The basic premise would be: some time in the last hundred to fifty years a fairly epic clandestine war was fought inside the US government (and others too, I suppose). Once it was over, what evidence still remained of that war was carefully buried – literally, in some places – and the survivors made sure that no information would surface in their lifetimes. And it worked! – But now everyone involved in the original situation is dead, and nobody remembers why certain bunkers aren’t supposed to be occupied and why certain files should remain off-limits. And the Macguffins that are inside them are still fairly potent, should they ever get out.
Anyway, I can see a story in that, sure. But would it be fun to game? – Because I’m not so certain that it would be.
Nothing necessarily wrong with the story idea. The haunted house/creepy place is one of the most powerful story tropes out there.
If the mystery is part of the campaign, I really would be miserly with the info though make the “What the hell?” part of the campaign.
Just my two cents.
Giving it some thought, I think it could be, but it would need a great deal of setup beforehand and time to actually play it. The details of this clandestine war would need to be worked out beforehand, and then buried for the players to start digging up over the course of other quests that aren’t obviously related to the grand cover-up, just like the pieces in-game for their characters.
.
Think of it as less a movie than a 26-episode anime series. Introduce them to the setting in one or two adventures, maybe discovering their first pieces of the puzzle which, while interesting, don’t tell them anything on their own. Then give them the first big piece that links to whatever the first one(s) were and really tips them off that something much bigger lies buried. Then spend the rest of the overarching campaign digging into that.
.
I guess what I’m trying to say is yes, but doing so might take too much time and work for it to be practical. But there is potential for greatness in it.
.
And if not, there’s always that story.
My take: it would make a great campaign, video game, novel, or even an anthology type work, but I think it would be weak as the basis for a campaign setting. As I see it, what you describe lends itself well to a single large story (not to say you can’t have a variety of plots and subplots going on in there) that ultimately resolves in some fashion. There could be some ominous loose ends, etc. but I don’t think you could effectively tell a lot of ongoing stories with it. *shrug* I could be wrong; it depends on how you flesh the world out. Regardless, I’ll probably want to throw money at whatever you come up with.
It depends on the players.
.
There’s a lot of great potential here. From Hiss, to the Rosenberg, to McCarthy, to the Verona papers, to modern government entities kissing up to CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood there are a lot of ways to tie things together into a nasty conspiratorial/horror mess.
.
But you need the right players for it to work. It isn’t going to be a game of “roll and shout”. Combat and otherwise making yourself known will be something to actively avoid. There isn’t a fantasy of power to be seen. To make a difference, you’re going to have to be clever and subtle. And even then, you might die.
.
I’d love it. But I’m in the minority.
Do think about having the war having been about the discovery/ suppression of aliens.
Knowledge suppressed because the unwashed just wouldn’t be able to handle the knowledge.
Maybe the Business Plot was actually executed and, in it’s failure, Smedley Butler was paraded out for the humiliation of a conspiracy theorist.
I personally think it’s a great idea. And it could be adapted to any setting as a series of adventures that fit into the overall milieu, sort of a ‘campaign booster pack’. Lots of work to put it all together, though…
.
How fun it would be depends entirely on the GM and the players. RPG’s are interactive storytelling, so it boils down to group dynamics, I think. I’ve had great fun with stupid games played with great people, and drudgery playing great games with… other kinds ;D of people
I’d run it as a newly emergent superheroes or psychics game. US vs USSR tried all sorts of wacky things to win the cold war. Multiple groups figured out how to breed/create superspies, but they ended up being much better suited to taking over their home turf than the enemy. The war was basically normals [with numbers] vs psi or non-obvious supers, the abnormals trying to gain power/money/etc, no fame. Most of the abnormals were killed. A few escaped, hid, got protection from organized crime, etc.
The players are, using GURPS ideas, high power, low skill. They have their powers due to their moms being injected with pure mcguffin while pregnant, [or they’re clones, or… all adopted?] either by an escaped super trying to make a new generation, or by some government scientist types. The campaign style would either be “realistic” supers like Grrl Power, with the players joining a newly created agency… or a conspiracy “who can you trust” kind of campaign, with survival and learning how to use their powers, possibly from one of the old guard, possibly from buried scientific reports.
While there might be some power fantasy moments, any “I AM A GOD” moments get shut down hard.