207182-Sample.Pdf

Sample file Contents

About Conspiracies...... 4 Little Green Men...... 33 The Schulgen Memo...... 33 Introduction to Conspiracies.....5 All’s well that Roswell...... 33 The Original Conspiracies...... 6 Area 51...... 36 Dreyfus Affair...... 7 European Aliens...... 37 From Irgun to Mossad...... 10 Tunguska ...... 38 Vive la Revolution! And the Templars of France...... 12 In Your Games...... 41 Using this Sourcebook...... 41 The Golden Land of Conspiracies...... 14 Non-Player Characters...... 44 The Business Plot...... 14 General Hopwell...... 44 An American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Special Agent Elliot Wong...... 45 Plan to Rule the West...... 15 Special Agent Nathanial Biggins...... 46 Political Machines and Machinations Operation: Dark Dawn...... 47 ...... 18 Investigation...... 48 Let’s Invade Canada!...... 19 Sun’s Rest...... 49 Illuminating the New World The Break-In...... 50 Order...... 20 The Power Struggle...... 51 The Early Days...... 21 After the End...... 51 To Post Communism...... 22 Creating Your Own Conspiracy...... 52 And Now...... 23 Bibliography...... 57 Bildeburgers...... 24 Timeline...... 58 Communism Lost and Found..26 Shadowy Organizations...... 28 Mind Control for Fun and Profit...... 28 A Watched Goat Never Explodes...... 30 Black Ops...... 32 Sample file Tabletop Gaming Guide to: Conspiracies BY Tyler Omichinski ADDITIONAL CONTENT BY Aaron T. Huss EDITING Aaron T. Huss, Tyler Omichinski INTERIOR ART Ken McIntyre ADDITIONAL ARTWORK 19srb81/Shutterstock.com, boscorelli/Shutterstock.com, Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com, Katja Gerasimova/Shutterstock.com, phipatbig/Shutterstock.com, solarseven/Shutterstock.com, Tribalium/Shutterstock.com, Johannes Wiebel/Shutterstock.com

MYL00402 Tabletop Gaming Guide to the: Mongol Empire 1st Edition December 2019

Permission is granted to print this ebook. No site license is provided. Sample file About Conspiracies

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Rich- ard’s Almanack (1741).

Conspiracies and conspiracy theories are a weird beast. There have been enough true conspiracies out there that we should be inherently skeptical. And it comes from a natural place. Recent studies have suggested that the major reason human brains are so complex has been in order to outsmart other humans. It is in our nature to make sure others do not outsmart us, and we are perpetually locked in this struggle. On the other hand, seeing conspiracies around every corner is paranoia and equally unhelpful. There are a large number of conspiracy theories that have no evidence whatsoever; not that this prevents people from believing. Conspiracies can be everything from fixing the price of oil, to overthrowing governments, to your neighbors trying to make you move by having their dogs relieve themselves on your lawn. The importance is often not the size of the conspiracy, but the impact it has upon each of us. In general, conspiracies are the organizing of a group of people, or beings if you believe in the lizard people who secretly run the planet, that have organized and are undertaking a plan unknown of by others. Within this book you’ll find: • Ideas for including conspiracy theories in your game. • Discussions of little green men, alien visitations, Tunguska, and what the military is doing behind closed doors. • Examples of how to include alien or other advanced technology in your game. • Character options for creating conspiracy-oriented characters. • And much more! Sample file Introduction to Conspiracies

There are two large ideas that fall underneath the larger topic of conspiracies: real and theories. These two concepts have always been uneasy bedfellows. Sometimes ideas firmly existing within one camp will, through sudden revela- tions, shift wholeheartedly into the other. Within modern society, especially, it is impossible for any individual to know everything, and the relatively primitive human brain is left to cope. This book attempts to address both of these – there are a number of conspiracies that were real and have been included and are discussed. On the other hand, there are a large number of conspiracy theories as well. From a role-playing standpoint, many groups may prefer the more outlandish conspiracy theories to the relatively mundane ones. If you are to look at conspiracies in general, there is an important consideration to remember. Humans are, in general, terrible at keeping secrets. An individual may be perfectly adept at lying, but as groups grow, the chance of a single individual being willing to rat everyone else out for personal gain or even just for security approaches a surety. This is an important rule to remember – the mem- bers of your secret society need motivation to not spill the beans. For the larger conspiracies and secrets out there, this is usually accomplished my limiting the information that everyone outside of the inner circle knows. When that isn’t done correctly, the conspiracy is often found out (see Aaron Burr’s attempt to become president as an example) and they can seldom survive public attention. It is worth noting that, though an effort has been made to include conspiracy theories from around the world, those from Western society make more appear- ances. This is, in part, because of the nature of conspiracy theories and conspiracies. It is only within the share-everything Western society that research is feasible for those without academic access. We have sought to include conspiracies from elsewhere, but true conspiracies are only effective if you don’t know about them, and its often very hard to know about a successfully executed conspiracy. Additionally, there are nearly as many conspiracy theories out there as there are crackpots who have something to sell. There are so many other conspiracies out there that could, and have, filled piles upon piles of books. Included Sampleherein is a selection that works especially well for role-playing file games.