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 are themselves the greatest threat to Alpha Complex.(Irrational) General kind of weirdness or irregularity that prompts The Computer to assign a mission to the Troubleshooters: One or more laws of nature has been altered or revoked. It's gravity.
(Someone) Person, people, organization or agency responsible for the situation: A High Programmer who mis-programmed a CompNode so badly the entire node must be re-imaged and rebooted (the situation is cover for this.) (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 high-clearance official's malfeasance will be exposed, and buzzing, high on Wakey-Wakey wishes to frame the Troubleshooters for the official's crime. 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: Essential life-support services will break down. The Computer sends the Troubleshooters to enforce order and restore services.
Mission Alert: Special "breaking news" bulletin in middle of vidshow: boring part. Identifies PCs by name. Briefing location is wrong. The information is replaced by extortion threat from anonymous hacker: "Send 100cr to this Gray Subnet account and I'll send you the data."
Briefing: Briefing is in abandoned vidshow entertainment lounge. Briefing occurs in a pitch black room, where the only source of light is from the corridor outside the briefing room filtering in under the door. 3 officers present.
This Mission: Transfer the highly dangerous traitor INFRARED vendobot Hot Fun supplier (indifferent bystander, buzzing, high on Wakey-Wakey) to a more secure ULTRAVIOLET (Tension 19) Death Leopard meeting room (holds only guards). Make sure he doesn't die; we want to save that for the Date with Death vidshow.
Outfitting: PLC: Warehouse run by insane high-clearance director; assigns PCs a mission (Deliver this semi-automatic slugthrower (dum-dum) to ULTRAVIOLET programming something extremely important. Though the item appears treasonous, rest assured it is perfectly above-board. Perfectly.) on his own behalf so he can give them over-inventoried behavior modifier (hypnosis devices, pheromone emitters, subsonic/supersonic irritants); Problem: occasionally explodes.
Debriefing: Debriefing conducted solely by R&D scientists. They ask many questions about equipment, giving the impression the only reason for the mission was to test equipment. After the scientists leave, The Computer covers the treason accusations.
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.