Normal life is a constant. People wake up, go to their jobs, slave away hours of labour to uncaring corporate overlords or government jobs. They go home, perhaps to an empty house, or if they are lucky, someone.

The world hangs on the brink, two warring superpowers deciding the fate of it, fresh off a conflict that consumed the entire world and now armed with weapons that could forever kill the planet. Their games of intrigue run deep, a war that has grown cold and quiet, fought in the dark with tricks and propaganda.

However, a greater threat is present in the world. Circling these great powers are fiendish things, looking to twist the world to their ends, uncaring of the consequences that their actions bring. And those are the reasonable ones, others just delight themselves in violence, living moment to moment and causing carnage for no reason beyond its sake.

There is a mantle that grasps, the station of [DIRECTOR], a new position carved out of meaning and emplaced with purpose. A bunker at the end of the known world, hidden from sight and sense is its station, binding you with it, never to leave without returning until the ceaseless task is complete. A mistake you would never take back.

Currency is drawn from the [BOARD], inventions of security, spectres of government, purely factual and demanding results. They do not brook failure, punishing it by draining away resources, even if that makes the task they want to be done nigh impossible. Frigid bastards with unending want.

But your task is not a lonesome one, it couldn't possibly be. Men and women join you, some willingly, others not, but all with an experience of the unnatural that forced them to accept the truth, and then the mantle of [INVESTIGATOR] drew them here, granting them nothing and giving them every ounce of responsibility they could ever crave. Loose cannons but they get results. You adore them.

When finally a mission comes to a head and the monster needs slaying, the mantle of [AGENT] dragged them here a tenth of a second from death in battle. They are armed, armoured and equipped at the highest levels money can buy. They do the bloodier work, the cruel sort of work that sees humans slaughtered like cattle. Good soldiers, every last one.

The world is at war, shadows crawl through the night, human and worse. Your work is cut out for you.

But now, it's time to wake up, [DIRECTOR].
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The grey concrete ceiling greets you, a constant of this place. Rising up, you walk over to your desk, biting into a bagel and settling a coffee cup to the side of a typewriter, pulling the striped tie a bit tighter. On it, debriefs for developing situations scrawl upwards, slowly pressing upwards.

Taking a sip of the coffee, black as tar with underlinings of whiskey. It sharpens you, settles you and focuses you. Letting you read debriefs with a clear mind.

OPEL GREEN
LOCATION: BRITISH ISLES, SOMERSET, WELLS

The city of Wells is minor, unassuming. One would never guess a triple murder happened just six hours ago. The report is as follows.

"A thorough reading of police reports suggests that Strangeness is occurring here, [DIRECTOR]. Three murders that resulted from the total dehydration of the subjects are top of the local rumour mill. Coroners reports don't know what to make of it, police are losing their minds and MI5, British internal intelligence, are circling the mess like vultures."

Not much to go off. Never really is. But a city, English-speaking and dealing with local agencies gives a baseline.

CHARIOT TRACKS
LOCATION: SOVIET ASIA, PRIMORSKY KRAI, VLADIVOSTOK

Vladivostok, the eastern head of the Soviet Bear. A frigid place, boiling tar smoke pumped into the air by the tonne. The report reads as follows.

"Local KGB plants have reported a cult, preaching what may be anti-Soviet propaganda. Their symbology seems to be ladened with Strangeness. It does not meet Soviet requirements to be stomped out and is not outwardly violent. This is at odds with their mass usage of blood for the aforementioned symbology. KGB has left this alone."

Something meatier, off the books and without interference from higher agencies. Cults pile bodies quickly when agitated, however. You have to keep in mind the locals, Russian-speaking and Asian majority.

SWAMP KNIFE
LOCATION: UNITED STATES, LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans, a lively city from your memory. Full of strangeness on its own, as the report pulls itself upwards further to reveal secrets.

"EMERGENT CASE, two hours ago, individuals caught on traffic cameras with Strangeness related conversions. Two total, they appear to be cavorting across the city, having killed sixteen individuals and drawn four more into frenzies. Damage to the local Normality is becoming uncontrollable. Handle it now [DIRECTOR]."

Something for your [AGENTS] then. Good, you can get them blooded earlier rather than later.

With that in mind, the [BOARDS] ever so eloquent demands ringing in your head, you pull the paper out of the typewriter, storing it in a desk drawer for safekeeping. Opening a second drawer, just below it, you pull a manila folder and place it on the desk.

Handling it carefully, you pull open the folder and start reading the personnel documents. Your Investigators.





Pulling that closed and shuffling it off to the side. You think over the missions, considering how to approach them. But that can wait until you read through the last folder, just recently appearing in a third drawer.




Pulling the dossiers closed, it's time to decide on the path forward. For the world's sake.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello and welcome to NIGHTWATCH, a supernatural [AGENCY] quest in the Cold War! You will take the role of the [DIRECTOR], the, well, director of the whole operation.

To describe the initial mechanics, all you need to do is pair an [INVESTIGATOR] and/or [AGENT] squad to a chosen OPERATION. Do so in a PLAN FORMAT and we can begin.