Well... thank you all for your support! You have put immense trust in us, and we are all so grateful for that. Now we return our noses back to the grindstone to make something truly worthy of you all!
More gribblies await in the Core Rulebook
So, What is Next?
If you will give us a little leeway, this is actually our first time on the BackerKit platform, so there are a few things still new to use. However, we are in constant contact with the BackerKit staff, so we foresee any issues getting resolved quickly.
So, what happens next?
Not just transport... but an HQ too?
Well, first of all, the next two weeks will be fairly quiet, as this is the time BackerKit takes to collate all your information. However...
Within the next month, you will see the Dark Conspiracy Core Rulebook PDF, 99% completed and ready for your games! You will have every opportunity to look through, let us know what you like, and what you think ought to be changed.
Also within the next few months, we will send out the Add-Ons you have pledged for (with the exception of the Dark Conspiracy rulebook... obviously...), so no waiting around for those.
The Field Ops mission book is written, edited, and will be hitting layout next week. Once Cassie has the art direction sorted, we will be able to give you a good idea of when to expect the PDF to look over.
The stretch goals are being written right now, and I expect you will start seeing them before Field Ops.
The Referee's Screen will be completed and sent to you as a PDF just as soon as the cover art for it is done. I will have a chat with Cassie to see when that is likely to be.
The Dread Earth campaign is completely outlined and the serious writing of it starts the week after next. We will keep you fully updated as to its contents (not many spoilers though!) as work proceeds.
All going well... we should be able to get everything off to print before the end of the year so, fingers crossed, we will be well within the predicted deadline for everything.
All through this, we will preview snippets of text and the new artwork coming in for the titles beyond the Core Rulebook, so you will soon be swamped in lots of Dark Conspiracy goodness!
Major firepower is available (like it will help...)
So, for now, it is just left for me to say thank you again, to one and all. Your support is most humbling and we sincerely hope you massively enjoy the game as it drops through your inbox and mail box.
There are just three days left in this BackerKit campaign for Dark Conspiracy, and we are getting super-excited as the time nears when we can start sending out the Core Rulebook to you all!
However, there is more than just the Core Rulebook coming. We also have the dread Earth campaign, plus the Field Ops mission book that will get you started in defending the Earth against the predations of the Dark Minions.
Field Ops has 7 standalone missions suitable for any cell, ranging from Green-Grade to Black...
Operation Cracked Vessel
This mission pits the Operatives against an insidious cult in rural Nevada, whose attempted summonings of biblical figures to protect them against the apocalypse have caught the attention of something far darker, and far more bloodthirsty.
Operation Falling Timber
A branch of a multinational company has been haemorrhaging staff, and nobody knows why. Their personnel losses are becoming too hard for the Company to ignore, however, and reports are only becoming increasingly concerning.
Operation Shattered Antler
At least two teams have not returned. The Company has no other option. Operatives must find a way to push back Demonground from where it encroaches into the Italian Alps next to an otherwise picturesque village, before all manner of horrors pour forth.
Operation Sundered Ship
Friends, ex-coworkers, family members… all are susceptible to the Dark. Nobody knows this better than the Operatives who now have to save Contacts and Allies from the worst of fates.
Operation Endless Sun
Dartmoor has been cordoned off, and villages and towns have been evacuated. The Beast of Dartmoor is back, and the Operatives are sent to determine the truth behind this old folktale, once and for all.
Operation Fighting Bison
Podcasts are a dime a dozen, but some break out of their smaller audiences and into the wider public arena. One such podcast has become too big, and its hosts too violent, to ignore. The Operatives must stop them before they release their anniversary episode, which could be disastrous for all humanity.
Operation Hidden Anvil
There is little evidence behind what attacked Aiko Takamura near Shibuya Crossing. There is no CCTV, no blood, no DNA, and no witnesses. Nobody could have hurt someone that badly within such a short time, and yet… here Aiko is. The Operatives must find out what happened, and what part Dark Minions had to play in Aiko’s injuries, before someone else gets hurt.
