Invasion, Minus The Actual Troops by Bill O'Dea Copyright 2005. A Straight mission for 4-6 players. Playing time designed for 1 session (actual playing time may vary). Mission Summary When Armed Forces loses contact with an entire regiment sent into an abandoned sector, The Computer assumes a huge Commie army has gathered there and is about to invade. There is no army--the regiment attacked itself by mistake--but the Troubleshooters are still sent in to gather intelligence on this massive traitor army and report back. Since there is no army, the Troubleshooters instead meet some fairly clever traps, a head-crushing warbot, an IR Market on the verge of closing and finally that missing Armed Forces regiment—which the Troubleshooters proceed to slaughter almost to the man. That should make for an interesting debriefing. Background Although many Armed Forces missions are set Outdoors against the mutant hordes (i.e., trees and the occasional deer), The Computer believes Commies could attack from anywhere. Sometimes it sends troops into abandoned sectors to ensure they haven't become the headquarters for the latest Commie Mutant Traitor threat. So it was no big deal when the 432nd Non-Volunteer Regiment was ordered to enter abandoned RTR Sector. It was a big deal when the 432nd disappeared. When the 432nd failed to report in after arriving at RTR Sector, generals tried hailing the soldiers and got nothing. Since RTR Sector is abandoned and unpowered, The Computer had no working sensors to find them either. In its paranoid bliss, Friend Computer assumed the regiment fell to a huge traitor army and ordered Armed Forces to prepare for an invasion from RTR Sector. It also ordered all corridors, transport tubes, tunnels, walkways, and air vents leading into RTR Sector to be cut, welded shut or otherwise closed. What really happened? The 432nd arrived at RTR Sector and split into three teams--Bravo, Charlie, and Tango—to search for Commies in the barely-lit corridors and rooms. They planned to meet at an abandoned BrightHappyComplex-class nuclear reactor. This just so happened to be the home of the Bizarre Bazaar, one of the largest IR Markets in Alpha Complex. (While this sounds suspiciously like narrative laziness, it’s really because many soldiers knew about the Bazaar and wanted to get there fast so they got first pick of the merchandise—especially because they were low on ammo and batteries, as you’ll read below.) When the three teams converged on the Bazaar, they had no way to contact each other (see Culpability below). Bravo assumed Charlie was the enemy; Charlie assumed Tango was the enemy; and Tango assumed both Bravo and Charlie were the enemy. (Tango team is especially paranoid.) The three Armed Forces teams cut each other to pieces with slugthrowers and cone rifles. Now they've run out of ammo and are running around the sector, falling back to an empty funball stadium to regroup and counter-attack. As for the Bizarre Bazaar ... it's leaving the sector before more soldiers, or cone rifle shells, arrive. But it takes time to store all that illegal equipment for surreptitious shipment, so the secret societies are still there for a while longer. In fact, they might be there when the Troubleshooters arrive. Could happen. Summary 1: Commie army, where are you? The Troubleshooters are told to enter an abandoned sector and search out a Commie Mutant Traitor army that's about to invade Alpha Complex. They are given vending machine disguises but they must leave their weapons, armor and PDCs behind. Once in the abandoned sector, the Troubleshooters find several deadly traps but no army. 2: You call this an IR Market? While searching for the army, the Troubleshooters find one of the largest IR Markets in Alpha Complex just as it's closing down for good. They can also accomplish a service service by getting a few nuclear fuel rods from a nearby reactor. Just as things seem hopeless, they are given a pile of real, honest-to-goodness powerful weapons and armor. 3: Die, Commie, Die! The Troubleshooters finally find the enemy army encamped in an old funball stadium. After using those nifty weapons to slaughter the Commies, the team returns for debriefing, where they learn that Commie army was really the 432nd Non-Volunteer Regiment and that they slaughtered loyal Armed Forces troops. Oops. Culpability is fun for everyone What does this have to do with our loyal Troubleshooters? Well, remember how they maintain their original service firm jobs until called into service? Turns out each Troubleshooter made a mistake on their job that directly affected the 432nd. Yes, each PC bears some of the blame for what happened to the 432nd, and they’re being sent on a mission to where the 432nd went missing. They also have recent dealings with the Bizarre Bazaar, which is also where they’re being sent on a mission. We think this will be fun, too. Below is a list of each of the pre-generated Troubleshooters recommended for this mission and their culpability for the 432nd and the Bizarre Bazaar. If you’re using your own characters, simply change the names and slide the blame into their background. All of this follows the same format: where he works, what he stole and sold at the Bizarre Bazaar, how that hurt the 432nd and why he wants to terminate the next PC down the line. The last PC wants to terminate the first PC, making a nice circle of treason. Stephanie-R-SLE: Wrote the wrong C-mail address on the 432nd's orders. Stephanie-R works in Field Unit Order Command (FORCOM), and it's her job to type a C-mail address on each set of orders and then mail it to CPU, who will encrypt the orders and then C-mail them into the field. (As the new Alpha Complex economy encourages, Armed Forces outsourced the encryption to the lowest bidder.) The only problem is Stephanie-R stole the FORCOM typewriter for her secret society (which promptly sold it at the bizarre Bazaar), forcing her to write C-mail addresses on orders by hand. When the orders for the 432nd came in, she accidentally wrote the wrong commander's C-mail on the orders, so the 432nd never got them. She wants to terminate Richard-R because she gave the mixed-up orders to him for encryption and she thinks he knows about her mistake. Richard-R-SOO: Used the wrong encryption key on the 432nd's orders. Richard-R works at the firm Super Secret CPU and encrypts anything he's told to. When he received the 432nd's orders from Stephanie-R, he should have used the Armed Forces FORCOM key to encrypt the orders and then C-mail them out. The only problem is he stole the original encryption key for his secret society (which promptly sold it at the bizarre Bazaar), forcing him to use another key so his theft remained undetected. This means the 432nd didn't have the right key to decrypt them, leaving the orders a nonsensical mess. Richard-R wants to terminate Jenny-R because he knows the 432nd asked her for directions, and he assumes this means she knows the orders couldn't be decrypted. Jenny-R-EEA: Closed the wrong corridor and sent the 432nd off-course. Jenny-R works for HPD&MC's Room For Rooms, a firm that converts corridors into dormitories. She was supposed to close Corridor RT:RO-993 by placing a routebot in the corridor to direct traffic to alternate routes. The only problem is she stole the bot for her secret society (which promptly sold it at the bizarre Bazaar), forcing her to stand and redirect traffic herself. When the 432nd arrived, she sent them down Corridor RT:HR-909, not knowing where it went. This got the 432nd lost and seriously delayed their mission. She wants to terminate Cynthia-R because she thinks Cynthia-R gave the 432nd directions to her specific corridor just to mess with her society. Cynthia-R-FYR: Issued faulty transports to the 432nd. Cynthia-R works for Military Motor Pool TS, a firm that repairs and loans out combat vehicles to Armed Forces and IntSec. She was supposed to issue troop transports to any Armed Forces unit that requested one. The only problem is she stole the transports' ACPS (Alpha Complex Positioning System) for her secret society (which promptly sold them at the Bizarre Bazaar), forcing her use old, unreliable transports that at least