Sneak peak at InSpectres, the first draft

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Wow, found this while looking through my hard drive.

Hop into the ol' way-back machine with me folks...we're going back in time to September, 27 2000!

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InSpectres!
Fighting the Forces of Darkness so You Don't Have To

The game takes place in a modern, metropolitan setting where ghosts, demons and things that go bump in the night are real.  In order to deal with the rising occurrances of supernatural infestations, a small Internet start-up called "The InSpectres" has been founded by a team of parapsychologists, ghost hunters and tech-heads.  This web-based service will enable clients to confidentially contact The InSpectres and have their supernatural infestations investigated and (hopefully) eliminated.  Whether you have ghosts in your garage, demons in your den or bats in your belfry, the experts at The InSpectres will help solve your paranormal problems once and for all.

There are four basic character "jobs" in InSpectres:

Field Agents:  InSpectres trained in fieldwork are usually physically fit, athletic or otherwise capable of handling themselves in a situation.  Agents are trained in a variety of disciplines including first aid, search and rescue, munitions, high-speed pursuit driving and other such tasks.  These individuals primarily come from a law enforcement, military or fire and rescue background.

Parapsychologists: The InSpectres rely on their occultists, researchers and academics to do the required preparation work before sending out a team.  Usually a collection of fringe weirdos, these guys are experts on folklore and mythology, history (modern, world and ancient), archeology and a host of other disciplines.

Technologists:  Not only is the firm's Technology department tasked with the upkeep of the office website and mail servers but also in the research and development of new types of equipment.  Agents are bound to run into problems that can only be solved through creative applications of scientific knowledge.  Technologists are MIS administrators, fringe scientists, inventors and the like.

Public Relations:  Usually seen as the least important aspect of the service is the marketing department's public relations team.  Not a whole lot to say about them right now.


Physically Fit Professionals
Paranormal Experts
Technology Experts
Research Librarians
Library
Equipment & Resources
Special Contacts

All games of InSpectres! start with the Interview.  This method enables the players to quickly get to know one another, their respective playing styles and also to start "building" their InSpectres franchise.  Tehre are three types of Interview:

Employee Screening
This is a good Interview to start with if the players have just started their franchise.  The applicant could either be a prospective player, an established player who wants to RP their "first meeting" with the group, or an NPC controlled by the GM.  The Interview can be professional, hostile, friendly or completely surreal (depending on the mood of the participants and the desired outcome).

Investor Meeting
This is a good Interview to start the game with if the players have just started (and aren't using seed money from other sources) or have been around long enough to "get noticed" by a venture capitalist group.  Typically, the GM will portray a possible investor in the InSpectres franchise and the players will need to come up with reasons why the VC should part with his money.

Media Interview
This is the best Interview for a group that is starting as a well-established franchise that has already made a name for itself.  The GM will portray a reporter from some kind of news agency (print, television, radio or web) and will ask the players questios about the business.  A crafty GM may want to insert some pointed questions in order to see how the players think on their feet.

Client Interview
This type of Interview will be used in virtually every game once the business is set up.  It will usually consist of some (or all) of the players asking a prospective client about their particular problem.  Such an interview is usually meant to "kick off" the story.

There is no "monster list." One problem with any horror/supernatural game is after awhile, the PC's get used to things. There's no mystery in Vampire...everyone and their mother knows that a wooden stake will immobilize a vamp...everyone knows that a silver bullet will kill a werewolf. Whatever. Big deal.

Instead of that, the GM literally creates the monster from the ground up. The PC's ask questions, do book research (die rolls) and investigate. Eventually, through trial and error, they learn what they are dealing with and possibly how to deal with it. I'm not sure how to do this yet...possibly just have a monster-building toolkit of some sort.

PC: Okay, so this thing has tentacles and spits acid...but it normally looks human, right?

GM: Correct.

PC: Hmmm...it sounds like a Class 4 Octo-Demonoid *die roll, success*

GM: It looks very similar...perhaps if it had a weakness of some sort you could find out for sure.

PC: Yes, well typically, Class 4's cannot abide harsh ultraviolet light. *die roll, clatter*

GM: Suit up. You guys have those UV cannons from the vampire raid...time to find out.

In essense, the GM builds a rough idea and expands based on what the characters think -- so the players get to create the monster on the fly and the GM yays or nays their additions based upon their characters' research abilities. Of course, some things have to be found out -- in the above instance, the PC's could go with their UV cannons and find out (the hard way) that they didn't make the die roll and oops...Class 3's hate UV...Class 4's just get bigger when hit. :)

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So there ya have it. :)