The Computer: The webchat will start in approximately ten minutes. All patrons are asked to take their seats or bit of floor. All traitors are asked to execute themselves for treason quietly.

Extremely Treasonous Pre-Webchat Dialogue Commences

Mike-U-LEM: Well, Goldberg,
perhaps you could start by giving a quick rundown on what you did on Paranoia besides developing it with four other people.

Mike-U-LEM: Rattling off a few modules would help jump-start the brain.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Mike-U-LEM, Am confident that you can display better boot-licking skills, but here goes...

Eric-Goldberg-1: Dan Gelber came up with the original concept, which he delivered to Greg Costikyan and me in the form of 10 or 11 pages of penciled notes, replete with pizza stains.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg and I then turned those notes into a several-hundred page manuscript, which included the 1st Edition rules system.

Eric-Goldberg-1: To make a long story short -- and Jazzer has threatened to revisit at excruciating length during the Webchat -- Greg, Ken Rolston and I engaged in creative destruction/inspiration/like that to develop the 1st Edition tone. Greg and I usually give Ken credit for being the inspiration for the 1st Edition tone.

Mike-U-LEM: Nice praise for the guy with the shortest design note.

Mike-U-LEM: However, I see that you seem to have disappeared from Paranoia after that. Did you get transferred to the Star Wars RPG?

The Computer: The answer to that question has been deleted for security reasons.


GM-Fargmania-1: Please wait until after the interview for questions.

GM-Fargmania-1: That way, we know that no one misses the answers.

Mike-U-LEM: Just giving him advance warning, Friend Computer.


The Computer: The webchat will start momentarily. Please remember, no running, no flash photography, no sneezing, no heavy breathing, no nose picking, no shadow puppetry, no eating of unauthorised foodstuffs and definitely no funny stuff on the back row. All citizens are asked to enjoy the following webchat with Gamma Programmer, Eric Goldberg.

Official Computer Approved Webchat Commences

The Computer: GM Fargmania, please take over this mission briefing...

GM-Fargmania-1: Thank you Friend Computer...

GM-Fargmania-1: And thank you for joining us, Eric.

Eric-Goldberg-1: My pleasure, he wrote, half-believing it as he did.

GM-Fargmania-1: Hehe. Quite. Greg mentioned to us some months ago, that you are a rather busy guy. Typing your name into Google certainly proves that to be true! What have you been up to lately?

Eric-Goldberg-1: I'm affiliated with various game and mobile data companies (Unplugged, Vindigo, AOL, Warner Music, Digital Chocolate).

Eric-Goldberg-1: I usually serve as a board member, or advisor, or consultant -- doing some variation on giving opinions for money.

GM-Fargmania-1: So you are somewhat of a wireless guru?

Eric-Goldberg-1: "Somewhat of a wireless guru" is a fair summation, though I stick to the consumer, not the business, side. Do generally give talks at all the major US wireless conferences.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Am also working on another game setting with Mike Ford (known to Paranoia fans as John M. Ford, author of The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues).

Eric-Goldberg-1: And eagerly awaiting the start of (American) baseball season.

GM-Fargmania-1: Working with John M Ford? What type of game setting, may I ask?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Regrettably, you're not cleared for that information (in re the game setting with Ford), Citizen. Come back in several months, perhaps.

The Computer: That information has been deleted for security reasons.

GM-Fargmania-1: oop, denied. Well I look forward to news on that.

GM-Fargmania-1: Everyone has seen your name on the byline of their favorite Paranoia source books. How did you get embroiled in this wonderful madness?

Eric-Goldberg-1: To elaborate on the pre-chat reply to Mike-U-LEM, Dan Gelber, who came up with the original concept, was in my role-playing circle.

