So, in addition to running The One Ring, I'm on the hook to run the Dracula Dossier and ACKS.  ACKS, I'm waiting for the monster book to come out before I start prepping, but in these winter doldrums, I'm currently spending free-time working on The Dracula Dossier for Night's Black Agents.

The theme of the game is "The ghosts of the pasts coming back to haunt us."  The ghosts here are the sins of the various national security states.  For those familiar with the game, the campaign revolves around British intelligence's multiple attempts to use Dracula as a pawn, first against the Russians, then the Nazis, then the Soviets, and now Muslim extremism.  

My theory, running along, is to focus on the fact that all the way through the Cold War, the various powers had their own little supernatural programs running.  When the Cold War ended, the powers divested themselves of these boondoggles. (Witness the US getting rid of its Controlled Remote Viewing program.)  Then the War on Terror kicks in, and part of the problem is that these supernatural programs have found their way into the private sector or the hands of extremists.

So it's not just Dracula -- although the game will focus on vampires, basically all the weirdness since before and after the Victorian Age will be running in the background.  Weird alchemists selling Red Mercury.  Goeticists advising software billionaires.  Nigerian blood-money wizards working for cartel leaders.  (Two of those three come not from my imagination but headlines in the last six months.)

Thoughts?  Is this crowding the field too much?

Have you done a thread your One Ring experience? If not, that would be interesting.

I love the idea of the Dracula campaign. As for crowding the field, I only think that's an issue if the campaign is very short. However, even then, these could be background bits that give flavor to the world.

How much prior knowledge of these "sins" and the supernatural will the PCs know?

I love the idea of how current problems have origins in dark closets and how there will be internal problems in the agencies as the young regime will be all about solving the current problem while the old regime will be all about keeping their sins hidden which then hampers the investigations.

Will there be a Smoking Man / Deep Throat NPC? AKA, the shadowy dude who slips the PCs info for his own ends?

Also, how is Night's Black Agents? I've only heard about it, but my historical horror go-to has been either CoC or Cold City.

It's not innately too crowded, but it could be if everything came into play at once.

I think at least some, and maybe even most, of the supernatural elements researched by nations should be bunk advanced by con artists or deluded charlatans, or players will be tempted to go looking for every supernatural object or creature they've ever heard of ("what's the first thing we should go find--the Ark of the Covenant, Odin's spear, unicorns, or an alien spaceship?").

And probably some of the "ghosts of the past" should be the victims of experiments who are understandably angry about it and seeking compensation or revenge, whether or not the experiments had any success or even chance of success.

Quote from: Spinachcat;872898Have you done a thread your One Ring experience? If not, that would be interesting.

Sadly, the holidays -- with kids on vacation, work parties, shopping, and the rest -- shot my gaming group to hell until this upcoming weekend.  We've mainly played a lot of Eldritch Horror and Pandemic, which were both fun, but not The One Ring.

Quote from: rawma;872908It's not innately too crowded, but it could be if everything came into play at once.

I think at least some, and maybe even most, of the supernatural elements researched by nations should be bunk advanced by con artists or deluded charlatans, or players will be tempted to go looking for every supernatural object or creature they've ever heard of ("what's the first thing we should go find--the Ark of the Covenant, Odin's spear, unicorns, or an alien spaceship?").

And probably some of the "ghosts of the past" should be the victims of experiments who are understandably angry about it and seeking compensation or revenge, whether or not the experiments had any success or even chance of success.

One of my ideas is, like the Dracula Dossier, to come up with a "Frankenstein File," where the PCs realize that the events of Frankenstein are *somewhat* true.  

Instead of Victor Frankenstein, we base things on the very real Johann Conrad Dippel.  The monster, which was unkillable, really did exile itself to the North Pole to hopefully end its existence, where it was found a century later by a Soviet research team following Mary Shelley's notes on what she'd learned of Dippel and used as the basis of Frankenstein.  There, the Soviets allowed the monster to create byblows and used them as a special operations team.  The monster bent knee to Moscow because they provided him with cadavers for his experiments, and plentiful funding and technology.  When the Iron Curtain fell, the KGB internally debated either selling the beast and his byblows or terminating them, but before they could reach a decision the monster blows up the whole project and disappears into Europe's underworld in the '90s.  

