PARANOIA

Because this past Year 214 saw certain traitorous factions undermine loyal citizens' ceaseless efforts to ensure Pervasive Maximal Satisfaction Quotients across Alpha Complex, The Computer has decided to correct the historical record by repeating Year 214 in its entirety, commencing tomorrow. Give thanks to our wise friend The Computer!

Note: The following opinions are strictly from me (Allen Varney), totally unofficial and uninformed, and in no way reflect the views of PARANOIA's owners or publisher.

After a decent start with Criminal Histories and The Underplex, in mid-2006 PARANOIA nearly stalled. In the rest of the year, we saw only a 32-page mission collection, Sector Zero, and a reprint of the rulebook's player section, The Little RED Book. Year's end was to have brought new 32-page Classic missions by Gareth (The Traitor's Manual) Hanrahan: The Sweep of Unhistory, Spin Control, and one that I believe remains unannounced. But though the energetic Gareth has already completed all three, Mongoose Publishing has delayed them until next spring, after the March publication of the 96-page hardcover reprint collection PARANOIA Flashbacks 2.

This setback reflects the degringolade of the entire commercial roleplaying business. True, small-press indie RPG sales are growing, through direct-sales websites such as Indie Press Revolution and Key 20 Direct, among others. And Mongoose CEO Matthew Sprange, in his annual "State of the Mongoose" post on the company forums, remains customarily bullish about both his company and the industry:

"What was once [North America's] 80% share in our business has shrunk to something like 55-60%. However, not all is doom and gloom, as this has been matched (even exceeded) by a growing tide in Europe and the UK, where we have seen both RPGs and miniatures games experience a sharp rise, to the point where even relatively small UK distributors have leapfrogged most of those in America. The second largest distributor (in terms of Mongoose sales) is in the UK, and is nipping at the heels of the Number One in America. My first prediction for 2007 is the Rise of Europe."

The great success of Mongoose's new edition of RuneQuest, and the continued strength of its many other licenses, bode well for PARANOIA's publisher; Mongoose is even buying its own printing press. But in the industry as a whole, the traditional three-tier system of publisher-distributor-retailer has been broken for many years, and (again, purely in my own opinion, the Rise of Europe notwithstanding) it shows not the least sign of recovery.

As I see it, in the forums at RPG.net and elsewhere, the RPG fan base is graying and shrinking. Young people self-evidently aren't attracted to roleplaying today in the numbers they once were. Many longtime fans correctly assert massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft can't yet, and may never, match the experience of a good tabletop roleplaying session -- but these people overlook many other, non-MMORPG venues for net socializing and roleplaying, such as MySpace, fan fiction, and forum and blog games. Together, the whole spectrum of Internet activity, of which MMORPGs are only a part, seems to scratch the new generation's roleplaying itch. Meanwhile, the existing fan base remains passionately resistant to necessary price increases.

In a few years, I believe the "industry" will consist of Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf, Mongoose, a half-dozen struggling diehards like Palladium and Steve Jackson Games, and a numberless horde of indies. I (unofficially) perceive PARANOIA's position in that future landscape as secure -- by some definition of "secure" -- but unexciting. Though Mongoose staffers have always been enthusiastic about PARANOIA as fans, I (an outsider, not privy to their internal plans) don't expect the company to support it over properties with greater immediate potential. And PARANOIA's owners are hectically busy with their own careers. In the absence of champions, support for the game in 2007 will probably keep subsiding from the very active level of 2004-05. As I understand it (though I speak under correction), after Flashbacks 2, Mongoose will thereafter focus solely on 32-page Classic-style missions.

It's hardly a calamity. From a design standpoint, with the publication of Criminal Histories, the game is basically -- I shouldn't say "complete" -- but, perhaps, "sufficient." I think we could still use a bot book and an Outdoors supplement, and I dearly wanted to do a book of new play styles to expand on the current Classic, Straight, and Zap. I also wanted Brave New Complex, a collection of alternate Alpha Complex settings. As of now, it seems none of these will happen. But with the existing dozen-plus supplements, any Gamemaster can keep Alpha Complex running with its customary efficiency for years.

I'm no longer packaging the support line. I wrote the introduction to Sector Zero, but otherwise had relatively little to do with it; I haven't even seen The Little RED Book. The last book I edited and laid out is Flashbacks 2, due in March. Thereafter, Mongoose will bring PARANOIA in-house. At first there will probably be little change; Gareth's delightful missions are in tune with existing books. I expect Mongoose will eventually reinstate the punning character names I heavy-handedly banished. That said, because PARANOIA's owners still approve each book, we probably won't see the parodic excesses of the late West End Games line, which decimated sales and poisoned the market.

When Flashbacks 2 appears, or perhaps even beforehand, I shall grudgingly do the decorous thing and withdraw from this blog. I'll remain active on Paranoia-Live.net in some low-clearance unofficial capacity, and like any good citizen, I shall patiently aspire to serve The Computer again someday. It took me 20 years to get Send in the Clones published the way I wrote it....

Labels: yearinreview