[GAME] Let's Build a Conspiracy!

[ajardoor]

Okay, taking a lot of inspiration from Night’s Black Agents, which has a campaign outlining tool called The Conspiryamid. The basic idea is that a conspiracy (in NBA, it’s vampires) has several levels of “nodes” and several levels of responses/counterattacks to go with them.

The “nodes” represent a group or asset or organization controlled by the conspiracy - there are 6 levels of such nodes, each higher level has one less node than the lower level, and each node is controlled (or in contact) by 1 or 2 nodes on the level above it, and controls or is in contact with one or two nodes below it in turn. The idea is, defeating one node will get you clues or expose the nodes above it. There are 6 levels of nodes in total and the lone top node is the conspiracy’s ultimate leadership (in NBA, this is the autocratic head vampire, or the most powerful clique of leading vampires).

The “response/counterattack” pyramid is structured in the same way, but instead of nodes, the points in the pyramid represent what the conspiracy does in reaction to the players destroying a node or otherwise accomplishing an important meeting. Again, each level from bottom to top has less and less points, and the lone point left at the top is usually along the lines of “total war”. Each level of response correlates to the same level of nodes in the conspiracy pyramid - eliminating a level 3 node gets the conspiracy to try a level 3 tactic against the players, for instance.

Oh, and the higher level nodes have higher stats, too, of course (ala increasing BAD in GURPS Action when the players make more headway against the opposition).

This is a collaborative construction forum game. The objective is to combine our shared talents to construct a (probably modern day TL 8 Earth) conspiracy.
Point of this thread is, I wanna see you guys build a conspiracy with its own pyramid of nodes and responses. Now, there’ll be two parts of building the conspiracy for posters; answering questions in the same way as other “Let’s Build” threads AND submitting nodes and/or responses. The first will simply be asking and answering general questions about the conspiracy (see below). Let me explain the format for the latter.

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There are six levels each of both Nodes and Responses.

Nodes;
Level 1 has six. It’s typically the “local” or “street” end of the conspiracy for Nodes.
Level 2 has five. These Nodes are state-wide institutions or very rich people.
Level 3 has four. These Nodes tend to be lone billionaires or nation-wide organizations.
Level 4 has three. These Nodes tend to be multinational organizations. Lone individuals at this Level are roaming field commandos (mini-bosses?) who enforce discipline/loyalty/troubleshooting and act as a supervisor for very important matters on behalf of the core of the conspiracy.
Level 5 has two. These Nodes tend to be the Big Bad’s Personal Henchmen. The Darth Vaders. Organizations at this Level may be a nest of every vampire/werewolf/mage/devil/whatever in the conspiracy except for the Level 6 boss (if the conspiracy is supernatural), or just the Villain’s extended family.
Level 6 only has one. The Villain with a capital V. The core of the conspiracy.

Responses:
Level 1 tactics are six in number. They’re typically just mild reactions, like offering payoffs or shadowing someone close to the players.
Level 2 Responses are more intense, there are 5 of them. The conspiracy may plant red herrings or framing the players for a crime.
Level 3 stuff numbers 4 different Responses. They can be insidious like inserting a double agent or subtly violent like baiting a trap for the players. Any supernatural abilities the conspiracy has may get used, if they’re not too obvious or destructive.
Level 4 reactions are three-fold. At this point, the conspiracy resorts to open violence (killing a player’s loved one, for instance) and hard persuasion (say, offering a player their heart’s desire). The conspiracy may unleash a pet monster if they’re supernatural in nature.
Level 5 Responses are just 2. To compensate, they are very harsh. Expect classics like getting whole Nodes of goons actively hunting for the players.
Level 6 is Total War. The conspiracy abandons all else to destroy the players. No expense is spared, no taboo is respected. It’s kill or be killed.

