DC1 Guide to Dark Conspiracy (1st Edition) (2085857)

7/26/2019 DC1 Guide to Dark Conspiracy (1st Edition) (2085857)

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Dark Conspiracy, 1st edition rulebook

New Orleans AdventureHeart of Darkness AdventureDarktek Sourcebook SourcebookHellsgate AdventureDark Races SourcebookAmong The Dead AdventureEmpathic Sourcebook SourcebookIce Daemon AdventureNightsider AdventureProtoDimensional SourcebookPC Booster Kit Resource and ScreenMinion Hunter BoardgameMinion Nation Boardgame Expansion

The Lost Video

Dark Conspiracy Player's Handbook 2nd edition

Basic Edition 184 pages,Master Edition 400 pages,

Dark Conspiracy Referees Guide 2nd edition

Basic Edition 180 pages,Master Edition 462 pages,

Dark Conspiracy Referees Screen

The Shadow Falls (Sin City, Vol. 1) 108 pagesOf Gates and Gods (Sin City, Vol. 2) 108 pagesMasks of Darkness (Sin City, Vol. 3) 106 pages

ALL ABOUT

In 1991, Game Designers Workshopexpanded its role-playing game line to encompass horror. The introduction ofDark Conspiracymarked its nth role-playing game (following

En Garde!, Traveller, Twilight: 2000, and 2300 AD).Originally a D10 system, it was soon retrofitted to use the GDWHouse system, already used in Traveller: The New EraandTwilight: 2000version 2.2).

When GDW closed its doors in 1994, Dark Conspiracyreverted to its designers and was transferred to Dark ConspiracyEnterprises, which (in turn) arranged for its publication throughDynasty Presentations, Inc which brought out the second editionin 1997. DPIs business model (producing books using a print-on-demand supplier) proved unworkable, and the Second Editionwent out of print in 1997.

In 2005, The Gamers' Conglomerate (a New Zealandcompany) announced plans for the Third Edition, but that project

has since since been abandoned.In 2009, a major publisher has expressed interest in revivingthe Dark Conspiracy series, but does not expect to publish before2011.

The Dark Future

Dark Conspiracywas best known for its extremely detailed dystopic setting and background material. Set in the early 21st centuryafter the "Greater Depression" has destroyed the global economy, Dark Conspiracyfocusses on the America, describing a countryundergoing slow collapse. Its larger cities have expanded into massive metroplexes, in some cases covering entire states. Beyond theMetroplexes is Outlaw: without federal or state protection; the road network barely maintained; territory governed by gangs andwarlords. Scattered within the Outlaw is Demonground: terrible lands inhabited by a fantastic range of monsters, vampires, aliens,werewolves, cyborgs. There is a complex rationale behind this fantasy, and the characters in Dark Conspiracy have taken up armsagainst this Dark Invasion.


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Publication History

The first edition of Dark Conspiracy was published in asingle 366 page rule book, in a soft cover, standard sizevolume, followed by numerous expansion volumes,EmpathicSourcebook,Dark Races I,Protodimensions,PC Booster Kit,andDarktek, several modules, three novels, and a boardgame.

The second edition was published in two folio sizedvolumes, one targeted at Players (184 pages,Basic Editionand400 pages,Master Edition) and the other at Game Masters

(180 pages,Basic Editionand 462 pages,Master Edition),both in soft cover. DPI released two versions of each book, aBasic Editionand aMasters Edition. The second editioncombined all of the information in the expansion volumes withthe information in the main book and sorted it into the twobooks.

Game System

Using the same system as Traveller:The New EraandTwilight 2000(GDWs so-calledHouse System), in the firstedition,Dark Conspiracyis a skill-based ruleset. Charactercreation is achieved through a multi-step process in which theplayer selects various career termsfor their character. Each

career term specifies either a pre-determined set of skills thatthe character gained, or allows a certain number of points tobe distributed among a set skill list. Each skill is governed byan attribute, either randomly rolled or set using a pointdistribution method. Each career term also grants the charactera fixed number of contacts. As a limit to the number of termsa character can take, each term ages the character four (4)years. Once a certain age limit is reached, the player has tomake rolls to prevent the loss of physically oriented attributesdue to aging.

The first edition used a d10 based system for determiningsuccess at skill use, while the second edition used a d20 basedsystem. Combat is broken into 30 second rounds, which are inturn broken down into five second phases. Each character hasan initiative phase that they may act in. Actions are limited bywhat can logically be performed within the five secondwindow of each phase, i.e. speaking a few words or firing agun a limited number of times. For common tasks andsituations the rules are very direct, but the rules that govern

more unusual situations, such as explosives, becomeextremely complex, requiring the use of square roots anddecimal fractions.Both editions included an expansive list of equipment for usein this fight, and pictures of many of the items (and all theweapons and vehicles) mentioned. Lester Smith is quotedassaying in regards to the amount of equipment detailed: "Somepeople want lots; others want little... [P]eople that don't wantthem can ignore them, but people who do want them will beglad they're there. It doesn't work the other way 'round... As arole-player myself, I want to be able to see what somethinglooks like, if my character is going to be carrying it. I hatepicking something for its stats and having no idea of what it

looks like."