So there's a team of mercenaries who are basically unkillable and working to restart their own race, but they're hampered by their own monstrousness and the complexity involved in their own creation.  They serve as the "FOXHOUND" of Dracula's conspyramid.  In the early stages, they should be like the T-1000 or Jason Voorhees or Michael Meyers, nearly unkillable and unstoppable.  As the campaign goes on, maybe the PCs find a way to neutralize them or become old-hands at it (hey, they can't die, but they can be frozen or or thrown into some concrete and made real uncomfortable for a long time) and they become less of an issue, but there's always their creator, the First Monster, waiting in the wings.

Quote from: Spinachcat;872898I love the idea of the Dracula campaign. As for crowding the field, I only think that's an issue if the campaign is very short. However, even then, these could be background bits that give flavor to the world.

The campaign appears like it could go on for a while, so I don't think shortness will be an issue.  The hardback book is, like, huge.

QuoteHow much prior knowledge of these "sins" and the supernatural will the PCs know?

Probably nothing to begin with.  One of the things I want to become apparent is that the people involved in a lot of this really weird fringe stuff are really off-kilter.  In real life, I got to meet people involved in real life psychic spying and the like, and with the exception of my buddy's dad, a lot of them were really, really off.  I want to play that up -- are these guys for real?  They don't seem like it, but the government sure took them seriously.  Whether it's for remote viewers or Russian spiritualists or Nigerian sorcerers getting blood money from cartel guys.  

QuoteI love the idea of how current problems have origins in dark closets and how there will be internal problems in the agencies as the young regime will be all about solving the current problem while the old regime will be all about keeping their sins hidden which then hampers the investigations.

Will there be a Smoking Man / Deep Throat NPC? AKA, the shadowy dude who slips the PCs info for his own ends?

I kinda want to have an ex-KGB guy be their Deep Throat, since the Russians don't figure that largely into the Dracula Dossier until the end of the campaign, potentially.

QuoteAlso, how is Night's Black Agents? I've only heard about it, but my historical horror go-to has been either CoC or Cold City.

It's really, really terrific.  I've run it in the past, and been waiting for the Dracula Dossier since it came out.  If you like horror gaming and action, it's worth a look.

Quote from: Future Villain Band;872913One of my ideas is, like the Dracula Dossier, to come up with a "Frankenstein File," where the PCs realize that the events of Frankenstein are *somewhat* true.

Veering off-topic, I enjoyed Saberhagen's The Frankenstein Papers, in which the events of Frankenstein were also somewhat true but not quite as you would expect. A little more on-topic, this sounds very good, but I wonder how much choice the PCs have in what they do and how much is forced by things beyond their control? Will they have some chance to decide which mysteries to engage with? (I admit I don't know anything about the Dracula Dossier, which might already answer my question.)

Quote from: rawma;872921Veering off-topic, I enjoyed Saberhagen's The Frankenstein Papers, in which the events of Frankenstein were also somewhat true but not quite as you would expect. A little more on-topic, this sounds very good, but I wonder how much choice the PCs have in what they do and how much is forced by things beyond their control? Will they have some chance to decide which mysteries to engage with? (I admit I don't know anything about the Dracula Dossier, which might already answer my question.)

The Dracula Dossier has two main components: Dracula Unredacted and The Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook.  Dracula Unredacted is the book Dracula, with additional material added in and purporting to be an in-game artifact that is the real, unredacted version of the events of Dracula, written by Bram Stoker for his brother George as part of British Naval Intelligence's cover-up.  In addition to the "unredacted" version of Dracula, which introduces characters left on the cutting room floor, plots from things like the Icelandic translation including a Satanic cult, and ideas from Stoker's notes, there's also three sets of "annotations" written by three generations of spies from British intelligence who have been swept up into a possibly rogue program in British intelligence.  The first describes a second attempt to contact Dracula in WWII; the second describes a mole-hunt in the '70s linked to a stay-behind group possibly tied to Dracula; and the third ties into modern attempts to recruit Dracula to fight Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups.  

The Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook is a massive, 368 page tome that lists all the characters in the campaign from various periods, the original hunters, various versions of Dracula himself, locations, and details on EDOM, the British intelligence vampire conspiracy and just about everything else, as well as a copious index that ties all the info in the Director's Handbook to the notations and text of Dracula Unredacted.  It also provides several ways to twist the narrative, from tying it all into the Mythos by way of Charles Dexter Ward to making it an airport thriller with a Fourth Reich, and also a frame whereby you create your own unredacted Dracula by first playing the original hunters from the novel, then the WWII mission, then the mole-hunters in the '70s, and finally the modern hunters trying to put Dracula and perhaps EDOM to bed.

The way it's supposed to work is very early in the campaign, the characters get the in-game artifact Dracula Unredacted, and then use that to follow up whatever leads they want amongst the annotations and text to hunt Dracula and possibly stop EDOM in the modern day.  It's meant to be very player-driven -- ideally, the things that don't interest them won't be followed up on, while the things they think are hot concepts will be the things they go after.  You use their choices, as the Director, to build the campaign.  The Director's Handbook includes several potential climaxes to lead up to, from Dracula summoning a vampiric god to attempting to take over Russia.  

In addition, there are several other books you can buy that tie into the campaign: The EDOM Papers, which are a set of adventures stretching back from the 19th century to the modern day detailing various conflicts between Dracula, EDOM, and the intelligence powers of the world; The Hawkins Papers, a series of in-game artifacts that are made up of things like notes by British Intelligence during the mole-hunt, letters from Churchill regarding contacting Dracula, and scientific notes on attempting to synthesize super-soldiers from samples of vampiric blood; and the EDOM Field Manual, which is part in-game artifact and part campaign frame where you play the agents of EDOM either working with or trying to stop Dracula.  

There's a steady Google Plus group for GMs discussing people's games, as well as threads in various places discussing how to run it and actual play experiences.  It's new enough that very few games have really picked up steam, as the Kickstarter is still churning out material, but the hardcover Director's Handbooks and Dracula Unredacted are out there on the streets and you can buy many of the pdfs from DriveThru or Pelgrane itself.  In addition, there's tons of articles on it over at Pelgrane.

Does that help?  I can answer whatever questions you have.

I think it's a fantastic premise. Subbed.

I really regret nothing not getting this, even though I don't own NBA. Your premise would work even better (for me) with nWoD, which already offers a huge toolbox for non-vampiric weirdness.

It sounds totally awesome! I live the idea of including other secret history conspiracies in it. I'd almost be disappointed if Dracula were the only one to be somewhat true.

But the campaign itself looks so huge that you might have trouble including anything else. How are you going to play it? Starting with the 1890s group or a modern day group?

I admit I'm very jealous. I'm currently trying to get together my first gaming in over a year, since the birth of my son and the last days of my thesis! I have a tentative group together for a tentative campaign, but the thought of having a group willing to commit to a campaign like this just gives me chills! And to be playing The One Ring and ACKS concurrently! Well, I'll have to get my game on ... Gaming with children is the new challenge ...

Quote from: markfitz;872980It sounds totally awesome! I live the idea of including other secret history conspiracies in it. I'd almost be disappointed if Dracula were the only one to be somewhat true.

But the campaign itself looks so huge that you might have trouble including anything else. How are you going to play it? Starting with the 1890s group or a modern day group?

My plan is to run just the modern day group trying to put an end to Dracula once and for all, but there are (very) ambitious people on the G+ group who are running through all four periods and the historical adventures.  I'm kind of in awe of that.  If I had the group capable of really (pardon the pun) sinking their teeth into it, then fuck year I'd try it.

I really want to find a reliable online group for NBA to do it over G+ video or Skype or something, because my home group is much better at The One Ring and ACKS, where the morality is more stark and less gritty.

As for gaming with kids -- good luck, it's taken me years.  One kid I could handle, but two really put a damper on things.

The all four periods game is a mega campaign. Might be up there with the Great Pendragon Campaign, or Masks of Nyarthalotep! I'd say few groups will manage it, but it will be discussed in hushed whispers, wherever gamers congregate ...

On your previous point, about Frankenstein, did you hear that episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff recently where Ken Hite alluded to the fact that he might be plunging into that at some point for similar treatment?

As for gaming with a baby, my tentative solution - as yet untested - is to turn my wife into a gamer and host at ours, so no babysitter problem ... We'll see how that goes ...