Stay tuned for more updates before the end of the BackerKit campaign!
When we started work on Dark Conspiracy, we knew if should be/would be Traveller-based (in terms of the rules). However, Traveller is more than just 'roll two dice, add modifiers, try to get 8 or more.' Traveller is effectively a set of interconnected mini-games that allow a Referee to create adventures without serious preparation. You never need be at a loss for adventure!
But how to do this in Dark Conspiracy?
Well, we had the mission structure as far as the Company is concerned (showcased in the last update), and we had the name of the game - Dark... Conspiracy...
How would it be if we blended those together? What if it were the players who were uncovering their own conspiracy, independent of the Referee?
Could we get that to work?
Starting the Conspiracy
We knew this needed to have minimal Referee-input. As much as possible, it would be driven by the players alone. So, we had the idea that the Operatives would dig around, doing their research, and the Referee would award them with 'conspiracy headlines'.
These would be short one-liners that could be gleaned from the Internet, conspiracy-focussed magazines (you know the ones), or drawn from random in the Core Rulebook (we have an Appendix filed with them - everything from 'Weird radio pulses detected under the Antarctic ice' to 'They're turning the fricking frogs gay!'). The more sensationalist, the better.
It starts so simply...
The Referee then takes a step back and lets the Operatives get on with it.
Everyone is Missing This!
The Operatives start by making Investigate checks. If successful, the Referee gives them a headline. This headline has a Veracity equal to Effect of the check.
Headline in hand, the Operatives decide whether it relates to an Event, Location, Entity, Obfuscation, Beneficiary or Victim. They are given a Conspiracy Web chart (that, coincidentally, looks like a six-spoked spider's web), and places that headline at the outermost edge of the web, on the spoke that relates to one of those categories.
So, if the Operatives heard about radio pulses at the South Pole, they might decide that is an Event or a Location, perhaps, and place it there.
They need to fill each of those categories with a headline, so will need to get six before they can really start investigating.
As the campaign continues, they will 'finesse' those headlines with a variety of checks, representing them trawling the internet, talking to contacts, visiting locations and performing reconnaissance, and so on. This will, hopefully, improve the Veracity of a headline.
Bringing it All Together
Operatives will have the chance to swap headlines between conspiracy categories, and add new ones. The goal is to improve the Veracity of each headline and bring it closer to the centre of the web while constructing a narrative of how everything fits together.
Who knows what they find when they go off piste?
When the centre of the web is surrounded on all six categories, the Operatives then present their grand conspiracy to the Referee, showing how everything fits together and ready to take action on a mission of their very own, with no Company involvement!
Complications
Finding headlines and improving their Veracity is easy at first, requiring only a few hours between Company-assigned missions. However, as the Operatives get drawn ever deeper intwined with their conspiracy, it begins to take over their lives, with checks taking days, weeks... months of all-consuming research and explanation.
The truth is out there! It must be!
At some point, deep into their investigations, the Referee can present them with a Breakthrough. This is purely optional (and is really just a method for the Referee to stick their oar in), and is done by the Operatives being contacted by a stranger 'in the know' who can give them new leads and let them know that they are close... very, very close.
If you have seen the episode of The X-Files where Deep Throat is first introduced or Donald Sutherland’s character in the film JFK, you will know exactly how to portray this.
Conversely, the Operatives can try to discard a headline that is not working for them. However, this requires a check too, and failure will mean that, maddeningly, they cannot see the connection but just know it is part of the conspiracy!
It is possible we may be right...
Over to the Referee
When the Operatives present their grand conspiracy, the Referee is free to knock it back and tell them to try harder with their narrative - it has to make some sort of sense!
However, if it all seems... somewhat plausible, the Referee takes the Veracity score of each headline the Operatives have been massaging, and converts it into a Truth score - secretly determining whether the Operatives are just plain wrong... or right on the money (ranging from The Complete Opposite to The Unvarnished Truth, with levels in-between).