YOU CAN SUBMIT MORE THAN THE MAX NUMBER OF NODES/RESPONSES FOR A LEVEL. (For instance, 7 Nodes for Level 4.) If you have an idea for a Node or Response, but the appropriate level is “full”
Why? Because different GMs may want different elements of conspiracies in their game, so giving them more choice is useful. (“Cannibal clichés annoy me. I’ll just swap out the blood cult for the PMCs...”) So don’t worry if one Level looks overcrowded, submit your idea anyway!

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The format for Node submissions;

Level X Node
[Just write the title here.]
Details: What kind of institution or group of people is it? What does it do for the conspiracy? Interesting features or resources it brings to the table.
Connections: Suggest what Nodes it could control (not applicable for the lowest level) and/or be controlled by (not applicable for the highest level). For example, a street gang on Level 1 controls no other Nodes, but may be in contact or directly controlled by Level 2 Nodes like a state governor or a private prison (which is really a black site and/or hideout for the conspiracy).

The format for Response submissions;

Level X Response
[Just write the title here.]
Details: What tactics is this? What does it hope to accomplish?
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With the setup explained, let’s start with two important Questions;

Question 1: Who or what is the core of the conspiracy?

Question 2: What is the overall goal of the conspiracy?

Each time you answer a question, you may ask one of your own to further the collaboration.

[ajardoor]

An example for both Nodes and Responses

Level 3 Node
Blackhawk Trucking Company
Details: On the surface, Blackhawk Trucking is merely a well-respected and decades-old brand of cross-country transportation. In truth, it was bought out completely by the conspiracy 15 years ago, and now functions as smugglers and a tax shelter for it. The conspiracy has been quietly embezzling from the company since the buyout, evading taxes thanks to various loopholes and lazy inspections.
Connections: Blackhawk Trucking could be owned on paper by a Level 4 Node like an Investment Group or a lone multi-billionaire. It could be the preferred mode of transport for a top enforcer who reports directly to the Number Two of the conspiracy. Level 2 Nodes in contact with Blackhawk Trucking could be a controlled hospital (smuggling organs or people via the trucks), a corrupted police department (disposing of evidence by sending it out of state), a corrupt labor union (who send cuts of their bribes up the chain by using truckers as couriers), or the mayor (who receives his payments via discreetly delivered packages).

Level 2 Response
Isolate Enemy
Details: The conspiracy singles out a player and cuts him off from support - burning down his favorite gun shop, burning his cover identity, beating up his friends, spreading rumors of his treachery to the other players, jamming his phone lines, stealing his caches, tipping the police off, whatever.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

Question 1: Who or what is the core of the conspiracy?

That's a huge question, and I really want this project to succeed, so let me expand that into steps so I don't take this in a weird direction.


Answer 1a: List Five Things that could be the core of the conspiracy

1. Weird and Wild Science
2. Aliens from either another dimension or outer space
3. Mages and Magic
4. Time Travelers
5. demons/ things man was not meant to know

Question 1b:
Which of the five things is at the core of the conspiracy?

[Michele]

Level 1 Node
The Highshore Projects street gang
Details: the HP gang is an ordinary gang in one of the worst neighborhoods of the state's largest city. Their main business line is pushing drugs of all kinds. They appear to be a mundane criminal organization. However, the boss and his lieutenants know that the gang is aided and abetted by the Conspiracy.
Connections: the HP gang is affiliated to the Lacosta cartel, which is their supplier for most of the substances they retail; but the Lacosta are not involved in the Conspiracy. The real master of the HPs is Liberty Housing Inc., a real-estate company that actually is a Level 2 Node in the Conspiracy. The HP gang provides Liberty Housing (and, if necessary, other Nodes higher up in the hierarchy) with muscle, guns, streetwise and local underworld intelligence, and, occasionally, honey-trap material. The added advantage for the Conspiracy is that the lower-level HP gangsters and their assets are entirely expendable and deniable; if any operation goes wrong, it was ordinary crime as usual. Liberty Housing does not fund the HP gang, which is entirely profitable on its own; but they provide support when dealing with the police, the district attorney, and any other issues that can't be solved by a hail of bullets. If the gang is ordered to distract, harass or intimidate somebody having supernatural powers, Liberty Housing may provide some supernatural aid, provided that it's subtle and not overly powerful.

