Hardly original, but...

[synecdoche]

Here is a little blurb I quickly wrote up this evening about a game I'd like to run:

The Society of Fortean Investigation and Analysis (SOFIA) was founded in 1939. Initially established to serve as a covert counter-force to a secret Nazi division that was dedicated to securing paranormal artifacts, SOFIA operated under the guise of a gentleman's interest club until 1952, when it became a classified government bureau mandated to investigating any "abnormal, bizarre, or unexplainable activity" occuring within the United States' sphere of interest.

Since 1952, the Society has been largely forgotten by the government at large. Nevertheless, SOFIA always manages to maintain a barely adequate operating budget and thus stays in operation while navigating under the rader of most government watchdog groups. Generally the group prefers to operate in this manner: the lack of perlustration allows for a great deal of latitude in dealing with certain situations the group has encountered.

Currently, SOFIA operates out of a small office building in Washington, D.C. Its membership is small but active, and continues to investigate paranormal happenings throughout the world.

Anyway, this is hardly new. I just wanted to post it for the fun of it and see if anybody has any input or can point me toward some websites that deal with similar campaigns. I've been browsing a lot of paranormal info sites (ie Fortean Times, obviously) and have a few plot hooks. Think kind of a mix of X-Files, Hellboy, and so on.

I am thinking of organizing the campaing like a TV series along the lines of BtVS: each adventure will seem like an independent storyline, but there will be story arcs that develop over the course of a "season."

I'm also considering using Call of Cthulhu rules for this (primarily because I have yet to actually BUY the D20 Modern book-- it is still on my list).

 

[JimAde]

I don't know if you've seen this. It might get some ideas flowing:


http://www.fvza.org


As far as the rules system, are you going to use the sanity rules from CoC? The flavor text sounds more like "fearless monster stompers" than typical Cthulhu-esque PCs.

 

[synecdoche]

I don't know if you've seen this. It might get some ideas flowing:


http://www.fvza.org


As far as the rules system, are you going to use the sanity rules from CoC? The flavor text sounds more like "fearless monster stompers" than typical Cthulhu-esque PCs.

No, I think I would drop the SAN rules. I do want it to be a bit more cinematic than Call of Cthulhu allows for, which is why I was looking to D20 Modern.

 

[takyris]

I actually do the same thing, only my PCs operate under the much-underfunded paranormal investigation unit of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (we rolled). The idea of a paranormal investigation unit that got shuffled from bureau to bureau, steadily downward, until it was finally at the BIA, was just funny.

 

[Umbran]

You might as well call that "secret Nazi division" the Thule Society and get it over with

Beg, borrow, or steal yourself a copy of the Alternity Campaign book, "Dark Matter". It is widely regarded as just about the best campaign supplement ever written, and it just happens to cover the sort of stuff you seem to want to deal with. Even if you don't use the Alternity rules, it is chock full of ideas for you.

 

[synecdoche]

You might as well call that "secret Nazi division" the Thule Society and get it over with

Beg, borrow, or steal yourself a copy of the Alternity Campaign book, "Dark Matter". It is widely regarded as just about the best campaign supplement ever written, and it just happens to cover the sort of stuff you seem to want to deal with. Even if you don't use the Alternity rules, it is chock full of ideas for you.

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, Thule Society was what I was looking for, but I couldn't remember the name of it.

 

[Prest0]

You might also look at OGL Horror by Mongoose. It's basically d20 Modern tweaked specifically for horror. Since you don't own the Modern book yet, this might be a better investment.

Also check out Pinebox, which is a free campaign setting you can mine for ideas.

[shameless plug] Finally, you might also look at Last Rites and Bloodlines, as these adventures are written for exactly the kind of campaign you describe. [/shameless plug]

 

[synecdoche]

You might also look at OGL Horror by Mongoose. It's basically d20 Modern tweaked specifically for horror. Since you don't own the Modern book yet, this might be a better investment.

Hey, I even saw this at the game store today. Thanks for the reco. I will have to take a closer look next time I am there.