Dragonground 02

Page Page 22 DEMONGROUNDDEMONGROUND Issue 2 Issue 2 Table of ContentsTable of Contents

DDDDEEEEMMMMOOOONNNNGGGGRRRROOOOUUUUNNNNDDDD IIIIssssssssuuuueeee 2222TTTTAAAABBBBLLLLEEEE OOOOFFFF CCCCOOOONNNNTTTTEEEENNNNTTTTSSSS

On The CoverOn The CoverBurden of Reality by David Ho 1

Editorial and OpinionEditorial and OpinionWelcome to Issue 2 by Michael Marchi 3Inspiration: Adapting other sources to Dark Conspiracy by Paul Reinerfelt 4Pointers for the New Referee by Ms. Georgie 7Guidelines to writing your own tabloid articles by Chris Carpenter 8Rhythm and Roleplaying: Music in RPGs by Marcus Bone 10

AdventuresAdventuresDark Embrace by Michael Marchi 12Academic Curiosities by Rob Beck 19

DarkTekDarkTekAndrodamus by Rob Beck 22

MilieuMilieuMindset: Life as a Ballotman by Geoff Skellams 23

Dark RacesDark RacesTeletubby Land: aka Dark Tubbies by Chris Carpenter 27

EquipmentEquipmentAliens in the Forest: DarkTek in the Great Outdoors by Marcus Bone 32Israeli Military Weapons by Eyal Faingersh 34

FictionFictionEarly One Morning… by Marcus Bone 35

House RulesHouse RulesQuick Combat System by Ken McKinney 36

Tabloid ArticlesTabloid ArticlesA collection of tabloid articles for use as adventure seeds by Marcus Bone and Michael Marchi 38

The Loose EndsThe Loose Ends 40

LEGAL INFORMATIONLEGAL INFORMATIONThe Dark Conspiracy game in all forms is owned by Dark Conspiracy Enterprises. © 1991 - 1998 Dark Conspiracy Enterprises. Dark Conspiracy is a trademark ofDark Conspiracy Enterprises. Dark Conspiracy Enterprises permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Dark ConspiracyEnterprises is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use, only. Any useof Dark Conspiracy Enterprises 's copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copy-rights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this fanzine cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.Dark Conspiracy Enterprises PO Box 2310 Key West FL 33045.

Editorial/OpinionEditorial/Opinion DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 33

WWWWeeeellllccccoooommmmeeee ttttoooo IIIIssssssssuuuueeee TTTTwwwwooooby Michael Marchi

Well, here we are once again. I seemost of you have stuck with us for thesecond issue of DEMONGROUND. AndI see a few new faces out there too. Wel-come! There's plenty of room over on theside by the windows.

The fact that we’re all here togetherfor another issue says a lot about DarkConspiracy and the people who believe inthis game. Many of you are here for thefirst time, only now discovering DarkConspiracy in its Second Edition printing.It is to you that this issue of DEMON-GROUND is dedicated. Still others of ushave stuck by this game through the DarkTimes between the demise of GDW andthe resurrection with Dynasty Presenta-

tions, Inc. You all know who you are,and you can stop looking so smug. Youwere right. Be proud. Now get back towork.

What can I say? There's somethingabout horror adventure gaming in thepost-modern world that seems very acces-sible to people - more so than classic dun-geon crawls or space ships battles. Thefact that Dark Conspiracy takes place in aworld very much like our own makes iteasy for people to relate to the game. Andlet’s face it. Dark Conspiracy is full ofpossibilities. I have yet to come up with ahorror or modern sci-fi story that Icouldn’t easily fit into the DC mythos.

We have a lot of articles in this issuewritten by experienced DC Referees.Relax…They’re just people like you(maybe a little more hardened and cyni-cal) who wanted to pass their tips and se-crets on to the new guys on the block(that's you). So sit back, put your feet up,and have a listen to your elders. You justmight learn something!

