There was an interesting development earlier this week over at Paranoia-Live.net.  A new forum popped up called Mandatory Community Mission #3

The purpose of these forums is to create a community supplement to replace the cancelled official supplement known as Brave New Complex. The premise is simple: PARANOIA is not a place but a state of mind, which should not be limited to just one setting. The core concept of a dangerous world in which players must betray each other in order to survive can be extended to many settings, both real and fictional.

The mission was simple : Propose an alternate setting in which the game of Paranoia could be played.  I had a few different ideas, but ultimately I put forth the a setting called This Is Alpha Country.  I’ve pasted the initial description below, and this thread has some more fleshed out details.  I’d love to get some more feedback on the concept.  There has been some great discussion in the thread, and I’d like to add to that by hearing from some players and game designers who may be less Paranoia oriented.

This Is Alpha Country

Folk don’t live in cities now. Not since The Old Days, when fire fell from the sky and wiped out the biggest ones. Them that survived got together and set up The Government, to make sure something like that never happened again.

The Government took a survey, counted all the people who survived, and purged the less suitable elements until there was a even balance of people – the same number of healthy men and women. If you didn’t have a mate, The Government found someone for you who was suitable and compatible.

Next The Government spread everyone evenly across the planet, at least the parts you could live on. Everyone was given their own plot of land, a Homestead. The maximum number of people per Homestead is Six – The Elder (the grandparents), The Prime (the parents) and The Younger (two children, one male, one female). When The Younger have come of age, they attend a Pairing, where The Government chooses a mate for each. The Younger Male returns home with his new mate, while The Younger Female goes to a new home with her mate.

When everyone was given their own piece of land, they were also given some tools, raw materials, basic supplies, a small shelter, and a copy of The Book. The Book has a full set of instructions to cover anything that might come up. Planting, growing, first aid, dealing with wildlife, how to handle disagreements, who to talk to when problems arise, and of course, a full copy of The Law. The Book is updated every year. If it’s not in The Book, it’s not allowed.

Over time, every Homestead has been built up (according to acceptable Government standards) so that there are now suitable houses and out-buildings on each plot. Every Homestead has its own character, depending on the lineage of the people who live there, and the work performed there. The Government has assigned everyone a job. Some folk raise food, some dig in the ground for minerals, others still prepare raw materials or assemble what simple machines The Government will allow.

Everyone is equal, because The Government has given everyone the same resources and treated everyone exactly the same. And everyone is happy, because everyone is surviving. If you think otherwise, it’s pretty clear that your only goal is to spread the seeds of unrest that cause The Old Times to come to an end.

It’s several miles to the nearest neighbor, but people pass through all the time. There’s a Government Courier who comes every week, bringing correspondence or new amendments to The Book. Every month, there’s a supply caravan that stops through and for pickup and drop off. Sometimes Government Men come through, coming through to take census, perform inspections, verify resource availability and the like. Some people may be workers sent by the government to assist in dealing with a specific issue (like helping raise a large structure or digging a well). Usually people passing through are just on their way somewhere else, like a Younger and his new Mate returning to their Homestead, or a Prime on her way to visit her Elders (The Government requires exactly one visit of this nature per year). There is the occasional Lawman, who doesn’t stay long but sticks around long enough to make sure you’re adhering to The Book. Sometimes, though, you get people who aren’t very nice.

Maybe someone just “passing through” is really trying to take something of yours – your goods, your tools, even The Younger. Or it could be that you run into any of those fools who are trying to live outside this system set up to protect you. Some of them are just plain thieves, others are more devious in nature. One thing is for sure, it can be hard to know who to trust out here. The Government does its best to keep you from getting into any kind of Trouble. But sometimes, people get into trouble anyway. And it’s a long way to go for help.

Comments welcome, and I’ll be posting any interesting feedback back over in the forums as well.
PS – This is that other thing I got to working on, instead of my existing Secret Projects.

