I started watching the X-Files recently, It's about time anyways. and not to sound too much like /x/ but the concept is fascinating FBI agents in way too deep in UFO phenomenon.
I love running games in different settings, usually as one offs but some times they turn into multi session campaigns and i was really digging the idea of running a X files game. Not exactly scully and mulder of course but a similar premise.
Anyways Veeky Forums what I'm asking is i did this what plot hooks and what system could i use. Also if youve ever played a game like this, was it fun or not? was that because of the setting or some failings of the GM so that i can avoid that?
The big reveal could be that there is an alien government controlling everything behind the scene. Or at least trying to.
Those surface anomalies on the moon really are ancient listening posts. They were set up back in the Mesolithic era.
The aliens have not been interbreeding with people. They have not been causing mutations for any experiments. They have not been selectively breeding humans for certain traits. they are not famous world leaders in disguise.
The only abductions they are aware of consisted of catch, tag and release missions.
They set foot on Earth once just after discover humanity. The landing mission lasted for about 3 hours and they realized they were allergic to damn near everything on the planet. After that the interest of their people in Earth dropped drastically.
They never got closer than high orbit again until the 50s.
They are as baffled with some of the genetic abnormalities in humans as we are.
The Roswell incident was not them. It really was a Russian weather balloon.
Why are they interfering? Because they don't want us all to die another World War and as such are trying to make the whole world one nation. Their efforts hindered by the leaders of the big corporations they are trying to use to do this who are just in it for themselves. The aliens are somewhat naïve when it comes to shit like greed and selfishness.
They never set foot on Earth in historic times until the 50s when they found the right combination of drugs to let them survive on the surface. Still can't eat the local food.
On the whole they don't like Earth that much. The air smells weird and is too thin, everything is trying to kill them, it's too bright, it's too dry and the inhabitants are weird.
Michael Gutierrez
The X-Files milieu has a bit of a credibility gap after Snowden. That's not a game-killer in itself, but you should probably be straight up with prospective players - tell them outright that you have in mind an X-Files inspired game, rather than trying for the element of surprise. The mystery in the X-Files is not that there is a conspiracy, but what exactly the conspiracy conceals.
Christopher Reed
Consider playing the UIU in an SCP-inspired game.
Jace Lopez
Use Delta Green.
Leo Hall
>ufology >bigfoot >nessie >fascinating
It's just a phase. You'll get over it.
Easton Evans
regardless the show is popular for a reason and it would be fun to play a game about it
Ryder Brown
omfg you'd be a fucking idiot to ignore the evidence man, the well known reports hardly scratch the surface, try looking up some time idiot. do you really think we're alone? or are you someone who thinks humans were made by some kind of god a couple thousand years ago
your cynicism is just a phase too man
Kayden Lewis
The lore of X-Files is pretty much all Blue Planet Project. And it barely scratches the surface. You can simply download that old chestnut and go nuts building a conspiracy.
For mechanics Delta Green is probably a good place to start. It's a streamlined BRP set on a mission structure. The flavor is a little different. DG Agents could be working for the FBI, but their actual job would be hunting down things that cannot be and murdering everyone who may have seen them. Sanity can be deflected on social connections so a tragic personal decay is part of the mechanics. DG would be X-Files if the cancer candidate had sent Mulder and Scully on secret missions without the knowledge of Skinner, and they had families to wreck.
CoC7 might be better for the structure as seen on the show. It's a squishy investigators game. The mechanics got a careful work over and I'd use a lot of the details even with DG.
For a more beer & pretzels approach InSpectres might be worth a look. On a good roll narrative control of the scene switches to the player for a beat. It's fun.
There's also Nemesis, always worth checking out as it is free, pure crunch, and excellently made from fast and precise ORE resolution as well as UA madness.
Wyatt King
>I love running games in different settings, usually as one offs but some times they turn into multi session campaigns and i was really digging the idea of running a X files game. Dead of Night
Really simple and fast. Not!Fate points also serve as health. They can be regained but they are very limited. This means it is a deadly and fast game, but PCs will die only towards the end as they have enough points in the beginning to get out of a nuke on their heads. But in the end a well placed punch will take them out of the story.
Like Dread it's a very fun game that will also teach you horror with a mechanical structure that aids the tension curve and a well written rule book with tons of great genre advice.
I seem to remember there being an official xfiles RPG. Was that a thing or has the new world order been reprogramming my memory again?
David Garcia
Conspiracy X
Isaac Martinez
My knowledge of X-files consists of only a few episodes watched whilst ill so you'll have to forgive it being off topic.
Ethan Gray
Night Shift is NEVER off topic!
Cooper Brooks
I love the concept of Earth being a nature reserve set up by aliens.
Angel Jones
As someone who grew up on the series I might as well spoil the big reveal towards the end. (trust me you won't mind, as high quality as it manages to remain up until the end the metaplot is kind of ass.) Basically aliens are going to invade eventually.
and when they do they're going to get their asses kicked because all of earth's weird bullshit is gonna say 'This is our house. Fuck Off."
