Editing Paranoia (role-playing game) (section)

===25th Anniversary Editions===
In June 2009, Mongoose Publishing announced that they would be retiring the books in the XP line to clear the way for the 25th Anniversary Edition line, revealing a new edition of the rulebook as well as two new rulebooks, one casting the players as higher-clearance Internal Security investigators and one as Ultraviolet High Programmers.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37965
 |title       = State of the Mongoose
 |access-date  = 2009-06-04
 |author      = Mongoose Publishing
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081227220004/http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37965
 |archive-date = 27 December 2008
}}</ref> They stated that the ''XP ''material would "maintain a 90% compatibility rating with the new ''Paranoia ''books".<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/news/news_item.php?pkid_news=319
 |title       = Babylon 5 & Paranoia - Last Chance for Books!
 |access-date  = 2009-06-09
 |author      = Mongoose Publishing
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110616200551/http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/news/news_item.php?pkid_news=319
 |archive-date = 16 June 2011
}}</ref>

Each of the three books is an entirely self-contained and playable game: ''Paranoia: Troubleshooters'', ''Paranoia: Internal Security'', and ''Paranoia: High Programmers''. The ''Troubleshooters'' volume presents a slimmed-down version of the ''XP ''rules, the most notable difference being the removal of the Service Firms and the advanced economy of the ''XP ''edition, with the focus firmly on the game's traditional premise of casting the player characters as Red-clearance Troubleshooters. The ''Internal Security'' volume casts the player characters as Blue-clearance Internal Security agents, a refinement of the premise of the 1st edition supplement ''HIL Sector Blues'' (reprinted in the ''XP ''line as part of ''Extreme Paranoia''). The third game, ''Paranoia: High Programmers'', casts the player characters as the Ultraviolet-clearance elite of Alpha Complex society and focuses on the political plotting and infighting that dominates the High Programmers' lives, a premise not dissimilar to the Violet-level campaign ideas presented in ''Extreme Paranoia''.

The ''Troubleshooters'' volume retains the play styles of the ''XP ''rulebook; however, the "Classic" playstyle is assumed by default, with "Zap" and "Straight" relegated to an appendix. Allen Varney, designer of the ''XP ''edition, explained in a posting on [[RPG.net]]<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=10620759&postcount=23
| title = Re: Paranoia 25th Anniversary Edition
| access-date = 2010-03-31
| author = Allen Varney
| date = 13 July 2009
}}</ref> that this decision came about as a result of the XP edition successfully convincing the wider gaming public that "Zap" was not the default playstyle for the game; since it was now generally accepted that ''Paranoia ''could have a variety of playstyles and each GM would interpret it somewhat differently, it was considered no longer necessary to emphasise the different playstyles in the main text. The ''Internal Security'' volume includes an appendix listing three new styles tailored for the game — "Heist", "Overkill" and "Horror". ''High Programmers'' does not specify playstyles.