[RPG] What are the differences between Paranoia XP/25th Anniversary and Paranoia 2017

edition-comparisonparanoiaparanoia-2017

The 2017 version of Paranoia (which unfortunately is just called Paranoia without any edition subtitle that I can find) appears to be pretty different from Paranoia XP/25th Anniversary (which were pretty much the same version). What are all the notable differences between this version and the previous one? Is anything from that edition compatible or will it require some sort of conversion?

Best Answer

Minor, on-the-fly conversions will smooth things over, but fundamentally Paranoia missions don't depend on the version of the rules.

  • Most of the Secret Societies still exist, but some were removed or replaced and a few new ones were added. The scope of Secret Societies were also changed—it's fine if they're freshly created and tiny. Also, Internal Security is now a Secret Society, which makes some sense.

  • Likewise, some Mutant Powers were changed or replaced.

  • Troubleshooters no longer belong to a Service Group (IntSec is special, see above). Service Firms basically don't exist as play concept but can certainly still exist in Alpha Complex. Slight tweaks to Mandatory Bonus Duties as well.

  • Players make all the dice rolls, which are now d6 dice pools rather than a d20. Weapons and damage are simplified. Character generation is done as a group, whereas you might use pregenerated characters in earlier editions.

  • It's probably more convenient to replace uncommon (but not experimental) equipment with the new equipment cards.

  • Add terrorists to the list of things The Computer is concerned about for the safety of Alpha Complex.

  • Cerebral Cortech is new and replaces some forms of surveillance The Computer might use, adds new ways to communicate and record suspicious activities, and provides new ways to screw the players.

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