Things You'll Need:
- Paranoia RPG Book
- Character Sheets
- Pencils
- Dice
- Players
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Step 1
Prepare for the session ahead of time by skimming through a published adventure, if you are using one, or going over your notes if you are coming up with your own scenario. Of all the styles of play in the Paranoia game, "Zap" requires the least amount of pre-planning or setup. You may need to print out character sheets if using pre-generated characters from a published adventure.
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Step 2
Allow the players to do most of the work for you. In a "Zap" session the focus is on the Troubleshooters and their zany antics. Don't railroad the players into following a specific path or taking specific actions. Let them decide how to complete the tasks set forth for them and allow pretty much anything to work as long as it's fun or humorous. Skill rolls should never determine whether the Troubleshooters successfully complete their mission or not. They should only be used to determine how bad a Troubleshooter messes something up or whether they manage to get themselves killed yet again.
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Step 3
Play the role of the Computer in as over the top a manner as possible. The Computer should always be happy, smiling, and upbeat, even as he arbitrarily decides to execute Troubleshooters for perceived acts of treason or hands out dangerous and experimental equipment to the players who deserve it the least.
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Step 4
Emphasize the importance of the various secret societies in the game and focus on their wackier aspects. A fun paranoid dynamic is created if each player has a mission from their secret society that the other players aren't aware of, especially if all of the players are uncertain as to whether their companions are working at cross purposes to their hidden agenda.
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Step 5
Punish players quickly and efficiently if they get too far out of control. The whole purpose of a "Zap" game is to create conflict between the players, but if one player is repeatedly killing another player's character or accusing them of treason for no apparent reason it can put a damper on the fun. In these instances the Computer should pop up to punish that character immediately by ordering him to report for summary termination or giving her some incredibly unpleasant and highly lethal task, and it should be very clear why it's happening.
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Step 6
Portray Alpha Complex as being in a barely maintained state of near complete anarchy, and leave the heavy social commentary or political satire for another game session. Robots that patrol the hallways of Alpha Complex should be malfunctioning and going on a destructive rampage more often than they work properly, equipment should always be of an experimental or completely non-functional nature, and the Troubleshooter's superiors should give consistently conflicting or contradictory orders that must be followed.
