BERKELEY, CA, September 6, 2000 – Attention Citizen! The following is a message from the Computer. Skotos Tech has licensed Paranoia from its original authors – Greg Costikyan, Eric Goldberg, and Dan Gelber – and will soon begin creating multiplayer interactive online fiction games set in Alpha Complex. These games will be part of Skotos' online gaming and storytelling community.
Paranoia is a roleplaying game set in a darkly humorous future. It depicts a world where the Computer is all powerful and where human life is expendable – but cloneable. "It's Catch-22 meets 1984 by way of Monty Python and the Holy Grail," says Eric Goldberg, co-author of Paranoia. "In non-Hollywoodspeak, Paranoia is savagely funny, and it appeals greatly to gamers because it turns the traditional role-playing paradigm on its head." Commies stalk the halls of the Computer's underground Alpha Complex. Mutants abound. Secret societies infiltrate even the most esteemed ranks of the High Programmer's staff. Nowhere is safe. You must trust the Computer, but keep your laser handy.
Fittingly, Paranoia was released in 1984. Nearly two score supplements have been released for the game as well a novel, a collection of short stories, and a comic book series. Since 1984, two additional editions of Paranoia have been released – the second edition and the fifth – and Paranoia has been translated into numerous foreign languages.
Paranoia has garnered the respect of the gaming community, often appearing on top ten lists of the best role-playing games ever published. The first edition of Paranoia was awarded the H.G. Wells award for best role-playing rules when it was released, and one of its earliest supplements, Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, was awarded both the H.G. Wells award for best adventure and the Game Designers' Guild Select Award. In 1985 and 1986, Paranoia was listed among the prestigious Games 100, a yearly listing of the hundred most outstanding games available, selected by Games Magazine. Most recently, co-author Greg Costikyan was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame.
"The Computer is your friend," says Greg Costikyan, co-author of Paranoia, yet thus far the forces of the Computer have not infiltrated the world of the Internet. Skotos Tech plans to change that. "We'll be creating a channel full of Paranoia-based games," says Christopher Allen, President and CEO of Skotos Tech. "We'll be offering a professional-quality Paranoia game, and we'll also be giving players the opportunity to run their own adventures in our Paranoia Stages."
Skotos Tech's Paranoia games will be built on top of its text-dominant StoryBuilder. The StoryBuilder Server allows for the creation of complex and immersive worlds which center on socialization. "You'll be able to interact with commie mutant traitors in meaningful ways before you turn them into vapors," says Christopher Allen, Skotos Tech CEO. Chat rooms, bulletin boards, and personalized web pages will develop the community that is created in Skotos Tech's Paranoia games.
Skotos Tech will be releasing small-scale Paranoia Stages [short-term LARP-style games] in mid-2001, to be followed by a full-blown multiplayer interactive fiction world at the end of the year.
ABOUT SKOTOS TECH
Skotos Tech is an online game company committed to creating a community of storytellers and players. Skotos offers tools that allow its StoryBuilders to concentrate on the plot, character, and detail of the worlds they create. Skotos provides an environment that allows players to explore these worlds, share their accomplishments, and possibly become StoryBuilders themselves. Skotos Tech is located in Berkeley, California. It was incorporated in 1999 and plans for initial release of its virtual worlds in Fall 2000. More information is available at http://www.skotos.net.
