http://dark-conspiracy.com/
Any interest in this?
I kind of like the setting, even if the solution to most problems is "shoot it lots".
But please, God, let them use a better system this time!
I deeply regret letting my originals go, very interested, but:
Please not Fate.
Please not 2d20; I love it but everyone hates on it
Quote from: Dan Davenport;980379http://dark-conspiracy.com/
Any interest in this?
I kind of like the setting, even if the solution to most problems is "shoot it lots".
But please, God, let them use a better system this time!
If it's written by Gareth Hanrahan, it should do fine.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;980381If it's written by Gareth Hanrahan, it should do fine.
The ENnie award winning Gareth Hanrahan? Ok I'm down.
First I've ever heard of "Dark Conspiracy. " I'll have to look it up. Title makes me think X-Files or Illuminati.
Well, I think a revised version of the original rules would be okay if:
A single d6 roll during character creation didn't determine your sequence for every combat for forever (get a 5 or 6 and you even get 2 actions!)
d20 under skill + stat resolution with difficulty levels halving and doubling.
npcs use the same rules as pcs (I hate asymmetrical rules)
The setting would be okay if:
It sticks to the horror in a depressed and dying world that's five minutes in the future.
It doesn't feel like material Shadowrun rejected.
The premise that mythological monsters were misunderstood and that the monsters aren't what you expect is kept and played up.
You can kill a vampire from a mile away as he comes out of the club with a 20mm sniper rifle loaded with garlic and oak splinters.
IRRC Dark Conspiracy came out years before X-files. Yup, 1991 and 1993 respectively. I was always a bit pissed off when people who wouldn't play Dark Conspiracy raved about X-files.
Quote from: Dumarest;980397First I've ever heard of "Dark Conspiracy. " I'll have to look it up. Title makes me think X-Files or Illuminati.
It's a bit like X-Files in a near-future almost-cyberpunk dystopia.
I owned Dark Conspiracy, but I never ran or played it. It had some interesting ideas, but it never quite grabbed me enough. I honestly don't remember it that well. I was running a long-lasting, modern Call of Cthulhu game at the time, so I really didn't need another horror game, and I wasn't crazy about the mechanics GDW was designing in its waning days. It ended up on the shelf and ignored until I sold it in a huge cull ten years later.
Hanrahan's involvement is enough to have me interested enough to keep an eye on the new version though.
Quote from: Dumarest;980397First I've ever heard of "Dark Conspiracy. " I'll have to look it up. Title makes me think X-Files or Illuminati.
Short version:
It's set about 20 years in the future (which, in the 90's, meant the books were set in the year "201X". Serious quote there).
So a collective of aliens (you know, Greys, Bugs, Lightning Balls, and I -think- Nordics?) are out exploring the universe. They visit Earth secretly, make friends with some governments and corporations, and are generally being all nice and friendly. "Here, have some tech so you can advance your civilization" sort of stuff. And they're -legit- friendlies to boot!
Until they open a gate out around Pluto they shouldn't have a few years back.
So now their friendly collective is corrupted by honest to god, alternate-dimension demons. And it makes them Evil! Some of the aliens remain uninfected and flee (and offer some PC options to play!), but most of them come back to Earth and either work on corrupting big business and governments (which is about as easy as you'd fear) or just say "screw it all" and start opening -more- of those horrible gates that seem scattered all over earth. Some gates lead to things like the dimension of Oni or Redcaps, others lead to more esoteric and bizarre dimensions. But they're all -bad-. That said, some people (PC option coming up!) have learned how to create gates on their own, and use them to create "spells". Want to fly? Open a portal to a dimension without gravity. Want to throw fireballs? Open a portal to a dimension of fire! Want to have psychic powers? Not with "magic", because that's one of the -other- different options your PCs might tap into.