We then help the Referee to create a mission (or several missions!) that will allow the Operatives to uncover the truth, whatever it may be, and end the evil they (think) they have uncovered, using he framework that the Operatives themselves created.
But.... String?
We have given an optional rule for Operative-Generated Missions. Instead of the Conspiracy Web, the Operatives are (physically) given a white board... and red string.
In this version, the white board gets filled with handouts and scrap notepaper, with the Operatives trying to connect headlines by red string to show how they are all related.
This method is much more... confusing, but very much in the theme of Operative-Generated Missions!
You sure we thought this through>?
To a great extent, this is our favourite part of the Dark Conspiracy Core Rulebook. Some groups may ignore it completely, we think most will dabble as part of an on-going campaign, but some... well, there is every chance that Operative-Generated Missions will become the sole focus of a few groups!
As we approach another weekend after passing the halfway point of this campaign, it is time to look at adventures in Dark Conspiracy - missions.
Now, you can approach missions/adventures in any fashion you see fit, but we have provided a template for you to use in the Dark Conspiracy Core Rulebook, allowing you to dive right into the action.
The Ender Centipede
The Briefing
Typically, a mission begins with a briefing - the nature of this will depend greatly on your Operatives' relationship with The Company. Perhaps you get an encrypted email, perhaps a video call with a shadowy agent using a voice changer, maybe you receive it through a handler or a dead drop (we have a joke in the office that the worst of Operatives just get a piece of paper tied to a brick thrown through their window...).
This briefing will tell the Operatives what they are expected to do, along with all the information that The Company has gathered (and thinks they should know...) on the situation at hand.
Missions are graded (a fact that may or may not be made known to the Operatives: Green, Amber, Red, Black... and Severance. These grades guide what Operatives are expected to accomplish, and what Trust they will gain form the Company.
The Froude
Gather Intelligence
The next step is for the Operatives to gather intelligence to learn what it is they may be facing. In this template, they receive a dossier packed full of what may seem to be unrelated material - but it has all been vetted by the Company and is deemed vital.
This is a blessing for the Referee because there is little burden on their side of the screen in terms of getting their players going. All they have had to do is present the briefing and dossier, and now the players will be driving the story as their Operatives make enquiries, reach out to Contacts, hack into computer systems, consult specialised libraries, and perform reconnaissance. The Referee has all the answers in front of them, and can simply react to the player's questions.
Simples!
It does not always go well for Empaths...
Safeguard Humanity
Once the Operatives think they know what they are doing (!), they can travel to where the Dark incursion is alleged to be taking place, perform last minute investigations and then hopefully, deal with the Dark Minion or cult that has been causing trouble.
Back home in time for tea and medals!
Maintain the Conspiracy
However, their job is not yet done. Before they leave, Operatives must ensure the conspiracy is maintained - no one must ever get credible evidence of Dark Minions and their designs for humanity. This can take many different forms, and no doubt the Operatives will get very creative at this stage.
Weird things in the sky? Get local news to report on weather balloons. Unexplained deaths in a forest? Bandits, we dealt with them, don't even worry about it. Someone saw something they really should not have seen? Ugh, not optimal - wipe any evidence they have and do everything you can to discredit their story...
Whatever happens, the conspiracy must be maintained or the war is lost before it has really started.
The Render
Scoring
Oh, you can bet the Company is keeping a close eye on the results the Operatives come up with. For the Referee, we have a handy scoring system.
At each stage outlined above, the Operatives have a list of objectives they must accomplish (which are, of course, not made clear to them). If successful, the Referee notes down a set number of points for each stage.
Here's the thing...
What you score for successful intelligence gathering and dealing with Dark Minions is the same for both. However, what you can gain for maintaining the conspiracy is equal to both of those combined.
