPU Briefi ng anonymous clones in the corridors. in the third locker in the third giant walk-in refrigerator downstairs in the storage section Once all the other briefi ngs have been carried Anti-Mutant: Karl-R, the stores manager of the Food Pyramid. Retrieve them and pass out, randomly select one Troubleshooter. in the Food Pyramid, is a fi lthy mutant scum. the good news out to the INFRAREDs. Dominic-I contacts that Troubleshooter Get him killed if you can. and summons him to a meeting. There, the Frankenstein Destroyers: One of our INDIGO informs the Troubleshooter that his Communists: Er…we don’t have a mind allies, Morris-O, works in the Food Pyramid. secret mission is to observe the others and control ray. We’ve no idea what’s going on. Promote him if you can. report everything he sees to Dominic-I. Further Some of our propaganda was confi scated last instructions may be issued later. week by the Food Pyramid’s security service Free Enterprise (Chet-B): Listen to me, – get it back or destroy it. friend! I’ll make you rich; just keep the Food Pyramid going as long as you can. We’re Off To See Computer Phreaks: We’ve hacked the guest list for the dinner in the Food Pyramid Humanists: We’ve learned that a group of The Food Court in two days time. Mathias-I of IntSec is on that high-clearance citizens are meeting for dinner Tension 5 list. Terminate him! in a few days in the Food Pyramid. We want you to capture the Commie Ray and use it on Finally, once all the briefi ngs are complete, Corpore Metal: We have received reports them, thus spreading treason at the highest Chet-B collects the characters and brings that there is a Frankenstein Destroyer in levels of Alpha Complex and sowing the seeds them to the VitaYum Unifi ed Citizenry Food the Food Pyramid, mistreating our Botty of The Computer’s destruction! Pyramid Court… Brothers. Find and kill the machine hater. (It’s Morris-O) Illuminati: We need a warbot. Don’t ask why. We will arrange to have one delivered to Secret Society Missions Death Leopard: Dude! There’s a Death the cafeteria. Somehow, get it out of there and Leopard in the Food Pyramid called Metal leave it in the corridor outside, unwatched, with After the briefi ngs, the Troubleshooters each Noise. She’s done nothing cool lately. She the engine running. receive a secret society mission. If one of the must be down – fi nd her and motivate her. briefi ng offi cers matches the secret society (Alice-G is Metal Noise.) Mystics: Dude! Here’s a packet of…well, green goop. There’s a dinner of high-clearance citizens in the food pyramid in a few days time. Mix this stuff into their food and they’ll be tripping, man!
Psion: Our agent Karl-R works in the Food Pyramid. Do not be deceived by his brutish demeanor – he is a valued asset. Promote him!
Pro Tech (Victor-B): We must capture this Commie Ray for ourselves!
PURGE: Our agents led by Kevin-R will be meeting in the cafeteria. Find them, join them and aid their mission.
Romantics (Krystal-G): Hi! Wow, it’s great to be working with you! I don’t have a secret mission for you, but let’s be best friends!
Sierra Club (Larry-B): I’m sending you one of my best men, Bert-Y. He’s one of us. Protect him!
Listen carefully, I will say this only once.
14 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 2. CAFETERIA OF THE DAMNED 2. Cafeteria of the Damned Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters There’s also what looks like another dining VitaYum Unifi ed Citizenry Food Pyramid is are put in charge of one of the largest and most level above the BLUE one, sectioned off from the VitaYum/Complex Dynamics Security prestigious cafeterias in Alpha Complex. This the lower levels by tinted windows. It looks Invertower. It looks rather like the offspring proves to be a mistake. Chet-B takes them on to diners below like there are noble high- of a many-eyed, many-limbed giant mutant a tour of the cafeteria and introduces them to clearance citizens dining in the very same tarantula that had sex with a giant many-eyed, his four underlings, all of whom are traitors in building as them. What a grand gesture of many-limbed chandelier; the offspring then got their own way. brotherhood and unity! In fact, behind the tinted a advertising fast-food. It’s a huge mess of window are mobile human-shaped dummies screens, cameras and cables handing from the What, The with head-mounted cameras, observing the apex of the pyramid and reaching almost to the Troubleshooters Are In citizens below. ground fl oor. On the inside of the Invertower Charge? are the management and security offi ces of Level 0 - INFRAFRED the Food Pyramid. Yep. We’re giving the Troubleshooters actual Level 2 – YELLOW-GREEN authority over higher-clearance citizens. Level 3 - BLUE Around the walls of the various levels are food They get to make decisions and have some LEVEL 4 - ULTRAVIOLET preparation areas, restrooms, storerooms, bot level of control over the course of events. Level -1 - Stores maintenance facilities and so forth. Beneath INVERTOWER the Food Pyramid is a cavernous series This is exactly like giving a man enough rope of storerooms and warehouses along with to hang himself. Of course, they really do not need these dedicated Food Vats. cameras – the literal centrepiece of the The VitaYum Unifi ed Citizenry Food Pyramid Court The VitaYum Unified Citizenry Food Pyramid Court is the grandest, most exciting advancement in Alpha Complex Commissary Food Deployment since the Fun High-Speed FunInjection Nipple. It’s a huge pyramid- shaped room in the heart of FOG Sector, eight levels high and capable of serving up to 800 citizens at once. The whole building is a pristine, wipe-clean sparkling white, with more colour-coded stripes running everywhere. The stripes on the walls designate the security clearance of the area; the stripes on the fl oor guide patrons to different sections of the Food Pyramid.
The whole fl oor level of the Food Pyramid is INFRARED clearance. Above that, the walls slope inwards and the diners eat on wide balconies overlooking the fl oors below. The next level is RED clearance and serves RED and ORANGE citizens, then a YELLOW clearance level for YELLOW and GREEN citizens and fi nally a BLUE clearance level for BLUE and higher citizens. Levels are connected by escalators and elevators.
15 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY Food Service By Level Level 0 (INFRARED): Upon entering the cafeteria, pass through the metal detectors and swipe your ME card through the ME card reader. If you do not have enough food credits for a meal this daycycle, enter the line for Synthetic Nutrient-Free Stomach-Filling Fibre-Foam. Otherwise, enter the line for the food dispersers. Take a tray and receive servings of the barely edible slop of the day, plus a handful of tranquilisers and happy pills. Sit at one of the hundreds of identical black counters with your fellow drones. Eat, then drop your tray on one of the tray collecting robots and leave the counter area before the automated chemical purge wash cycle begins for that counter zone.
While eating, watch the stream of propaganda reports and inspirational videos on the Invertower’s thousand screens.
This Week’s Special: NutraGoop, Stomach-Filling Fibre-Foam
Level 1 (RED/ORANGE): Upon entering the cafeteria, pass through the metal detectors and swipe your ME card through the ME card reader. Stride past the cow-eyed INFRAREDs and proudly climb the stairs to your exclusive RED level. There, choose from up to half a dozen different food counters, then take your food and sit at a table with a chair that appears to have been designed for some sort of lizard.
If ORANGE, you don’t need to bother with queuing up for food – just sit down in the marginally comfi er chairs and wait for a WaiterBot to roll up and take your order.
While eating, watch the stream of propaganda reports and inspirational videos on the Invertower’s thousand screens, unless you’re lucky enough to be sitting at one of the few tables with its own TV set, in which case you can turn it to the Teela-O channel.
This Week’s Special: Hot Fun, VitaYum Bars
Level 2 (YELLOW/GREEN): Upon entering the cafeteria, pass through the metal detectors and swipe your ME card through the ME card reader. Stride past the cow-eyed INFRAREDs and climb the stairs to the RED level, holding your nose at the smell. Hop on the high-speed escalator to the YELLOW level and sit down on one of the comfy seats. Immediately, a WaiterBot zooms over to you and takes your order. Real food is available regularly and special high-price dishes are served by human waitstaff.
While eating, you can watch TV on the unit installed at each table.
This Week’s Special: Duck in YELLOW sauce
Level 3 (BLUE+): You don’t take the common entrance to the cafeteria – there’s a BLUE-only entrance on a higher level. You sit in your private booth and a human waiter (or bot, if you request privacy) comes over to take your order. You exit via the same exclusive access corridor. While eating, check your stock portfolio or access The Computer via the console built into every seat.
This Week’s Special: Beef in VIOLET sauce
after tier of cafeterias and seating come back here at the end of the Hi, We’re In areas, coded by clearance level. tour’ says Chet-B, pumping the The tinted windows of the upper hand of [TROUBLESHOOTER] three Charge level, the luxurious BLUE private times, then making an odd gesture Tension 10 couches and fi ne restaurants, the with his thumb. high-quality dining for YELLOW Read the following to the players. citizens, the queues for the RED Chet-B then introduces a YELLOW clone, vending machines, and the food Mike-Y, who is the chief of security for the Food Chet-B leads you through a twisty troughs for the INFRAREDs. Pyramid. Mike-Y is a grizzled gruff citizen who maze of corridors, all alike to a absolutely exudes competence and toughness, door marked Invertower Access. It The elevator passes into a tangled the ideal security chief. He’s dressed in battle opens into a glass-walled elevator. complex of cables and screens that armour and carries a slug rifl e everywhere Once you’re all inside, the elevator hangs in the centre of the open he goes. Unfortunately for the characters, descends into a vast pyramidal space. With a loud DING, you arrive Mike-Y confi scated a few pages of Commie chamber. You’re travelling down a in a small cluster of rooms at the propaganda off a traitor in the cafeteria last thick knot of cables hanging from very heart of the Food Pyramid. week and he read it instead of burning it. Now, the apex of the pyramid (get it? It’s that Commie propaganda has stuck in his head an Inverted Tower!) All around the ‘From here, you can oversee every and really makes sense to him… walls of the pyramid, you see tier aspect of our operations. We’ll
16 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 2. CAFETERIA OF THE DAMNED
of [TROUBLESHOOTER] twice Mike-Y-JKF-4 Morris-O-NOE-6 and giving him a thumbs-up. ‘Bots Management 4 Management 8 are the absolute foundation of the Bootlicking 1 Oratory 12 lower three level’s workforce. All Stealth 8 Organising Hundreds of Diners 14 our bots are maintained by Alice-G Sneaking 12 Stealth 4 and her staff. Bot, run off and get Surveillance 12 Violence 6 Alice, please.’ Security Systems 12 Hardware 4 Violence 6 Unclogging Food Troughs 10 ‘Sure thing Mr. Chet-B’ says the Energy Weapons 10 Bot Abuse 10 waiterbot, which spins around and Projectile Weapons 10 Software 4 zooms off. A few moments later, a Unarmed 10 Bot Programming 8 young citizen in a GREEN jumpsuit Hardware 4 Wetware 4 bounces up to you. She’s got all Weapons & Armour Maintenance 8 Biosciences 8 sorts of gadgets and spare parts Software 4 Armor: None hanging from her belt, stuffed into Data Analysis 8 Weapons: Laser Pistol (W3K) her pockets and even stuck behind Wetware 4 Mutant Power: Levitation her ears. Armor: Kevlar (I3), YELLOW Refl ex (E1) Secret Society: Frankenstein Weapons: Slug Thrower (I, W3K) Destroyer Mutant Power: Rubbery Bones Alice-G-NGH-2 Secret Society: None Management 4 domain to death and the bots on the RED Chutzpah 8 level are severely under-maintained and prone Stealth 4 Next, Chet-B takes the characters on a tour of to failure. To top it off, Morris-O will hate the Concealment 8 the Food Pyramid, starting with Level 0 (the characters too as soon as he’s introduced to Violence 4 INFRARED area). them – they’re being handed Chet-B’s job, Energy Weapons 8 whereas he deserves it. Agility 8 Hardware 8 Level 0/1 Bot Ops & Maintenance 12 Level 2 Software 8 ‘We call this the factory floor. Bot Programming 12 Here’s where the INFRAREDs get Chet-B reaches the foot of an Wetware 4 their slop. Slop dispensers are elevator to the YELLOW clearance Armor: GREEN Refl ec (E1) over by the walls; it’s all pumped level above, then stops and glances Weapons: Laser Pistol (W3K) up from the storage tanks and back at you. ‘Oh, don’t worry. Mutant Power: Mechanical Intuition food vats underground. We’ll get Since you’re getting my job for Secret Society: Death Leopard to them later, too. Upstairs is RED the duration of the crisis, you’re and ORANGE dining. all getting temporary promotions to BLUE clearance, effective only Alive-G is a sickeningly positive and enthusiastic This whole section is run by my within the confines of the Food technician, responsible for maintaining the bots. good buddy, Morris-O. Hey! Morris! Pyramid. That will let you into all She spouts technobabble in response to every Over here!’ security-sensitive sections of this question she’s asked. Secretly, she’s a Death cafeteria. Well, almost – there’s a Leopard (codename: Metal Scream) who uses Morris-O is a small knot of nervous stress on VIOLET dining experience up there her position to build homemade killer robots. legs and drugs. He has not slept in months that even I don’t get into.’ She’s got a secret workshop on Level 2, where and despite working in a restaurant, he has not she’s assembled a trio of misshapen monsters been able to keep food down in months either. Upstairs, you’re led into a wonderland made from waiterbot and mixerbot parts. She He subsists on drugs, protein supplements and of comfort and luxury beyond your hates Morris-O for abusing her bots and hates water. He secretly hates Chet-B, believing that dreams. Immediately, a waiterbot Alphonse-B because he’s exactly the sort of his supervisor is incompetent and careless. rolls over to you and cheerfully stuck-up twit that Death Leopards loathe. Morris-O covets Chet-B’s job or at least he burbles ‘welcome, sir! Our special would if he had time to think. He also hates today is roast duck in YELLOW Alice-G the bot technician upstairs and his sauce. May I take your order?’ Level 3 hatred of her has spilled over into full-blown Frankenstein Destroyer beliefs. Morris-O’s Chet-B gestures at the bot with Upstairs again, and into an almost sole delight is in working the few bots in his one hand while shaking the hand unimaginable level of luxury. This
17 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY whole level is BLUE-clearance. magic happens.’ He presses a Fountains tinkle musically between Alphonse-B button and a hidden panel opens tables of something Chet-B calls Management 8 revealing an elevator. You all crowd ‘mahogany’. The chairs look Bootlicking 12 in and it zooms down to the sublevel incredibly comfortable, something High-clearance savoire fare 12 beneath the Food Pyramid. While that defi nitely isn’t B3 sparkles in Stealth 8 you’re descending, Chet-B grabs crystal glasses and the sample Sneaking 12 the hand of [TROUBLESHOOTER] dishes on the menu are absolutely Violence 6 and shakes it from side to side mouthwatering. This surely is how Hand Weapons 10 while tapping his other hand on the the elite of Alpha Complex dine. Hardware 4 ‘DOOR CLOSE’ button. Software 4 The one fl y in the ointment is the Wetware 10 After two-thirds of a cheery elevator tall, thin BLUE citizen with a chef’s Cooking 16 song about how nice it is to be in hat stalking towards you. He looks Armor: None an elevator, the doors open into unhappy. Weapons: Power Whisk (M4K) a cavernous chamber. In the dim Mutant Power: Supercooking light, you can make out the hulking The third key member of the staff is the Secret Society: PURGE/Romantics shapes of food vats, storage tanks Cordon BLUE chef, Alphonse-B. He is and piles and piles of crates. You a terrible, terrible snob who cares about can also make out the hulking nothing but serving the fi nest, fi nest food to The Sublevel shape of a huge RED clone. the fi nest, fi nest citizens. He speaks with a ludicrously exaggerated French accent and Chet-B points up at the tinted ‘This is Karl-R’ says Chet-B, with a looks down his nose at anyone without the windows at the top level of the slight quiver in his voice. ‘He runs requisite clearance or breeding to appreciate pyramid. ‘Sometimes, you’ll see things down here.’ his food. Alphonse-B is secretly a member of people moving around up there. the PURGE society, who planned to use his The upper dining level is VIOLET ‘KARL-R’ says the giant, slapping position to assassinate certain high-clearance clearance and it’s all automated. his chest. ‘KARL-R!’ You can’t citizens with discrete poisons but he never You don’t need to worry about it. help but notice the bright yellow had the nerve. He’s also an avid Romantics registered-mutant stripe running member, using their connections to dig up old Anyway, come with me. Let’s go down his sleeve but it seems recipes and techniques. behind the scenes, to where the impolite to mention it.
Karl-R is indeed a giant hulking mutant who rules the sublevel with an iron fi st. He has a staff of pale, grub-like INFRARED slaves who skulk between the food vats. He’s not a moron, though – his speech patterns are an affectation. He’s a Psion agent who adds mutagens to the already-mutagenic food additives. He speaks like a giant idiot so people underestimate him. Karl-R-XAV-4 Management 4 Intimidation 8 Stealth 4 Sneaking 1 Shadowing 8 Violence 10 Energy Weapons 14 Unarmed Combat 14 Hardware 4 Software 4 Wetware 4 Armor: None Weapons: None Mutant Power: Adrenaline Control, Mental Blast Hot Fun is not Haute Cuisine. Secret Society: Psion
18 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 2. CAFETERIA OF THE DAMNED
the Troubleshooters into his offi ce and serves behind his desk with one hand them a generous helping of genuine booze. and vigorously shakes the hand Back to the Invertower of [TROUBLESHOOTER] with the ‘Well, that’s the Food Pyramid. other. He pumps it twice, then Finally, Chet-B brings the Troubleshooters It’s all yours now, guys. I’m being swaps the briefcase to the other back to the Invertower. There are several temporarily reassigned to FUN hand and shakes it twice again. rooms in this little complex – there’s the Sector for a break – but here’s my ‘Cheerio’ he says and vanishes manager’s offi ce, the security offi ce, the food personal number so you can call from your lives. vat control offi ce and the executive bathroom. me if anything goes wrong. I’m He waves vaguely at the latter three and says sure you’ll track down this Commie The number Chet-B gives is, of course, fake. that they’re all pretty self-explanatory and Ray in no time! Good luck!’ Chet- He’s running away with his ill-gotten gains. that nothing can go wrong. He then ushers B takes a heavy suitcase from 3. This Will Solve The Problem Episode Summary: The four cunning Armed Forces: The 215th Interview show To disable some of the security systems in plans to locate the Commie Ray are put into up and want dinner and a place to stay. the Food Pyramid, the Troubleshooters need operation. This too proves to be a mistake. to either order Mike-Y the security chief to do R&D: Victor-I has a giant MRI that he wants so, switch the security systems off themselves There’s one section in this episode for the Troubleshooters to scan diners with. from the security offi ce or else sabotage the each of the four plans. In each section, the physical cameras and table microphones Troubleshooters have to implement the fi rst This episode is supposed to take one daycycle. throughout the Pyramid. section of the plan, as described by the liaison At the end of it, the Troubleshooters must for that section. If the Troubleshooter who, calculate how many Consumption Tracking say, was responsible for the HPD&MC part Metric Units they have earned. Persuading Mike-Y of the plan cannot remember what Krystal-G told him to do in the last section, then the Internal Security Mike-Y is adamant that turning off the security Troubleshooters still have to fi nd some use for systems would be a bad idea. A Really Bad a documentary fi lm crew. When implementing – Enabling Idea. He absolutely refuses to do it unless they the plans, assume there are lots of staff in the directly order him to do so and if they put their cafeteria but all orders must be given directly or Treason order in writing and if there’s an undeniable fi ltered through Morris-O, Alice-G, Alphonse-B Tension 10, probably dropping paper trail a mile wide that directly connects or Karl-R. the Troubleshooters with the Really Bad According to the instructions given by Toni-G, Idea and completely absolves Mike-Y of any The plans are: the fi rst step is for the Troubleshooters to wrongdoing. If the Troubleshooters do this, Internal Security: The Troubleshooters lower the security level of the Food Pyramid, then Mike-Y will take great joy in pinning the are to decrease the security presence in the making it more attractive for Commie Mutant ensuing problems on them. The Tension drops Food Pyramid, to encourage traitors to show Traitors to meet there. Toni-G’s undercover to 5 if the characters take this option. up there. IntSec agents will then identify and trace these Commie Mutant Traitor meetings, opening HPD&MC: The Troubleshooters get to up a path to the treasonous underworld and star in their own educational video about the from there to the Commie Ray. At least, that dangers of Commie Rays. is the theory. Day Planner, Day One 0600 Wake-Up 1600 0700 Breakfast – Meeting with Mike-Y re: Security system, turning off 1700 0800 Breakfast 1800 Dinner – Premier of video 0900 Breakfast 1900 Dinner – Armed Forces arrive 1000 2000 Dinner – R&D Gadget arrives 1100 Supplies Arrive 2100 Dinner 1200 Lunch – Meeting with HPD&MC Film crew 2200 Cleaning 1300 Lunch – Making the video 2300 Cleaning 1400 Lunch 2400 Cleaning 1500 Nightcycle
19 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
permission to send in his guards to arrest the From this point on in the mission, the Tension Switching Off The Security saboteur. The ‘saboteur’ is actually Jerome-R, score in the Food Pyramid is equal to whatever Systems Themselves an Internal Security agent working for Toni-G, the Troubleshooters just set it to. who is spying on Commies. Well, first they need to get Mike-Y out of his offi ce, which isn’t that hard. Then they If the guards try to arrest Jerome-R, he HPD&MC – Video need to switch off the security system. The assumes that he’s been identified as an security system control panel is like looking Internal Security agent by Commie Mutant Killed The into the howling face of absolute madness, Traitors and fi ghts back. A standoff quickly as interpreted through the medium of buttons develops on Level 1 between the guards Commie Star and levers. and Jerome-R, who takes shelter behind a Tension There’s A Guy With A waiterbot that’s loaded with highly fl ammable Camera Staring At Us There’s a large and tempting OFF switch that (infl ammable? Whatever. Call it explosive) Hot switches off ALL security throughout the Food Fun. Unless the characters intercede when the Krystal-G promised the Troubleshooters that Pyramid. Pressing this is a Really, Really Bad lasers start zapping, they end up with a big she would send a documentary team to help Idea, even worse than the Really Bad Idea boom that takes out a chunk of Level 1. them produce an educational video about the of turning off some of the security systems. dangers of the Commie Ray. Unfortunately, she If they turn off all the security systems, then made a slight mistake when fi lling out the work the Tension throughout the Food Pyramid Anarchy (Tension=0) order. Instead of assigning the documentary drops to 0. team to work for the Troubleshooters, If the characters have reduced the Tension she assigned the team to work with them They can also try to work the controls. This to 0, then a riot breaks out in the INFRARED – meaning the Troubleshooters will be starring requires a Security System roll or random section. Without security systems, it is in the documentary. The work order is signed button pressing. A successful roll lets them set impossible to tell who started it but rumours by Krystal-G’s INDIGO-clearance supervisor, the Tension to whatever they want. If they risk insist that the Commie Ray swept through Reginald-I, so there’s no way to get out of it. random button pressing, roll on the Security the cafeteria. System Catastrophe table.