Michael MarchiAssociate Editor/Minister of [email protected]

The DC ICQThe DC ICQChatroomChatroom

Each week, fans of DarkConspiracy come to the ICQDark Conspiracy chat room totalk about the game.

If you have ICQ installedon your computer, just searchICQ by id# (for 12565688) ornickname (&Dark Conspiracy)and add it to your ICQ contactlist.

If you don’t have ICQ in-stalled on your computer, youcan download it for free fromthe ICQ home page athttp://www.icq.com.

For more details about theDark Conspiracy chatroom andchat sessions, see the Discus-sions page on the DynastyPresentations website.http://www.dynastypresentations.com

If you have any questionsabout Dark Conspiracy, comealong. We look forward toseeing you.

http://www.icq.com/

http://www.dynastypresentations.com/

Page Page 44 DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Editorial/OpinionEditorial/Opinion

IIIInnnnssssppppiiiirrrraaaattttiiiioooonnnnAdapting other sources to Adapting other sources to Dark ConspiracyDark Conspiracy

By Paul Reinerfelt“We are the Borg of Dark Conspiracy, resistance is futile, you will be adapted”

The Dark Conspiracy books advisethe Referee to seek inspiration in the tab-loids. Well, we don’t have many tabloidsdealing with the weird here in Sweden.Those that try tend to go belly-up in lessthan five issues. Maybe we are too seri-ous-minded or something.

So, where do I get my inspiration?I'm glad you asked, because that is thesubject of this article. How to find inspi-ration for new weirdness in Dark Con-spiracy without going to the tabloids.

The first thing I’m going to look at isother RPGs. As those who know memight know, I prefer GURPS as my sys-tem of choice. So, I will start there. SteveJackson Games have published a lot ofsource books for GURPS and some of it isreadily usable in other games, especiallyDark Conspiracy.

First off, if you want to create newempathic abilities (either for your Min-ions or actually usable to the PCs), checkout GURPS Psionics. It doesn’t justcontain a load of usable mental skills anddisciplines, it also features a chapter ofhow to apply empathy (or psionics as theycall it, not to be confused with Dark Con-spiracy's use of the word Psionics) inimaginative ways. It contains an entirechapter of possible explanations to a lot ofoccult phenomena as uncontrolled psion-ics. Neuropathy side effects, anyone?

The book doesn’t stop there though.It also contains a chapter on psionic ma-chinery, some which is biological. Itdoesn't take much imagination to placemost of these in the hands of the DarkMinions, especially the ETs. The lastchapter, which deals with a backgroundsuggestion for GURPS should not be dis-missed. Several of the secret organiza-tions outlined there could be used in DarkConspiracy too. What if the government(or a big corporation for that matter)started to train its Special Forces in theuse of low-power empathic abilities (they

don't trust high-powered empaths)? Right,you would get the Second Special Opera-tions Detachment Epsilon, mostly knownas the Psibercorps. To the Psibercorps,there are only two kinds of good empaths:Psibercorps empaths and dead empaths.And the way they got the Eugenic Secu-rity Police (ESP) to be legal stinks ofDark Conspiracy scheming. If you’reonly going to buy one non-Dark Conspir-acy book, buy GURPS Psionics.

If you’re not, you’re in luck. There areseveral other GURPS books that are wellworth looking at.

If you need strange devices to put inthe hands (or paws or tentacles) of theDarklings or you need strange tidbits ofweird history as well as a rundown onsuch things as UFO-invasions and theHoly Grail, pick up GURPS Warehouse23. This is the kind of place that you get aglimpse of in the final seconds of Raiderof the Lost Ark (the first Indiana Jonesmovie). A large warehouse where every-thing that humanity isn’t prepared for yetis stored. You don’t have to take thewarehouse literally to use all the strangethings detailed in the book though. Justpick it out and use it at your leisure, it ismore a warehouse for the Referee than theplayers anyway. My absolute favoriteitems in here are the Barb Needlers, nee-dler pistols that fire small, barbed, dartsthat get stuck in the muscles of the victimand tears them with every move the vic-tim make. A perfect Darkling weapon if Ihave ever seen one.

