Your Mission
The Computer has generated the following mission for your team. It has been carefully designed to ensure the maximum safety and satisfaction for your team.
Paranoia is the Irrational Fear Someone is Out To Get You
(Fear) Dominant type of fear to install in the PCs: Everyone else in the Complex is in league against the PCs.(Irrational) General kind of weirdness or irregularity that prompts The Computer to assign a mission to the Troubleshooters: One kind of technological object (behavior modifier (hypnosis devices, pheromone emitters, subsonic/supersonic irritants); Problem: only affects imaginary targets) is behaving far too well.
(Someone) Person, people, organization or agency responsible for the situation: One or more PCs' immediate superior, who has screwed up badly and now wants to pin the blame on the PC and his fellow Troubleshooters. (The identity of the Someone need not be obvious at the mission's outset, and in fact things may play out more appropriately if the Someone is not discovered until late in the proceedings.)
(Out To Get You) General apparent threat posed by the situation, or the consequences if the situation is left unresolved: Waste disposal is breaking down; garbage is backing up in the hallways and will soon flood the complex. The threat is a lie.
(Out To Get You) General real threat posed by the situation, or the consequences if the situation is left unresolved: A mysterious command makes all autopilot vehicles home in on YELLOW (Tension 10) crowded Technical Services cloning facility (well guarded), threatening terrible harm en route; the "Someone" wants a traffic jam there.
Mission Alert: Via high-frequency radio transmission that gives PCs excruciating headaches and sends petbots crazy with excitement. Message is intact and correct.
Briefing: Briefing is in crowded soylent recycling room (near morgue). Briefing officer is hidden inside a Docbot Model 5 chassis, communicating with an electronically filtered voice.
This Mission: Investigate an unexplained disaster in empty factory floor.
Outfitting: C-Bay or other online auction site: Price: 10% over list price. Delivery: drop point 30 minutes away (ORANGE (Tension 7) crowded IntSec janitorial stores). A rival auction site has insidiously faked the site the PCs intended to use; the transaction goes through the rival site; the delivery is accompanied by a hard-sell pitchman INFRARED food vat slime scraper (information source, amicable, self-interested, ordinary) who drafts the PCs as promoters for the rival site and won't give them their equipment until they commit.
Debriefing: Debriefing conducted solely by R&D scientists. They ask many questions about equipment, giving the impression the only reason for the mission was to test equipment. After the scientists leave, The Computer covers the treason accusations.
Find weird phrasing, clearly erroneous output, or other signs of filthy commie mutant traitor sabotage? Copy the offending passages and email them to the High Programmer for investigation.