The time is nigh.
For many, many years the conspiracy has waited. You have built up your...
For many, many years the conspiracy has waited. You have built up your...
All-American Small Town Evil Conspiracy Quest
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Statistics (6 threadmarks, 6.9k words)
User Total EarthScorpion 6
OP
The time is nigh.
For many, many years the conspiracy has waited. You have built up your resources. You have recruited others to join you. And now the moment of your glorious triumph is nearly here. Soon everything you have sought shall be accomplished.
So what if you have been thwarted in the past by various motley groups of teenagers, perhaps with a very British mentor figure? No doubt this time you will succeed! Everything will be crushed before you!
And you will begin with this small American town! This small town in rural California called Oakspring. The fools don't understand how everything that happens here is critical to your long-reaching plans. You will show them all! Ahahahahahaha!
The voting rules I trialed in Three Golden Lands are in force here. Votes receive weighting modifications based on in-character-ness - for example, a weight of x1.5 means that each vote for it is equivalent to one and a half people voting. Votes that do not come with at least a sentence of explanation or justification will have their voting weight halved.
If you change your vote, you tell me what you're changing it from. In addition, you must find your previous vote and cross it out with the strikethrough marking. I have to hand count votes to apply the vote-reasoning rules, and changed votes which are not marked in this way will not count.
Please note - this is a pastiche, not a farce. I will freely reject votes for options that descend into farce.
Details on the Conspiracy
Note that for all these things, a good write-in or choices which synergise nicely in genre-themed ways will give you extra benefits.
What is the name of The Conspiracy?
[ ] Write in
What is the nature of the Conspiracy?
[ ] Write in. What kind of conspiracy is it? Is it an occult conspiracy worshipping elder gods? Is it a conspiracy of evil biologists who want to force the human race to transcend its roots? Is it a cult-family carrying the blood of inhuman monsters? Are you reincarnated members of a dark kingdom from a long ago era who wish to rule over the world again? Are you an evil corporation developing mind control technology? Are you actually all just werewolves?
This will grant you your special asset. A purely mundane but evil corporation which wants to enslave the town as cheap labour might get "Ridiculous Amounts of Wealth" as their special asset, while if you're all just werewolves you'll get "We're Actually Just Werewolves".
What is The Conspiracy's ultimate goals and what makes Oakspring important??
[ ] Write in. What is the conspiracy trying to do? Are you trying to get immortality? Are you trying to open a gate to heaven in the town and so invade and conquer it? Are you trying to dissolve everyone into goo of your own choice of colour? Are you concerned parents trying to impose restraint on your children and enforce the 1950s once again?
[ ] Write in. Why is this small town so important? Is it just because it's where you live? Is the land cheap here so you could build your ultimate secret factory outside without having to pay much? Is the town built on an ancient Indian burial ground? Is it close to a US nuclear missile silo?
This'll set your ultimate objectives.
What is your Secret Lair?
[ ] Write in. Where are you based? Is there an unholy place hidden under the church? Are you operating out of a graveyard with a surprisingly extensive sewer system? Is your company HQ on the industrial estate? Do you run the only nightclub in town?
Depending on your choice, it'll give you various benefits.
Tools of the Conspiracy
The above establishes a lot of the higher level things. But of course it's not the goals of a conspiracy that just matter. No, you have to do more than just that.
It's worth noting here that voters represent conspiracy members. If you're willing to write things in-character then your in-character representation in the conspiracy will be a character. If votes are close, then the conspiracy is divided and argumentative.
The Supreme Leader
The supreme leader leads the group. If they're killed... well, unless there's a trusted lieutenant who can take over, it's game over for you. And you don't have a trusted lieutenant yet.
[ ] Write in their name
[ ] Write in what position of authority / cover identity they hold in this small rural American town. Are they the principal of the high school? Are they the administrator of the local hospital? Are they the priest at the local church?
[ ] What is their fatal flaw? What great weakness do they have?
(There will be bonuses for a well-written up background with plot hooks and the like attached)
Write in One Combat Skill, One Management Skill, and One Free Skill:
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 3
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 4
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 5
A combat skill is one which determines what they do if they're attacked. It doesn't have to be them personally fighting, of course - it could represent how they command their minions. Or it could just be that they're literally just a werewolf.
A management skill is how they lead. Are they very charismatic? Do they rule through fear? Are they a hypnotic evil psychologist?
A free skill can be anything you like.
Conspirators
Your initial conspirators will be determined by the nature of the conspiracy. Other conspirators can be acquired later. Good write-ins can also promote voters into being conspirators.
Conspirators have lower-rated skills than the Supreme Leader, but open up new options and allow cooperative actions to be taken to boost your pools.
Local Authority and Influence
As we all know, small town American conspiracies usually control various bits of society. Yours is no exception. Your influence is not total, but it is extensive. You totally control one institution, and have limited influence over others.
An institution can be things like the local police, a local hospital, a local business, or anything of that ilk.
[ ] Choose one that you control utterly (6 dice)
[ ] Choose one you have extensive control over (4 dice)
[ ] Choose one you have some influence over (2 dice)
The Mechanics
For many, many years the conspiracy has waited. You have built up your resources. You have recruited others to join you. And now the moment of your glorious triumph is nearly here. Soon everything you have sought shall be accomplished.
So what if you have been thwarted in the past by various motley groups of teenagers, perhaps with a very British mentor figure? No doubt this time you will succeed! Everything will be crushed before you!
And you will begin with this small American town! This small town in rural California called Oakspring. The fools don't understand how everything that happens here is critical to your long-reaching plans. You will show them all! Ahahahahahaha!
The voting rules I trialed in Three Golden Lands are in force here. Votes receive weighting modifications based on in-character-ness - for example, a weight of x1.5 means that each vote for it is equivalent to one and a half people voting. Votes that do not come with at least a sentence of explanation or justification will have their voting weight halved.
If you change your vote, you tell me what you're changing it from. In addition, you must find your previous vote and cross it out with the strikethrough marking. I have to hand count votes to apply the vote-reasoning rules, and changed votes which are not marked in this way will not count.
Please note - this is a pastiche, not a farce. I will freely reject votes for options that descend into farce.
Details on the Conspiracy
Note that for all these things, a good write-in or choices which synergise nicely in genre-themed ways will give you extra benefits.
What is the name of The Conspiracy?
[ ] Write in
What is the nature of the Conspiracy?
[ ] Write in. What kind of conspiracy is it? Is it an occult conspiracy worshipping elder gods? Is it a conspiracy of evil biologists who want to force the human race to transcend its roots? Is it a cult-family carrying the blood of inhuman monsters? Are you reincarnated members of a dark kingdom from a long ago era who wish to rule over the world again? Are you an evil corporation developing mind control technology? Are you actually all just werewolves?
This will grant you your special asset. A purely mundane but evil corporation which wants to enslave the town as cheap labour might get "Ridiculous Amounts of Wealth" as their special asset, while if you're all just werewolves you'll get "We're Actually Just Werewolves".
What is The Conspiracy's ultimate goals and what makes Oakspring important??
[ ] Write in. What is the conspiracy trying to do? Are you trying to get immortality? Are you trying to open a gate to heaven in the town and so invade and conquer it? Are you trying to dissolve everyone into goo of your own choice of colour? Are you concerned parents trying to impose restraint on your children and enforce the 1950s once again?
[ ] Write in. Why is this small town so important? Is it just because it's where you live? Is the land cheap here so you could build your ultimate secret factory outside without having to pay much? Is the town built on an ancient Indian burial ground? Is it close to a US nuclear missile silo?
This'll set your ultimate objectives.
What is your Secret Lair?
[ ] Write in. Where are you based? Is there an unholy place hidden under the church? Are you operating out of a graveyard with a surprisingly extensive sewer system? Is your company HQ on the industrial estate? Do you run the only nightclub in town?
Depending on your choice, it'll give you various benefits.
Tools of the Conspiracy
The above establishes a lot of the higher level things. But of course it's not the goals of a conspiracy that just matter. No, you have to do more than just that.
It's worth noting here that voters represent conspiracy members. If you're willing to write things in-character then your in-character representation in the conspiracy will be a character. If votes are close, then the conspiracy is divided and argumentative.
The Supreme Leader
The supreme leader leads the group. If they're killed... well, unless there's a trusted lieutenant who can take over, it's game over for you. And you don't have a trusted lieutenant yet.
[ ] Write in their name
[ ] Write in what position of authority / cover identity they hold in this small rural American town. Are they the principal of the high school? Are they the administrator of the local hospital? Are they the priest at the local church?
[ ] What is their fatal flaw? What great weakness do they have?
(There will be bonuses for a well-written up background with plot hooks and the like attached)
Write in One Combat Skill, One Management Skill, and One Free Skill:
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 3
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 4
[ ] Choose one to be rated at 5
A combat skill is one which determines what they do if they're attacked. It doesn't have to be them personally fighting, of course - it could represent how they command their minions. Or it could just be that they're literally just a werewolf.
