Fine a more introductory post follows.
Was planning on introducing most of this through narrative, as Paranoia is supposed to be, but meh, if you nubs want a high level OOC explanation, fine.
Paranoia is a game with rules and no rules. It's structured unstructured play.
The setting is Alpha Complex, an installation in the far future, or possibly present, under what is currently San Francisco.
Paranoia is a game of PvP and cooperative uncooperation, where you are given a goal by the omnipresent Friend Computer, the divine ruler of Alpha Complex. And are set out to achieve that goal in a manner not unlike a pack of uneducated African child soldiers would. With vast amounts of backstabbing, shooting everyone, and oh shit a dark room what's going to happen to my character this time, am I gonna end up painted purple like last time, or am I going to have a bleeding wound. Friend computer is a paranoid AI, whose main purpose is to officiate the Alpha Complex, and is the supreme ruler in the North Korean Once and Forever sense. He is omnipresent and always watching. Except when he's not.
In Alpha Complex there are security clearance levels, ranging from Infrared which is lowest, to Ultraviolet, with the rainbow running the range between them. People of a lower clearance level can't do anything with another clearance levels color, and everything is recognizable by color. Infrareds cannot go out of infrared(I think it's basically a blackish red in universe) zones, can't wear any other color clothing, and can't get in the way of anyone of a higher clearance color. Same for reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Blues, and Violets. Ultraviolets are the untouchables and interfering with one metes out the highest punishment possible, death and being sticken from the clone pool. Many other things mete out that punishment as well.
Your name is a given name followed by a group of letters indicating the security clearance, followed by the general location within Alpha Complex you live at. Infrareds have no technical clearance so they lack the security indictor. When people refer to you, they refer to you by given name security letter.
IE
Yaar-R
Or Keenan-R
Or Roy-G
Or Kell-O
Or Jesus-U
In the main game you play a troubleshooter, an Infrared who recently snitched on a CommieMutantTraitor, and has been elevated into the Clearance of RED the hitch is they themselves are a Mutant and/or Traitor and/or Commie, in someway.
So the game become finding out how the other players are traitorous, what their mutant power is, what their goal is, and attempt to subvert them at every step.
Alpha Complex is the highly corporatized, highly controlled, highly restricted, hugely PARANOID place our Russian dexers, who have been alive longer than 30 years were warned about when people talked about the US. Everything is branded, everything is controlled by a corporation or the state, and everyone is happy because happiness is mandatory.
Honestly though do you go into an RPG like fallout, with the assumption of, OH I NEED TO CREATE A CHARACTER, I BETTER READ THE ENTIRETY OF THE VAULT SO I CAN MAKE EDUCATED DECISION?
In Paranoia, if you know anything about the universe, you hold that back, in the assumption that the GM will kill your character for knowing too much. If you let slip that you know what Ultraviolet clearance is, or that they are called High Programmers, or that their function is to fix bugs in Friend Computer, your GM will kill you.
Anyway, the premise is simple, it's a choose your own adventure where you react to my plot, and I react to your choices. Occasionally I will give a call for submissions, this will be a point where I call on people to PM me with ideas for something that a happens, this will typically be the dark room moments, of which I will implement the best 2-4 of, with myself, some of my gaming friends in RL and a few others on the internet I've met up with being the judges. Currently the story is focusing a Red Clearance Troubleshooter. You folks are making him, right now, so get to voting.
As a bonus, here's the next 3 polls.
What is your branch of service?
1. Armed Forces(Millitary)[You use guns]
2. Happiness Police Department{You enforce happiness laws, also propaganda}
3. Internal Security[GOING TO EXPLAIN IN NARRATIVE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS IS, ONLY IF IT'S CHOSEN]
4. Technical Services{you work as tech support and make sure everything is working properly)
Pick a number, from the ones below?
1
3
9
13
5
What about a color, Note citizen, color codes are disregard for the purposes of the question?
1. Fuscia like the kind heart of Friend Computer
2. Orangello, like the crass color of that one banned snack food that everyone hated, but gave you a wicked trip if you mixed it with Crunchy Crusty Crackle Crackers.
3. Red, like the color of a bat meeting someones skull and blood spraying out.
4. Blue, like the ocean bro, you never seen the ocean, bro. it's like completely flat and unmoving from all directions, bro, I heard about it from my bro, bro?
5. Grey, like the color of the security bots.
6. White, the color of nothing and everything.
