Paranoia is a dystopian science-fiction tabletop role-playing game originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan , Dan Gelber , and Eric Goldberg , and first published in by West End Games. Since the game has been published under license by Mongoose Publishing. Several editions of the game have been published since the original version, and the franchise has spawned several spin-offs, novels and comic books based on the game. The game is set in a dystopian future city controlled by the Computer also known as "Friend Computer" , and where information including the game rules are restricted by color-coded "security clearance".
Player characters are initially enforcers of the Computer's authority known as Troubleshooter, mainly for the fact that they shoot trouble , and will be given missions to seek out and eliminate threats to the Computer's control.
The player characters are also part of prohibited underground movements which means that the players' characters are usually included among the aforementioned 'security threats' , and will have secret objectives including theft from and murder of other player characters. Paranoia is a humorous role-playing game set in a dystopian future along the lines of Nineteen Eighty-Four , Brave New World , Logan's Run , and THX ; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor , frequently tongue-in-cheek rather than dark and heavy.
Most of the game's humor is derived from the players' usually futile attempts to complete their assignment while simultaneously adhering to the Computer's arbitrary, contradictory and often nonsensical security directives. The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
The game's main setting is an immense, futuristic city called Alpha Complex. Alpha Complex is controlled by the Computer, a civil service AI construct a literal realization of the " Influencing Machine " that some schizophrenics fear.