Try Savage Worlds, GURPS, or Unknown Armies.
Robert Perry
In Savage World PCs are a weirdly qualified gang of Mildly Military FBI agents stomping out mystery left and right all while studying for finals and taking out the prom queen (for dinner, not with a Glaser 9mm)
In GURPS everything is kinda samey and bogged down by ludicrous mechanics which you can strip down after taking a 4 year degree in autism. Splats are fun, they are quite comprehensive, genrewise. But I don't like the 3d6, it's less of a game dynamic and more of a homework kind of thing.
In UA the PCs are mad visionaries tethering on the brink of society with awesome and weirdly specific powers and a slowly decaying mental stability that affects base stats. And somehow the FBI thinks they work for the Bureau.
Jack Price
if nothing else I suggest GURPS because it's splats are comprehensive in detail and they actually have a X-files sourcebook. Even if you dislike the system they're full of excellent source material.
Jack Hall
And you are perfectly right.
Carter Jones
I'd imagine you're thinking of Conspiracy X. X Files was a major influence and of course they both have X prominently in the name, but it wasn't an official tie-in.
So far as I know X Files has never had a licensed system.
Christian Taylor
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Eli Mitchell
Seconding Conspiracy X. It's literally made for this.
Isaiah Campbell
Damn I knew it was a mistake to take off my tinfoil hat
Angel Carter
Is that Rize?
Asher White
this is not a bump
Brandon Baker
Lies!
Oliver Jackson
I want to combine some of the stuff of the secret world, scp, unknown armies, delta green and X-Files into one mega setting.
Jace Reyes
Don't worry about setting too much. I mean X-Files alone goes from alien abductions over mythical creatures and magic to government conspiracies. DG and UA cover an entire secret modern history from two mutually exclusive sides with tie-ins of actual events: struggling investigators and marginally sane cultists. And it all happens behind the scenes from an X-Files perspective. Now toss in SCP and you're in full on fan service land without rhyme or reason. These settings break each other. You're headed for Shadowrun
Instead focus on the story that the players actually get to experience and build on that week by week. You can introduce any themes that strike your fancy, but do it with the players, not behind their backs. The more secret structure you apply, the less the players will feel enabled. So build it on them and their ideas in character.
Mystery is all about not knowing. And it is much easier to build that comprehensively as one goes along.
Jack Walker
Op back from work thanks for all the help I already have an idea for a session one hook planned out but maybe my sleepy delusions are enflating my own ego
Charles Evans
Nice try, Scully.
Matthew White
There could be some footnotes from the Snowden leaks that were just ignored. There is credibility.. and then there is incredibility. Also X-files could be the investigative wing of Xcom. - or run into them.
Camden Barnes
Hey by the way guys im kind of curious, is there actual tension between the various agencies in america? im canadian and everything is pretty much handled by the Csis and the idea that the FBI and the CIA competing at the borders seems like a fun subplot in my game but again i havent slept in over 24 hours
Aiden Garcia
FBI and CIA aren't allowed to share info without certain people in congress and associated organizations talking it out. Same with the military getting involved with shit.
A lot of it has to do with the checks and balances systems we have in place to prevent abuses. Problem is that can lead to say, a CIA agent stumbling onto info that could help an ongoing FBI investigation but legally he isn't allowed to share it. He probably won't even know about the FBI organization and his superiors aren't going to make sharing that info a high priority.
Vice Versa if the FBI stumbles onto something the CIA can't just roll in and demand that evidence or whatever. They have to file papers, get an okay from courts and so on,
Jaxon Gray
Awesome thanks for the info! is there any more organizations that could get in the way? NSA CSI other Abbreviations for agencies?
Gabriel Nguyen
In a country with 16 official federal intelligence agencies all tasked to do the same impossible job with draconian measures on an administrative budget I believe competition is pretty much the name of the game.
On TV the FBI is always top dog somehow. And today the DHS is the umbrella for domestic operations, but the different cultures and loyalties still persist. DG really tries to break that up a little with agents from the National Forest Service to the Atomic Energy Commission.
Camden Davis
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Adam Martinez
Thanks for keeping the thread alive guys im headed to bed now, 30 hours is just oo much for me
Easton Ross
Delta Green
Chase Perez
If I may offer a suggestion: Alternity Dark*Matter. It's pretty much "What if all the episodes of The X-Files were related instead of just the main plot and the fun episodes having nothing to do with each other" the campaign setting. Plus I rather like the ruleset.
Fun fact: At one point the Department of Education's Inspector General office ordered like a shitton of shotguns. You know. In case they totally needed to make an arrest for someone stealing student loan money or something.
If you wanted a more comedic game or plot, you could have a government conspiracy of some of the bueraucrats in oddball government offices (Department of Agriculture, Education, HUD, Labor, etc.) band together with their ridiculous purchase to FIGHT CRIME.
Or, you know, these weapon purchases could be funneled to secret government wetwork teams to get rid of people who know about the UFO / New World Order / Illuminati / Lizard People / etc.