Roll Effect Final Tension 1-4 System entirely shut down. 0 5-8 Fire Suppression System activated. A group of GREEN citizens on a dinner party 5 are very, very wet and very angry. 9-12 Overdose of tranquilisers added to Hot Fun. Level 0 is suddenly fi lled with dozens 10 of quietly slumbering INFRAREDs. 13-16 Alerts sent to Internal Security, informing them that the Food Pyramid is under 5 Commie attack. A heavily armed strike team shows up with hostage negotiators in tow, to ensure the safety of the high-clearance citizens on level 2. 17-20 System goes wild, showing sparks everywhere. 1d20
Disabling The System HPD&MC Edufotainment Video Team Work Order Form HPD&MC/542/7/b/2 Themselves Description of Video: Informational video on the effects of the Commie Ray, to be displayed on video monitors throughout Food Pyramid and FOG Sector If the Troubleshooters want to wander around Minimum Run Time: 3 min Maximum Run Time: 5 min smashing security cameras, they can. Mike-Y Security Clearance of Video: INFRARED will have words for them or for the debriefi ng Approved Assets: VitaYum United Citizenry Food Pyramid Court, assorted offi cer at the end… ad hoc props and locations up to security clearance ORANGE Subjects: (Troubleshooters) TICK ALL THAT APPLY: Supervisor: (blank) [ ] dramatic music [X] simulated violence The IntSec Situation Authorisation: Reginald-I-HJK [X] subliminal messaging [X] B3 consumption [X] adult situations [ ] mental stimulation (Tension >0) [ ] fl ashing lights [ ] DVD extras [X] simulated treachery [ ] Teela-O If the Tension is anything other than 0, then a rather tricky problem arises. Mike-Y contacts the Troubleshooters, informing them that he’s noticed a rather suspicious person on Level 1 that he suspects is a saboteur. He wants
20 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 3. THIS WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM
The Troubleshooters need to script and act out for another documentary, The Cafeterias the heavy fi repower backing him up. Secretly, a short fi lm, educating the citizens about the of Tomorrowcycle! Bert-Y wants to be a Sierra Clubber – his effects of the Commie Ray. The documentary time in the Armed Forces has given him an team consists of two citizens, a director and appreciation for the natural world but he hasn’t a camera-man. Informing the Populace dared to indulge his desires for potted plants The director is Lucius-O, who is more used and topsoil. to making dramatic Troubleshooter action Once the video is complete, the Troubleshooters movies like Heroes of the Complex and must display it on the screens in the Food Bert-Y demands the Troubleshooters provide Commie Zapping Action Hour! He’s got Pyramid. Pay very close attention to the the following: the attention span of a gamer and is shallower contents of the video that the players came Somewhere For His Men To than a monofi lament looking glass. He wants up with – this will determine the initial attitude Sleep: They’ve got sleeping bags and more action and drama and passion at of the citizens in the Food Pyramid to the tents but need space. every step! He’s also got suppressed Mystic Commie Ray. Rumours are already circulating Food: He’s not going to pay for it or tendencies, as drugs are about the only things that there’s some sort of Commie Mind Control anything. This is a contracted mission for that slow him down. ray out there; the video made by the characters the Food Pyramid, so any living expenses will determine the level of psychohypochondria should be bourn by PLC. The cameraman is Donna-R; she rarely that runs rampant in the sector. A Tactical Briefi ng: He has no idea speaks and obeys all of Lucius-O’s commands what he or his men are supposed to be silently and competently. She’s an Internal doing but they got ordered to march here Security spy and her multicorder has a signal Armed Forces this morning and isn’t happy about that splitter so it automatically transmits a copy either. back to Internal Security. She’s also a secret – Send in the FCCC-P fanatic. Troops Bert-Y-OID-4 Tension Depends On What The Management 4 Our Fifteen Minutes Of Fame Troubleshooters Just Did Interrogation 8 Intimidation 8 The Troubleshooters need to decide on a script According to Larry-G’s plan, the 215th Infantry Shouting Orders 10 and what sort of message they want to send is being deployed to the Food Pyramid to Stealth 4 to the common citizenry. How do they convey secure the area and watch for traitors – and, Violence 8 the (still-hazy) threat of the Commie Ray? as promised, the 215th Infantry shows up at the Energy Weapons 12 What should a loyal citizen do when he feels entrance to the Food Pyramid. There are 500 Projectile Weapons 12 traitorous impulses well up from within? Lucius- heavily armed Armed Forces grunts, led by Hardware 4 O will push for the most dramatic interpretation Bert-Y. They’ve just marched from their base Weapons & Armour Maintenance 8 possible, while Donna-R silently observes and Outside through six sectors to FOG; they’re Software 4 watches for treason. If the characters deviate tired, sweaty, hungry and looking forward to Wetware 4 from the work order, then she speaks up. getting into the billets that they’ve been told Armor: Kevlar (I3), YELLOW Refl ex (E1) will be waiting for them. The Troubleshooters Weapons: Laser Rifl e (W3K) After the video is complete, Lucius-O and have sorted out accommodation for 500 Mutant Power: Electroshock Donna-R run back to HPD&MC to edit it, put soldiers, right? Secret Society: Sierra Club in a dramatic voice over, music and subliminal messaging and attend the wrap party (they Right? don’t invite the Troubleshooters). They then come back to the Food Pyramid and hand over Bert-Y is a short, offi cious and annoying career Armed Forces Grunt a copy of the video to the Troubleshooters, then soldier. He’s red-faced, balding, bellicose and Management 2 hang around the Food Pyramid fi lming events would be a joke if not for the 500 soldiers and Bootlicking 6 Intimidation 6 Stealth 4 Violence 6 Energy Weapons 10 Armor: Kevlar (I3) Weapons: Laser Rifl e (W3K) Mutant Power: Varies Secret Society: Varies
21 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
Also, if the troops are stationed on Level 0 and they’re allowed to run wild in the food troughs, then violence erupts when a civilian INFRARED takes the last packet of Algae Crisps. Suddenly, a huge fi stfi ght erupts on the lowest level. There are far too many soldiers for Mike-Y’s Food Pyramid security team to deal with – what do the characters do?
If the Troubleshooters don’t authorise the Armed Forces troops to have free reign of the food troughs, then there’s an awful lot of grumbling but no penalties… yet.
A Tactical Briefi ng Bert-Y wants to know what his soldiers are going to be doing. He’s got 500 armed thugs who need to shoot something regularly or at least burn off some of their combat-drug- fuelled energy, then things will get violent quickly. What do the Troubleshooters want to do with their army?
Guess whose army is coming to dinner… R&D – MRIs For danger of being crushed or trampled. Still, it All Accommodation all works well for now. Tension Inside The MRI: 20 The Troubleshooters have two options – they If they put them in the subbasement, then Bert- Mad scientist Victor-B promised he would can section off part of Level 0 for the soldiers Y complains that the food vats are leaking and send the Troubleshooters technology to or they can stick them down in the bowels of Karl-R complains that soldiers are stealing his deal with the Commie Ray and the fi rst bit of the storage levels. Bert-Y favours the former supplies and getting lost in the maze of twisty this technology shows up in the evening of option but this will cut the cafeteria’s ability corridors and cellars. It also means there is the fi rst daycycle. It’s a huge packing crate, to serve INFRAREDs in half. He strongly no real way for the soldiers to respond to marked ‘THIS WAY UP’ (it’s upside-down) disapproves of exiling his men to the dank traitors showing up and attacking the Food and weighing many tons. It’s delivered by a under-basement. Pyramid, unless the Troubleshooters want surly truckbot that zooms off after dropping to try organising a rapid deployment via the off the crate. If they stick the soldiers on Level 0, then the dumb waiters. Food Pyramid rapidly turns into a sprawling Stuck to the side of the crate is a note from campsite, with underwear drying on washing Victor-B. ‘Set this up in the entrance lines, Solyent RED cooking on capefi res, tanks Feeding The Five Hundred to the Food Pyramid and scan all rolling around patrolling the perimeter and the incoming citizens. Victor-B.’ When the occasional random outburst of gunfi re. Higher- So, what do you serve 500 hungry hungry crate is opened, inside the Troubleshooters clearance citizens look down disapprovingly soldiers? If the Troubleshooters just let them fi nd a giant self-powered magnetic resonance from the balconies above and the INFRAREDs run wild in the INFRARED food lines, then imaging scanner. It’s the size of a jet engine. are crammed so tightly in the non-militarised this will severely impact the Food Pyramid’s There are steps at either end and friendly little sections of the ground fl oor that there’s a real CTMUs for the day. diagrams show that the citizens are supposed
22 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 3. THIS WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM to troop through the scanner on their way to the the scientist demanding they implement his Armed Forces cafeteria. The MRI also includes a transmitter data gathering technology! Without a baseline Armed Forces detachment has taken up to send data back to Victor-B’s laboratory. for the squishy brains of the diners, how can residence on Level 0: -5 they trace the effects of the Communist Mind Armed Forces given free reign in the food Control beam? troughs: -5 The Sound of Armed Forces forced to pay full price for food: +5 Impending Doom PLC – Cashing Internal Security There’s one problem with this gadget – when Out On Day One Tension is between 1 and 5, making the activated, it creates a very strong magnetic Tension Impending Doom cafeteria a great place for conspirators to fi eld over the whole Food Pyramid. This pulls meet: +5 the following items strongly toward the MRI At the end of the daycycle, it’s time to work Tension is 0, resulting in anarchy and machine: out how many CTMUs the Troubleshooters violence: -5 The metal cutlery and plates used on earned. Roll 1d10x5 for each of the three Levels 1-3 major mealcycles (breakfast, lunch, dinner) HPD&MC The metal escalators and banisters to determine the number of CTMUs earned. Video is especially entertaining: +5 The metal vending machines and food Perversity can be spent on this roll. Rumours of Commie Mind Control are troughs greatly exaggerated: -5 The metal scrubbots and waiterbots The roll is also modified by events in the The metal guns and armour worn by the Food Pyramid. Apply the modifi ers to, well, R&D Armed Forces whatever rolls you feel like to be honest. This They actually use the MRI: -5 The metal screens and cameras of the is PARANOIA, after all – be as inconsistent Invertower and cruel as you wish. Finally, add up the number of CTMUs earned The metal girders in the walls and compare it to the table on page 31.
Switching on the MRI for more than five seconds at a time causes severe disruption to the smooth running of the cafeteria (and will draw angry complaints from Alice-G, Morris-O and Alphonse-B). Leaving it running for 30 seconds or more will cause severe structural damage. It takes fi ve seconds to spin up or to spin down and it takes another fi ve seconds to scan a citizen.
In short, it’s a big giant useless piece of metal. (Oh, the MRI also attracts itself). If the Troubleshooters do not send data back to Victor-B, then they get an angry message from
The off switch, ironically, is made of plastic.
23 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY 4. This Did Not Solve The Problem Episode Summary: The various plans There’s an odd prickly feeling in the air, as if up and punches the lead Troubleshooter in advance. This really doesn’t help. Meanwhile, the local nuclear reactor was being twitchy. All the face. as knowledge of the ‘existence’ of the Commie the citizens the Troubleshooters pass seem Ray becomes common, everyone starts using nervous. the Commie Ray as an excuse to commit Crisis at Breakfastcycle treason. Near the entrance to the Food Pyramid, the Troubleshooters come upon an odd scene. Morris-O is always full of hate but the disruptions Armed Forces: The 215th fortifies There’s a RED citizen sitting in the middle of caused by all the different plans to save the their position as treason takes hold of the the corridor, napping. There’s a pair of GREEN cafeteria from the Commie Ray really annoyed cafeteria. goons standing on either side of him, directing him. With all the rumours circulating about foot traffic around him. The RED clone is using the Commie Ray as an excuse, Morris-O Internal Security: The Troubleshooters stretched out, his head pillowed on a thick decided to take a swing at his boss and blame are sent to infi ltrate a secret society meeting folder entitled ‘Directives for the Effi cient it on the Commie Ray. in their own cafeteria. Auditing of Type I Screw Washers in Type II Screw Washer Storage Morris-O’s surprisingly solid HPD&MC: As the panic over the Commie Facilities’ and appears to be fast asleep. fist connects very solidly with Ray grows, Krystal-G has a whole new If the Troubleshooters ask why this RED [TROUBLESHOOTER]’s nose. initiative to solve the problem. citizen is allowed to keep on sleeping in the There’s a distinct wet snapping middle of the morningcycle, one goon grunts noise and a gush of low-clearance R&D: Victor-B sends new and even more that the matter is classifi ed. From behind the fluids mixed with a few mid- disturbing gadgets to the Food Pyramid. grunting GREEN goon, the Troubleshooters clearance GREENs come pouring hear the sleeping citizen mutter ‘I can’t out. It’s really painful. PLC: Chet-B’s supervisor Ingrid-I shows help it… the ray… making me up. soooooo sleepy. I must…lie down Morris-O grins widely (it’s the fi rst and sleep… not my volition… time you’ve seen the man smile Again, this episode is supposed to take Commies… making me sleepy… since you met him yesterday), then place over one daycycle. At the end of it, the with their Ray… mmm… just like suddenly snaps to attention and Troubleshooters must again calculate how on the informational video.’ salute. ‘Sorry’, he says, ‘the Commie many Consumption Tracking Metric Units Ray made me do it! I was suddenly they’ve earned. As the RED citizen is not responsible for overwhelmed by the desire to punch committing treason (ok, not even in Friend you in the face, sir! Obviously, the It’s Not My Fault, Computer’s most fevered crossed circuits Commies are so scared of you that is sleeping on duty considered full-fl edged they’re trying to make innocent It’s The Ray treason but it’s still a severe misdemeanour), citizens attack you!’ he is not being punished. Anyone blaming Tension Whatever It’s Currently their treacherous impulses on the ray is given The Troubleshooters can discipline Morris-O Set To special dispensation – it’s not your fault if as they wish, but he’s technically in the right, you’re mind controlled, after all. as they discover when they get to their offi ce As the Troubleshooters return to the Food in the Invertower, where Krystal-G is waiting Pyramid the next morning, they spot an The Troubleshooters discover this when they for them. unusual amount of graffi ti spray-bombed on arrive at the Food Pyramid and Morris-O walks the formerly pristine walls of FOG Sector. Day Planner, Day Two 0600 Wake-Up 1600 0700 Breakfast – Encounter sleeping citizen 1700 0800 Breakfast – Meeting with Krystal-G 1800 Dinner 0900 Breakfast – Yoga classes start 1900 Dinner – Ingrid-I arrives 1000 Yoga continues throughout the day 2000 Dinner – PURGE meeting 1100 Supplies arrive 2100 Dinner 1200 Lunch – Meeting with Bert-Y 2200 Cleaning 1300 Lunch – Lots of Armed Forces stuff arrives 2300 Cleaning 1400 Lunch – Visit from Toni-G 2400 Cleaning 1500 Box of helmets arrives from R&D Nightcycle
24 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 4. THIS DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM
This nice citizen on the transtube yoga and chant treasonous phrases. The Opportunities for handed me these leaflets and I INFRAREDs are a bit confused but willing Treachery thought I could use it to get people to follow the orders of a higher-clearance With rumours of the Commie Ray in full swing, to relax. This Food Court’s a nice big citizen. Krystal-G will continue to teach yoga every suppressed treasonous impulse venue – I’m going to show people for the rest of the daycycle unless stopped how to relax the natural way.’ or terminated. If the Troubleshooters come near her, then she tries to get them to join in. She drops a badly-printed leafl et on Krystal-G is absolutely oblivious to anything HPD&MC – your desk and wanders out. The title else, and will keep teaching yoga even in the of the leafl et is ‘YOGA SECRETS OF middle of a fi refi ght. Relaxing Time THE ANCIENTS – LEARN THE TRUTH Tension Leeching From Your ABOUT NATURAL HAPPINESS. Body SAY NO TO THE COMPUTER’S ARTIFICIAL CONTROL OF JOY! Krystal-G ‘Hi guys!’ says Krystal-G perkily. ‘I BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE Management 4 loved you in that video, it was just ROMANTICS SOCIETY!’ Con Games 1 super! It really taught the common Hygiene 8 citizens about how those Commies The Troubleshooters have just been ordered Chutzpah 8 are using mind control to make to help distribute treasonous propaganda to the Stealth 4 people commit treason and it’s diners in the Food Pyramid. The leafl et contains Violence 4 no-one’s fault at all! Except the a mix of basic yoga techniques and Romantic Hardware 4 Commies, of course! propaganda, so it’s not that treasonous but still Software 4 very questionable, especially as it advocates Wetware 4 Anyway, my boss was looking at the stuff like chanting ‘Omm… The Computer Armor: None happiness report for this sector and is not my Friend’ while wrapping your legs Weapons: None it’s really good. The one thing is the around your head. Mutant Power: Uncanny Luck stress index is kinda high, I guess Secret Society: Romantics ‘cos everyone’s worried about being Krystal-G heads down to Level 1 with a hit by the Commie Ray. So, we need megaphone and starts showing the to get people to relax. INFRAREDs on the fl oor below how to do
Random Yoga Instruction Table Roll Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 1-2 Put your left leg… Behind Your left leg Gently 3-4 Put your right leg… Over Your right leg Slowly 5-6 Put your left arm… Under Your left arm Tenderly 7-8 Put your right arm… Through Your right arm Quickly 9-10 Put your neck… Beside Your neck Sharply 11-12 Put your spine… Around Your back Strongly 13-14 Put your head… Twisted Around Your shoulder Repeatedly 15-16 Stretch your body and put it… Folded Into Your head Immediately 17-18 Take your partner’s hand and put it… On Top Of Your thighs Forcefully 19-20 Take your partner’s head and put it… Between Yours whole body Violently Roll once on each column to generate an instruction.
25 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY Internal Security – The Meeting Tension Mounting
Toni-G the Internal Security liaison is the next to contact the Troubleshooters. Her spies have determined that PURGE are going to be holding a meeting in the Food Pyramid on Level 1 during dinner this evening. The Troubleshooters will be able to recognise the PURGE conspirators by their secret eating technique – no matter what the PURGErs are eating, they use a fork three times, and then a spoon twice.
The Troubleshooters’ mission is to infi ltrate this PURGE meeting and somehow push the discussion towards the Commie Ray. As PURGE are known to be allies of the Commies, no doubt the PURGErs will know where the Ray is. This mission is top secret and must only be undertaken by the Troubleshooters.