In the course of these descriptions,the book gives you a good mix of histori-cal fact-and-fiction. The bibliography inthe end is also useful as is the “illumi-nated” time-line. And remember, just be-cause the book says something is magicdon't take its word for it. Sufficiently ad-vanced technology (or empathy for thatmatter) is indistinguishable from magic.

So, we got new empathic powers, ahost of strange stuff to put in the hand ofthe Darklings... Ah, Darklings. Of coursewe need to shake up the players a bit byadding new bizarre Darklings. One of thebest places to find them is GURPS Crea-tures of the Night. This book contains noless than sixty-seven horror creatureswritten originally for the book (no reiter-ated vampires here). Not all of them areadaptable to Dark Conspiracy, butenough of them are to make the book agood buy. The author, Scott Paul Mayk-rantz, has a twisted imagination thatsometimes makes even the most bizarre ofthe Dark Races pale in comparison.Creatures of the Night include fish whosesongs drive you mad, spiderlike creaturesthat live in chimneys and people whosteal organs from the living and plantthem in gardens of blood. This book is notfor those with a weak stomach.

Now we got it all, new powers, newdarktek and new darklings. What? Nottough enough for your players? Well, ifyou need ideas for a really high-poweredcampaign, you can get plenty of inspira-tion from GURPS Black Ops. The subti-tle says it all; “Find the truth and kill it”.This is X-Files gone military. Much morethan military. an ultra-secret organization,called the “Company”, is recruiting thebest of the best of the best to combat theDark so that normal people can live insafe ignorance. Only fifty percent of thoserecruited survive the training. This is theultimate in monster fighting. These guysand gals make Rambo look like a weak-ling (in fact Rambo would probably notqualify for recruitment). That’s not to saythat the Black Ops are mindless grunts, tobe the best, you need brains as well asbrawn. Putting it into the 1-10 system ofattributes, the Company would require aminimum of 9 in all attributes (exceptEmpathy, of course) in their Black Opsand a lot of skill at that.


That was four of the most usefulGURPS books. Some others that couldprove useful are GURPS Bio-Tech,GURPS Dinosaurs and perhaps GURPSBlood Types (if not for any other reasonsthan an alternative version of thePenanngalan).

When converting things from othersystems it pays to have a clue about therules (especially if you’re looking atcreature statistics). So if you’re not usingthe GURPS system it might seem a wasteof time to look at these books. Fear not.Steve Jackson Games have created aboiled down version of the GURPS corerules, GURPS Lite. At only 32 pages, itis as small as it gets and it is freelydownloadable from the web. The addressis http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite

Another RPG that is useful, especiallyfor new creatures, is FASA’s Shad-owrun. In Shadowrun, magic return to theworld in the year 2011. In 2060, whenShadowrun takes place, magic is com-monplace. However, the rise of magic, aswell as the increasing pollution has givenrise to strange new creatures. Some ofthese creatures resemble creatures fromlegend and some are little more than bi-zarre mutants. Strip away the magic pow-ers and replace them with empathic ones.Change the reason for its existence (ifneeded) from magical transmutation toextra-dimensional origins and you’ve gota whole score of new beasties and min-ions to let loose on the unsuspecting play-ers.

The good thing about these creaturesis that they feel completely right for thesetting. Normal fantasy monsters needheavy tweaking but these are created for arun-down normal world with a paranor-mal twist. The best sources are the Shad-owrun 2ed rulebook (about twenty-fivecreatures) and Paranormal Animals ofNorth America (eighty creatures). As anexample of what you can find here, I canmention the Behemoth, a three meter highand 5 meter long powerhouse that lookslike a carnivorous hippopotamus. It isactually a mutated alligator and it caneasily destroy small boats that happen topass it by. Or, why not take the Incubus, aland living octopus-looking creature thatcan create an illusion of what you mostdesire (for instance your dream-babe) to

lure victims close by. Both of these crea-tures are from Paranormal Animals ofNorth America. You will also find newversions of old friends like Gargoyles,Banshees, Barghests, Krakens and Har-pies as well as the Wendigo. Not to men-tion the completely unique take on mer-maids...

