Once you have created your Operatives in the new Dark Conspiracy, you will be wanting to dive right in with your first mission!
Now, being an RPG, you can run missions however you want in Dark Conspiracy. Your Operatives could be in their HQ, kicking back or doing some research or training, and a bunch of Dark Minions breach through the veil straight into their laps...
However, we have provided a flexible template in the Core Rulebook for Referees to follow if they so wish. A lot of our published missions will also (initially) follow this template because, as you will see, it makes life very easy for the new Referee!
The Briefing
To kick things off, the Operatives will be contacted by the Company. This could be in a variety of ways, depending on how high in the Company's esteem they are, and how the Referee is feeling that day - encrypted emails, dead drops, meetings with a shadowy person who will never be seen again, a silhouetted figure with voice-changer... it may never be the same method twice.
After this introduction, the Operatives will receive a dossier (in the form of physical handouts at the gaming table) with everything the Company knows. Or, rather, everything the Company thinks the Operatives ought to know.
Often, the dossier boils down to: weird things happening here, this is what we know, go check it out and neutralise any problems you find.
This does two things. First, everything the Operatives need to know to kick things off is presented to them in a variety of formats. Second, it moves agency of gameplay onto their shoulders, making life easy for the Referee! Essentially, the players get the dossier, start making plans and then begin asking the Referee questions; can I reach out to my Contact, can I requisition a gunship from the Company, can we visit Location X, start hunting the web for information on Company Y, and so on.
The Referee has all of this information at their fingertips, so the mission is initiated at the hands of the players and the Referee need simply consult the relevant sections of the mission.
Simples!
This is Step One of a typical mission - getting the briefing and starting to gather intelligence. During this time, the Operatives will (hopefully) begin figuring out what they are up against and start making a plan.
Fighting the Dark
Step Two is tracking down the Dark influence and neutralising it. This may be simple, if they got Step One right. Not so much if they started to draw seriously bad conclusions.
Sometimes, the Operatives may just be dealing with a little cult that has started to spread from a little market town in the sticks. Other times, they might actually encounter one or more Dark Minions. In some truly terrifying cases, they might be walking into Demonground to confront a Minion Lord who threatens an entire city - or a whole continent.
Fortunately, the Company grades missions: Green, Amber, Red and Black. There is probably no level above Black.
So, study your dossiers carefully, and you might find a reference to Grade Green, which presumes there will be little to no physical danger. If you see Grade Black... well, make sure your affairs are in order.
Maintain the Conspiracy
So, you did your research and had a successful mission - a Dark Minion has been vanquished and the Earth is safe for another day.
But your work is not over yet.
The Company has mandated that missions must be kept utterly secret. No one can know of the fight against utter ruination, and witnesses just cause problems.
Operatives have a number of options when it comes to someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and very much saw the wrong thing.
If this occurs, the Operatives must work hard to conceal, mislead and obfuscate any manifestation, artefact or effects of Dark Minions. There are, fortunately, some time-honoured methods of doing this. Strange lights in the sky are weather balloons or experimental aircraft, weird creatures in the woods are the cryptids that locals have been talking about for centuries, the messy assassination of a well-known personality was down to organised crime. There will always be those who do not believe these conspiracies but without proof they will never be believed by the rest of the world, and if they become ‘troublesome’ in their efforts to be heard, well, there are many things that can be done to silence them.
Keeping Score
During a mission, the Referee will be keeping track of everything the Operatives do, and will have a score sheet, of sorts. This is divided into the three phases of a mission (acquire intelligence, neutralise the Dark, and maintain the conspiracy).
So, did the Operatives discover the identity of a cultist and track them down to the cult's lair? Full points for acquisition of intelligence. Did they halt the ritual at the appointed time, but failed to take the cult leader alive? Eh, half points for that bit.
What is important here is how the three phases of a mission are scored in terms of adjudicating success - the third phase, maintaining the conspiracy, is always equal to the first two phases combined. This reflects the priorities of the Company at this time. Keeping everything quiet is more acceptable than outright victory if the latter means the world learns what is going on...
What do points mean? That's right... Trust.
If the Operatives do well on their missions, they will find the Company becomes a lot more open to them, as restrictions to equipment and information are marginally lessened. They might even find they are moved to much better headquarters.
Do badly? Well, negative Trust is possible. Sink too far, and the Operatives will be sanctioned and it is likely another cell will first patch up their mistakes... and then be assigned to go after them.
What the Operatives do then is up to them. They know the ultimate evil truly exists, and maybe, just maybe, they can do something about that. However, they now have an extremely powerful and capable organisation as an enemy, as well as the Dark Minions...