The Company's priorities are clear. You are permitted to completely stuff up a mission but so long as the conspiracy is maintained... well, we live to fight another day.
The points scored for a mission translate into Trust. With Trust, Operatives can make permanent requisitions from the Company, establish a new network of contacts and resources, upgrade their HQ... or get a brand new (better!) HQ.
This is just a base template, of course, and you can set your own adventures up as you see fit. You want to start in media res with Dark Minions breaking into the Operatives HQ, that is just fine!
However, we have one more addition to the Missions chapter, where the Operatives can conduct their own investigations outside of the Company's directives to uncover their own conspiracies.
We will take a look at player-generated missions next week!
It is time to introduce you all to what is looking like will be a very popular career - the Everyman!
The Everyman - as he currently appears in the rulebook
The team of super-skilled, highly-trained Operatives was a core of the vision we had for Dark Conspiracy... but we knew we could not leave it at that. Suppose someone did not want to be a high-powered professional? Suppose someone was a high-powered professional but had since retired? How to handle that?
The core of this idea started with Zander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer - someone with no real skills, obviously and hopelessly out of his depth... and yet, as they showed in the series, he was very much the 'heart' of the group.
More ideas followed on from that. John McClane of Die Hard fame is another great example (possibly a bit more skilled than Xander), and in playtests the Everyman became very common - we still remember Abby's failed Mercenary fixer (think the film War Dogs, but much, much worse) who after a single term became a bus driver. Went well until her bus was mobbed by a bunch of demonic bikers...
The Career
The Everyman is an optional career, hence it being tucked into an Appendix at the back (like the Prisoner). You can choose to be an Everyman form the outset, or become one after a professional career (if you want the retired angle). Simply pick whether you want to be Blue Collar, White Collar, or a Drifter.
You may have already noticed that the skill selection for the Everyman is not wildly exciting - but they are all very useful. In fact, you might be the only one who can, say, drive a car properly if the rest of the team is filled with scientists and hackers...
However, there is a little secret buried within those skills. You will have plenty of chances to pick up the Profession skill which is normally... fine in Traveller-based games. However, in Dark Conspiracy Profession acts like the highly-valued Jack-of-All-Trades within its field. So, you can basically offset the unskilled penalty with any task that you can vaguely relate to your job!
And yes, you will find that particular rule making its way into Traveller itself in a future update...
Connections
Another way that the Everyman becomes the 'heart' of a group is that he is the only Operative who can make Connections to the others. Everyone can do this in Traveller, but we figured that Operatives would be more locked into their own (often super-secret) careers.
Basically, you roll an Event as an Operative, and the Everyman's player can come up with a narrative as to how he met you and became involved. So, you will already know the Everyman before play starts (and will likely have been the one to bring him into the group - the Company might not even know about him!).
Doing this has benefits - you both get a free skill of your choice!
Not all Mishaps are bad things in the end?
Mishaps
Mishaps are tragic for most Operatives, but essential for the Everyman. Each one represents an encounter with the Dark, and acts as the 'inciting incident' that propels the Everyman into a new life filled with terror.
Of course, life is pretty safe for most ordinary citizens, so the Everyman can opt to fail a Survival roll and get stuck into the campaign at any time.
More Previews
Over the next three-odd weeks, we have oodles more to show you of the Core Rulebook - the dangers beyond Dark Minions that Operatives might face (including Demonground and Empathic Viruses, as well as, you know, poisons, radiation and animals that your friend prodded a bit too hard...), the vehicles your Operatives can own and commandeer, how cells work and how to create an HQ, the structure of missions and how Operatives can engage in their own investigations, just what Dark Empathy is, and something called DarkTech...
So, lots to cover. Stay tuned and we will give you the grand tour of Dark Conspiracy!
Time for a new update, and today I would like to go over a little item tucked away in the Scientific Equipment section. Most bits and pieces here are things you will readily recognise - Geiger counters, kits dedicated to specific fields of science, so you can use your astronomy or geology skills when out of your HQ, and so forth.
