The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues
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The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues was one of the first true missions for the Paranoia role-playing game. It was written by John M. Ford and won the H. G. Wells Award for Best Role-Playing Adventure of 1985.
The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues consists of 4 sub-missions that aren't related at all, save for the constant appearance of a mysterious Black Box. Each of the PC Troubleshooters have orders to capture the box for their secret society. Unfortunately, everyone else they meet has the same orders. This leads to a constant, massive brawl for the box, despite no one really knowing what is inside.
What makes this adventure significant is that several concepts used in it have become Paranoia staples:
- Everyone (not just the PCs) vying for a single MacGuffin, often leading to...
- Massive firefights with a half-dozen or more groups battling it out (with the PCs caught in the crossfire).
- Situations of pure madness in which the PCs can either flail about helplessly or sit back and try to survive. (In this case, the Dance Routine From Hell.)
- A series of escalating gags at the briefings.
- Seemingly fatal events that the PCs can survive, provided they don't do anything (like try to survive).
- Two endings, a semi-serious one and a bring-the-house-down one. (Literally; Alpha Complex doesn't survive the latter.)
Considered by many to be one of the best Paranoia adventures ever published, full of hilarious scenes and twisted problems.
