VERTIGINOUS
Mission Briefing
Several months ago, a Delta Green Friendly – San Francisco based Dr. Malcolm Reeves, an FBI Supervisory Clinical Psychologist reached out to Delta Green reporting about weird behavioral changes among some of the high-ranking FBI agents. Receiving no response, he decided to investigate himself. His last communication was that he was looking into “The Serenity Center” – a mindfulness retreat in Big Sur. He vanished shortly after that and was off grid for a month. He then reappeared suddenly a week ago, assuring Delta Green that his concerns were baseless, induced by stress. At the same time, David Kinney, a recluse alcoholic, vanishes after sending a cryptic voicemail to his sister, rambling about horrible things going on inside the Center. The Agents are to investigate The Serenity Center and determine whether it represents an unnatural threat to the public.
Truth
MAJESTIC-12’s Project PLUTO studied alien technology from the Roswell crash and the Greys. A subproject, Project SCOPE ENDEAVOR, combined MK-ULTRA insights with Grey tech to create compliant operatives through neural conditioning rather than mind control. Dr. Alina Grove, a promising psychologist, was recruited for her thesis on “optimizing” the human mind. Running from 1974 to 1982, the project initially showed success in reducing emotional responses and increasing compliance. However, by 1983, test subjects suffered severe psychological collapse, leading to the project’s shutdown, personnel retirement, and the burial of all records.
Dr. Grove reemerged in 2022, founding The Serenity Center, a luxury mindfulness retreat claiming to offer “peace of mind” and “clarity.” Secretly, she continued her work using hidden alien tech to create “philosophical zombies”—humans who behave normally but lack self-awareness. Believing consciousness hinders humanity, Groves aims to turn influential individuals into “p-zombies” through her Center, with a vision of ultimately converting all of humanity into instinct-driven automatons.
Key Locations and Characters
Dr. Malcolm Reeves, Supervisory Clinical Psychologist in FBI San Francisco office
A man in his mid-50s, Dr. Reeves appears calm and polite. If asked about his previous concerns, he will dismiss them as work stress and active imagination. He will avoid discussions of the retreat, only saying that it was “a magical place”. An agent with HUMINT or Psychotherapy at 40% or with a successful roll will note his calmness to be eerie and hollow (See description in NPC stat blocks section). His responses are logical, measured, and devoid of personal affectations. If agents attempt to anger or otherwise elicit a strong response, they will get it, but it will feel calculated and rehearsed. Speaking to Dr. Reeves (and other “p-zombies”) feels like having a conversation with ChatGPT. Agents attempting to bug his home or monitor him will find his daily habits mechanical, revealing he interacts with no one, uses no entertainment, and performs the bare minimum to maintain a public persona.
David Kinney, former junior researcher of Project SCOPE ENDEAVOR.
Kinney was a former Project SCOPE ENDEAVOR researcher who had become reclusive and alcoholic, haunted by his work. His family filed a missing person report when he vanished after sending a cryptic voicemail.
Kinney’s sister Rachel
Rachel, David’s older sister, is a woman in her early 60s who has had little contact with David in recent years due to his reclusive lifestyle and worsening alcoholism. She will reveal that David became increasingly depressed and reclusive after leaving his government job in the early 80s, resorting to alcohol. If asked about voicemail, she will share it with agents:
"Hey… it’s me. I just—listen, this place, the Serenity Center, she’s… she’s doing it again. I thought it was over, but she’s there, and they’re… empty. Just shells, you know? She says it’s peace, but it’s not—nothing there, just… hollow. I have to go, have to make her stop, before it’s too late. If… if I don’t come back… just… I'm sorry…”
A high rating or a successful roll in Persuade could convince Rachel to let them inspect David’s apartment. The cluttered home would reveal his state of mind: stacks of books on psychology, scattered liquor bottles, and boxes of random documents. With 60% in Search or Forensics, Agents will find:
- Journal Entries: A tape or written journal entry that he recorded closer to the end of the Project where he talks about his growing horror as he saw subjects stripped of their personalities and turned into mindless automatons. He talks about Dr. Grove’s enthusiasm, calling the project a “breakthrough” and “necessary progress of human species”.
- SCOPE ENDEAVOR Materials: Old documents from his time with MAJESTIC, experiment logs and official documents he stole after quitting. With 50% in Psychotherapy or Science: Psychiatry/Neuroscience or successful roll, these documents will reveal the truth about the project SCOPE ENDEAVOR and the use of alien technology (1/1D4 SAN loss from Unnatural). If failed, the reader will get a hint at some unethical experimentation.
Dr. Alina Grove
A woman in her 80s, stylishly dressed and wearing glasses. Not a p-zombie herself, she is calm and cold. She, however, is not free from emotions and ambition, and will get visibly irritated if the person talking to her doubts her expertise or research or shows lack of intelligence. If confronted, she will try to explain her actions as done for the benefit of humanity. She will talk about humanity free from anger and selfishness. A world where every person works in harmony and peace. She will dismiss individuality and emotions as “unnecessary cognitive noise, an evolutionary mistake”. HUMINT of 40% or a successful roll will show that she is sincere.
The Serenity Center
Perched on Big Sur’s cliffs, the Center is accessible only by a winding road, bordered by dense cypress forests. The architecture blends natural stone with cedarwood, emphasizing harmony with nature.
The Serenity Center Facilities: A serene and carefully designed retreat with meditation areas, hiking trails, and exclusive “enhanced mindfulness” rooms accessible only to advanced participants. There are dormitories and a cafeteria with a fully organic vegan menu for members.