After so many years and so much ma-terial, there must be something salvage-able in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.And indeed there is, especially the Mon-strous Compendia. Most of the fantasycreatures are hard to justify in Dark Con-spiracy unless you’re good at coming upwith the kind of weird explanations thatyou need in Dark Conspiracy. On theother hand, you do hit gems from time totime, strange or unique creatures, dis-turbing undead and others. Check out thecompendia dealing with the Outer Planes;they have a lot of useful beasties and no“standard” fantasy monsters. The Dragonmagazine had a series of articles someyears back where they created “Dragons”for other RPG-systems. They even didone for Dark Conspiracy (October 1993),the Darkwyrm.

If you don’t need Minions in everybush and prefer some contemporarythriller themes, you can probably pick upsome fresh ideas from Chameleon Eclec-tic’s Millenium’s End. Lots of usefulequipment, if nothing else. You canprobably come up with many other roleplaying games that could be adapted inbits and pieces.

I’ll finish the RPG section by men-tioning one of GDW's other products:Twilight Nightmares! Written for Twi-light: 2000, it is compatible with DarkConspiracy off the cuff and the adven-tures are just wonderful. My favorites are“You're not from around here, are you?”with its strange and devious alien and“This ain't no weather balloon” with acomplete layout of a flying saucer.

So where do you get inspiration whenyou’re not cannibalizing other RPGs?Good question. Some of my best inspira-tional sources are comics, preferablyMarvel Comics. The X-men’s battle withthe Shadow King gave a lot of ideas. Onthe whole, X-men are a font of ideas.Their battle with Adversary (the end ofthe Mutant Massacre) was interesting.

After all, what happened in Forge's plazaif not the opening of a dimensional por-tal? Not to mention the spots of “alternatetime” that opened around the city. Thestripped down plot in the mega-crossoverInferno is worth a look and the state ofGenosha is readily adaptable. Some otherthings I’ve used from Marvel is the pair offemale detectives Misty Knight and Col-leen Wing, the sorcerer Stephen Strangeand some monstrous villains who havebecome new races of Minions. I also planto introduce the Hellfire Club (with its In-ner Circle) and its machinations (includ-ing the Massachusetts Academy) into mycampaign. The Inner Circle’s members,especially White Queen, can easily be-come empaths instead of mutants.

If you need some really nasty DarkOnes check out some old Judge Dreddcomics featuring Judge Death. Death andhis pals Fire, Fear and Mortis are morethan a match for most Minion Hunters.And their otherworldly domain, theDeathworld, is a really scary place.

For five female vampires riding motorbikes across the States, check out ElaineLee’s Vamps. While they may not be thatuseful for Dark Conspiracy, the charismaof these ladies makes it well worth thetime.

Many other comics have lent piecesto my games, but their parts were so smallthat it would be no use in mentioningthem here. However, old SF-comics areoften usable. I found one dealing withsubliminal messages in a cinema thatbrainwashed people, which is a great ideafor a minion setup. Some other storiesfeatured robbers and con men usingmovie props and similar tricks to make itlook like aliens did the crime. That is aninteresting twist. Not every Dark Minionhas to be a real Minion; they could befakes.

If we move over to books, we findthat there are more books published aboutweirdness and other Dark Conspiracyrelated things than can be even catego-rized here. So I will only give a few titlesthat maybe aren’t so obvious.

The first is a novel, The CrystalSkulls by W.A. Harbinson. This book isperfect. It is almost straight Dark Con-spiracy, you only have to make the worlda little gloomier and you’ve got a dyna-


mite adventure rolling. I won’t spoil it foryou by mentioning the plot but believeme; it is well worth your time.