Eric-Goldberg-1: He writes, in the 1st Edition design notes, that the Paranoia concept was in part a response to the competitive play style of myself and Mike Rocamora.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Coming up with the basic concept for an award-winning role-playing game was clearly the best revenge.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg and I, who had first worked together as teenage game designers at a company called SPI, liked the concept, and proposed to Dan that we try our hand to turn it into a professional rpg.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Dan said "Sure" (or words to that effect), and was stunned when we came back with a thick manuscript several months later.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Or maybe just startled. But definitely surprised.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg covered the next bit in his Webchat of last year, the rejections, the bitterness, the set-up for the redemptive scene when Paranoia succeeded beyond our tamest dreams...

Eric-Goldberg-1: To make a long story medium-length, I agree to become VP of R&D (i.e., head of product development) for West End Games, which was a vanity press publishing wargames when I joined in 1983.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The owner very much wanted my and Greg's designs -- we'd already garnered 5 or so Origins Awards for Best Game in this, that and the other adventure game categories -- and agreed, sight unseen, that we could do Paranoia.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Several months later, after West End's art director had literally fallen off his chair laughing while reading the manuscript, the president came to me and said, "You didn't tell me it was funny."

Eric-Goldberg-1: Which, to her credit, she thought was a good thing.

GM-Fargmania-1: Thank goodness.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The other key to Paranoia was Ken Rolston's involvement. Greg and I had the "darkly" part in very good order, and Ken ensured that "humorous" was an accurate description.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Given that black humor requires a higher caliber of writing than most, Greg and I cannot say enough good things about Ken pushing us to achieve the tone you know, love -- and sometimes loathe -- to this day.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The rest is history of a sort: the distributors told us that the game looked like fun, but was at too adult a level to appeal to the D&D audience...

GM-Fargmania-1: Ha ha! That was certainly incorrect.

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...we went to the 1984 GenCon with a terrible booth set-up (2 small booths back-to-back, not even side-by-side), by Friday night we had to air ship every last copy left in the warehouse, and we sold out by Sunday morning.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The last copy, btw, was sold to the then-head of R&D at TSR. I told him he would of course receive a comp copy shortly, but he refused to wait and paid for it.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Anyway, enough resting on my early-1980s laurels...

GM-Fargmania-1: Well that certainly brings us to this newest incarnation of a beloved game...

GM-Fargmania-1: The announcement last month of the pending XP release has generated much renewed interest in Paranoia. As the fans come pouring out of the woodwork, they have a lot of opinions about what they think XP should or should not be. One recurring question regards the insistence that Paranoia XP will not be "wacky". While everyone seems agreed that 5th edition definitely crossed a line (and kept on running), there is some debate on how the humor in XP will be handled. What are your feelings on "wacky"?

Eric-Goldberg-1: My canonical bits of Paranoia are the first sections of the 1st Edition, and then 2nd Edition for pretty much everything else.

Eric-Goldberg-1: "Wacky" is quite good for supplements, with Orcbusters as a particularly good example...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...everyone is in on the joke. (It was a reasonable assumption that almost everyone who bought Orcbusters had played D&D).

Eric-Goldberg-1: There's a tricky straddle that the 21st Century edition of the game has to do...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...it, in theory, has to appeal to the players of previous editions, both as readers and as players; it has to retain its status as the first game that you could enjoy just by reading; and it's being designed to appeal to the digerati.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Allen Varney, who's doing the lion's share of the new writing, favors the 1st Edition tone; Aaron Allston, who's the Best Supporting Writer, favors 2nd edition, which creates a good creative tension.

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...and Ken Rolston is making a Special Guest Appearance, most likely in the GMing section.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg, as is his wont in our 30-year association, often disagrees with me because that's what he does.

Eric-Goldberg-1: In a more serious vein, Greg and I sort out our differences, and then let our colleagues know what we regard as tone-appropriate Paranoia.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The three play styles, as described by Allen on the Paranoia weblog (www.costik.com/paranoia), almost certainly will be adopted... as GM material.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The Player section, which almost everyone reads first, will err on the side of "not wacky", as in editions past.