Game Designers Workshop

Award winning original designers of Dark Conspiracy(1sted)

Dynasty Presentations, IncPublishers of Dark Conspiracy (2nd ed), and the "Games

Unplugged" RPG magazine.


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Dark Conspiracy, 1st edition rulebook

"Shapes that rip and tear. Shadows that live in corners. Windows in space and

time that lead to realms of madness and decay. A dark lurking horror that feeds

off the echoing anguish of a billion tortured souls.

This is the center of a twisted, sinister conspiracy which threatens the very existenceof all humankind.

Set in the near future, the world of Dark Conspiracy is dramatically altered fromtoday and is fraught with peril and challenges. The Metroplexes, where most of theworld's population lives, are a blend of lawless gang turf and corporate fortresses ruledby men and women powerful enough to be above the law. The countryside is sparselyinhabited, its natives suspicious and violent. And increasing areas of countryside areturning into Demonground, from which few humans return.

When an ancient, brooding evil is released from its dimensional prison, humankind'sworst nightmares come to life. What is the link between this sinister horror and themysterious holes in the ozone layer, the rise of empathically aware humans, and thealien visitors from another star system?"

Dark Conspiracy shares the same rules set as Traveller: The New Eraand Twilight:2000. It's of the genre I think of as "Techno-Horror," a modern-day Call of Cthulhu,with inspiration from the X-Files TV series.

336 pages ... GDW 2100


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New OrleansSomething's prowling the fringes of the

city. Something from the swamps,something old and wicked, with a legionof servitors at its disposal.

People in the outlying ghettos havebeen disappearing, the only clue to theirfate a thin trail of blood and stagnantwater leading to the sewers.

A panic is seizing the city. Fistfightsand street battles are occurring at anincreasingly frequent rate. It's becomingdifficult to travel from one sector toanother without a well armed guard.

Now someone is dumping tons oftoxins into the swamps, leaving deadwildlife bloating in the hot Louisana sun.And the megacorps are blaming it on oneanother.

Can you unravel the mystery, withoutfalling prey to the deadly swamps, thesecretive corps, or the panicked citizenryof New Orleans?

Darktek SourcebookBehind the shadows of our world, the

Dark Ones lurk, plotting humanity's ruin.Their Dark Minions stalk us, armed withhorrific devices, the products strange andhideous sciences. Human agents capturewhat they can, hoping for weapons thatwill aid them in their fight. And in somesecret strongholds, individual ETs whohave escaped the darkness labor side byside with human scientists, creating itemsto hold the Dark Ones off.

Meanwhile the megacorporate sectorpursues technologies that pander to thewealthy. For many, HiTek is the truestsymbol of high status. Worn like a coat ofarms, it distinguishes the movers andshakers from the increasinglydisenfranchised hordes of 'commoners'below.

In this volume, you will find itemsranging from the gruesome biologicweapons of the Dark Minions, to thefuturistic constructs of the ETs, to themost advanced in human technology. But

all belong to the world of DarkConspiracy, a world that is itself evermore a product of DarkTek.

Heart of DarknessFor A Thousand Years the Dark Lady, a

sorceress of ancient Baghdad, has lain inmystic stasis, her mind imprisonedthrough the power of a legendary gem.

a hideous race of parasites has chafed atthe wards barring them from Earth, andhas labored to aid the Dark Lady whocould free them.

the Servants of the Dark Lady havesought to destroy the mystic opal called'Heart of Darkness,' to release their evilmistress into the world once again.

the Brothers of Ahmed have dogged theheels of the Servants, seeking theknowledge to destroy the Dark Lady foronce and all time.


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HellsgateThrough the millennia, it has known

many names: Set, Surtur, Hel, Kutulu,Tiamat. The legends of this being stretchback beyond the memory of humankind.It is the Great Dark One. The source ofmisery, the bringer of despair, and thewellspring of human suffering.

Imprisoned in ages past, it has bided itstime. When humans crawled from theevolutionary muck, it waited. As the firstcivilizations arose, it waited. Whenhumanity first reached out for the skies, itwaited. It waited for a time when it couldbe free to rule and torture.

