Paranoia

Paranoia is the TTRPG for groups who want to laugh at a broken system from the inside. Players are Troubleshooters serving an insane, cheerful Computer in Alpha Complex, each secretly a mutant and a member of a banned secret society, and each with orders that conflict with everyone else's. Missions are built to go wrong, teammates are rivals, and every character has a "six-pack" of clones, so death is a punchline rather than the end of the evening.

It is not a game for tables that want cooperative heroics, character arcs over dozens of sessions, or rules that settle every dispute fairly. The current Mongoose edition keeps the rules light on purpose and puts a lot of weight on the Gamemaster's timing, so Paranoia works best as a one-shot or a short run of missions with friends who enjoy being betrayed.

What the game is

Paranoia is a satirical dystopian science-fiction TTRPG originally designed by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber and Eric Goldberg and published by West End Games in 1984. Since 2004 it has been published under license by Mongoose Publishing. The current core rulebook, simply titled The Core Book, was written by WJ MacGuffin and Keith Garrett and released in September 2023. It was crowdfunded as the "Perfect Edition", and Mongoose has since also called it the "All New Shiny Edition".

The setting is an enclosed underground city run by the Computer, which sorts citizens by color-coded security clearance from Infrared up to Ultraviolet. Player characters are newly promoted Red-clearance Troubleshooters sent to find trouble and shoot it. The Computer fears mutants, secret societies, the Outdoors and above all Communists, and every Troubleshooter is secretly at least one of those things.

Publication history and editions

The 1984 first edition won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules. The 1987 second edition simplified the rules and set the slapstick-and-satire tone most players associate with the game. A poorly received 1995 "Fifth Edition" (a joke numbering) was later disowned. After the original designers recovered the rights, Mongoose published Paranoia XP in 2004, a 25th Anniversary line in 2009, and the card-driven Red Clearance Edition in 2017. The game was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007 (publication history and awards summary).

The current edition came out of a Kickstarter that ran from October 28 to November 27, 2022 and raised £274,323 from 2,505 backers. It keeps Red Clearance Edition's d6 dice pool, drops the mandatory cards, restores more setting material from older editions, and brings Communists back as the Computer's favorite enemy.

What you need to play

You need The Core Book (144 pages), ordinary six-sided dice, and a Gamemaster. The core includes character creation, the setting, Gamemaster guidance and a sample mission. It is sold as a PDF on DriveThruRPG ($29.99) and as a hardcover or PDF from Mongoose's own store. One die in each roll is the Computer Dice. Any visually distinct d6 works, so no special dice are required.

Supplements and missions

The current line is organized around missions and toolkits rather than required expansions:

• The Accomplice Book: the companion volume. It adds rules for using older-edition material, optional rules (non-competitive character creation, hit points and stat-based initiative, GM dice rolling), the returning Mission Blender, and more Alpha Complex celebrities.
• Brave New Missions: five ready missions, including a revised "Stealth Train".
• 404 Compendium: NPCs, bots, complications, most-wanted traitors and secret-society handouts for GMs building their own missions.
• Powers That Be: Trust No One (2025): the eight service groups and 13 secret societies, written as scene drops that make Troubleshooters' lives harder.
• Short mission books such as Mandatory Fun, Citizen In Name Only, Water, Water, Everywhere and Algorithmic Loyalty (2026), which satirizes influencer culture.
• A Gamemaster's Screen.

Digital tools and VTT support

Roll20 hosts a Paranoia compendium built from The Core Book. Foundry VTT users can install an unofficial Paranoia Perfect Edition system, a fan project that is not endorsed by Mongoose.

Core rules and play structure

Every test builds a pool called NODE from one of four stats (Violence, Brains, Chutzpah or Mechanics) plus a relevant skill and any equipment bonus. Players roll that many d6 plus the Computer Dice, and every 5 or 6 is a success. If the Computer Dice shows the Computer result, the roll still succeeds, but the Computer suddenly takes an interest in what that Troubleshooter is doing. The more Treason Stars a character has, the more Computer Dice faces trigger that attention, so suspicion makes the dice themselves more dangerous.

The Gamemaster does not roll dice by default. Only players roll, which keeps the GM's role as an all-powerful, capricious authority and makes it feel as though failure comes from teammates and bad luck rather than from the GM.

Characters and advancement

Troubleshooters have the four stats, skills, a service group job, a secret society, a mutant power and a pool of Moxie. Character creation is done together and lets players shape parts of each other's characters, so suspicion starts before the first mission. That can slow the start of a session, as the lead designer has acknowledged, and the Accomplice Book offers a non-competitive alternative for late joiners or faster starts.

