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Old Dec 15th, 2024, 04:05 PM
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Monsters in Montana - Conspiracy X Campaign

Game NameMonsters in Montana - Conspiracy X Campaign
Game SystemVanilla d20 Modern (most similar to D&D 3.5E)
ThemeAn action-adventure-thriller for up to 8 players set in the conspiracy X campaign setting, using the vanilla d20 modern ruleset.
FlavourAn operating cell of a protest group attempts to solve conspiracies and urban legends to support the release of documents that prove that aliens exist.
Plot Summary



GAME NAME: Monsters in Montana – A Conspiracy X Campaign

Dungeon Master ("DM"/"GM"): Chekken

Setting: Vanilla D20 Modern ruleset in the Conspiracy X game module setting. The rules-set is most like D&D 3.5.

Details About The Setting
We will be playing a version of Conspiracy X (“ConX”) that is adapted towards the d20 Modern system. We are using vanilla d20 Modern with roleplay flavor from ConX.

The dice rolling is going to be flexible, because what we’re aiming for is a great story and quality RP experiences. Typically, ConX uses the GURPS system, but I as the DM am not yet familiar with this system, and there are some issues with the sourcebook...

You see, ConX does have an official sourcebook by Eden Studios, but the "store" link on the official website is broken. I've been to my Local Game Store AND Amazon within my neck of the woods, and I cannot seem to acquire the sourcebook.

I am used to the d20 system and my solution is - just adapt it! I wanted to see how the Conspiracy X system would fare if it is adapted into d20 Modern. The goal will be to understand the game guide for Conspiracy X, and then see how it could potentially be improved into its own homebrew system that makes use of d20 Modern. In subsequent games, we MAY play this experimental system, which I'll call "ConX 2.0". For now, we're getting started with vanilla d20 modern.

Because Conspiracy X does not yet have a wiki, and because the source book is particularly difficult to find, we will stick with d20M for our rules set. I really want to help get more players into ConX, because it is an awesome modern-day module with fascinating sci-fi and fantasy themes. As you can guess from the title, it is all about conspiracies and urban legends.

I will set out the rules in a very clear way before the game, so that everybody understands what is and is not allowed. However, this game will be RP-heavy and the Rule of Cool applies. The combat roles will be based on d20 modern for the sake of simplicity. Basically - if it's on the vanilla d20 Modern Wiki, and it fits the circumstances, it will be considered acceptable.

I promise that the payoff will not just be, “It’s Cthulu”. This campaign will go deep into some RP narrative themes about the rightness and wrongness of the game world’s actions, and perhaps produce some commentary about the urban legends themselves - IF you can make it to the ending!




Acceptable Characters
We are accepting vanilla d20 Modern characters that are oriented towards adventure, exploration, and perhaps even a bit of wrong-doing. You can look through the wiki and find a good profession and class here.

The acceptable classes are:
Strong Hero
Fast Hero
Tough Hero
Smart Hero
Dedicated Hero
Charismatic Hero


All professions are fine, except those from "Advanced or "Arcana" (See below).

The "Criminal" profession is not recommended because it may unintentionally cause PVP later. However, reformed criminals are probably fine.

Please do not apply using characters, classes, feats, or professions from the "Advanced" or "Arcana" modules. If you want to use these modules, PM me and we can talk about how you can spec into it later without affecting the story lore.





The Plot

This game is set in the Conspiracy X tabletop RPG world using modern characters and d20 Modern mechanics.

Below is a news clipping in-RP that describes the role of AEGIS in this game and the overall game events over the last six in-game months. There are a few spoilers in there, so if you would not like to know the plot yet OOC, feel free to skip the news post and be surprised by the game world. Otherwise, read on!

Quote:
 

Important Info! Absences and post delays

We'll have a reasonable expectation of one large post and one smaller post per week (so that's "1.5" posts per week).

We can open up side-RP and secondary threads, as well, as the group likes.

If you miss out on RP, please make an effort to notify us. If you are not present, and give us no directions on what to do, your character will be judged to have not been there during the events in question. Nothing will happen to hurt your character while you are away.

Please notify us of your absence so we can make arrangements for your character.


Leveling Up
Leveling up is going to be extremely simplified and based on the Conspiracy X sourcebook: if the Cell completes the mission from the quest-giving NPC, you get to level up. Basically, this means that I am completely removing the concept of experience points / EXP. I hope this makes planning your character much easier! We hope to finish this first campaign around levels 7-10. The next leg would be levels 10-20.

