[RPG]: The Underplex, reviewed by Oddsod Blok'ed (4/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12175.phtml

Matthew's Summary:

The Elder Gods created the Underplex to enshrine a Flying Saucer so the Communists could not master it. Fnord.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Destriarch]

From the sound of your review, I can't help thinking that this entire book was written purely for the reason of crowbaring a traditional D&D-style dungeon crawl into Paranoia, which has never thrived on that style of play. Personally I just don't think it's Paranoia without the computer looking over your shoulder and all the players trying to twist the computer's insanity and odd whims to their own advantage and get their friends up on a treason charge.

Ash

[Allen Varney]

Originally Posted by Destriarch

From the sound of your review, I can't help thinking that this entire book was written purely for the reason of crowbaring a traditional D&D-style dungeon crawl into Paranoia, which has never thrived on that style of play. Personally I just don't think it's Paranoia without the computer looking over your shoulder and all the players trying to twist the computer's insanity and odd whims to their own advantage and get their friends up on a treason charge.

You're correct that The Computer is at the core of the PARANOIA experience, and so it is in the Underplex as well. The review fails to mention the central idea of the Underplex supplement, that it is absolutely NOT a dungeon crawl. Rather, the inspiration was the modern "urban exploration" movement, where people break into sewer systems, abandoned factories and military bases, and all kinds of other places they're not supposed to go. The Underplex interpenetrates all of Alpha Complex, so The Computer is seldom far away -- and always has good reason to send the players further into that dark, unsupervised place.