They do have several hours to prepare for this undercover assignment, of course. Yoga is possibly the only time you actually want the rubbery bones mutation. R&D – These Armed Forces – Sixteen (16) portable nuclear strike-proof bunkers. New Stylish Fort Food Court Ten (10) kilometres of two-metre high fl at-pack wall segments. Tension Rising Twenty (20) kilometres of electrified, Helmets poisoned and self-repairing barbed wire. Tension The Doom of Fashion The Armed Forces commander Bert-Y Two hundred (200) anti-personnel mines. contacts the Troubleshooters. ‘My troops Enough laser rifl es to outfi t a battalion. Another giant crate arrives on the doorstep, have been attacked by citizens One (1) WarBot (Shadow Mark II). delivered by R&D. Inside this one are under the effect of the Commie one dozen bulky metal helmets. There’s Ray’, he says, ‘no casualties thus The Troubleshooters need to fi nd places to also a large manual entitled ‘PROPER far but I want to take steps to stow all of this stuff. The easy option is to DEPLOYMENT AND USE OF PROTOTYPE protect the Armed Forces assets throw it all the subbasement with Karl-R but MENTAL ADJUSTMENT HELMET MK 1’. attached to this operation. I have this will come back to hurt them later in the Every page in the large manual is blank except therefore requested some additional mission. They can also just stack the stuff on for the words ‘TEXT GOES HERE’. fortifi cations from Armed Forces the fl oor of the Food Pyramid. It’s the material command. As this is your food like the barbed wire, walls and minefi elds that The metal helmets are really heavy and painful court, it’s up to you to locate and will cause the most disruption (what a strange to wear. Each helmet has a large red LED install these fortifi cations. They’re world to live in, where the WarBot isn’t the thing that glows when the helmet is switched on. waiting on truckbots outside the that causes the most disruption). There’s a power stud at the back of the neck. main entrance.’ Inside, the padded interior is lined with little Bert-Y will offer helpful suggestions if the silvery wires that feel painful to the touch, like True to his word, Bert-Y has brought in a Troubleshooters ask but he wants to build the stingers of a jellyfi sh. A few of the helmets load of extra Armed Forces stuff. Waiting a combat-ready fortress, not serve Hot Fun have sticky notes on them. Each sticky note on trucks outside the Food Pyramid are the to INFRAREDs or hunt down a mysterious bears the name of a particular Troubleshooter following items: Commie Ray. This section is mainly an excuse and it’s obvious that one helmet is meant for Four (4) watchtowers with searchlights for the players to play Interior Decorator with each player character. and machine guns. military gear but will also be an important factor Two (2) security checkpoints with barriers, in later sections of the mission, so keep track If a character puts on a helmet and switches sandbags and ME scanners. of what goes where. it on, he feels… different. He can’t put his Two (2) anti-aircraft guns. Four (4) artillery guns.
26 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 4. THIS DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM
fi nger on exactly what’s different, but there’s defi nitely something different. Roll on the Mental in the sector for a brief chat with Chet-B, in Adjustment Table for each character who puts a helmet on. advance of the very important dinner tomorrow that’s being held on Level 3. She expected Chet- Roll Effects B to be waiting her, ready for the inspection. 1-2 Subject becomes colour blind Instead, she’s met by a scruffy group of clueless 3-4 Subject unable to move his right hand Troubleshooters and a cafeteria that looks 5-6 Subject believes that everyone in Alpha Complex is a lizard in a human suit (depending on the Troubleshooters’s actions) 7-8 Subject can no longer perceive the number ‘seven’ like a warzone, an armed camp, a yoga class 9-10 Subject’s mutant power rating doubles or a giant ball of twisted metal. She is, to put it 11-12 Subject unconsciously removes all clothing mildly, not happy. 13-14 Subject obeys all commands given to him 15-16 Subject can see electronic signals ‘I am, to put it mildly, not happy’ 17-18 Subject’s sense of taste becomes incredibly sensisitive Ingrid-I growls. ‘I have no idea why 19-20 Subject becomes immensely hungry all the time Chet-B put you in charge without my permission but rest assured that you will suffer along with him furious – cuts its way through for any failings. The annual meeting the buzz of the crowd. ‘CHET-B?! of Sector Section Supervisors is on Using The Helmets Where are you, you incompetent here tomorrowcycle and it’s too late vatslime!’ to cancel. The Helmets are designed to block the effects of the Commie Ray but seeing as the Commie The visitor is Ingrid-I, Chet-B’s superior and the We’re going to take a little tour Ray doesn’t actually exist, the helmets just Chief Cafeteria and Commissary Operations of this cafeteria. Anytime I see screw with the brainwaves of the wearer Coordinator for this whole sector. She rose to something I don’t like, someone randomly. However, everyone else believes this exalted position over the literal corpses of loses a fi nger. Understand?’ that anyone wearing a helmet is immune to the her foes; Ingrid-I is secretly a Matter Eater and Commie Ray’s effects. The Troubleshooters a cannibal, who picks her teeth with the bones therefore cannot avoid penalties for treason of failed cafeteria managers. Her teeth, sharp Another Tour by blaming the ray for their actions as long as and glistening, are by far her most prominent they’re wearing these troublesome helmets. feature. Her eyes are the eyes of a shark. Ingrid-I then orders the Troubleshooters to take her on a tour of the cafeteria, starting Anyway, she just popped into the most with Level 0. PLC – the Tour prestigious and high-profi le cafeteria Tension Rising
Read the following to the players: Dinnercycle has fi nally started and things seem to be going as smoothly as can be hoped. Morris-O is a little orange blur on the ground fl oor, dealing with a dozen crises at once. Alice-G’s fleet of waiterbots zip around the Food Pyramid, bringing food to hungry clones. Far above, Alphonse-B shows the wine list to the two BLUE-clearance citizens eating here this dinnercycle. You’re almost prepared to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then you hear a commotion at the main entrance. A group of heavily armed GREEN goons push their way through the crowd, shielding someone very clearly VIOLET in their midst. A voice – shrill, painful,
Ingrid-I. She is not your friend.
27 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
entourage sweeps onto Level 2 and won’t will be arriving tomorrow evening entertain suggestions of stopping. (Saying – this place had better be spotless Ingrid-I ‘two minutes! We need to attend a and running smoothly by the time PURGE meeting’ just gets them shot by her they get here! And get me some Management 10 bodyguards.) See Purge Meeting, below. ketchup for these fi ngers!’ Intimidation 14 Hygiene 14 Level 2: ‘Oh, by the way, Chet-B Stealth 8 ordered in the fi nest ingredients Intsec – PURGE Violence 12 for the dinner tomorrow. Check Unarmed Combat 16 with that monster in the basement Meeting Hardware 10 to ensure they arrived. We spared Tension Rather High, Probably Software 12 no expense for the Sector Section Data Analysis 16 Supervisor’s Dinner!’ If the Troubleshooters make it back to the Financial Systems 16 secret PURGE meeting, they can try to infi ltrate Wetware 10 If a Troubleshooter checks with Karl-R, he it. There are four burly traitors here, all RED- Armor: INDIGO Refl ec (E3) discovers that the ingredients have been clearance. The lead PURGE traitor is Kevin-R. Weapons: Teeth (M3V) ordered and should arrive tomorrow. The tables on either side of the PURGE Mutant Power: Super matter eating meeting are all full of loud and hyperactive Secret Society: Anti-Mutant Level 3: ‘Alphonse! My darling, do Power Services technicians who just fi nished they still have a chef of your genius overhauling a sewer pump station, and are working in this hellhole? You trading heroic and manly tales of waste pipes should be upstairs! But I’ll forgive and sump overfl ows, so eavesdropping on the it all if you excel tomorrow! Where PURGE meeting without electronics or mutant Level 0: ‘I don’t care about the damn is the menu?’ powers is impossible. INFRAREDs! And keep that Morris- O away from me, he annoys me.’ Alphonse-B and Ingrid-I are old friends. He If the Troubleshooters sit down at the PURGE gives her a copy of the menu and hands table (there are free seats), the PURGErs Fingers lost for: the Troubleshooters another copy. It is draw laser pistols and point them at the Anyone committing treason nearby. interesting reading. Troubleshooters under the table. Kevin-R Armed Forces troops messing up her nice Ingrid-I stabs a thin finger at the menu. demands to know who the characters are and cafeteria. ‘Make sure that Alphonse has if they don’t come up with a good cover story or Armed Forces equipment cluttering up her everything he needs! The guests reason for being there quickly, the PURGErs nice cafeteria. open fi re. Sitting down with a plate of food and That MRI still running. VitaYum Unifi ed Citizenry Food mimicking the PURGE fork/spoon recognition Citizens wearing non-standard uniforms, Pyramid Court code will work. like the R&D helmets. Sector Section Supervisors Annual Yearcycle-End Banquet Her GREEN goons remove the fi ngers with a Secrets of the PURGE handy pair of wirecutters and put them into a MENU bag for Ingrid. By the incomparable Alphonse-B brotherhood
Level 1: ‘Yes, yes, REDs, who the Mushrooms in Glazed Honey Once he trusts the Troubleshooters, Kevin-R hell cares? They’re just INFRAREDs Genetically Engineered Soup launches into a conspiratorial rant: with ribbons on top.’ Beef Surprise in VIOLET sauce ‘Fellow enemies of The Computer, Vegetables of the Hydroponic Seasoncycle be happy! The regime of the enemy Fingers lost for: Iced Caramel Mousse is in disarray! Ever since the hated Ongoing Yoga classes. Café Noir Communists began testing their Damaged or malfunctioning bots. mind control weapon, many have Damage to the cafeteria. Guest List: risen up against The Computer! Dominic-I (CPU), Ingrid-I (PLC), This chaos and terror can only While the Troubleshooters are accompanying Mathias-I (IntSec), Martha-I (HPD&MC), benefi t the cause of PURGE! Ingrid-I through the RED level, they spot four Rhonda-I (R&D), George-I (Armed Forces), REDs clustered conspiratorially in a corner. Kenny-I (Tech Services) Our spies have searched for the They’re all eating with a fork and spoon, even & special guest Commie mind control ray, so that though they’ve only ordered drinks so far. It’s we might seize it from them and use the PURGE meeting the Troubleshooters are [[[ NOT AVAILABLE AT YOUR SECURITY it to control the common clones, supposed to be infi ltrating! Ingrid-I and her CLEARANCE ]]] using them as unwitting agents of
28 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 4. THIS DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM
PURGE. I am glad to inform you that Once the Troubleshooter has assented that Armed Forces we have indeed located the mind he will commit treason in the name of PURGE Cafeteria lines blocked by fortifi cations: control device – or, more accurate, and writes a receipt for Kevin-R’s poison on a -5. we know where it is going to be. I napkin, Kevin-R continues. Cafeteria lines mined: -10. will tell you where that is soon but Armed Forces detachment has taken up fi rst we have another mission! ‘We have learned that the mind residence on Level 0: -5. control device is being moved and Armed Forces given free reign in the food There is another PURGE agent in we will intercept it, seize it and use troughs: -5. this cafeteria, a deep-cover agent it! Tomorrowcycle, brothers, the Armed Forces forced to pay full price for who has spent many years moving new order begins! For the greater food: +5. into a position where he can strike glory of PURGE! Death to The Watchtowers in dessert aisle, armed a significant blow against the Computer and its lackies!’ guards clamp down on shoplifting: +5. state! He has contacted us, asking for certain supplies that I have Unfortunately, Kevin-R and PURGE are Internal Security here with me. Once one of you mistaken – they haven’t found the (non- Tension is between 1 and 5, making the volunteers to deliver them, we can existent) Commie ray, their spies have cafeteria a great place for conspirators to move onto our plans to secure the discovered the third and fi nal R&D gadget, a meet: +10 mind control ray!’ prototype mind control ray built by Victor-B. Tension is 0, resulting in anarchy and Kevin-R had no further information about the violence: -5 None of the actual PURGE members are mind control device but he promises to contact willing to volunteer, so it’ll have to be one of the new PURGE recruits when he knows HPD&MC the Troubleshooters. If one of them agrees exactly when and where they’ll be seizing the Yoga classes make citizens hungry: +10 to the mission, Kevin-R hands that character Mind Control Ray. a small vial and whispers instructions to him R&D secretly. ‘Our agent is one of the staff They actually keep using the MRI: -10 of this cafeteria. This vial contains a Cashing out deadly poison, which will be added Again, the Troubleshooters need to determine to the food. Place the vial on the how many CTMUs they’ve earned this third shelf in the third locker in daycycle. Again, it’s 2d20 for each meal, the third giant walk-in refrigerator modifi ed by Perversity and the fi ckle whims downstairs – our agent will collect it of the Gamemaster. from there. Do you understand?’ 5. Food Fight Episode Summary: Day three in the Food Pyramid and it all goes to hell. Preparations for the Sector Section Supervisor Banquet prove troublesome when Chet-B’s embezzling comes to light, not to mention the fact that the chef is a PURGE assassin. Day Planner, Day Three 0600 Wake-Up 1600 0700 Breakfast – Krystal-G’s fun mental fi tness 1700 routine 0800 Breakfast 1800 Dinner 0900 Breakfast 1900 Dinner – Guests arrive for dinner 1000 R&D bring in the mind control ray 1100 Supplies don’t arrive Everyone tries to steal the mind control ray 1200 Lunch – The Armed Forces come back 1300 Lunch 1400 Lunch – Alphonse-G goes looking for poison 1500 Morris-O is murdered
29 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
get the Troubleshooters through to Darina-R, Sell off some of that nice shiny Armed Krystal-G’s Fun a very bored and argumentative receptionist Forces equipment. I mean, you’ve got who stonewalls the Troubleshooters at every tanks and artillery sitting around the Mental Fitness turn. She insists that according to OmniEat’s cafeteria fl oor. It’s like free money. Routine records, the Food Pyramid account is empty Alternatively, put the Armed Forces to – the deliveries yesterday cleaned it out and work looting the OmniEats warehouse. Tension Not As Much As What’s until more credits are put into that account, Kidnap a high-clearance citizen and hold Coming OmniEat won’t be delivering and neither will him for ransom. any other food delivery company. Make what little food they have left stretch Following the success of her Yoga program, to feed the thousands upon thousands of Krystal-G comes back to the cafeteria the Threats won’t affect Darina-R, nor will bribes citizens who will soon be arriving at the following day with a new plan. She’s worried or orders. Not giving the Troubleshooters any Food Pyramid for lunch. about the level of stress caused by having all food deliveries until the account is in credit is those soldiers hanging around the cafeteria. the very foundation of her being. Her proposal is that she take most of Bert-Y’s Alphonse’s Ingredients troops off to a nearby hall and teach them yoga. The Troubleshooters will probably Checking The Account Alphonse needs honey, mushrooms, soup be quite happy to allow this, as it gets the mix, beef, vegetables, caramel and real coffee, troublesome troops out of the Food Pyramid Looking at the computer in Chet-B’s offi ce all of which are clearance BLUE at least and for a few hours. (or asking Friend Computer) reveals that the cost 5,000 credits. If the Troubleshooters VitaYum Unifi ed Citizenry Food Pyramid Court cannot raise the cash to buy this food, then The fi rst step is persuading Bert-Y to hand his has over 100,000 credits in its account and they will have to substitute ingredients from troops over to Krystal-G. He’s convinced that there shouldn’t be any problem transferring the cheap low-clearance food. Alphonse-B will he’s a heroic defender of Alpha Complex’s credits to the OmniEats delivery company. raise a huge fuss but because his belief in the freedom and is preventing a Commie ray Commie Ray has given him the confi dence to takeover by his mere presence. He’s also A quick Financial Systems, Hacking or other be a PURGE assassin, he doesn’t mind using unwilling to leave the fortifi cations undefended. skill check, though, quickly uncovers the substandard ingredients. The main problem The Troubleshooters will have to assure him treachery. Someone has hacked the system will arise later, when the high-clearance that the Armed Forces equipment will be safe so that the display reports that the account is citizens complain. and secure even if some of his 500 troops full but if you try to withdraw money from it, the are missing. system rejects the transaction as the account is actually empty. Digging through logs reveals Hungry Hungry Once that’s done, a large number of troops that the account was nearly emptied three days march out of the cafeteria to be bounced at by ago (by Chet-B). Armed Thugs Krystal-G. The stress level in the Food Pyramid drops noticeably. Chet-B is long gone and his ill-gotten credits Just as the Troubleshooters are sorting out with him. The Troubleshooters have two the ingredients problem, the soldiers taken problems – fi rstly, they need to raise 10,000 away by Krystal-G return and they’re starving The Heartbreak credits just to buy the basic food supplies for after a morning of energetic yoga. If there is the daycycle. Secondly, the exotic ingredients not a full meal waiting for them when they of Missing requested by Alphonse-B cost another 5,000 arrive, they get violent and use the Commie credits on top of that. Ray as an excuse for looting the cafeteria’s Supplies lower levels. A riot breaks out – how do the Tension Stress-headache Troubleshooters stop it? The Food Pyramid The Troubleshooters are contacted by Karl-R, the brutish overseer of the storage vaults below Garage Sale Alphonse Goes the Food Pyramid. ‘Supplies have not come’ he reports, ‘delivery fi rms say, So, how do the Troubleshooters earn the money Looking For our account with them empty.’ It’s or feed the citizens? Some suggestions: an hour before lunch and the storeroom is Poison nearly empty. Raise prices throughout the Food Pyramid Tension Rising immediately. Your average INFRARED can expect to spend 1 to 5 credits on a If the Troubleshooters completed the mission Contacting The Supplier meal at the Food Pyramid, depending on for PURGE last night, then there should be how hungry and rich he’s feeling. Raising a lethal vial of something on the third shelf All of the Food Pyramid’s food supplies are prices to, say, 10 credits a meal will help in the third locker in the third giant walk-in supplied through one service fi rm, OmniEats earn money. They can also squeeze the refrigerator downstairs. At any rate, would-be Incorporated Food Deliveries. Calling them up higher-clearance citizens for more cash. PURGE assassin Alphonse-B heads down to the sub-level, ostensibly to berate Karl-R
30 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 5. FOOD FIGHT about the ingredients for the banquet. In fact, collecting arms, while Morris-O laughed Armed Forces go on yoga class, get hungry, he’s there to get the vial of poison. Once he at it. (He’s Frankenstein Destroyer, come back, riot and smash things: -5 obtains it, he heads back upstairs to his kitchen remember). Internal Security and continues his cooking. He liberally adds On the morning of day two, Morris-O sent Tension is between 1 and 5, making the the contents of the vile vial to the main course, an angry email to Alice-G, demanding she cafeteria a great place for conspirators to the Beef in VIOLET sauce. (Anyone eating the repair Waiterbot #56 immediately. meet: +10 food suffers M3K biological damage.) Waiterbot #56 was collected by Alice-G’s Tension is 0, resulting in anarchy and staff on the afternoon of day two. violence: -5 It’s possible the Troubleshooters might stop With no sign of the replacement waiterbot, R&D Alphonse-B from cooking the meal or report Morris-O went upstairs to see Alice-G. On They actually keep using the MRI: -10 him for treason or execute him. If they do so, the stairs, he met Alphonse-B and the bring in Ingrid-I as a big stick. She refuses to two had a heated argument (Morris-O believe that Alphonse-B could be a traitor and accused Alphonse-B of conniving with Guess Who’s demands that the Troubleshooters get him Chet-B in defrauding the Food Pyramid; back by any means necessary and convince Alphonse-B called Morris-O an ugly little Coming For him to cook dinner. If there isn’t an Alphonse- clone who would not know good dining if B meal ready, then someone’s going to get it served itself to him with a side salad and Dinner? terminated. glass of B3). Tension Hopefully Terrifying Morris-O went into Alice-G’s bot garage, and was never seen again (he found the Well, the Troubleshooters know exactly Morris-O is secret passage, confronted Alice-G, and who’s coming to dinner – a group of INDIGO was killed by the frakenbots). supervisors, movers and shakers in this Murdered His body ended up in the stew (delivered by prestigious sector. The question is, what sort Tension Messy a repaired Waiterbot #56, reprogrammed of dinner is waiting for them? by Alice-G). Just before dinnercycle begins, Morris-O goes Before the dinner, the Troubleshooters need upstairs to the RED level to check on the status If anyone mourns Morris-O, this famous game to ensure: of a damaged waiterbot, and accidentally designer will eat his hat. Alphonse-B is alive, mentally competent walks in on Alice-G’s secret laboratory of killer and believes that his cunning PURGE frankenbots. The killer frankenbots live up to plan to poison the meals will work. their name and Morris-O is blended chopped Cashing Out Alphonse-B has ingredients of some up. To hide the corpse, Alice threw the remains Tension Not That Bad sort. into the Soylent RED stew. As the whole Food Pyramid is about to The upper level of the Food Pyramid is not descend into absolute chaos, we’ll resolve the on fi re, or collapsed or overrun by Commie This would be fi ne – ‘Solent RED is people’ isn’t cashing out cycle now. Mutant Traitors or anything. a terrifying revelation, it’s a marketing slogan – but it’s unusual for whole chunks of citizen to Again, the Troubleshooters need to determine Anything beyond those three requirements is show up and some poor RED clone got a whole how many CTMUs they’ve earned this something of a bonus. Morris-head in his stew. Furthermore, Morris-O daycycle. Again, it’s 2d20 for each meal, has no spare clones, so there’s no-one running modifi ed by Perversity and the fi ckle whims the lower levels of the Food Pyramid. of the Gamemaster. The First Guest – Ingrid-I Almost instantly, the Troubleshooters start Chet-B’s Financial Evils The fearsome, ogre-like… well, that’s a noticing problems cropping up. Waiterbots run There’s No Food At All: -10 misnomer. She actually does eat the bones into tables, queues get tangled, troughs run out There’s Food, But Prices Have Gone Up: -5 of children. Let’s start again. of food, things catch on fi re and explode. Armed Forces Cafeteria lines blocked by fortifi cations: -5 The fearsome ogre, Ingrid-I, is the fi rst to arrive. Cafeteria lines mined: -10 She stalks into the Food Pyramid, bodyguards Solving The Murder Armed Forces detachment has taken up in tow and casts a withering eye around the residence on Level 0: -5 Pyramid. She demands the Troubleshooters The chance of the Troubleshooters having Armed Forces given free reign in the food account for any unfed citizens, damage to time to care about Morris-O’s death, let troughs: -5 the cafeteria, undue stress to her poor dear alone investigate it, is fairly slim. Still, on the Armed Forces forced to pay full price for Alphonse-B and any other problems you off-chance they bother to look into the murder, food: +5 wish to castigate them for. If possible, work the facts are these: Watchtowers in dessert aisle, armed Ingrid-I into a towering fury and make the Waiterbot #56 suffered a failure of its drive guards clamp down on shoplifting: +5 Troubleshooters fear for their lives, only to be shaft on day one. It crawled around the Armed Forces go on yoga class, get saved by… cafeteria fl oor for every hours, mewling in hungry, come back for a full and healthy pain and dragging itself forward on its tray meal: +5
