PARANOIA

Zzzz... Huh? What? I haven't posted in a week and a half? Oh. I attribute my despicable tardiness to layout chores on The Underplex, a 48-page PARANOIA location sourcebook by Paul Baldowski of the Traitor Recycling Studio. As Paul reports on his fine PARANOIA site, Omega Complex, The Underplex appears this coming March; he even has a screenshot to prove it.

The Underplex is a network of abandoned corridors, unmapped rooms, and officially nonexistent facilities that interpenetrates the entire underground city of Alpha Complex. Diligent laborers build rooms and dig tunnels; inattentive bureaucrats later order new construction, which happens to block access to the old. Over decades -- or perhaps after just minutes after a strong HPD & Mind Control propaganda campaign enforced by Internal Security -- everyone forgets about the old construction. Across the centuries, these defunct places have grown into a jigsaw network. Traitorous secret societies, grossly deformed mutants, High Programmer harems, and other refugees escape from Alpha Complex into this darkened parallel world. This is the Underplex.

No, it's not a dungeon! Instead, the inspiration here is the modern movement of urban exploration -- of getting into storm drains, steam tunnels, abandoned factories, military bases, and other built landscapes where you're not supposed to go. The Underplex isn't a place to go "adventuring." In its relentless search for traitors, The Computer dispatches into these tunnels many teams of loyal Troubleshooters, Armed Forces squads, and Internal Security teams -- all through separate entrances. Picture it: They're all feeling their way through the darkness, scared out of their wits; they're all heavily armed and ready to shoot anything that moves; two teams stumble on one another....

The Underplex describes this mapless labyrinth: the environment, residents, gear you need to explore it, and more. It includes a complete mission that kicks off an Underplex exploration campaign.

As in other PARANOIA books, each two-page spread of this supplement will include a terse little slogan, an atmospheric or comedic one-liner, at the bottom right. I call them "fortune cookies." See any past PARANOIA book for examples. Currently I have a good supply of generic Alpha Complex fortune cookies suitable for any product in the line, but I'm looking for funny fortunes that relate specifically to the idea of exploring unknown underground tunnels and caverns. Please post your suggestions in the comments, Mongoose Publishing won't pay you anything or give you a free copy of anything, but if you give your real name and I use your suggestion, I'll try to credit you in The Underplex.