Dark Conspiracy 3rd (Inactive)

Game Master dickie



"Monsters are real!" a bum shouts from the corner. Private police drag the monster-shouter off the streets and into an alley. You know he is right. That man may or may not be delusional, but he is right. Monsters are real. Fighting them is difficult. They have their tendrils in every aspect of human life. Politicians are owned by them, corporations do their bidding. Every two-bit celebrity has been brainwashed. Somewhere, aliens are developing new weapons for their evil masters to use on people. Monsters are real, but most die when you pump them full of lead.

I have been working on a new product for the current edition of Dark Conspiracy and need to expand my pool of playtesters. Time constraints make live games more difficult, so I'm taking it to PbP. I am ultimately looking for five players to run through an older module I'm converting for the current edition. I am looking for players who can post a few times a week and are willing to provide solid feeback on the rules to be tested. Knowledge of the game system would be helpful, but is not required. If you're familiar with any of the old GDW games (Twilight 2000, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Traveller: TNE, 1st or 2nd Edition Dark Conspiracy, heck, even Space 1889) you should be able to pick up the rules easily.

I will be using an older adventure module, as I said before, to make sure I'm able to focus on testing, rather than writing up original material, to save time. I am planning on using the adventure "New Orleans", but depending on the interest level and whether or not those interested have played it, can alter that to a different one, but will use one of the older published modules because I must save time to get additional testing in ahead of my deadline.

I'm not accepting completed characters at this point, because a significant portion of these rules deals with character creation. What I am looking for in applications is character concepts and players willing to provide serious feedback on the rules to be tested. I will be using Roll20 for maps and handouts.

This link has a couple of chapters provided by the game's publisher to assist in character creation. Those selected to join the game will be provided the links to the new rules before character creation.

Applications must include:
A name and basic concept of your character idea. Keep in mind this is a modern/near-future setting. Since evil has started showing up in our world in force, psychic powers are on the rise.
Your posting frequency.
That's about it...


Dot. Dot. Dot. Dot.

I'm such a big Dark Conspiracy fan and my group only rarely plays it, so...

Dot. For great interest. Will be thinking of a character concept.


After giving the document a look (since it's been awhile) I think I'll go with the following:

Jessie:

Jessie Parker
Small-time mechanic in the grand scheme of things, but possibly fairly well-known in the area she works. Not sure on the adventure 'hook' but perhaps she's started having people bring in things more interesting than just vehicles to work on...

Regarding posting frequency, I can generally commit to 1/day for sure, possibly more depending on how often others post and what I'm doing on a given day. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm currently unemployed (which gives me more time to post) but actively job hunting so my posting rate may be subject to change once I find work. When/if that should happen, I'll be sure to let you know.

I'm also in several other PbPs here on the forums, so feel free to check out my profile and my writing style if you haven't already :)

Also, bump!


It is a very cool game, but never as popular as others, sadly. Plus the initiative system is still a little broken. For the PbP test I'm going to use the alternate system in the current edition, as well as the lower hit point variant rules.

There is an extremely active Facebook group. The current producers of the game are there frequently.

Not sure when exactly I'll cut off applications to join. I'm hoping that interest picks up as the week goes on. I can get some more players in, but I want to widen the pool of playtesters.


OK I will dot this thread! Thanks Lady Ladile for telling me about this!

My rough concept is a computer geek/government bureaucrat.

Dark Archive

Would a former porn star be inappropriate? She would be a non-American, probably from an eastern-European country that moved to USA to become an actress. Things went wrong and she and her friends became prostitutes. The luck smiled at her and she eventually became an actress... just not the type she expected. Now she is retired (she is still very young) and sadly, her old friends (many of which never left that terrible life) are disappearing... and the authorities are not giving much attention.

Liberty's Edge

Dot....have not played before but love the genre Will come up with a concept asap


Sir Longears wrote:
Would a former porn star be inappropriate? She would be a non-American, probably from an eastern-European country that moved to USA to become an actress. Things went wrong and she and her friends became prostitutes. The luck smiled at her and she eventually became an actress... just not the type she expected. Now she is retired (she is still very young) and sadly, her old friends (many of which never left that terrible life) are disappearing... and the authorities are not giving much attention.

As long as you didn't get to graphic in-game, that's fine. I think that's a pretty cool concept.

I do want to mention, since I should have before, that one of the rules that is going to be tested includes "stolen childhoods". Anyone who played the first edition of the game may remember a supplement that included a childhood career called, IIRC, Street Urchin or something similar (my hardcopy is in a storage unit hundreds of miles from me, and while I have a decent amount of the first edition material on PDF, I'm missing that exact book). These rules I'm working up includes an expansion on that basic idea. Just something to mention in case anyone was looking toward a former child slave or gang member idea.

Liberty's Edge

I think I am going to look at being an academic character..perhaps a disgraced university professor or a cryptozooologist...something Lovecraftian in nature....

Dark Archive

Sweet, my idea was for her to use her 'fame' and charisma to accomplish anything she wants. Her body is, after all, her only weapon.

I have no intention to make anything inappropriate.

I have never played this system before... is it a major problem? I already read the quick rules and understood almost everything.


It really isn't that big of a deal to not know the system too well. It uses a D20 for the main mechanic, though it isn't really a D20 system game. You're looking for low numbers, rather than high. The typical skill roll uses skill ranks added to their controlling attribute, say Act/Bluff of 3 and a Charisma 6 to make a total asset of 9. So you'd want a 9 or less to succeed. The most confusing point is that there are both modifiers to dice rolls (usually listed at +2 DM or -1 DM) and there are difficulty shift modifiers which alter the task difficulty itself. Difficulty shifts adjust the target number. That 9 in the previous example would become an 18 for an easy test, but a 4 on a more difficult one. Or even worse, an "Impossible" test would turn that 9 into a 2, while something incredibly easy would be a 36 or less on the D20.

Dark Archive

Although I've never heard of Dark Conspiracy, I'm always willing to help out fellow game-makers, and I like learning new mechanics, so tally ho! =)
I'm familiar with T2K, and I can check about picking up the DC rules somewhere.

For me a post rate of 2/day isn't a stretch, and you can count on me to provide good feedback, both on ease-of-use and marketability.

Since this would be my first run with a system, I'd do some simple dps/tank thing. Possibly ex-soldier based, but I reserve the right to dip the toes into the psychic power waters. =)


Atlas2112 wrote:

Although I've never heard of Dark Conspiracy, I'm always willing to help out fellow game-makers, and I like learning new mechanics, so tally ho! =)

I'm familiar with T2K, and I can check about picking up the DC rules somewhere.

Very similar to T2K. It was a GDW game, using their house system. The last major update on that system was in Traveller TNE, and for the most part the third edition of Dark Conspiracy advances those rules slightly, but not majorly.


Okay, so it looks like we might have enough to proceed, but I'll give it to the end of Thursady night (so 11:59pm Eastern) just in case. So if anyone has been lurking but hasn't dotted or put forth an idea, you've got 35 hours! :)

Liberty's Edge

So for my submission:

Name: Edward Willows
Character Concept: Edward comes from a very old New England family. His family has been part of Harvard University since the 1800's and currently he is a professor teaching ancient history. In fact he studies the occult, and the unknown monsters that hide from the light of day. His whole family was involved in uncovering the horrific occurrences happening around the globe. He is the last of his line, as a only child, his parents disappeared somewhere in Africa when he was just a child.

Hope that is enough....I could probably go on...lol


Discussion thread is located here. PMs with links to new rules will be sent shortly.

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