A management skill is how they lead. Are they very charismatic? Do they rule through fear? Are they a hypnotic evil psychologist?
A free skill can be anything you like.
Conspirators
Your initial conspirators will be determined by the nature of the conspiracy. Other conspirators can be acquired later. Good write-ins can also promote voters into being conspirators.
Conspirators have lower-rated skills than the Supreme Leader, but open up new options and allow cooperative actions to be taken to boost your pools.
Local Authority and Influence
As we all know, small town American conspiracies usually control various bits of society. Yours is no exception. Your influence is not total, but it is extensive. You totally control one institution, and have limited influence over others.
An institution can be things like the local police, a local hospital, a local business, or anything of that ilk.
[ ] Choose one that you control utterly (6 dice)
[ ] Choose one you have extensive control over (4 dice)
[ ] Choose one you have some influence over (2 dice)
The Mechanics
All-American Small Town Evil Conspiracy Quest uses a simple d6 dicepool system. You roll a certain number of dice, and every dice which show 4 or more is a success. The roll will have a difficulty announced, and you need a number of successes equal to or greater than that difficulty to succeed at the action.
More complicated actions will require a certain number of sub-actions to be completed. The wider-reaching or more complex the goal is, the more sub-actions you'll need to complete. It might just be a single check to shoot a man dead in a back-alley scuffle, but taking down the meddling librarian of the local high school and his cursed British tricks would be an action made up of many intricate parts.
In addition, there's also complications and flukes. These are independent of your success or failure at an action. You can fail but get a fluke of good luck, or succeed at what you set up to do and suffer a complication. These flukes and complications will never negate what you set out to do, but might complicate or ease things in the long run. Think of the success or failure representing your efforts at what you set out to do, while the complications and flukes are the knock-on effects. You might fail an action, but get a fluke of good luck from your failure - or otherwise win the battle, but lose the war.
If more 1s than 6s are rolled, a complication gets introduced. At the scale of a human, perhaps you empty your revolver killing a man or you notice your car is running low on petrol. At an organisation scale, maybe the cops catch wind of the operation or someone starts embezzling from you. The larger the discrepancy, the worse the complication might be.
If more 6s than 1s are rolled, you benefit from a fluke of luck. At a human scale, you might find an unlocked door or notice a person acting suspiciously. At an organisational scale maybe you get the name and a blackmail detail of a possible contact or get a hint to whoever's embezzling from you. Again, the larger the discrepancy, the better the fluke of luck is for you.
All-American Small Town Evil Conspiracy Quest is designed for 'zoomed out' play - it deliberately uses a relatively low detail system. Setting a month-long policy might be just one action - but so might five seconds of life-and-death fighting in a wet alleyway.
Another facet of this is that once you're making decisions for more than one person, what'll matter more is the assets you control rather than your personal skills. It doesn't matter so much if you're a good doctor - no, what matters is that you have your own back-alley stitcher. Your personal skills with a gun pale compared to what two squad cars of corrupt cops can do. What matters is that you can find the right people, persuade or 'persuade' them to work for you, and keep their loyalty. Essentially, your underlings become your 'skills'.
More complicated actions will require a certain number of sub-actions to be completed. The wider-reaching or more complex the goal is, the more sub-actions you'll need to complete. It might just be a single check to shoot a man dead in a back-alley scuffle, but taking down the meddling librarian of the local high school and his cursed British tricks would be an action made up of many intricate parts.
In addition, there's also complications and flukes. These are independent of your success or failure at an action. You can fail but get a fluke of good luck, or succeed at what you set up to do and suffer a complication. These flukes and complications will never negate what you set out to do, but might complicate or ease things in the long run. Think of the success or failure representing your efforts at what you set out to do, while the complications and flukes are the knock-on effects. You might fail an action, but get a fluke of good luck from your failure - or otherwise win the battle, but lose the war.
If more 1s than 6s are rolled, a complication gets introduced. At the scale of a human, perhaps you empty your revolver killing a man or you notice your car is running low on petrol. At an organisation scale, maybe the cops catch wind of the operation or someone starts embezzling from you. The larger the discrepancy, the worse the complication might be.
If more 6s than 1s are rolled, you benefit from a fluke of luck. At a human scale, you might find an unlocked door or notice a person acting suspiciously. At an organisational scale maybe you get the name and a blackmail detail of a possible contact or get a hint to whoever's embezzling from you. Again, the larger the discrepancy, the better the fluke of luck is for you.
All-American Small Town Evil Conspiracy Quest is designed for 'zoomed out' play - it deliberately uses a relatively low detail system. Setting a month-long policy might be just one action - but so might five seconds of life-and-death fighting in a wet alleyway.
Another facet of this is that once you're making decisions for more than one person, what'll matter more is the assets you control rather than your personal skills. It doesn't matter so much if you're a good doctor - no, what matters is that you have your own back-alley stitcher. Your personal skills with a gun pale compared to what two squad cars of corrupt cops can do. What matters is that you can find the right people, persuade or 'persuade' them to work for you, and keep their loyalty. Essentially, your underlings become your 'skills'.
Tracking Page
THE CONSPIRACY
About Us
We are Black Goat Excavations Inc, a part of Stone Circle Group PLC.
The company was originally founded in 1922 by the Blackett family. Blackett Mining was a leader in innovative thinking outside the box and transcending boundaries. The company was noted for its loyal workforce and willingness to sacrifice everything to get the job done- traits we're proud to say we retain to this day.
As part of corporate restructuring in 1983, Blackett Mining floated as the Stone Circle Group PLC. Black Goat Excavations was formed out of the primary mining division of the new company, ensuring that the core business functionality could be maintained and would provide profitable foundations for our reach to the future. Despite our parent company's new focus on the medical business and advanced technology, we maintain the proud traditions that the Blackett family instilled in us.
With operations everywhere from New England to New Mexico, Black Goat Excavations has a national presence. In addition, with our purchase of a deep-sea oil extraction specialist firm and our partnership with a Chinese firm operating in Tibet, we're ready to face the challenges of the modern world and evolve and change to overcome them.
Black Goat Excavations believes corporate responsibility and civil partnership. That's why we're sure to maintain close links to local government. We have firm policies of non-discrimination with regards to skin colour or disabilities which date back to our founder, William Blackett, who suffered from several painful medical conditions and was known for his fascination with other cultures. His example set an example for us we try our utmost to continue. We invest in education and healthcare in towns where we maintain operations. A healthy, educated, happy workforce is a productive one. Black Goat Excavations is proud to say that we maintain close relations with several prominent universities and are more than willing to enhance the skills and provide training that ensure we exist in tip-top shape!
In our fiercely competitive marketplace, we are dynamic and ever-changing. As a strong employer we're always hiring and our admirable employee retention rate shows our successes in that field. Why not pick up our brochure today?
Logo Myth
Unfortunately certain disaffected individuals have claimed that our logo is in some way 'satanic' or linked to 'witchcraft'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our logo was designed in 1983 by Jameson and Sons, a public relations firm. The abstract representation of a black goat was inspired by the family crest of the Blackett family, to honour our founders. It is not a reference to any mythological or fantastic beings.
Black Goat Excavations has no links to the Church of Satan. No evidence linking the company to any occult organisations has ever been presented or proven in court. In 1994, we successfully sued the New England Reformed Pentecostal Church for their libellous claim that the company was linked to Satanic belief. Black Goat Excavations will aggressively defend its image from slurs and slander.
The Conspiracy
Name: Black Goat Excavations, Inc
Goals: Current goals are to steer the company back on track, exceed the projected profits for the first 2016 quarterly meeting by over 20%, and perfect the process of turning the new Upper Management division into the grotesque perfection of all organic life, font of all tears, in which joy and sorrow are as one, this time without losing their business acumen.
Why Are You Here: Oakspring contains a vast underground complex of caves and networks at the bottom of which sits the Dream-Pool, connection to the Astral Plane and the Labyrinth of Flesh that is the guts of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night, which produce 20% more efficient cognitive enhancements and only require normal drills and pickaxes to be harvested, none of that expensive diamond-edged stuff. Implants may induce vision of the All-Dream of the Shimmering Void, which are rated "pleasant" by 76.4% of recipients.
Special Asset: All Hail The New Flesh. Flesh-grafted minions and tame rubbery monsters and lab subjects, oh my.
You can tap your Special Assets whenever you can justify deploying them to boost a roll. The Special Asset adds five dice (+5) on top of your normal pool, but there's a teeny tiny complication with them. Which is to say, when you augment a roll with Special Assets, complications occur on a 1 or a 2 rather than just a 1. Pulling out the monsters means going loud.
Sites
Torpenhill Heights Quarry and Industrial Estate
Positive Traits: Place of Power, Money-Making
Negative Traits: Poor Secrecy, Hazardous Workplace
Notable Figures
The Supreme Leader: Executive Delegate Andrew Marshall
Flaw: He's beholden to a Board of Directors who may or may not be alive/sane/human and will do anything to keep their profit margin above expectations, no matter how short-sighted.