31 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY
The Second Guest The Rest of the Guests The Final “Guest” – Dominic-I The other INDIGOs arrive at the Food Pyramid The fi nal guest doesn’t actually exist. Remember Kindly old Dominic-I strolls into the Food in a shiny limobot, escorted by a sizeable the mobile human-shaped cameras behind the Pyramid and interrupts Ingrid-I just as she is bodyguard presence. The guests are: tinted glass on Level 4? The ones that look to about to devour the Troubleshooters. Mathias-I (IntSec): Relatively young observes below like the outline of a VIOLET for his exalted position in Internal Security, or even a High Programmer looking down? ‘Ingrid, my dear, why are Mathias-I is the current record-holder for Conveniently, one of those cameras moves to you punishing these poor both the FOG Sector IntSec 10-kilometre observe the Sector Section Supervisor Dinner, Troubleshooters? Why, I was at FunRun and the ‘Most Citizens Sent so it appears to the diners that they’re being the very meeting where Chet-B To The Termination Booths’ for this watched by a superior (and perhaps they volunteered to transfer the Food accountingcycle. He’s got a thin moustache are, remotely). Dominic-I addresses all his Pyramid to their control as part of which he is immensely proud of. comments and speeches to this glass ceiling. the ongoing War on Communism. It was an act of patriotism – motivated Martha-I (HPD&MC): is middle- by his own treacherous greed, aged and wears an electronic monocle I Have Called You All yes but it was still patriotic. These connected to her PDC. She’s always wired Troubleshooters are working to into the HPD&MC mainframe, making Together To Insult You discover the Commie Mind Control minute adjustments to the zeitgeist of Ray – they don’t have time to bother Alpha Complex. As the first course of dinner is served, with petty little concerns like your Dominic-I stands and speaks to his fellow dinner party.’ Rhonda-I (R&D): Rhonda-I isn’t a INDIGOs, listing the failures of this entire scientist, she’s a bureaucrat. Her great operation as poor of the incompetence of Ingrid-I scowls and stalks off to talk to talent is keeping massively ambitious their subordinates and hence of the INDIGOs’ Alphonse-B. Dominic-I continues to chat to R&D projects within budget. Her instinctive failures as supervisors. He calls on the the Troubleshooters about their mission in the answer to any question at all is ‘NO!’ Troubleshooters to contribute supporting most affable fashion possible. evidence for all his claims. George-I (Armed Forces): A If the Troubleshooters confess that they’re grizzled veteran of many, many entirely PLC: no closer to fi nding the Commie Ray, then fictional wars and an inveterate liar. He starts by eviscerating Ingrid-I: ‘I’m sure Dominic-I coos and suggests that the fault Talking to George-I for more than ten most of you will have noticed the doesn’t lie with them – it lies with the support seconds means getting told a lengthy and rather shabby state of this once- they’re being given by the other service self-aggrandizing war story about how magnificent showcase cafeteria. groups. Why don’t they mention that during George-I single-handedly saved Alpha The fault lies, you might say, with the dinner? Complex with a toothpick and sheer grit. the cafeteria managers – these Troubleshooters who stand before If, on the other hand, the Troubleshooters Kenny-I (Tech Services): An you! But you would be wrong! Chet- lie and proclaim that they’re hot on the trail entirely forgettable senior technician. B, Ingrid-I’s trusted subordinate, of the Mind Control Ray, then Dominic-I is So forgettable, in fact, that Kenny’s transferred control of the cafeteria momentarily confused, then asks them to actually dead. He’s wheeled in by an aide as part of a joint task force to deal identify which of the service group’s plans was and wheeled out again after the meal. with a security problem. Now, what the least helpful. He also tries – in a kindly, Mentioning Kenny’s deceased status is did the Troubleshooters fi nd when avuncular fashion – to completely destroy any treasonous. they took Chet-B’s job?’ confi dence the Troubleshooters have in their ability to fi nd the Commie Ray. Dominic-I wants Ann-I (Power Services): Power Dominic-I looks expectantly at the to present a massive cluster of incompetence Services is even worse than Tech Services Troubleshooter who was the PLC liaison. at the dinner, not a successful mission. for getting noticed or promoted. This suits If the Troubleshooter talks about Chet-B Ann-I (a senior fi gure in the Illuminati) just defrauding PLC and the generally chaotic state As the other guests arrive, Dominic whispers fi ne. She’s content to sit back, steeple her of the cafeteria, Ingrid-I squirms and stares ‘trust me. Just tell the truth, and I’ll fi ngers and watch everything… daggers at the Troubleshooters while the other take care of you afterwards! Come INDIGOs look angrily at Ingrid-I. with me and stand nearby.’
32 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 5. FOOD FIGHT
IntSec Larry-B, don’t you General George- sure Victor-B didn’t spend too much Next, Dominic-I moves onto Internal Security. I? I believe you last spoke to him money. Tell me, Troubleshooter, ‘The security problem, though… three days ago, when you said, and what did R&D send you?’ that’s another story. It stems I quote “I can’t be bothered going from a report by one Toni-G – I to that meeting, you go”. Now, the believe she’s one of your offi cers, proper Armed Forces support for a Just Desserts Mattias?’ covert investigation would be, say, a few Vulture Warriors or a combot By the time Dominic-I has finished Mathias-I looks up with a start and snaps detachment. Troubleshooter, what eviscerating all the other INDIGOs, ‘she’s delusional, useless. I ensured did Larry-B send to support your Alphonse-B is serving the main course of she’d never have any infl uence.’ covert investigation?’ poisoned beef. The Troubleshooters have Dominic-I smiles sadly and replies ‘well, only an instant to act before Dominic-I Mathias, you should keep better HPD&MC: ‘Martha-I, we’ve all launches into his last speech. tabs on your own agents. Toni-G wondered why you’d promote was able to convene a multi-group someone as incompetent as Krystal- ‘Fellow INDIGOs, the level task force to address the problem. G – but before you explain, let’s of incompetence you have Troubleshooter, can you fi ll us in hear what Krystal-G contributed to demonstrated is simply shocking. on Toni-G’s contributions towards the team?’ All the service groups involved in fi nding the supposed traitord?’ the joint task force have shamed R&D: ‘Rhonda-I, we’ve admired your themselves. I was, of course, not Again, he expects the Troubleshooter to fi scal stranglehold on R&D’s budgets involved, as the offi cial record shows skewer Toni-G, and through Toni-G, Mathias- in this sector – but are you aware clearly that the whole problem was I. Again, if successful, the other INDIGOs that under CPU Directive 453-332, handed over to Troubleshooter shun and condemn the incompetence of Emergency Budgetary Processing Dispatch instead of CPU. I think Mathias-I. for Joint Task Force Support Crash we all know who’s going to get this Research, a scientist working for year’s promotion. Mwhahaha! The other three service groups follow in similar a joint task force can bypass your fashion: account controls, but you’re still Oh… I see you’ve all lost your Armed Forces: ‘You know Lieutenant liable for any costs? No? Well, I’m appetites! More for me, then!’
And with that, Dominic-I pops a forkful of poisoned beef into his mouth, then keels over dead.
If The Troubleshooters Don’t Sing If the Troubleshooters don’t support Dominic- I’s story, then the old clone becomes increasingly angry as his plans for shaming the other INDIGOs collapse. The Troubleshooters have made an enemy for life – but before he can start making their lives hell, the mind control ray shows up and the cafeteria descends into anarchy anyway. He’ll be back to screw them over at debriefi ng. If The Troubelshooters Save Dominic-I Then he owes them twice over – so much debt, in fact, that he decides it would be best if they were all terminated, and turns against them in debriefi ng.
If you enjoyed your meal, why not fi ll out a comment card?
33 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY 6. The Commie Ray Job Episode Summary: Victor-B arrives at get killed if you hold it too long. Secondly, it’s in the crowd below, causing them to jump the Food Pyramid with his prototype Mind absolutely unique, as Victor-B only invented it up and down vigorously. It’s like a series of Control Ray. Everyone tries to steal it, until by accident and it will never be replicated now earthquakes, shaking the foundations of the it explodes. he’s terminated. Thirdly, it uses a battery that’s Food Pyramid. technically thermonuclear and every time the button is pressed, it gets closer to meltdown. Alice-G’s real target, though, are the higher- The Ray There’s a little yellow warning label on the side clearance citizens on the level above. She Tension 5 testifying to this. wants to command them to hurl themselves over the balconies, falling like a multicoloured There’s a shout of triumph from the The Ray uses the Energy Weapons skill. The rainbow of INDIGOs and BLUEs and GREENs ground fl oor of the Food Pyramid. Ray ignores armour. Attacks from the ray start that all turn red at the end. Troubleshooters hit Looking down, you see Victor-B at Irritating Desire and advance one row on this by the ray who are near the balcony will feel running through the crowd, holding table per 3 points of margin of success. an urge to jump over. something small and shiny over his head. He’s shouting something Irritating Desire: The Troubleshooter Stopping Alice-G: The main obstacle to but you can’t make out his words feels the desire to obey, but isn’t compelled to. stopping Alice-G is the three bots accompanying until he’s running up the stairs to The effects wear off after one round. her. Level 1. Long-lasting Desire: As above but the effects take hours to wear off or until the ‘I’ve done it! I’ve cracked it!’ he Troubleshooter is hit by the ray again. Frankenbots shouts, ‘a working mind control ray! Strong Compulsion: The Troubleshooter Violence 8 With this, we can AAAAAAAAGH wants to obey and will fulfi l the command of Agility 12 splutch!’ the ray if able and if not stopped. The effects Hand Weapons 12 wear off after one round. Armor: 3 He doesn’t say ‘Aaagh, Splutch!’. Long-lasting Compulsion: As above Weapons: Blenders (W3K) That’s the sound you make when but the effects take hours to wear off, or until an three-metre-tall robot that the Troubleshooter is hit by the ray again. appears to have been made out of Overwhelming Desire: The spare parts and blenders suddenly Troubleshooter will do anything to obey. The Military Response smashes through the wall and (Sierra Club) punches through your chest with a potato masher. The bot scoops The Chase Having seen Alice-G murder Victor-B and use up the mind control ray and throws Anyway, every possible group in the cafeteria the mind control ray, Bert-Y takes charge. it… to Alice-G, who’s standing on is now after that little silver ray. When each He orders his troops to fi re on the balcony. A the balcony nearby. group gets hold of the ray, they start fi ring barrage of fi re destroys one section of Level it randomly into the crowds, hitting the 1, causing it to collapse. If the Troubleshooters ‘Death Leopard rules!’ she screams, Troubleshooters each time as they chase were on Level 1, then they fall to Level 0 along and presses a button on the mind after the ray generator. If the Troubleshooters with Alice-G and any surviving bots. Alice-G is control ray… don’t seem inclined to go after the ray, one of stunned or at least killed by this blast. the INDIGO dinner guests orders them to take Before dealing with the result of Alice-G’s control of the situation. Escorted by a few grunts, Bert-Y rushes over to actions, let’s talk about (the late) Victor-B’s the debris and plucks the mind control ray out invention. It’s a small hand-held gadget, about Just because one of these antagonists looses of it. He looks up at the higher clearances, then the size of a torch. It’s got two buttons on it, the mind control ray doesn’t necessary mean a wicked grin spreads over his face. He sets a microphone at one end and a projection that encounter is over. Everyone keeps chasing the ray to ‘appreciate nature’ and spins around, crystal at the other. You hold down one button the ray until it explodes. This is basically a blasting his own troops with it. Suddenly, and speak a command into the microphone. Benny Hill scene with a nuclear bomb. dozens of troops are taking a keen interest Then, you point the projector end and press in fungi. Bert-Y continues to stalk through the the other button. The command you entered Food Pyramid, fi ring wildly. into the microphone becomes an irresistible Alice-G (Death Leopard) compulsion for anyone in the ray’s fi eld of fi re. Stopping Bert-Y: Actually, the longer the The beam goes through most barriers and has Alice-G’s plan is a simple and suicidal one Troubleshooters wait before stopping Bert-Y, a range of several kilometres. In short, press – she is Death Leopard, after all. She puts the the easier it gets. Each of Bert-Y’s shots turns the button and half of Alpha Complex dances order ‘JUMP’ into the ray, then runs around several of his troops from hardened killers into to your whims. the balcony of Level 1 fi ring wildly. Her three eager gardeners. Attacking Bert-Y immediately frankenbots follow her around, protecting means that dozens of soldiers open fi re to There are a few drawbacks. Firstly, as Victor-B her from as much hostile fi re as they can. defend their commanding offi cer. Attacking him found out, everyone wants it and you generally Her initial shots hit hundreds of INFRAREDs a few shots later means that a scant handful
34 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 6. THE COMMIE RAY JOB of troops open fi re and a lot of fungi fanciers will try to contact the Troubleshooters if they ignore his horrible death. believe them to be fellow PURGE agents and Ingrid-I (Anti-Mutant) help them in grabbing the ray.
Rise of the Undermen After the banquet, Ingrid-I gathered her If Kevin-R gets hold of the ray, he sets it to bodyguards and headed down to the lower ‘attack servants of The Computer’ and starts, (Psion) levels to retrieve the ray. If a Troubleshooter yep, fi ring into the crowd. gets his hands on the ray, then Ingrid tries to For many years, Karl-R the Psion mutant and pull rank and demands the Troubleshooter Stopping Kevin-R: What, you need his followers have been plotting to rise up from hand it over. If a traitor has the ray or if Ingrid permission to shoot PURGE agents in the the underworld and conquer the genetically doesn’t like the Troubleshooter, then she bites face? pure. Now, bolstered by the courage of the his head off and then takes the ray. See page false Commie Ray and drawn by the lure of the 28 for Ingrid’s statistics. real Mind Control Ray, they seize the daycycle. The Waiterbots The fl oor of the Food Pyramid shatters and She grabs the ray, sets it to ‘Kill the Mutants’ pale, wan mutants wriggle out of the gaps and fires it in a large arc around her. (Corpore Metal) and cracks. Everywhere, ordinary citizens start fi ghting Karl-R’s mutants. There’s another conspiracy in the cafeteria, Remember back in Episode 5, when the one invisible all through this mission. The Troubleshooters had the option of sticking Unfortunately, she also zaps her bodyguards, waiterbots are all Corpore Metal spies, trading a load of Armed Forces equipment in the who may have just seen her distend her secret messages in binary chatter and in the sublevels? Well, if they did, then they’ve got jaws and eat a Troubleshooter. If so, the pattern of stains on the dinner trays. Now, a bigger problem. The pale, wan mutants are bodyguards attack her. they’re going after the Mind Control Ray. If carrying all the weapons stowed in the depths the Troubleshooters get hold of the ray, the by the Troubleshooters. A hail of laser fi re cuts Stopping Ingrid: Unfortunately, she’s Waiterbots close in like oblong sharks of the through the cafeteria. an INDIGO. Shooting her in the face may be cafeteria fl oor, crushing their victims before the most expedient solution but it’s not very scooping up the ray and firing ‘obey the The giant Karl-R heads straight for the mind acceptable in Alpha Complex society. demands of bots’ mind control rays. control ray. Once he gets his beefy hands on it, he switches it to ‘mutants! Use your powers Stopping the Bots: They don’t actually proudly!’ and starts blasting the crowds. PURGE (Gee, Maybe have hands, so a Troubleshooter can just grab the ray from a tray easily. Stopping Karl-R: Karl-R is fairly tough PURGE?) (see page 18) and has his potent mutant abilities. His servants are weak and easily Remember those PURGE conspirators led by The Ray Goes dealt with, unless they have Armed Forces Kevin-R? They’re still around the cafeteria, weapons. waiting for their chance to grab the ray. They Boom Tension 0 Once you tire of running around and blowing chunks out of the Food Pyramid, then it’s time to stop running around and just blow the whole thing up. The Mind Control Ray begins to overheat. It’s patently obvious that the thing is about to explode but the various groups keep fi ghting over it. The Troubleshooters should fl ee the scene or take cover before the ray goes boom.
When it goes boom, it goes boom very, very well. A huge and quite pretty shower of green- blue sparks shoot out of it before it fl ares into a miniature sun. The resulting thermonuclear blast wrecks the cafeteria, causing the upper levels of the Food Pyramid to fall down around the Troubleshooters’ ears.
Everything goes
35 THE COMMUNIST CAFETERIA CONSPIRACY 7. Triumph Of The Tinfoil Hat Brigade Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters What was the nature of your Hmm… termination of multiple wake up and are debriefed. This probably mission? citizens, destruction of multiple leads to termination. Were you able to complete this bots, conspiracy to assassinate mission successfully? an INDIGO citizen, colluding with If not, why not? secret societies, theft of Armed Debriefi ng on the What was the single greatest Forces property… it’s a long list. obstacle in completing the mission? Threshold Why? Can you explain any of this? Read the following to the players: What was the next greatest obstacle Hmm?’ You wake up. in completing the mission? Why? What was the next greatest obstacle The only good answer to Herman-Y’s questions It hurts. in completing the mission? Why? is ‘Commie Mind Control Rays’. Soon, the What was the next greatest obstacle whole Commie Mind Control Ray paranoia As you wipe the dust and smoke in completing the mission? Why? will be washed away by some new, more from your eyes, you see you’re Which team member contributed sinister threat and citizens will no longer be no longer in the ruins of the Food the most in completing the mission? able to escape punishment by claiming the ray Pyramid. You’re in a small offi ce, Why? got them but right now, the Troubleshooters sitting across from a citizen in Which team member contributed can use it as a defence. If they don’t, then a YELLOW uniform. He’s in the the least in completing the mission? Herman-Y ticks the ‘terminate’ box on his middle of fi lling out a lengthy form Why? form and the Troubleshooters are dragged when he notices you’re awake. He away to be shot. picks up a stack of clipboards and Once the team has answered those question, hands one to each of you. Herman-Y picks up another piece of paper and reads: The INDIGOs ‘Please sign here, here, here, here, ‘Offi cial CPU Report on Incident initial there, tongueprint there, sign FOG/214/66/BLUE, Section 12 If the Troubleshooters helped Dominic-I there and DNA sample there’ he – that’s RED, by the way, that screw the other Sector Section Supervisors, says, pointing at the appropriate section so I can read it to you -, is then they’ve earned the personal hatred of blank spaces on the clipboard forms. as follows: Ingrid-I, Mathias-I, George-I and Rhonda-I. All ‘Standard waivers and releases, “The VitaYum Unified Citizenry four INDIGOs will launch individual attempts relinquishing your temporary BLUE Food Pyramid suffered severe to punish the Troubleshooters. If they didn’t clearance within the cafeteria and structural damage following the help Dominic-I and he wasn’t poisoned, then so on. Fill those out and we can get detonation of an illegal nuclear- he tries to get them too. on with debriefi ng.’ powered device. Numerous citizens in neighbouring subsectors were However, if the Troubleshooters helped The debriefi ng offi cer is Herman-Y-ESH, a affected by dangerous psionic Dominic-I AND saved his life, then he gets rather dull bureaucrat. He’s uninterested in the beams emanating from the Food promoted to VIOLET and owes them a favour. Troubleshooters’ testimony and just wants to Pyramid. Estimated damage is…” It might even be enough to save their lives fi ll in answers to the following questions on his well, that bit is classifi ed but it’s when the INDIGOs come after them… debriefi ng sheet. a very large number of credits.