That time has come. NASA's newestComsat is beaming a strange andunknown signal to Mexico. The gods ofthe ancient Mayans are rising anew.Strange and horrible creatures stalk thenight. These disparate threads hold thesecret of the Dark One's return. The wayis open for the coming of the Great DarkOne.

Hidden away in this tangled skein of

threads lies the terrible secret that canbreach the walls of reality and herald thearrival of the greatest evil ever known.The secret of Hellsgate.

Dark Races, Volume 1This first Dark Races Compendium is

designed to maintain that sense ofhorrifying mystery central to DarkConspiracy adventures. Within the pagesof this volume, referees will find morethan 50 Dark Minions from the feverishvisions of a dozen and a half differentauthors. Many of the creatures herein arethe stuff of often-repeated legends ofdarkness. Others spring from more privatenightmares...

Among the DeadAs the Earth slips further into chaos and

despair, some places have far less to slideOne of New York City's largest

children's hospitals, funded by 'privatedonations,' is being used to provideorphans as human raw material for someunspeakable purpose. This could havegone on for a long time, had not one ofthe nurses stumbled on part of the secret.She vanished, just another victim of thecity's lawlessness, but leaving a worriedand suspicious uncle.

On another part of the globe, Moscow,amidst the ruins of a Russia blighted bypollution, war, hunger, and fear, therestands an age-old figure of unimaginableevil. Once he was called KoshcheyBessmertny, Koshchey the Undying, andhe became the dark enemy of Russianfairy tales and folklore, a name to whisperwhen the moon passed behind a cloud. Inthe 1930s and '40s, they called himanother name, and he became the sinistermind behind the deaths of millions in the

Siberian Gulag.What he does not know is that the

disapearance of a simple provincial nursethreatens to bring these loose strandstogether into the noose that may at lastcatch him. If, that is, the players are ableto face and overcome the horrors waitingthem...Among the Dead.


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Empathic SourcebookThe Empathic Sourcebook [for Dark

Conspiracy] contains expanded andrefined rules for the Empathy attributeand its related skills, as well as entirelynew skills, and information concerningEmpathy skills practiced by humanoidETs who remain free from the Dark. Alsoincluded are more combat-relatedEmpathy skills and descriptions ofnumerous organizations important toempathic characters, from psychic testlabs to empathic secret societies.

Proto-Dimensions SourcebookPortals to other places for travel, for

escape, for mischief. Why is it easier todimension walk from Demonground? Arethere safe havens in the proto-dimensions? Where did the proto-dimensions come from? Are there otherworlds in the proto-dimensions, otherraces -- allies or enemies? What are thePlaguelands?

These questions, and many others, willbe answered in the Proto-DimensionsSourcebook, Volume 1. There are rulesfor proto-dimensional travel by means ofempathic power or by the use oftechnological devices far beyond theability of humans to create. All the detailsof dimension-walking are covered, tellinghow to stay alive while doing it. Playerswill learn how to build aninterdimensional portal -- or how todestroy one.

Further, the Proto-DimensionsSourcebook describes 12 different proto-dimensions, ranging from tropical

paradise to a sulphurous hell, from thevastness of a perpetual sky to surreallandscapes populated by creatures fromout of a nightmare, from a world whereeverything is normal except for the colorto a world where nothing is as it seems.

Ice DaemonFor as long as the icy winds have blown

across the arctic plains, it has hungeredafter humanity, its bite the kiss of frozendeath.

Through the great ice age, the time ofits greatest power, it hunted freely, itsmight unchallenged. But with the glaciers'disappearance, it retreated from the Earth.

Since that time, it has yearned to return,to sate its bloodlust once more. For thisancient and evil creature, the stars areright and the time is now. To stalk theEarth again and sheath the land in aglittering blanket of the coldest ice, itreturns.


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PC Booster Kit

Take your characters to new heights ofperformance with this optional rulessupplement for Dark Conspiracy.

Folio-sized product with upgrades tobring Dark Conspiracy up to the d20GDW "House Rules".

Included within are: Rules for playing younger, more highly-skilled characters.

Enhanced PC background options. Exciting new careers. Expanded combat rules, allowing fortrue expertise with specific weapons. An improved skill system. Rules for creating RenegadeExtraterrestrial PCs! Everything necessary for expanding to aD20 task resolution system. And an updated, full-color charactersheet suitable for making either color orblack and white photocopies..."

Nightsider

"Fang Island has long been a popularvacation resort for those wealthy enoughto enjoy such things. The top-secretmilitary base at its northern end has madethe island even more attractive, adding asense of security in a dark and sometimesdeadly world. But now all contact withthe island has been suddenly andmysteriously cut off, and is under militaryquarantine. No one is allowed to cross thecordon..."

The Lost VideoGDW produced a promotional video for

Dark Conspiracy but few people, evendedicated fans, have ever seen it..

