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| Paranoia Lexicon game: Be an ULTRAVIOLET! |
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| Allen Varney |
 Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:16 am Post subject: Paranoia Lexicon game: Be an ULTRAVIOLET! |
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Gamma Very High Programmer
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 996
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"CODE THE COMPUTER! THE COMPUTER IS YOUR TOOL!"
You are Clearance ULTRAVIOLET, a High Programmer entrusted by The Computer with sole control of an entire sector.
Last year the Toothpaste Disaster hit your sector and almost a dozen others. Fascinated high-clearance citizens across Alpha Complex seek to know more about this notorious event. Now The Computer has created a fact-finding panel to investigate the origins, determine the causes, and implicate the traitors involved in this chaotic, mysterious, and wide-ranging disaster.
The Computer has appointed you and other High Programmers in affected sectors to this panel. Together you will prepare an alphabetical encyclopedia and glossary, Clearance ULTRAVIOLET, which the head of Internal Security will respectfully and blindly forward to The Computer.
WHAT IS IT?
"The Toothpaste Disaster" is a Classic PARANOIA Lexicon game set in Alpha Complex. Lexicon (http://www.20by20room.com/2003/11/lexicon_an_rpg.html) was designed by Neel Krishnaswami. In a Lexicon game players collaborate on an online encyclopedia or report, writing entries in alphabetical order and posting them to a Wiki, a collection of editable Web pages (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiGettingStartedFaq).
I am now seeking players who will contribute to this online report. Extracts from the report may appear in the forthcoming PARANOIA rulebook appearing this August from Mongoose Publishing. Participating players receive no money, no contributor copies, and in fact no compensation of any kind whatever, and must give Mongoose Publishing blanket permission to use the report in any fashion. On the upside, players will be breveted to Clearance ULTRAVIOLET for the duration of the game and will be credited in the rulebook as "Toothpaste Disaster High Programmers."
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Panelists will prepare the report over 13 turns. In a turn, each contributor invents an entry starting with one of the letters available that turn, and writes 100-200 words of text for that entry. All Turn 1 entries must start with the letters A or B. Turn 2 covers C and D, and so on. Contributors post entries to the online Wiki I've set up for the game on my home page (http://paranoia.allenvarney.com). The whole world can see everyone's entries, but only approved players can post new entries.
We will run two turns a week. Deadlines are midnight Texas time each Monday and Thursday). Your first entry, which must begin with A or B, is due by midnight Friday, April 1, 2004. (NOTE: Despite the date, this is NOT an April Fool's joke!) Final entries (Turn 13, Y-Z) will be due and the game will conclude six weeks later at midnight Thursday, May 13.
At the end of the first entry you write, sign your in-game character name and make two Wiki-style citations to other entries that will (you hope!) appear later in the alphabetical report. These citations are "phantoms" -- their names exist, but their content will get filled in only on the appropriate turn. The phantom entries you cite must begin with a letter to be covered on a later turn. On each turn after the first, pick one of the phantom entries and write it, in the same way you wrote your first entry; if no phantom is available under the two letters covered that turn, create a new entry instead. Every entry you write must end with three citations: one entry already written by another player (NOT one of your own entries!) and two further unwritten "phantom" entries.
The maximum number of entries under each pair of letters equals the number of players. Therefore once you run out of empty slots, you can only cite existing phantom entries.
(On the next-to-last turn you'll cite only one phantom, and on the last turn no phantoms. Don't worry about it until you get there.)
By posting a notice on a phantom Wiki entry, you can call dibs (make a priority claim) on that phantom and write it on the appropriate future turn. You can't call dibs on a phantom you created. Don't get greedy. Etiquette dictates you shouldn't claim more than two phantoms at a time.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
We have these purposes in running this Lexicon game:
* Publicity for the forthcoming PARANOIA edition.
* Content creation for the rulebook. I envision running extracts from the report at the bottom of each two-page spread in the ULTRAVIOLET (Gamemaster) section. Therefore I hope the entries will be funny and characteristic of life in Alpha Complex.
* No promises, but I hope this project will serve as a "farm team" for prospective contributors to future PARANOIA supplements.
WHAT WAS THE TOOTHPASTE DISASTER?