Management: Productive Employees Will Be Awarded Biotech Implants, Improductive Ones Will Be Fed To The Hundred Gnawing Maws 5
Combat: Dental Plan Comes With Biotech Implants, Executive Now 40% Monster From The Beyond 4
Free: I Have A Huge Forehead Because I Put Pieces Of Smart People's Brains In My Head 3
Conspirators
Many long term workers of Black Goat Excavations are somewhat… clammy, with discoloured eyes or slightly misshapen bodies. Others are just in it for the cash and haven't taken the long-serving employee benefits. Either way, though, most of the low-ranking staff are mostly human.
Typical Dicepool: 2-3
Influence
Local Civic Government - Total Control (6 dice)
The High School - Major Influence (4 dice)
Local Bars - Some Influence (2 dice)
About Us
We are Black Goat Excavations Inc, a part of Stone Circle Group PLC.
The company was originally founded in 1922 by the Blackett family. Blackett Mining was a leader in innovative thinking outside the box and transcending boundaries. The company was noted for its loyal workforce and willingness to sacrifice everything to get the job done- traits we're proud to say we retain to this day.
As part of corporate restructuring in 1983, Blackett Mining floated as the Stone Circle Group PLC. Black Goat Excavations was formed out of the primary mining division of the new company, ensuring that the core business functionality could be maintained and would provide profitable foundations for our reach to the future. Despite our parent company's new focus on the medical business and advanced technology, we maintain the proud traditions that the Blackett family instilled in us.
With operations everywhere from New England to New Mexico, Black Goat Excavations has a national presence. In addition, with our purchase of a deep-sea oil extraction specialist firm and our partnership with a Chinese firm operating in Tibet, we're ready to face the challenges of the modern world and evolve and change to overcome them.
Black Goat Excavations believes corporate responsibility and civil partnership. That's why we're sure to maintain close links to local government. We have firm policies of non-discrimination with regards to skin colour or disabilities which date back to our founder, William Blackett, who suffered from several painful medical conditions and was known for his fascination with other cultures. His example set an example for us we try our utmost to continue. We invest in education and healthcare in towns where we maintain operations. A healthy, educated, happy workforce is a productive one. Black Goat Excavations is proud to say that we maintain close relations with several prominent universities and are more than willing to enhance the skills and provide training that ensure we exist in tip-top shape!
In our fiercely competitive marketplace, we are dynamic and ever-changing. As a strong employer we're always hiring and our admirable employee retention rate shows our successes in that field. Why not pick up our brochure today?
Logo Myth
Unfortunately certain disaffected individuals have claimed that our logo is in some way 'satanic' or linked to 'witchcraft'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our logo was designed in 1983 by Jameson and Sons, a public relations firm. The abstract representation of a black goat was inspired by the family crest of the Blackett family, to honour our founders. It is not a reference to any mythological or fantastic beings.
Black Goat Excavations has no links to the Church of Satan. No evidence linking the company to any occult organisations has ever been presented or proven in court. In 1994, we successfully sued the New England Reformed Pentecostal Church for their libellous claim that the company was linked to Satanic belief. Black Goat Excavations will aggressively defend its image from slurs and slander.
The Conspiracy
Name: Black Goat Excavations, Inc
Goals: Current goals are to steer the company back on track, exceed the projected profits for the first 2016 quarterly meeting by over 20%, and perfect the process of turning the new Upper Management division into the grotesque perfection of all organic life, font of all tears, in which joy and sorrow are as one, this time without losing their business acumen.
Why Are You Here: Oakspring contains a vast underground complex of caves and networks at the bottom of which sits the Dream-Pool, connection to the Astral Plane and the Labyrinth of Flesh that is the guts of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night, which produce 20% more efficient cognitive enhancements and only require normal drills and pickaxes to be harvested, none of that expensive diamond-edged stuff. Implants may induce vision of the All-Dream of the Shimmering Void, which are rated "pleasant" by 76.4% of recipients.
Special Asset: All Hail The New Flesh. Flesh-grafted minions and tame rubbery monsters and lab subjects, oh my.
You can tap your Special Assets whenever you can justify deploying them to boost a roll. The Special Asset adds five dice (+5) on top of your normal pool, but there's a teeny tiny complication with them. Which is to say, when you augment a roll with Special Assets, complications occur on a 1 or a 2 rather than just a 1. Pulling out the monsters means going loud.
Sites
Torpenhill Heights Quarry and Industrial Estate
Located just outside Oakspring, the Torpenhill Heights Quarry began production of the rare blue clays found only in this area back in the 60s. With the use of demolition, they quickly dug out a quarry. Sure, there were rumours of stranger things being found embedded in the clay - like strange icons - but the company carefully explained that the gold they sold was just the result of old river deposits
After an unfortunate industrial accident in the 90s where multiple workers died in a clay slip, the Torpenhill Mining Company was forced to shut down. Perhaps the company might have survived, but the way that the board of directors had gone crazy and killed each other sort of put a stopper to that. It was all very mysterious, and the local rumours hold that they were probably using the site to dump hazardous chemicals.
Actually, they were cultists of unspeakable gods from beyond space and time, which just goes to show that you can't trust local rumours.
Black Goat Excavations purchased the abandoned and partially flooded quarry a few years back after its Rare Books Division tracked down some of the purchases that the mining company had made and followed the money backwards. Since then it has restored and drained the mines, and - officially, at least - has begun subterranean mining for ecological reasons.
And that's right! It'd be pretty ecologically unsound to expose the raw flesh of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night, to the outside world.
The Torpenhill Heights quarry looks like a normal operation to outside eyes. Black Goat have built an industrial estate on a large tract of cheap land by the quarry allowing the prompt processing for transport of extracted resources, and the whole place is fenced off and patrolled by security guards. After all, there's industrial machinery in there. No one wants some dumb kids breaking in. The trucks roll out from the depot, heading to long term storage locations or to other Stone Circle PLC companies. It is making a small profit at the moment, although it could do better.
It only has a few teeny tiny downsides. Firstly, everyone around here knows that Black Goat Excavations owns this site. Because, you know. It's literally on the sign outside. Moreover, there are certain… associated risks with mining the flesh of the dreaming outer gods. Now, of course, the modern security systems help contain incidents, but the occasional loss of a mining team when they accidentally wake a parasite which dwells inside the divine flesh of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night is what might be deemed an occupational hazard.
Nevertheless, it has now been 17 days without a workplace accident! Progress!
After an unfortunate industrial accident in the 90s where multiple workers died in a clay slip, the Torpenhill Mining Company was forced to shut down. Perhaps the company might have survived, but the way that the board of directors had gone crazy and killed each other sort of put a stopper to that. It was all very mysterious, and the local rumours hold that they were probably using the site to dump hazardous chemicals.
Actually, they were cultists of unspeakable gods from beyond space and time, which just goes to show that you can't trust local rumours.
Black Goat Excavations purchased the abandoned and partially flooded quarry a few years back after its Rare Books Division tracked down some of the purchases that the mining company had made and followed the money backwards. Since then it has restored and drained the mines, and - officially, at least - has begun subterranean mining for ecological reasons.
And that's right! It'd be pretty ecologically unsound to expose the raw flesh of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night, to the outside world.
The Torpenhill Heights quarry looks like a normal operation to outside eyes. Black Goat have built an industrial estate on a large tract of cheap land by the quarry allowing the prompt processing for transport of extracted resources, and the whole place is fenced off and patrolled by security guards. After all, there's industrial machinery in there. No one wants some dumb kids breaking in. The trucks roll out from the depot, heading to long term storage locations or to other Stone Circle PLC companies. It is making a small profit at the moment, although it could do better.
It only has a few teeny tiny downsides. Firstly, everyone around here knows that Black Goat Excavations owns this site. Because, you know. It's literally on the sign outside. Moreover, there are certain… associated risks with mining the flesh of the dreaming outer gods. Now, of course, the modern security systems help contain incidents, but the occasional loss of a mining team when they accidentally wake a parasite which dwells inside the divine flesh of Pazu-Ken-Yokai, the Dreamer and the Sleepless Night is what might be deemed an occupational hazard.
Nevertheless, it has now been 17 days without a workplace accident! Progress!
Positive Traits: Place of Power, Money-Making
Negative Traits: Poor Secrecy, Hazardous Workplace
Notable Figures
The Supreme Leader: Executive Delegate Andrew Marshall
The wealthy new entrepreneur (pronounce with thick French accent) who arrived in town and will resurrect its faltering employment rate with... Clay-mining? Really?
Flaw: He's beholden to a Board of Directors who may or may not be alive/sane/human and will do anything to keep their profit margin above expectations, no matter how short-sighted.
Management: Productive Employees Will Be Awarded Biotech Implants, Improductive Ones Will Be Fed To The Hundred Gnawing Maws 5
Combat: Dental Plan Comes With Biotech Implants, Executive Now 40% Monster From The Beyond 4
Free: I Have A Huge Forehead Because I Put Pieces Of Smart People's Brains In My Head 3
Conspirators
Many long term workers of Black Goat Excavations are somewhat… clammy, with discoloured eyes or slightly misshapen bodies. Others are just in it for the cash and haven't taken the long-serving employee benefits. Either way, though, most of the low-ranking staff are mostly human.
