Paranoia-By-Post

[BlueBard]

A proposal...

What say we put the Paranoia game on Hiatus until after the first of the year?  Give it a rest until after the holidays?

I could go either way, but maybe folks will find it easier to participate and be ready to come back to it fresh if we take a break.

Or lose interest entirely, in which case I'd prefer to give it a mercy killing as opposed to dragging out the torture like with 'My Secret Identity'.

When I originally wrote my synopsis for this game, I utterly failed to take into account what would happen if someone actually set off the Energy Suppression Grenade.  Especially under the circumstances in which it was set off.  When that did happen, I had to rethink a few things, but I have a basic plan for the ensuing chaos.  The real problem, I think, is that Paranoia just isn't Paranoia without gratuitous firing of energy weapons.

Which is coming.  But I seem to be having difficulty helping the players muddle through without them for the moment.  Total darkness is a pretty paralyzing peril, apparently.  I have a rather drastic plan to 'fix' things, but it's not time to spring it yet.

Anyway, if anyone would like to take a break, please let me know.  Otherwise, we now return you to your regularly scheduled dose of Paranoia.

[Viking]

What?  Someone set off the Energy Suppression Grenade?  I have no idea who that could have been!  Nope!  ArrMatee still has it stowed safely in his backpack.  Though, quite frankly, it being an R&D item, I wouldn't be surprised if it did nothing at all when activated...  :P

All joking aside, I'm happy with whatever.  You can always count on me to be ready to post in this game.  But without fairly regular participation (like, say, each player posting once a day), I fear that it may indeed be dying a slow death.

The utter lack of power is a severe handicap, I'll admit.  Lots of Paranoia hijinks really depend on electrical equipment functioning.

[BlueBard]

Fun Fact Time with Citizen Spoil-U-PLT!

Fun Facts about the Energy Suppression Grenade:

WARNING! Under NO Circumstances should Citizens below Ultraviolet clearance read the following censored text.  Unless of course, you are a commie mutant traitor.  In which case, please read and then report to the nearest Termination Booth.

[spoiler]As conceived, the ESG is supposed to simply suppress the flow of electrons temporarily.

Instead, what it ACTUALLY does is [text deleted for security reasons].  This results in all electrical power being drained from every unshielded power source within range.  The sudden, massive drain of current also overloads any local power grid, blowing all types of fuses and tripping all circuit-protection mechanisms.

I'm not revealing too many secrets here, as it will all come out sooner or later.[/spoiler]

Have a Nice Daycycle, Citizen!

[BlueBard]

O-Kay.

Christmas is over and New Year's is around the bend.  I need a show of hands... Who is interested in continuing the Paranoia game in 2008?  And I mean a real commitment to continuing, not just posting every blue moon.

I need to know whether to keep the game alive or not and whether or not to advance the plot.

(Hey, I made a rhyme!)

[Viking]

I, of course, am always interested in continuing a fun game.  You can count me in.

[gdaybloke]

(*shoots Viking on suspiscion of his being a clone*)

[BlueBard]

(*shoots Viking on suspiscion of his being a clone*)

I guess I'll take that as "I'm in"?

[Panther_Gunn]

If my day-to-day schedule gets back to normal after next week (which it should, with all of the Christmas craziness over with), I should be ready to get back to it.

[BlueBard]

Point of trivia:

I have actually been exposed to tear gas.  It was part of my training when I was in the Navy.  However it was long enough ago that I remember very little of the experience.

I vividly remember being in the 'gas chamber' and having to remove my gas mask.  I suppose it was to teach us that it is possible to function, as long as you hold your breath and get the heck out of it as quickly as you can.

I don't remember much else, though.  None of the sensations of being exposed.  So if my depiction of being exposed to tear gas is unrealistic, I just have to say --

nyaah, nyaah, nyaah.

[Lord Elcorion]

your pretty close. i was in army boot camp, all the armed forces gas you as part of the training. one thing i remember is that it makes yours nose run like crazy, and your eyes and throat feel like they're burning, on top of watery eyes and the coughing. i don't remember it being so much of a "you can still function" type exercise so much as a "this can and will happen to you on the battlefield, so don't panic when it does," exercise.

