Last year at the +MK RPG club I wrote a quick Paranoia adventure, Deck the Halls with Laser Fire, to be played on the final session before Christmas. We had been in the middle of a long-block campaign of Paranoia playing through some classic adventures but I wanted to run something Christmas themed as it seemed fitting, what with it being Christmas and all. It went down a treat so for this year I've dug out the notes I made and typed them up into something more legible for public consumption! This can be ran with any Paranoia system comfortably with a few tweaks to the setting depending on what version you opt for. It ran for 3 hours in total (and even then we were rushed a bit towards the end) but theres not much in the way of word count here; most of it, as with most good Paranoia adventures, is simply setting up the scene and letting the players tangle themselves up!
The adventure assumes the use of pregens, available also in the PDF. They are left without stats but have an assigned mutant power that is distinctly festive. Roll some stats up for them and apply before the slaughter laughter begins!
Click here to download "Deck the Halls with Laser Fire"
Read on if you're interested to find out what happened last year.
Last night turned out to be one of the most enjoyable games of Paranoia I’ve ran, something Im quite delighted about! I’d warned the players in advance that the story was taking a break for a Christmas special one off that I’d chucked together – “Deck the Halls with Laser Fire”.
We managed to run out of time so we couldn't get a debriefing in but I think we finished on a good note!
The Concept: A high programmer had been researching “Christmas” after uncovering some pretty nifty Old Reckoning stuff. He loved the idea, and wanted to see a version of it take off in Alpha Complex so various things were organised to form the creation of a new secret society in the NTH sector (based under the central exhaust vent pole) called the NTH Pole Jinglers. The society would go ahead and run a parade down the main street in the sector to celebrate “Computermas”.
I made up some pregens with only core skills, festive mutant powers (such as being able to emit festive smells and create a jingling sound) and a small paragraph explaining their previous secret society and their jobs. All the players were starting out as new recruits to the NTH Pole Jinglers.
The mission briefing began with watching an old vidtape of a Christmas parade, with their leader explaining that the mission was simple:
Things of course got very messy. I've tried to keep things in summary as much as possible, to include all the oddness that went on would be a bit much!
After messing around with the controls of the sectors Climate Control Station they created some serious hailstones at freezing temperatures. This resulted in lots of ice everywhere on the ground but it was white-ish at least, and definitely cold.
Due to a lack of decent presents, they wrapped up cone rifles, grenades, some BouncyBubble Gum, some experimental BouncyBubble Gum, nuts and bolts and so on. They also convinced the warehouse owner (Tin-Y-Tim) that they were famous stars and he could meet Teela-O-MLY after he signed the release forms – all 400 pages of it.
They created a sleigh by attaching 8 scrubots (spray painted brown with antennas sticking out of them, the lead one with a torch strapped to its front and red paint smeared over the lense) to a skip, after using an Infrared citizen as paintbrush.
They doped their “Santa” up on BeJolly pills so that his face was locked in a grin after strapping him into an inflatable fat suit, over inflated it to the point that it broke one of his legs but used the helium setting so he kind of bobbed in the sleigh like an oversized starfish.
The "Computer" then turned up, saying that it was actually happy with the idea, and had issued the players with 8 green clearance guards to escort them (armed with Computermas happy sticks – giant candy canes). He had also cleared the street for the procession.
The procession went as so:
I hope you use this adventure and, if you do, let me know how it goes! Merry Computermas, and Computer bless us, every one!
Click here to download "Deck the Halls with Laser Fire"
Read on if you're interested to find out what happened last year.
The Session Report
[This summary was originally posted to UK Roleplayers, 24th of December 2014]Last night turned out to be one of the most enjoyable games of Paranoia I’ve ran, something Im quite delighted about! I’d warned the players in advance that the story was taking a break for a Christmas special one off that I’d chucked together – “Deck the Halls with Laser Fire”.
We managed to run out of time so we couldn't get a debriefing in but I think we finished on a good note!
