Things You'll Need:
- Paranoia RPG book
- Pencils
- Dice
- Character sheets
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Step 1
Set the mood and ground rules for a "straight" session of Paranoia immediately, before the players have had a chance to do anything. This is especially important for a group of players who are used to playing the "zap" or "classic" styles, because they will be predisposed to behave in outrageous or comical ways that will be counter to the mood of a "straight" game.
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Step 2
Leave out the humorous puns and play-on-word names common to the other styles of play. It can be difficult to maintain a serious tone when the players are meeting clones with names like "Bud-Y-SER."
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Step 3
Create an oppressive and dark atmosphere for the players by taking the standard elements of the game and making them more serious. The secret society "First Church of Christ Computer Programmer" can change from amusingly dim-witted cultists and brown-nosers into fanatical thought police archetypes, always on the lookout for anyone they can brand as a traitor and have executed. The secret society "PURGE" becomes an extreme terrorist organization bent on destroying the Computer at any cost, even if there is extensive collateral damage in the form of human lives lost.
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Step 4
Build a multifaceted satire of society and politics similar to the classic dystopian novels, as long as your players won't be overly offended or turned off by it. There are a large number of real-world institutions and laws that can be used as templates for Alpha Complex, from Cold War-era soviet Russia to the American Patriot Act.
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Step 5
Perform the role of the Computer in as menacing a manner as possible. Never let the players forget that the Computer is always watching, and eventually they will be caught and executed for their treasonous beliefs or mutant abilities. Drop all aspects of comedy from the Computer's mounting paranoia, and render its insanity as a very real, very lethal aspect of life.