GM-Fargmania-1: It sounds like the humor and tone will be staying pretty true to the 1st and 2nd edition, then. Much happiness.

Eric-Goldberg-1: And lo, there was much rejoicing.

GM-Fargmania-1: I've always felt that the graphics and art are also key elements in properly setting the tone of any rpg system. Are there any plans to bring back the artists that illustrated the 1st and 2nd edition rules and supplements, or will you be going for a different "feel"?

Eric-Goldberg-1: We've discussed this with Mongoose (the publisher), and it looks to be a mix of artists, including at least some art that is highly reminiscent of 1st and 2nd Editions.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The Mongoose guys and I are in agreement that we need the cover visuals (and copy) to at once look familiar and different, so that players get the Paranoia "hit" -- but are also signaled that this is not your father's Paranoia.

Eric-Goldberg-1: (Hope that reference is not too obscure -- translated, the cover must signal that this is decidedly not a republication of a previous edition.)

GM-Fargmania-1: Or an Oldsmobile.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Very good, Citizen. Please report to Internal Security and explain how you know of Old Reckoning Oldsmobiles.

GM-Fargmania-1: Err, ahh. Yessir. Right after the interview, I promise.

Eric-Goldberg-1: As for the graphic elements, the computer monitors and other running gags will definitely return.

GM-Fargmania-1: As Paranoia (undoubtedly) picks up speed, it certainly could translate into some type of software or online game. Greg mentioned the intriguing idea of a MMOG. What are your thoughts on this and other possibilities?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Yes, many people have noticed that Paranoia is a game built around a central Computer, and that it would seem a natural to translate into a computer game.

Eric-Goldberg-1: West End licensed computer game rights to a second- or third-tier publisher over 10 years ago, which proposed to do a version of the game essentially without the humor.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The project appears to have petered out, when it became apparent that this was a Bad Idea.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Returning to the present day, Paranoia will be most appropriate as a MMOG when that type of game supports casual play, as it does in Korea.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Korea, for those of your audience who aren't familiar with that market, has by far the highest percentage of paying online game players in the world -- over 20 million out of a 47 million population will pay to play games over the course of a year!

Eric-Goldberg-1: By contrast, the American MMOG market is under 2 million paid players, in part because in this country you're required to pay upwards of $10 a month and invest many hours.

GM-Fargmania-1: It is a hard sell. I have the desire to play MMOGs myself, but not the time.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg and I will invest considerable effort to launch the right Paranoia MMOG -- I did my first online game work in 1982 (!), before joining West End...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ..and then went on to design MadMaze, the first online game to draw 1 million players. (I did the 1st iteration from start to finish, and Greg co-designed the 2nd version with me.)

Eric-Goldberg-1: For people like you, with the desire but not unlimited time, we're aiming for a 2005/2006 period launch, when broadband use and other factors allow a more "mass market"-style of play.

GM-Fargmania-1: So the licenses for online play have reverted to you as well? Excellent news.

Eric-Goldberg-1: All rights in Paranoia returned to us, per agreement with the trustee of the bankruptcy court. (Dealing with U.S. Bankruptcy law is another kind of Kafka=esque experience, which we will spare your impressionable readers ).

Eric-Goldberg-1: Skotos Tech, as you may be aware, has licensed certain online rights, and is currently looking for an author to work on a Paranoia "stage" (see skotos.net). As Chris Allen, the founder of the company, puts it, he's looking for a "chat room with guns" for the initial launch.

GM-Fargmania-1: I've heard news of that project. Sounds intriguing. I also have a related question in terms of online-type play...

GM-Fargmania-1: I'm admittedly a newb in the wireless world, so bringing it up as a topic with the likes of you is a bit daunting, but I'd like to know your thoughts on wireless Paranoia. Short, turn based micro games or GPS based hunt/seek mission alerts are a couple thoughts off the top of my head... could something like it be in our future?

Eric-Goldberg-1: If short, turn based micro games = downloadable, play-on-the-wireless-device games, the answer is that's quite possible...

