The Miscellanium

The world-spanning, grand conspiracy CoC game.

1921. An eminent scholar of archeology vanishes in China, having entrusted a coded manuscript to the PCs. Strange ruins are uncovered in Sweden and people from local villages disappear in the night.

1922. The CEO of a prominent banking firm is torn apart by invisible forces on a New York sidewalk. An acquaintance of the PCs is driven mad by horrible nightmares. A ship runs around in California will all the crew dismembered and their limbs and organs neatly stacked and labeled in an unknown language.

1923. The PCs begin to suspect that the above events are connected, but go insane before they can figure out how.

Yup, this would be the classic evil brotherhood of darkness carrying out world-spanning evil CoC game. A string of strange events begins to reveal a pattern, leading the PCs to have to risk their lives and sanity to save the world.

System: CoC

Another SD game.

The PCs are sent to join an archeological expedition in Jordan with their only instructions being to infiltrate the expedition and keep their eyes open. No strange disappearances, no ritual murders, so hideous monsters, but Merkulov seems to have a feeling that that won’t last. The old man also cautions the PCs, very specifically, to under no circumstances reveal who they work for, but he won’t say why.

System: Unisystem

Another Second Directorate game. The plot is a little unoriginal, but then again, so it is most of the setting.

A strange series of murders has occurred in Chicago. The victims have all been killed in public places and had a strange symbol carved into their chest. Who did it, however, is not a mystery. Almost all of the perpetrators were caught shortly after the crime took place and their guilt confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt, some of the killings even being caught on security cameras. Arresting these suspects, who seem completely unconnected to each other, however, has not stopped the killings, and after the tenth victim is found, SD agents are called in.

System: Unisystem

I don’t know that I’ve posted any Second Directorate games here yet, so I’ll start with some setting background.

The Second Directorate is a secret office of Interpol charged with keeping innocent humanity safe from supernatural evils. It recruits agents from, well, pretty much anywhere, the only condition being that they have to have had some contact with the supernatural before, and this contact has motivated them to get involved in protecting others (or seeking revenge, that works too). Most SD agents live normal lives, being called up about once a year to go and investigate some unusual occurrence, somewhere in the world. They often have to operate with limited local police support, SD being a secret organization after all. Oh, and whole thing is run by a seemingly ageless Russian named Dr. Merkulov.

Anyway, here’s the specific game idea.

In a rural part of Indonesian Borneo young women are disappearing on the night before their marriage. While a police investigation has turned up no traces, local rumor suggests that on some nights the faces of the young women can be seen floating in the local swamps. A local elder, who has had some dealings with SD in the past, has requested that a team of agents be sent, saying only that he will reveal why he is sure they are necessary when they arrive.

System: Unisystem

The Castle in the Mist. This is a fairly classic plotline, but I think it could be quite interesting. Yup, it’s also L5R. That seems to be a theme of this blog. Perhaps I should rename it to “Someone Please Let Me Play In/Run An L5R Game: The Blog.” 

The PCs are traveling through the rough hills near the old Boar Clan lands (mostly long abandoned after the Boar met their dire end centuries ago). Sudden torrential rains drive them to seek shelter and they come across a large but decaying castle in a secluded valley not marked on their maps. A senior servant, dressed in clan colors they do not recognize, invites them inside and offers them shelter and, driven by the worsening weather, they reluctantly accept.

System: L5R

The Shadowlands Game: The PCs are loyal retainers of Daigotsu, the Dark Lord of the Shadowlands. They support him in struggles with other rival forces of darkness (those damn Bloodspeakers) as well as confrontations with the “good guys.” This game would be a chance to explore character options banned from normal L5R games. It may produce more powerful PCs (reveling in the twisted powers of the Shadowlands can do that) and allow a more combat-focused, tactical style of L5R play. It could also be a chance to play L5R cut free from many of the constraints of polite society that some players have trouble getting used to.

Also, the Shadowlands is a pretty exciting and varied setting, and it would be nice to explore it without having to worry about corruption and soul loss.

System: L5R (3rd or 4th)

The Walled City Game: The PCs are social outcasts living in desperate poverty inside a larger and darker take on the Kowloon Walled City (for a decent quick sense of the atmosphere, watch this). They are all, for personal reasons, unable (or absolutely unwilling) to leave. To pass the time, they accept a request from a local old woman to find her missing grandson. The search draws them deeper into the poorly maintained, unlit parts of the Walled City than they have ever been before, and they begin to suspect that something truly sinister resides in the Walled City’s ancient, rotting heart.

System: I wrote my own system for this setting!