It hasn't been defined yet. That's your job. Once you make up an entry, that becomes part of the overall picture of this intricately faceted calamity. Some legendary figures of Alpha Complex folklore may have been scandalously involved, and many secret societies and service firms definitely took part, either beforehand or in the disastrous yet lucrative aftermath.
Who sabotaged all those careful and highly classified security measures? What about that strange message sent by a mysterious Troubleshooter, apparently to an anonymous High Programmer? That Programmer couldn't have been one of you, could it? The idea seems preposterous.
WHAT POINTS SHOULD I REMEMBER?
* This is the familiar Classic style, not Straight or Zap.
* The Computer requires total candor. Nothing in your entries is deleted for security reasons. You may freely tell the truth, as you see it, among your fellow High Programmers.
* You're eager to make your views known and correct mistaken opinions, because you view your esteemed fellow Programmers as misinformed, misguided, underqualified, possibly criminal, and certainly nuts. They think the same of you, but insolent chatter from doltish lunatics is the lot of any seeker of truth.
* Quoting from Neel Krishnaswami's Lexicon rules: "Despite the fact that your peers are self-important, narrow-minded dunderheads, they are honest scholars. No matter how strained their interpretations are, their facts are accurate as historical research can make them. So if you cite an entry, you have to treat its factual content as true! (Though you can argue vociferously with the interpretation and introduce new facts that shade the interpretation.)"
WHAT DO I DO NEXT?
If you'd like to play, understand these points:
* You'll be writing at least a 100- to 200-word entry twice a week for six weeks, and you'll need to read each turn's entries from half a dozen or more players. You may also append comments to (but never revise!) other players' entries, to correct their undoubtedly numerous errors.
* Before you join the game, you must explicitly give Mongoose Publishing legal permission to publish, adapt, and otherwise exploit anything you create for this report. Mongoose won't pay you anything or give you a free copy of anything. Your only compensation, aside from the esteem and envy of your peers, is credit in the PARANOIA rulebook.
Still interested? Write to me: APVarney (at) AOL.com. Put "Toothpaste Disaster" in the subject line. Expressly grant Mongoose Publishing the permission described above, and give me two brief third-person biographical notices, which I will post on the in-game Wiki pages for all to see: (1) your real name and a little bit about you, and (2) one to three sentences about your ULTRAVIOLET High Programmer. For instance:
"Hugh-U-VUU-12 earned The Computer's trust as a diligent Internal Security officer in MSF Sector. So successful was his 'Keep Your Workplace Traitor-Free' campaign that his office routinely exceeded termination quotas by 800%. The program ended only when the sector's population fell below sustainable levels and received Temporary Evacuation and Relocation to nearby sectors."
Good luck, and may you guide your erring fellow ULTRAVIOLETs to wisdom!
-- Allen Varney
Principal PARANOIA writer
www.allenvarney.com
Paranoia blog: http://www.costik.com/paranoia
REFERENCE
The Wiki URL:
http://paranoia.allenvarney.com
Information about Wikis in general and directions on how to post there:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiGettingStartedFaq
Lexicon rules:
http://www.20by20room.com/2003/11/lexicon_an_rpg.html
A completed Lexicon game, written for a NOBILIS campaign:
http://www.respectstartstomorrow.com/oceanwiki/LexiconOfTheSecondAge |
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| greymist08 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:46 am Post subject: Email sent... |
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HPD&MC Coordinated Executive Officer
Joined: 03 Aug 2003
Posts: 915
Service Group: HPD&MC
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Screwz-U-BAD-3.
Reporting in.
_________________
Name : Grey-V-MST-1
Wearing : Violet Two Piece Suit, Indigo Shoes, Goggles, Orange tie, Green Travel Bag, and a Bullhorn. There are four robots following. There is a scent of Approved Scent #15. |
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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I was already tinkering with my own account of Teela-O-MLY's "costume malfunction" (this could be even more literal if she was an Idoru, though... or even if she had her own Idoru to stand in for her whenever she was burned out... :)
This could be fun.
And I can already think of a Toothpaste Disaster, if I combine some interesting typos on forms with that legendary prank call made by John Draper (AKA "Captain Crunch") .... (yes, I do, in fact, mean the one where he supposedly calls the president on an emergency line to tell them that the west coast or something is out of TP... ;)
_________________
Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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| riffraff |
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 03 Mar 2004
Posts: 153
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Friday is the 2nd, at least on my calendar.