We will make adaptations for skills or items that take EXP as a currency (although I can't think of any off the top of my head).



Types Of Characters In "Monsters In Montana"
We are sticking with vanilla d20 Modern for our characters.

The setting is essentially modern-day, with little to no variation in the timeline apart from the presence of these supernatural beings and places. You’ll learn more about the supernatural beings or "supers" in-RP as you investigate the altered game world.

All characters start at level one. This is because I presume that most players will be brand new to Conspiracy X or even to d20 Modern fantasy settings in general.

You MAY insert supernatural themes into your backstory, but make sure that you are in the starting phases of that journey / understanding. If you’re a “super”, you’re like Sooki at the very beginning of True Blood – you’ve received psionic or magical powers, but you don’t get why they’re there, how to control them, or the nature of the powers. You’ll need to seek a mentor or an NPC that understands the nature of your powers. Out-of-character, you’ll need to produce a Conspiracy X or d20 Modern sourcebook for the DM that supports your powers, with the rules we need to work with them.

A rule we will be adopting is, “You can have a reasonable amount of superpower if the DM has the rules to understand those powers”.

I hope to get a nice even spread of investigation-style characters, action sequence characters, and RP based characters. There’s no “required word count” in this application or in my campaign, but please go into as much creative depths as you can.

You may produce a prototype character sheet, but **please do not roll in this thread**.

Again, **please do not roll your character sheet stats in this thread**.

We’ll roll during “Session Zero”. Just leave your stats blank for the time being.

Character applications should have the following headings.

Use the data from [here] to construct your character sheet
https://d20modern.fandom.com/wiki/Occupations

NAME:
Age:
Sex:
Civilian, Professional, or Investigator Character?:
Specific Profession from d20 Modern (if any):
Three words that describe this character best:
What do you as a player like best – RP, combat, or investigation?:
Tell a story about the conspiracy proof that your character produced for AEGIS:

Tell me about the character’s backstory, personality traits, and values:

Characters have access to one vehicle worth less than $30K (Wealth DC 29). Describe your vehicle. (Note that vehicles may not have weapons attached or be unsafe for the road):

How many posts can you make per week? I hope for around 2 medium sized posts. Is this doable?:

----

EXAMPLE CHARACTER (with some comedy flavor)
 

------
Character Backstory Categories
When you write your character application, there are three categories of character backstories that fit into the events in Montana. What you know is that nine adolescents went missing in a forest on the outskirts of town. Please identify which one your character fits under, and what their interest is in the disappearance.

 

 

 


Please be respectful by keeping secrets confidential until the appropriate time in RP. If you know something interesting OOC, keep it to yourself, so that you can gloat to me when your prediction is proven true.

During character generation, remember that this is primarily an action-investigation-thriller campaign and that the characters ought to be oriented towards those aspects. It goes without saying, but all player characters must be humans, no exceptions.

Players do not necessarily need to be “from Montana”, but they ought to find an excuse to go there and investigate the disappearances.

We will go with the “Wealth” rules from the d20 Modern rules.

We will decide as a group whether we will roll for stats/skills, or do point buy. My inclination as the DM will be to follow the d20 Modern sourcebook. If I can manage to get a copy of the Conspiracy X sourcebook, I will share it in a PDF with the group and we can decide how to integrate this.

As mentioned, there will be limited homebrew so that we can make the ConX source manual work.

Please, no expansion packs or modifications. Just vanilla d20 Modern for now.


Mandatory Session 0
All character choices will be confirmed, rolls completed, and skill points distributed during a special “Session 0” campaign. Our Session 0 will help the players get acquainted with each other, the setting, the major quest-giving NPCs within Aegis, and the game mechanics of d20M. It will also help the DM prepare future sessions. Session 0 is mandatory, and I do expect players to make at least 2-3 posts (at the absolute minimum) in the thread to help establish the setting and characters.


Sexuality, Extreme Violence, Extreme Themes, Pvp Not Allowed
There is absolutely no sex, extreme violence, torture, or PVP permitted in this campaign. These types of themes, as well as PVP, defeat the purpose of this campaign, which is to work together as a mystery-solving team. The DM commits to preventing these themes from entering the game by using “fade to black”, or not having the events happen.

