Moving Up in the Tiers- Compacts into Conspiracies

[LostLight]

So- here is another of my weekly projects!

The point of that project is pretty obvious- taking compacts and by giving them a short history and an endowment in the sryle of Network-0 in C&C, turning them into conspiracies! This is more for fun than a deep development, and is probably going to be quick and dirty. Feel free to suggest your own ideas for histories and endowments!

Because I want to avoid touching other people's materials, I'm going to focus on the canon compacts and stop myself from converting the compacts of other people and fight my temptation to touch the ones from Dream Catchers and Leviathan. The exception is the ones from Skin & Bones, because I really like them and last time I've checked his site is down :P

That means that that I'm going to convert (unless people would help me *wink wink*) 21 compacts, for Network-0 and the Promethean Brotherhood have already have their Endowments, and so does Dies Irae from Skin & Bones. The MI18 from S&B will also not be converted, simply because Kings raven has made a version of it and that many of its features has been absorbed by Flyboy's SG-14.

Now, after the introduction, let the games begins- and we'll start with the most playful of all!

(see next post)

[atamajakki]

I eagerly await this project! Looking forward to seeing what you do for a few of my favorites, specifically Division Six; I tried to do a similar conversion for them and hit a brick wall.

[The Kings Raven]

a few of my favorites, specifically Division Six

*angrily shakes fist*

We were friends, once! And allies, too! How could you betray me like this?

[LostLight]

The Ashwood Abbey

For many years, the Abbey was no more than a perverted Hellfire Club. Hunting and tormenting monsters for pleasure, very few people have seen them as different from the monsters they hunted down. Many wonder how the Abbey has survived so long, and the answer is twofold- first, rich people are also bored people. Second, the hierarchy of the organization is as fucked up as the moral code of its members. The all thing is one big pyramid scheme, with someone making money from the vices of mankind. So when the Cheiron Group has decided to make a move and try to take over the organization (eliminating competitors, of course) by freezing the members' bank accounts, you can be sure that the one in the top of the Abbey has started to sweat.

The Abbey needs money in order to exist. Without it, it would fall and smash like a rotten fruit. Money is also the reason why the Abbey was a compact for so long- with the need to pay so much money only to be a member, it is kinds obvious that the number of their members is low (and that without talking about the number of people who die during one of the Abbey's "games"). After trying to seek every possible way to save his money source, the unknown leader of the Abbey has prepared to leave the rest of the organization behind and let the pyramid fall- when he met his savior.

Actually, the unofficial leader didn't actually ever met his savior. He just got an unidentified phone call, and the one from the other side simply offered to help the Abbey's "financial problems"- and more. Allot of more. The caller offered to serve as a patron for the Abbey, giving them all of the money the need and hire the best lawyers against Cheiron's take over. There are only two conditions- first, that after receiving the money, he (she? it? the leader wasn't sure. The voice didn't sounded human) expect the Abbey to evolve quickly. It is not a gift, but an investment, and while playing like kids is all good and well, it is the time to grow up. With enough money, the Abbey doesn't need to limit itself for the elite- they can also start to requite. Because of that, the caller is expecting the leader to double the number of members in a year.

The second condition was more complicated.

The leader had to make contact with each and every member of the Abbey and summon them for the greatest Bacchanal ever, while promising that there is a solution for their problems. Those who won't come will lose their membership and be kicked out of the Abbey. Their point of meeting? Alcatraz. As you may expect, some of the members decided it was a good time to leave a sinking boat and didn't came- but enough of the Abbey's members did came, and each of them got a mask top cover their face and hide their identity. In the gate, the leader has waited them and told them that what is waiting them is truly beyond anything that the Abbey has done before, and so he gives them one last chance to leave. As you may expect, very few has left- after all, he promised them money and pleasure, and that was all they wanted.

But what they discovered was truly unexpected.

The once empty cells were full again. Some contained monsters bound in chains. In others there were criminals of the worst kind one can imagine. In a few there were even some nameless beings which no one have ever seen. And to each of the terrified members of the Abbey, the leader had given a sharp knife and few other accessories and told only one word- enjoy.

