PARANOIA
Let the sickness begin
(Paul
Dignall)
Basic
Plot
The PCs are
ordered to investigate a series of terrorist attacks that is believed to
be organised by Commie, Mutant Traitors. The Computer will provide
all relevant information and the PCs will terminate the traitors.
Simple huh ?
What no one knows
is that the traitors are not actually from Alpha complex at all.
They are in fact from Gamma complex, a wholly Communist state located several
thousand miles away across the ocean. The Gamma Communists are attempting
to gain access to the blessed Alpha complex computer in an attempt to reprogram
it with the Marxist heresy. What is worse, the Gamma Communists have
infiltrated the group ! A medical droid has been reprogrammed with
the Marxist heresy and insinuated into the group.
As well as this, the
group has been infiltrated by the P-Men; a covert mutant group which attempts
to protect the mutant population from the horror of human prejudice and
the computers intolerance. Professor P the bald headed leader of
the
P-Men has placed his
best mutant student within the group and covered their tracks by use of
his machine empathy powers.
Naturally, the blessed
computer does not trust its operatives entirely and therefore has
placed two top Int sec agents within the group. One of them is a
double agent and really works for the Commie, Mutant Traitors, and is there
to oversee the med bot as well as reporting back to the terrorist cell.
As if this were not
enough [and it isn't], the group also has a loose cannon. Who has
been transferred into the squad from another department. He is a
cop on the edge, who takes no crap from his superiors [John Woo].
Although not a mutant, commie or even a traitor he does have two
big pistols and an
obsession with acrobatics and shooting people. If these two interests
can be brought together he is a happy man.
Due to pressure from
Higher Programmer Kelly, a member of the Anti-Mutant league has been placed
with the group and will be in communication with a strike force prepared
to move in and kill the Commie, Mutant Traitors.
As a further consequence
to High Programmer Kelly's demands a member of the Research and Development
department has been transferred into the group in order to provide qualified
scientific and forensic assistance to the team. The R&D man is
in fact a member of the Trekkies an underground society which reveres the
20th century 2D show "Star Trek" as such he tends to waffle about
quantum mechanics and Tachyons etc etc. The computer it must be noted
reacts in a very helpful and friendly fashion to the Trekkie player.
The final member of
the group is a large black man who is a member of Jah Rastafari; a secret
society based upon the Rastafarian religion. It is imperative that
he be as stoned as possible as often as possible. Since Canabis is
not illegal and freely available from the Yardies. Which is
another group linked very closely to Jah Rastafari, the computer does not
have a problem with him unless his habit causes problems doing his job.
The man from Jah Rastafari has half as many clones as the other players
but is twice as experienced, having once been a member of the fabled Vulture
squad. He was of course kicked out for being too stoned.
The
Bad Guys Plot
The Communists
aim to obtain technology from Alpha complex as well as plant their virus
in the computers mainframe. In order to achieve both these aims they
have split into teams. The first team is after plans of the cloning
vat technology which the Communists do not have. The second team
will move in at the same time as the first team, attempting to penetrate
the mainframe complex and download the virus. Should either team
succeed the mission is considered a success.
The third team is
not even in Alpha complex. They are located just outside, attempting
to sabotage the main satellite communication nexus for Alpha complex.
The other two teams are in fact a diversion for this activity, which is
aimed at blinding the computer to an imminent invasion from Gamma complex!
Team one checklist
Since the
cloning vats are located within the R&D sector, team one need to get
hold of an R&D scientist in order to gain access to the vats.
Yes, you guessed it. The scientist attached to the player group is targeted
by team one. They also have a timetable, the plans must be in their
hands 3 hours into the game.
Team two checklist
The double
agent Int-sec officer is in fact the only member of this team. In
his position as an infiltrator it is his job to con the other players into
fulfilling his mission to download the virus into the computer. How
this is done is up to them but, it must be accomplished 3 hours into the
scenario.
Team three checklist
Team three
does not appear directly in the game at first. They too have to complete
their task three hours into the game. However, due to a truly hideous
storm above Alpha complex; the commies find it difficult to climb the slick
surface of the Geodesic dome of the complex. They will be in position
6 hours into the game. Naturally this means that things will have
calmed down in the complex and the players will get to have a rooftop showdown
with team three during the middle of a raging hurricane.