And then there is the Paraphysicist Field Kit.
One version of it, at least...
The important thing we come back to, time and again, in the Core Rulebook is this: Nobody knows anything.
Lots of people think they know what is going on with the Dark, but no one, not even in the upper echelons of the Company (whoever they may be...), really know what is happening, why it is happening, or how to stop it.
Doesn't stop people trying to figure it out though - and your Operatives can be part of that process.
Finding the Dark
The nature of empathy is barely understood, and the ‘science’ based around it is barely worthy of the term. However, something beyond what is thought of as natural clearly exists, and so there have been many attempts to create devices to detect and analyse empathic activity with the goal of tracking and combating Dark Minions.
Given that there is no real baseline as to what empathy even is, every paraphysicist field kit is unique, each guided by the vague theories and hypotheses of its creator. Many are based on analysing specific frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, others focus on ultra- and subsonic detection, while more esoteric devices purport to measure some barely defined ‘aether’ or energy field beyond known science.
Practice Makes Perfect
What is clear is that the effectiveness of each field kit is based upon the ability of its user to read the results it provides and interpret them. Using a paraphysicist field kit requires a successful Formidable (14+) INT check (1D rounds) or Science (paraphysics) check (1D rounds, INT). This will detect the location and direction of any empathic use or any Dark Minion within 10 metres. The range can be increased by applying DM-2 for every additional 10 metres of range, and timeframes can be adjusted to make the task easier or quicker.
As the user comes to understand both the field kit and the nature of empathic detection, their ability to successfully use this equipment improves. Every time the check to use the field kit results in Effect 2+, the user gains a cumulative DM+1 to future checks (to a maximum of DM+6). This bonus is applied only to the specific user when using the specific device – a different user or the same user using a different device must start at DM+0.
Of course, it may not always work as intended...
Build Your Own
This is where it gets fun...
Many Operatives eschew paraphysicist field kits built by others and only trust one assembled by their own hands, guided by their own ideas and observations. The parts to create a field kit require Requisition 7 and need a task chain to assemble over 1D days, using the following skills:
An optional Average (8+) Empathy Use check (EMP) can be added
Average (8+) Mechanic check (INT)
Success in this task chain will result in the creation of a new paraphysicist field kit. Success with Effect 6+ will grant DM+2 to any attempt to use it, though this can still be improved with continued use as normal (to a maximum DM+8).
Failure will result in a pile of useless components as the ideas of the Operative building it are proven completely false. The process must be restarted, with new components requisitioned.
So, that is the Paraphysicist Field Kit! We have a lot more previews on the way - including the Everyman career, which seems to be quite popular in the poll that is being run at the moment!
Well... thank you all for your support! You have put immense trust in us, and we are all so grateful for that. Now we return our noses back to the grindstone to make something truly worthy of you all!
More gribblies await in the Core Rulebook
So, What is Next?
If you will give us a little leeway, this is actually our first time on the BackerKit platform, so there are a few things still new to use. However, we are in constant contact with the BackerKit staff, so we foresee any issues getting resolved quickly.
So, what happens next?
Not just transport... but an HQ too?
Well, first of all, the next two weeks will be fairly quiet, as this is the time BackerKit takes to collate all your information. However...
Within the next month, you will see the Dark Conspiracy Core Rulebook PDF, 99% completed and ready for your games! You will have every opportunity to look through, let us know what you like, and what you think ought to be changed.
Also within the next few months, we will send out the Add-Ons you have pledged for (with the exception of the Dark Conspiracy rulebook... obviously...), so no waiting around for those.
The Field Ops mission book is written, edited, and will be hitting layout next week. Once Cassie has the art direction sorted, we will be able to give you a good idea of when to expect the PDF to look over.
The stretch goals are being written right now, and I expect you will start seeing them before Field Ops.