And so, the price was paid in blood. After all, there was no way back from what happened in Alcatraz. And after the grand ritual, the so called Patron of the Abbey has kept true to his (her? its?) words- the money was paid , and the Cheiron Group has discovered a unit of lawyers which stood in their way to destroy the Abbey. Since that day, there has been an intensive requiting for new members until the Abbey fulfilled the second condition. Now days, the Abbey is still an Hellfire Club, but they supervision on the members has became tighter (after all, the Patron require that the investment will pay up, and he/she/it wishes to know exactly how many members are in the organization). While their freedom has became a little more limited, they also got some benefits- once signing the contract of membership to the Abbey, they've got some.. empathic ability, so to speak- especially when it is about the one's most darkest desires. Other than that, the Abbey is still the same- They still party, still kill and still enjoy each moment in their life, without knowing that that they should have read the fine prints about their death. The Abbey is also still a pyramid scheme, only that now it runs on blood instead of money, and that the one to reap the profits is the Patron.

Of course, there is one question which no one knows the answer for it- why the hell did the Patron helped the Abbey?

Well, you may say he/she/it has some "emotional attachments" to it.

Status:
0- you have just signed your contract and joined the Abbey. You are now able to buy dots in Vice Projection. You also get 1 dot Resources from the Abbey to help you focus on the hunt
000- The dots in the Resources rise to 2 dots and you get the safe house benefit (see H:tV core book)
00000- Resources rise to 3 and you get the same benefit as given in H:tV core book.

Endowment: Vice Projection (0-00000, special)

Once a new member joins the Abbey, he or she sign a contract. In exchange for the conditions in the contract, the member gets a special ability- the power to sense the passions and hidden desires of others- and influence them.

Each Vice Projection is focused around a single Vice (see the GMC rules update for details). Having one dot in it allows you to sense if the Vice of your target is the same as the Vice of the Projection after 30 seconds of talking with the target or expanding one Willpower point. This Require rolling Empathy, with adding number of dices as equal to your dots in the Vice Projection.

After doing so, there are two options. First, if the target's Vice is not the same as the Vice Projection, you can try to change it. This requires around a full minute of talking with the target or expanding 2 Willpower points, and than rolling (Persuasion + Vice Projection). The Dramatic Failure is the same of a failed Persuasion roll, with a success meaning that you managed to change the target's Vice to the desired one for 10*(Vice Projection dots) minutes. Exceptional success means that the duration is doubled.

After the Vice has changed, or if there was no need to change the Vice, the fun can finally begin. After talking with the target for 5 minutes or expanding 3 points of Willpower, you can force the target to indulge her Vice. There are two ways to use that power- the first to force the target to do a single act which is supposed to fulfill her Vice, and after that the effect of the Endowment is over. This is called "Focused Projection". The other form is more of an investment- for number of minutes equal to 10*(Vice Projection) the target need to fight an urge to fulfill her Vice. This is represented by rolling(Resolve + Composure) against the (Vice Projection + Manipulation) of the user. Each Willpower point which was supposed to be given to the target for fulfilling her Vice while under the effect of the Projection is instead given to the user of the Endowment. This is called "Free Projection".

In order to project a Vice the user must roll (Vice Projection + Manipulation) against the target's (Resolve + Composure). Dramatic Failure means that the target is now immune to any further attempts to manipulate their Vice for a number of minutes equal to 10*(Willpower Dots). Exceptional Success for a "Free Projection" means the time on which the target is effected is doubled and she suffer from -2 modifier to try and resist the urge to fulfill the Vice. Exceptional success in the "Focused Projection" means that the target also suffer from the effects of a "Free Projection" after fulfilling the act for number of minutes equal to 5*(Vice Projection).

This power can not be used against inhuman creatures which are not originate from humans (mages, ghosts, sin eaters, prometheans, etc are valid targets. Spirits, strixs, and angels are not). If the target lack a Vice but originate from an human (like vampires post Blood and Smoke) the user may try to force the target to act upon the Vice, but he needs at least 3 Dots in the Vice Projection and suffer -3 modifiers for all rolls.

[LostLight]

I eagerly await this project! Looking forward to seeing what you do for a few of my favorites, specifically Division Six; I tried to do a similar conversion for them and hit a brick wall.

I hope you'll like what you'll see! and yeah, eventually I'll got to Division Six, but I have time to think until than :P

*angrily shakes fist*

We were friends, once! And allies, too! How could you betray me like this?

Raven, this is the internet. There are no friends in here. Didn't your guide told you?

[Leliel]

Your spelling needs work (especially the dreaded allot, cousin to this guy), but otherwise, cool!