Command Type Spells
Any game content involving “commanding” a character involuntarily will be performed only with permission from the other character and the DM. Rolls will be involved. We understand that forcing people to do RP that they don't want to do is uncomfortable at best and enraging at most.

Griefing = Ban
Griefing the game on purpose, including through “chaotic stupid” or “lawful dumb”, is unacceptable and will get you banned quickly from this game. The DM has had some experiences with both players and co-DMs griefing games. If you apply, you are understanding that we have a zero tolerance policy on griefing and harassment.

Dice Rolls
Please roll in the dice rolling thread and then place the result of your dice roll in your edited post. We want to ensure our posts are complete with dice rolls and numbers before they go live, so that other players don’t have to wait for the roll. For a third time, do not roll for anything on your character sheet in this thread. We will roll during Session Zero.

PLEASE ROLL IN THE DICE THREAD ON THE MONSTERS IN MONTANA GAME FORUM
All rolls INCLUDING CHARACTER GENERATION ROLLS will be in the game forum’s official dice rolling thread, so that everybody can see it. Please decide OOC what you wish to roll first, and then post the results of that roll second inside of your post. Again, please do not roll in this ad thread.

Safe Environment
We are working together to create a great story. If you apply to this game, you commit to producing a safe environment for the other players and the DM. You will not do things to the players or DM out-of-character or in-character which is unwelcome or known to be unwelcome. We have a zero tolerance policy on harassment, especially against female players. You will not engage in “–isms” at the table in any way that reflect poorly on the campaign and are not in the spirit of fun (racism, sexism, etc.). You will play fairly: you will not cheat dice rolls or character sheets. D&D / Conspiracy X works very differently from video games because it is wholly collaborative. We hope you understand the type of positive, constructive game culture we are trying to create.

Last edited by Chekken; Dec 16th, 2024 at 05:27 PM.
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Old Dec 15th, 2024, 04:20 PM
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Final Conspiracy Crew!

PlayerCharacter NameClassOccupationConspiracy Story
page6e23Bertram KjoestromDedicated HeroInvestigator - Investigative or Law Enforcement Had a close encounter while undercover; broke the protocol to discover the truth.
Stadiumite Joey WaxlerTough HeroCivilian - Adventurer Witnessed 18 months' of alien related evidence in the wilderness; he's not backing down.
Snicker Gertrude "Gerty" McMurty]UndisclosedCivilian - Investigator Documented the Men in Black confiscating her proof; she saw the lab, and she knows the truth.
The Rat Queen Dr. Dahlia Marlowe Smart Hero Academic - Archaeology Tried to disprove AEGIS's alien archaeology; now, she's a believer.
Drachenspirit Sadie Foster Fast Hero Civilian - Pro Athlete Took an 8mm film of a spacecraft while training at Granite Peak; she was too quick for "them".

Last edited by Chekken; Jan 14th, 2025 at 04:38 AM.
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Old Dec 15th, 2024, 05:33 PM
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Sorry.

Last edited by Mitsubachi; Dec 18th, 2024 at 02:54 PM. Reason: Withdrawn
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Old Dec 15th, 2024, 10:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitsubachi View Post
Hi! A mod can fix your tag if you ask nicely. (sometimes they even show up and do it pre-emptively.)

Secondly, this is like THE Game I Have Been Waiting For.

I’ve played d20 modern before, and this particular concept is perfect.

I’m thinking of a charismatic type investigator.

The problem is: I don’t use discord. Does that disqualify me? You talk about missing perhaps individual sessions above, but I won’t be able to use it at all.

Please can you let me know if I can still apply?
Fantastic! I'm happy for your enthusiasm!

Yes, absolutely, please apply!

EDIT: We are no longer using discord, per the RPG Crossing site rules.

Last edited by Chekken; Dec 16th, 2024 at 05:16 PM.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 02:34 AM
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I'm also interested, but I also don't do discord. I'm on a pbp site so as to avoid instant messaging platforms.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 02:55 AM
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Can you confirm that the game will be held on this site? Advertising off-site games is banned here.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 04:13 PM
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And how are you planning to use the Ops Center chapter?
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 04:33 PM
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This sounds like my kind of game! I'm a little busy around the holidays, but expect to see a character submission from me!
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 05:14 PM
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Interested. I have the D20 Modern core book (and the Future book, for that matter), but I have not used them much.