Typical Dicepool: 2-3
Influence
Local Civic Government - Total Control (6 dice)
The Mayor has been comfortably bribed and may or may not have a worm-like thing in his gut keeping him docile. In addition, several people on the Black Goat payroll have recently taken up positions under him. They help things go… well. And also ensure that Black Goat doesn't have any problems with planning permissions or the like.
The High School - Major Influence (4 dice)
The local high school has been fully pervaded with pamphlets and overly enthusiastic speakers convincing students that a successful carrier in clay-mining awaits them. In addition, Black Goat Excavations had funded the construction of a new swimming pool in the gymnasium and sponsors the high school football team.
Local Bars - Some Influence (2 dice)
Most of the local bars have at least a few informants seeded, or bribed bartenders, to make sure people don't speak too loudly and too much when drinking away their exhaustion
Last edited:
0-1: Greetings from Oakspring (Pilot) - Tutorial on Plots
Episode 0 (Pilot) - Greetings from Oakspring
0-1: Tutorial on Plots
The sky is dark overhead. A full moon hangs heavy in the cloudless sky. Outside the yellow pools of light from the sodium lights and away from the bright signs of the nearly abandoned shops, everything is dark.
The parking lot outside the 7-11 is mostly empty, which means the bulky SUV that pulls into it has no problems finding a space. Despite that, the car is parked sloppily and takes up three spaces. A woman climbs out, almost dropping the book that she's clutching to her. Apparently the reason she was driving poorly was that she was reading in the car. She certainly looks the sort. She has frizzy, somewhat unkempt brown hair and large round spectacles.
There's a harassed expression on her face. Maybe it's just the look of someone who's having to dash out to the nearby supermarket to grab something for dinner. But then again, maybe it's something else.
Because another, smaller car pulls into the parking lot as she heads in towards the 7-11. It's following her, and it's been following her for a while. Its windows are tinted. A man gets out, and lights up a cigarette. He takes a long drag, and exhales, blowing a cloud of smoke into the night's sky.
His eyes aren't quite healthy and his skin almost looks jaundiced. But maybe that's just the yellow sodium streetlights. Right?
He swallows the cigarette. Smoke comes out of his nose and ears for just a moment.
No. Wrong.
He taps on the glass of the tinted car. The window rolls open and he says something to his compatriots. And then he heads into the 7-11. Following the woman.
The woman heading into the supermarket is Anna Hemmerton, who runs a bookstore in town. And there is something malevolent and wicked lurking outside.
You know that, because it's there at your orders. Because you already have a plot.
Plots
There are a few broad categories of plot. This is not a definitive list and not all actions are Plots - they are specifically broad overarching schemes. The idea is that your Plot exists to structure your actions in an episode
The general categories are as follows:
Eliminations exist to remove an enemy or an asset from play. It doesn't necessarily involve killing them - it might also entail getting them to move away from Oakspring, discrediting them, or getting a business shut down for totally legitimate health and safety violations that you weren't responsible for one bit, oh no. Eliminations are often the easiest way to get rid of an obstacle, but the complications they produce can be messy. Black Goat Excavations Inc is an official sinister conspiracy and so corporate policy has no problems with murder, but sometimes it's cleaner to get someone fired. But then again, the flesh pits always need new test subjects.
Mergers and Acquisitions are there to recruit underlings or increase your influence over the town. Say someone catches your eye as being useful for your goals. You can devise acquisition plots to recruit them to work for Black Goat Excavations. Or you can use acquisitions to increase your influence over a bit of the town - for example, bringing some local doctors under your sway through free samples of your product. It gets increasingly harder to get high level control - for example, it's easy to get a little bit of control over the local hospital by paying off a nurse or two, but to take over the entire location will be a large-scale multi-episode Plot.
Investigations and Espionage reveal information about sites, assets, and the plots of anyone who might be trying to thwart your ultimate aims - as well as being something that wretched do-gooders will do to get in your way. These kinds of plots will tend to make later plots easier, remove barriers to success, and provide you with hooks for new Plots.
Protections and Fortifications are there to defend your existing assets or locations. Say a group of inquisitive journalists are sniffing around your base. A protection plot might be to give them a guided tour of the site having made sure there's nothing incriminating around. Protection plots. They make it harder for other people to hurt your assets or take out your agents. They won't win your goals for you, but they'll stop you from losing. You can also use them to reinforce assets that have already been attacked by enemies, 'healing' them and restoring them to full use
At the moment, your current means you'll be using for your Plot is decided for you. In later Episodes, you'll have to agree among yourselves as to the means that Black Goat Excavations Inc will be using. Different Plots will require different kinds of assets. For example, it's probably best to not use a fleshspawned monster for something which requires delicate negotiations with human beings, but instead to use a lawyer on the payroll.
So. What is your Plot?
Remember, votes that do not come with at least a sentence of explanation or justification will have their voting weight halved.
[ ] Elimination: She knows too much. She's identified the old ruins on the hillside above the quarry. She needs to die. Make sure she has an… accident before she gets home.
Asset: Several toughs (3 dice)
[ ] Acquisition: She's a sham with no knowledge of the occult. On the other hand, her bookshop is built above a mystical leyline that Black Goat Excavations wants. Beat her so she's hospitalised, and we can purchase the site when she's forced to sell it off to pay her medical bills.
Asset: Several toughs who've been told not to kill her (3 dice)
[ ] Espionage: Corporate believes that Ms Hemmington has certain rare book sellers as her contacts which may be useful to the company. By stealing her keys, we can get into her shop and get our hands on her address book.
Asset: 'Lefty', an ex-con petty thief on the payroll (he's also quite tough) (3 dice)
[ ] Protection: Ms Hemmington is a… contractor, shall we say? Unfortunately, it seems that a roaming evangelical preacher has somehow found out about the way that the animals in her neighbourhood go missing and is blaming her for sacrificing them to dark gods. He's entirely right, but this coming out would inconvenience the company. Make sure she stays safe.
Asset: Several toughs who've had it made very clear to them that she's not meant to come to harm (3 dice)
0-1: Tutorial on Plots
The sky is dark overhead. A full moon hangs heavy in the cloudless sky. Outside the yellow pools of light from the sodium lights and away from the bright signs of the nearly abandoned shops, everything is dark.
The parking lot outside the 7-11 is mostly empty, which means the bulky SUV that pulls into it has no problems finding a space. Despite that, the car is parked sloppily and takes up three spaces. A woman climbs out, almost dropping the book that she's clutching to her. Apparently the reason she was driving poorly was that she was reading in the car. She certainly looks the sort. She has frizzy, somewhat unkempt brown hair and large round spectacles.
There's a harassed expression on her face. Maybe it's just the look of someone who's having to dash out to the nearby supermarket to grab something for dinner. But then again, maybe it's something else.
Because another, smaller car pulls into the parking lot as she heads in towards the 7-11. It's following her, and it's been following her for a while. Its windows are tinted. A man gets out, and lights up a cigarette. He takes a long drag, and exhales, blowing a cloud of smoke into the night's sky.
His eyes aren't quite healthy and his skin almost looks jaundiced. But maybe that's just the yellow sodium streetlights. Right?
He swallows the cigarette. Smoke comes out of his nose and ears for just a moment.
No. Wrong.
He taps on the glass of the tinted car. The window rolls open and he says something to his compatriots. And then he heads into the 7-11. Following the woman.
The woman heading into the supermarket is Anna Hemmerton, who runs a bookstore in town. And there is something malevolent and wicked lurking outside.
You know that, because it's there at your orders. Because you already have a plot.
Plots
There are a few broad categories of plot. This is not a definitive list and not all actions are Plots - they are specifically broad overarching schemes. The idea is that your Plot exists to structure your actions in an episode
The general categories are as follows:
Eliminations exist to remove an enemy or an asset from play. It doesn't necessarily involve killing them - it might also entail getting them to move away from Oakspring, discrediting them, or getting a business shut down for totally legitimate health and safety violations that you weren't responsible for one bit, oh no. Eliminations are often the easiest way to get rid of an obstacle, but the complications they produce can be messy. Black Goat Excavations Inc is an official sinister conspiracy and so corporate policy has no problems with murder, but sometimes it's cleaner to get someone fired. But then again, the flesh pits always need new test subjects.
Mergers and Acquisitions are there to recruit underlings or increase your influence over the town. Say someone catches your eye as being useful for your goals. You can devise acquisition plots to recruit them to work for Black Goat Excavations. Or you can use acquisitions to increase your influence over a bit of the town - for example, bringing some local doctors under your sway through free samples of your product. It gets increasingly harder to get high level control - for example, it's easy to get a little bit of control over the local hospital by paying off a nurse or two, but to take over the entire location will be a large-scale multi-episode Plot.
