Tag: Article

[Article] Music that Inspires You – Dark Conspiracy

I would hazard a guess and say that I am the world’s worst musician. Beyond any physical limitations I possess, I think to this day I have the honour of being the only 5th year student not to master ‘Three Blind Mice’ on the recorder… much to my Mother’s chagrin1

Nevertheless music is important to me, I listen to some new album or musical piece every day and have always believed in a strong connection between tabletop gaming and music (I even wrote an article about such 20-some years ago in Demonground). The modern age of being constantly connected to the web, and having easy accessibility to streaming services such as Spotify and Amazon music has meant the scope – although maybe not the quality – of music I’ve been exposed to has expanded rapidly in recent years (even though I would say that I was pretty well versed in some genres even before that).

Alright, that’s nice, but what’s that got to do with Dark Conspiracy or even gaming in general. Well… when I write – like I’m doing right now – I find I do my best work listening to music that – at least to my ever enfeebled mind –  inspires or reflects the genre I’m tinkering in. In fact, I’d actually go further than that and say I have playlists that embody the themes and feelings of specific game systems. Yep, I have a playlist for games such as Conspiracy X, Call of Cthulhu, River of Heaven (although that’s an easy one as the game has the best RPG soundtrack ever made2) and, of course Dark Conspiracy.

[Article] Shadows that Rip and Tear – An Observation on Dark Conspiracy

This is a short article that I wrote for the Dark Conspiracy 4th edition Kickstarter that never saw publication. It looks to detail, at least from my perspective, why I continue to love, support and create for Dark Conspiracy and why I’m so excited for a new edition!

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Shapes that rip and tear. Shadows that live in corners… Windows in space and time that lead to realms of madness and decay…

And with those words an untold number of gamers were lured into the world of Dark Conspiracy. It was the early 1990s, and for years, roleplayers had played their games across infinite worlds of heroic fantasy, the bounds of airless space or facing the maddening terrors of Lovecraftian horrors, but rarely had they the opportunity to act out their adventures in a setting that reflected so darkly humanity’s own missteps into the future.

Dark Conspiracy is the game of modern, conspiracy horror, set against a backdrop of a bleak future dominated by greed, evil and nightmares from beyond reality. It was a product of its era, the result of a zeitgeist of suspicion and fear – likely driven by a recent stock-market crash, a changing governmental structure and a rapid rise in personal technology – that would spawn not only TV shows like the X Files, Millennium and Dark Skies, but also a plethora of other similarly focused roleplaying games. 

[Mechanics] Dark Conspiracy Supplemental Rules

by Scott McClenaghan (2010)

This supplemental rules summary is intended to augment the base Dark Conspiracy book (1st edition). Rules in later editions (Empathic Sourcebook, 2nd edition) may be used where they do not conflict either the 1st edition or these rules.

Download as a PDF (40 pages, 1.05 Meg)

[Article] Dark Future vs Alternate America?

One of the challenges facing all modern day RPG settings is just how quickly the world around us progresses; from the unstoppable advancements in technology, the evolution of social norms, through to the life changing impacts of real world events. Such changes can quickly make roleplaying games or at least their settings feel ‘out of date’, and in turn poses difficulties for potential Referees when attempting to reconcile the real world with what has been presented to them in the gaming material.

This article examines these difficulties and offers a solution that could ensure Dark America remains in shadows of the conspiratorial 1990s.

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