This VHS (also now available as inelectronic form) lay unnoticed in thearchives of GDW for more than a decadebefore being rescued and transferred todownload format.


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Minion Hunter (Boardgame)

Includes: an 8-page rulebook, complete with gameencounter tables. a full-color, mounted game board with amap of Dark America and tracks forcharacter careers and minion plots. 72 Plot Cards. 40 Equipment Cards.

10 pawns with full-color stickers. a tablet of character sheets. 100 paper money bills.

[Boxed Set]

A clever boardgame where the playerswork in cooperation, rather than incompetition like most boardgames.

"It is the very near future, and America isunder siege by creatures of evil, creaturesthat feast on human suffering. Theirminions spawned humanity's darkestmyths its stories of blood drinkers,flesh eaters, shape changers, and soulstealers. Legends speak of them asvampires, zombies, ogres, ghosts, andghouls, but the reality is far worse thanhad been imagined. Now they haunt aravaged nation, stalking its lonely citystreets, prowling its ruined countrysides,

striving always to drive humanity tomadness and despair.But sometimes the hunters become thehunted. Sometimes the prey stands up andfights back. Even in these dark times,there are individuals who uncover theplots behind the nation's slide into ruinand work against them.In Minion Hunter, you become one ofthose individuals. While the dark minionspursue their evil plots, you train yourmental, physical, and psychic abilities forbattle, collecting equipment and contacts

along the way. Then, when a darkencounter alerts you to the nation's peril,you work with your fellow hunters to rootout and destroy the dark minions' plots.The best among you will become the mostfamous minion hunter. But you have toact quickly, or the minions will completetheir plots and the country will fallcompletely under their shadow."

Minion Nation:

Minion Hunter Expansion Kit"If you've played Minion Hunter until youknow every encounter by heart and havememorized every card, this kit will injecta new level of mystery into your play.

If you've just begun playing MinionHunter, this kit will provide you withoptions and background to make yourplay more satisfying than ever.

If you've never played Minion Hunter...you're missing out on a good time.

Included in this package are:* New rules options, for grimmer, yetmore cooperative games.* Expanded encounter tables, for furthervariety in play -- including a table ofrandom Plot Card results!*16 new Equipment Cards, includingEmpathy-enhancing items, a secondWildey Wolf (for two-fisted shooting!),

and even minion equipment you cancapture at Dark Encounters!* Designer's Notes, with topic by topic,space by space, encounter by encountercomments to further flesh out yourunderstanding of Minion Hunter and itstreatment of the Dark Conspiracy horrorRPG world..."


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A Gathering EvilBook #1 in the Fiddleback Trilogy,by Michael Stackpole.

"Waking up in a body bag with amnesia,

that can't be a good sign, but this is thefirst sign Tycho Caine recieves to animpending adventure. Tycho finds himselfin Phoenix, Arizona, a dark anddespressing city surrounded by a cape bythe name of Frozen Shade. He quciklyfinds himself to be a major pawn in agame for the calling of the Dark Ones intoour world. " ...Amazon reviewer AmirLotan

Evil AscendingBook #2 in the Fiddleback Trilogy,by Michael Stackpole.

Revisit the life of Tycho Caine.

Stackpole does it again in this, the secondbook of the Fiddleback trilogy. Moreunique characters, more plot convolutionsand more edge of your seat thrills asTycho and his associates race to save theworld from the Dark Lords." ...ananonymous Amazon reviewer

Evil TriumphantBook #3 in the Fiddleback Trilogy,by Michael Stackpole.

"Stackpole closes it all up in this, the last

book in the Fiddleback Trilogy. Tychoand his friends must join forces with thevery evil they fight to save the Earth froman invading army of perfect warriors.Fiddleback plans betrayal, but Tycho andhis friends are ready for anything." ...ananonymous Amazon reviewer

This trilogy of techno-horror novels by New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole is finallyavailable in one set. These novels, which were originally written to support GDW's 'Dark Conspiracy' game

line, have aptly been described as "the books that Phil Dick and H.P. Lovecraft would have produced from acollaboration" because of the combination of a dark future with terrifying monsters. Packed with action and

spiced with a touch of humor, these novels can be read alone or combined into one long pulse-pounding saga ofa handful of stalwart individuals fighting against ancient horrors intent on the conquest of the Earth.

A Gathering Evil; Evil Ascending; and Evil Triumphant. Originally sold by GDW for $5 each, Flying Buffalo isoffering all three for $10. (Plus the usual $3 postage & handling of course). They're not going to reprint these,

so get them before we sell out.

Flying Buffalo Inc. P.O. Box 8467 Scottsdale, AZ 85252

Documents

DC1 Guide to Dark Conspiracy (1st Edition) (2085857)