- Restricted Meditation Chambers: These contain reverse-engineered alien technology, camouflaged as therapeutic devices that gradually suppress self-awareness and emotional processing.
- Serenity headsets: The headset has a sleek, minimalist appearance. It is lightweight, with a flexible band that fits over the head and subtle metal or silicone pads that make contact at specific points. Built-in bone-conduction earbuds deliver low-frequency audio waves designed to lull users into a semi-hypnotic state.
- Administrative building: A nondescript small one-story building at the edge of the territory contains administrative offices. Dr. Grove’s office has a separate alarm system and a high-security lock. It contains a simple desk with a computer and a bookshelf with a multitude of books on psychology, both pop and science. Agents exploring the bookshelf find a selection of books on the nature of consciousness:
- "The Conscious Mind" by David Chalmers – A foundational text on consciousness that introduces the concept of philosophical zombies and the argument that consciousness is distinct from physical processes.
- "Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett – Discusses the mind in terms of cognitive functions, dismissing subjective consciousness as a byproduct of neural processes.
- "The Ego Tunnel" by Thomas Metzinger – A study on the illusion of self and consciousness, suggesting ways the mind can be manipulated to perceive a sense of detachment from personal experience.
- “Blindsight” by Peter Watts – a highly acclaimed hard science fiction novel that raises questions about nature consciousness. Watts uses the “Chinese room” thought experiment to raise the question whether self-awareness is necessary for an intelligent being or if it is an unnecessary evolutionary quirk.
Each book is heavily annotated with notes exploring how different theories could be applied practically to alter or eliminate subjective experience, turning a fully functional human into a philosophical zombie.
Hidden laboratory: Accessible through a secret entrance in Dr. Grove’s office, the lab contains sophisticated neuroscience equipment. Data on the lab computers show altered brain activity in participants, notably decreased activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
Staff and members of the Serenity Center:
- Staff: Staff are “p-zombies,” operating with unsettling calm and positivity. They are coordinated, efficient, and will defend the Center with mechanical precision, dropping any pretense of humanity. They will defend themselves but lack survival instinct.
- New Members: Naïve, often disturbed by the overly calm demeanor of senior members.
- Experienced Members: Also p-zombies, displaying the same traits as the staff.
The mechanical effect of “Serenity program”:
- Gradual SAN Loss and Willpower Reduction: Each headset session causes 1d4 SAN loss and permanent 1 WP reduction, reflecting the erosion of self and emotional attachment.
- Bond Deterioration: After each headset use, Agents roll a SAN check. Failure results in losing 1 Bond point with each Bond, representing diminishing personal connections.
- Breaking Point and Depersonalization Disorder: After hitting their Breaking Point, Agents develop Depersonalization Disorder. In high-stress situations, they react with disturbing calm, unable to connect emotionally to their surroundings.
- Final Transformation (P-Zombie Stage): At 0 WP or total Bond loss, the Agent fully converts into a p-zombie, permanently losing all SAN losses and Bonds, becoming an NPC devoid of self-awareness.
NPC stat blocks:
Dr. Malcolm Reeves (Delta Green Friendly)
STR: 10 CON: 11 DEX: 9 INT: 16 POW: 0 CHA: 13
HP: 10 WP: 0
SAN: 0
Bonds: None
Skills: Psychotherapy: 40%; HUMINT: 40%; Persuade: 20%; Bureaucracy: 25%
Description:P-zombies are outwardly polite and cooperative, speaking with an eerie calm and lacking true affect. They exhibit no signs of stress or self-preservation, and they respond to conflict or threats with robotic coordination. They use cliche phrases and appear disturbingly detached in both speech and movement. HUMINT or Psychotherapy 40% will give Agents a sense of hollowness and “fakeness” with a 0/1 SAN loss from Unnatural. Witnessing p-zombies drop pretence of humanity and act like machines deals 1/D6 SAN loss from Unnatural.
Rachel Kinney (David Kinney’s older sister)
STR: 9 CON: 11 DEX: 9 INT: 12 POW: 14 CHA: 10
HP: 10 WP: 14
SAN: 65
Bonds: Family (10), Local Community Group (8)
Skills: Persuade: 45%; Alertness: 35%; Bureaucracy: 25%
Dr. Alina Grove (Founder of The Serenity Center)
STR: 8 CON: 10 DEX: 9 INT: 17 POW: 14 CHA: 11
HP: 9 WP: 14
SAN: 55
Bonds: None
Skills: Psychotherapy: 60%; Science (Neuroscience): 80%; Persuade: 50%; Human Intellect: 80%; Occult: 25%; Unnatural : 10%.
P-Zombies (The Serenity Center Staff and Established Members)
STR: 10 CON: 11 DEX: 10 INT: 10 POW: 0 CHA: 8
HP: 11 WP: 0SAN: 0
Bonds: None
Skills: Alertness: 40%; Athletics: 40%; Persuade: 15%; Unarmed Combat: 40%; Bureaucracy: 20%
Description:P-zombies are outwardly polite and cooperative, speaking with an eerie calm and lacking true affect. They exhibit no signs of stress or self-preservation, and they respond to conflict or threats with robotic coordination. They use cliche phrases and appear disturbingly detached in both speech and movement. HUMINT or Psychotherapy 40% will give Agents a sense of hollowness and “fakeness” with a 0/1 SAN loss from Unnatural. Witnessing p-zombies drop pretence of humanity and act like machines deals 1/D6 SAN loss from Unnatural.
Credits
VERTIGINOUS was written by Yeldar Zhurgenov for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bvn4z1LbxcHXIJrPfSO8OidEr7BuMDCZJJa70Krgbpc/edit