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PARANOIA T1 Stay Alert (The Troubleshooter Rules)
 
 

PARANOIA T1 Stay Alert (The Troubleshooter Rules) [Kindle Edition]

Allen Varney , Jim Holloway
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: £1.93 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.



Product Description

Product Description

EVERYONE SHOULD BE HAPPY. IMMEDIATELY.

In the underground city of Alpha Complex, The Computer wants every citizen to have fun. If you're not having fun, The Computer will turn you into reactor shielding.

ATTENTION, TROUBLESHOOTERS. PLEASE RETURN THIS STOLEN HELPBOT TO ITS OWNER. THIS MISSION INVOLVES *NO* DEADLY WARFARE BETWEEN RIVAL CRIMINAL GANGS AND WILL BE LOTS OF FUN.

The Computer's elite service agents, the Troubleshooters, have fun delivering the helpbot to a sequence of murderous gangsters. It's not annoying or repetitious at all, no siree. ("You look like you’re about to shoot your teammate! Would you like help?")

IF YOU MEET DIFFICULTIES, SEEK HELP FROM YOUR FELLOW TROUBLESHOOTERS.

Team Leader Fletcher-R is about to have lots of fun learning about his teammates. He'll learn they're criminals themselves. Or they belong to traitorous secret societies. Or they’re betraying illegal mutant powers, usually while betraying illegal mutant teammates. Fun, fun, fun.

BEWARE! TRAITORS ARE EVERYWHERE!

High on an experimental alertness drug called Leery, Fletcher must complete his mission before the treacherous Troubleshooters discover his own mutation -- or his ever-changing criminal affiliations -- or his membership in the First Church of Christ Computer-Programmer -- in short, before Fletcher’s teammates find out HE’S a traitor. Fletcher is about to have more fun than anyone can stand.

STAY ALERT! TRUST NO ONE! KEEP YOUR LASER HANDY!

Stay Alert - Book 1 of The Troubleshooter Rules trilogy by Allen Varney
(63,000 words - about 250 Kindle pages)

PARANOIA
Light-hearted stories of backstabbing, treachery, and Emergency Bathroom Break Requisition forms. Based on the bestselling roleplaying game of fear and ignorance in a darkly satirical future, official PARANOIA novels are now available as ebooks from Ultraviolet Books -- and they’re even for your security clearance.

If you like reading about repressed teenagers groping sparkly vampires, this book will touch you in the bad place. But if you like Philip K. Dick and think Survivor needs a higher body count, your friend The Computer requires you to enjoy PARANOIA.

PARANOIA NOVELS ARE FUN. OTHER NOVELS ARE NOT FUN. READ PARANOIA.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 765 KB
  • Print Length: 202 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Ultraviolet Books (8 Dec 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B006K1FIW8
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #273,614 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Paranoia as a roleplaying game is often overlooked as nothing more than absurd slapstick and a variety of entertaining, messy and implausible ways in which players can kill each other's characters. With this novel we are treated to a solid realisation of the Alpha Complex that the rulebooks talk about but never manage to bring to life in quite the same way. The trademark humour is here, but it's more like the icing on a rather dark cake, and no reader is going to go away from this book thinking that there isn't a serious side to the setting, even if it is dressed up with helpbots that behave like ambulatory versions of the Office Assistant ("You appear to be suffering a fatal or near-fatal neurolytic event! Would you like advice on dying with dignity?").

This is both a highly entertaining read for sci-fi fans and an invaluable source of material for Paranoia GMs planning their next session, we we get a glimpse into the kind of Alpha Complex envisaged by one of the authors of the game itself.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Darkly humorous dystopian sci-fi. 17 Dec 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
In the first book of the Troubleshooter Rules trilogy, Allen Varney masterfully demonstrates the potential in a setting often dismissed as simple base humour and slapstick for serious satirical writing. Although an air of dark humour pervades throughout, the tone of the story is one of definite menace. Although based on popular role-playing game PARANOIA, no familiarity with the game is assumed as the story of Troubleshooter Team Rotisserie and their quest to return a stolen helpbot is told from the perspective of Team Leader Fletcher-R-JSV-1, interspersed with the debriefing room activities of the team at the mission's close. As the story progresses, the reader is introduced to the setting of Alpha Complex as Fletcher learns of its murky underside, gradually gaining pace until a page-turning climax and a conclusion which leaves the reader anxious for the release of part 2.
Although the writing is at times difficult to read or overly clunky, it is of an overall high standard that should appeal to fans of comedy writers such as Douglas Adams, and for the most part is in a style which carries the story along, without any glaring instances of humour being allowed to get in the way of the story. In conclusion, a fantastic read and well recommended.

Disclaimer: Review copy received free of charge.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.3 out of 5 stars  12 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly entertaining satirical sci-fi 9 Dec 2011
By Jaco Foncillo - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
I take my comedy the way I take my coffee - black and full of mind altering chemicals. As such, I thoroughly enjoyed Allen Varney's first PARANOIA novel "Stay Alert." Dark satire mixed with the sort of slapstick that leaves you giggling despite even as the bodies are piling up on the floor. Download it, read it, don't fear The Computer. The Computer is Your Friend.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It's humor at your clearance, citizen 15 Jan 2012
By J R Romero - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
Humor! Terror! Intrigue! Bizarre deaths! Traitorous intent! These are the hallmarks of a good Paranoia campaign, and they all appear throughout this book. Written as the first mission of a group of newly promoted RED troubleshooters, as seen through the eyes of their leader Fletcher-R, Stay Alert is great fun and sure to bring back fond memories of old campaigns.

Fletcher-R is promoted to Red one day, and he meets with nothing but trouble. Even though he can suddenly think clearly, he finds he cannot. Between dealing with the computer, traitors, mutants, gangsters, Intsec, and his teammates, Fletcher has little time to think of anything beyond alternating terror and trying to complete his mission.

There are hints of Kafka and the Marx Brothers in the story, as well as notes as dark and humorous as any Britcom you might wish to watch.

I did receive a review copy of the book from the publisher. In fact, I wish I didn't like the book so much, so this wouldn't seem like just another comped review.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Friend Computer! 5 Jan 2012
By M. Davis - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
After becoming familiar with the Paranoia RPG several years ago, and developing a rabid interest in it, I purchased every piece of Paranoia I could afford. When I purchased the game books, I always looked forward to reading them for the plots and subplots of the various groups and societies in Alpha Complex.

Stay Alert follows these plots and weaves a glorious web of intrigue throughout, bringing Alpha Complex to life. If you have ever played the game and enjoyed it(How could you not enjoy it? That would be treasonous!), or if you just like lightheartedly dystopian sci-fi novels with a few dark twists and turns, I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and I eagerly await the continuation of the series.
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