Investigations and Espionage reveal information about sites, assets, and the plots of anyone who might be trying to thwart your ultimate aims - as well as being something that wretched do-gooders will do to get in your way. These kinds of plots will tend to make later plots easier, remove barriers to success, and provide you with hooks for new Plots.
Protections and Fortifications are there to defend your existing assets or locations. Say a group of inquisitive journalists are sniffing around your base. A protection plot might be to give them a guided tour of the site having made sure there's nothing incriminating around. Protection plots. They make it harder for other people to hurt your assets or take out your agents. They won't win your goals for you, but they'll stop you from losing. You can also use them to reinforce assets that have already been attacked by enemies, 'healing' them and restoring them to full use
At the moment, your current means you'll be using for your Plot is decided for you. In later Episodes, you'll have to agree among yourselves as to the means that Black Goat Excavations Inc will be using. Different Plots will require different kinds of assets. For example, it's probably best to not use a fleshspawned monster for something which requires delicate negotiations with human beings, but instead to use a lawyer on the payroll.
So. What is your Plot?
Remember, votes that do not come with at least a sentence of explanation or justification will have their voting weight halved.
[ ] Elimination: She knows too much. She's identified the old ruins on the hillside above the quarry. She needs to die. Make sure she has an… accident before she gets home.
Asset: Several toughs (3 dice)
[ ] Acquisition: She's a sham with no knowledge of the occult. On the other hand, her bookshop is built above a mystical leyline that Black Goat Excavations wants. Beat her so she's hospitalised, and we can purchase the site when she's forced to sell it off to pay her medical bills.
Asset: Several toughs who've been told not to kill her (3 dice)
[ ] Espionage: Corporate believes that Ms Hemmington has certain rare book sellers as her contacts which may be useful to the company. By stealing her keys, we can get into her shop and get our hands on her address book.
Asset: 'Lefty', an ex-con petty thief on the payroll (he's also quite tough) (3 dice)
[ ] Protection: Ms Hemmington is a… contractor, shall we say? Unfortunately, it seems that a roaming evangelical preacher has somehow found out about the way that the animals in her neighbourhood go missing and is blaming her for sacrificing them to dark gods. He's entirely right, but this coming out would inconvenience the company. Make sure she stays safe.
Asset: Several toughs who've had it made very clear to them that she's not meant to come to harm (3 dice)
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0-2: Tutorial on Rolls
0-2 - Tutorial on Rolls
The lights inside the 7-11 are bright white, spilling out through the glass doors. Anna Hemmerton picks up a wire basket from the rack and drifts towards the toiletries section.
Behind her, the pale man enters. He takes a basket too. Under the harsh lighting, he looks even clammier. He's clearly built like an outhouse, muscles bulging under his dark jacket. He's keeping well back as she drifts through the supermarket, grabbing a box of tissues and then heading towards the TV dinners.
Pulling out his mobile, he dials a number.
"Boss. It's Rolf." He pauses. "On her tail now, boss. Late night shopping. Looks like she's just forgotten to get food in."
He pokes his head around the corner. Chinese for one. Cheesecake for one. Bottle of wine. She ain't buying for two people, he knows that for sure. They've been following her for days now. The broad's as blind as a bat even with those spectacles.
Listening to his boss' orders, the man nods. "Right. We'll get her out the way for you. I'll call you when it's done." And with that said, he hangs up.
Anna Hemmerton is heading into the frozen goods section to find herself a frozen pizza. She has no idea what's waiting for her.
So. Rolls and actions.
Let's start with the basics, shall we?
Lesson one - You're surrounded by idiots. Your basic mooks aren't very good. They'll usually have a dice pool of 2-3, and that means using them alone is a risk for anything apart from the easiest operations. If you rely on basic mooks, you'll fail a lot.
There are ways around this, and you'll see some of them later. Skilled assets are valuable, even if they're limited. You certainly want to get your hands on them. But sometimes you'll not be able to use them, and you'll just have to accept that you have to trust things to the idiot brigade. In which case...
Lesson two - Bonuses are your friends. Since your mooks are a bunch of incompetents, it means it's your job to come up with cunning plans and clever ways of attack. Well-devised schemes, doing preparatory actions, cinematic locations to attack from, and playing to the strengths of your faction with write-ins will often do things like grant bonus dice, reduce the difficulty, or suchlike. Sometimes you might even get a difficulty 0 action out of it, in which case you're only rolling to see if there's a complication or stroke of luck. And speaking of complications...
Lesson three - Auto-complications - Threat or Menace?. Auto-complications are bad. All things remaining equal, you don't want to take such choices. They're not catastrophic because you can cancel them out by getting lucky and rolling more 6s than 1s, but on average if there's an auto-complication something is going to go wrong. On the other hand, though, it's often a trade off. Options with auto-complications will often have dice bonuses or reduced difficulties. In essence, you're trading better odds of success now for the risk of future problems.
Lesson four - Rolls Are For A Goal, Not For An Action. You're not rolling to hurt someone in this system, unless your primary goal is to hurt them. Hence, failure can take many forms. An instructive beating meant to warn them off can result in them dying if you fail the roll just as it can result in them not taking the lesson to heart. Always consider what you're aiming to do when you choose an action, and how it might go wrong to stop you achieving your goal if you fail the roll.
Lesson five - Failure is not the end. Well, okay, sometimes it is. But if you pick your battles wisely, your target might not even realise how you failed. Sometimes you will fail. It's how you recover from it and how you account for the failure that matters. Sometimes it's better to pull back and try something else. Sometimes you shouldn't let one failure stop you in your path.
Choose your action
Base pool: 3 dice
[ ] Strike in the frozen food isle. She won't have anywhere to run to, but there's the risk of a late-night shopper or the staff noticing you and kicking up a fuss.
(+1 dice, 1 autocomplication, Diff 2)
[ ] Beat her up in the car park outside. It's dark, mostly empty, and even if someone notices you'll have time to run. On the other hand, she might manage to get into her car and escape.
(Diff 2)
[ ] Puncture her tires. That'll mean she has to pull over on the way back home. Awfully dangerous for a lone woman who gets a puncture at this hour, ain't it? She might get attacked by miscreants while she's waiting for the tow truck.
(Set-up action - enhances a later action, but doesn't accomplish your goals)
[ ] Just shoot her. Look, sure, the boss said not to kill her, but not everyone dies from gunshot wounds, right? Just pop a bullet in her leg when she comes out. Simple. Well, unless you accidentally kill her. That'll get the boss mad. And, you know. Start murder enquiries if the body gets found.
(Fixed failure result - target's death, Diff 2)
[ ] Trail her home and strike when she's trying to get her groceries out of her car. It's more isolated and quiet, but there's the risk she'll run for her house and get inside.
(-1 dice, Diff 1)
Choose your rolling system:
[ ] Roll Once. The usual way of rolling. One person rolls, and we use that result.
[ ] Roll Thrice, Take Middle. Three people roll, and we take the roll with the middle number of successes. If there's a draw, the Complication/Fluke balance is used to work out the middle one. This will serve to somewhat insulate you from very bad or very good luck. Basically, you'll just be closer to the mean.
[ ] You Don't See Me Rollin', You Hatin'. All rolls are done secretly by EarthScorpion, and the results are only revealed in the update. More narrative tension but you don't get the fun of rolling. (x0.5)
The lights inside the 7-11 are bright white, spilling out through the glass doors. Anna Hemmerton picks up a wire basket from the rack and drifts towards the toiletries section.
Behind her, the pale man enters. He takes a basket too. Under the harsh lighting, he looks even clammier. He's clearly built like an outhouse, muscles bulging under his dark jacket. He's keeping well back as she drifts through the supermarket, grabbing a box of tissues and then heading towards the TV dinners.
Pulling out his mobile, he dials a number.
"Boss. It's Rolf." He pauses. "On her tail now, boss. Late night shopping. Looks like she's just forgotten to get food in."
He pokes his head around the corner. Chinese for one. Cheesecake for one. Bottle of wine. She ain't buying for two people, he knows that for sure. They've been following her for days now. The broad's as blind as a bat even with those spectacles.
Listening to his boss' orders, the man nods. "Right. We'll get her out the way for you. I'll call you when it's done." And with that said, he hangs up.
Anna Hemmerton is heading into the frozen goods section to find herself a frozen pizza. She has no idea what's waiting for her.
So. Rolls and actions.
Let's start with the basics, shall we?
Lesson one - You're surrounded by idiots. Your basic mooks aren't very good. They'll usually have a dice pool of 2-3, and that means using them alone is a risk for anything apart from the easiest operations. If you rely on basic mooks, you'll fail a lot.
There are ways around this, and you'll see some of them later. Skilled assets are valuable, even if they're limited. You certainly want to get your hands on them. But sometimes you'll not be able to use them, and you'll just have to accept that you have to trust things to the idiot brigade. In which case...
