Obedience Bugs

[NewMexicoArgus]

Has anyone used Obedience Bugs in an adventure?
I'm putting together a small starter mission for my group.
(Yes, I know that I posted about starting the group almost a year ago, but between 2 members dealing with cancer in their close family and me becoming a foster parent and adopting my new son with one more to adopted in the next few months, we just couldn't find the time or energy to game.)

The game will take place in a rather small but very secure landfill. Basically, the landfill has been setup with prison like security and only one, small armed convoy a week enters.
The PC's get drawn to the landfill, looking for several missing truck drivers and first responders. But, I want to included the missing people into the group that's currently defending the landfill, who have all became pawns of a higher power. And Insectoid ETs will work just fine for the main bad guys here.

My questions are:

If the infected NPC fails the WP and Con rolls will they do what ever their told? IE: shoot at the PC's and defend the landfill.

If the NPC is killed does it kill the Obedience Bugs? Or does it escape the body via the same route that the Obedience Bugs entered?

If the NPC is captured, can the Obedience Bugs be removed without killing the NPC? One or two of the missing NPC's will have close ties with the PC's.

Thanks
NewMexicoArgus

[Linden]

Has anyone used Obedience Bugs in an adventure?

I used them in my last campaign where the primary antagonists were the insectoid ETs. Borrowed a fair bit from the early episodes of Dark Skies.

If the infected NPC fails the WP and Con rolls will they do what ever their told? IE: shoot at the PC's and defend the landfill.

I think so, it's what the bugs are for after all. I never really bothered with the specific rules for the bugs in my game. Just took it as a given that the aliens' human minions would be fitted them as a matter of course and would carry out their masters' instructions. Possibly I missed a trick there though - your set up with the PCs friends being implanted has the potential for all sorts of drama.

If the NPC is killed does it kill the Obedience Bugs? Or does it escape the body via the same route that the Obedience Bugs entered?

I always played it that if a minion was killed the the bug would crawl out of their ear a couple of rounds later.

If the NPC is captured, can the Obedience Bugs be removed without killing the NPC? One or two of the missing NPC's will have close ties with the PC's.

I think some delicate surgery would be required (Formidable task?). If you're feeling generous you could rule that the bug exits the NPCs skull if they're rendered unconscious.

[Morthrai]

I haven't used them, but to keep it simple I would probably play them as a slightly more subtle version of the earmites from "Wrath Of Khaaan".

[NewMexicoArgus]

Nice, thanks for the quick replies. Have the guys coming over in a few hours to start rolling up characters. Should be interesting, a few of them are a little creeped out with the fact that I'm using their future selves as semi to major NPC's. And since I'm the Trash Truck Al, on my NPC page you know he will be one bad ass mofo. With tons of luck that never dies...lol But, seriously I'm sure that he will be one of the first NPC's that they love to hate and really want to kill but can't because they know he is a valuable source of information.