had a working ACPS. When the 432nd arrived, she gave them bad transports--which broke down 15 minutes later, forcing the regiment to walk. Cynthia-R wants to terminate Tony-R because she thinks he knows that the transports were faulty. Tony-R-BWS: Gave empty laser barrels to the 432nd. Tony-R works for Konvenience Kiosks PLC, a firm that runs convenience stores that stock a wide array of small items. He was supposed to sell an overstock of laser barrels. The only problem is he stole these barrels for his secret society (which promptly sold them at the bizarre Bazaar), forcing him to sell empty barrels painted to look like they were fully charged. When the 432nd arrived on foot after their transports broke down, he sold them the fake barrels. The 432nd didn't notice the empty barrels until their mission began. Tony-R wants to terminate Andre-R because he thinks Andre-R knows the barrels were fake and told as such to the 432nd. Andre-R-CMM: Issued empty batteries to the 432nd for their PDCs. Andre-R works for PDCEnergy, a firm that specializes in batteries for the PDC. He was supposed to sell a new, longer-lasting PDC battery. The only problem is he stole those batteries for his secret society (which promptly sold them at the Bizarre Bazaar), forcing him to sell empty batteries instead. When the 432nd arrived to get fresh batteries before entering an abandoned sector, Andre-R gave them the empty batteries. There was just enough juice left to let the PDCs work until they entered RTR Sector, at which point they died and left the 432nd without any communication. He wants to terminate Stephanie-R because the fact that she sent the orders to a different cmail address means she knows the PDCs weren't working because of him. 1: Commie army, where are you? The Troubleshooters are pulled from their regular jobs for a Troubleshooting mission, but are told to leave behind important things like their laser pistol, reflec, PDC and even their boots. Once at the briefing, they are told of an impending invasion by a Commie army. The team must enter an abandoned sector and gather intelligence on this army. While there, they'll have to perform a service service for Power Services and bring back some nuclear fuel rods from an abandoned reactor. They are not told about the missing regiment, and the players will likely not catch on until it's too late. VERY PLEASED TO MEET YOU!!! The Troubleshooters are on the job, working in their individual service firms, when their PDCs beep with an incoming C-mail: TO: Troubleshooter mailgroup BCT FROM: Armed Forces Troubleshooter Requisition Office (ARFTRO) SUBJ: New mission Attention Troubleshooter—ARFTRO has requisitioned your services. You are now part of Team BravoCharlieTango (BCT). Please report the intersection of Autocar Freeway M3-AA and Transbot Service Line RT:HR-909 in LTP Sector. You will not need your laser pistols, reflec, PDCs, boots or ME Cards, so please store them in a safe, secure place before arriving at the briefing. This is a covert mission, so do not explain any details to others. You have one hour—do not be late. That’s right—no weapons or armor for this mission. Oh, they’ll get some weapons soon, very soon, but not right now. You can roleplay finding a 'secure location' for their stuff, or you could just tell the players to scratch those items off their character sheets. The important thing is to remove them. We want the Troubleshooters powerless for a bit. More powerless than usual, anyway. The Troubleshooters will have some difficulty in reaching the briefing, as most travel methods require an ME Card. If they start running as soon as they get the mission alert, they reach the intersection in time. We recommend giving them some hassle for not having boots or ID, but keep it simple and light, and award Perversity to anyone who comes with a clever way to get there ... but get there. Missions that spend most of the time just getting to the briefing tend to drag. You finally reach the intersection in LTP Sector. All around you are Armed Forces personnel: raw recruits standing in formation, hard-nosed veterans casually carrying cone rifles, walls of sandbags and gun turrets, even a few tankbots. Everything seems centered around a pair of giant metal doors just past the intersection. They have 'RTR SECTOR' stenciled on them. You've never heard of this sector before. If anyone even looks at some ammunition or gun, a higher-clearance soldier gets in his face and starts screaming about minding his own business while he still has business to mind. They are all excited and nervous at the prospect of finally meeting the enemy after yearcycles of drilling, parading and bombing deer in the Outdoors. Troubleshooters will overhear things like, 'We need another thousand rounds of 20mm depleted-uranium slugs for the turret!" and, 'Redeploy those anti-personnel mines for an extra 800 enemies!' Build up the impending invasion angle to build up the players' fears and concerns. The mission briefing is held just behind an Armed Forces barricade and between two tankbots. Sergeant Lindsay-Y-LAV-2 is the briefing officer. She screams like the typical drill sergeant, but that's because she's really hard of hearing. It might appear that she's being sarcastic or troublesome, but she's actually quite polite. Of course, Troubleshooters will need to scream at her to be heard. Troubleshooter #1: I wonder if we're getting any equipment, or are they going to send us in unarmed? Lindsay-Y: WHAT WAS THAT? Troubleshooter #1: U... nothing sir! Lindsay-Y: DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, TROUBLESHOOER??? Troubleshooter #1: Oh, crap. Troubleshooter #2: HE WANTS TO KNOW IF WE GET EQUIPMENT! Lindsay-Y: YES! YOU WILL GET EQUIPMENT AFTER THE BRIEFING, OKAY??? Troubleshooter #2: THANK YOU, SIR! Lindsay-Y: YOU ARE VERY WELCOME!!! The briefing itself is short and to the point: a large Commie Mutant Traitor army is somewhere in abandoned RTR Sector, so Team BCT needs to: A) enter the sector undetected B) find the enemy army and assess its strength C) steal at least one set of battle plans and D) return to this checkpoint for debriefing. Seems simple enough, right? Lindsay-Y will repeatedly emphasize the need for stealth and secrecy; this is an intelligence-gathering mission, not a fight-and-die mission. Players should be thankful they weren't given a tacnuke with orders to detonate it when they find the army, but they probably won't be. They know enough about PARANOIA to realize stealth and Troubleshooters goes together like vinegar and baking soda. Once briefed on the mission, Lindsay-Y will remember a simple service service from Power Services. Inside RTR Sector is a BrightHappyComplex-class nuclear reactor. Power Services wants the team to enter the reactor and remove the fuel rods in the core. The reactor is shut down--it's an abandoned sector, after all--so it's perfectly safe. The players all know the Bizarre Bazaar reactivated the reactor and uses it for power--we included that bit in their character's backgrounds--so now they'll realize they are being asked to close down the Bazaar. Let them chew on that for a bit, then give 'em some equipment. Shake me vigorously already! A pair of jackobots drop a crate at Lindsay-Y's feet. She hands out the following: 1. Vending Machine Costumes: a flat palm-sized square of memory fabric. When shaken vigorously, the square pops and expands to the size and shape of a vending machine. The outside is an artist's rendering of a B3 machine, and while the art is well done, it's still a painting. From far away it looks real but from close up it's obviously paint on fabric. The inside is hollow and there's no bottom, so players can stand inside and ... make vending machine noises or something. There's two small metal studs inside; touch them both and the costume returns to a flat square. If a clone is inside when this happens, they are snafued until someone shakes them vigorously. 2. Penknife: this is their only weapon (for now). It has a 20cm blade that's kind of dull, a corkscrew and a can opener that's really, REALLY hard to use. I mean, seriously--have you ever tried to open a can with one of those? Absolutely useless. 