36 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 ADVERTISEMENT PARANOIA ALPHA COMPLEX NIGHTS
ALPHA COMPLEX NIGHTS
Original PARANOIA design DAN G ELBER ISBN 978-1-906103-06-4 $27.95 MONGOOSE PUBLISHING—SWINDON, UK MGP 6658 Design GREG COSTIKYAN New PARANOIA edition GARETH HANRAHAN ERIC GOLDBERG ALLEN VARNEY
More PARANOIA from Mongoose Publishing
www.mongoosepublishing.com
37 ™
PARViva ANLa RevolutionOIA Special duties for special troubleshooters GARETH HANRAHAN BEN ENGELSBERG CONTENTS Writer/Scapegoat Plot Developmer/Mad R&D Scientist Introduction 39 Breif Encounters 41 CHARLOTTE LAW DAN GELBER The Easiest Mission Ever 45 Editing, graphics/Drillbot GREG COSTIKYAN Debreifi ng with Violence 46 ERIC GOLDBERG The People Want You to Shoot People 47 JIM HOLLOWAY Original game design & development/ Cover /Blueprints Bring in the Prisoners 49 Building committee Revolutionary Developments 53 ALISON BLACKWELL The Central Commitee Wants You 54 Interior Art /Treasonous Propaganda THE COMPUTER IntSec Inside 56 Looking after your best interests Viva La Revolution 57 WILL CHAPMAN Layout/Infrared Drone
Security Clearance ULTRAVIOLET WARNING: Knowledge or possession of this information by any citizen of Security Clearance VIOLET or lower is treason punishable by a long spell of Armed Forces latrine scrubot maintenance duty.
TM & Copyright © 1983, 1987, 2008 by Eric Goldberg & Greg Costikyan. All Rights Reserved. Mongoose Publishing Ltd., Authorized User. Based on material published in previous editions of PARANOIA. ILLUMINATI is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and is used by permission. The reproduction of material from this book for personal or corporate profi t, by photographic, electronic, or other means of storage and retrieval, is prohibited. You may copy character sheets, record sheets, checklists and tables for personal use. E-mail questions and comments to Mongoose Publishing at [email protected] or write to PO Box 1018, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 1DG, UNITED KINGDOM. On the World Wide Web: www.mongoosepublishing.com. Published by Mongoose Publishing, Ltd. Publication MGP 6642. Published August 2006. First printing September 2008. Printed in USA INTRODUCTION Introduction
The Computer: THIS IS YOUR FRIEND, THE (KABOOM!) Revolutionary: You’re not one of The COMPUTER. Computer’s lickspittle minions, are you? A Citizen: Oh! Hail, Friend Computer! How A Citizen: What was that? A Citizen: If I was, I’d be executed, right? are you? The Computer: THAT WAS NOT AN EXPLOSION. Revolutionary: Yep. On the spot. EVERYTHING IS FINE. DO NO PANIC. A Citizen: Then I’m a supporter of the The Computer: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE, People’s Glorious Thingy! Power to whoever’s FRIEND CITIZEN. WE ARE, AFTER ALL, IN ALPHA (BOOM! BLAM! ZAP!) in power! COMPLEX, THE BEST AND HAPPIEST OF ALL POSSIBLE PLACES. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT UNDER The Computer: EVERYTHING IS UNDER MY BENEVOLENT ADMINISTRATION. CONTROL. EVERYTHING IS FINE. REMAIN HAPPY. Viva La Revolution! A Citizen: Well…. The Computer: DO YOU FEEL UNHAPPY, (BLAM! BOOM! AAAGH!) This mission is designed to turn Alpha FRIEND CITIZEN? HAPPINESS IS MANDATORY. FAILURE Complex on its head. The Computer is a traitor! TO BE HAPPY IS TREASON. TREASON RESULTS IN A Citizen: Friend Computer, what’s going Traitors are the good guys! Up is down! Good TERMINATION. on? is bad! The main aim is to force the players A Citizen: Of course I’m happy! Happy as The Computer: SYSTEM ERROR, PLEASE to actually think about loyalties and survival the daycycle is long, Friend Computer! I’m fi lled STAND BY. for a change, instead of parroting the usual with joy! It’s just that I’ve heard rumours about A Citizen: Friend Computer? platitudes of utter loyalty to The Computer traitors and commies who want to overthrow when talking to The Computer and spouting your benevolent rule! And that worries me…in Enter A Revolutionary. secret society propaganda when dealing with a happy way, of course. Did I mention I’m their secret societies. happy? A Citizen: Who are you? The Computer: THERE IS NO NEED TO Revolutionary: The People’s Glorious WORRY, FRIEND CITIZEN. THERE IS NO CHANCE OF Revolution has taken control of this Sector! The Plot, Which A TRAITOROUS UPRISING TAKING CONTROL OF ALPHA The Computer’s lickspittle minions will be COMPLEX. INTSEC IS EVER VIGILANT. EVERYTHING IS executed! Is About Several UNDER CONTROL. A Citizen: Uh-oh. Plots The Day of Revolution is at hand!
Well, actually, it’s not so much the revolution, as a revolution. The rebels aren’t going to overthrow the regime across Alpha Complex. Instead, the revolution will be contained within a portion of a single sector. The rebels are called the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Committee and most of their supporters believe the Committee to be an alliance between the Humanist secret society and politically active agents from the more moderate secret societies – the Romantics, Sierra Club, Pro Tech and so on.
The PGRC – Revolution One Their plan is to bomb key locations and CompNodes across YUC Sector. The Computer will respond by sealing YUC Sector off and sending in the Armed Forces but the PGRC has its own forces who will rise up and man the barricades. Soon, the other sectors will be inspired by their example and rise up to join the revolution!
At least, that’s the plan. It’s an absolutely The Computer Is Dead, Long Live The Revolution! doomed one, as the PGRC don’t have the fi repower or numbers to hold off an attack.
39 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
If Revolution One was all that was going on though, is interrupted by a T-34 combot in YUC Sector, then it would all be over in a who escorts them back for debriefi ng. few minutes. Counterrevolution! 3. Debriefi ng With Violence: In the Minutes before the PGRC’s revolutionary middle of the debriefi ng, several very loud Operation FLUSH schemes begin, just as the mission begins, a explosions are heard. The revolution has PURGE agent is captured by Internal Security. begun! Only the characters don’t get to – Revolution Two The captured agent reveals that PURGE has do much. infiltrated Operation FLUSH and that the Internal Security’s spies were monitoring the supposedly-under-control-fake-revolution 4. The People Want You To Shoot PGRC’s activities and reported the incipient is actually a real revolution. In desperation, People: Two senior revolutionaries, revolution to their superiors. One of these IntSec signals any agents it can contact that Terrence-I and Phineous-I, show up and superiors, Terence-I-QUI, decided to let the the revolution must be stopped! inform the characters about who’s in revolution happen. When YUC Sector is taken charge now. Oh and the characters have over by the PGRC, all the traitors would rise up just been nominated as the fi ring squad and fi ght for the new regime. In one fell swoop, for the people. Internal Security would be able to identify Warbots, Gotta every traitor and enemy agent in the whole 5. Bring in the Prisoners! A succession sector! It would be the greatest traitor-hunting Have Warbots of enemies of the people are brought in. coup in many years. It would be known as The characters get to decide who gets to Operation FLUSH. The other element of Viva La Revolution live and who gets to be terminated. It’s are the T-34 Urban Combat ComBots that have revenge fantasy time! IntSec agents in YUC Sector were therefore just been assigned to YUC Sector. A gang of ordered to support and aid the PGRC’s plans Computer Phreaks have managed to hack the 6. Revolutionary Developments: for revolution, to better prepare the ground for ComBot network via a control console. As the Meanwhile, the war between the the purges that are to come. revolution proceeds, the T-34s rapidly become Computer loyalists and the PGRC forces the deciding factor in the clash between the continues apace. The characters are PGRC forces and The Computer’s own. far from the front lines but there is still The True Enemy lots of conspiring to do. If the characters This central command console is right next want to dare leaving their nice committee – Revolution Three to the People’s Glorious Revolutionary room/fi ring squad, they get to be shot at Committee’s Subcommittee for Mental Hygiene by lots of interesting people. Unfortunately, Internal Security isn’t, er, & Terminatinon. internally secure. PURGE double agents 7. The Committee Wants You: within Internal Security reported that IntSec’s Or, to put it another way, where the player Phineous-I pops round again and reviews Operation FLUSH was going to covertly characters will be spending most of the the characters’ termination decisions so support the PRGC revolution. PURGE decided mission… far. He recruits the most bloodthirsty to to seize the opportunity to turn IntSec’s fake sit on the Committee for Public Safety, revolution into a real one. By the time The as he’s had the rest of his co-conspirators Computer’s forces realised that YUC Sector Mission executed. High security clearances and was really out of control, instead of only other perks come with the job. appearing to be out of control to encourage the Synopsis traitors to pop their heads out and be shot, it 1. Brief Encounters: The 8. IntSec Inside: The other characters would be too late. PURGE would have seized Troubleshooters are summoned to YUC – the ones who didn’t get promoted – get control of the whole sector and struck a blow Sector and briefed by Arthur-Y, one of contacted by Internal Security and have against The Computer! the most irritating briefi ng offi cers in all of a chance to bring down the revolution by Alpha Complex. They also get barraged hacking the T-34 combot control console The master of this PURGE plot is Phineous-I- by secret society messages. next door. ZED – once a trusted Troubleshooter, now a twisted madman! 2. The Easiest Mission Ever: The 9. Viva La Revolution! The YUC Sector mission turns out to be, literally, in the room revolution is either brutally crushed or next door. The characters’ victory dance, brutally upheld. Either way, it’s business as usual.
40 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 1. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS 1. Brief Encounters Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters Frankenstein Destroyers: YUC Sector receive a mission alert, summoning them * * * MISSION ALERT * * * MISSION ALERT is in the steel grip of the hated machine! There to a briefi ng in YUC Sector. En route, they * * * MISSION ALERT * * * MISSION ALERT are T-34 combots everywhere, oppressing the are contacted by their secret societies or by * * * natural-born people! Destroy these cursed Internal Security, warning them of upcoming bots! events in YUC Sector. After a painful briefi ng Troubleshooter
41 VIVA LA REVOLUTION when it happens, eliminating the IntSec agents other signs of covert weapons being carried. the Troubleshooters have wounded him deeply and making the false revolution into a real one. There’s a strange buzz in the crowd, a sense and personally. Be prepared to fi ght for PURGE against The of suppressed anxiety or stress. Computer’s minions! Arthur’s also violent and vengeful. Any At the exit from the station, there’s a robot backtalk or inattentiveness gets a tick. Any Romantics: Soon, our allies in the Humanist checking ME cards. It’s a T-34 Combot hint of treason or disloyalty gets a taser shot movement will launch the People’s Glorious model, a hunched machine with guns for or laser blast from the side-mounted discipline Revolution, freeing YUC Sector from the arms and more guns for guns. Three eerily guns. Arthur-B doesn’t offi cially take pleasure control of The Computer! After the revolution, bright cameras focus on different parts of in shooting Troubleshooters, but the joy is we will bring back ancient culture and art the character’s face when the robot talks to a refl ected in his eyes. and rebuild the joyous, free society of our Troubleshooter. The T-34 moves around on ancestors! Support the new regime when the huge rubber treads and is capable of hunkering Oh, the Computer monitor next to Arthur-B’s revolution comes! down and transforming into a sort of miniature podium is currently inactive. If the characters tank the size of a small car. have questions for Friend Computer, Arthur-B Sierra Club: Soon, our allies in the After fi lling out the form, the characters can will switch it on with a sigh. Humanist movement will launch the People’s head onto Room #32, Corridor 281, Level 5. Glorious Revolution, freeing YUC Sector Corridor 281 turns out to be a very long corridor from the control of The Computer! After the lined with doors. As the characters pass the Your Mission revolution, we will all move Outdoors to live in room next door to the briefi ng room, they hear harmony with nature! Support the new regime laughing and muttering about some technical Arthur-B-PHB tells the characters ‘your when the revolution comes! jargon. Their priority, though, should be…. mission, Troubleshooters, as follows: Internal Security (1): Attention! A cabal of nefarious secret societies have allied together 2. The Briefi ng Firstly, take your assigned special to foment a revolution in YUC Sector. Your equipment, contained in storage instructions are to SUPPORT this revolution from Hell box A. – our plan is to contain the revolt and use it to Tension 15 Secondly, check your assigned draw out all the traitors and dissidents in one special equipment, denoted items fell swoop! This is Operation FLUSH and it will Briefing Room #32 contains a A through E be glorious! Your instructions are to support conference table, a few chairs, a Thirdly, travel to the designated this revolution and take notes about who else Computer monitor and a podium mission area, designated YUC supports it. You will know other undercover with side-mounted briefing Sector, Level 5, Corridor 261, Room Internal Security agents by the codephrase cannons. There’s a large metal #33. ‘as fun as fresh socks’. box on the table. The walls are Fourth, effect entry into the gunmetal grey and the illumination designated mission area. Internal Security (2): Attention! is provided by irritating spot lights Fifth, locate the targets designated Emergency! Oh Vatslime! A cabal of nefarious in the ceiling. target one, target two and target secret societies have allied together to foment three. a revolution in YUC Sector. IntSec knew about Standing at the podium is a BLUE- Sixth, terminate all three targets, this and Operation FLUSH was launched. It clearance citizen, who sniffs and taking care to minimise collateral was supposed to be a revolt under our control! ticks a box on a form as soon as damage. We were going to use the revolution to spot the you enter. His nametag reads ‘I’m Seventh, secure all equipment and traitors and sweep ‘em all up, but something’s Arthur-B-PHB and I’m pleased to other assets. gone wrong! Someone’s infi ltrated FLUSH and meet you!’. it’s going to be a real revolt! Warn our agents! T-34 Urban Combat You will know other undercover Internal He is obviously not pleased to meet Combot Security agents by the codephrase ‘as fun you. ‘Sit down’, he snaps, ‘and let’s Management 0 as fresh socks’. get this briefi ng started.’ Intimidation 10 Stealth 0 Arthur-B is the most annoying, persnickety, High Alert 10 Something YUCcy bureaucratic and vengeful boss imaginable. Violence 12 If the characters took more than 49 minutes Projectile Weapons 16 At The Station to get to the briefi ng, he ticks a box. If they Crushing People With Its Mighty fail to salute and report their names, he ticks Metal Fists 16 Tension 5 a box. If they fail to hand over their mission Hardware 7 Eventually, the characters arrive at the YUC alert for verifi cation, he ticks a box. If they don’t Software 7 Sector transtube station. It’s crowded with ask for a receipt, he ticks a box. Every time Wetware 7 INFRAREDs and other desperate citizens, Arthur-B-PHB ticks a box, he sighs, shakes Armor: 4 all pushing and shoving to get on board. his head and gives the distinct impression that Weapons: Autocannon (W3K) Paranoid characters may notice bulges or
42 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 1. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS YUC SECTOR TRANSIT VERIFICATION CARD Issued by YUC Sector Transit Authority. Please fi ll out this card fully before exiting or entering YUC. Failure to complete this card may result in loss of travel privileges or further delays. Section 1: PERSONAL DETAILS. YOUR NAME: ______CLEARANCE: IR R O Y G B I V UV HOME SECTOR: _ _ _ CLONE NUMBER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7+
Service Group Tick all that apply: [ ] I am more loyal than the average citizen [ ] I am a member of one or more secret societies [ ] I did not pack all my bags or make all my clothing myself [ ] I am carrying more than 5cc of liquid in my body [ ] I am carrying one or more lethal weapons [ ] I am easily stressed by queues or crowds/loud noises [ ] I feel unusually hot or uncomfortable/my skin feels prickly/I see unusual colours [ ] I have consumed one or more cans of Bouncy Bubble Beverage today
Who are you traveling with? Please list all items carried: ______Do you have clearance to carry all these items? [ ] YES [ ] NO. If not, why not? Do you have receipts for all these items? [ ] YES [ ] NO. If not, why not? Do you need all these items? [ ] YES [ ] NO. If not, why not? Which items do you need the least? Why? Why were these items assigned to you if you don’t need them?
If ARRIVING in YUC Sector, please fi ll out Section 2. If LEAVING YUC Sector, please fi ll out Section 3. Section 2: ARRIVING IN YUC SECTOR How are you arriving in YUC Sector? [ ] Transtube [ ] Autocar [ ] Walkway [ ] Flybot [ ] Access tunnel [ ] Other What is the purpose of your visit to YUC Sector? Do you think this is a good reason to visit YUC Sector? Why were you in particular assigned this task? Would you like to be reassigned to YUC Sector? If yes, why are you unhappy with your original sector? If no, what’s wrong with YUC Sector? How long will you be staying? [ ] 0-5 minutes [ ] 6-60 minutes [ ] 1-12 hours [ ] 13-48 hours [ ] 2-7 days [ ] 7 days+ Where are you staying in YUC Sector? Please list all locations (non-transitive). Section 3: LEAVING YUC SECTOR How are you arriving in YUC Sector? [ ] Transtube [ ] Autocar [ ] Walkway [ ] Flybot [ ] Access tunnel [ ] Body Bag [ ] Emergency exit [ ] Other
Do you have [ ] A valid transit voucher [ ] A bathroom receipt [ ] A checkpoint waiver [ ] A medical cert [ ] A psych eval cert [ ] A medication cert [ ] A valid export license [ ] A weapons permit [ ] A packed lunch
Where are you going now? Why? Please tick any that apply. [ ] I enjoyed my time in YUC [ ] I feel nauseous [ ] I am in a hurry to leave [ ] I visited a commissary on Level 2 [ ] YUC Sector scares me [ ] I have urgent business elsewhere [ ] I am wearing fresh socks [ ] I think bots are following me
Section 4: INTERNAL USE ONLY Traveler: [ ] H [ ] PT [ ] R [ ] SC [ ] M [ ] OT [ ] IS [ ] Citizen Action: [ ] A [ ] B [ ] C [ ] D [ ] E. VLR!
43 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
Eighth, report your situation to The big silvery grenade becomes me using the assigned special Arthur-B-PHB incredibly bouncy when activated. Flubber with equipment, unit E. Management 12 a high-explosive core, basically. It explodes for Ticking Forms In Such A Way To M3K damage with a blast radius of 5 metres. Further instructions will be issued Convey The Message That He later.’ Despises You And All You Stand The linked helmets are an experimental For 18 telepathic device. If two people wear the YUC Sector, level 5, Room #33 is next door to Stealth 8 helmets, they must both roll 1d20. The higher the briefi ng room. If the characters have any Sneaking 12 roll can control the movements (including questions, Arthur-B just reads the instructions Violence 6 speech) of the lower roll for a few moments. again and ticks more boxes on his forms. If ardware 4 If both roll the same amount, the feedback they press him, he either unleashes withering Weapons & Armour Maintenance 1 loop causes their heads to explode. There’s sarcasm or laser beams. Weapons & Armour Premission absolutely no reason for these helmets to be Checklist Chesting 10 included in the mission equipment; they were Software 10 dropped in there accidentally by a stoned 3. Equipment! Data Analysis 14 R&D technician. Once he’s satisfied that the characters Wetware 7 understand their mission, Arthur-B points to Pharmatherapy 11 The radio handset is a special long-range the box on the table. ‘When you open Armor: Blue Refl ec (E1) communicator. There’s a button to push to talk the box, you will fi nd inside special Weapons: Blaster (M3K) and a volume control that ranges between weapons and equipment that Friend ‘pretty loud anyway’ and ‘very loud indeed.’ Computer has assigned to make your task easier and more fun.’ In short, it turns off all the Troubleshooter’s Arthur-B insists that all the characters perform a weapons and equipment, as well of those of detailed check on their equipment, perform an Arthur-B pauses. If any Troubleshooters move anyone within one metre of him. Pressing the inventory of gear and sign his equipment check- towards the box, he aims the lasers at them button again will turn them back on (please out sheet before letting them out the door. and threatens to shoot them for disobeying allow a few minutes for rebooting). orders. After a moment, or if no-one moves, he says ‘you may now open the box’.
