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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: Pierce Inverarity on December 17, 2007, 01:38:02 AM

Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 17, 2007, 01:38:02 AM
...is essentially They Live: The RPG?

With a smattering of RIFTS?

Coz that would be pretty cool.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Erik Boielle on December 17, 2007, 06:48:12 AM
Dark Consiracy is every horror movie ever made.

No, seriously, they (explicitly) made a setting that could have a place for every horror and related movie ever, from Sleep Hollow, Deep Blue Sea, Doom, Underworld, Gremlins, Goonies...

I mean, name a horror movie - it'll work as an adventure in Dark Conspiracy!
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Settembrini on December 17, 2007, 07:59:18 AM
It´s They Live, Terminator & From Dusk Till Dawn, RoboCop, X-Files and even Max Headroom.
It´s also Mickey Spillane.

DC rocks.

It´s also Cthulhu: 1985/20XX
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: GrimJesta on December 17, 2007, 12:40:27 PM
It makes me giddy that people still talk about this game.

-=Grim=-
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 17, 2007, 12:46:28 PM
And this in spite of the egregious hair crimes of so many DC cover images.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: GrimJesta on December 17, 2007, 12:48:10 PM
Quote from: Pierce InverarityAnd this in spite of the egregious hair crimes of so many DC cover images.

If people still watch horrible 80's movies and listen to horrible 80's pop euro-trash music then there *must* be some love for the euro-mullet still.

-=Grim=-
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: ColonelHardisson on December 17, 2007, 06:37:57 PM
Dark Conspiracy really lived up to its title - it seemed to draw upon every conspiracy theory I'm aware of that presents a view of the world as being seriously fucked up. Well, maybe not all of them; I mean, in the DC setting, there aren't 250,000 Red Chinese troops hanging out in British Columbia and Mexico just waiting to invade the U.S. But hey, it's not like you couldn't just house rule 'em in there...

I thought the interior art for the main book was pretty cool, especially the artist who did the character portraits in the section on professions, and a lot of the monsters and aliens.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Settembrini on December 17, 2007, 07:04:26 PM
Fun Fact: The production values of GDW products soared after the Windfall from the Desert Storm Factbook.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: beeber on December 17, 2007, 07:11:13 PM
i thought i had DC somewhere :confused:  
now i'm going to have to search around for my (possibly mythical) copy.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 17, 2007, 07:16:12 PM
Quote from: SettembriniFun Fact: The production values of GDW products soared after the Windfall from the Desert Storm Factbook.

...which, alas alas, made them publish a second one. The rest is bankruptcy.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: GrimJesta on December 17, 2007, 10:08:58 PM
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity...which, alas alas, made them publish a second one. The rest is bankruptcy.

Anyone know if it was good/better than the original?

-=Grim=-
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 17, 2007, 10:11:05 PM
The second Gulf War book? I've no idea.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: David Johansen on December 17, 2007, 10:17:09 PM
To the best of my knowledge GDW didn't go bankrupt or leave any unpaid bills.  They saw the writing on the wall and got out while they were still solvent.

Also, Dark Conspiracy may well be the best rpg setting of all time.  Even if you left out the aliens and demons there could easily be 300 000 chinese troops waiting to invade from BC.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 18, 2007, 01:36:48 AM
OK, to be absolutely precise: no bankruptcy. But...

http://www.cgi101.com/~lkw/faq.html#B
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: David Johansen on December 18, 2007, 04:13:30 AM
Yes, they were forced out of the market by market forces.  I've always respected that they didn't ride the horse off the cliff like so many other companies.

Still, a better presentation of TNE probably would have saved them.  I'm thinking cut it down to the Regency in the core book, maybe leave the orbital bombardment rules for a supplement, and cut the page count in about half.  $33 for a big fat book might not seem outrageous at the time but I think it was too fat, too intimidating, and too many changes all at once.

I also would have gotten over the Armour Value 1 obsession and developed a similar but more flexible penetration rule.  Yes it was the rule from DK / T2K2, but it never worked all that well for primitive and advanced armour.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Dirk Remmecke on December 18, 2007, 06:51:54 AM
Quote from: ColonelHardissonI thought the interior art for the main book was pretty cool, especially the artist who did the character portraits in the section on professions, and a lot of the monsters and aliens.
That would be Janet Aulisio (http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=229). She worked for a lot of GDW lines (even did the Danjerous Journeys screen) but also for TSR (Dragon and Dungeon Magazine), WW, ICE, and whoever did Jorune.
Her Challenge (http://www.travellerbibliography.org/challenge/31.html) covers  (http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showmagazine&magazineid=191)are noteworthy.

And you are right. Those character portraits are what I remember first when someone mentions DC.
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: obryn on December 18, 2007, 10:29:09 AM
Fun Fact: When I moved to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois, the GDW sign was still proudly displayed on a building in Downtown Normal.  I don't have any idea what happened to it after that, but a year or three later, it was gone.

Fun Fact 2: The address for GDW in my Mythus books (listed on Empire in Bloomington, IL) doesn't seem to exist.

-O
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: SirKerry on December 18, 2007, 10:45:00 AM
Quote from: obrynFun Fact: When I moved to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois, the GDW sign was still proudly displayed on a building in Downtown Normal.  I don't have any idea what happened to it after that, but a year or three later, it was gone.

It ended up hanging on a wall inside Medieval Starship (http://www.medievalstarship.com/traveller.html), a game store.

Kerry
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: obryn on December 18, 2007, 11:54:55 AM
HA!  Nice!  That's the one!

-O
Title: Would it be fair to say that Dark Conspiracy...
Post by: Tom B on December 18, 2007, 09:57:33 PM
A year or so ago they were supposedly working on a new edition...but the website hasn't been updated in over a year.