''Send in the Clones'' is an adventure written by

Allen Varney Allen Varney (born 1958) is an American writer and game designer. Varney has produced numerous books, role-playing game supplements, technical manuals, articles, reviews, columns, and stories, as well as the fantasy novel ''Cast of Fate'' ( TSR, ...

and

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

, published in 1985 by

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product line ...

for the light-hearted science-fiction role-playing game ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concer ...

''. It was written by

and

, and consists of three short adventure scenarios involving the broadcasting star Teela O'Malley. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'', ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one b ...

'', and ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

''.

Plot summary

''Send in the Clones'' contains three linked mini-scenarios: # Sewerworld: The Troubleshooters are sent to apprehend and execute the traitors who are broadcasting subversive songs through Alpha Complex's communication system. They are saved from execution themselves by the broadcasting star Teela O'Malley. # Bureaucracyworld: The Troubleshooters must find and eliminate Teela as a traitor, as well as test pieces of new equipment and deal with bureaucratic red tape. # Entertainmentworld: The Troubleshooters become contestants in a televised game show, and discover the source of Teela's incredible popularity. Six pregenerated characters are available for players, and each player is allowed five "lives" (clones), should their character die multiple times. The adventure also comes with a mini-boardgame, "Date with Death"; an "Information Inquiry Form"; and the Alpha Complex Songbook.

Publication history

West End Games published the first edition of ''Paranoia'' in 1984, and over the next two years, released eight adventures and supplements, including ''Send in the Clones'', a 48-page book written by

and

, with art by Jim Holloway. In his 2014 book ''Designers & Dragons: The 80s'', game historian Shannon Appelcline noted that "''Paranoia'' received a number of notable early supplements, including

John M. Ford John Milo "Mike" Ford (April 10, 1957 – September 25, 2006) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet. A contributor to several online discussions, Ford composed poems, often improvised, in both complicated ...

's award-winning adventure '' The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues'' (1985) and Warren Spector and Allen Varney's ''Send in the Clones'' (1985)".

Reception

In the April 1986 edition of the British magazine ''

'' (Issue 76), Marcus L. Rowland found this adventure a bit too formulaic, noting that "As usual it builds into a no-win situation for the players." He also thought that it was not as funny as the previously published '' The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues''. He concluded by giving the game a below average rating of 6 out of 10, saying, "Too many of the situations are obviously contrived jokes, rather than logical (if absurd) results of previous actions." In the April 1986 edition of the British magazine ''Adventurer'' (Issue 1), James Wallis thought that this adventure fit in well with the tone of previous adventures, commenting, "Like all ''Paranoia'' scenarios, ''Send In The Clones'' is well presented with humorous artwork and is very amusing to read." However, he warned that its storyline was complex, and a challenge for

gamemasters A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

. He concluded with an ambivalent recommendation, liking the adventure but railing against the price of American game products in the U.K., saying, "For experienced ''Paranoia'' GMs ''Send In The Clones'' is a good package, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it completely if it were not for the price. £6.95 for 48 pages is extremely expensive, even for a US import with a colour cover, and a fortune awaits the person who can produce a range of quality role-playing products at realistic prices." In the Fall 1987 edition of ''

'' (Issue 47), the reviewer warned players that this was a lethal adventure: "''Clones'' is aptly named, because it is potentially one of the most deadly of ''Paranoia'' scenarios, too. Players had better expect to use up a sizable number of their characters' five clones before this set of related troubleshooter missions is over." The reviewer concluded by giving this adventure a perfect rating of 4 out of 4, saying, "In short, ''Send In The Clones'' is an excellent, bizarro adventure for ''Paranoia''.

Awards

* At the 1987

Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

, ''Send in the Clones'' was nominated for "Best Role-Playing Adventure of 1986," eventually losing to another ''Paranoia'' adventure, ''The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues''.

Other recognition

A copy of ''Send in the Clones'' is held in the collection of the

Strong National Museum of Play The Strong National Museum of Play (known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret ...

(object 110.2388).

Other reviews

*''Game News'' October 1985 (Issue 8, p. 6) *''The VIP of Gaming'' July 1986 (Issue 4, p. 24) *''

'' April 1986 (Issue 32, p. 24) and February 1987 (Issue 36, p. 20) *'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #43 (as "Envoyez les Clones")https://archive.org/details/jeux-et-strategie-43/page/n25/mode/2up

References

{{reflist Paranoia adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1985