PARANOIA Y1 Traitor Hangout [Kindle Edition]

Traitor Hangout is a bit of an odd beast. For people familiar with the wonderful Paranoia RPG, this novel offers a glimpse at how the back-stabbing intricacies of Internal Security and Secret Societies might work. The author does a great job in this, as some of the plotting and double-dealing in the story is truly inspired.

The problem, oddly enough, is that the story suffers every time it veers away from the themes that make the world of Alpha Complex fun.
- Paranoia is a world where life is cheap and clones die for minor offenses and cheap hilarity. When everyone has multiple clones to replace them upon death, dying becomes more of an inconvenience than anything else.
- It's also a world where humor is found in the suspicion and distrust between troubleshooters who are forced to work with one another, even while they're each subtly trying to assassinate their team mates.
- It's a world defined by the constant interference with the all-powerful, fairly insane Computer.

Traitor Hangout does away with these themes. The main character spends most of his time as a pawn shuffled between power groups, never dying once, creating chaos not by his actions but just by his mere oblivious presence. He primarily works solo and his enemies are primarily human instead of the whims of Alpha Complex's electronic prime mover. As a result the book suffers from a somewhat uneven tone. The fun and interesting story didn't entirely match what I've come to expect from Alpha Complex.

That said, the book is light, fun (particularly after the first few chapters), made me laugh, and it hosts a variety of rat bastardy insights for a Paranoia player or GM. Unlike some of the other books in this series, I wouldn't recommend this to someone who hasn't already played Paranoia. If you have, however, it's well worth the money.

MOST IMPORTANTLY if you can do not read the little paragraph giving the plot overview, it gives away the ending to the book, which would have been a lot better for me if I hadn't already read the punch line. Also its a sequel to a short story in "PARANOIA A1 The Computer is Your Friend" or the short story is a prequel. I don't know.

Note: This book follows IntSec more than Troubleshooters. In fact troubleshooters are only mentioned a few times and never shown. Story has two protagonists and a mouse.

For the Non-RPG fan, you will find this to be an entertaining book about mistaken identity and discovery of mistaken identity and then being branded with a new secret identity. Faster read than I expected, and while I didn't get lost I did feel as though there was too much detail. Has a few satisfying twists, but if your a fan of this comedic style you might see them coming.

For the RPG Fan, this book is probably good for a read, though it is not the best franchise novel I read, it is definitely not the worst. It follows the RPG setting pretty well. Has the best examples of conflicting factions and how to tell who is who in a faction.

For those that read Reality Optional, to compare this to Reality Optional is a dis-service. The authors have different views on how Alpha Complex is structured and slightly different senses of humor. What Reality Optional did with conspiracies though, Traitors Hangout does it with Secret Societies.

For the GM looking for some inspiration, this book could help with portraying the Secret Societies, but I would not use it myself as a source material.

I've been in the habit of reading fiction to escape reality; everything from H.P. Lovecraft to Heinlein (though somehow I find it easier to ignore Lovecraft's politics than Heinlein's...) just to give my mind a vacation. This book was an excellent way to do that. The action and the plot were engaging, the characterization made a lot of sense, and the humour tickled me. Whether or not you are familiar with the game/world which inspired this book, I think you could find it good fun.

I should mention that I got a free copy in exchange for being willing to write a review. I'm glad I ended up liking it.