A better update this week.  I’m trying to think of a sensible way to resort the list every week, but I cant decide if it makes the most sense to sort by “work done in the last week” or “percent complete” so I’m just going to keep the list as is for now.

1. Shambles – Quiet last week, should see more art this week.  A bit of a holding pattern here as we’re just waiting for the art to come in, not much else to do.
2. Obnoxious Howler Monkey – MAJOR movement.  I went from “I understand in theory how I would get this to work” to “fully functional prototype” last week.  I’m probably 75% done now.  I need some parts to do a final version, and there’s a little more software work to do, and then I can case it and show it off.  Exciting stuff!
3. Simulated Jocular Anaconda – Unchanged.
   
4. Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – Unchanged.
   
5. Shambles Source Material – Unchanged.
6. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Managed to get a little more writing done on this.  Not a whole heck of a lot though.
7. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Unchanged.
8. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged.
   
9. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Unchanged.
10. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Unchanged.

Excuse Of The Week: I got kicked in the head by a muse and have been working on something that’s not on the list.  I’ll post about that later.

I’ve been reflecting on this subject all morning, after reading and responding to a community call to develop some alternate settings for Paranoia.  I have come to the unsurprising conclusion that I will never get stupidly rich designing games.

This isn’t exactly news.  The odds of this happening to anyone are astronomically low.  If I wanted to get rich I’d do better trying to write predictive algorithms for the lottery.  If you are really good, diligent, and lucky, you might be able to make a living writing games.  More likely, you’ll end up with a hobby that may sustain itself, or at least not cost you too much money on the side.  More often than not, you’ll labor in obscurity and die poor of a drug overdose in Warsaw.  At least, that’s MY plan.

But it’s not my focus issues, lack of discipline, poor execution skills, lack of connections, absence of free time, dark past, criminal history, wrist problems, fear of failure, lack of experience or wildly optimistic estimates that keep me from getting stupidly rich by designing games.  In spite of all those things, one might still manage to crap out that One Great Idea.  One Great Idea can just takes off, raising you into that elite group of game designers who get their name on the box in prominent bold print:  Sid Meier, Will Wright, Gary Gygax, John Carmack, Steve Jackson, Richard Garfield, David Hargrave, and so on.  I know I’ll never join this group, but it’s not for any of the reasons listed above.

I won’t get there because I my ideas are just too weird for mass consumption.

I don’t think my ideas are all that weird.  I may track a bit ‘out of the ordinary’ compared to the world at large, but hell, so does every gamer and game designer I’ve ever met.  Let’s face it, we’re a weird bunch.

But we tend to be the same KIND of weird.  We like to role play, we like fun toys for our characters, and we like to be immersed in the plot, either dramatically (in role play) or functionally (by-the-numbers hack and slash).  We like mediums with which we are familiar – pseudo medieval settings with monsters, modern settings with lots of creepy, flying through outer space, defeating hidden horrors and alien races.  Steal the loot, get the girl, defeat the bad guy.

When I saw the call for alternate settings for Paranoia my absolute very first thought was:

“Ok, you’re a bacteria. Anti-bodies are constantly trying to kill you, other bacteria want to eat you, and your only hope is to Evolve!”

Let’s face it – nobody wants to play that game.  Maybe a few of you – maybe enough to make it worth doing a short run of books I printed on the back sides of discarded laser-printer paper.

So I tried to broaden the concept, and floated the possibility of setting Paranoia in an Ant Hill, a Bee Hive, a Rabbit Warren, or a Coral Reef.  Any of these are somewhat more playable, and could even be great fun.

But that game isn’t going to sell 100,000 copies.  Or 10,000 copies.  Or 1,000 copies.  It would be a huge stretch to sell even 100 copies.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t write it.  But it sure means I’ll never be able to quit my day job.  If I was wired to get stupidly rich designing games, I’d at LEAST have jumped to some crappy Steampunk Paranoia setting.  That wouldn’t make you rich, but it would sure sell better than a game set on the Alpha Reef.