Eric-Goldberg-1: GPS games are less practical, except in densely-plotted places (which, for the most part, do not include America).

Eric-Goldberg-1: A Swedish company called "It's Alive!" did the touchstone location-based game...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...it was a treasure hunt (the obvious prospect) and required that people go to a certain mall at an appointed hour. The game succeeded in driving its players to that location... so well that the Stockholm police initially responded to what they thought was a flash riot!

Eric-Goldberg-1: Which brings us to the 2nd feature... uh, issue... with location-based Paranoia: that a design without reference to liability issues would probably provoke all sorts of legal mayhem.

GM-Fargmania-1: I can see your point.

Eric-Goldberg-1: However, the various Paranoia LARPs that have been run have much to teach us for this type of game... and I regret that I'm not very familiar with these.

GM-Fargmania-1: Well, back to Paranoia XP, then. I expect that as the release date nears, we will begin to see more aggressive marketing becoming apparent.

GM-Fargmania-1: Everyone wants a plushie FC!! The friendly square shape, the lovable giant eye, the 8 pre-recorded responses when you squeeze it! Seriously, though, will we see any non-gaming paraphernalia for sale as XP prepares to outsell its Microsoft counterpart?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Mongoose, in addition to its adventure game industry playbook, will be doing additional stuff... though we're not far enough along in those discussions to have reached any definite conclusions.

Eric-Goldberg-1: They are doing a big announcement at GAMA, the industry trade show...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...and Greg and I have expressed strong interest in a repeat of the color-coded caps and T-shirts that were put out in the mid-1980s.

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...in the full ROYGBIV spectrum of colors, with Ultraviolet (i.e., white) not available for sale... only given to the designers and writers...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...one fellow ordered a green T-shirt, and told us he didn't like green. But his wife's favorite color was Yellow, and he wanted to out-rank her...

GM-Fargmania-1: lol!

Eric-Goldberg-1: Allen and Aaron are plotting several one-off forms, to be offered free on the Website, which should happen if there's a follow-up big book of forms as part of the support line.

Eric-Goldberg-1: A plushie FC, sadly, is low on our list of priorities. We obviously are not possessed of your daring vision...

GM-Fargmania-1: *sigh* A man can dream...

GM-Fargmania-1: Forms and Paranoia. A match made in [deleted for security reasons]. It'll do nicely.

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...we're also evaluating offers for a card game, which will not be published until after the rpg.

GM-Fargmania-1: More addictive gaming! Perfect!

GM-Fargmania-1: Well, I'm certain that some of my fellow gamers would like to pose some questions. Would you mind fielding a few before you go?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Not at all. Bring forth the ravening hordes.

The Computer: Now opening the webchat to the lower security clearances.

Elle-R-Kno: Woot

Koe-U-GEO: This would be the second time I only make it in for the tail ending

Takyn-R-UNN: *rumbles to life* Erg?

Elkin: While Paranoia is, to a certain degree, a political satire, how much (if at all), do you believe, should this part of the game be emphasized?

Eric-Goldberg-1: It should be secondary. A large number of people have decided that Lord of the Rings, for example, is analogous to the current War on [insert your political spin].

Eric-Goldberg-1: Self-evidently, it isn't, as it was first published in 1954 and 1955.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Reflecting the fears of the modern-day world is a goal, but explicitly calling out Bush, Kerry, Blair, Hussein characters is not on tap.

Elkin: I wasn't referring to this type of political satire. More along the lines of cavity searches before boarding a flybot.

Mike-U-LEM: I doubt it. That's more of a temporary thing.

Mike-U-LEM: Now, if it's still implemented after a decade because they're too lazy to change it back...

Elle-R-Kno: Mike: Obviously such a thing would *never* happen in Alpha Complex...

Elle-R-Kno: *cough*

Eric-Goldberg-1: Elkin, yes. Cavity searches -- or similar riffs on "heightened security" -- will be part and parcel of the new edition.

