Project Campaign Proposal 2

PROPOSAL 2 by Rodrigo

When: Pre - Rules of Engagement
Main Threat: MJ12 / Agent BLACK / Stephen Alzis / DG
Acts:

Plot Summary

Intro

• Some agency (or even DG if dealing with an already existing cell) get to investigate odd event (perhaps series of murders?)
• Found mad ex-MJ12 fugitive doctor evidence. (found himself with protomatter and is in a crazy attempt to remove the affected organs for new ones from victims?)
• NRO Delta finds the defector before players can reach. Fight between players and NRO for some good old pulp action
• If they players are not DG, DG contacts them as soon as they find out, recruits them
• Basics are set for new players. DG* Good guys. MiB* Bad guys. Simple, right?

Act 1

• Opera: Find more on the doctor. Starts classic investigation prone to make a lot of noise
• NRO Delta starts their hunt on this cell. Doctor spoke too much, they are still making questions and someone has to pay for the dead NRO guys at the previous encounter.
• A-Cell tries to reach an agreement with MJ12. Player Cell will be free game while A-Cell assings a NPC Cell to conduit the same investigation. Player Cell sacrificed as smoke screen
• NRO puts up the preassure on Player Cell. Agent BLACK (as described on DG Dark Theatres : The Fast Track) contacts player Cell and warns them on how convenient it is that the MiB suddenly know their adresses and other supossedly secret personal details. The doubt is cast

Act 2

• Alzis enters the stage. Claims only he can actually protect them from DG. He does not mention or consider NRO as the main threat.
• Agent BLACK recommends avoiding Alzis (in case the group didn't know) and suggest going against the NPC Cell on the case. If they didn't believe BLACK when he suggested betrayal they might after they find them.
• BLACK comments on how many times A-Cell sacrificed lambs in the past and points them toward further evidence to be investigated, including how DG is not even a legit goverment agency while those MiB are. A-Cell activates ANDREA to deal with the very troublesome Player Cell
• Good and bad fade to grey, if not turned upside down

Act 3

• Preassure on the players get to max. They won't hold much longer on their own hiding and living on Green Boxes
• BLACK hints about trying to locate A-Cell and blackmail them to stop the hunt to keep their personal details secret
• Alzis steps up again offering protection. Suggests that, if the MiB are legit goverment agency, then someone in the goverment could stop them. That, or contact MiB directly as DG wont dare touching them under Alzis protection
• Multiple ending options depending on how much they screw up from that point. Narrow possibility of survival. Keep to DG values and try tell DG about BLACK? Go after A-Cell as Agent BLACK suggested? Fall into the lies and try to defect to MJ12? Try to blackmail/attack A-Cell? In big N web of madness, treachery and deception there is so many ways to blow up your last chance and so very few ways to survive…

Notes

The main ideas behind the proposed scenario, in case you do not agree with some (or all) of the points above are:

• Show the game basics. Who is DG, MJ12, PARIAH and hint the Greys
• Discard the idea of DG being white shinny knights on their fight against evil and MJ12 and mindless fuckers trying to get all humanity killed, narrow the distance of the two. This is not a game of paladins, boys
• Give a glimpse on how big is the tangled web of lies up to the very top
• Making a hell of the characters existence. Have them cornered against the wall. Try to provoke desperation on the players for their characters to live another day. Be the prey, not the hunter
• No Mass Effect 3 ending.

PROPOSAL 2b, by Ludo

This proposal attempts to solve a few problems with the original Proposal:

• Add some scenarios/investigations under the storyline.
• Make it look like the players are screwing up on their own before they get chased by NRO DELTA.
• Make it possible for them to still be DG agents at the end.
• Not have both Alzis and BLACK at the same time.

Plot Summary

Intro

• The PCs investigate the curious death of 2 people, found in their car on the side of the highway. They exhibit weird decomposition/skin-rot.
• They follow a trail of bodies until they catch up with a guy that apparently carries some unknown pathogen that he can release on a prey, like a chemical attack.
• Phenomen-X gets involved, to add more opportunities for the players to screw up something in public.
• The PCs hopefully catch him and contain him/kill him.
• The PCs get in contact with DG, if they are not agents already.