Inside the box are six laser rifl es, a remote control marked ‘Hostile Code Countermeasure Generator’, a big silvery grenade, a pair of helmets linked by a wire and a small radio handset. Arthur-B has no idea what any of the gadgets do or which of them is Item E and will mutter something about it being an initiative test if the Troubleshooters ask.
The gadgets The laser rifl es are just that. They’ve got three RED laser barrels each.
The Hostile Code Countermeasure Generator is a remote control with one big button. Pressing it instantly deactivates any ‘friendly’ computer systems nearby to prevent them from being attacked by hostile code.
Arthur-B-PHB demands your respect.
44 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 2. THE EASIEST MISSION EVER 2. The Easiest Mission Ever Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters It’s clear that the three hackers were trying walk next door and shoot some unarmed The Three Nerds to access the combot control network and nerds. Management 4 that they possibly succeeded. The actual Hygiene 1 interface for controlling the bots is less clear Stealth 4 but the characters can fruitlessly press buttons 1.Room #33 Security Systems 8 if they want. The ‘designated mission area’, aka Room Violence 4 33, is next door to the briefi ng room. There’s Thrown Weapons 8 The next step, according to the mission plan, one entrance, through the front door, which is Hardware 4 is to contact Arthur-PHB via the radio (well, via closed but not locked. Adventurous characters Bot Ops 10 Assigned Special Equipment Unit E but that’s can also gain entry through crawlspaces and Electronic Engineering 10 the radio). If they do so, then he sends in the air vents. It’s Alpha Complex, there’s always Software 10 T-34. If they don’t do so, then he sighs, ticks a a back door. Bot Programming 14 form and sends in the T-34 anyway. Hacking 14 Inside Room 33 are the following items: C-Bay 14 One giant computer control console, a big Spurious Logic 16 It’s Mr. ComBot tower made of servers and circuits lashed Wetware 0 together. It’s wired to… Tension 8 Three computer terminals, covered in A T-34 smashes through the rear wall Post-It notes and little Computer Phreak with one shot each. Negotiating with the geeks of Room #33 and levels its guns at the stickers. These terminals are being used is futile – partly because they’ll use the time characters. ‘I AM COMBOT T-34/101’ by… to try to hack the combot network and send it announces in a loud, tinny Three Computer Phreak geeks, named giant killing machines after the characters voice. ‘YOU ARE INSTRUCTED Henry-R, Ubi-R and Will-R. They’re all but mainly because the geeks talk entirely TO RELOCATE TO YUC SECTOR, pretty much identical. I’d make a crack incomprehensible jargon. This encounter is LEVEL FIVE, CORRIDOR TWO about pasty computer-geek complexions like shooting fi sh in a barrel, where the fi sh are EIGHT ONE, ROOM THIRTY-TWO but they live in Alpha Complex, where distracted by a really intense game of Tetris. FOR IMMEDIATE DEBRIEFING BY everyone is paler than a cave grub. CITIZEN ARTHUR-B-PHB. MOVE, Anyway, these three script kiddies have MOVE, MOVE.’ lucked into a security hole in the T-34 It’s A Giant Computer Combot Network, which they think will The T-34 waggles its guns suggestively and allow them to issue orders to the Combots Console, Let’s Mess With It follows the characters as they leave Room remotely. The geeks have been hiding out 33 (smashing its way through the doorframe here for some time, surviving on… Tension 1 to make room). It takes up a guard position A giant clone-family sized bottle of B3 outside the door of Room 32. Any character and… Once the geeks are dead, the characters can who doesn’t immediately move to be debriefed …enough Cold Fun and Algae Chips to examine their computer system. It’s largely is encouraged to move with laser fi re. Despite put you off food for life. incomprehensible to anyone without Hacking this, the T-34 is quite friendly and chatty in a and Electronic Engineering but there is one giant killing machine sort of way. Anyway, the three geeks are wholly unarmed. nice big clue – the main screen displays They’ll throw computer bits and Cold Fun scrolling text that seems relevant. packets at the characters in a desperate last-ditch stand but they can be zapped easily
>SocketOpen(AFAC/CMN/YUC/T34CCC/PUB/65554)>MySoc Connection Opened. T-34 URBAN COMBAT COMBOT COMNET. To Serve, Protect and Terminate Where Necessary >RunAllHackRunning…Attempting to subvert Combots…Failed Retrying…Attempting to subvert Combots…Failed… Retrying…Attempting to subvert Combots…Failed… Retrying…^c >!probeSec(MySoc) Working…This hacking tool brought to you by CRUDDY. Send me credits! 14,216 security errors found….CRUDDY SEZ: What do you call a Mystic who hacks code? Identifying likely backdoor candidates…CRUDDY SEZ: A High Programmer. Viable backdoor found…0x533268>RunAllHack(0x533268)Running…Attempting to subvert Combots… Connection closed!
45 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
HEEEEEEERE’S T-34! 3. Debriefi ng With Violence Episode Summary: Arthur-B-PHB of the whole mission, right, in accordance with point fi ngers and shout at each other for a debriefs the characters with all the grace and the official Mandatory Bonus Duty of the while. charm one could expect from a very annoying Communications & Recording offi cer, yes? The debriefi ng offi cer. Then the sector degenerates whole mission was supposed to be carried out into a chaotic civil war, which is actually a relief in full accordance with Alpha Complex Total The Sound of Distant under the circumstances. Quality Assurance Initiative 214, hmm?), then Arthur-B reaches down, pulls a thick report Revolution out of his briefcase and shows the title page Traitors Among Us to the characters. Tension 0 Tension 8 It reads ‘CPU Report On Non- Distantly, echoing down the long corridor, the Arthur-B-PHB is waiting for the characters Sanctioned Opinions and Affi liations characters hear the sound of an explosion. and he’s not happy. Despite the briefness of Within Troubleshooter Teams’. their mission, he still has a dozen pages of Patronisingly, Arthur-B-PHB explains that the Then, there’s another boom and the harsh notes and criticisms. He marks them down contents of the report are clearance BLUE chatter of automatic weapons fi re. There’s for any deviation from their instructions or any and therefore he cannot show it to the team shouting and cheers and cries of ‘viva mistakes or excess damage they caused. He but the clear conclusion is that the average la revolution!’ or ‘down with The berates them again for their lack of cleanliness Troubleshooter team harbours 1.84 traitors. Computer!’. or proper bearing. In short, he gets right up Therefore, there are 1.84 traitors within the their noses. players’ Troubleshooter team and no-one is If any of the characters respond in any leaving this briefi ng room until these traitors way, then Arthur-B-PHB frowns and snaps Once you tire of insulting the characters and have been identifi ed! ‘debriefi ng is not concluded, Troubleshooter! going through their multicorder footage (they Sit back down! Whatever’s going on out there did specify they were taking multicorder footage Arthur-B-PHB sits back and lets the players has nothing to do with our meeting!’ If they
46 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 3. DEBRIEFING WITH VIOLENCE do anything stupid like trying to leave, he this mess out. He then walks over to the door Briefi ng Room #32 and that they should return fi res a warning shot from his podium. ‘Pay and leaves. to their assigned seats and wait. Beyond the no attention to whatever nonsense is going bot, the characters can see gun battles and on out there.’ The lights fl icker again and the sounds die fi re down the corridor. away. The explosions and shouting gets louder Back in the briefing room, the Computer and the lights fl icker. There’s the sound of If the characters try to leave, they fi nd that a monitor fl ickers to life, displaying the Eye of the running feet just outside the briefi ng room. T-34 combot is standing outside the door. The Computer for a moment. The Eye is panicked Arthur-B rolls his eyes and then orders the bot says that it has been ordered by citizen and fearful. It then dissolves into static. Troubleshooters to stay put while he sorts Arthur-B-PHB to ensure that no-one leaves The Revolution has taken control of YUC Sector. 4. The People Want You To Shoot People Episode Summary: Two of the leaders rotund and kindly. He’s also an undercover the oppressed proletariat of the of the People’s Glorious Revolutionary IntSec offi cer who has seen thousands of other sectors – inspired by our Committee pop in to inform the characters that clones to the termination booths. He really, example - will rise up and join the revolution now rules their lives and they’ve really likes terminating people (he also really, our glorious cause! Glory to the been assigned to be the fi ring squad for the really likes the perks and privileges that come People’s Glorious Revolution!’ people who don’t accept the revolution. with being high-clearance and believes that Operation FLUSH is his ticket to VIOLET). Phineous and the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Guards join in at this point, The Dark Before Any IntSec Troubleshooters will know he’s shouting ‘GLORY TO THE PEOPLE’S their boss because of the code signal he’ll GLORIOUS REVOLUTION! HAIL The Storm give them. THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS Tension 0 REVOLUTIONARY CENTRAL Give the players a few minutes to sweat. His companion is Phineous-I. Tall, thin, COMMITTEE’ They look expectantly at any The lights in the briefi ng room come back wild-eyed, Phineous is a nutcase who wants Troubleshooters who don’t join in the chant. on but there’s an acrid tang in the recycled to destroy Alpha Complex. He used to be a air. The characters’ PDCs aren’t working and successful Troubleshooter but constant deaths Terrence then says ‘I am Central the Computer terminal is still just a screen and paranoia have driven him mad and now Committee Member Terrence-I, and of jumbled static. Occasionally, it mutters he wants revenge. Phineous is a PURGE this is Central Committee Member something like ‘SYSTEM OFFLINE – PLEASE member but the PURGE goals of turning Phineous-I. We are both members STAND BY FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS’ the fake revolution into a real one are only a of the Central Committee of the or ‘ERROR – NETWORK NOT FOUND’ or stepping stone to Phineous’s real goal – going People’s Glorious Revolution, and ‘PLEASE REPORT…PLEASE REPORT… down in a hellish, Jonestown-esque massacre we have the honour of being your PLEASE REPORT’. that infl icts as much damage as possible on interim leaders until free and fair The Computer. elections are held, to better refl ect There’s no easy way out of the briefi ng room. If the collective will of the people. the characters try to do something like climbing Their guards, the People’s Glorious These heavily armed fellow citizens out of the air vents, then move onto the next Revolutionary Guards, are all equipped with are part of our People’s Glorious scene at the most embarrassing moment Vulture Warrior gear and armour. Perceptive Revolutionary Guard, here to protect possible. (‘No, friend citizen, we’re not characters will notice that the Vulture Warrior both us and you from minions of the trying to climb into the air vent…we’re, gear doesn’t fi t very well, as the People’s hated enemy Computer. Down with er, doing exercises.’). T-34 is doggedly Glorious Revolutionary Guard don’t have the The Computer and its regime!’ obeying the orders of the vanished Arthur-B- superhuman drug-pumped physiques of a PHB and refuses to let the characters out of Vulture. The gear was looted from the bodies Again, there’s a chorus of ‘DOWN WITH the room. of dead Vultures. THE COMPUTER AND ITS REGIME! GLORY TO THE PEOPLE’S Meet The New Bosses GLORIOUS REVOLUTION! HAIL Glory to the PGRC THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS Tension 15 REVOLUTIONARY CENTRAL Then, the characters hear the sound of Terrence introduces himself. ‘Good day, COMMITTEE’ from Phinous, the guards marching outside and the grinding noise of fellow citizens! The most glorious and the player characters if they know what’s T-34 rolling back from the door. The briefi ng of all days, in fact! Today is the good for them. room door opens and two INDIGO-clearance fi rst day in the People’s Glorious clones enter, along with a squad of heavily Complex! The People’s Glorious With a kindly smile on his wide face, Terrence-I armed revolutionaries. The two INDIGOs are Revolution has seized control then asks the players to swear loyalty to the Terrence and Phineous. Terrence is short, of this whole sector, and soon People’s Glorious Revolutionary Committee.
47 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
Anyone who does not swear loyalty is an announces that it will be ‘more fun than Phineous-I leans in at this point, speaking in a Enemy of the People and must be terminated fresh socks’. He pronounces this as clearly weird screechy voice. ‘Beware! There are by fi ring squad. Any characters who swear and obviously as possible, trying to spot the agents of The Computer everywhere! loyalty are given a warm handshake by reactions of any Internal Security characters. Better that you terminate a thousand Terrence and a bony, clammy handshake by innocents than let a single enemy of Phineous. Anyone who doesn’t swear loyalty is The characters may ask what the situation as the people survive!’ dragged away (see Enemies of the People). outside Room #32. Terrence tells them that the People’s Glorious Revolution has taken Terrence-I smiles slightly nervously at his fellow control of the whole of YUC Sector and is Committee Member and informs the characters The People’s Subcommittee fi ghting with Computer loyalists at the sector that as a reward for their service to the People’s edges. Soon, the Revolution will spread to Glorious Revolutionary Committee, they will For Mental Hygiene neighbouring sectors! be promoted one security clearance level. As & Termination soon as the remains of certain Enemies of the Anyway, they’re going to be the fi ring squad People are cleared out of the Guest Sleeping Tension 15 for the revolution. Terrence says that T-34 will Quarters of the People, then the characters will send traitors in and the characters will judge be assigned housing and bathroom privileges Assuming that there are still a few them. It’s all a bit ad hoc but that’s how the in YUC Sector. For the moment, they must Troubleshooters left, Terrence-I explains that People’s Glorious Revolution rolls. Terrence-I remain here in Room #32. the citizens of YUC Sector are being assigned holds up a sample form, a Writ of Termination new duties and positions in the new, better and tells the characters that each traitor will He claps his hands and a team of INFRAREDs society. The player characters have been be accompanied by a Writ of Termination run in and replace Arthur-B-PHB’s podium with selected as the People’s Subcommittee For outlining their crimes against the people and a stand for an accused prisoner. They also Mental Hygiene & Termination. A selection the suggested punishment for these crimes. paint a white line parallel to one wall, where of suspected enemies of the people will be The characters will have to interview these the fi ring squad can stand. presented to them and it is up to the characters criminals and decide which penalty is the most to decide who lives and who dies. All they need appropriate. Punishments will be assigned by After a fi nal wild threat and cackle from an to do is root out internal dissent, to ensure that the committee. Importantly, each character obviously loony Phineous, the committee and the roots of the People’s Glorious Revolution must initial the punishment they vote for, to their goons troop out and T-34 sends the fi rst remain strong! Rooting out for the good of the ensure that proper records are kept. traitor in. roots! Does this sound like a fun and worthy assignment? It really had better. Terrence-I Enemies of the People
So, what happens to a character that doesn’t smile and salute and embrace the People’s Glorious Revolution? They’re dragged out into the corridor by two of the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Guards and beaten up a bit before being thrown into a holding room. Fill out a Writ of Termination for the traitorous player and have him brought in as a prisoner before the fi ring squad as soon as possible. Let his fellow players judge him.
If freed, the character is conveniently reassigned to the People’s Glorious Subcommittee for Mental Hygiene and Termination. If terminated, the character’s next clone is conveniently reassigned to the People’s Glorious Subcommittee for Mental Hygiene and Termination.
Meet the New Bosses.
48 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 5. BRING IN THE PRISONERS 5. Bring In The Prisoners Episode Summary: A succession of Prisoner One prisoners are brought before the Subcommittee Judging Bob for Mental Hygiene & Termination. The characters get to vote on who lives and who – In The Wrong Bob’s crimes are: dies. Place Consorting with the enemy (the most generic charge ever) This section of the mission consists of a Tension 0 Not being suffi ciently loyal to the parade of prisoners who are brought before People’s Glorious Revolution the Subcommittee. Each prisoner gets the The fi rst guest on the Subcommittee for Mental (ditto) chance to plead for his life. The characters Hygiene & Termination is Bob-YUC, a poor Looking suspicious (he’s, er, then get to fi ll in a Writ of Termination for that INFRARED who was in the wrong place at dressed in black.) prisoner. Each Writ lists the prisoner’s crimes the wrong time. A gang of revolutionaries Not knowing the words to the and a few suggested punishments. The players smashed their way into the barracks Bob-YUC People’s Glorious Anthem (no- must vote for their preferred punishment by shares with 100 other INFRARED drones, one does, yet) writing their character’s initials next to that grabbed him at random and asked him if he punishment. The punishment or punishments supported the People’s Glorious Revolution. His suggested punishments are: with the most votes is then ticked. Make sure He stammered something about being loyal Stern telling off. The characters will that all the writs are fi lled in fully – they’ll to Friend Computer, just like the subliminal have to deliver the telling off and it had come into play again in Episode 7. You can messaging that plays constantly during the better be stern. photocopy the writs from page 60 or download nightcycle told him to do. The revolutionaries Mandatory singing lessons: The them from the Mongoose Publishing website. picked him as an example to the other characters will have to teach Bob the INFRAREDs and took him away. words of the People’s Glorious Anthem The characters may then have to carry out the and make him sing at least one verse. punishments listed on the writs or just hand the The T-34 drags Bob-YUC into the briefi ng Medication: If the characters choose prisoner back over to T-34 for disposal. There’s room and throws him into the prisoner’s dock. this option, then a docbot will roll into the a break of several minutes between prisoners, Bob-YUC’s a dumpy middle-aged INFRARED room and deliver a large glowing syringe enough time for Troubleshooters to run off on with bleary eyes. He’s got a black hood over to the characters. Anyone injected with private missions or try desperately to scrub the his face, which the bot removes before exiting, this syringe becomes incredibly loyal to blood from their hands. leaving Bob-YUC blinking in the harsh light. the fi rst thing they see after being injected with the goop. Note the small print on the Writs. The Bob-YUC has no real idea what’s going on, Termination: The characters get to composition of the Committee changes as what he’s done wrong or what this whole put Bob-YUC up against the wall and Phineous executes his rivals. By the time the revolution thing is about. He just wants to get shoot him with their laser rifl es. last prisoner is brought in, Phineous will have out of here alive but all the happy drugs in his Erasure: As above, only Bob-YUC’s control of the whole revolution. system are making it hard to think and he’s whole clone line is erased and he never not that bright at the best of times. Play Bob- comes back again. YUC as a genial idiot. His only real purpose Prisoner Zero in the scenario is to show the players how the Tension 0 Writs work. Prisoner Two This section only matters if one of the Troubleshooters didn’t support the People’s – Rudy the Spy Glorious Revolution and was dragged away by Bob-YUC Tension 0 the guards. The Troubleshooter – bloodied and Management 4 bruised by his punishment beating – is pushed Stealth 6 The second prisoner is Rudy-Y-ANC. He’s back into the room by the T-34 combot and Stealing Food from the Food Vats a weasel-faced citizen dressed in a yellow made to stand in the prisoner’s dock. Without Being Seen 10 jumpsuit; his cover identity was as a CPU Violence 4 clerk. Unlike Bob-YUC, he’s been treated quite Fill out a Writ of Termination for the character Hardware 8 well and walks into the briefi ng room with a but make sure that none of the punishments Food Vat Operation 12 barely concealed smirk on his face. Rudy-Y are erasure – the worst should be termination Software 2 is an IntSec spy1, part of Operation FLUSH. and the others should be humiliating forfeits Wetware 2 He knows that there’s a revolution underway or amusing tortures. They’ll probably vote for Correctly Adding The Right in YUC sector and he believes that everything termination, so have the replacement clone Additives To Food Vats 6 is under control. According to his superiors in assigned to the Subcommittee to keep the Secret Society: None IntSec, the Subcommittee for Mental Hygiene group together. Mutation: Pyrokinesis (Power 4) & Termination should be under the control of
49 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
His suggested punishments are: 1: There once was a clone named Ordered to pass on false Rudy-Y/ intelligence to Alpha Complex Rudy-Y He was an Internal Security spy/ (It’s up to the characters to decide what Management 8 Now Operation FLUSH’s on the intelligence is passed on) Chutzpah 12 rocks/ Held in a secure area for further Annoying Confi dence 14 It’s not as fun as his fresh socks/ interrogation (basically, spare his life Stealth 10 And Rudy-Y is going to die. and stick him in a closet) Sneaking 14 Public execution (they’ll need to fi nd Surveillance 14 a public area in YUC Sector; see page 43 Violence 4 other IntSec agents. Rudy-Y expects to get for life outside the briefi ng room during the Energy Weapons 8 asked a few easy questions for show and revolution) Hardware 4 then given a slap on the wrist or other light Appearance on ‘Traitor Zapping Software 4 punishment. Hour TV show’ (which doesn’t Wetware 2 actually exist yet and it’ll be up to the Secret Society: ProTech Rudy knows the ‘as fun as fresh socks’ players to design it. If they pick this option, Mutation: Hypersenses (Power 4) recognition code and will drop it into Phineous-I and the People’s Glorious conversation as soon as possible. He might Revolutionary Guard call in and deliver say that his job in YUC Sector CPU wasn’t a television camera to the characters. So, what can Judy-G really offer the characters? as fun as fresh socks or wonder about the They then insist that to raise morale in the She does indeed have around 50,000 credits Troubleshooters’ uniforms and idly wonder People’s Glorious Revolution, the deaths stored in a secret account under a false name, out loud if their footwear is both newly of enemies of the people must be suitably as well as a meagre amount of infl uence in refurbished and remarkably exciting. He also impressive and theatrical. the cutthroat industry of Hot Fun Packaging, initially denies any involvement in spying or Erasure: No more Rudy. Storage and Containment1. She’s also a Free treason and certainly denies the existence of Enterprise member and will sponsor characters Operation FLUSH. for membership into the society. Post-Rudy As soon as it becomes clear to Rudy-Y that 1: The containment bit involves lead-lined the Subcommittee aren’t going to let him This is a good time to run some of the optional vaults deep beneath Alpha Complex. off easily, Rudy-Y switches demeanour encounters in Episode 7, especially if the instantly. He goes from cocky denials and players are getting tired of judging people. assuredness to absolute terror as he realises If it comes to it, she’s got a spare kidney she’s that Operation FLUSH has gone wrong. He not using, too. She’ll cling to life with every fi bre admits that Internal Security knew about the Prisoner Three of her being and say whatever she thinks will People’s Glorious Revolutionary Committee get her out of this mess. and arranged for the revolution to happen. – Cash or Death He admits that there are IntSec agents in the Tension 0 very highest echelons of the People’s Glorious Judging Judy-G Revolutionary Committee. He’ll even admit that The third person brought before the the recognition code used to recognise other Subcommittee is Judy-G, formerly an up- Judy-G-ZAT is accused of: IntSec agents is ‘as fun as fresh socks’. and-coming PLC executive. She’s used to Lack of loyalty to the People’s privilege and bossing other citizens around Glorious new regime In short, ‘oh no, oh no, please don’t and is not coping with the revolution very Spreading dissent execute me, I’ll do or say anything to well, especially as the People’s Glorious Hoarding Hot Fun, Cold Fun and save my skin.’ Revolutionary Committee looted her service other foodstuffs fi rm and confi scated all her stuff for the good Not being sufficiently of the revolution. enthusiastic about the new Judging Rudy regime Judy-G’s rather mercurial and unstable in Suspicious behaviour Rudy’s accused of: her current state and will alternate between Looks like a traitor Being a spy for The Computer. threatening the characters, trying to bribe them Spying on the People’s Glorious with her stashed credits and craven servility Her suggested punishments are: Revolution. promising absolute loyalty to the People’s Reassignment to reactor Spying on the People’s Glorious Glorious Revolution. If you ever get stuck, roll shielding duty (death) Revolutionary Committee on the Random Way For Judy To Dig Her Own Termination (death) Betraying the People’s Glorious Grave Table. Public execution (death) Revolution to the hated Alpha Erasure (or death) Complex.