3. Cyanide capsules: every spy mission needs these. Troubleshooters are given one each and ordered to take one if they are ever captured, so the enemy won't torture them or get them to talk. GMs everywhere can probably see PCs trying to shove these down each other's throats. Such activity is unintended, of course. 4. Hushboots: Designed to allow ultra-quiet walking, these are standard boots covered in bubblewrap. They sort of work, as the bubblewrap eliminates the sound of footsteps. On rare occasions, a bubble pops and makes a really loud noise. On even rarer occasions, a bunch of bubbles pop in succession. And on the most rare of occasions, the bubbles pop whenever a Troubleshooter takes a step. Use this as a slap to control players. 5. Fuel Rod Carrying Case: A 1-meter long box covered with radiation symbols and lined with lead, this is where the Troubleshooters store the fuel rods for their service service. It's a bit heavy and will require at least two Troubleshooters to carry it. It would make a big noise if dropped, and could break toes or feet. Some GMs might be worried about the lack of weaponry. Troubleshooters traditionally have some R&D weapons, or at the very least some RED laser pistols, so they can blow up stuff--like each other. Soon, very soon, the Troubleshooters will find more weapons than they’ll know what to do with. In the meantime, they’ll face lots of scenarios where weapons could come in handy. And yet they have nothing but a penknife. Shame, really. But don't worry--they'll get some nice weapons soon, very soon. A series of unfortunate (but highly amusing) events Once briefed and outfitted, the team is lead past the turrets and barricades to a thick pair of metal doors. A jackobot quickly cuts a clone-sized hole in the metal with a blowtorch, and Lindsay-Y urges the team through the hole. Once inside, the warbot welds the hole shut again, trapping Team BCT in an empty corridor lit only by red emergency lights. You see an empty transbot line stretching down into the darkness. The only lights come from dim emergency lighting in the walls. Usually, a sector has some significant background noise--air scrubbers, reactors, footsteps, that sort of thing. Not here. They only sounds come from yourselves. The air is warm but stale. What now? The players have no maps, which won't be a shock to veteran PARANOIA players. But they have no PDCs, no weapons and no armor. That should shock everyone. Each Troubleshooter has a reason to terminate one of their team, but it's hard to backstab with a penknife. So the players will be looking to use the environment to off their teammates. Keep that in mind when you describe the abandoned sector; expect plenty of questions like, 'How far up are we?' or, 'Can I sharpen a doorknob?' This episode is very open, as the players decide where to go instead of the usual 'railroad station on the track to certain doom' often found in PARANOIA. Instead of providing a walk through, we'll list a few fun places you can throw at the team as they explore the abandoned sector. When you've grown tired of this, head to Episode 2 where the team reaches the BrightHappyComplex-class nuclear reactor and the Bizarre Bazaar. But before that ... let's go over what RTR Sector is like for our intrepid spies. First, it's pretty dark. Red emergency lights are the only lighting (except when described otherwise, like at the Bizarre Bazaar), and they cast weird shadows rather than actually illuminate. The air smells like the inside of an old attic--musty, dusty and rusty. Elevators don't work, so the team will have to get used to stairs. There's no working bots, terminals, confession booths ... you get the idea. This level of solitude can have its fun. Noises are amplified; whispers that are normally hidden by the omnipresent background noise in regular sectors become quite clear. The occasional creak of the sector settling might sound like footsteps or the click of a gun's safety. And given the lack of repairs, some floors and stairs shudder ominously. Here's a fun fact: the Tension Level for RTR Sector is zero. Zip, zilch, none, nada. Anything the Troubleshooters do, either loyal or traitorous, will not be seen by The Computer or its minions. So don't bother keeping track of their traitorous antics while in RTR Sector unless you really want to. Now, as promised, here are some scenes to use or ignore as needed. Oh, and by the way, all of these scenes are deadly traps set by members of the 432nd to kill Commies. Just so you know. The little lost scrubot trap: The Troubleshooters see a lone scrubot coming down the corridor towards them. It waves its brushes in a friendly manner (or what passes for a friendly manner with brush-waiving) and zooms up to them, obviously excited and happy to see the Troubleshooters. Scrubot NVL-662-001, a.k.a. Nevil, claims to have been a victim of a bot-slavery ring; kidnapped by traitors and was to be sold at an IR Market near a nuclear reactor. Then a bunch of Armed Forces soldiers started shooting up the place and it escaped. All of that is true; the only thing it left out is what happened after its escape. It was caught by Tango team and reprogrammed. Tango team thought Commies would want to go to the Bizarre Bazaar, so they programmed the scrubot to look for people to lead back to the IR Market—but first, lead them into a Tango team ambush. The players all know about the IR Market and have secret society missions involving it. The scrubot also mentions the reactor, which is their service service. This gives them twice the reason to follow the scrubot. Most likely, they'll do so cautiously but optimistically. Good for them. Not really, since it's a trap, but you know what we mean. The scrubot will lead the team down a maze of corridors. This should take some time; let the players get used to having a scrubot as a sidekick. Heck, run through the other traps with the scrubot along for the ride. Eventually, it'll lead the team to a corridor where even the dim emergency lights have failed--we're talking total darkness here. Nevil will turn on his lamps and head into the dark, leading the Troubleshooters down a hall littered with large empty plastic crates. In other words, a great location for an ambush. Or what would have been an ambush. While these soldiers were waiting for Nevil to lure some Commies into the trap, Charlie team snuck up from behind and terminated them all. Poor Nevil doesn't know this, so when the Troubleshooters are past the first crates, he screams, 'Attack! Get 'em boys! Go, go, go!' When nothing happens, Nevil will try to play dumb. ('I thought I say Commies up ahead! I was talking to you guys, honest!') If it looks like the Troubleshooters aren't buying it, Nevil will run away. Fine, he'll zoom away. Don't nitpick our grammar when we’re referring to imaginary robots. At the ambush point, the Troubleshooters will find dead citizens wearing corridor camouflage uniforms but without weapons or armor. These were beaten to death and show no signs of laser or slugthrower wounds. If searched, they have nothing to identify them as Armed Forces soldiers, as these were already taken by Charlie team. (After they realized what they had done, they took the evidence.) The sinkhole trap: The corridor (or autocar freeway, tunnel, etc.) has a huge hole in its floor. Given that its almost three meters wide and so deep that it takes a minute before anything dropped inside makes a noise, the Troubleshooters might jump across but probably wouldn't make it. They'll realize this and will most likely grumble and turn back the way they came--until you describe the gun waiting for them on the other side. Something glitters in the dim, red light. It's ... can it be? Is it a hologram? No! It's an M66 'Traitor Killer' semi-automatic slugthrower! The kind only manufactured in GUN Sector's award-winning munitions factories! Lightweight, accurate and prone only to making people bleed, the M66 is constantly advertised on combat-heavy vidshows like, 'Vulture Squadron is Go!' and, 'The Junior Citizen Super Fun Creche Show!' Everyone knows the M66 is the best weapon ever! Wow. Just out of reach. Shame. In other words, the M66 (Impact, M3K) is the bait. Given that