Act 1

• The PCs must find out where chemical-boy came from.
• They find out he was a homeless guy — or something like that — who went into a "medical trial" to make some quick money.
• The company running those trial is very dodgy: just a few employees, and the only doctor is some crazy scientist kid with not many credentials and probably some problems with the medical authorities in his past.
• He happens to be the protege/son/whatever of an ex-MJ-12 scientist. That scientist is either dead or imprisoned or interned or whatever, but somehow managed to pass on his notes. The crazy scientist kid is effectively continuing some MJ-12 project (BOUNCE/RECOIL or JOSHUA?).
• When they start getting close to this kind of information, the Men In Black show up and take the kid away along with all his notes. OMG, the government is covering things up! Thank God DG is watching!
• Phenomen-X may come back at some point during this adventure, too.

Act 2

• One of the PCs gets contacted by somebody who claims their brother/friend has some similar condition to what the first chemical-boy had. That somebody also claims to have tracked down the PC from his appearance on one of the latest Phenomen-X show.
• The players probably won't resist going all A-Team and help that person (especially if it's a cute looking girl?). If they somehow get the idea to contact A-Cell, they don't get an answer right away… and they get pressured into following the damsel in distress.
• The brother/friend of the damsel in trouble lives in a town where MJ-12 runs some experiments based on the Deep Ones. Recently they grew suspicious of the Greys, and they want to explore other areas to find more ways to fight their alien allies in case something goes wrong… and one of the only other solid alien/paranormal leads they have are the Deep Ones they captured back during the Innsmouth Raid.
• This would be your usual "half the town is a bunch of crazy mutants, and somewhere there's an MJ-12 group that orchestrate the experiment".
• Likely ends with scientists running away, and an NRO DELTA team carpet bombing the town to leave no clues behind.
• The problem is that the damsel in distress is fake: she's police or FBI or something. What happened is that the freak town is the playground of either Ringwood or Lounds (the 2 pro-Grey scientists in MJ-12's Steering Committee). Gavin Ross (who may now be the new Agent ADAM, depending on your DG timeline) wants to get them removed from MJ-12. He thinks he can expose their human experiments in a way that would force the Steering Committee to get rid of them. He may be manipulating the PCs (and DG) from the outside, or, if he's indeed part of DG, maybe he had Alphone agree to sacrifice a few agents towards that goal. Alphonse will probably try to save the PCs if possible, maybe going the extra mile by sending a friendly to help them from the sideline.

Act 3

• Ringwood or Lounds is furious about the interruption in their experiments.
• The PCs are directly targeted: they are rounded up by Men In Black in order to be escorted to a military base. But a group of armed men arrive just in time and help the PCs escape. Their saviors belong to some mafia organization that was given very specific orders. They don't know much else, but they were given a message from Stephen Alzis who will expect some show of gratitude out of the PCs — after all, they were going to be either executed quietly or sent to prison without much of a trial. A good way to say "thank you" would be to acquire some of Ringwood's experiment notes on Deep One hybridization… otherwise… you know… he would let MJ-12 have their way with the PCs.
• They are directed towards a chemical laboratory that is really a front for some of Ringwood or Lounds' operations.
• The adventure will involve mostly observing the lab, sneaking in or somehow finding another weakness (like an employee taking some notes home, or even leaking intel to a big pharmaceutical company or something) and figuring a way to get their hands on what Alzis wants.
• They will also have to avoid the NRO DELTA guys, who are actively looking for them —- maybe they have limited time, as their friends and families are targeted.
• If the PCs are stuck, maybe Alphonse sends some off the books reinforcements.
• In the end, Alzis probably gets what he wants. Ringwood/Lounds will intervene in person, and in the chaos, either the PCs kill him or some NRO DELTA agent working directly for Ross will send a "stray bullet" his way…. so Ross should also get what he wants.

Conclusion

• If everything went according to plan, there should be one less pro-Grey member on the MJ-12 Steering Committee.
• Alzis managed to snatched something valuable for him in the middle of all this chaos. He will probably contact the PCs again for some other task.
• If the PCs did well (given the circumstances), Alphonse may come forward (either through some encrypted phone call, or using some other high-ranking DG cell leader representing him). "I'm sorry you had to be thrown to the wolves like this, but although you may not realize it, you helped achieve great change"… "Yeah, but what's in it for us, you crazy old man?" would ask the players…. "Well, the most valuable thing there is: information". The players can ask 3 questions

to Alphonse, and he will answer.