_________________
"Drinking your own blood is the paradigm of recycling!"
--Gary Busey |
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| riffraff |
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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ORANGE
Joined: 03 Mar 2004
Posts: 153
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| Omega-G-MAN-5 wrote: |
And I can already think of a Toothpaste Disaster, if I combine some interesting typos on forms with that legendary prank call made by John Draper (AKA "Captain Crunch") .... (yes, I do, in fact, mean the one where he supposedly calls the president on an emergency line to tell them that the west coast or something is out of TP...  |
That's true, and it was Nixon. A little clever bluffing plus the perfect 2600-hertz tone produced by a particular plastic whistle given free in boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal, and hacker history was made.
_________________
"Drinking your own blood is the paradigm of recycling!"
--Gary Busey |
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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| riffraff wrote: |
| Omega-G-MAN-5 wrote: |
| And I can already think of a Toothpaste Disaster, if I combine some interesting typos on forms with that legendary prank call made by John Draper (AKA "Captain Crunch") .... (yes, I do, in fact, mean the one where he supposedly calls the president on an emergency line to tell them that the west coast or something is out of TP... ;) |
That's true, and it was Nixon. A little clever bluffing plus the perfect 2600-hertz tone produced by a particular plastic whistle given free in boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal, and hacker history was made. |
Phreaker history, I think you mean ;] Not that Draper was the first to discover that property, but somehow he became known for it...
Thanks for reminding me that it was Nixon, though. I couldn't remember... Not that it will matter for whatever definition we eventually give for that, I'm sure... ;]
_________________
Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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| Costin-U-MOR-6 |
| Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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Tech Services Supreme Nut Tightener
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 667
Service Group: Technical Services
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I have reason to believe that most of the definitions will ultimately (and hopefully) come as something of a surprise...
_________________
Check out The Underplex at your local store now!
I'm a Recycled Traitor waiting for you in Omega Complex |
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| Allen Varney |
| Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 3:36 am Post subject: Paranoia Lexicon game is now CLOSED and IN PROGRESS |
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Gamma Very High Programmer
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 996
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Remain seated and bring your tray table to an upright position because the PARANOIA Lexicon game is now underway at http://paranoia.allenvarney.com. No more player positions are open. But idle spectators are welcome to look in on the ongoing feud.
Nearly two dozen High Programmers are now investigating the Toothpaste Disaster. Entries are already filtering into the report, and the initial backbiting and pecksniffery is a mere harbinger of what will certainly erupt later. What scandals will they uncover in their twice-weekly turns? Stay tuned and find out!
If you wanted to be in this game but didn't apply in time, don't despair just yet. We may need replacement clones for the ULTRAVIOLETS who wimp out during the upcoming six-week stress test. And if it all goes well, we may try another game right after that!
_________________
-- Allen Varney
PARANOIA (2004 edition) principal writer
http://www.allenvarney.com
PARANOIA development blog: http://paranoiarpg.blogspot.com/ |
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| Doncommie |
| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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YELLOW
Joined: 25 Mar 2004
Posts: 23
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I'm really enjoying reading this so far. Would a printer friendly PDF 'book' version be possible, for a little pre-game compulsory voluntary reading?
Currently you can only print a single page and so far two whole teams of troubleshooters have reported RSI related injuries whilst attempting to print the whole report for reference material. |
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| Omega-U-MAN-5 |
| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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CPU Chief Mis-Information Monitor
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 203
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| Doncommie wrote: |
I'm really enjoying reading this so far. Would a printer friendly PDF 'book' version be possible, for a little pre-game compulsory voluntary reading?
Currently you can only print a single page and so far two whole teams of troubleshooters have reported RSI related injuries whilst attempting to print the whole report for reference material. |
*almost wonders if they could just attempt to publish the whole thing as a book of ideas for GMs or whatever... possibly with edits like making Omega-U the clone who put the ULTRA in ULTRAVIOLET* ;-]
What? Megalomania is a *good* trait in ULTRAVIOLETs... :]
_________________
Always read the fine print.
Reading this is treasonous, Citizen. |
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