50 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 5. BRING IN THE PRISONERS Random Way For Judy To Dig Her Own Grave Roll Phrase 1 Don’t you know who I am? 2 I have friends in high places. They’ll be angry if you hurt me! 3 Don’t try to mess with me, little clone – I can buy and sell your whole line! 4 I’m GREEN clearance, you’re not. YOU will listen to ME! 5 You don’t have the right to do this and you certainly don’t have the guts. 6 I can make you very wealthy. Just let me go! 7 I’ve got creds stashed in a secret account. I’m not poor… 8 Look, how much are they paying you to shoot me? I’ll pay you twice that to not shoot me. 9 You’ll never get ahead in Alpha Complex if you don’t make deals. Let’s make a deal. 10 This revolution will end soon. When it does, you’ll need a friend with some real access. I’ll help you if you help me! 11 Please! I was only following orders! 12 I never spread dissent! I love the revolution! Down with The Computer! 13 I wasn’t hoarding food! I run a food packaging plant! 14 I have no idea how that Hot Fun ended up in my Hot Fun storage warehouse! 15 The last guy you had in here was called Rudy, right? It’s a clerical error. They meant you to kill him, not me! 16 Ok, this was really a test to see if you were paying attention. I’m not a traitor, now let me go! 17 I’ve got scary mutant powers! If you try to kill me, I’ll turn into a monster and eat you all! Don’t make me angry! 18 Look behind you! 19 If they really wanted to terminate me, they’d have done so already. So, they want me to live. So, if you kill me, you’ll anger them. 20 Roll again twice and combine the two results. Judy-G Management 10 Oratory 14 Stealth 4 Violence 4 Hardware 4 Chemical Engineering 8 Food Vat Operation 10 Software 6 Data Search 10 Wetware 6 Biosciences 10 Pharmatherapy 10 Secret Society: Free Enterprise Mutation: Matter Eater (Power 10)
In short, the Magic Hate Ball says ‘outlook looks bleak for Judy-G’. If the characters do want to spare her life, then they will have to sneak her out of the briefi ng room without the T-34 seeing her. Prisoner Four – Every Troubleshooter’s Dream Job Tension 0 Everyone Else Is First Against The Wall When The Revolution Comes. In this section, the Troubleshooters get to do what they’ve always really wanted to do – execute their briefi ng offi cer. Yes, Arthur-
51 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
B-PHB is back, only this time he’s dragged If it’s looking like the Troubleshooters are going through the barricades, I’ll ensure that into the briefi ng room in chains, with his face to condemn him, then Arthur-B launches into a they don’t terminate you! This is your bruised, his shiny jumpsuit torn and grimy and rant about how their decision making system only chance to survive!’ his supercilious attitude completely shattered. is flawed and does not conform to Alpha As he’s brought in, he’s screaming at the Complex Committee on Committee Codes, T-34 to let him go and to obey his orders but Best Practices and Mediation Complex-Wide Judging Terrence-I the bot ignores him. For this scene to work, New Initiative (revised). the Gamemaster will have to have made He’s accused of: Arthur-B-PHB the most annoying and hateful Oh, take a look at Arthur-B’s writ of termination. Passing information to the boss ever. The players should be eager to Note that Terrence-I no longer appears in the list hated enemies of the people terminate him. of names of Central Committee members. High treason Betrayal of the Central Committee After leaving the briefi ng room earlier, Arthur-B Abuse of public trust tried to fi nd out what all the disruption and Prisoner Six – It All Very high treason noise was. He discovered a whole sector full Being an Intsec spy of Commie Mutant Traitors and – being a Comes Tumbling Down surprisingly brave briefi ng offi cer – he drew Tension 0 And the only acceptable punishment, his laser pistol and charged into the fray. He apparently, is Erasure of the whole clone was shot and killed by revolutionaries within Outside the briefing room, the characters line. seconds. His replacement clone woke up in the hear more shouting and chanting. A crowd is revolutionary-held clone bank in YUC Sector gathering in the corridor outside Room #32, If the characters choose to erase Terrence-I, under armed guard; they brought him back to the baying for the execution of the prisoner. T-34 then they’ve just terminated an INDIGO IntSec briefi ng room to be judged by the Subcommittee has to force its way through the crowd, rolling agent. That’s really not the sort of thing you want for Mental Hygiene & Termination. over toes and pushing demonstrators aside on your resume next to ‘Completed basic with huge sweeps of its guns. Finally, the food vat stirrer engine maintenance’ When he’s brought in, Arthur-B has no idea prisoner reaches the door of the briefi ng room or ‘avid BotSpotter’. that his former Troubleshooter team are now and is thrown in. the revolutionary subcommittee responsible If they choose not to erase Terrence-I, then for his fate and he will initially assume that It’s Terence-I, erstwhile Central Committee they need to get a rather fat man out of the they too have been captured by the Commie member. Despite the blood-thirsty crowd briefi ng room and past both the T-34 combot Mutant Traitors, which is absolutely typical outside, he’s uninjured. His jolly demeanour has and the crowd of frothing revolutionaries who of the characters’ utter incompetence. How vanished, replaced by desperate cunning. want to tear Terrence limb from limb. He won’t could they let themselves be captured without fi t in the air vents and there are no other exits. infl icting signifi cant casualties on the enemy? Terence-I gasps that Phineous-I has gone If they’re stalling too long, then a messenger Nonetheless, they are all loyal citizens together insane and seized control of the whole arrives to inform them that a Central Committee and must stay brave during this interrogation. Central Committee. He’s had the rest of the member is coming to visit the Subcommittee Now, where’s this Commie Mutant Traitor Committee killed or demoted and is now the for Mental Hygiene & Termination and they committee? sole master of YUC Sector. The war is going should make ready to receive the honoured badly; Computerist forces are storming the Committee Member. barricades a few levels away. Phineous-I Judging Arthur-B has abandoned the Revolution’s aims and is plotting some fi nal devastating attack on Alpha Terrence-I He’s accused of: Complex that will destroy both sides. Attempts Management 12 Attempted resistance to the to raise the proletariat in other sectors failed Oratory 16 Glorious Revolution dismally. Soon, either Phineous-I’s plan will kill Con Games 16 Illegal use of weapons everyone in YUC Sector or they’ll be executed IntSec Files 18 Traitorous thoughts & deeds as traitors once The Computer’s forces seize Stealth 10 Passing on treasonous control again. Surveillance 14 badthought and Computerist Disguise 14 propaganda Terence-I’s eyes narrow and he looks around Violence 8 suspiciously. He drops his voice and whispers Energy Weapons 12 Suggested punishments are: to the characters. ‘I can ensure your Hardware 4 Demotion (to the security clearance of safety when the Revolution falls. I am Software 6 the characters’ choice) an Internal Security double-agent, Data Search 10 Reassignment to reactor on a mission to foil the traitorous Wetware 4 shielding duty revolution. Spare my life, hide me Secret Society: None (Ex-Communist) Termination somewhere and when the Vulture Mutation: Charm (Power 8) Public execution Warrior stormtroopers come smashing Erasure
52 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 6. REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS 6. Revolutionary Developments Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS terminations leading to so many openings, run the Gamemaster off his module and explore REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE ARE there’s promotion hyperinfl ation. Instead of a sector in chaos. Things shoot them. YOUR FRIENDS! being promoted to RED for betraying a friend, REPORT ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE an INFRARED can expect to be promoted to AND TRAITOROUS ACTIVITY TO RED for almost any meritorious conduct. Pick YUC Sector THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS up some trash, have a promotion! Salute in the REVOLUTIONARY GUARD! corridor, have a promotion! Of course, because Under The New FOOD HOARDING BETRAYS THE of the food shortages and chaotic situation, PEOPLE! there’s no real benefi t to a higher clearance but Management LOYALTY TO THE PEOPLE IS the regular promotions have made the PGRC It’s unlikely that the characters will ever leave MANDATORY! rather popular among the proletariat. Room #32 for long in this mission. For one THE NEW ORDER IS ALL! DO NOT thing, there’s a giant combot standing outside RESIST THE NEW ORDER! Fighting is still raging at the edges of the sector, the door with orders not to let them leave. If YOU ARE FREE, CITIZEN! CONTACT where the People’s Glorious Revolutionary they do, though, then they fi nd that life in YUC THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS army is battling against the Armed Forces. Sector really hasn’t changed that much in the REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE FOR It’s rather confused – according to Operation areas of the sector that aren’t under direct YOUR NEW WORK ASSIGNMENT AND FLUSH, the attacks on the other sections attack. INFRAREDs are still stirring the food FIND GLORY IN YOUR FREEDOM! should be little more than a feint to draw the vats, offi cious bureaucrats are still offi cious COMPUTER LOYALISTS ARE traitors in YUC Sector out, not a huge attack. bureaucrats, the scrubots keep on scrubbing EVERYWHERE! STAY ALERT! There are barricades blocking the corridors and so forth. There are widespread shortages and battalions of T-34 combots heading out and power brownouts, the communications If the characters venture to higher-clearance to war. system has partially crashed (they’re using areas, then they do see more signs of change. runners and wire telephones instead) and Almost every citizen above BLUE has been everywhere there are Computer monitors fi lled terminated by the rebels and there are signs with static. There are also lots of new posters, of heavy fighting at the entrance to every Escaping YUC Sector with slogans like: high-clearance sector. (The high-clearance ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS citizens were warned of Operation FLUSH but All the exits from YUC Sector have been REVOLUTION! didn’t know about the PURGE involvement.) either welded shut by Revolutionaries or else THE PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE IS ALL- Rapidly, though, the empty slots in the social barricaded with offi ce furniture, bunk beds, KNOWING! TRUST THE COMMITTEE! pyramid are being filled. With so many Random Encounters In The Revolution Roll Encounter 1 Scrubbot scrubbing blood off a corridor 2 INFRARED clones wandering around lost and confused 3 Trashed Vending Machine 4 RED Poster team putting Revolutionary posters over Computer posters 5 Food collection truck gathering supplies for the barricade fi ghters 6 Newly-promoted ORANGE revolutionary parading around proudly 7 A group of citizens celebrating their new freedom by singing the People’s Glorious Anthem 8 T-34 Combot looking for trouble 9 YELLOW Revolutionary Guard bossing citizens about 10 Trashed confession booth 11 GREEN Revolutionary Guards looting the corpse of a Vulture Warrior 12 Leaking water pipe. The corridor is half-fl ooded. 13 Newly-promoted BLUE revolutionary shouting propaganda to anyone who listens 14 Broken Computer monitor with a smiley face drawn on it 15 INDIGO Central Committee member surrounded by an adoring crowd 16 Battle-damaged T-34 wandering randomly 17 A documentary team making a movie about the glorious heroes of the revolution 18 The aftermath of a public execution 19 A looted and burning shopping mall 20 Roll again twice and combine the two results.
53 VIVA LA REVOLUTION vending machines and the bodies of fallen this confl ict between YUC and the rest of Alpha clones. A character who spends a lot of time Complex for as long as possible. searching for an exit can eventually fi nd an Secret Society Stuff air vent, abandoned transtube or other hole in Free Enterprise: Have you sold those the wall. On the far side is a waiting team of If a Troubleshooter wants to contact his secret VitaYum bars yet? IntSec agents, who point an impressive range society, he can do so. Most Secret Societies of lethal weapons at the would-be defector. If are confused and alarmed by the state of the Humanists: Ok, the revolution isn’t going the character doesn’t fl ee, then IntSec grab him Revolution. quite as planned but that’s ‘cos there aren’t and tell him that he’s now an undercover IntSec enough Humanists in charge! Get promoted agents, with orders to spy on the proceedings Anti-Mutant: You’re on the fi ring squad? as quickly as you can! of Operation FLUSH. Give him one of the Good! Make sure that all the muties are IntSec briefi ngs from Episode 1, then turn him executed! Illuminati: You are instructed to ensure around and send him back into YUC. that citizen Judy-G-ZAT is not terminated. She Communists: We are plotting our own must not be harmed. counter-revolution! We will terminate the Room #33 Central Committee and seize control! We need Mystics: I don’t know where Dave’s place you to locate the Central Committee’s meeting is. Do you? Clever Troubleshooters may try to visit Room place – our agents will then bomb them! #33 and its computer console. The console Psion: You’re working on the fi ring squad? is almost completely incomprehensible but a Computer Phreaks: Ok, so the hackers Good. Ensure that all mutants are spared. character with Bot Programming, Hacking or are dead. Break into Room #33 and try to Operating Systems could try to mess with it. download a copy of the code they were Pro Tech: Ok, the revolution isn’t going Interrupt them with Revolutionary Guards if using. quite as planned but that’s ‘cos there aren’t you have to. enough Pro Tech in charge! Get promoted as Corpore Metal: The T-34s fi ghting at the quickly as you can! barricades are taking heavy casualties! Go to Looting & Pillaging the war zone and salvage any intact bot brains PURGE: Everything is going according to you can fi nd! plan. Continue. Troubleshooters can obtain all sorts of Stuff in YUC Sector, despite the sector’s economic Death Leopard: It’s the end of the world! Romantics: Ok, the revolution isn’t going deprivation. Any GREEN or lower clearance Burn everything! quite as planned but that’s ‘cos there aren’t equipment can be obtained, although black- enough Romantics in charge! Get promoted market prices have risen by 1,000% due to FCCC-P: We are all damned! The Computer as quickly as you can! the war. Fortunately, it’s easy to get promoted has abandoned us! Only by openly proclaiming (especially when Phineous-I promotes half the our devotion can we be redeemed! Tell Sierra Club: Ok, the revolution isn’t Troubleshooters to the Central Committee) everyone of your faith! going quite as planned but that’s ‘cos there and hence get paid more credit. Let’s hear it aren’t enough Sierra Clubbers in charge! Get for hyperinfl ation! Frankenstein Destroyers: Hah! The promoted as quickly as you can! robots are being smashed in the war. Prolong 7. The Central Commitee Wants You! Episode Summary: Phineous-I returns The door opens and it’s fi lled with and reviews the characters’ decisions so far. Our Glorious Revolutionary Guards. Four of He then recruits half of the Troubleshooters them try to jam through the door to the Central Committee to help him guide Leader at once and their People’s Glorious the revolution. On the bright side, it means Tension 15 Revolutionary Shoulderpads get promotion and power beyond the wildest stuck for a moment. With a loud dreams of most Troubleshooters. On the other Read the following aloud to the players. pop, they tumble into the briefi ng hand, certain death. room and take up position around From outside, beyond the sound you. More guards pour in and From this point on in the scenario, there’ll of the crowd who were shouting then the gaunt fi gure of Phinous-I be an upswing in player-vs-player violence for Terrence-I’s blood, there’s the appears. He stalks over to you like and plotting, above and beyond the normal sound of jackboots marching. Then a preying mantis approaching a PARANOIA conspiring. The players won’t there’s the sound of jackboots particular tasty thing that a preying even be pretending to be on the same side booting and heads being clubbed mantis might like to eat. any more. and then there’s an awed hush. ‘ALL HAIL THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE’ ‘Subcommittee Members,’ he shouts someone. intones in sepulchral tones, ‘today
54 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 7. THE CENTRAL COMMITEE WANTS YOU! has been a great day for the The unlucky characters are to remain here; barricades everywhere and despite People’s Glorious Revolution. We another prisoner will be with them shortly. Run our hopes, the other sectors have have purged traitors from our midst Episode 8 – IntSec Inside for those characters. not risen up to join us. and thrown off the oppressive shackles of The Computer and your There is hope – hope that we can subcommittee has played a key part The Central prevail against the enemy. The T- in our triumph – but there is more 34 combots that are the backbone work to do. Committee of our defence have proved so Tension 5 effective that The Computer is ‘My friends, the Central Committee deploying more T-34s to the front. needs you.’ Phineous-I and his – well, now technically their If we can seize control of the enemy Revolutionary Guards lead the characters down T-34s remotely, we can turn the Phineous-I asks for the completed Writs of the corridor a short distance to yet another enemy forces against themselves Termination that should have been fi lled out anonymous door. A hastily hand-written sign and prolong our glorious struggle. by the characters. Look at the writs and identify declares this to be ‘CENTRAL COMMITTEE the half of the players who have been the most HEADQUARTERS.’ Phineous mutters Our spies in the enemy Complex bloodthirsty and voted for the lowest option on something about the original pleasure-dome discovered that a group of hackers each list of punishments. This group of players being destroyed by Computerist forces, so this managed to gain control of the (which should be roughly half the group) are is the temporary replacement. He apologises T-34 bot network just before the going to get promoted. for the poor quality of the facilities. revolution began. This backdoor into the bot net is proof of the There should already be a split in the party, Inside, though, the room is surprisingly righteousness of our cause! We between those who were briefed by IntSec at the luxurious. It’s still a RED-clearance chamber shall use the very Computer our start of the mission and were aware of Operation but it’s been stocked with furniture, decorations enemies serve to destroy them! FLUSH and those who had no idea about the and supplies looted from a dozen high- revolution and have been going with the fl ow clearance apartments. The fl oor has carpets I proposed this plan to the older all along. In an ideal world, the Phineous-I split stacked on carpets, the chairs are incredibly members of the Central Committee should be orthogonal to that split, as in you plush, comfortable and massage-feature-rich, but they turned on me! Terrence-I end up with four types of player characters there are multiple giant television screens and was an Internal Security double – revolutionaries in the Central Committee, the tables are heaving with food and drink agent and his nefarious infl uence IntSec agents in the Central Committee, – real food and genuine alcohol. had spread to the rest of the revolutionaries left behind and IntSec agents left Central Committee. They had to behind. This will maximise player confusion and Phineous-I has the characters sit down at the be purged. Now, with a new, pure carnage. Of course, this is not an ideal world, central table. An antique robutler emerges Central Committee free of Internal no matter what Friend Computer insists and you from a closet and serves the characters Security taint, we can put my plan may just have to rely on the natural propensities whatever drinks they desire, before Phineous into operation. of players to provide confusion and carnage on calls the meeting to order. His speech starts their own initiative. out inspiring and then fl ies right off the ramp Internal Security is watching us, to crazy-town. The tone of this speech should though. You can’t just march Once he’s found his candidates, Phineous-I be very much Hitler-in-the-bunker. back to Room #33 and use the points at them with long, bony fingers. hackers’ computer to control the Observant players notice a distinct trigger- ‘Fellow Central Committee T-34s – the IntSec agents would fi nger callous on both hands. Phineous informs Members, the People’s Glorious assassinate you. We must be the ‘lucky’ Troubleshooters that they are Revolution faces a dire crisis. The cautious and clever. You will return hereby promoted to clearance INDIGO and are people have not been informed to the Subcommittee and fi nd some being reassigned to the Central Committee. of this fact but you now have the way of making it next door to the They must accompany him immediately to the clearance to know the truth. Enemy computer console. There, you will Central Committee Pleasure-Dome. forces are breaking through our insert this control disk, giving you
55 VIVA LA REVOLUTION control over the T-34 network. Order all the bots to attack the 7-CGAL,the Computerist forces, and our victory Fighting Phineous-I Robutler Who Also is assured! Kicks Ass Ambitious Internal Security agents or players Think of it, brothers! A new order in who have realised that Alpha Complex is Management 8 Alpha Complex! The dream of the going to win may want to try to terminate Bootlicking 12 revolution fulfi lled!’ Phineous-I right here and now. If they attack, Table Manners 14 then the robutler emerges from the closet Stealth 10 If the Troubleshooters ask for specifi cs on their again brandishing a concealed cone rifl e, while Sneaking 14 new mission, then Phineous-I insists that the Phineous runs out via a secret passage. Concealment 14 best strategy is to return to the Subcommittee, Violence 8 then sneak next door and activate the hackers’ Projectile Weapons 12 computer. He is immensely paranoid about Back to the Briefi ng Room Hardware 4 Internal Security agents and is convinced that Software 0 everyone from the Revolutionary Guards on Once the characters have fi nished listening Wetware 4 down is an IntSec assassin out to kill him. to Phineous’ insane ramblings, he opens the Armour: 2 secret passage and vanishes down into the Weapon: Cone Rifle with AP shells Phineous will keep spinning tales of how darkness. Meanwhile, the characters are sent (W3K) glorious life will be in the new order. The players back to the briefi ng room in the company of four will be his acolytes in the Alpha Complex that Revolutionary Guards. Two of the guards are is to come and everything will be shiny and indeed IntSec agents, the other two are loyal happy and wonderful. He also may mention, if revolutionaries. The Troubleshooters may Now, run Episode 8 for the players who were pressed, that he has a cunning backup plan for notice the occasional Signifi cant Glance from left behind in the briefi ng room. the revolution if the combat strategy fails. one escort to another but unless the characters do something silly, they won’t get caught in a fi refi ght between their bodyguards.