Lesson two - Bonuses are your friends. Since your mooks are a bunch of incompetents, it means it's your job to come up with cunning plans and clever ways of attack. Well-devised schemes, doing preparatory actions, cinematic locations to attack from, and playing to the strengths of your faction with write-ins will often do things like grant bonus dice, reduce the difficulty, or suchlike. Sometimes you might even get a difficulty 0 action out of it, in which case you're only rolling to see if there's a complication or stroke of luck. And speaking of complications...
Lesson three - Auto-complications - Threat or Menace?. Auto-complications are bad. All things remaining equal, you don't want to take such choices. They're not catastrophic because you can cancel them out by getting lucky and rolling more 6s than 1s, but on average if there's an auto-complication something is going to go wrong. On the other hand, though, it's often a trade off. Options with auto-complications will often have dice bonuses or reduced difficulties. In essence, you're trading better odds of success now for the risk of future problems.
Lesson four - Rolls Are For A Goal, Not For An Action. You're not rolling to hurt someone in this system, unless your primary goal is to hurt them. Hence, failure can take many forms. An instructive beating meant to warn them off can result in them dying if you fail the roll just as it can result in them not taking the lesson to heart. Always consider what you're aiming to do when you choose an action, and how it might go wrong to stop you achieving your goal if you fail the roll.
Lesson five - Failure is not the end. Well, okay, sometimes it is. But if you pick your battles wisely, your target might not even realise how you failed. Sometimes you will fail. It's how you recover from it and how you account for the failure that matters. Sometimes it's better to pull back and try something else. Sometimes you shouldn't let one failure stop you in your path.
Choose your action
Base pool: 3 dice
[ ] Strike in the frozen food isle. She won't have anywhere to run to, but there's the risk of a late-night shopper or the staff noticing you and kicking up a fuss.
(+1 dice, 1 autocomplication, Diff 2)
[ ] Beat her up in the car park outside. It's dark, mostly empty, and even if someone notices you'll have time to run. On the other hand, she might manage to get into her car and escape.
(Diff 2)
[ ] Puncture her tires. That'll mean she has to pull over on the way back home. Awfully dangerous for a lone woman who gets a puncture at this hour, ain't it? She might get attacked by miscreants while she's waiting for the tow truck.
(Set-up action - enhances a later action, but doesn't accomplish your goals)
[ ] Just shoot her. Look, sure, the boss said not to kill her, but not everyone dies from gunshot wounds, right? Just pop a bullet in her leg when she comes out. Simple. Well, unless you accidentally kill her. That'll get the boss mad. And, you know. Start murder enquiries if the body gets found.
(Fixed failure result - target's death, Diff 2)
[ ] Trail her home and strike when she's trying to get her groceries out of her car. It's more isolated and quiet, but there's the risk she'll run for her house and get inside.
(-1 dice, Diff 1)
Choose your rolling system:
[ ] Roll Once. The usual way of rolling. One person rolls, and we use that result.
[ ] Roll Thrice, Take Middle. Three people roll, and we take the roll with the middle number of successes. If there's a draw, the Complication/Fluke balance is used to work out the middle one. This will serve to somewhat insulate you from very bad or very good luck. Basically, you'll just be closer to the mean.
[ ] You Don't See Me Rollin', You Hatin'. All rolls are done secretly by EarthScorpion, and the results are only revealed in the update. More narrative tension but you don't get the fun of rolling. (x0.5)
0-3: Tutorial on Special Assets
0-3 - Tutorial on Special Assets
Anna Hemmerton heads out into the night, carrying her shopping. Oh, she'd been so silly. She'd forgotten to get any food after she'd closed up the shop and then she'd looked up at the clock and it was already nine and she was hungry. So a quick dash down to the 7-11 to get some easy-to-make things, and she could get back to her reading. She looks fondly at the book beside her. This one really is great.
She's totally unaware that there's a car trailing her. She's not the perceptive sort. In fact, it takes her far too long to realise that all of her car's tires are punctured. By the time she notices, she's up to Deadman's Drop,
Anna's made quite a study of the history of the local area. Deadman's Drop earned its name doubly so - not only is it an infamous accident blackspot where a poor driver can go right through the barrier and over the edge, but back in history it's where the town used to hang people back in the gold rush. Back then this was way outside the town, and they'd suspend bodies over the gorge, so people coming in would know… something or other. It's pretty disgusting! But also fascinating!
"Oh flipbuckets," Anna says, flashlight in hand as she peers down at the vehicle. It's a good thing she noticed that the steering was feeling funny. If she'd taken the corner with her tires like this, who knows what could have happened?
What the heck did she drive over? Must have been a carrier bag full of glass bottles or something.
Urgh! Urgh! She totally should have listened to her horoscope today! She's a Pisces, and the paper literally said that she needed to be aware of small details to avoid misfortune. And also to avoid salad, which she did. But now her car's got punctured tires and there's literally no way she can repair it all by herself. And driving home like this will just make things worse.
Should she walk? No, it's not safe around here. It's not lit at all. She starts rummaging through her pockets, looking for her phone. Who does she know who'd be willing to come pick her up? Or who knows anything about repairing cars?
A car rolls up behind her. Its headlamps shine in her eyes and she shields her face.
"Um! Hello!" she tries. "Can you help?!"
It pulls over. Several bulky men get out. She can't see their faces, due to the bright light. A frisson of fear runs down the back of her neck. She's scared, all of a sudden. She wanted help, but she… she wasn't looking for a car full of men.
"You want help?" one of them asks. "What's the matter?"
"Oh… um, I've got a flat… I've got several flats, really. Do any of you know about changing tires or… or anything?"
A bald man wearing a thick jacket hefts a tire iron. "Sure. I know all kinds of stuff, Anna."
"Oh, that's… wait." She adjusts her spectacles, peering at the men. "How do you know my name?"
"Just stay still, and it won't hurt," says the bald man.
"Uh… it will," one of the others says.
"Oh for goodness sake, shut the hell up, idiot."
"Sorry, sorry."
The man get closer. Anna screams. The bald man swings his tire iron.
And there's suddenly a flash of light and the man goes flying backwards, into the middle of the road. He's got horrific-looking burns all over his arm. There's a 'twoing' and the tire iron comes slamming down and embeds itself in the tarmac, glowing red-hot.
Wide-eyed, Anna stares at the glowing nimbus around her. She can feel the warmth coming from one of her necklaces. She bought it on a trip to Mexico a few years back because it looked pretty. The old lady by the side of the road had said it would bring her good luck and protect her from evil spirits.
She… she hadn't thought that evil spirits took the form of bulky men with tire irons trying to mug her.
"Go away!" she shouts at them. "Go!"
Man, you just can't catch a break as a secret conspiracy of corrupt businessmen, can you? Here you are, trying to do something as simple as beat up a bookish woman and then it turns out that some of the occult trash she buys for herself is actually real and has real power much to your surprise (and hers). And, very pertinently, is giving you a +2 difficulty increase all the way up to Difficulty 3 when it would normally have been 1. Unfair or what?
Fortunately, you can be unfair too. And one way you always have available to you is your Special Asset. By tapping your Special Asset, suddenly you have a +5 dice bonus. When your average mook has 2-3 dice, this is a really, really big deal. When you send your mooks in on their own, enhancing them with your Special Asset can turn a dicey risky endeavour into a near certain victory. It's the difference between being a comic group of thugs and scary men in rubber suits that lead people watching the series to hide behind the sofa.
As long as you can justify it as being in-theme, you can always provide a write-in to use your Special Asset. I'm usually not going to offer Special Asset choices by default unless shit is going down - it's up to you to produce a write-in justifying the use of it.
And it comes with FREE POWER NO CONSEQUENCES.
Well, okay, actually, it comes with consequences. That's the major problem. When you tap your Special Asset, you get a consequence on a 1-2 on any dice you roll, not just a 1. And Special Assets tend to be quite… obvious. For example, if you'd chosen the future robots, a Special Asset-enhanced elimination plot against the local police department would probably involve driving a truck through the front window and then killer robots shooting everyone they come across. Consequences will often relate much more to revealing your evil conspiracy-ness, and will often be worse for a given consequence level.
Basically, it's a tool to succeed at a given check by trading for the chance of more trouble down the line.
NOTE: I'm still trying out the balance of this. If it turns out to be too powerful or with too few downsides, it may be made limited use or otherwise constrained.
What now?
(Base pool - 3 dice)
[ ] Run away! No one said nothing 'bout any magical glowing amulets!
(Abort Plot, fail objective but does not risk assets.)
[ ] Yeah, sure, it's glowing, but no doubt if you try punching it again, it'll work, right? (x0.2)
(Difficulty 3, Fixed Failure Result: Mooks catch on fire and dissolve into toxic green gloop.)
[ ] Special Asset: Write-in an in-theme use of your Special Asset to overcome the current problem and accomplish your goals. Possible idea seeds are presented below:
-> The underling looks nauseous, and then his tongue extends, bright blue and wormlike. It starts drinking the magic, weakening the shield.
-> One of the men takes off his black gloves, revealing that he has eyeballs on his palms. Anna starves into the eyes, and then takes off her necklace, staring into nothing.