Level 2 Response
Material Damage
Details: the Conspiracy avoids causing bodily harm, but causes as much property damage as possible, by means of accidents or events that don't seem to be intentionally targeting the victim. The target's house goes up in flames while they are away, or their car gets stolen. Identity theft with the loss of as much money as possible is another favorite. For the purposes of this response, animals and pets are considered as property.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Question 1b:
Which of the five things is at the core of the conspiracy?

Weird Science is the at the core of the conspiracy.

Question 1c
What kind of Weird Science is at the core of the conspiracy?
(Examples: Psychic Powers, Dimensional Travel, Artificial Intelligence, Human Augmentation, Genetic Engineering Monsters, Rogue Sociology, etc.)

Question 1d
(Probably predicated on what 1c is), Who is at the core of the conspiracy?

[Black Leviathan]

Conspiracy: The Becket Group
Level 3 Node: Deceptively large corporate conglomerate

Details: The Becket Group is a national artists coalition that recruits and trains actors for installation art pieces, pop-up events, and they run a number of escape rooms and haunted houses. They are top-tier specialists in fantasy creation. They contract and employ thousands of young artists, fabricators, and professional pranksters.

Core Goal:The Becket Group or TBG makes an underwhelming profit running events that keeps them nicely under anyone's radar, but they are compensated well for their catalog of skilled actors, fabricators, and special effects people that they hire out to conspiracy groups across the spectrum for special work. Additionally within the web of contact talent groups are a number of professional abductors who work innocuously with event staff at big distracting events to make persons of interest disappear. These abductions are high price precision operations with minimal evidence or witnesses and deeper in TBG's roster of contact employees are interrogators and cleaners

Connections: On paper The Becket Group owns a company called Unlimited Unlimited, a holding company used to bankroll elaborate flash mobs and wild party games. In reality The Becket Group is funded by Unlimited Unlimited to recruit specialists for clandestine conspiracy work. It is unclear if Unlimited Unlimited is one of the Mega Conspiracy players or just a shill for several conspiracy groups.

Level 1 Response - The Crazy: Becket Group functions are designed to prod and antagonize patrons so it's very simple to egg players or attendees into wild reactions. All Becket Group events are filmed for security reasons so the Becket Group is able to create film evidence of an irrational response to a simple entertainment event. Furthermore the naturally secretive and clandestine nature of their events is used as a foil as to why the investigator has lost traction with reality.
Level 2 Response - Affiliated, not connected: Becket Group is structured with a series of shells that trade ownership of different small businesses that do the work of running their events. The corporate structure is designed so that different companies can be shuffled to be paid under singular managing groups. Most employees of a Becket Group company don't know they're part of the Becket Group unless they read every scrap of paper that comes through the office. So when you go asking about someone that disappeared in a flash mob at the choir group that sung there, they know they were hired by a media company and paid by an entertainment group, but the media company is now out of business and the entertainment group doesn't have any record of working with the choir group you asked about because they were under different management last month.
Level 3 Response - Come work for us: People vanish at Becket Group events constantly with the kind of skill that ensures that hundreds of attendees are none-the-wiser and dozens of employees remember nothing out of the ordinary. Poke around enough Becket Group events and when there's a big surprise at the event that draws everyone's attention you get a bag over your head and wake up taped to a chair. Your skills are obviously good enough to get you past levels 1 and 2, do a job or two for us and if you don't like it we'll retire you. If you're not comfortable working for an employer you won't meet we'll cut you loose and you can walk out of here through the door marked compactor room, what do you say?