[atamajakki]

*angrily shakes fist*

We were friends, once! And allies, too! How could you betray me like this?

How can you not love "kind of Technocrats but being manipulated and lied to?" I want to run them as feeling like they belong to a huge organization that doesn't exist, perhaps as pawns of the Machine.

[LostLight]

Your spelling needs work (especially the dreaded allot, cousin to this guy), but otherwise, cool!

...damn auto-correction, misleading me again and again! And anyway- thanks

[LostLight]

How can you not love "kind of Technocrats but being manipulated and lied to?" I want to run them as feeling like they belong to a huge organization that doesn't exist, perhaps as pawns of the Machine.

this is going to turn into another "what's wrong in Witchfinder" thread, right?.. right?...

[The Kings Raven]

this is going to turn into another "what's wrong in Witchfinder" thread, right?.. right?...

But those are my favorite threads *Puppy Dog Eyes*. We can take it elsewhere if you like.

[LostLight]

But those are my favorite threads *Puppy Dog Eyes*. We can take it elsewhere if you like.

I think that would be for the best *sigh* although be prepared that there is a good chance I'll visit it and tell you that I love Witchfinders :P

(p.s- come on, convert your compacts into conspiracies! I know you want to *using Vice Projection*)

[The Kings Raven]

(p.s- come on, convert your compacts into conspiracies! I know you want to

Nah, I'm kinda biased towards writing full Conspiracies so all of my Compacts are basically too niche to really work as Conspiracies.

The only one I can really think of working as a Conspiracy is The Reality Hackers. They would advance to a network trying to literally hi-jack The God Machine itself and take over reality for humanities benefit. Think of them as basically the humans from The Matrix, but without any prophecies or The One to do everything for them. They'd operate out of Demon like boltholes for their HQs and strange ships like the Nebuchadnezzar that can phase between reality and Twilight at the press of a button. Either way, they'd always have net access.

I'd go so far as to port over the Cover system from Demon; but they can't use soul-pacts. Instead they use hi-jacked cover factories (the same ones the G-M uses for it's angels) and their'd be lots of hacking to build social security numbers, a Facebook profile and such to gain Cover XP. They can also spend Cover XP on Skills, Attributes and Merits that only apply for that cover and this is expected. Cover of 3+ is rare, most exist as implausible kickass martial artists in leather trenchcoats for one mission then are permanently abandoned.

Their Endowments would be Apps, using the mechanics from Benediction and fluff wise, they're demon style Embeds coded as smartphone apps. Their second Endowment would be Hacks, where they take over Infersucture to do massive large scale workings. Permanently blinding the G-M to a large area (at least until it undoes it) or carving a whole town out of reality to create a large Bolthole ("Zion", natch). This typically requires an operator sitting on their ship directing teams of hunters burst into Infrastructure with soldering irons, crowbars, laptops and start physically hacking.

Their leader is an AI they built; their ultimate goal is to upload this AI into the G-M to replace it's current personality. If they're right that will create a utopia (think The Culture), if they're wrong. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.


Ok... that's actually really really cool!

[LostLight]

Nah, I'm kinda biased towards writing full Conspiracies so all of my Compacts are basically too niche to really work as Conspiracies.

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Ok... that's actually really really cool!

*evil laughter* Even your mighty willpower can't withstand the Patron's powers!

[Leliel]

You know, about the other compacts, I kinda suspect the main canon God-Machine influenced one is the Null Mysteriis, due to that old standby of Lovecraftian fiction: the scholarly experiments accidentally contact something very alien, and changed the scholars.

The subversion is that becoming stigmatic doesn't turn you into a crazy monster if you're sapient, it gives you psychic powers and an odd physical effect, but more importantly allows you to comprehend the God-Machine. To the Null Mysteriis, finding a being that literally embodies the logical, testable rules behind occult physics is the Holy Grail-they've proven that there's an internal logic to the madness of supernatural phenomenon, and they can begin to work on it.

And thus, their Endowment: The science of using scientific means to affect supernaturals physics, and figuring out what Action A would result in Desired Outcome B.

With fun things (for the table, not so much for the characters) happening if they screw up.

[The Kings Raven]

To me that would defeat the purpose of the NM. The whole point about science is that it's the same no matter who you are, needing to get some crazy G-M powers first isn't science.