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Paranoia: Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues (Remastered)
You are YELLOW Clearance! Congratulations! The original Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues revised, updated... Remastered! One of the most famous missions in Troubleshooter history has returned to enhance the lives of a new generation of clones. Once more Troubleshooters can pursue the elusive Black Box, explore Outdoors, and bring peace and security to Alpha Complex. We can t tell you what this adventure is about (except that lots of confused and desperate people are killing each other over a mysterious Black Box), but we can tell you what it (the mission, we mean, not the box).
Perfect Paperback
Published June 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2020
One of the most popular modules in Paranoia history having been reprinted for nearly every edition of the game. Like most good Paranoia adventures, it avoids direct parody of media and focuses on parody of tropes. It's a lengthy module that will probably take 3-5 sessions to complete and is best structured as a one-shot so that you can rack up a bodycount on the PCs.
The plot makes fun of MacGuffins. Every secret society in Alpha Complex has learned about and wants these mysterious black boxes that will be dogging the Troubleshooters throughout the module. They don't know what's in it them but they know everyone else wants them and so they need to want them too, dangling fantastical rewards just out of the Troubleshooter's reach. Through this the Troubleshooters will be subjected to political intrigue, Cyberpunk Parodies, a sewer dungeon crawl parody, a hexcrawl exploration parody, a derelict recording studio, and possibly a nigh-invisible tank.
I was initially concerned as the first book in the set begins with some painfully unfunny introductions. They're bad. They try to hard and they're just not funny. But once we get in to the module proper, it's pretty good. The writing is easy to read and communicative. The jokes are pretty funny and they even graciously keep a pun based on the thesis of original Paranoia co-creator Greg Costikyan that's been passed down through the versions of this module. It will certainly be enjoyable to run.
So this module was released as a box set and there are.. clear cost-cutting decisions here. The module is split up over 4 booklets but I don't really see why. The box and each booklet have the same cover illustration with a different color filter which is pretty lazy and begs the question, "Why not just have ONE adventure booklet?" The interior art is sparing and major characters do not even get the benefit of portraits or stats. The end of the module explains why they don't bother but it's a bit annoying as later Paranoia modules with less production value DO include images of major NPCs that can be used as handouts. There are some nice thick cardstock handouts of maps or battlegrounds and the like that can be used and these are pretty nice but overall I'm not sure this NEEDED to be a box set or that the contents justify it being a box set. I would probably only recommend buying this in PDF as the production value just isn't here and it definitely looks like there was an effort to produce this on the cheap.
The plot makes fun of MacGuffins. Every secret society in Alpha Complex has learned about and wants these mysterious black boxes that will be dogging the Troubleshooters throughout the module. They don't know what's in it them but they know everyone else wants them and so they need to want them too, dangling fantastical rewards just out of the Troubleshooter's reach. Through this the Troubleshooters will be subjected to political intrigue, Cyberpunk Parodies, a sewer dungeon crawl parody, a hexcrawl exploration parody, a derelict recording studio, and possibly a nigh-invisible tank.
I was initially concerned as the first book in the set begins with some painfully unfunny introductions. They're bad. They try to hard and they're just not funny. But once we get in to the module proper, it's pretty good. The writing is easy to read and communicative. The jokes are pretty funny and they even graciously keep a pun based on the thesis of original Paranoia co-creator Greg Costikyan that's been passed down through the versions of this module. It will certainly be enjoyable to run.
So this module was released as a box set and there are.. clear cost-cutting decisions here. The module is split up over 4 booklets but I don't really see why. The box and each booklet have the same cover illustration with a different color filter which is pretty lazy and begs the question, "Why not just have ONE adventure booklet?" The interior art is sparing and major characters do not even get the benefit of portraits or stats. The end of the module explains why they don't bother but it's a bit annoying as later Paranoia modules with less production value DO include images of major NPCs that can be used as handouts. There are some nice thick cardstock handouts of maps or battlegrounds and the like that can be used and these are pretty nice but overall I'm not sure this NEEDED to be a box set or that the contents justify it being a box set. I would probably only recommend buying this in PDF as the production value just isn't here and it definitely looks like there was an effort to produce this on the cheap.
December 1, 2019
This box set for the Paranoia RPG contains four connected scenarios that revolve around the Troubleshooters and a variety of other factions trying to obtain a Black Box that contains…something (which I won’t give away). The adventures are okay- basically standard fare where you could insert any McGuffin in place of the black box. They are all railroad in nature and players will go from one scene to another, indulging in Paranoia shenanigans the entire way.
Perhaps I am not familiar enough with the theme and setting of the Paranoia RPG because I found the comical presentation mostly annoying. There were a couple of tidbits of amusement but overall, I found the set a chore to read and the scenarios a little bland. This is a rewrite of an adventure made in the 1980s and though it was re-written for the modern age, I think it just didn’t translate that well.
Perhaps I am not familiar enough with the theme and setting of the Paranoia RPG because I found the comical presentation mostly annoying. There were a couple of tidbits of amusement but overall, I found the set a chore to read and the scenarios a little bland. This is a rewrite of an adventure made in the 1980s and though it was re-written for the modern age, I think it just didn’t translate that well.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews