The Computer has taken time out of a very busy schedule to do an interview in a great post on the Official Paranoia Blog. This interview provides some information about the new edition of Paranoia, set to be released in the very near future (The Black Missions Limited Edition is supposed to ship next month.  Can’t wait to see it.)

Excerpt follows :

Friend Computer!
At your service, citizen. How may I help you?

I feel uneasy about the rumoured new editions of PARANOIA.
Fear and apprehension are not permitted. Joy is mandatory. If you not experiencing mandatory joy, report for chemical joy enhancement therapy.

Would you mind answering a few questions about the new edition?
Not at all.

I’ve heard there are going to be three books.
There will now be three core rulebooks in the PARANOIA line. These are the TROUBLESHOOTERS book, the INTSEC book, and the HIGH PROGRAMMER’s book. Each of these books is self-contained and focusses on a different way to play PARANOIA.

Personally, I’m pretty intrigued and excited by the prospect of delving deeper into the world of Paranoia.  But I’m a little apprehensive as well.  Perhaps I need to be medicated.

In my own microcosmic set of experiences (largely limited to my own gaming groups, local game conventions, and what I read on the dirt sheets), it seems to me like what people expect when they sit down to play a Paranoia game is crazy mayhem, nonsensical plotlines, a lot of doubletalk and, of course, an opportunity to shoot Team Leader in the back.  I argued earlier that this could be considered the collective fault of Paranoia GMs, myself included, who have run these kinds of games for years.  One might counterpoint that this style of play is so popular because it’s fun, that gaming should be fun, and that these insane games are Paranoia’s greatest strength.  I think there’s a great deal of merit in that position.  One of the things that made Paranoia so popular was that is was (and still is) such an antithesis to the other games on the market.  If players want deeper, serious or more meaningful games, there is no shortage other systems in which to play.

So in a way, I’m concerned that some of what makes Paranoia so popular may be lost in an effort to make Paranoia into something ‘more.’  My concern isn’t that people won’t be able to play Paranoia the way they want – the GMs can handle that on their own, and it’s not like all our old books will catch fire when the new ones come out.  I think there is a great wealth of material in playing Paranoia as IntSec or High Programmers, I just hope there’s a big enough market for those flavors of Paranoia.   In order to keep the line rolling, popular and profitable, I’m sure a new edition and some new material was necessary.  And there has been a LOT of material written for Paranoia, certainly no shortage of material int he last 5 years.  So something fresh was necessary, and these new core books do sound like they will be something new, even if the IntSec books draws heavy on Hil Sector Blues.  I just hope that the concepts play well to Paranoia’s core audience.

I know that I’ll buy the books, and I know many loyal citizens will.  And I know I’ll run at least one game in each style.  And I genuinely hope that the new core books are wildly successful and that people explore new ways to play Paranoia and that it all goes stunningly and that some High Programmer will come back here in a year just to post an “Oh ye of little faith” comment.  Anything else would make me treasonously sad.