Instead of experience levels, the game tracks XP Points, which work as both money and social credit, and security clearance, which the Computer grants or revokes on whim. Team positions such as Team Leader and the new Media Officer, who must produce flattering content about the mission, add official duties that pull Troubleshooters in different directions.

Signature mechanics

• Clones: each character comes with six clones, so a Troubleshooter can die repeatedly and the player keeps playing.
• Treason Stars: a visible record of how suspicious the Computer is of you, which also widens the Computer Dice danger range.
• Buttons: each Troubleshooter has a Treason Button and a Violence Button, the triggers that make them commit treason or lash out. The GM can press them, or players can act on them proactively to earn Moxie.
• Moxie and Favours: Moxie is a resource players spend for advantages, including Favours that get other Troubleshooters into trouble.
• Restricted information: the game pretends rules and setting knowledge are above the players' clearance, so knowing too much is itself suspicious.

What play feels like

A typical session opens with a briefing that is contradictory, under-explained or obviously fatal, then sends the team to collect faulty experimental equipment before the mission itself. From there it is a comedy of accusations, secret-society side objectives, misused gear and sudden firefights, followed by a debriefing where the Computer decides who was loyal. Play rewards quick talking and creative blame-shifting more than tactical skill. Reviewers often say it is best enjoyed in bursts: Set the Tape suggests four to six sessions per campaign at most.

Running the game

Paranoia asks a lot of the Gamemaster. The GM voices the Computer and every NPC, decides when the Computer is watching, presses Buttons, and keeps the chaos fun rather than miserable. The current book replaces older "don't be a jerk" advice with practical guidance on spotting when a player, not just their character, is genuinely frustrated. Published missions and the 404 Compendium reduce prep, but a GM still needs good comic timing and a willingness to rule on the fly.

Campaign fit

Paranoia is at its best as a one-shot or a short series of missions. Clones and replaceable Troubleshooters make long play possible, and supplements support recurring service groups and secret societies, but most reviewers treat it as a palate cleanser between more serious campaigns rather than a long-term home.

Reception and awards

The game line won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984, entered the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007, and was chosen for the 2007 book Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Reviews of the current edition are largely positive. Refereeing and Reflection says it fixes nearly every problem of Red Clearance Edition and recommends it to newcomers, The Gaming Gang gave it 8.5/10, and Cannibal Halfling Gaming calls it a good edition that moves in the right direction while questioning how much new ground the satire still breaks. Critics on the Paranoia subreddit say some rules text is loose and that tables often end up improvising rather than playing strictly by the book.

Where it is strongest

• Fast, memorable comedy one-shots with a famous premise.
• Player-versus-player tension that the rules actively encourage.
• Light d6 rules that players can learn by playing.
• A deep catalog of missions and toolkits, plus conversion notes for decades of older material.

Where it can frustrate groups

• Players who dislike betrayal or losing characters may feel picked on.
• Success depends heavily on the GM's timing and judgment.
• Rules are deliberately loose, so groups that want precise adjudication may be disappointed.
• Competitive character creation can slow the first session.
• It rarely sustains a long campaign.

Content and safety notes

Expect frequent cartoonish character death, executions, surveillance, drug-like "happy pills" and satire of authoritarian politics, bureaucracy and media culture. The tone is darkly comic rather than gory, but the core loop is players deceiving and accusing each other, so it helps to agree up front that the hostility is between characters, not friends.

Best starting path

Buy The Core Book on DriveThruRPG or from Mongoose, run its sample mission as a one-shot, and add Brave New Missions if the group wants more. Pick up the Accomplice Book once you want optional rules, the Mission Blender or older-edition adventures.

Research notes

Last checked October 23, 2026.

• Mongoose Publishing Paranoia collection (core, Accomplice Book, missions, supplements and prices)
• DriveThruRPG: The Paranoia Core Book
• Kickstarter: Paranoia RPG – The Perfect Edition
• Wikipedia: Paranoia (role-playing game) (history, awards, older reviews)
• Refereeing and Reflection: Paranoia Perfected?
• Cannibal Halfling Gaming: Paranoia The Core Book Review
• The Gaming Gang: Paranoia – The Core Book Reviewed
• Set the Tape: Paranoia – The Perfect Edition review
• r/ParanoiaRPG: designer clarification on Computer Dice successes
• r/ParanoiaRPG: community discussion of the current edition
• Roll20 Paranoia compendium and Foundry VTT unofficial system