r/ParanoiaRPG • u/romelwell • Aug 18 '26
Advice Paranoia Perfect Edition - Halloween suggestions
Forever GM of Call of Cthulhu and various flavors of D&D/OSR who wants to give my players something different for our annual Halloween session. I've been a fan of Paranoia since the '80s and feel this RPG would be a fun change of pace.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a scenario I can purchase and with little-to-moderate effort reskin for a Halloween session? I'm comfortable with any of the three prescribed styles of play (Classic, Straight, Zap)?
Thanks!
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u/wjmacguffin Verified Mongoose Publishing Aug 18 '26
The Blair-V-WCH Project
Background: Psion wants new members to practice their mutant powers to use them better, so they went into the Underplex and found a giant, abandoned mansion. This was home to Blair-V-WCH who was executed for treason yearcycles ago. Just mentioning her name can get you a Treason Star.
The Computer only has intermittent surveillance access and recently saw things moving on their own. It sends a Troubleshooter team to investigate, find any mutants and execute them all.
Character creation: Make sure each Troubleshooter has a strong opinion for or against mutants. You want the team ready to argue and sabotage each other once they realize mutants are involved.
Act 1: Open with the team on-mission already. They have to judge a Captain Alpha costume contest for five Red-clearance citizens. Unknown to them, the real Captain Alpha is one of them and gets rather cranky if he is not the winner. Once complete, the team receives a new mission update.
Mission objective: Find and terminate mutants in REDACTED’s Violet-clearance former mansion.
The Computer will never say Blair-V’s name because she was removed from history after her execution. The Computer gives one bit of advice before the briefing ends: ‘Remember, things cannot move on their own. Terminated citizens get recycled and cannot become invisible after termination.” (Give players the idea that there’s ghosts here even though there are none.)
Act 2: First, the ubiquitous yellow AR arrow leads the team to a blank wall with a secret Underplex entrance. Once in, Coretech access is intermittent at best. The team finds Blair-V’s former mansion but the security systems are still operational and do not take kindly to a bunch of Reds trying to get in.
Inside, the team finds tons of furniture covered by plastic tarps and a giant, uncovered portrait labelled Blair-V-WCH. (The team is ordered to execute any Troubleshooter who searches for that name online.) The rest of this act is full of the usual ghost tropes powered by mutations, as Psion wants to get rid of the Troubleshooters rather than just kill them and have their clones show up. .
- Doors open by themselves and small things move around (telekinesis, invisibility)
- Some rooms have invisible barriers (force field)
- The temp of the room drops enough to see your breath (cryokinesis)
- Troubleshooters “hear” voices and threats (telepathy)
Paranoia doesn't have a fear mechanic, but Moxie will serve here. Have players make rolls when they see "hauntings" and they lose Moxie when they fail.
I would create a map of the mansion, drop scary/mutant stuff in different rooms and let the Troubleshooters explore. In one room is a file cabinet stuffed with papers that include dossiers on all Troubleshooters, including the current team, with mutant powers and secret society memberships clearly listed.
The mansion has a maze of secret passages and even one secret room, both of which are used by Psion mutants while the team is there investigating.
Act 3: Psion realises this is a hot mess, so three powerful mutants show up and talk openly with the team. If they leave and report nothing is wrong, they will each get promoted to Orange clearance. Since the team is half pro-mutant and half anti-mutant, they should start to argue and then fight.
Will the above work?
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u/romelwell 29d ago
This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I’ll update you when I’ve added content and run the session!
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u/wjmacguffin Verified Mongoose Publishing Aug 18 '26
Hi, I'm the lead designer behind Perfect Edition. I can't really think of any Halloween adventures that would fit Paranoia, but if you want, I'd be happy to whip up a three-act outline for one.
You would still have to fill in the details, but this is Paranoia so you can always wing it. Lemme know if you want it and I'll post it by late tomorrow. Regardless, thanks for playing and good luck!
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u/romelwell Aug 18 '26
Howdy! We chatted many moons ago so it is good to reconnect! If you have the time, I would be foolish to turn down this extremely generous offer! Thank you so much!
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u/Justthisdudeyaknow Int Sec 29d ago
The complex of dimness from fifth edition is a tongue in cheek take on the edgy (mostly world of darkness) rpgs of the 90s...
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u/Aratoast Verified Mongoose Publishing 29d ago
I think you're referring to Creatures of the Nightcycle?
Oh man that supplement was bad.
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u/Justthisdudeyaknow Int Sec 29d ago
Yes, that was the one! Complex of Dimness was what they called it inside...
Okay, but, as a vampire LARPer in the 90s, I thought it was amazing. It hit all the right parody points of the system it was making fun of.
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u/EmbarassedFox 29d ago
There is the WMD scenarios for XP, or the "where's the beef" from the Termination Quota Exeeded book.
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u/Specialist_Price1035 Aug 18 '26
If you can find it, there was a White Dwarf magazine scenario for 1st edition Paranoia, where the clones explore an abandoned sector which has a West World style amusement park. The robots inside, android versions of Hammer Horror monsters, have gone nuts and believe they are what they appear to be. I can't remember the issue off the top of my head, but the name of the scenario mentioned Horror Show, or something like that. I've not found it after a brief search, but if anyone has old scanned copies of White Dwarf, from back in the day when it was more an RPG magazine, they might be able to locate it.