Elkin: Yay!

Koe-U-GEO: Will FC be modified into more of a modern machine or will it still have elements of that 80's lo-tech we all know and love?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Koe, FC will be modified into a more modern machine, but we will preserve the 80s lo-tech feel for whenever it makes for a good joke... or we feel like it.. or we're too lazy to make a change

Koe-U-GEO: I have a special place in my heart for tape drives.

Eric-Goldberg-1: As Allen has written elsewhere, FC is back to its original conception: it sincerely wants to help and support all citizens, but it's paranoid, perhaps because of reading too much 1950s Civil Defense tapes.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Adding networking to its capabilities will only... umm... enhance this state of affairs.

Takyn-R-UNN: It has been mentioned multiple times that Paranoia XP is only a working title. What are some other title possibilities that have caught your interest? Any that you really would like to use but can't for publisher/etc. reasons?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Off the top of my head:

Eric-Goldberg-1: Paranoia: Brave New Edition

Eric-Goldberg-1: Paranoia: The Very Nice Edition

Eric-Goldberg-1: eXtreme Paranoia

Elkin: Brave New Edition sounds cool.

Takyn-R-UNN: Indeed.

Elle-R-Kno: I second

Elle-R-Kno: or third

Koe-U-GEO: Brave New Edition sounds like an outside mission supplement :p

GM-Fargmania-1: I sense a new forum topic coming on, here.

Eric-Goldberg-1: There are scads of others... there's a debate among the team about preserving the power of the word "Paranoia" versus the need to differentiate from previous editions.

Eric-Goldberg-1: And Koe has put his finger on another concern: that the title not sound like a supplement.

Takyn-R-UNN: Interesting... I never thought that the word Paranoia might not be in the title, but I guess it could work.

Mike-U-LEM: What about "Paranoia Relapsed"?

Koe-U-GEO: Ooh.

Elle-R-Kno: I think he means just titling it "Paranoia", without any additional monikers

Mike-U-LEM: Besides the computer jokes, I think riffs on mental disorders would be suitably tasteless.

Mike-U-LEM: Especially with the explosion of them we've had lately.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Oops... the word "Paranoia" will most definitely be in the title... the only question is whether it will stand alone, with a sub-title to indicate its newness... what Elle said.

Mike-U-LEM: In the first edition design notes, you mentioned rumors about a Paranoia film. Do you still believe a Paranoia film could be made? If so, could it avoid the pitfalls that seem to dog every game-based movie made so far?

Eric-Goldberg-1: We receive a semi-serious inquiry about film rights every several months including, a couple of years ago, a short student film.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The Paranoia =setting= allows for a very good movie to be done, but I can't guarantee that the Hollywood slice-and-dice machine won't do something... ummm... unfortunate to it.

GM-Fargmania-1: 30 script doctors can kill anything, right?

Mike-U-LEM: Personally, I would recommend bringing it to Pixar. CGI animation would be perfect for Paranoia's environment, and if they break with Disney, they'd be interested in some PG-13 movies.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg and I discussed this recently with a friendly head of a Hollywood talent agency, who stepped us through how to emphasize the merits of the property to make the best possible movie more likely.

Mike-U-LEM: And they haven't flubbed up a movie yet.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Starting with the standard elevator pitch "It's Brazil
meets Men in Black meets Ghostbusters" (insert your choice of tangentially comparable movie with high gross revenues here)

Mike-U-LEM: Argh.

Mike-U-LEM: "Imagine an action movie where all of the main characters can die 6 times."

Veav-I-POH-1: So... you're going to be walking through office buildings with photon packs while agents alter your memory with advanced techn- wait, it IS Brazil meets MiB meets Ghostbusters.

Eric-Goldberg-1: I never saw "Argh", but thanks for the suggestion.

Koe-U-GEO: I like "It's Logan's Run with the colour system reversed!"

