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In Paranoia 2nd edition, player names are structured as firstname-clearance-sector. The first name can be anything, the clearance starts out as R for Red, and the sector can be any three capital letters. The rulebook strongly advises that this is used to make some kind of horrible pun, so my PCs dutifully created characters with names like Traito-R-USS, Cho-R-IZO, Roberts-R-DUM and Bash-R-SEE.

Frustratingly, some of these PCs survived their first mission and I suppose that I should probably promote them for this, meaning that they advance to Orange clearance. Unfortunately, Traito-O-USS doesn't work as a pun any more.

Is there an established approach to this? Should I allow my players to rename their characters? Should I encourage them to think harder about puns that work throughout the clearance levels?

ymbirtt
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    "Frustratingly, some of these PCs survived their first mission and I suppose that I should probably promote them for this" ... yup, this is definitely a Paranoia GM ^_^ – Kaithar Jun 07 '17 at 18:15

4 Answers4

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Just change their name. It's Paranoia. If Friend Computer says your name is now Kil-O-WAT, what are you going to do about it?

"Kil" has always been your name.

KorvinStarmast
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fectin
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    I quite like this one for the inevitable scene in which I say "The computer has decided that Traito-R-USS requires a new name and sector with his promotion, to assuage any acusations of treachary. He shall henceforth be known as Trait-O-RUS" – ymbirtt Jun 05 '17 at 16:02
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    And, given how perfectly efficient the Computer is, the citizen will NEVER EVER have problems getting new IDs made, or gaining access to things because their old name has the wrong clearance but their new name is too new to be "in the system" or having to report their friends for re-education for using their now-classified old name... – CaM Jun 05 '17 at 20:10
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If these "players" have reached the point where they have "earned" some sort of "advancement", it is clear that you have failed Friend Computer. Your job like that of all responsible citizens was to purge all commies, mutants, and traitors. As these "players" are all one of the three, you have failed. Report for summary disintegration, citizen.

In other words... Paranoia isn't really meant to get that far. The characters should be utterly incapable of doing anything to earn a promotion. They should have run out of clones before they get there.

If somehow you do have characters who got that far, they get assigned to a different sector as part of the promotion, and should come up with new puns that work for the new clearance.

T.J.L.
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    Reassign them new sector and rank to something the can't remember. Then report to somewhere special, that they've got to authenticate... and then disintegrate them for getting it wrong, and let their new clone have a new name :) (Or be demoted). – Sobrique Jun 05 '17 at 14:32
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    I've seen advancement even in a rather kill-happy game. In fact, I (still red) got another trouble shooter (orange) accused of treason for my own traitorous act: she as comms officer didn't record our mission and didn't have a record of the GOOD JOB we did blowing up a commie hideout (actually an orphanage), so I handed her a tape and said, "Don't worry, I did it for you." Cue Victorian music being broadcast to all of Alpha Complex. She couldn't even retaliate by accusing me of having traitorous materials without fessing up to her own incompetence. Ah good times. #SecretMissionCompleted – Draco18s no longer trusts SE Jun 05 '17 at 19:15
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    If you're playing in the "Straight" play style, death is much rarer and it's certainly conceivable that they will be promoted before running out of clones. – Thunderforge Jun 05 '17 at 20:33
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    Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but I want my players to possibly maybe get promoted. Being able to hand a shiny to the orange-clearance troubleshooters that they can then lord over all the red-clearance scrubs would, I think, make for some awesome moments – ymbirtt Jun 05 '17 at 21:21
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    ...b-but Computer, if you don't give players anything, what are you going to take away from them when (not if) you discover they are mutant commies in cahoots with a not-friendly secret society. – xDaizu Jun 06 '17 at 06:50
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    My group only plays Paranoia as one shots (1 evening) where we start out at red but the computer is quite liberal with promotions especially if you managed to catch a traitor and produce evidence. Troubleshooters regularly make orange and sometimes even yellow or green. That doesn't prevent them from derailing the mission to the point where it ends in total chaos and lots of dead clones. It's great fun so saying that promotions are a failure of the computer is wrong in my opinion. It's a matter of play style. – Sumyrda - remember Monica Jun 06 '17 at 07:04
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    @ymbirtt Absolutely. In my games, the GM would often promote the least able/most annoying player at the table, just to ensure maximum frustration for everyone else. – Bob Tway Jun 06 '17 at 08:42
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    Though I accepted the other answer, I still think this is a reaonsable suggestion. Allowing my players to change their name is the "decent and reasonable" thing to do. Forcibly changing my players' names and using this as another stick to beat them with is the Paranoia thing to do. – ymbirtt Jun 07 '17 at 07:42
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    I disagree with the opening notion, Zap campaigns can be acceptably expected to be one run deals, but Paranoia is officially supposed to be played so that the players have a fair chance of surviving (provided they're crafty enough). An impossible game isn't fun for players in the long haul and discourages them from participating in campaigns. I've played single run missions where some team members have completed objective, survived to be debriefed, been promoted, and then promptly been executed for illegal activities. – Kaithar Jun 07 '17 at 18:27
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It's hard to make a good pun, let alone one that works across more than one security clearance. The players have enough to worry about. I've never offered, and they've never asked.

If they did ask, I'd let them change their home sector on promotion.

okeefe
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    Back in my day, we made a game of coming up with names that would work at as many security clearances as possible. I think the record was one that would've worked at every security clearance but green... Not that the character ever made it past orange, but we all admired the effort. – GMJoe Jun 07 '17 at 09:10
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    @GMJoe, you can't make a comment like that and not tell us what the name was! – ymbirtt Jun 07 '17 at 12:38
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Who is this Traito-O-USS? Friend computer does not have in it's records any operative with that name. This is clearly a commie secret agent pretending to be an operative. He must be killed. Order Traito-R-USS and the rest of his surviving operatives to find and dispatch these operatives immediately!!

Either Traito-O-USS will stop causing trouble with your naming covention or Traito-R-USS will dispatch him and happily live on with a nice effective name.

dsollen
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    it's not so good as a general solution, but it is definitely the kind of thing I'd expect from FC – Kaithar Jun 07 '17 at 18:29