-> They back off, making sure to keep her contained. One of them goes to the back of their car and gets out a dog-carrier. It's rattling and there's green gloop oozing from the front bars.
(Tapping your Special Asset for +5 dice - so 8 dice vs Diff 3)
Anna Hemmerton heads out into the night, carrying her shopping. Oh, she'd been so silly. She'd forgotten to get any food after she'd closed up the shop and then she'd looked up at the clock and it was already nine and she was hungry. So a quick dash down to the 7-11 to get some easy-to-make things, and she could get back to her reading. She looks fondly at the book beside her. This one really is great.
She's totally unaware that there's a car trailing her. She's not the perceptive sort. In fact, it takes her far too long to realise that all of her car's tires are punctured. By the time she notices, she's up to Deadman's Drop,
Anna's made quite a study of the history of the local area. Deadman's Drop earned its name doubly so - not only is it an infamous accident blackspot where a poor driver can go right through the barrier and over the edge, but back in history it's where the town used to hang people back in the gold rush. Back then this was way outside the town, and they'd suspend bodies over the gorge, so people coming in would know… something or other. It's pretty disgusting! But also fascinating!
"Oh flipbuckets," Anna says, flashlight in hand as she peers down at the vehicle. It's a good thing she noticed that the steering was feeling funny. If she'd taken the corner with her tires like this, who knows what could have happened?
What the heck did she drive over? Must have been a carrier bag full of glass bottles or something.
Urgh! Urgh! She totally should have listened to her horoscope today! She's a Pisces, and the paper literally said that she needed to be aware of small details to avoid misfortune. And also to avoid salad, which she did. But now her car's got punctured tires and there's literally no way she can repair it all by herself. And driving home like this will just make things worse.
Should she walk? No, it's not safe around here. It's not lit at all. She starts rummaging through her pockets, looking for her phone. Who does she know who'd be willing to come pick her up? Or who knows anything about repairing cars?
A car rolls up behind her. Its headlamps shine in her eyes and she shields her face.
"Um! Hello!" she tries. "Can you help?!"
It pulls over. Several bulky men get out. She can't see their faces, due to the bright light. A frisson of fear runs down the back of her neck. She's scared, all of a sudden. She wanted help, but she… she wasn't looking for a car full of men.
"You want help?" one of them asks. "What's the matter?"
"Oh… um, I've got a flat… I've got several flats, really. Do any of you know about changing tires or… or anything?"
A bald man wearing a thick jacket hefts a tire iron. "Sure. I know all kinds of stuff, Anna."
"Oh, that's… wait." She adjusts her spectacles, peering at the men. "How do you know my name?"
"Just stay still, and it won't hurt," says the bald man.
"Uh… it will," one of the others says.
"Oh for goodness sake, shut the hell up, idiot."
"Sorry, sorry."
The man get closer. Anna screams. The bald man swings his tire iron.
And there's suddenly a flash of light and the man goes flying backwards, into the middle of the road. He's got horrific-looking burns all over his arm. There's a 'twoing' and the tire iron comes slamming down and embeds itself in the tarmac, glowing red-hot.
Wide-eyed, Anna stares at the glowing nimbus around her. She can feel the warmth coming from one of her necklaces. She bought it on a trip to Mexico a few years back because it looked pretty. The old lady by the side of the road had said it would bring her good luck and protect her from evil spirits.
She… she hadn't thought that evil spirits took the form of bulky men with tire irons trying to mug her.
"Go away!" she shouts at them. "Go!"
Man, you just can't catch a break as a secret conspiracy of corrupt businessmen, can you? Here you are, trying to do something as simple as beat up a bookish woman and then it turns out that some of the occult trash she buys for herself is actually real and has real power much to your surprise (and hers). And, very pertinently, is giving you a +2 difficulty increase all the way up to Difficulty 3 when it would normally have been 1. Unfair or what?
Fortunately, you can be unfair too. And one way you always have available to you is your Special Asset. By tapping your Special Asset, suddenly you have a +5 dice bonus. When your average mook has 2-3 dice, this is a really, really big deal. When you send your mooks in on their own, enhancing them with your Special Asset can turn a dicey risky endeavour into a near certain victory. It's the difference between being a comic group of thugs and scary men in rubber suits that lead people watching the series to hide behind the sofa.
As long as you can justify it as being in-theme, you can always provide a write-in to use your Special Asset. I'm usually not going to offer Special Asset choices by default unless shit is going down - it's up to you to produce a write-in justifying the use of it.
And it comes with FREE POWER NO CONSEQUENCES.
Well, okay, actually, it comes with consequences. That's the major problem. When you tap your Special Asset, you get a consequence on a 1-2 on any dice you roll, not just a 1. And Special Assets tend to be quite… obvious. For example, if you'd chosen the future robots, a Special Asset-enhanced elimination plot against the local police department would probably involve driving a truck through the front window and then killer robots shooting everyone they come across. Consequences will often relate much more to revealing your evil conspiracy-ness, and will often be worse for a given consequence level.
Basically, it's a tool to succeed at a given check by trading for the chance of more trouble down the line.
NOTE: I'm still trying out the balance of this. If it turns out to be too powerful or with too few downsides, it may be made limited use or otherwise constrained.
What now?
(Base pool - 3 dice)
[ ] Run away! No one said nothing 'bout any magical glowing amulets!
(Abort Plot, fail objective but does not risk assets.)
[ ] Yeah, sure, it's glowing, but no doubt if you try punching it again, it'll work, right? (x0.2)
(Difficulty 3, Fixed Failure Result: Mooks catch on fire and dissolve into toxic green gloop.)
[ ] Special Asset: Write-in an in-theme use of your Special Asset to overcome the current problem and accomplish your goals. Possible idea seeds are presented below:
-> The underling looks nauseous, and then his tongue extends, bright blue and wormlike. It starts drinking the magic, weakening the shield.
-> One of the men takes off his black gloves, revealing that he has eyeballs on his palms. Anna starves into the eyes, and then takes off her necklace, staring into nothing.
-> They back off, making sure to keep her contained. One of them goes to the back of their car and gets out a dog-carrier. It's rattling and there's green gloop oozing from the front bars.
(Tapping your Special Asset for +5 dice - so 8 dice vs Diff 3)
0-4: Tutorial on Influence
0-4 Tutorial on Influence
The men back away. They're clearly scared. Anna's shaking like a leaf, but she's safe. For now. She prays under her breath. She's always believed in faeries and witches and monsters and demons. She doesn't know what these things are that look like men, but… but… but they better not come near her!
Scrambling in her pockets, she pulls out her phone.
"I'm… I'm c-calling the cops!" she says, voice shaking.
One of them steps forwards slightly, squinting against the glow. "You don't need to do that," he says.
"Get away!"
"I got a reason you shouldn't," he says, pulling off one of his black gloves. He reaches out towards her, and then turns his palm to face her. She looks at it and…
the eye blinks
Anna drops her phone. A trail of drool oozes from her mouth.
"That's right," the man says, all his eyes locked on her. "Now, you just get rid of that necklcae, right?"
She obeys. Hands shaking, she reaches around her neck and pulls it off. Once it's no longer on her, she doesn't even have that to protect her. All she can do is obey. And she throws it over the edge of the drop.
"That's it," the man says. He steps back and gestures to his acquaintances. "She's all yours."
The men step in. She doesn't run. She just stares into space.
There's no screams.
"... and in traffic news, the A31 is currently closed after an accident near Deadman's Drop. Police say that the driver is in a serious but stable condition in hospital, and have called for people to take more care when driving late at night. Current estimates say the road will reopen in six to eight hours. Back to you, James."
"Thanks, Francesca. Once again we return to our main, story, the-"
The man sitting behind the desk reaches out and turns off the radio. "Well. That worked."
The dark-dressed men in front of him shuffle nervously. "Yes, boss," one of them tries. "We didn't expect her to have the weird glowy necklace."
"And yet you showed creativity and initiative," the man says with a smile. "That'll certainly go in your records. That'll look good in front of your next promotion panel, yes?"
There's a slight relaxation from the men. They're not in trouble for losing the necklace. That's… that's good. No one likes being in trouble with the boss. He might put a black mark in your file. Or a Black Mark, which means you're going to be devoured by the ravenous spawn of Tsshassugahss.
"Do you have any more orders for us, boss?" one of the men asks.
"Oh? And why do you ask?"
A drop of sweat runs down the underling's face. "Because I...I am a dynamic go-getter who… who embraces di-diversity," he stammers out, as the others back away from him.
"Excellent! We need more of you in our organisation!" The man sits back in his very expensive and comfortable executive chair. "But no. Our company is bringing in other specialists for the next stage in my grand plan." He pulls out a pen, and uncaps it. The underlings swallow. "You can go."
They file out. And their superior sits back and writes a note.
Stage 1 - Incapacitate Ms Anna Hemmerton - COMPLETE
Stage 2 - Gain control of 102 Evergreen Gardens - IN PROGRESS
He chuckles.
