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Material relevant to this article has been archived by the Fairfield Project at Large-scale operations discussion. |
This article is about how a major DG operation, like the one against Innsmouth, might be kept quiet in this day and age.
DGML suggestions
Relevant questions: Where is the location, and who is conducting the raid? Who do you want to keep the existence of this raid from; foreign powers, the general public, Stefan Alzis? (The Man in Black)
- If you include airstrikes, naval bombardment and such, then satellite reconaissance will reveal much about your preparations and operations. (The Man in Black)
- Perhaps you can just drop a few Fuel Air Explosive munitions on the place and say "Oops, a military fuel tanker aircraft crashed." (The Man in Black)
- Someone, somewhere, is willing to make that final sacrifice… and will pass their cell's info up the line before they put it into the mountain. A KC-135 might work better. Black Thumb-level defoliants are less likely to be shipped via air, unless it's a direct-to-target mission. The long-lasting "control" or mentor of the cell in question may be redacted in such a manner, right at the climax, just for the shock value. (Don Juneau)
- A large pipeline fire? (Jason I. Gonding)
- There are three or four areas where the public never asks any questions about due process. One of these combined with "regrettable collateral damage" can cover up almost anything: (Phil A Posehn)
- Drug labs or dealers (Phil A Posehn)
- Terrorists (Phil A Posehn)
- Kiddie porn (Phil A Posehn)
- Religious cults (see Waco) (Phil A Posehn)
- How about Jonestown II or Heavens Gate II (just on a bigger scale), except this time they immolate themselves like Buddist monks (or at least that's how it would appear). All you'd need would be a few "identifiable" bodies and a lot who are burned beyond recognition. If a coroner who works for you heads the clean-up, you can take care of the fiddly details like gunshot wounds. Anyone who looks like they're going to squeal to the media loses their brakes, is the unfortunate victim of a drive-by, or snaps and kills wife & kids, then self. It all depends on how ruthless you want to be. (Jason I. Gonding)
Cover stories:
- A good cover story is some sort of large scale inter-service military wargame, maneuver or exercise of some sort. But even this is subject to "Eye in the Sky." (The Man in Black)
- Just make sure you keep up the disinformation once the cover story ("100 Dead in Suicide Cult Before Feds Can Intervene, News At Eleven") is established. You need to make sure you have a few strategically-placed talking heads in your employ; extortion against politicians, news anchors, and prominent academics works well to secure a "neutral" observer or two who will comment on your behalf and laughingly dismiss any half-baked accusations of government complicity in the disaster. If the players don't get visionary enough to see to this sort of help, the Keeper might allow them to watch in bafflement as such Delta Green patsies take the stage to back up their fabrication; if your cell doesn't take care of the cover-up, I imagine Andrea and company will do their part to keep the wrong people from asking the wrong questions. Blackmail and deception will be the place to start. (Shane Ivey)
- Don't forget the importance of an event to distract the media. For instance, if naval gunfire kills half-a-dozen polynesians on a slow news day there might be big repercussions. But if someone puts a bullet into the President's car on the same day… (Rob Shankly)
- You could declare a massive outbreak of something nasty, like ebola, and have a CDC quarantine brought up around the place. Make it somehing bad enough and you can even have FEMA declare martial law. That way you can explain some of the bodies as victims, as 'shot whilst trying to escape', or as looters. It helps if you have access to bio-warfare labs for samples. (Phil Ward)
Miscellaneous
- You're going to need to break all the lines of communication out of the area, so local phone switches need to be taken down, as do cable junctions. Satellite and radio comms are a little more tricky and might need to be taken down on a case-by-case basis using snipers or some serious jamming, e.g. electrical storm, solar flares, AWACS. Better hope the place has relatively restricted access too, so that you can cut the major roads with diversion signs, police road blocks, fallen trees, etc. (Phil Ward)
- Interestingly enough, US 95 heading up to Bonner's Ferry, ID, has gone the way of all good things with a massive mudslide. There's still communications, but then, some covert organisations would have the resources to keep it looking "alive", wouldn't they? (Don Juneau)
- If you're DG, you're probably better off giving something more powerful a reason to do it for you. (Phil Ward)
Going to Montana soon
Scott Lavers, who asked the original question on the DHML, expanded on his own example:
the setting is a small and remote town in Montana. All the residents are the victims of a scientist who's gone crazy and started using protomatter to genetically alter them in various ghastly ways. The scientist's covert masters have tried unsuccessfully to shut his operation down, so they are steering DG in his direction to see if they can stop him. Hopefully there will be a bloodbath so bad that it will make the PCs think twice before steaming in.
The following recommendations are specific to Montana:
- The conclusion could take place during a nice Northern Plains blizzard… -50 degrees F with 40 MPH winds, 26 inches of sloppy-wet snow. Power and phones will be out. Possible radio interference. Even the gas could go out due to frozen valves and such, in some towns up on the High-Line running across the Northern edge of the state, from Conrad to Glasgow or so. Send in the agents while the storm is still holding over the Rockies, and then snap a fast re-route to catch 'em overnight. "The front will pass along the Rockies, but we'll be OK." Next morning, all the carbon-dioxide is frozen and you have to chisel your way out to the street… (Don Juneau)
- There were something on the order of 4-5 dams within 50 miles of Great Falls. One morning at -30 F or so, there was a fire, probably in California, which sent a cascading power-failure all the way up to the hydro plants. From about 0630 until at least 1000, no electricity unless you had a generator. Breath was fogging indoors long before it came back. No radio stations were on the air, certainly no TV. Phones were up, but highly loaded as everyone was calling either Montana Power or friends/relatives. This was in a larger town of about 50,000 people, with an Air Force Base. (Don Juneau)