I am thinking either a tough or strong hero class, with the adventurer occupations. This guy is an extreme sports enthusiast. Climbs mountains. Camps in the wilderness with little equipment for the fun of it. Is it possible that he witnessed something around the disappearance of the 9 that got him interested in this?
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 05:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acathala View Post
Can you confirm that the game will be held on this site? Advertising off-site games is banned here.
Yes, to be perfectly clear, the game will be on this site and not off-site. I didn't realize that voice chat is against the rules. I have edited that section of the advert. To explain, I had originally written the ad with placeholder information that was designed for a different forum site. Again, there is no discord.

Quote:
Originally Posted by page6e23 View Post
And how are you planning to use the Ops Center chapter?
We will be doing a "Mission Zero", which will serve as the in-RP session zero and the Agents' orientations to AEGIS, which is the "big good" organization. We will RP to establish the story / setting / characters. We are going to make some decisions at that time (and also in the OOC thread) about aspects like the Ops Center, the Qualities and Drawbacks that your character has, and their...let's call it, "alternative profession".

I know I'm being deliberately vague, but I want players to go into this game as blind as possible about the Conspiracy X setting. It makes the RP sections more fun, and leads to some interesting OOC reactions.

On a related note, I've finally found some sourcebook content for ConX! I read through the excellent info that has been made available on this site about Con X. It's basically a summary of some of the information from the sourcebook. This will help you establish some RP flavor for your character, but be forewarned: there are a lot of spoilers in here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snicker View Post
This sounds like my kind of game! I'm a little busy around the holidays, but expect to see a character submission from me!
Awesome! Looking forward to it! I'm going to keep applications open for the next while as I plan the campaign and how it's going to go down. I have some excellent ideas about the urban legends we'll explore.

Last edited by Chekken; Dec 16th, 2024 at 05:22 PM.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 05:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stadiumite View Post
Interested. I have the D20 Modern core book (and the Future book, for that matter), but I have not used them much.

I am thinking either a tough or strong hero class, with the adventurer occupations. This guy is an extreme sports enthusiast. Climbs mountains. Camps in the wilderness with little equipment for the fun of it. Is it possible that he witnessed something around the disappearance of the 9 that got him interested in this?
Ohhhh, definitely! There are quite a few paranormal creatures in ConX. You could say that he saw lights, saw objects moving on their own, saw strange creatures, found a strange relic, slipped and fell into a UFO, any number of things. That's a great set-up.

There are also technology people who, for example, might be surfing the deep web for information.

The d20M Future book may come in handy in the future, haha.

Last edited by Chekken; Dec 16th, 2024 at 05:23 PM.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 05:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chekken View Post
I know I'm being deliberately vague, but I want players to go into this game as blind as possible about the Conspiracy X setting. It makes the RP sections more fun, and leads to some interesting OOC reactions.
Ummm, I have both 1e and 2e, and I'm mostly the opposite of 'blind about the ConspiracyX setting'. I hope that does not rule me out, because I love the setting.
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Old Dec 16th, 2024, 05:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by page6e23 View Post
Ummm, I have both 1e and 2e, and I'm mostly the opposite of 'blind about the ConspiracyX setting'. I hope that does not rule me out, because I love the setting.
No, not at all! I can totally make that work. In fact, would you consider playing an investigator character?

I was just suggesting that going into the ConX setting blind makes things fun and interesting.
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Old Dec 17th, 2024, 05:34 AM
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Withdrawn

Last edited by Mitsubachi; Dec 18th, 2024 at 02:55 PM. Reason: Withdrawn
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Old Dec 17th, 2024, 05:09 PM
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Conspiracy X 2.0 core book on DriveThru.

I'm thinking about a DEA field agent in their late forties. A Wisdom-based character, whose main tools are perception and self-control. Others usually consider him cold and distant, but that only describes him in professional situations. In private life, he's quite relaxed and fun.

AEGIS can easily assign him to any 'top secret task force', meaning he's actually doing AEGIS stuff while he's officially doing DEA stuff.

Since I have a lot of knowledge of the setting, I suppose Bertram might have had personal contact with extraterrestials (though he might not know it was them), and done some missions for AEGIS.

Last edited by page6e23; Dec 17th, 2024 at 05:28 PM.
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