Eric-Goldberg-1: Hollywood memory doesn't extend to low-grossing films from the 1970s, such as "Logan's Run", Citizen.

Elle-R-Kno: I looked at the blog and noticed that in this addition, the computer will actually be going more *cough* "capitalist", except not. This is interesting...I generally took part of Paranoia's irony as being in the fact Alpha Complex was rather similar to the "communism" it fights against

Mike-U-LEM: Ditto here. Any comments on the Computer's new entrepreneurship?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Allen coined the phrase "Wal-Mart with Guns" to describe an Alpha Complex with capitalist flavor. We aren't, however, going to dispense with the glories of Communism as imperfectly interpreted by FC.

Takyn-R-UNN: Wow. Now THAT'S a scary thought.

Koe-U-GEO: I just remembered something. While some zings on immediate modern politics will be present, does anyone remember the HUGE Paranoia soon after that rash of student attacks on schools? The similarities between Alpha Complex and the School Systems at the time was uncanny...

Mike-U-LEM: Koji, I think you're emphasizing it too much. All that has died down ever since 9/11.

Koe-U-GEO: As a student, I think its still fresh in my mind. I still have my class colour-coded student ID sitting right behind me...

Eric-Goldberg-1: To the real world issues raised by Koe and others: we're not going to incorporate stuff that's too raw, like crashing planes into buildings or Columbine-like shootings though one of my colleagues really likes "The Passion of the Christ Computer-Programmer").

Mike-U-LEM: When you first developed Paranoia, were any ideas left out that you wish were left in?

Veav-I-POH-1: Not to bust up the Hollywood theme, but I'm curious about what forms inspiration came in during development. Apart from the obvious 1984ish sources, I mean - the more obscure parts, like the bit where you guys were watching an episode of Star Trek at 1 am, looked at each other and said "hey, what if...?" Any stories?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Hmmm... there were scads of ideas left on the cutting-room floor, and many of these appeared in later work, such as Acute Paranoia.

Mike-U-LEM: Anything that was left out for good? Lost tidbits of Paranoia, say?

Elle-R-Kno: I'm not worried about the commies being shrifted...but somehow I can't imagine FC allowing for all-out privatization.

Koe-U-GEO: I wasn't talking about the shootings, I was talking about the security overkill that soon followed. Arresting vegans, following kids' actions to their homes, the fanatical ID and camera systems...etc. 5 years ago (yes I botched a grade) I had to wear a colour-coded ID with barcode and number around my neck at all times

Elle-R-Kno:> I can imagine the equivalent of, say, "private" enterprises under "extreme regulation"...

Veav-I-POH-1: *notes this happened at his high school too, complete with scanning cards to get in*

Elle-R-Kno: Will it be like that at all?

* IntSec Trooper uses a neurowhip on the crowds *

IntSec Trooper says, "One at a time, citizens"

Eric-Goldberg-1: At one point, original Star Trek was a possibility... though West End was just licensing Star Trek rights from Paramount at around that time, which may have encouraged some corporate cowardice.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Essentially, we'd do modules along the lines of the Roman planet, the gangster planet... oh, wait, West End did do that, with those wacky, later-generation adventures.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The genius of Paranoia -- to the extent you credit the concept with that -- was less is more.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg and I were coming from the SPI gaming tradition, which emphasized rules to cover everything.

Eric-Goldberg-1: 1st Edition became as powerful as it did because we shed ideas and rules systems left and right...

Eric-Goldberg-1: ...and Allen Varney, together with Warren Spector, argued in their otherwise-laudatory review in the Space Gamer that we hadn't made the game system simple enough.

Mike-U-LEM: Which you proved was true with the release of 2nd ed.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Greg, Ken and I read the (very well-written and -reasoned) review, decided they were right, and adopted their suggestions for 2nd ed.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Mike-U-LEM, report to IntSec for being a faster typist than Gamma-clearance High Programmer...