Another book that's been a great in-spiration for new beasts is DougalDixon’s After Man. This “zoology of thefuture” is an attempt to predict the evolu-tion fifty million years into the future. Itcontains a horde of useful or just plainstrange animals. Highly recommended.Dougal Dixon has also written a bookcalled The New Dinosaurs where hespeculates in what would have happen ifthe dinosaurs hadn't become extinct sixty-five million years ago. Could be minedfor some new creatures or to make a trulystrange proto-dimension (the same goesfor the previous book).

Since this is Dark Conspiracy we aretalking about, we can't leave out the mosttwisted and bizarre of all conspiracy nov-els, the Illuminatus! trilogy by RobertShea and Robert Anton Wilson. Thesebooks cover everything from what reallywent on in Atlantis to why GeorgeWashington was growing hemp and ofcourse why there is an eye in a pyramidon the US one dollar bill. The appendicesgive you a lot of useful ways to dropsmall, inconspicuous but interconnectinghints throughout your adventure. Thisshould really be a classic. All hail Eris! Aslight warning should be made; the bookis very explicit when it comes to drug useand sexual activities. If this offends you,stay away from this one!

A book I’m in the process of readingis The Stone of the Plough by AnnWalker. I haven't finished it yet but itseems promising. Lots of hints about ahidden chamber in either the Cheopspyramid or the Great Sphinx of Gizaabound. There is also lots of hints in theform of drawings and short crypticphrases in old languages. I don’t like thestyle it is written in, but anything thatcontains spiritual guides, UFOs and thepyramids inside the same cover should beinteresting.

After books, we come to movies.There are, of course, loads of movies thatcan be used for inspiration. Great andsmall bits can gleefully be ripped out andused in whatever games you currently

run. Here are some of my favorite moviesfor Dark Conspiracy inspiration.

The Invasion of the Body SnatchersThis is a classic SF/Horror movie.

The bizarre alien and the way it takes overthe whole town is highly inspirational. Ithas been remade in several versions. Per-sonally, I prefer the 1978 version (staringDonald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy)with its extremely paranoid atmosphere.The Arrival

This is an amazingly good movie forDark Conspiracy referees. It is almostpure Dark Conspiracy. The story focuseson a radio astronomer (played by CharlieSheen) who picks up signals from an ex-tra-terrestrial source. He is promptly firedand, while doodling at home, locates asimilar signal from Mexico. I’m not goingto spoil the movie for you but he uncoverssome pretty startling things in Mexico.Not many cliches and an interesting story.Robert Heinlein's Puppet Masters

Another great paranoia movie staringDonald Sutherland. More suspense and anew amazing alien creature that wants totake over the world. This creature is ab-solutely wonderful. It just begs to be usedas a main opponent. I especially love its“harpoon”...Stargate

What have we here? Hidden technol-ogy from the ancient Egypt? Encoded in-structions? A gate to a distant part of thegalaxy (or another dimension, there’s lit-tle difference)? This movie has it all.Also, as a special bonus, the real reasonthat the gods of Egypt have animalheads...Alien

Possibly the most well known extra-terrestrial creature in existence, the mon-ster of this movie (and its sequels) is anideal Minion race. The life-cycle of thiscreature is one of the most imaginativeI've ever seen. Highly useful.The Relic

While not earth-shattering new in theplot, The Relic still has some good spots.It has good suspense and the creature andthe “scientific” explanation for it is veryuseful. The surroundings (a museum) justasks for a team of independent investiga-

tors. In fact it could be used as a start foralmost any plot.The Terminator

A very good movie and source of in-spiration. To begin with, what is the Ter-minator but a highly advanced Change-ling type II? A tougher, more combat ori-ented version, but a cyborg changelingnone the less. Don't forget that the Termi-nator can imitate any voice it has heard.Second, what if the dark future of themovie isn’t the future after all? Maybe itis a proto-dimension and the time-travel-machine is in fact a gate? If so, we have awhole new dimension (pun intended) ofproblems. The robots in this place couldrival the Mechaniacals of Mechaniaca indestructive capacity.

