What's on the downloaded files?

[ajardoor]

My latest session of my GURPS campaign ended with the party killing a stash house robber and his crew for the bounty. While storming his hideout, the PCs found their computer and downloaded their files.

This is where you guys come in.

Anyone got any suggestions for what kind of juicy secrets the party will find on that downloaded data? I'm thinking secret bank accounts, extortion files, map of an abandoned amusement park, the names of all the major factions and their recent operations, etc...

Keep in mind that studying the files will take time, and at least some of it is encrypted.

[Irish Wolf]

Eleven secret herbs and spices.

Oh, no, not the Colonel's Recipe, in fact the combination would doubtless prove to be rather unpleasant to taste - but it does make for a highly effective mind-control drug...

[ericthered]

Be sure to have a section on secret affairs, complete with compromising photos of prominent individuals. Include notes on which are deep and real and which are out of context photos of opportunity.

[The Colonel]

Hooks for the next six adventures and a massive collection of p*.

[Anders]

The Death Star plans.

Photos of a politician in a compromising situation with a thirteen-year old.

The location of a gigantic stash of cocaine.

[Apollonian]

Some really unpleasant malware that the guy didn't know he had. Now the PCs have to uncrack that before they get to the juicy stuff. (In other words, if you need to buy a little time to figure out what's in the data, voila)

Actual legit espionage data ala the Snowden leak. Depending on age it might be extremely valuable/dangerous, or just a historical curiosity.

Dossiers on the PCs. Who made them? What does it reveal about the observer's capabilities?

[Shostak]

The digital master key to all of the North American and several European electronic voting machines that allows (almost) completely invisible manipulation.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Anders

Photos of a politician in a compromising situation with a thirteen-year old.

Dead girl or live boy?

* (Assuming it's not a secret magic game) Notes on what sound like spells and magical rituals. These have nothing to do with reality; they're just notes for the owner's RPG. But properly handled, you can get the players to start thinking you're introducing a surprise twist that the game has magic, so they'll be ready to believe.

* A spreadsheet containing daily prices for the past thirty years for gold, uranium, and raw flax fiber

* A list of donations to a jumble of politicians of your choice. If the PCs bother to correlate the list with the public records, they'll find none of these contributions listed.

* A project management document with schedules, a PERT chart, and estimated costs for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

* (Assuming it's not a secret magic game) Notes on what sound like spells and magical rituals. These have nothing to do with reality; they're just notes for the owner's RPG. But properly handled, you can get the players to start thinking you're introducing a surprise twist that the game has magic, so they'll be ready to believe.

One of my college buddies went into the Air Force about the same time I did, in '86. He went Air Police, and wound up as a guard at Minot AFB. He was also an avid Champions player, and while there worked up a scenario where a group of heroes would have to stop villains from stealing nukes from a base much like his.

His jerk roommate found his notes and turned them in to base security, which was about half convinced after reading them that he was a terrorist and that his references to UNTIL and VIPER were some kind of secret code. He had to show them the rulebook before they'd listen.

So, not such a farfetched proposal for the downloaded files as you might think...

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

One of my college buddies went into the Air Force about the same time I did, in '86. He went Air Police, and wound up as a guard at Minot AFB. He was also an avid Champions player, and while there worked up a scenario where a group of heroes would have to stop villains from stealing nukes from a base much like his.

His jerk roommate found his notes and turned them in to base security, which was about half convinced after reading them that he was a terrorist and that his references to UNTIL and VIPER were some kind of secret code. He had to show them the rulebook before they'd listen.

So, not such a farfetched proposal for the downloaded files as you might think...

...and all of us who are crusty enough will recall the little matter of the USSS Raid on SJG... I can imagine that filtering out RPG traffic must be a struggle for intelligence agencies even if their people understand what they are dealing with.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

* A list of donations to a jumble of politicians of your choice. If the PCs bother to correlate the list with the public records, they'll find none of these contributions listed.

As an extra twist, ensure that a number of the politicians are mutually hostile...