they don't even have their trusty laser pistols, the players are probably feeling a bit vulnerable. A nice heavy weapon would hit the spot, and there it is, just sitting there for the taking. Let the players figure out how to cross the sinkhole--no doubt they'll figure out something. They always do, and award some Perversity to whomever figures out how to cross it safely. When they get to the other side, don't describe the gun unless the Troubleshooter examines it closely. If they actually take the time to look at it before snatching it up with their greedy, murderous little hands, they'll notice a taut piece of fishing wire tied to the gun. The other end slips under a floor tile below where that Troubleshooter is standing (no matter what direction he comes from--PARANOIA is good like that) and is tied to some explosives hidden in the floor. Moving the gun even 20cm will cause a huge explosion (Impact, M2K). The explosion ruins the gun, turning it into several charred doorstops. If a player is smart enough to examine such an obviously suspicious gift beforehand, have them to roll a successful Stealth check in order to spot the wire--or just give it to them if you think things will be more fun with a powerful assault rifle in the mix. And when doesn't a powerful assault rifle make things more fun? And if they’re really, really nice, give ‘em some ammo too. The dead soldiers trap: Read the following to the players. You turn a corner and see four bodies on the floor amid what looks like dried blood and spent shell casings. Three are ORANGE clearance and one is GREEN. They all obviously died fighting; each body has been beaten to a bloody pulp. None of them have any armor or weapons, but the GREEN former-citizen is still clutching a folded RED printout in her hand. A RED paper in a GREEN officer's hand? That should be a clue there's something wrong with the picture, but at least one of the Troubleshooters will probably think, 'Hey, there's a clue here! And it's my clearance! Woot!' and grab it. Bad for him. The paper has been thoroughly soaked in a virulent contact poison; whoever grabs the note will be dead within minutes. Symptoms start with shortness of breath and dry mouth and quickly move on to severe vomiting and bleeding from every orifice. For additional fun, GMs can have the poison spread by contact. So if anyone else touches the infected clone, they too are infected. Maybe its a designer hantavirus instead of poison, but if the substance doesn't kill him, the other Troubleshooters will to avoid getting infected themselves. Then again, they probably don't have weapons yet. That means they'd have to kill him with their bare hands ... forget it, they'll all run away like frightened children. As for the paper, it's a simple note that says, 'You are dead!' For Armed Forces, that's a display of scathing wit. Is it a battle plan so they can get the HEL Sector outta there? Nope. Keep moving, Troubleshooter. The UV door trap: Start by telling the players they can see a light way ahead down the corridor or tunnel. No doubt they'll act all professional, getting themselves ready to meet the enemy. Ah, who are we kidding? They'll either run at the light screaming, 'Die Commie scum!' or they'll argue for hours over who has to investigate. In the midst of all this darkness, one hallway stands out--Corridor U-03-Restricted. This is a RED-clearance corridor leading to a gilded double-door. A well-lit sign above the doors reads, 'High Programmer Conference Room--RED servant entrance,' and the doors are slightly open. A voice can just be heard coming from inside, but too low to hear anything specific. Okay. We have a corridor that A) is RED clearance, B) leads to an ULTRAVIOLET conference room, C) might lead to somebody alive and D) is well lit. What are the chances that every player will pass up this tempting offer? Zero. Somebody, at least one Troubleshooter, will head down the corridor and check out what's in the room, despite the suspiciously-high power levels for an abandoned sector. So what's in the room? Nothing. It's a small alcove filled with plain white notebooks, pens, and empty plastic cups, all of which are covered with mold and useless. A single door, also slightly open, leads to what looks like a fully powered conference room: lights are on, a terminal on the far wall glows blue, etc. But once in this alcove, a Troubleshooter can more clearly hear the voice. It's a female voice coming from the conference room, and it's obviously someone on their PDC arguing with someone about military tactics. 'I don't care how thin the troops are spread ... and that will make a difference? I don't think so! Listen, I want ... no, the warbots are staying in the reserve! Because of a counter-attack, that's why! Didn't they teach you anything about tactics? A reserve has to be ... but if we do that, they'll turn our flanks and we'll be caught with our jumpsuits down! You cannot expect the enemy army to just wait until we're ready for them!' This goes on for about five minutes and then repeats word-for-word. That's right, it's a recording. That's right, it's a trap. Inside the conference room is the aforementioned wall terminal, a large table, several old chairs and a three-meter tall, bipedal warbot named ML-002-D/D (a.k.a. Malddy). Currently, it's wired into the local power grid; several large cables run from its head into a hole in the ceiling tiles. Bravo team wired it to power the conference room, alcove and corridor, hoping to lure traitors into an ULTRAVIOLET room in search of items or data to plunder. It's playing a conversation recorded by Bravo team just for this trap. Malddy will mistake the Troubleshooters for such traitors and will attack as soon as it sees them. First, it'll pull the wires from the ceiling, plunging the room, alcove and corridor into total darkness. (It can see into the IR spectrum, so it'll maneuver just fine.) Then it will flip the table over and march on the Troubleshooters. Like the rest of the military in this abandoned sector, Malddy ran out of ammo some time ago. So it plans on crushing the skull of anyone it catches, and it's trying to catch the Troubleshooters. Chances are, the players have no weapons to fight back with. So, chances are the players will run away screaming. Here's where things could get dicey for you, the GM. Try to keep the team as a group; otherwise, you'll spend half the night running individual sessions. When the players run, don't give them any side corridors or unlocked doors. Since this is an abandoned sector, you can always toss the odd sinkhole or, 'It's blocked by debris' excuse for such guidance. But do enjoy the merry chase: several unarmed Troubleshooters and maybe a scrubot running for their lives from a homicidal warbot that wants to crush their heads with his giant, steel gripper claws. Tight doorways will slow him down, but only for a few seconds as he'll tear the whole freakin' wall down to get at the Troubleshooters. His legs loudly pound dents into the floors, but he never falls through—unless him getting one leg stuck in the floor would heighten the drama. Eventually, let the team find their way blocked by a collapsed concrete support tower with just enough space for humans (and small bots like scrubots) to climb through to the open corridor beyond it. Depending on how the players behaved themselves during this mission, you could have them just make it through as Malddy swipes at their feet. Malddy cannot get past the wall of broken concrete slabs and the players are safe. For now. 2: You call this an IR Market? Finally, the traps are done with and the Troubleshooters stumble into a gigantic room containing the reactor they're supposed to find, the IR Market they're not supposed to find but probably want to, and the remains of the 432nd--and some still living Free Enterprisers who, in their haste to leave before more Armed Forces soldiers arrive, leave behind some powerful weaponry for the Troubleshooters to play with. A whole lotta activity for an abandoned sector. At some point, either you or the players will tire of all these traps. Some might even have noticed the bodies they found had no bullet wounds or laser burns, and that Malddy the Warbot didn’t even have ammunition. That's when you let them find the Bizarre Bazaar. The corridor ends at one of those immense large spaces that every sector seems to have. You can see a three-story parking garage, an autocar freeway heading to/from the garage, a small office building and the large cooling tower of a nuclear reactor. 