The Concept: A high programmer had been researching “Christmas” after uncovering some pretty nifty Old Reckoning stuff. He loved the idea, and wanted to see a version of it take off in Alpha Complex so various things were organised to form the creation of a new secret society in the NTH sector (based under the central exhaust vent pole) called the NTH Pole Jinglers. The society would go ahead and run a parade down the main street in the sector to celebrate “Computermas”.
I made up some pregens with only core skills, festive mutant powers (such as being able to emit festive smells and create a jingling sound) and a small paragraph explaining their previous secret society and their jobs. All the players were starting out as new recruits to the NTH Pole Jinglers.
The mission briefing began with watching an old vidtape of a Christmas parade, with their leader explaining that the mission was simple:
- Create this “snow” stuff in sector NTH.
- Get and wrap some presents to hand out to all the good little clones.
- Build a sleigh and find a way to pull it.
- Get the Chosen One dressed up in the red suit and secured in the sleigh.
- Take the sleigh through the street to the NTH pole, where Santa would climb the chimney and place the gold star up top for all to see.
Things of course got very messy. I've tried to keep things in summary as much as possible, to include all the oddness that went on would be a bit much!
After messing around with the controls of the sectors Climate Control Station they created some serious hailstones at freezing temperatures. This resulted in lots of ice everywhere on the ground but it was white-ish at least, and definitely cold.
Due to a lack of decent presents, they wrapped up cone rifles, grenades, some BouncyBubble Gum, some experimental BouncyBubble Gum, nuts and bolts and so on. They also convinced the warehouse owner (Tin-Y-Tim) that they were famous stars and he could meet Teela-O-MLY after he signed the release forms – all 400 pages of it.
They created a sleigh by attaching 8 scrubots (spray painted brown with antennas sticking out of them, the lead one with a torch strapped to its front and red paint smeared over the lense) to a skip, after using an Infrared citizen as paintbrush.
They doped their “Santa” up on BeJolly pills so that his face was locked in a grin after strapping him into an inflatable fat suit, over inflated it to the point that it broke one of his legs but used the helium setting so he kind of bobbed in the sleigh like an oversized starfish.
The "Computer" then turned up, saying that it was actually happy with the idea, and had issued the players with 8 green clearance guards to escort them (armed with Computermas happy sticks – giant candy canes). He had also cleared the street for the procession.
The procession went as so:
- Kids got armed, got violent and began attacking the sleigh for more presents.
- The PCs retaliated with grenades.
- Scro-O-GEE from the local accountancy firm turned up, angry at all the noise, and sent his Combots to stop the fuss.
- The players convinced their escorts to beat up Scro-O-GEE, while some of the other guards attacked the kids.
- One of the PCs (a Pro Mutant) convinced another PC to sing a song with her about Rudolph the Red Nose Mutant.
- The other PC (a commie) decided to sing her own song at this moment in time:
Note: The player made this song up herself there and then!
- Another PC decided this was treason and stuck a grenade down her back, ending her momentarily.
- Free Enterprise, wearing green masks, rappelled down the side of the buildings to steal the presents but got a bit surprised at the chaos that was already going on.
- The computer asked, seemingly oblivious to the destruction, if everyone was having fun then asked all guards to start making use of their happy sticks on everyone they could see.
- One of the PCs dropped a grenade under the sleigh to disrupt proceedings – she was secretly still with Free Enterprise and was wanting to help.
- At that point, the High Programmer lost his temper and started yelling about how all this squabbling, fighting with friends, bickering with loved ones and stealing presents wasn't the Computermas spirit... at which point he realised that his Computer disguise had slipped and cut the transmission.
- A loud rumbling from overhead followed by what appeared to be snowflakes falling prompted everyone to stare up in wonderment, till they realised it was the sector blast doors sealing them in. That was when the real computer advised that the sector was to be purged.
- In the ensuing chaos, the PCs (except the Free Enterprise player) legged it to the chimney with Santa in tow, jumped into the vent and sailed upwards, determined to complete their mission – they then realised they were going towards the big fans so while one rammed the star into the side of the chimney, another threw some grenades around just to go out in a blaze of glory.
I hope you use this adventure and, if you do, let me know how it goes! Merry Computermas, and Computer bless us, every one!
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