You don’t need SF or horror moviesto get some good ideas. Take a look atBasic Instinct. You may say whateveryou want about Sharon Stone’s abilities asan actress, but think about the plot. Thiswoman is so good at psychology that shealmost appears to read minds. What if shecould? That would make things evenscarier. And her reckless, highly sexuallycharged lifestyle? Doesn't that soundmore like a Dark Elf than a human? Thosekillings are pure Dark Elf in style.

Even if you don’t find anything majorto use in the movie you’re watching, youcan always collect places, scenery and bit-players. It adds a great deal of color to thegame if you just mention that the singer inthe bar they visit not only is pretty goodbut also is blind! Or perhaps the localshady dealer is just a respectable seller ofoffice supplies that thinks it lacks style todo that.

Ok, that’s a lot of informationsources to mine. Go out in the world andpick up those little gems of gaming ideasthat are scattered everywhere. Alwayscarry a notebook and a pen with you. Youcan never know when you’ll find a goodidea for an adventure or just an episode.Be sure to be able to write them down andpretty soon you will have a large collec-tion of small pieces that can be woven to-gether to form a great tapestry. Happygaming!


Being a referee can be aBeing a referee can be alot of fun, although itlot of fun, although itcan be frustrating atcan be frustrating at

times, and is only occtimes, and is only occaa--sionally hazardous tosionally hazardous to

your health.your health.

PPPPooooiiiinnnntttteeeerrrrssss ffffoooorrrr tttthhhheeee NNNNeeeewwww RRRReeeeffffeeeerrrreeeeeeeeby Ms. by Ms. GeorgieGeorgie

Greetings and Welcome to the worldof Dark Conspiracy. This article is in-tended for the “new” Dark ConspiracyReferee, but experienced referees mightfind something useful in here as well.Being a referee can be a lot of fun, al-though it can be frustrating at times, andis only occasionally hazardous to yourhealth (I’ll explain later ☺)

Before you run your first Dark Con-spiracy adventure, you’ll need to do a lit-tle preparation. The first thing you needother than the books themselves, is to befamiliar with the rules – you need to havean idea where everything is. This savesyou from the frustration of trying to find itquickly. Personally, I copied the last fewpages of the original Dark Conspiracybook and I keep them close at hand.

Now you are ready for your friends togenerate their characters. If you have a lotof “new” players, this can be a time con-suming job. As a Referee of many years’experience, I like to watch as the playersdevelop their characters.

It will also help you as a Referee ifyou have some contacts and NPCs (non-player characters) rolled up before youstart your first run. Again, this saves youthe frustration of needing them in themiddle of your game. I would also sug-gest that until you are familiar with all the“Darkness” in Dark Conspiracy, it maybe easier for you NOT to have “rogue an-droids” or other “rogues” as player char-acters, as it can get complicated and frus-trating for the beginner. But when theyare used as a NPCs, they are quite usefulfor surprising your players and givingthem a peek at how easily the “Darkness”can hide among them.

I also have a few pointers that willallow your game run smoothly and whichwill mean that you are less interrupted,

which helps the flow of the game. I al-ways make sure that I have my munchiesclose at hand and soda in the cooler. Ifyou are a coffee drinker, have a fresh potbrewing. My favourite snack is peanuts inthe shell. Why? It’s nerve wracking foryour players while you are sitting therecracking peanuts. If you can set the stageand convey the Darkness, your playerswill be on their toes. The cracking peanutis a distraction that will put your playerson edge. I am not a nice GM - my playershave several names for me that I will notrepeat; however, they always come backfor more. If you want uninterrupted gameplay, have your players bring theirmunchies with them as well. A good way

to lose any flow during the game has to bestopping for a munchies run.

You’re ready, your players areready.... Let’s play!

You’re now facing the dilemma thatevery referee goes through. How do I, asthe referee bring the characters together?Well, that depends how creative you wishto be. You can set them up, so they al-ready know each other from school, fromsomewhere else in their background, orthey could be each other’s “contacts”.This is the simplest way.