'See' is the operative word here. This room is well-lit and powered; you can see thick power cables running from the office building to the parking garage. While there are no autocars parked there, there is a whole lot of something in the garage. Looks almost like somebody set up some office cubicles there. There are three points of interest for our Troubleshooters: the reactor, the office building, and the parking garage. The team can visit these in any order, but make sure they visit the parking garage. If they miss the reactor, they’ll fail in their service service; not good, but not integral to the plot. If they miss the office building, they’ll lose some cool blackmail opportunities, but so be it. However, if they miss the parking garage then they’ll miss out on those weapons we’ve been promising would appear soon, very soon. The Office Building This used to be the offices for the reactor’s staff. Since no one works at the reactor anymore, all the secret societies set up offices here to coordinate their Bizarre Bazaar sales and purchases. There are three wings which are roughly broken down into the Really Against The Computer Wing, the Not Really Against The Computer Wing, and the Lets Really Leave These Guys Alone Wing. The Really Against The Computer Wing has one office for: Humanists, Psion, Romantics, Computer Phreaks and Sierra Club. The Not Really Against The Computer Wing has one office for: Anti-Mutant, Corpore Metal, FCCC-P, Free Enterprise, Mystics and Pro Tech. The Lets Really Leave These Guys Alone Wing has one office for: Communists, Death Leopard, Frankenstein Destroyers and PURGE. (The Illuminati may have an office here but that hasn't been confirmed.) The largest office belongs to Free Enterprise because they were nominally in charge of the IR Market. Pro Tech kept the reactor running to provide power to the Bazaar, so they too have a nice office. The other offices are small and cramped, and none of them have any door numbers or anything like that. All of the offices, large and small, were emptied in a hurry when the 432nd opened fire on each other in the parking garage. There’s not much left, but if a Troubleshooter takes a few minutes to search the room, they’ll find a stray piece of paper with some simple but obviously treasonous notes about recent items brought in by members for sale at the Bazaar. That’s right! Each Troubleshooter’s name is on a forgotten slip o' paper in one of these offices! What fun! What potential for blackmail! These are included in the appendix for the pre-generated characters recommended for this mission. If you ignored our hard work and used your own, then make your own props. While the Troubleshooters would know their society had an office at the Bizarre Bazaar, they wouldn’t know which office belongs to their society (or that there's evidence left behind with their name on it). Once they enter an office, however, they’ll be able to tell what society used it from a poster, leaflet or flier for each society, something worthless and easy to forget when packing quickly to avoid arrest and termination. These can be taken by the Troubleshooters as souvenirs or fun stuff to plant in your team leader's back pocket, but none of them count as battle plans. Both the slips o' paper and random secsoc fliers make for good PARANOIA roleplaying (i.e. backstabbing and blackmail), but we suggest making the players work for it. In other words, reward anyone who goes looking for naughty things with some naughty things to find. There’s one interesting thing to note: if Player #1 finds treason on Player #2, he can’t go crying treason to Friend Computer. There’s no PDCs and RTR Sector is cut off from The Computer, so the team will have to work this out among themselves. An enterprising citizen with a big future ahead of him might try blackmail instead of openly revealing his find. Since this is a Straight mission, this is entirely appropriate. Please award some perversity to anyone who tries this, as this is the kind of PARANOIA that’s fun in the long run. Encourage them to start the extortion now. But beyond the blackmail papers and left-behind propaganda, the only other bit of note is the entry into the reactor. A large security door leads into the reactor’s core and is the only way into it. The door was blown open long ago and now is little more than a charred mess. The Reactor This has two rooms: the control center and the central core. The control center is accessed through the office building and is full of complicated-looking workstations. Monitors, dials, LEDs, knobs, printers, levers, buttons, shiny buttons, even shiny red buttons are all over the place. A giant window fills the far wall so people can see into the core—a large circular room filled with water, with a long platform extending over the middle of it—and a thick airlock fills the right wall. Basically, it’s where highly-trained nuclear engineers ensure the smooth and safe operation of the nuclear reactor. Pro Tech used to staff this but they’ve run away like the rest of the secret societies. This does not mean the reactor is close to meltdown; a reactor in a Straight mission can be left alone for a while and it’ll most likely be fine, and that’s the case here. The team’s service service is to recover the fuel rods in the core. Any player with the Nuclear Engineering specialty will know the rods are currently under water in the core and must be brought up by the proper controls before they can be taken. But finding those controls will take a successful roll—or they can keep hitting buttons and whatnot until they find the right one. Below if a short table for what happens when a Troubleshooter starts experimenting with the control panels for a nuclear reactor. Feel free to actually roll for a random result, or just pick whatever sounds amusing at the moment. Roll Reaction 01-03 All the lights suddenly turn off, then go back on as if nothing happened. 04-06 A recorded voice says, 'Warning! Unplanned steam venting in process!' 07-09 A recorded voice says, 'Background radiation now 24% higher!' 10-12 A noise rises in pitch until a nearby terminal explodes in a shower of sparks and smoke. 13-15 The water in the core starts to boil uncontrollably. Lots if dials glow red and a warning klaxon beings to sound. 16-18 A secret door in the core’s wall opens and out comes a scrubot— which promptly falls into the water and screams for rescue until it finally shorts out. 19-20 The water in the core drains away as the fuel rods slowly rise until they’re even with the platform. The Troubleshooters can now get the fuel rods. If anyone goes through the airlock, it opens into a small chamber with radiation suits and another door that will not open unless the first door is shut. Troubleshooters can don the suits and walk onto the platform to the exposed fuel rods, place them in the lead case and walk out of there without appreciable radiation exposure. (Especially given their clearance.) A clone who enters the core without said suits will notice it’s warm and humid in there. When he returns from the core, ask the player if he wants to roleplay the crippling and eventually fatal radiation poisoning, or would he like a new clone now and get it over with. The Parking Garage This is where the Bizarre Bazaar is ... was ... held.. The garage doesn't hold any autocars; it's just a three-story cement structure with lines painted on the floor to delineate parking spaces. Oh, and empty IR Market stalls--they're all over the place. So are spent shells and barrels, the occasional fragged warbot and lots of bodies wearing corridor camouflage or regular jumpsuits. This is the result of the 432nd attacking the IR Market. As stated in the introduction, Bravo, Charlie and Tango teams each entered the Bizarre Bazaar from different directions. Each thought the other teams were a Commie army, so they opened fire until they ran out of ammunition and then fled to set up traps so they can ‘finish the job.’ A lot of Bizarre Bazaar staff were caught in the crossfire, as were their stalls and ill-gotten wares. But once the three Armed Forces teams ran out of ammo and left, the survivors didn’t wait for round two—they started packing what’s left of their merchandise and high-tailed it out of there. For small stalls, this took a few minutes; for the bigger stalls, this is still going on. The Troubleshooters will find a large truckbot sitting on the top story of the garage, filled with crates marked, 'Experimental B3--do NOT shake!' Five clones wearing powered ArmorAll (All, 5) are loading a few remaining crates into the truckbot. They are all Free Enterprisers who kept a suit of ArmorAll handy just in case of an IntSec raid. When the 432nd attacked (albeit in three teams who each thought the others were the enemy), they donned their suits and waited. As smaller entrepreneurs panicked and ran, these five started looting the stalls of the dead Bizarre Bazaar sales staff. They stand to make a huge profit—assuming they can get out of RTR Sector in one piece. So when they see Troubleshooters … they laugh. Their armor will protect them from any puny lasers, even if the team had them in the first place. If the entire team works together, they can tackle one of the Free Enterprisers—until another picks them up and tosses them away like so many dolls. Yep, these guys have GM Fiat armor; not because they’re important to the plot, but because we want to mess with the players. ... and I'll carry a pistol in my teeth! Soon, very soon, they’re about to find some really powerful weapons. Stuff that would make a member of the Alpha Complex Rifle Association weep with envy. But before that, we have to whet their appetite for destruction. (Insert Guns ’N’ Roses reference here.) You should make them so wish they had a gun—any gun!—to kill these smug traitors in their fancy-schmancy armor that they’d sell their soul to the Commies for a cone rifle. When the Free Enterprisers load the last crate in their truckbot, they swat aside any annoying Troubleshooters, climb aboard and head away at a breakneck speed. This causes two crates to fall out of their truck in the time-honored (and embarrassingly hackneyed) tradition. The crates smash and their contents spill out. Soon, very soon--is now. Here are the contents of the crates. All of these weapons work wonderfully—no malfunctions here. 4 cone rifles (BLUE) 3 backpacks with 4 HE shells (INDIGO, Impact, W2K), 4 napalm shells (BLUE, Energy, S2K), and 2 ECM shells (INDIGO, Energy, J2J) in each 6 semi-automatic slugthrowers with underside grenade launchers (GREEN) 1 backpack with 20 clips of standard slugthrower ammunition (GREEN, Impact, W3K) 2 flame throwers (YELLOW, Energy, S3K) 3 blasters (ORANGE, Energy, M3K) 5 laser pistols (Energy, W3K) 2 backpacks with 3 RED, 3 YELLOW and 3 BLUE barrels in each 4 grenade belts complete with 10 HE grenades each (RED, Impact, W3K) 1 force sword (BLUE, Energy, S3K) 5 suits of ArmorAll (All 4) 6 suits of kevlar (ORANGE, Impact 3) 1 suit of GREEN reflec (Energy 2) Players can decide among themselves how to divvy up the weaponry, but make sure each Troubleshooter has something cool and dangerous to play with and a suit of protective armor. After wandering around in the dark with no weapons or armor, they deserve something. But don’t worry—it’ll come back to haunt them. Trust us Famous Game Designers. Besides, there’s the whole security clearance issue to deal with. With the exception of the RED barrels and grenades, all of the equipment is above their clearance. How will the Troubleshooters deal with this? We can think of three ways this could play out: 1. The team ignores clearance regulations and grabs everything they can. Fine by us, since the Tension level is still zero. They might have some explaining to do when they get back to the non-abandoned parts of Alpha Complex, but that’s up to them to worry about. Pay close attention to see if anyone mentions they drop their high-clearance toy before leaving RTR Sector. 2. The team refuses to touch anything above their clearance. Awww, that’s no fun! Discourage this option if you can, or else the rest of the mission won’t be as destructive and amusing. Remind them that Troubleshooters are routinely assigned gear of higher clearances than them, and that Armed Forces never forbid them weaponry—it only said they couldn’t bring weapons into the sector. 3. The team grabs the first weapons they can and tries to frag each other for violating security clearance regulations. Typical for Zap but not appropriate for a Straight mission. Raise everyone’s clone number by one and try again, but this time throw a common enemy at them, like the Free Enterprisers who laughed at them earlier. 'Who’s laughing now, traitor? ZAP!!!' Either way, give the players some stuff and remind them their mission is to find the enemy army and grab some battle plans. The players can head just about any way from here; all roads lead to the next episode. Convenient, isn’t it? 3: Die, Commie, Die! At this point, the Troubleshooters have completed their service service and are armed to the teeth. The only thing left is to find that pesky Commie Mutant Traitor army, assess its strength and steal some battle plans—just the bulk of their mission. Then they can head home for their reward. In this episode, we’re going to give them that. No, seriously. They’ll meet the army, beat it back with their shiny new weapons, grab some battle plans and leg it back to where they entered RTR Sector. Honest. Why doesn’t anyone believe us? Fine, there is one small, teeny detail we left out: the army in question is the regrouped 432nd and not really Commies, mutants or even traitors. Too bad the Troubleshooters won’t realize that. The return of Malddy First we need to give the players some confidence. Remember that murderous warbot that chased the players back in Episode 1? He’s back! As you walk down a long corridor, you hear a huge crash far behind you. Something is pounding on the floor—and it’s getting closer. You might be able to make out voices, but its hard to hear over the other noises. Some players might start firing cone rifle shells or grenades at whatever is coming towards them. No problem. Malddy the warbot will get hit but he’ll keep on coming. When he finally emerges from the gloom and smoke, he’ll be battered and really, seriously pissed off. Again, no problem. The team has enough firepower to destroy an entire regiment (Oooh, dramatic foreshadowing!), so taking down one ammo-less warbot is Junior Citizen’s play. Ham this up for all it’s worth: Malddy struggles to reach the Troubleshooters as they pound away at it with slughthrowers, lasers and flame throwers. It loses an arm in a shower of blue electrical sparks but it keeps coming, stubborn and relentless. If anyone does something stupid like run at it with a force sword, Malddy grabs at this brave citizen with both hands but from two directions at once; the Troubleshooter can slice one arm up, but the other will grab his head and pop it like a zit. Similar fates wait for other equally-stupid-but-fun-to-watch actions like running at it while throwing grenades or getting in front of someone who has a cone rifle. Finally, its legs give out and it collapses into a heap. It tries to use its head to pull its worthless body further, still alive but helpless without working limbs. Just before the Troubleshooters put it out of its misery, they hear an order from the warbot’s damaged speaker: ‘Any soldiers or warbots who receive this message, regroup at the funball stadium on level 7! Repeat, regroup at the funball stadium on level 7! Directions have been downloaded into warbot brains, so get them there. Ready yourself to enter LTP Sector. Repeat, we are leaving RTR Sector and entering LTP Sector. Acknowledge using standard code.’ The players, desperate for a clue about the Commie army, should snap up this bait and mess with the bot brain to get those directions. Make a show about asking for Software or Hardware skill rolls and being surprised at the success, but allow them to get the directions. You want them to find that funball stadium, and all that wandering around in the dark is probably getting old. Oh, and don’t worry about roleplaying all that walking to the stadium unless a player wants to try some backstabbing or something similar. Just get them there. A Communist army by any other name The team eventually arrives at the stadium’s waiting ring: a huge circular hallway that runs the outside of the stadium. Normally, this area is full of funball fans waiting to get inside before a match—or milling about after a match and looking for a fight. Given that RTR Sector is abandoned, so is the waiting ring. This allows the team to quietly enter the stadium through one of the eight entrance tunnels. Usually, a funball stadium is full of people, lights and noise. But the only activity here in on the field. Four of the stadium’s big lights are wired to warbots and are working--but given that all 16 lights are usually used, all these four do is create a few bright spots on the field and lots of long, dark shadows. There must be around 500 people on the field! They’re standing in groups, talking and sharpening lengths of pipe, but it’s hard to see them clearly with the shadows. Near the center of the field, in a circle of light, stand several citizens who are obviously arguing—although you’re too far way to hear anything. They stand around a table, which is covered in large pieces of paper. This is where the 432nd has regrouped and is now making plans for the final push against the Commie Mutant Traitor army that took the lives of so many good soldiers. The few remaining warbots, having run out of ammunition, are being used as portable generators to provide power for a handful of the stadium’s field lights. There are around 500 soldiers and 4 warbots on the field, armed only with pipes, funball bats and other makeshift weapons. The lights, while bright, are spaced far apart, leaving the field and the troops on it covered in shadows. Before we go further, we should explain what should happen here: the players should think the 432nd is the Commie Mutant Traitor army listed in their mission briefing and they should attack the group and terminate most if not all. Yes, the Troubleshooters will destroy what’s left of the 432nd. Why? Because trying to explain why you terminated a loyal Armed Forces regiment makes for a fun debriefing. Well, fun for GMs anyway. So how do you get the players to attack? Because this is PARANOIA, it’s pretty much a done deal already. We’ve given the players huge helpings of high-powered weaponry, taken away such weaponry from the soldiers, told the players they need to find an army and then given them an army. And, perhaps most importantly, we’re talking about Troubleshooters here. Combat is all but assured. Ah, but the mission’s orders said to gather intelligence, not take down the Commie army. Some players might want to follow the mission’s commands to the letter, especially when they notice a table with what could be battle plans on them. No problem—if Muhammad-R wont go to MTN Sector, then MTN Sector will go to Muhammad-R. Here’s what to do: 1. If the Troubleshooters run in with guns a-blazin’, then let the team slaughter the ‘Commie army.’ All those weapons gathered at the Bizarre Bazaar work really well, and the enemy dies by the handful. Clone replacements keep coming, only to die at the players hands. Let them feel like this scene is a gift—as if you’re rewarding them for all their hard work earlier in the mission. Troubleshooter casualties should be minimal; try injuring them rather then terminating them. They’ll be proud of a few battle scars, especially if you toss them some Perversity Points. 2. If the Troubleshooters try something stealthy to grab the battle plans, then see what they come up with and allow them to succeed--in getting the plans, that is. No matter how stealthy the team is, once they grab the plans then they are noticed. The soldiers think the Troubleshooters are Commies, and they attack. See #1 above. 3. If the Troubleshooters try negotiating or otherwise speaking with the soldiers, they get nowhere. The soldiers think this is the spearhead of a Commie attack—why else would they be so well-armed?--so they ‘defend’ themselves. See #1 above. 4. If the Troubleshooters run away for some reason or do nothing with this scene, then your players must be new to PARANOIA. Remind them of their mission to grab at least one set of battle plans, and how there was a table with papers on it down on the field. If that doesn’t work … go play Monopoly or something, because these players obviously aren’t in a PARANOIA mood. They only tricky part about all this is the soldiers' uniforms. Won’t the players realize what they did once they see the ‘enemies’ in the stadium’s lights? Nope. All of the soldiers are wearing ‘corridor camouflage’ jumpsuits—various shades of gray with a few random dark splotches. They’re standard issue for missions within Alpha Complex. And no, they don’t do a whole lot except make it hard to tell what their clearance is. If any player asks to search the bodies, ask him what he’s looking for. No doubt he’ll say he wants to find credits, weapons, armor or something similar. In that case, there’s nothing to find. If he specifies that he’s looking for dog tags or other ID, then let him find digital dog tags on a necklace underneath the jumpsuits--after they've terminated the lot. (While we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, we do want to reward smart roleplaying. And if they find the tags after they slaughtered the 432nd, then the damage has already been done.) As for the papers … they really are battle plans. The officers around the table were planning their exit strategy—not to be confused with a retreat, even though they look identical. To the untrained eye, it might look like plans to invade neighboring LTP Sector. And it’s not like Troubleshooters are known for having trained eyes. We actually solved the mission? Really? The battle plans can also serve as directions back to where they entered RTR Sector. They can walk, run or even waltz on over to that spot, bang on the sealed door and then stand back as a blowtorch opens it up again. As with getting to the stadium, we recommend just getting there unless some players want to backstab or something equally underhanded and fun. Once the door is opened, the team is carefully escorted out under the watchful eye of many Armed Forces soldiers. An entire regiment (the 433rd to be specific) is waiting to invade; all they need is the intelligence gathered by the Troubleshooters. Lindsay-Y-LAV-2 is waiting there as well. She screams at the team to join her over by the tankbots, where she starts with debriefing by asking for the fuel rods. Then she moves on to the main mission. Below are the questions she’ll ask in her no-nonsense, no volume-control manner and the probable answers given by the players: 1. Did they enter the sector undetected? Why not? No one was waiting on the other side when the first went in, so entering the sector went undetected. All those traps might make it seem like someone knew they were there (they didn’t—traps were set for Commies that weren’t there), but not really. 2. Did they find the enemy army and, if so, what is their strength? Oh, they found the enemy army all right. Assuming the players still think the 432nd was a Commie army, they’ll either pretend they never fought and give some data on number of troops and their makeshift weapons, or they’ll proudly admit they slaughtered the army. If a player has some idea as to the real identity of the enemy army, they might open up and confess at this point. If so, see #4 below. 3. Did they steal some battle plans from that army? Probably. Those papers on the table in the funball stadium will count, and most likely the Troubleshooters will hand these over with big grins on their faces and vision of credit bonuses dancing in their heads. When they hand them over, Lindsay-Y will look confused for a moment. Then she’ll recognize their standard Armed Forces exit strategy plans, which leads to the last question …. 