A downloadable TTRPG

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Against the Dark Conspiracy is a supernatural thriller tabletop roleplaying game for 4-6 players. One of them takes the role of Control while the others each play an Operator.

The game is inspired by the mechanics of, among others, Cthulhu Dark (by Graham Walmsley) and settings such as Night's Black Agents (by Ken Hite).

Against the Dark Conspiracy is written to require zero preparation but includes advice to Control on how to prepare or adapt materials published for other games, if that’s an approach they prefer. 

All the players cooperate to outline the Operations they’ll be embarking on and collaborate to find out more about the threats and complications they’ll face while having the opportunity to describe an obstacle they'd look cool overcoming.

They may identify people, organisations or items that are important to the Conspiracy or to which it is vulnerable.

They may exploit willing or less willing Conspiracy pawns or innocent and unknowing dupes to help them understand what’s going on.

They’ll have opportunities to define the powers and weaknesses of their supernatural foes and to co-create the monsters they want in their game.

Three different Conspiracies are described in the rules: VampiresDemons and Fae. Each comes with advice on its motives, and how that can influence plot arcs involving them. They also include examples of each Conspiracy's Supernatural Servitors and the Monsters at its heart, as well as details of the kinds of (mostly) mortal pawns they can deploy. 

Operators are capable individuals who previously made their living in the world’s overlapping crime and espionage communities. Doing dubious and dangerous things for their country or personal gain has left Operators with few ties to family or friends. The ones that remain are all the more important, which is why their team matters to them. They may not all be the best of friends. They may have complex histories with one another that can be revealed in play, but they all trust one another.

Together that team are making a stand against the Conspiracy; to take it down one corrupt piece at a time. If they don’t, it will catch up with them and anyone they still care about.

The rules include guidance on the Tone of the game and potential Content Warnings, along with suggested Safety Tools aimed at ensuring everyone at the table has a good time.

Access to an Google Sheets 'character keeper' is included to facilitate Online Play (see the GM resources PDF).

POD is available through Drivethru: 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_info.php?products_id=373984&site=¤cy=...

Purchase

Buy Now$11.00 USD or more

In order to download this TTRPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $11 USD. You will get access to the following files:

2021 09 02B QRS.pdf 522 kB
2021 10 20 AtDC CharSht A.pdf 2 MB
2021 10 20 AtDC Cover Digital PDF.pdf 3 MB
2021 10 20 Book AtDC PDF Greyscale Digital.pdf 3 MB
2021 12 01 GM Resources A.pdf 207 kB

Comments

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Excited to begin reading through this game. I've followed it on the Gauntlet and am excited to try it out. I saw on drivethru you do provide a version with single pages. I bought it here on itch because I understand it is a better deal for designers....but I assumed the singles were available here as well. Any chance of getting those here on itch? It's because I read them on a tablet and it fits format so much better. Regardless, thanks for making the game!

Thanks for the nudge - I simply forgot to update it here. Away from home for another couple of weeks so may be difficult to change before then, but I'll sort it out as soon as I get back.

Hey. This looks very interesting. Does it fit the assumptions of Delta Green as well (sanity, bonds, being part of a conspiracy inside the government etc.)? Can I use this as a light-weight system to run through DG modules?

(+2)

Thanks for your interest; you're not the first person to ask but, to be honest, it wasn't designed for that and I've never playtested it in that context. The inspiration came from Night's Black Agents. The difference (for me) us that Vamps, Fae & Demons can be 'killed', whereas when you confront the mythos you need a rule that says 'When you confront a mythos creature, describe how you die' - that's how one of my earlier games (Project Dark Prometheus) which is directly inspired by the mythos ... though from the Achtung Cthulhu perspective rather than DG ... deals with it.

The mechanics are inspired by Cthulhu Dark so there's only Stress rather than 'sanity'. Bonds between characters and with someone 'at home' can be modelled by the Against the Dark Conspiracy rules, but again not playtested in that context. If you want to check out the base mechanics from a very early implementation you could look at Alien Dark ... https://gallusgames.itch.io/alien-dark which is free.

If it was me, though, I'd probably look at a more directly DG inspired light-weight game such as ... https://moth-lands.itch.io/cthulhu-deep-green ... at least until I finished hacking Against the Dark Conspiracy for DG 😉.

Thanks for the thorough answer!