Congratulations! You didn't fail!
Double congratulations! You have a significant Level 4 complication. The complication is [REDACTED]. Fun-fun.
So, your next step is to get control of the location. And here's how we use Influence. See, as a small town American conspiracy, you have influence within local government structures. In fact, a lot of your most potent power is rooted there, because while monsters that look like men in rubber suits can be beaten up by a plucky teenager, the principal harassing them and keeping them in detention is someone they can't punch without risking real serious trouble.
So, remember when you chose to have influence over local government, the school and the local bars? Yeah, those are nice big pools of dice. You want your conspiracy plans to take advantage of the civic infrastructure you control, because you're far more effective when you do that. And you'll want to expand and deepen that control to take over more of the town, because that adds breadth and depth to your conspiracy's capabilities.
Why would you not want to always use that? Well, the risk is that someone investigating an action will be able to tell that the Influence was used. After all, these organisations are public parts of the town. If you pull strings using the mayor's office, people will be able to tell that the mayor was involved. Hence, when you're using Influence, it's always a good idea to think about the PR.
You can use Influence whenever you can justify it. It's a lot easier to plan from the start about using it. You usually need time to bring it into play. Of course, some Influence will respond faster to you calling on it - for example, if you tap the police to help you defend against someone attacking one of your Assets, then a 911 call might be all you need to do. However, in general Influence works on longer time scales.
In addition, you can only use Influence when it actually makes sense. Calling on the Girl Guides to help you search for a hidden site in the woods outside town? A very good cover and way of getting more people on the ground. The Girl Guides are probably less good at planning a kidnapping, though… although there might be some possibilities to drugged cookies...
And of course, using your Special Asset at the same time as you tap Influence will get you very large dice pools, but will risk your Influence being linked to your Special Asset. The big dice pools will also leave you more vulnerable to consequences. And if that happens, your enemies will know to attack your Influence to weaken your control of it.
So! Time to get control of that bookshop!
(Once again, I remind people that failure to provide reasoning for your votes halves your voting weight)
Choose your mooks
[ ] Write-in: How are you planning to use your mooks to get ownership of the place? Are they dodgy lawyers here to scam her into signing it away? Are they thugs intimidating her in the hospital? Are they a sleazy person who she's known for a while who works for the company who's going to give her bad advice?
(Base pool 3 dice, Difficulty 2)
Getting your hands on the Site
[ ] Write-in: Use your influence over the local civic government in some way to help you get your hands on the site. Planning permissions, pulling strings behind the scenes, whatever.
(+6 dice if justified)
[ ] Write-in: Use your influence over the school in some way to help you get your hands on the site.
-> This is probably quite hard to justify as I couldn't think up any prompts - and here we have a limit on the use of Influence
(+4 dice if justified)
[ ]Write-in: Use your influence over the local bars in some way to help you get your hands on the Site. Overheard rumours of financial troubles, making suggestions to someone she drinks with to get them to support the attempts to buy out, whatever.
(+2 dice if justified)
[ ] Let's just keep it on the down low. Send someone to make an offer (or an "offer") for the bookshop.
(Just use your base pool)
The men back away. They're clearly scared. Anna's shaking like a leaf, but she's safe. For now. She prays under her breath. She's always believed in faeries and witches and monsters and demons. She doesn't know what these things are that look like men, but… but… but they better not come near her!
Scrambling in her pockets, she pulls out her phone.
"I'm… I'm c-calling the cops!" she says, voice shaking.
One of them steps forwards slightly, squinting against the glow. "You don't need to do that," he says.
"Get away!"
"I got a reason you shouldn't," he says, pulling off one of his black gloves. He reaches out towards her, and then turns his palm to face her. She looks at it and…
the eye blinks
it's watching her
staring into her soul
with its three-lobed pupil
red and hateful andever so hungry
obey
obey
obeyobey
obey
Anna drops her phone. A trail of drool oozes from her mouth.
"That's right," the man says, all his eyes locked on her. "Now, you just get rid of that necklcae, right?"
She obeys. Hands shaking, she reaches around her neck and pulls it off. Once it's no longer on her, she doesn't even have that to protect her. All she can do is obey. And she throws it over the edge of the drop.
"That's it," the man says. He steps back and gestures to his acquaintances. "She's all yours."
The men step in. She doesn't run. She just stares into space.
There's no screams.
***
"... and in traffic news, the A31 is currently closed after an accident near Deadman's Drop. Police say that the driver is in a serious but stable condition in hospital, and have called for people to take more care when driving late at night. Current estimates say the road will reopen in six to eight hours. Back to you, James."
"Thanks, Francesca. Once again we return to our main, story, the-"
The man sitting behind the desk reaches out and turns off the radio. "Well. That worked."
The dark-dressed men in front of him shuffle nervously. "Yes, boss," one of them tries. "We didn't expect her to have the weird glowy necklace."
"And yet you showed creativity and initiative," the man says with a smile. "That'll certainly go in your records. That'll look good in front of your next promotion panel, yes?"
There's a slight relaxation from the men. They're not in trouble for losing the necklace. That's… that's good. No one likes being in trouble with the boss. He might put a black mark in your file. Or a Black Mark, which means you're going to be devoured by the ravenous spawn of Tsshassugahss.
"Do you have any more orders for us, boss?" one of the men asks.
"Oh? And why do you ask?"
A drop of sweat runs down the underling's face. "Because I...I am a dynamic go-getter who… who embraces di-diversity," he stammers out, as the others back away from him.
"Excellent! We need more of you in our organisation!" The man sits back in his very expensive and comfortable executive chair. "But no. Our company is bringing in other specialists for the next stage in my grand plan." He pulls out a pen, and uncaps it. The underlings swallow. "You can go."
They file out. And their superior sits back and writes a note.
Stage 1 - Incapacitate Ms Anna Hemmerton - COMPLETE
Stage 2 - Gain control of 102 Evergreen Gardens - IN PROGRESS
He chuckles.
Congratulations! You didn't fail!
Double congratulations! You have a significant Level 4 complication. The complication is [REDACTED]. Fun-fun.
So, your next step is to get control of the location. And here's how we use Influence. See, as a small town American conspiracy, you have influence within local government structures. In fact, a lot of your most potent power is rooted there, because while monsters that look like men in rubber suits can be beaten up by a plucky teenager, the principal harassing them and keeping them in detention is someone they can't punch without risking real serious trouble.
So, remember when you chose to have influence over local government, the school and the local bars? Yeah, those are nice big pools of dice. You want your conspiracy plans to take advantage of the civic infrastructure you control, because you're far more effective when you do that. And you'll want to expand and deepen that control to take over more of the town, because that adds breadth and depth to your conspiracy's capabilities.
Why would you not want to always use that? Well, the risk is that someone investigating an action will be able to tell that the Influence was used. After all, these organisations are public parts of the town. If you pull strings using the mayor's office, people will be able to tell that the mayor was involved. Hence, when you're using Influence, it's always a good idea to think about the PR.
You can use Influence whenever you can justify it. It's a lot easier to plan from the start about using it. You usually need time to bring it into play. Of course, some Influence will respond faster to you calling on it - for example, if you tap the police to help you defend against someone attacking one of your Assets, then a 911 call might be all you need to do. However, in general Influence works on longer time scales.
In addition, you can only use Influence when it actually makes sense. Calling on the Girl Guides to help you search for a hidden site in the woods outside town? A very good cover and way of getting more people on the ground. The Girl Guides are probably less good at planning a kidnapping, though… although there might be some possibilities to drugged cookies...
And of course, using your Special Asset at the same time as you tap Influence will get you very large dice pools, but will risk your Influence being linked to your Special Asset. The big dice pools will also leave you more vulnerable to consequences. And if that happens, your enemies will know to attack your Influence to weaken your control of it.
So! Time to get control of that bookshop!
(Once again, I remind people that failure to provide reasoning for your votes halves your voting weight)
Choose your mooks
[ ] Write-in: How are you planning to use your mooks to get ownership of the place? Are they dodgy lawyers here to scam her into signing it away? Are they thugs intimidating her in the hospital? Are they a sleazy person who she's known for a while who works for the company who's going to give her bad advice?
(Base pool 3 dice, Difficulty 2)
Getting your hands on the Site
[ ] Write-in: Use your influence over the local civic government in some way to help you get your hands on the site. Planning permissions, pulling strings behind the scenes, whatever.
(+6 dice if justified)
[ ] Write-in: Use your influence over the school in some way to help you get your hands on the site.
-> This is probably quite hard to justify as I couldn't think up any prompts - and here we have a limit on the use of Influence
(+4 dice if justified)
[ ]Write-in: Use your influence over the local bars in some way to help you get your hands on the Site. Overheard rumours of financial troubles, making suggestions to someone she drinks with to get them to support the attempts to buy out, whatever.
(+2 dice if justified)
[ ] Let's just keep it on the down low. Send someone to make an offer (or an "offer") for the bookshop.
(Just use your base pool)
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