4. Did they see any sign of a missing Armed Forces regiment? Lindsay-Y knew the 432nd was sent in there—the loss of contact with them lead to this Troubleshooter mission—but she never expected them to be still alive. If the team found the plans of the 432nd, did they find the missing regiment? Most likely, this is when a creeping realization will overcome the players that the enemy army they laid waste to might have been the 432nd Non-Volunteer Regiment. New PARANOIA players will probably be confused—did we do something bad? Veteran PARANOIA players will put the pieces together and realize what they’ve done and how much trouble they will be in if the truth ever comes out. Cue the last survivor of the 432nd. The door leading to RTR Sector is opened once again, and in staggers a clone wearing corridor camouflage and carrying a battered length of pipe. Lindsay-Y sees him and screams, ‘SOLDIER! GET OVER HERE AND REPORT!’ He wanders over to Lindsay-Y and salutes, dried blood and dirt covering him from head to toe. Corporal Tyler-O-GDD-6 glances at the Troubleshooters, but he doesn't recognize them. It was dark and people were dying left and right, so it's not like he got a good look at them. Once the soldier arrives, he goes into his grand story. It might sound like he's trying to talk his way out of an IntSec interrogation. That's because he is. ‘Sir, I wish to report traitorous sabotage of our mission! It took us hours to decrypt our orders because the wrong key was used to encrypt them. Then it turns out they were the wrong orders anyway. When our commanders finally got the orders straight, we got lost on the way when a corridor was closed and our transports died on us. Finally, we entered RTR Sector and split into three teams. All teams converged on an IR Market near a working reactor. Each team encountered two enemy teams waiting in ambush. Our batteries and laser barrels were suspiciously empty, so we used slugthrowers until we ran out of ammo. We then set traps for the Commies and regrouped at a funball stadium. Sir, that’s when they hit us. Six heavily armed … monsters, mutants, commandos … jumped us and terminated us all. We tried, sir, we really did! The 432nd lost every clone replacement trying to take them down! I was unconscious and they left me for dead! When I came to, I ran for the exit point to report! Sir, I’m ashamed at still having my last clone life while my brothers and sisters in the 432nd have all gone back to their templates. Request permission to terminate myself!’ Lindsay-Y looks at the Troubleshooters, then at Tyler-O, then back at the Troubleshooters, and so on until the players do something. This gives the players a chance to survive or hang themselves, which gives you two possible endings. Ending #1: Non-standard survival If they all, to the man, act ignorant and pretend to have no idea what Tyler-O is talking about save the normal and appropriate amount of concern for a fellow citizen, then …. Lindsay-Y smiles. ‘YOU TROUBLESHOOTERS WERE VERY LUCKY TO SURVIVE! EACH OF YOU WILL BE PROMOTED TO ORANGE CLEARANCE FOR YOUR ROLE IN PROTECTING THE COMPLEX!’ You are led away to PLC for new jumpsuits! Later that week, all of you are named Heroes of the Complex! Your names appear on commemorative B3 cans and FunFood bags! But best of all … … Armed Forces called! It seems they can’t find the enemy army! They want you to go back into RTR Sector, find those six commandos and bring them back alive! Good luck with that one, liars. THE END Ending #2: Standard hose-job If even one of the team starts to confess, or just stumbles in their explanation, then …. Lindsay-Y looks angry. ‘ARREST THESE TROUBLESHOOTERS!’ The nearby regiment, and the tankbots, quickly aim their weapons at you. What now? If the players want, they can try to fight their way out. Let them terminate a few soldiers before being blown to pieces. Their clone replacements are quickly shackled and spend the rest of their days in an IntSec Re-Education Camp learning how to tell a Commie from a loyal Armed Forces soldier. And if they surrender like nice traitors … they spend the rest of their days in an IntSec Re-Education Camp learning how to tell a Commie from a loyal Armed Forces soldier. THE END Appendix A: Slips o' Paper Props These props are the slips o' paper to be found in the secret society offices Episode 2. Each relates directly to one of the pre-generated Troubleshooters we recommend for this mission. If using your own characters, then edit the names and double-check to make sure everything makes sense. You can print/copy these pages and cut them out, or handwrite them for that extra special touch. Prop #1 for Stephanie-R Comrade, Below find list of other comrades who support Glorious Five-Year Plan by stealing capitalist materials and selling them at filthy Bizarre Bazaar. Is being good idea to thank them, but also is being good idea to place them on capitalist watch. Is nyet good to allow Communists to enjoy buying and selling, da? I have assigned party names to these comrades. They are now full party members! Bryant-O-FDE (aka Bloefeld) for grenade Stephanie-R-SLE (aka Debs) for typewriter Ryan-Y-DDK (aka Steinbeck) for plush chair Horace-O-DRA (aka Kalishnikov) for RED paint !!! Vera-R-CNC (aka Xiaoping) for 10 CoffeeLyke mugs Sincerely, Trotski Prop #2 for Richard-R-SOO Memorize and brainmail to Control Gavin-Y-EER sold a bot brain at Bizarre Bazaar. Reward him. Sharon-R-DPE sold a pitchfork at Bizarre Bazaar. Punish her. Richard-R-SOO sold an encryption key at Bizarre Bazaar. Reward him. Maya-O-CED sold a map to FDD Sector at Bizarre Bazaar. Reward her. Profits from sale invested in hydropsionic acid for Project Spike. You are Control. Mutants shall rule. Prop #3 for Jenny-R-EEA TO: Vice-Minister of Finance FROM: Undersecretary for Society Investments SUBJ: Latest IR Market figures Attached please find the latest figures for our Bizarre Bazaar investment strategies. Of note are several members who provided quality products for resale: Cousin Freddie-O-LLD (stole a box of unused Clearance Brevet forms) Brother Trenton-R-DOW (rerouted a shipment of B3 to the Bazaar) Sister Jenny-R-EEA (stole a routebot) Sister Melissa-Y-ZLA (stole a set of Tella-O Action Figures) I recommend a credit bonus and nice ceremony for these four. Maybe we can do this at the annual Humanist Leadership Award ceremony? Their not leaders, but maybe we can do a small bit where we acknowledge those who serve competently? Prop #4 for Cynthia-R-FYR Hey Dr. Surface Tension, Read the specs on that Anti-Neutrino Converter you drew up--nice! Anyway, we got a few members down here that are due for something nice. They've been bringing in some real good stuff to sell at the Bizarre Bazaar, so can we do something for them? Like give them some new tools or let them in on Project Finite Hole? -- Prof. Latent Heat Dr. Angular Momentum (aka Kelli-O-PPT)-bag of circuit boards Dr. Aerodynamic (aka David-O-EWE)-two new hydraulic spanners Prof. Thermodynamics (aka Cynthia-R-FYR)-ACPS for transports Prop #5 for Tony-R-BWS Dude, do we have any of that HappyLife left over from last week's party? We got us a couple of really cool dudes working for us down here, stealing all kinds of stuff so we can sell it at the Bizarre Bazaar. Like, I wanted to reward them and stuff, you know? Send it disguised as some sandallathon to Anti-Guy (Terrance-R-UTR, who scored some sweet oxyflucocillin), Doobie (Tony-R-BWS, who stole a mess of laser barrels) and Witch (Zoe-O-LEW, who stole a crate of unexpired Cold Fun). You remember where they live, right? -- Me Prop #6 for Andre-R-CMM Irene, Yo, did you see that jackobot pileup last week? SWEET!!! I don't think I've ever seen so many bots killed at one time! I laughed for hours!!! TAKE THAT YOU METAL BASTARDS!!! Anyway, you were asking for any newbs who showed promise. Well, here are a few that are light in the bot-killing department but strong in the stealing-stuff-to-sell-at-the-IR-Market department. And without credits, where do we get our gauss rifles, am I right? - Andre-R-CMM (made a wad of cash off some PDC batteries) - William-R-KKR (decent cash from selling 'secret' C-mail addresses) - Cheri-O-PPP (huge cash off some Asimov reinforcers) See you next time! -- Jeremy-Y