By this point America has largely fallen. The rich and those who slave for them live in walled cities run by alien quisling corporations, other people live in underfunded underprotected rural environments, and large stretches of the country are No Man's Land (think "Road Warrior" about 2 minutes before everyone said fuck it and it became "Mad Max"). That said, tech is actually -more- advanced, and that's just the stuff the rich get to play with (want to play a Cyborg? You can! Just don't think too hard about -why- you have amnesia). And things are equally horrible elsewhere in the world, just in different ways (what the hell happened to Australia?!?!). Fortunately, people are fighting back.
As for the books.... Honestly, from a fluffy idea stance, they're all pretty good and worth idea mining for other games even. Mechanically they never can seem to agree on -which- version of the system they're running, which ends up making the base system feel bad and the fixes contradictory ("do I need to convert this book or is it using the new ruleset?").
Honestly, while people might want to compare it to X-Files, I find it to be too gonzo (yet somehow coherent) for that to be a good analogy. It's really kind of its own thing.
Quite honestly, I found the horrible ecological and social dystopia more compelling than the conspiracy. The bit about proles selling their vote for a tiny one room, paper coveralls, and a weekly trip to the company store in particular.
They should use the rules for Recon by Palladium.
Quote from: Dan Davenport;980424It's a bit like X-Files in a near-future almost-cyberpunk dystopia.
Thanks , you just saved me some time. Decidedly not my cup of tea.
Quote from: san dee jota;980438So a collective of aliens (you know, Greys, Bugs, Lightning Balls, and I -think- Nordics?) are out exploring the universe.
No Nordics. Tentacular aliens.
Quote from: Dan Davenport;980424It's a bit like X-Files in a near-future almost-cyberpunk dystopia.
Meh on the cyberpunk thing. I feel it does lend itself to a wide range of play, with X-Files on one end of the spectrum, and DOOM the RPG on the other end. My most recent shot at playing it a few years ago was just a quick, few sessions escape from drug zombies sort of thing.
A campaign I've been wanting to run would be something like Atlas Shrugged. It would require a lot of development, a chapter on building and construction like the old 1E DMG had would have been great. Yes, society is breaking down. So what an awesome core conflict it would be with PCs fighting the breakdown by trying to build things and keep the world going.
Quote from: Imaginos;980458They should use the rules for Recon by Palladium.
That would be cool but Palladium's lawyer would send a C&D letter or something.
Quote from: Dumarest;980499That would be cool but Palladium's lawyer would send a C&D letter or something.
Yeah, 100% agree. But a modified version could be used. Just don't go straight up Recon. but
learn from it.
Isn't this like the 3rd return?
I was a big fan of the original game, but realistically it was never that popular and the reboots have been even less so.
Quote from: AaronBrown99;980380I deeply regret letting my originals go, very interested, but:
Please not Fate.
Please not 2d20; I love it but everyone hates on it
Savage Worlds then?
Quote from: Dan Davenport;980424It's a bit like X-Files in a near-future almost-cyberpunk dystopia.
Not keen on the cyberpunk part. I'll pass.
I don't think there's anything cyberpunk about Dark Conspiracy. They have Cyborg Escapees who basically have some machine implant because they were experimented upon, presumably by aliens. There aren't people running around ever with cybernetics.
Quote from: Lunamancer;980538I don't think there's anything cyberpunk about Dark Conspiracy. They have Cyborg Escapees who basically have some machine implant because they were experimented upon, presumably by aliens. There aren't people running around ever with cybernetics.
This sounds like comic gold. :p
More DarkTek
less elves and goblins.
Please.
Quote from: Dumarest;980459Thanks , you just saved me some time. Decidedly not my cup of tea.
It isn't really cyberpunk. There's a weird twist where the tech that exists (it's a near future setting) is very retro. Sort of like a weird art deco vaccum tube vibe.
IIRC it's not hackers and street samurai
Quote from: Biscuitician;980549It isn't really cyberpunk. There's a weird twist where the tech that exists (it's a near future setting) is very retro. Sort of like a weird art deco vaccum tube vibe.
IIRC it's not hackers and street samurai
Yeah, it's tech noir more than anything.
Quote from: 3rik;980531Savage Worlds then?
Does Savage Worlds handle film-noir style well?