The Core of The Becket Group's conspiracy is just creating a shady network of unsavory actors with a nearly seamless disguise of bubbly carnival fun. More so that being a talent agency for unorthodox talent and snatching anyone you want from anywhere, the TBG is an noxious systemic corruption of small bright-eyed companies who are willing to ignore some shady business if it means a big showy production job. Their current modus opperandi might change completely next year depending on what else they get their tentacles into.

The End Game of The Becket Group is to surreptitiously grow underestimated until it's power rivals the Dinosaur Illuminati organizations, perhaps even consumes them.

[Black Leviathan]

Conspiracy: The Phoenix Club
Level 1 Node: Small performance group

Details: The Phoenix club is a loose confederation of dozens of artist pyromaniacs that film big pyro displays for steaming platforms. They also sponsor organized live shows displaying pyro skills. The group is highly unstable, often losing members to arson arrests or accidents that injury or even the deaths of performers. It's a mystery how they find the donations to cover their incredible insurance costs. But much like their mascot the group is continually reborn again.

Core Goal:The Pheonix Club are arsonists who put on a show to make their attacks on residences, businesses and fire assassination seem credibly like accidents. Mixed in with conspiracy actors are twice again as many stage pyro techs, poi spinners and fire jugglers who are oblivious to the club's deliberate arson work.

Connections: The Pheonix Club are independent contractors in the Conspiracy Game. Making their services available through several obscure channels to shadowy organizations that would rather your evidence vanish or your traitors die burning in a fire.

Level 1 Response - Burn!: unglamorous, but when your little organization is filled with fearless pyromaniacs, dealing with trouble is as cheap as matches and a can of gas. If they're caught or the arson comes back to The Phoenix Club they're very comfortable throwing their members to the wolves because Phoenix Club members in prison just gives them access to even more lucrative targets.

The Core of The Phoenix Club's conspiracy is brute vengeance and evidence destruction for the highest bidder. They're content to work for agencies they don't know as long as the money is paid up front and they get to burn it all down.

The End Game of The Phoenix Club is just more of the same. They love the feel of the flames on their skin and the loving glow of the fire. If they can be paid well to burn they don't care who has to be hurt.

[ajardoor]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Weird Science is the at the core of the conspiracy.

Question 1c
What kind of Weird Science is at the core of the conspiracy?
(Examples: Psychic Powers, Dimensional Travel, Artificial Intelligence, Human Augmentation, Genetic Engineering Monsters, Rogue Sociology, etc.)

Question 1d
(Probably predicated on what 1c is), Who is at the core of the conspiracy?

Answer 1c: Psychic Powers.

Answer 1d: The shared mind-shard of a powerful but long dead psychic. This "ghost" is a mental copy of the psychic's personality and memories, anchored to the minds of various members of the conspiracy, somewhat like a ghost (the psychic can both possess or "talk"/"show" to their anchors). Because of the natural "personality drift" of the different mind-shards over time, the can and do disagree with each other and the core of the conspiracy is effectively a clique of leaders, some with severe clashes in opinions. One mind-shard of the psychic outright decided to rebel and fight the conspiracy!

Question 2 is unanswered.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

Question 2: What is the overall goal of the conspiracy?

Question 2a: What are some possible overall goals of the conspiracy?

Answer 2a:
The transformation of the mind shards into a Psychic being capable of observing anywhere in the world and acting anywhere in the world, and doing so in multiple places at once.
The elevation of mankind to an interstellar species (or perhaps an inter-dimensional one).
Uniting the world under a single government
Recovering/reconstructing the mind (and possibly soul) of an important person to the mind-shard (possibly a mentor, lover, childhood hero, partner, or enemy)
Making all of humanity into telepaths.

Question 2b:
Which of the options in 2a are the actual goal?

[ajardoor]

Question 3: How old is the conspiracy? (Probably more than a couple decades at least...)

Question 4: Is the conspiracy enemies with another conspiracy? If so, who?