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Paranoia is set in a post apocalyptic world where the population live inside a giant dome called Alpha Complex and the outside world is toxic (think Logan's Run). Each citizen is in fact one of several clones, with the others kept in storage should anything bad happen. In Alpha Complex, everyone has a security clearance level. That level is defined in terms of colours of the rainbow. Infra Red is the lowest security clearance, red is second, Orange is next and so on up to Ultraviolet at the highest level. For ease of recognition, all parts of the Alpha Complex are colour coded to ensure no citizen ventures into an area where they don't have security clearance to be.
The Alpha Complex is run by a massively powerful benevolent AI called The Computer. There is only one problem. The Computer has gone mad, and is now homicidally paranoid. It believes treason is all about, and the punishment for treason is death. Being in the wrong security zone is treason, as is not knowing whether a zone is Ultraviolet or Infrared. Not appearing when asked to participate in the Research and Development department's special equipment and weapons initial testing exercises is treason. Players are often assigned tasks by The Computer which require them to explore outside the Alpha Complex. Leaving the Alpha Complex is treason. Not performing the tasks assigned to them by The Computer is treason. Being in a secret society is treason. Every player is automatically a member of a secret society. Doubting The Computer's wisdom is treason. Saying things are treason is treason.
What you end up with a is a game where every player is out to stay alive, with one of the main ways of doing so being to make sure The Computer kills someone else first. That's if one of the gadgets R&D has given you to 'test' doesn't kill you anyway.
It's absolutely jet-black humour but in play it is actually one of the funniest RPG games ever. The rulebooks used to make me laugh out loud, let alone actually playing the game.
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