I personally use a place called “TheCave”. It’s an “everything” place, from abar to a nice place to eat. Since everyone

likes to party and everyone needs to eat,this is a good place for people to meet.While there, they can start interactingwith each other. For example, one playercan witness a thief picking the pocket ofanother or drinks can be spilled on one ofthe prospective party members. If youhave a female player in the group, shecould be having trouble with some unrulyNPCs and needing some help from theothers. One tactic is a good old-fashionedbarroom brawl and everyone gets hauledoff to jail in the same paddy wagon. Thiscan also give you your first taste of how“initiative” and “damage” works.

For my first Dark Conspiracy sessionI used “The Cave” with a female singerwho had very Dark things after her. Onething you can count on from male playersis the need to rescue a damsel in distress.That game was a home grown one thatflowed into the “New Orleans” campaign(which is pre-generated). Nowadays, if Iuse “The Cave”, my players cringeknowing that all does not bode well, and Istill use it to bring in new players.

Now to explain my first statementabout DC, about it of being hazardous toyour health: Always ‘expect the unex-pected’ from your players! In one of mygame sessions, I had 2 of my players sosomething completely unexpected while Iwas drinking a cup of coffee. I ended upchoking and found out the hard way thathot coffee burns!

That should be enough “Tips andTricks” to get you started in the world ofDark Conspiracy!

If there is anything else I can helpyou with, you can catch me in the DarkConspiracy chatroom (my ICQ number is10323496) or you can e-mail me [email protected]


Tabloids can take theTabloids can take themost mundane eventsmost mundane eventsand find supernaturaland find supernatural

specters in every cospecters in every corrner.ner.

They remain theThey remain theminion hunter’sminion hunter’s

hohottsheet.sheet.

GGGGuuuuiiiiddddeeeelllliiiinnnneeeessss ttttoooo wwwwrrrriiiittttiiiinnnngggg yyyyoooouuuurrrr oooowwwwnnnn ttttaaaabbbbllllooooiiiidddd aaaarrrrttttiiiicccclllleeeessssby Chris Carpenterby Chris Carpenter

An oft-mentioned but seldom usedploy to introduce characters to a new ad-venture is the discovery of a darkling plotthrough tabloids or underground maga-zines. Tabloids, one of the few remainingforms of media generally untainted by themegacorporations, can be gold mines forminion hunters, providingvaluable clues, names andplaces of dark activity.They can also bemisleading, embellishingmundane accounts withthe fantastic, or creatingfictionalized accounts outof thin air. Regardless, they remain theminion hunter’s hotsheet, a heads-up ofthe supernatural. To the other extreme, isthe corporate newspaper. Even today,newspapers and electronic media (TV, ra-dio) are almost the exclusive property of afew, i.e. Time/Warner, and Gannet; sto-ries considered “unfavorable” for any rea-son may find themselves heavily edited,or squashed altogether.

News articles from either sourcemake great handouts, and a combinationof the two will strike a proper balancebetween the believable and the bizarre.Each must be properly “tuned,” however,to come off as being of the right genre.Following these steps will help you createrealistic news stories.

1. The story. Start with the truth.Nobody has to know the whole story butyou (the GM) but having it in writing willavoid the later pitfall of having spontane-ous solutions to complex problems. Don’tbe afraid to improvise later, but for nowstick to your guns. Let’s say bloodkinvampires have been killing along theChiwaukee waterfront posing as religiousmissionaries. They offer shelter and foodto runaway teens, and eventually inductthem into their “church”; in turn, the“converted” become missionaries them-selves, bringing more teens to the blood-kin. The oldest teens are offered entranceto the “inner circle,” an exclusive groupthat sits at the right hand of the “religious

leader,” and are apparently privy to thesecrets of their “religion.” Of course,these “inner circle” members are ulti-mately made into lesser vampires, stayingindoors during the day, and acting asstrong-arms to enforce the will of the“leader” or by rounding up those who es-

cape the church. Thisscheme will run prettysmoothly for awhile,but eventually, amember will see thevampires for whatthey are, and contactsomeone in authority.

