Any interest in creating a Dark Conspiracy scenario as a hive-mind? I was thinking that as a group we could break things down into the intial overarching aspects -
Location - Where is the scenario set
Style - Sandbox, Locked Box, Investigative, Action, etc.
Antagonist - Who is behind the story? What do they want?
I've had a bit of time to mull this over and on a personal level, I'd like to see some opponents that haven't appeared that often in the published adventures. Bad guys from the main book, GDW adventures or Dark Races is what I'm thinking of rather than those adventures published in Challenge or other fan-made sources.
Examples that I can think at the moment: -
Beasties - Apeps, Dragons, Slithers
Dark Races - Fuatha, Ptero-raven, Stick Indians
Edit: And as much as I want sandbox adventures when I'm the Player, it's a right pain in the backside for the unprepared GM, so I'm inclined towards the locked box style (not having heard the term before in this context, I'm assuming it's a more controlled/restricted version of sandbox mode?)
here are my suggestions, feel free to modify and muck about with as you please:
Any interest in creating a Dark Conspiracy scenario as a hive-mind? I was thinking that as a group we could break things down into the intial overarching aspects -
• Location - Where is the scenario set Area of parkland/nature reserve on the edge of a big city ideally with a wetland area. I'm thinking specifically of the Lea Valley in East London.
• Stspeyle - Sandbox, Locked Box, Investigative, Action, etc. Investigative. Interspersed with episodes of action
• Antagonist - Who is behind the story? What do they want? A corporation has been dumping toxic waste illegally on a wetland site within a park creating a Toxic Mother. People living near the park have disappared, lured to the Toxic Mother by her empathic seed.
The corporation is either
(a) Organised crime controlled in which case they don't really care about the environmental consequences
(b) Humanoid ET controlled in which case they intend their actions to terrorise the people living near the parkland and ultimately turn it into a Demonground
• Minions - What Darklings are to be used? Toxic Mother and her animator zombies.
As the Pcs investigate further they discover the true villains of the piece and encounter
(a) Organised crime type thugs: low level soldier types equal to Gangers, then possibly more capable muscle.
(b\ ET's human agents equivlaent to Security Guards or Igors. Then proper Dark Minions types such as MIB or the aliens themselves.
Complications may arise from an Earth Mother group also investigating the dumping. They will hinder the Pcs investigation at first, perhaps suspecting them of being involved. They may be persuaded to lend their assistance once it becomes clear both groups have similar goals.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
I'm thinking the ETS are the tentacular ones. As an alternative to being created by dumping, the Toxic Mother is the product of an alien terraforming experiment gone wrong. Various extra-terrestrial compounds introduced into the area haven't created a suitable environment for the aliens to live and/or breed and instead have created a monster. The aliens will try and cover up the disaster which will lead to conflict with the PCs.
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
here are my suggestions, feel free to modify and muck about with as you please:
Sorry, I've not been around for a few days (work and a bit of travel). These sound really good Linden, I prefer the ETs as the badguys behind the Toxic Mother (which I think is a great Darkling to use and fits with everyone's thoughts).
I'll write this up as a 'brief' in the next day and we can review that as a group as well!
Random train of thought over my mid-morning cup of coffee...
In regard to Linden's suggestions, he mentions people disappearing near the area of the Toxic Mother. Typically in many scenarios the people who disappear are poorer folk who suffer from government/police apathy and "won't be missed". The flip-side of that trope is someone powerful or influential loses a relative to the situation and wants the PCs to investigate.
I realise these are tropes because they are easily created and more important, easily relatable, when telling a story but I'd like to see some variation on the victims. I don't know what in particular can be changed because there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for that sort of thing but I have a few random thoughts about making it a little more distinctive.
Keep in mind I'm thinking that this could just as well be unimportant to the overall situation, something of a red herring but still deeply involved.
The disappeared people are: -
1. all from the same age range
2. all the same gender
3. all disappeared at the same time of day
4. disappeared from locations that form some meaningless symbol if plotted on a map (or maybe the symbol has some meaning?)
5. for a total red herring, were all wearing a particular colour (no, I am not suggesting red!)
6. people who had all bought something from a particular vendor (moonshine, drugs, second-hand clothes, herbal medicine, black market petrol, who-knows-what? but all of the buyers visited the same vendor)
The disappearances appear to follow some sort of pattern and I think that the Players will start to form ideas as to what connects these things (even if there is no particular reason for them).
So yeah, a bunch of ideas with no particular idea of how to link them. I'm sure someone creative could weave this into something coherent, I'm having ideas but can't seem to connect the dots at the moment.
Edit:
Some time later...
Still thinking about this and having weird ideas. I think what I am attempting to do with all this, is enhance the mystery/strangeness elements.
So in that vein, another possible oddity of the disappeared people - all of them left behind an incomprehensible message, scrawled onto whatever they could find to write on (scrap paper, a wall, the side of a derelict car, sheet of cardboard, written in chalk on the pavement, on a plastic drink bottle - or if you really want to mess with them, the inside of the plastic bottle). The message is exactly the same in all cases.
Kevin's mention of red herrings reminds me of the so-called "Smiley Face Murders" - deaths which seem similar but under investigation appear to be unrelated, and not even murders. Might be an element to add?
Lee Williams.
"Superstition is the name the ignorant give to their ignorance"
Sorry, I've not been around for a few days (work and a bit of travel). These sound really good Linden, I prefer the ETs as the badguys behind the Toxic Mother (which I think is a great Darkling to use and fits with everyone's thoughts).
Agreed, I only suggested the organised crime angle as certain crim types are traditionally involved in "waste management" in the US (per Tony Soprano) and what we call "fly tipping" over here. Plus still in Tales of Terror mode where there's always more than one possible explanation.
Per Kevin's suggestion about the victims having a common denominator, how about a scrawled message that they've "gone home to mother"?
"There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."
Linden wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 12:28 pm
Per Kevin's suggestion about the victims having a common denominator, how about a scrawled message that they've "gone home to mother"?
I like that a lot! The implication of the creature is there... if you knew beforehand what you were looking for... but the message "appears" to leave no room for interpretation "So, they went to see their mum" (and leads to a line of investigation that would ultimately prove fruitless if the message is taken literally).
Hey all - sorry I didn't mean to disappear off of this 'project', rather I've been focused on my own creations and avoiding social media (in many forms) as of late.
what about one set in North America in the area of Northern Michigan where Demonground is shown on the map?
"There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand. The Centauri learned that lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Although it take a thousand years, we will be free." G'kar - Babylon 5