The
Players personal plots
Rastafari
- get really stoned all the time
Int-sec - monitor
Pcs & report back to HQ
Int-sec [Infiltrator]
- con Pcs into downloading virus into the Computer
Med bot - shake off
commie programming & obsessively heal PCs
P-Man [superhero]
- protect mutant interests by protecting non mutants
Anti-Mutant - find
and eliminate all Gene freaks
Cop on the edge -
shoot the bad guys & chew cocktail sticks
R & D Scientist
- examine & duplicate the superior communist weapons
Research
and Development Manual
Plasma Grenade
The Grenade
generates an intense Plasma reaction reaching 6000 degrees Kelvin for approximately
0.34 of a second the radius however is limited to 5 feet. For this
reason it must be thrown accurately. Due to the wonders of the outstanding
technicians of the Research and Development section the timing mechanism
on the Grenade may be set for any time period by simply turning the arming
dial.
[the timer in fact
does not work and the grenade detonates as soon as it is armed.]
Teleport Ring
The ring
houses a dimensional vortex generator which creates a wormhole intersice.
The wormhole appears
under the feet of the person that is wearing the ring and they fall through
Fourth Dimensional space towards the exit wormhole which appears 5 feet
in the air at the target location. The teleportee appears feet first
and falls to the floor, landing safely.
The user interface
on the ring comes in the form of four red dimensional co-ordinate dials
and a green activation button. The user simply dials the entry and
exit co-ordinates and hits the activation button.
[the forth dimensional
space the character travels through is dangerous to human germ plasm.
every time the character activates the ring roll against the random mutation
table.
once the ring is activated
the character has a 5% chance of materialising intact. there is a
45% chance of the character materialises with a limb fused into a solid
object. This WILL require amputation. There is also a 50% chance
that the character suffers molecular instability and
discorporates
into gelatinous slime.
It should also be
noted that activation a wormhole intersice within a 10 foot area of the
plasma grenade will trigger the detonation sequence.]
Computron Cyber-prosthetics
Although
basic the range of limbs and related spinal reinforcement come in three
different classifications.
Class I - these limbs
operate with a strength rating of 11 and a dex of 6.
Class II - these limbs
operate with a strength rating of 16 and a dex of 8.
Class III - these
limbs operate with a strength rating of 20 and a dex of 10.
Spinal reinforcement
is required if a character requires more than one prosthetic limb.
This is VERY painful.
The main problem with
Cyber-prosthetics is that the character no longer has a sense of touch.
As well as this the character must have regular maintaince checks.
[Power drain is the
biggest problem - each level of prosthetics reduces the available run time
before the limb(s) shut down. It will require either a highly skilled
power systems engineer or Prof. Carlos Chunder of the R&D section and
his team to recharge any prosthetics which have powered down. it
is highly advisable that any character who has prosthetics read the manual
that is issued with the relevant power registration chitty. The manual
fully explains the power limitations of their particular model and the
chitty allows the character to prove that they are authorised
to use prosthetics
and recharge them at the above places.
The manual is however
out of stock temporarily and the players must wait for 30 days before they
receive their registration package.]
* The medbot
character is a Fembot as from Austin Powers ??? *
Hunter Seeker Killdart
The killdart
operates in two modes; passive and offensive. In passive mode this
marvel of Gamma complex engineering acts as a mobile hovering spy-cam.
if attacked it will automatically switch to offensive mode and target anyone
aiming a weapon at it.
In offensive mode
the killdart can be programmed with a specific target and set to seek and
destroy them. The payload of the killdart is a neurotoxin which causes
Instant and agonizing
Death.
[what the player does
not know is that the targetting software of the killdart is badly bugged
and anyone aiming a weapon at anything, anyone or even just generally waving
a weapon around will be taken as a threat and therefore targetted.
The hunter progrm which governs identification of programmed targets will
crash every time it is used. This resets the killdart back to the above
setting.
Gamma complex enginnering
is by nature more advanced in the area of hardtech than Alpha Complex.
Any Techical services or R&D character will immediately notice the
advanced microfusion generator that the killdart has as a power source.
Also the hoverjets are a miracle of minituarisation that would defy Alpha
complexes current tech level.]
Personal Forcefield Generator
Generates
a forcefield with the intensity of average player clearance armour but
it absorbs the radiant and kinetic energies of any impact and therefore
becomes ever more powerful in intensity.
[This will continue
until the forcefield is so strong that even air or light cannot penetrate
it. Sadly for the player using this item the field is powered by
a very crude microfrsion generator and once powered up it cannot be switched
off.]
Chameleon Suit
The suit
generates a holographic field which blends the character into the general
surroundings much like the pre Oops film "Predator".
[2 hours of use creates
a field instability which paints a garish mess of backgrounds all over
the characters skin; permanantly affecting the pigment.]
Paranoia
and The Computer logo are registered trademarks of West
End Games
Authors of submitted items are indicated where appropriate
All other text and graphics by Steve
Criddle
|