Quote from: Lunamancer;980538I don't think there's anything cyberpunk about Dark Conspiracy. They have Cyborg Escapees who basically have some machine implant because they were experimented upon, presumably by aliens. There aren't people running around ever with cybernetics.
As I said earlier, my memories of the game are somewhat hazy, but I remember it enough to agree that it was definitely not cyberpunk in any way.
Quote from: AaronBrown99;980609Does Savage Worlds handle film-noir style well?
It does actually, especially if you use the Classic Deadlands rule of giving a player a benny when they decide to deliberately indulge in a flaw.
Quote from: Baulderstone;980618It does actually, especially if you use the Classic Deadlands rule of giving a player a benny when they decide to deliberately indulge in a flaw.
That's not just a Classic Deadlands rule; by the core Savage Worlds rules, GMs are advised to give bennies to players when their Hindrances come into play. The example in the book is a loyal character jumping into danger to save a friend, but it works equally well when the alcoholic chooses to indulge in a few extra drinks instead of following up that lead right away.
Quote from: Brand55;980626That's not just a Classic Deadlands rule; by the core Savage Worlds rules, GMs are advised to give bennies to players when their Hindrances come into play. The example in the book is a loyal character jumping into danger to save a friend, but it works equally well when the alcoholic chooses to indulge in a few extra drinks instead of following up that lead right away.
I started with Revised, and I remember being surprised not to see that rule. Maybe it got added with a later edition, or maybe I have just missed it. Either way, it's a rule I have used.
I really hope creator Lester Smith is seeing some payment for this, because I once had the pleasure of briefly speaking with him at a small local con and he was a really friendly and decent dude.
Quote from: Baulderstone;980630I started with Revised, and I remember being surprised not to see that rule. Maybe it got added with a later edition, or maybe I have just missed it. Either way, it's a rule I have used.
Gotcha. Yeah, I know it's in the GM advice section in the Deluxe rules.
I remain cautiously optimistic yet as soon as I see any rpg company saying they also plan to sell dice. Makes me wonder if they plan to jump on the propiaratry dice yrend thst some rpgs are currently. If that's the case I have no interest. Now if I can run the rpg with my regular dice without buying a app or needing to convert from a table I will probably buy it.
Quote from: sureshot;980698I remain cautiously optimistic yet as soon as I see any rpg company saying they also plan to sell dice. Makes me wonder if they plan to jump on the propiaratry dice yrend thst some rpgs are currently. If that's the case I have no interest. Now if I can run the rpg with my regular dice without buying a app or needing to convert from a table I will probably buy it.
It makes me wonder if they are going to use Ubiquity since they have a Space 1889 Ubiquity version and make dice for that too. Not funky dice, but styled dice.
Quote from: CRKrueger;980709It makes me wonder if they are going to use Ubiquity since they have a Space 1889 Ubiquity version and make dice for that too. Not funky dice, but styled dice.
I'm surprised Ubiquity is not used more in rpgs. I can live with styled dice. Funky dice not so much anymore.
Quote from: sureshot;980743I'm surprised Ubiquity is not used more in rpgs. I can live with styled dice. Funky dice not so much anymore.
Ubiquity dice are kind of funky in that they basically emulate throwing a number of dice and counting the number of even results. There's dice for one (white), two (red) or three dice (blue).
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Quote from: Baulderstone;980615As I said earlier, my memories of the game are somewhat hazy, but I remember it enough to agree that it was definitely not cyberpunk in any way.
Well, I just mean in terms of the megacorps and the near-future technology. If the mundane tech were just a
bit more advanced, it would be cyberpunk.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;980381If it's written by Gareth Hanrahan, it should do fine.
It's not going to be, sadly.
Quote from: Dan Davenport;981298It's not going to be, sadly.
Where did you hear that?
Quote from: Jason D;981460Where did you hear that?
From Gareth. I asked him about it on Facebook chat.
Quote from: Dan Davenport;981642From Gareth. I asked him about it on Facebook chat.
I have slightly different information. :)