8. IntSec Inside Episode Summary: The Troubleshooters his sleeve. ‘I’m Gary-R-SEL’ he says or until terminated. This means he’s probably who weren’t promoted to the Central Committee with a big grin, ‘I’m a mutant.’ going to overhear any conversations with get saddled with the worst execution subject Internal Security or see any conspiring or ever. As they’re trying to shoot the unshootable Gary-R-SEL is one of the nicest, most helpful backstabbing. Gary’s not especially loyal to the mutant, they get a call from IntSec demanding clones you’re ever likely to meet. He’s cheery, People’s Glorious Revolution (they are trying they use the hackers’ computer to hack the relaxed and genuinely ready to help. He’s also to execute him, after all) but he’s not a big fan revolutionary’s T-34s. Everyone’s getting sent a condemned mutant. A gang of Anti-Mutant of Friend Computer’s regime either. He’s also next door… members used the cover of the revolution to pretty much immune to termination by anything drag Gary-R out of his quarters and then tried other than suffocation or exotic weaponry. If to beat him to death. Then they tried to shoot the characters are going to conspire in Gary- Gary The Mutant them. Then they tried strangling him. Finally, R’s presence, they’ll need to somehow cut him Tension 0 they tried a grenade and that killed all of them in on the deal. but left Gary-R only slightly stunned. Gary-R The final subject for termination by the feels a bit bad about that. Subcommittee for Mental Hygiene & Gary-R Termination is Gary-R-SEL. He’s a singularly powerful mutant with the Energy Field mutation. Management 4 He’s virtually immune to both impact and Judging Gary-R Stealth 6 energy weapons. Violence 4 Gary-R’s sole purpose in this scenario is to Hardware 2 The door opens once more, and T- be a speed bump for the players. His guilt is Software 2 34 pushes a young citizen into the clear – he’s a mutant – and the only problem is Wetware 2 room. You notice a distinct bright actually fi nding a way to kill him that works. Secret Society: Psion fl ash when the bot shoves him. The Mutation: Energy Field (Power 20) RED-clearance clone hands you his As the characters will have a lot of trouble Writ of Termination and you notice getting rid of Gary, he’s going to hang around a bright yellow stripe running down the briefi ng room until the end of the scenario
56 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 8. INTSEC INSIDE
The Call of Security. If you are loyal to Friend and our programmers will use the Computer, then please signal hacker’s backdoor to shut down the Computer your loyalty by singing the Alpha YUC Sector combots. Tension Gary Complex anthem – NOW.’ Complete this mission, At this point in the scenario, the characters are One verse of ‘Glory, Glory Hail Computer’ later, Troubleshooters and the insurrection contacted by a Computer-loyal agent. If he’s the message continues. ‘The traitorous will be put down within minutes.’ still alive, then the characters are contacted rebellion will soon be crushed by by Terrence-I. If he’s been terminated, then the Armed Forces of Alpha Complex Immediately after this message ends, the Terrence-I’s loyal henchman Morris-B. We’ll and all traitors will be executed. characters hear the tramp of boots outside in refer to both these scions of Internal Security The only thing that is stopping the the corridor yet again, as the characters who as IntSec. onward march of our forces is the were promoted to the Central Committee and T-34 combots that are defending their Revolutionary Guard escorts arrive. The Remember that good old assigned special the entrances to YUC Sector. The Revolutionary Guards are immediately called equipment, unit E, also known as the radio T-34s must be disabled. away by a radio message from Phineous-I, given by Arthur-B to the Troubleshooters at leaving all the Troubleshooters together again. the end of their fi rst briefi ng? If it’s still around, Thanks to a report fi led by Arthur- it crackles into life. (If it’s not still around, B (now a Hero of the Complex) It’s like one big happy family, reunited, only then the PDCs of the Troubleshooters in seconds before his termination, they’re all trying to get Granddad’s fortune the briefi ng room receive the message.) It’s we know that there is a computer which he’s stuffed in the old clock upstairs. (For IntSec calling. console in Room 33 that’s the purposes of this metaphor, Granddad is a connected to the T-34 network. This trio of dead geeks, the fortune’s a backdoor The message is a simple one. ‘Attention, radio terminal/PDC has a computer into the T-34 network, the clock’s a computer Troubleshooters. This is Internal uplink. Just plug it into the console console, and upstairs is next door.) 9. Viva La Revolution Episode Summary: Both sets of ensure they are judged. It’s not ordered to do the disk and transmitter get swapped in and Troubleshooters head next door to Room 33 anything else. It doesn’t give any extra weight out by fi ghting Troubleshooters. to either doom the revolution, Alpha Complex, to orders from Central Committee members. or for their own personal gain. Meanwhile, So there. If the disk is inserted for, oh, say a few rounds, Phineous-I puts his apocalyptic master-stroke then the Revolution ‘wins’. If the transmitter’s into action. Calling the Revolutionary Guard: inserted for a few rounds, Alpha Complex wins. They’re all busy fighting Alpha Complex If the computer console is destroyed, then forces. the bots go nuts and start shooting everyone. Suddenly No-one wins. Calling in the Alpha Complex There Are Lots Forces: They’re all busy fighting the of Bathroom Revolutionary Guard. Alpha Complex Wins Breaks Get the Invulnerable Gary-R- The barricades fall. The Armed Forces march SEL to bring either Phineous-I’s in. There’s an awful lot of shooting down the Tension 0 computer disk or IntSec’s radio corridor. If the characters hang around and transmitter next door: Actually, this haven’t arranged some deal with Internal So, both sets of Troubleshooters want to go one’s a kind of a workable plan. The trick will Security for their safety, then they’re included to Room 33 but (presumably) don’t want the be convincing Gary to play along. Watch the in the general purge of all Revolutionaries. other set to know what they’re doing there. So, players get into a bidding war in an attempt They’re shot and terminated. this section of the mission will probably involve to gain Gary-R’s services. the Troubleshooters sitting around the briefi ng room, trying to come up with reasons to leave The Revolution Wins and then shooting each other. There’s a map of Hacking the Bots the briefi ng room on page 11, by the way. The Armed Forces are driven back from the Assuming one or more Troubleshooters borders of YUC Sector and the Revolution make it to Room 33, they can insert Gadget lives to fi ght another day. Unfortunately, food Things The Troubleshooters A (the disk or the transmitter) into Slot B supplies are running low and there’s no sign of (the computer console) to initiate Massacre Phineous-I. The protestors therefore turn to the Might Do C (down the hall). The T-34s will follow the Central Committee for guidance… and if the commands of whichever side’s gadget is players can’t fi nd food and water for everyone, Ask the T-34 outside: The bot’s mission plugged in, so it’s possible that there’ll be a the protestors start calling for a new revolution. is to deliver prisoners to the Subcommittee and sort of Benny-Hill-chase-in-heavy-armour as The characters are likely to fi nd themselves
57 VIVA LA REVOLUTION in front of the New Subcommittee for Mental qualities, it’s safe. Except when the core is Hygiene and Termination… going into overload, in which case it may be YUC Reactor Core One randomly fl ooded with radioactive exhaust gases. No-One Wins Remember that secret passage leading from the new Central Committee room? It leads The ComBot: At the end of the corridor is YUC Sector descends into chaos and to Reactor Core One, the primary power a narrow bridge over a chasm and patrolling carnage. Lots of people are shot, including generation facility for YUC Sector. Phineous-I’s on the far side is another T-34. The behaviour the Troubleshooters, unless they sneak out of backup plan for the revolution is to overload the of this bot depends on what happened with the the sector and lie low for a few days. core, causing it to explode. The resulting blast hacker’s console. It might be attacking Alpha will destroy YUC Sector, not to mention a large Complex Armed Forces or revolutionaries chunk of the neighbouring sectors. or anyone and everything. The chasm is 20 Optional: metres wide, the bridge is two metres wide and The characters might end up being sent after offers only minimal cover. Who’s going fi rst? Phineous’ Phineous-I for several reasons: They want to catch the arch-villain Reactor Shielding: Finally, before the Masterstroke themselves, as a bargaining chip. core proper are the reactor shielding rooms. Tension 0 They are captured by Armed Forces troops and sent down the dark secret What, you thought ‘reassigned to reactor PARANOIA missions usually end with a passage to the core. shielding duty’ was just a euphemism? The return to the status quo. No matter what wacky They are fl eeing the Armed Forces and corridor leads past a series of cells, which high-jinks and jolly totalitarian nightmares think that a dark secret passage is a good may or may not contain a condemned citizen happened during the mission, everything ends place to hide. depending on the punishments chosen by the up with the Troubleshooters being debriefed They interrogate the robutler in the characters earlier in the scenario. These poor and quite possibly demoted or terminated. The Central Committee room as to Phineous’s doomed citizens call on the Troubleshooters to Computer’s online and all’s right with this most whereabouts. free them or just hurl insults and chunks of scalp perfect of Alpha Complexes. at them (background radiation is rather high The route to the core consists of three here even when the core isn’t overloading). Therefore, if you want to return to the status sections: quo and wrap the whole mission up neatly, run The Dark Tunnel: It’s a dark tunnel, this optional encounter. On the other hand, winding its way from the Central Committee you can leave the vile traitor Phineous-I as a room to the core. It’s lined with pipes and dangling plot thread, to be taken up in a later tubes and ancient warning notices. Despite mission. its foreboding appearance and claustrophobic
The People’s Committee expects that every citizen will do his part for the Revolution! (Your part may include dying horribly).
58 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 9. VIVA LA REVOLUTION Phineous’ Manifesto of Doom Roll Phrase 1-2 I was terminated a dozen times in the service of The Computer! It never ends! 3-4 The people build Alpha Complex! It is ours! We must retake it! 5-6 Join me, and we can spread the doctrine of revolution to all the other sectors! 7-8 If there is hope, it lies in the proles! 9-10 I’ll burn this whole sector to the ground rather than let The Computer destroy my dreams! 11-12 Trust no-one! Internal Security is always watching and waiting! They want to kill you! 13-14 This day shall be remembered forever! This is the day the dream of revolution became a burning beacon to all of Alpha Complex! 15-16 Join me, and we can lead the Complex forward into a new and glorious era! 17-18 This is all part of my grand plan! 19-20 You’ll never take me alive!
Troubleshooters can’t make out the text but Things Start Overloading Phineous-I there is one charge (it’s ‘Knows about the Management 12 YUC Sector Incident) and two options for If Phineous does start to overload the core, Oratory 16 punishment (‘None’ and ‘Termination’). then the lights throughout YUC Sector start Con Games 16 fl ickering. A siren begins to wail in the distance IntSec Files 18 The committee chairman leans forward and asks and an automated message repeats (not in Stealth 12 ‘do you have any knowledge of any The Computer’s voice) ‘CORE OVERLOAD Surveillance 16 unusual events in YUC Sector? IN PROGRESS. WITHDRAW TO A MINIMUM Sneaking 16 If so, what were those events? SAFE DISTANCE IMMEDIATELY’. Seconds High Alert 16 What does Operation FLUSH mean later, radioactive steam starts to vent Violence 12 to you? from pipes in every corridor. Things get Projecile Weapons 16 Is the name Phineous-I-ZED known progressively more doom-fi lled (the ground Agility 16 to you? shaking, fl ashing lights, more sirens, random Hardware 8 What is the People’s Glorious fi res and explosions) until they are positively Software 10 Revolution? doom-ful and the sector explodes. Operating Systems 14 Who were the members of the Wetware 4 Central Committee of the People’s Secret Society: PURGE Glorious Revolution?’ Confronting Phineous-I Mutation: Telekinesis (Power 10) Armour: ArmourAll (4) The only safe answers to all these questions The corridor ends in a control room, fi lled with Cone Rifl e with AP Shells: (W3K, are, respectively, ‘not a clue’, ‘nope’, ‘nothing’, dials, levers, big red buttons and one deranged AP) ‘no’, ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I don’t know’. The ex-Troubleshooter and revolutionary. He’s got whole YUC Sector Incident is being made a cone rifl e and a lengthy manifesto, both of into unhistory and only those who betray no which are equally lethal in their own unique Debriefi ng in the knowledge of it whatsoever will be spared… way. As the characters approach, he will launch into a lengthy recital of the evils of The Ruins Computer’s regime, how Alpha Complex is a totally fl awed and doomed state and how only After the mission, any surviving Troubleshooters a single strong leader – himself – can stem the are escorted to a briefi ng room very, very tide and save humanity from destruction. similar to Room 32. There’s a committee of five anonymous citizens there. One of Throughout the inevitable fi refi ght, Phineous the committee members has a document will spout lines from his manifesto. that’s clearly a Writ of Termination. The
59 VIVA LA REVOLUTION
Writ of Termination WRIT OF TERMINATION FOR ______
We, the people of YUC Sector, under the benevolent guidance of the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Central Committee, do hereby request and require that the People’s Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and termination do convene in solemn judgement of ______who is accused of the following crimes against the people: ______
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] ______:______[ ] ______:______[ ] ______:______[ ] ______:______[ ] ______:______[ ] ______:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADERS TERRENCE, PHINEOUS, ALISTAIR, GOLDSTEIN AND THURSDAY! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
Writ of Termination WRIT OF TERMINATION FOR: BOB-YUC-1
We, the people of YUC Sector, under the benevolent guidance of the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Central Committee, do hereby request and require that the People’s Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and termination do convene in solemn judgement of Bob-YUC-1 who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Consorting with the enemy, not being suffi ciently loyal to the People’s Glorious Revolution. Looking suspicious. Not knowing the words to the People’s Glorious Anthem.
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] STERN TELLING OFF:______[ ] MANDATORY SINGING LESSONS:______[ ] MEDICATION:______[ ] BRAINSCRUB :______[ ] TERMINATION :______[ ] ERASURE:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTIONARY CENTRAL COMMITTEE, AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADERS TERRENCE, PHINEOUS, ALISTAIR, GOLDSTEIN AND THURSDAY! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
60 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 Writ of Termination Writ of termination for: Judy-G-ZAT-2
We, the people of YUC Sector, under the benevolent guidance of the Central Committee do hereby request and require that the Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and Termination do convene in solemn judgement of Judy-G-ZAT-2 who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Lack of loyalty to the people’s glorious new regime Spreading dissent Hoarding hot fun, cold fun and other foodstuffs Not being suffi cently enthusiastic about the new regime Suspicious behaviour Looks like a traitor
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] REASSIGNMENT TO REACTOR SHIELDING DUTY:______[ ] TERMINATION :______[ ] PUBLIC EXECUTION:______[ ] ERASURE:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADERS TERRENCE, PHINEOUS, SMITH AND JASPER! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
Writ of Termination Writ of termination for: Rudy-Y-ANC-4
We, the people of YUC Sector, under the benevolent guidance of the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Central Committee, do hereby request and require that the People’s Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and termination do convene in solemn judgement of Rudy-Y-ANC who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Being a spy for the Computer, Spying on the People’s Glorious Revolution, Spying on the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Central Committee, Betraying the People’s Glorious Revolution to the hated Alpha Complex.
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] ORDERED TO PASS ON FALSE INTELLIGENCE TO ALPHA COMPLEX:______[ ] HELD IN A SECURE AREA FOR FURTHER INTERROGATION: ______[ ] PUBLIC EXECUTION:______[ ] APPEARANCE ON ‘TRAITOR ZAPPING HOUR TV SHOW:______[ ] ERASURE:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADERS TERRENCE, PHINEOUS, SMITH, GOLDSTEIN AND THURSDAY! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
61 VIVA LA REVOLUTION Writ of Termination Writ of termination for: Arthur-B-PHB-3
We, the people of YUC Sector, under the benevolent guidance of the Central Committee do hereby request and require that the Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and Termination do convene in solemn judgement of Arthur-B-PHB-3 who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Attempted resistence to the glorious revolution Illegal use of weapons Traitorous thoughts & deeds Passing on treasonous badthought and computerist propaganda
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] DEMOTION:______[ ] REASSIGNMENT TO REACTOR SHIELDING DUTY:______[ ] TERMINATION :______[ ] PUBLIC EXECUTION:______[ ] ERASURE:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADERS PHINEOUS, RINDLE AND JASPER! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
Writ of Termination Writ of termination for: Terrence-I-YUC-6
We, the people of YUC sector, under the benevolent guidance of the Central Committee do hereby request and require that the Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and Termination do convene in solemn judgement of Terrence-I-YUC-6 who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Passing information to the hated enemies of the people High treason Betrayal of the committee for public safety Abuse of public trust Very high treason Being an intsec spy
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME: [ ] ERASURE:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADER PHINEOUS! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
62 PARANOIA: Alpha Complex Nights 2 Writ of Termination Writ of termination for: Gary-R-SEL-1
We, the people of YUC sector, under the benevolent guidance of the Central Committee do hereby request and require that the Subcommittee for Mental Sanitation and Termination do convene in solemn judgement of Gary-R-SEL-1 who is accused of the following crimes against the people:
Being a mutant
THE FOLLOWING PUNISHMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND THE GLORIOUS NEW REGIME:
[ ] TERMINATION :______[ ] PUBLIC EXECUTION:______
THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THIS JUDGEMENT! ALL HAIL THE PEOPLE’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, THE ALL-WISE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND OUR BRAVE AND NOBLE LEADER PHINEOUS! DEATH TO THE COMPUTER AND ITS LACKEYS! DEATH TO ALPHA COMPLEX!
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