[Æon] Adapting "Descent into Darkness for TC: Æon

[maekkel]

Hello,

I plan to play at least Descent into Darkness Book 1 (i.e. Huang-Marr-Conspiracy) with my group. But in the setting as described in TC: Æon.
Please refrain on lecturing me that 90´s Trinity and TC:Æon are different game lines.

I will have 3 players but they are still figuring out which kind of psions to play.

As I don´t have played any TC so far, it´s a bit hard to gauge how to make encounters with suspense on a gamistic level.
The system is way more cineastic - which is perfect. Some of the PSI-Modes are way more powerful or versatile. Especially the ISRA & Ministry powers are mindbogglin effective in any crime/mystery/investigation setting.


Setting:
In TC Æon - the Esperanza Disaster happens in 2120 and DiD in early 2120. So this makes the Esperanza very recent, but is also why the characters are choosen and why they have to depend every on them selves, as bothe the order and the Trinity are stretched thin.
The techlevel is also way higher in some regards. But i will handwave this, as needed.
I remember when i played Descent into Darkness some 20 years ago, that it was kinda "bumpy" and railroady. I want to keep the story fluid and suspenseful, without it becoming a stale railroad with deliberate outcomes.
A bit troublesome are the teleporters - which went away with the Esperanza.. I think of changing the departure of the Esperanza before it. As even as paranoid as Bolande is - it would have been easy for Bilande to get a Teleporter or a Clear or the Upeo take a look at the Esperanza - to confirm this is a Mutant attack.

Do you have any ideas?

[Mateus Luz]

Rules and tech wise, it’s not a hard adaptation, the players powers and tools are more versatile but the adversaries are too, and there are many tools to handle Clair and telepathy from breaking the game flow (there is a side bar for each if I am not wrong, but you can just put some distractions and people resistant to mind reading in the key locations). I would not worry too much about the rules.

The Teleporters part is the most complicated, because originally it was what triggered the scape in a certain way, while in TC it’s part of what they missed during the exile. Bolande was facing a lot of issues while away, the teleporters were literally everywhere, they were advised to avoid contact other orders and avoid gathering anywhere, they really wanted to avoid what happened to the Chibs, so even if they lose a few the order itself would remain existing.
They also have lost a few explores to the chromatics and by the time of Esperanza crash they had no idea where to find them, it could be some aliens or it could be some rogue teleporters helping the other orders to find them (remember, that there were teleporters in the other orders and some free lancers, but not enough to do some massive and coordinated help).

On why the characters were chosen and why they are working much on their own: Aeon Trinity in TC has less control over the orders or humanity, and also is a lot more “good guy” than in the original setting. The team may be gathered and put to work as an independent cell, sent to investigate under Aeon banner, but with no direct supervision and reporting only to the council, as it gives them more independency and allows them to reach deeper into the problems (that’s the center of the entire series).

That’s how I would approach the start of the story.

[IanWatson]

If you're not on a time crunch, I might suggest waiting until Mission Statements is out. It might make some planning easier.

[maekkel]

Hey thank you both!

Is there an roughly estimate on Mission Statements? I now it´s out with the backers, but I don´t remember when it´s planned to be generally to be published.

Teleporters: Maybe I go with the new timeline. They flew after the Eden discovery and the threat to be enslaved as "teleport-taxis" - thus they just weren´t there when Esperanza happend - Did not receive the information quick enough. Those few remnants still left, where either not capable enough or also out the loop.

DiD really paints a dark light on some of the orders: The Docs are painted as "Dr. Mengele", by the original material it´s really hard not to have Orgotek/Cassel as "the end satisfy the means" and Aeon helps to keep everything under wraps und in the end they try to force silence on an pending chromatic attack. But, as i don´t know how far we will progress... I have time to think about the Transporters.

I thought about the hook. Maybe that Ramirez wants to take look due to whistleblower in Orgotek & the Docs. But both order fear obfuscation and thus want Aeon to handle that - but Aeon can´t make it to an "offcial clandestine operation" without something substantial.

[IanWatson]

Hey thank you both!

Is there an roughly estimate on Mission Statements? I now it´s out with the backers, but I don´t remember when it´s planned to be generally to be published.

It was not a Kickstarter book, so it is not out to any backers.

You can see the current progress of all our projects in the weekly Monday Meeting Notes blog posts: http://theonyxpath.com/the-sun-never...meeting-notes/

[Mateus Luz]

DiD really paints a dark light on some of the orders: The Docs are painted as "Dr. Mengele", by the original material it´s really hard not to have Orgotek/Cassel as "the end satisfy the means" and Aeon helps to keep everything under wraps und in the end they try to force silence on an pending chromatic attack. But, as i don´t know how far we will progress... I have time to think about the Transporters.

DiD (and 1e in general) is largely as dark as WoD, with every order and Aeon playing their own games by their own rules and putting everyone behind. Maybe the only ones that are good in general are the Legions, and most of them are psychos with high level of PTS, but at least they focus on fighting the Aberrants (that are “real” the enemy).

While DiD is a awesome story to be followed, I personally would try to keep a general light side, with most of the groups going after the best for humanity before their own agendas. It is the general feel of TC: Aeon, and I like it, but a good part of the plot is kind of hard to adapt if you want to keep the orders in the light side.

[maekkel]

Indeed. I want it really to be light and have the actual conspiracist be also very oppressive against their co-conspirators. Having Zweidler just be an ingorant Med-Nerd that trusted to much in age old bureaucracy is easy. But Cassel is a Problem. Even in DiD there is a sidebar discussing that he´s not evil (nor is he a hero). I´ll hav e to spin it that he and zweidler (and the other proxies) have still tendencies in their order to be very cladestines - which was very necessary when they were not out in the open and giving their underling a lot of leeway. Which was very helpful with the qucik growth of the orders - as it kept them dynamic but eventually oversight was lost. Especially i want to soften Orgoteks cleanup strategy - less killing and more ousting of corruption when confronted.