The Referee's Screen will be completed and sent to you as a PDF just as soon as the cover art for it is done. I will have a chat with Cassie to see when that is likely to be.
The Dread Earth campaign is completely outlined and the serious writing of it starts the week after next. We will keep you fully updated as to its contents (not many spoilers though!) as work proceeds.
All going well... we should be able to get everything off to print before the end of the year so, fingers crossed, we will be well within the predicted deadline for everything.
All through this, we will preview snippets of text and the new artwork coming in for the titles beyond the Core Rulebook, so you will soon be swamped in lots of Dark Conspiracy goodness!
Major firepower is available (like it will help...)
So, for now, it is just left for me to say thank you again, to one and all. Your support is most humbling and we sincerely hope you massively enjoy the game as it drops through your inbox and mail box.
This crowdfunder has got me rewatching Warehouse 13 and pondering that it might be a good/fun campaign inspiration (a tiny, shoestring budget top secret crew tasked with investigating and collecting potentially dangerous supernatural artefacts and safeguarding the warehouse they're being stored.)
This has me wondering, aside from the obvious (X-files for example), what media would be good inspiration for a Dark Conspiracy campaign? What are your sources of inspiration and ideas?
There are just three days left in this BackerKit campaign for Dark Conspiracy, and we are getting super-excited as the time nears when we can start sending out the Core Rulebook to you all!
However, there is more than just the Core Rulebook coming. We also have the dread Earth campaign, plus the Field Ops mission book that will get you started in defending the Earth against the predations of the Dark Minions.
Field Ops has 7 standalone missions suitable for any cell, ranging from Green-Grade to Black...
Operation Cracked Vessel
This mission pits the Operatives against an insidious cult in rural Nevada, whose attempted summonings of biblical figures to protect them against the apocalypse have caught the attention of something far darker, and far more bloodthirsty.
Operation Falling Timber
A branch of a multinational company has been haemorrhaging staff, and nobody knows why. Their personnel losses are becoming too hard for the Company to ignore, however, and reports are only becoming increasingly concerning.
Operation Shattered Antler
At least two teams have not returned. The Company has no other option. Operatives must find a way to push back Demonground from where it encroaches into the Italian Alps next to an otherwise picturesque village, before all manner of horrors pour forth.
Operation Sundered Ship
Friends, ex-coworkers, family members… all are susceptible to the Dark. Nobody knows this better than the Operatives who now have to save Contacts and Allies from the worst of fates.
Operation Endless Sun
Dartmoor has been cordoned off, and villages and towns have been evacuated. The Beast of Dartmoor is back, and the Operatives are sent to determine the truth behind this old folktale, once and for all.
Operation Fighting Bison
Podcasts are a dime a dozen, but some break out of their smaller audiences and into the wider public arena. One such podcast has become too big, and its hosts too violent, to ignore. The Operatives must stop them before they release their anniversary episode, which could be disastrous for all humanity.
Operation Hidden Anvil
There is little evidence behind what attacked Aiko Takamura near Shibuya Crossing. There is no CCTV, no blood, no DNA, and no witnesses. Nobody could have hurt someone that badly within such a short time, and yet… here Aiko is. The Operatives must find out what happened, and what part Dark Minions had to play in Aiko’s injuries, before someone else gets hurt.
Stay tuned for more updates before the end of the BackerKit campaign!
I was wondering if, ahead of next summer, we could maybe expect some Dark Conspiracy (Traveller) rule tutorials, and actual plays of the game?
It would be a great help to those of us who haven't played it before. I have personally been brought in the campaign by the theme and the prospect of a self contained entry point into Traveller.
Since I don't know the original game editions either, I would love to get a feel for the tone and pace of a mission.
We are in the final few days.
I would like more than one copy of the books, others have said they would like the option of purchasing pdfs of the books as an add on so they can purchase the core book and then add the pdfs.
is there still time to make the other books and the pdfs add on options?
