I'm working on building a secret organization like Delta Green or the Ordo Veritas from Essoterrorists for a secret magic/conspiracy/horror setting I'm working on. I want it to draw on small cells of intelligence operatives, so I can riff off of shows like
MI-5 and
The Sandbaggers. For opposition, I'll be sending them up primarily against occult Nazis, with the odd monster thrown in for a little variety.
I want to give the organization a history going back to the 1930s, so I can use it for pulp era, WWII, and modern adventures. I definitely would like for it to have a British component. I'm toying with the idea of making it an Anglo-American conspiratorial group with cells operating independently under the umbrella of an intelligence organization in each country and maybe in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa as well.
My thought is to have an initiatory group (probably pseudo-Masonic) at the center of the conspiracy, with members that can manipulate resources within their nation's intel communities in order to give the field cells the PCs would be part of both resources and latitude to operate independently.
I'd like general feedback on how to create something that is going to seem very plausible- to create an everything is real, but the supernatural bits feel. I'd also like some ideas on where to stick the cells. I figure that I'll work the British component into the SOE by WWII. The American element might start out within the Black Chamber and end up in the OSS. I'm not certain where I want to go after the war though.
I'm toying with setting up MI-6 as an obstructionist sort of adversary for the Brits in my little conspiracy. I could stick the British cell in MI-5, but that would deny them the ability to operate internationally under the cover of the organization they would be leeching off of. Maybe within the Army? Something to do with the SAS or military intelligence?
I have a similar dilemma with the Americans. Could a group working within the CIA remain completely secret for 50 years? If not, where should I put them? Something like the ISA/Grey Fox might be fun. Special Forces get created fairly early, so I could probably make the chronology work, I'm just not sure I want to put them within the military. Maybe the State Department?
If I were to go with Commonwealth components as well, I really have no idea how to handle that.
Creating something independent is possible, but I'm not sure it is realistic that a small intel unit could be funded for decades without attracting unwanted attention. Operational groups within bigger organizations seem more plausible.
I definitely want something more tightly structured than the approach in Delta Green, where you have ad hoc groups brought together from a variety of organizations. Like I said earlier, I'm looking to emulate the sort of set up you see on TV programs like
MI-5/Spooks,
The Sandbaggers, or
NCIS.
Feel free to throw in any other ideas you might have that would be fun in an espionage/horror game.