The End (of 2023)

Plans for the end of 2023

As the end of 2023 draws nigh, I am trying to sum up some of the plans for the end of the year, as well as kicking us off into 2024. For each and every project, I try to provide some illustrations from Midjourney - enhanced graphical pleasure, you know... 

For those of you who play in my groups, yes, there may be some clues here, both in the images and in the text, but I am thinking you should be awarded those if you have the tenacity and persistance to find your way here... 

So here are the project plans for the games that I will GM for the end of the year....

Kult - The Labyrinth

Resuming gaming after a period of dormancy, two very separate individuals will continue their ventures on Tuckernuck Island in the Nantucket Sound. There seem to be some strange links to the sinking of the USS Thresher, the first nuclear submarine, the lead boat of her class. SSN-593 went down, allegedly 350 km east of Cape Cod. Interestingly enough, it happens to be not very far from the site of the USS Eldridge and the experiments performed on the destroyer, what came to be known as the Philadelphia Experiments. What is the link to the defunct code-breaking facility on Tuckernuck Island? 

What is clear is that our two intrepid investigators have some personal reasons for visiting the island, reasons they are not entirely sure of but that seem to be connected to their murky pasts, and the experiments performed on the island could perhaps help them gather information about themselves. 

The Labyrinth is a campaign for two players, delving deep into themselves to find secrets of the world. And searching the world for the means to delve deep into themselves. Some say it's about the lost divinity of Mankind, others say it's just about finding your own humanity. 

Delta Green - Project Black Book

Project Black Book is about a cell in DG, consisting of three agents, now investigating an high-class asylum where a woman reportedly is a security risk, able to give out information about classified operations. But things rapidly turn weird, as staff and patients both appear listless and haggard, shambling around the hallways like ghosts. The conversation is slowly turning past the logistics of how and why to get in and perhaps get the patient out - now turning instead to the why. The morality of the situation becomes increasingly interesting, especially now that another person suddenly appears, having worked throughout the years with the patient, vouching for her and insisting on extraditing her. What will the group decide to do? Will they allow this agent to "disappear" her, or will they plug the potential security leak permanently? Or is there some other plan? And what will the patient do about it? 

Delta Green - Velarium

It started out as a venture into the world of Kult, but has recently taken a turn for Delta Green instead. Five players here will delve into the Control Group dossier, consisting of four adventures, seemingly disparate but gathering in a final, mighty finale. And it is all in preparation for turning to Impossible Landscapes when it is all done. I presently have the great honor of playing that campaign for another Keeper, and it is awesome! When it is finished for me, I fully intend to spread the madness on to these fellows. 

The adventure series starts with Blacksat, which follows a team of NASA astronauts and a pair of strange civilians into space in 2010. A simple satellite repair leads them to truths of mathematics and physics beyond all human wonder and fear. 

The next iteration is Night vision that tracks US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2011. A diplomatic patrol takes them to Gath Valley, a corner of the country that everyone tries to ignore - a place of deep shadows and ancient hungers. 

Next up is Sick again, that sees a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rushing to rural Arizona in 2012. Investigating a strange viral outbreak may expose them to threats beyond time itself. 

Wormwood Arena brings together the survivors from the previous adventures - if there are any - as Agents of Delta Green. A harmless-seeming Kansas cult's new pamphlet sports a sigil of unnatural portent. The Agents must investigate the cult, perhaps even infiltrate it, and stop a catastrophic incursion before it begins.

Western - the Prairie Dogs

A little experiment here for two players, IRL, riding forth into 1875 and the world of the Old West. I have been recently to the West and gathered a lot of information and inspiration, leading to me turning my attention to Western by Swedish company Åskfågeln, an amazing RPG which is more like a Western-simulator than anything else. The plan is to drag them through the official modules, and adding a taint of the Weird West with a touch of strangeness, a bit like the Undead Nightmare for Red Dead Redemption. 

Presently, though, I am attempting to solve the confrontation between IRL-playing and my social introversion, and getting a structure for that which is not the easiest. RPGs via the Net, well, it ain't all bad, but if I remember correctly, IRL is the best! Now, the group was intended for three players initially, but was cut since unfortunately one of them had scheduling problems for the umpteenth time, but a little attempt to salvage the remains is underway. And I am very excited about the world of Western - should be awesome!

Dragonbane - The Valley of Mists

Dragonbane is a revival of an old game, an old Swedish game called Drakar och Demoner, which I never really took a liking to. Fantasy has never really been my genre, but it does come quite easily to me. This revival comes with a prepackaged campaign called the Valley of Mists, and well, it's basically a thread running through a lot of different adventure locations. Quite basic. The huge value in this is the group - four lunatics and magnificent players exploring the realm and their own story arcs, and providing a lot of humour and challenge to every situation. 

Presently our intrepid heroes have found out that there is a tomb containing treasures. To unlock that tomb, they need a statue consisting of four pieces. How hard can it be? Just find the pieces, assemble the statue, open the tomb, get the treasure. A slight complication arises from the fact that loads of others seem to be looking for the pieces as well. Some evil, some good, as it should be. The waters are starting to get a little bit muddier when it becomes harder and harder to tell who is evil and who is good. Which kind of begs the question - are the heroes really all that good? Do they even aspire to be?

 Free League - the Sands of Time

There is always a position to take when it comes to RPGs. Sometimes, you have the game and the idea, and you try to find players that fit. Sometimes, like in this case, you have a pot of mixed players, and you try to find games that find. We have searched for some time and let me tell you, it's not the easiest. This team here is a highly intelligent and very, very chaotic bunch of ragtags and trying to fit them into a mold is like sitting on a beehive. So my present decision is to decide for them, stake out the road and let the ducks waddle whereever they will within those frames... We will start off with Coriolis, which will probably take a turn for some Blade Runner down the road, with strong influences of Alien for both, so the theme will be Free League. 

Coriolis is a fantastic and very odd concept - using the arab cultures and mythology in the deep of space. I have sometimes been vehemently opposed, basically since I have no knowledge of those things at all, but it does work, in a weird way, like Firefly meets Aladdin, and I am greatly looking forward to delving into the Dark of the void once again, this time with some five players. The intention is to start off with a one-shot, and then kick into the magnificent campaign, the Lost Emissary.