[Viking]

I'm so glad that all of my exposure to the armed forces has merely been through the window of RPGs...

[BlueBard]

-AHEM-

Everyone should be taking advantage of the time in between clone activation and Mission Re-Briefing, or immediately afterward.  Anyone who is not should rethink their strategy.  Since Paranoia is new to some of you, allow me to offer some suggestions:

- Check in with your Service Group and/or Secret Society contacts.  They may have information, resources, and/or secret missions to offer.  Don't just go to say 'Hi!'.  They won't offer you anything you don't ask for, so ask for something reasonably specific.

- Get 'insurance'; this can take the form of bribery, blackmail, unauthorized 'extra' gear, etc.

- Do something to make yourself look good... or at least less bad.  If you think you are suspected of anything, prepare a way to deflect it.  Don't forget that what your previous clone did continues to reflect on you, since you are them, even if you didn't do whatever it is you did.  Got that?

If you can't think of something, wait until after the Re-Briefing; something may suggest itself.

[Panther_Gunn]

I'm guessing that all new skills any of us had picked up along the way are no longer there, as it was after the "physical".

[Viking]

Oh Illustrious GM:

What should we do if someone inadvertently reveals information that they should not have known, e.g., stuff that was included in Spoiler tags?

Do we view it as a ret-con, or has the offending character just committed treasonous activity that can be reported to the Computer?

[BlueBard]

Oh Illustrious GM:

What should we do if someone inadvertently reveals information that they should not have known, e.g., stuff that was included in Spoiler tags?

Do we view it as a ret-con, or has the offending character just committed treasonous activity that can be reported to the Computer?

This is Paranoia.  I leave it to your imagination.  Since the remark was made "in-game" that makes it fair game.  However my comment was not made "in-game" and therefore was more of a warning.  The only PC who knows for sure what was in the packet is Spyd-R.  If he doesn't act on it, the rest of you risk treasonous behavior yourselves by doing anything.

I might point out that none of you have lasers yet, so any summary punishment will have to wait.  Maybe you should just file that under "suspicious behavior" for the moment.

Just be careful folks... Spoiler text is addressed for a reason.  I don't normally put anything truly damaging in them, but they're still not intended for common knowledge.  I use them because they're easier to track than PM's and so any non-players reading along can get a sense of what's going on.  If you accidentally read them, just don't let on "in-game".  Keep it to yourself and don't directly act on it and there's no harm done.  Indirectly acting on it... well, that's Paranoia.

Regular abuse of Spoiler text will result in "in-game" penalties, however...

[Panther_Gunn]

You guys are, ah, supposed to react to that.  Brownnose.  Fast-talk.  Bribery.  Whimper like a little girl.  Something.

ooc:  Being a good and obedient Citizen, I was planning on letting our illustrious Team Leader....well, lead.  If he asks for my assistance, I will cheerfully give it.  :D  I'll also probably stick my nose into things if I see a rather juicy opening, of course.  :lol:

[BlueBard]

"Elec-O flips the breaker switch.  The resulting power surge overloads the regulator and fries the failsafes on the Proton Bomb hidden directly under DTH sector.  A miniature sun blooms briefly on the planetary surface and knocks the Earth out of orbit.  Eventually it ricochets off of Jupiter and heads out into deep space.  Everyone dies."

No, not really.  Just bored waiting for posts.

[BlueBard]

Is anyone other than Viking still interested in playing this?

'Cause I could just skip all the spoiler text if nobody else is involved.

[BlueBard]

FYI...

A couple of weeks ago my work laptop basically died.  And, as is typical for this company, they have yet to replace it.  I'm working off a desktop I built myself with old hardware.

To make a long story short, I don't have copies of any of my more recent notes on the Paranoia game because they were - naturally - on the dead laptop.  I recovered some of the files, but I'm not organized yet and don't know what I managed to save and what I didn't.  I do have copies of my older notes, though.

Now, flying by the seat of my pants running a game doesn't bother me.  I make a great deal of it up as I go along anyway and don't worry overmuch about continuity and/or game mechanics except to advance the plot.  This note is by way of saying that, well, I'm going to be worrying even less about continuity than I normally do.

;)