Elle-R-Kno: *snker*

Elle-R-Kno: *snerk, even*

* IntSec Trooper escorts Mike-U-LEM away for a chat *

Koe-U-GEO: Glee.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Gentlepersons a/k/a Citizens, I have a few more minutes and then I have to [deleted for security clearances]. Last questions?

Mike-U-LEM: What were your favorite Paranoia missions?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Yellow Clearance, which deservedly won the two top awards for best adventure of the year and also the award for most unplayable adventure of the year.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Whitewash [think that's the name], Steve Jackson's contribution to Acute Paranoia.

Eric-Goldberg-1: The mini-adventure at the end of Paranoia 1st edition.

Mike-U-LEM: The award for most unplayable? How did it get that?

Mike-U-LEM: As for Whitewash, it was made by Greg Costikyan. Steve Jackson isn't listed in the credits anywhere.

Veav-I-POH-1: I'm sure you've been interviewed on this all countless times, webchats, conventions, magazines, going over what your inspiration was, what your involvement was, who came up with what and where you see it going. With the exception of recent events and updates, you can probably do it in your sleep. What's the one question you'd REALLY like to be asked?

Eric-Goldberg-1: Veav-I-POH, excellent question. The next time I do this, I will prep the moderator, as the question(s) I have in mind should provoke much discussion. Sorry for the waffle-y answer.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Mike-U-LEM, hmmm... Steve did provide the scenario concept, and may have asked that we not include his name at the time.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Most unplayable: "The Game Critics Award", which were given for the "worst" products.

Elle-R-Kno: Any plans to accept work (modules, etc) from freelancers at any point? (I know enough people here who might be up to it)

Eric-Goldberg-1: Generally, the Game Critics awards were hit or miss with their humor... but I'm proud to report that I received the "Goodyear Ego" award for publishing several games with Lucasfilm under the Eric Goldberg Associates name.

Eric-Goldberg-1: As for new writers, Allen Varney and Matthew Sprange of Mongoose will be prospecting for new writers... and I will ask them to post something on the Mongoose site and Paranoia weblog.

GM-Fargmania-1: Eric, thank you so much for coming, and graciously answering our myriad of questions. It was a pleasure to have you.

Eric-Goldberg-1: It was a full-measure pleasure to chat with you and the other Loyal Citizens.

Eric-Goldberg-1: Thanks for setting this up.

Splat-R: Three cheers for the Gamma High Programmer!

Koe-U-GEO: Yay.

Mike-U-LEM: *WHAM* Not cheerful enough!

GM-Fargmania-1: The credits we discussed have been added to your supersecret Gamma account (#457832). Thanks again!

Elkin: *executes himself for hearing the words 'Gamma Clearance'*

Splat-R: Hurray!

Veav-I-POH-1: Splat-R, Gamma High Programmers are above your security clearance...

Elle-R-Kno: Anyone not willing to provide at least five cheers should report to HPD&MC immediately

Splat-R: They are also above yours eh?

Takyn-R-UNN: *throws a parade*

IntSec Trooper says, "Now, citizen Farg, we need to have a chat..."

Elkin: *executes himself again, just in case.*

GM-Fargmania-1: Oh yeah... Oldsmobile.... hehe... *gulp*

Eric-Goldberg-1: Also, with Jazzer and Fargmania's kind intercession, Allen Varney, Ken Rolston and other High Programmers will appear in coming months. Good-bye, and thanks for all the [wrong pop cultural reference].

The Computer: Gamma Programmer Eric Goldberg has left the building

Koe-U-GEO: Bye!

Mike-U-LEM: Ooooo...

discount: bu bye!

Splat-R: Bye!

Elle-R-Kno:> Bye!

Necsor: hi all! AHHH!! I missed it?!?!

Splat-R: /worships the ground on which the gamma programmer has walked

Veav-I-POH-1: Eric, I love you! I want your baby!

Elkin: Thanks for the enlightenments. I'm happy.