Your Mission
The Computer has generated the following mission for your team. It has been carefully designed to ensure the maximum safety and satisfaction for your team.
Paranoia is the Irrational Fear Someone is Out To Get You
(Fear) Dominant type of fear to install in the PCs: The PCs just aren't good enough to handle their assignment.(Irrational) General kind of weirdness or irregularity that prompts The Computer to assign a mission to the Troubleshooters: A particular drug suddenly has inexplicably altered effects.
(Someone) Person, people, organization or agency responsible for the situation: A powerful mutant who wishes to see his own kind of mutants dominate, and normal humans and all other kinds of mutants subservient. (The identity of the Someone need not be obvious at the mission's outset, and in fact things may play out more appropriately if the Someone is not discovered until late in the proceedings.)
(Out To Get You) General apparent threat posed by the situation, or the consequences if the situation is left unresolved: A biological agent will transform or devastate the PCs or a large population. The Computer sends in the Troubleshooters as guinea pigs. The threat is a lie.
(Out To Get You) General real threat posed by the situation, or the consequences if the situation is left unresolved: Surplus Armed Forces weaponry floods the IR market. Citizens (BLUE ME Card assignment technician (physical threat, buzzing, high on Wakey-Wakey); ORANGE Handler (bot specialist) (sadistic hindrance, psychotic, kill-crush-smash-destroy); INFRARED sector monitor screen polisher (indifferent bystander, believes himself possessed by demons)) happily demonstrate their new armaments in many locations (GREEN (Tension 12) empty dining area (IR: mess hall; R-Y: cafeteria; G-B: dining room; I-U: dining hall); GREEN (Tension 11) crowded hospital ER; RED (Tension 6) crowded postal sorting room).
Mission Alert: Via high-frequency radio transmission that gives PCs excruciating headaches and sends petbots crazy with excitement. Recognition password (to be given to briefing officer) is wrong. The information is obscured by advertising (pop-up ad, jingle, viral marketing, etc.). Sponsoring advertiser may possibly have record of unaltered alert.
Briefing: Briefing is in empty vidshow entertainment lounge. Bureaucratic snafu assigns briefing officer to the room below the PCs; won't join PCs for fear of violating orders; shouts at the top of his voice to be heard, or conveys briefing information by notes, courier, Morse code, etc..
This Mission: Recent excavation has uncovered an ancient stockpile of nuclear material beneath INFRARED (Tension 2) CompNode SubNode. Retrieve all you can.
Outfitting: Infrared Market: A dingy, dirty corridor. PURGE runs this market, and will terminate any group who "misbehaves" (in PURGE's stern judgment). Lots of weapons.
Debriefing: Room contains nothing but miniature stools, where the PCs perch with difficulty and discomfort.
Find weird phrasing, clearly erroneous output, or other signs of filthy commie mutant traitor sabotage? Copy the offending passages and email them to the High Programmer for investigation.