The story will eventually get to the press,and that is where the “facts” will comeinto dispute.

2. The KISS principle: Keep It Sim-ple, Stupid. Neither article has to be afront page, thoroughly researched piece ofjournalism. Stay to the facts as the re-porter and his witnesses would report, notwhat you (the GM) know. Use good jour-nalistic writing styles, using the invertedpyramid method (most important factsfirst, incidentals last) and try to answerthe 5 W’s and 1 H (who, what, where,when, why, how) in the first few para-graphs. KISS has a second meaning fortabloid articles: they are generally writtenso people witha 6th gradeeducation canunderstandthem. Keep theword countlow, the “bigwords” to aminimum, anduse lots ofexclamationpoints.

3. Every story has a witness, an of-ficial recounting, a professional inauthority, a suspect, a police record, etc.A good reporter doesn’t have to go far tofind someone who knows somethingabout the event, even if trivial or blownout of proportion. Old people creep

around like pigeons, surely they saw partof the action; there are experts in everyfield, ask some. The major differencebetween the newspaper and tabloid:newspaper articles may run short on fieldresearch, but will usually quote and namea reliable source, be it a scientist or ac-cepted expert. The tabloids will trot out“reputable insiders,” “unnamed sources,”and people you never heard of quotingbooks you’ve never read. Not that theseaccounts are necessarily untrue, but theyare used frequently, as if everyone hassomething to hide.

4. Newspapers play down, tabloidsplay up. The newspapers may even con-cede that the teen was probably involvedin some sort of cult or gang, but the word“vampire” will never be used once withany credibility, unless it is a direct quote,and maybe not even then. Tabloids cantake the most mundane events and findsupernatural specters in every corner. Thestory in question would 99.999% for surebe titled VAMPIRE CULT RAVAGESWATERFRONT, even with only theteen’s word on the story. Newspaperswill stick to the facts at hand, keeping theteen’s quotes to a minimum, and reportingthe official police reaction. Papers seek-ing to bury the story or discredit the wit-

nesses maybring up a

questionablepast, throughformer arrests,past or currentdrug use, or

psychologicalcounseling.

Theinexplicable

can often be attributed to swamp gas, balllightning, cloud formations, etc. The tab-loid reporter simply hands the pen andpaper to the teen, letting him tell the en-tire experience in his own words, accept-ing his story without (many) questions.

5. The Red Herring. Tabloids, dueto overzealousness, or a desire to generate


sales, may create articles out of thin air.These usually involve a minimum of wit-nesses (best=none) and an unnamedsource or two. A poorly doctored photomay be the only “evidence.” Real worldtabloids are about 50% red herring, 35%half-truths and gossip (or logical, but un-proven extensions of the truth) and 15%real, but unusual stories of human interest.The last 15% are used to “prove” that therest of the tabloid has credibility. Thetabloid of the future will be divided asyou see fit, but handing your players atabloid with too many stories to follow upwill prove exhausting for everyone in-volved. Often, the front page story is thebest one to focus on, but a small side storycould be just as profitable, especially if itis backed up by a credible source orknown non-player character. Gossip sto-

ries could be used to further other sideadventures, or could link to the main ad-venture in some subtle way.

Traditional newspapers will almostnever make up stories outright, and willprint retractions of facts deemed later tobe incorrect. They may also print half-truths at the request of the police, or with-hold information pending further criminalinvestigation, but this happens rarely, andusually only on tv dramas.

6. Good Source Material. The besttabloids available in America are the Sun,and the Weekly World News. These con-tain more stories of the supernatural andthe bizarre than most of their contempo-raries, notably the National Enquirer andthe Star, which focus mainly on gossip,dieting, and some human interest. Whenmaking your own tabloid, be sure to in-

clude advertisements for good luckcharms, love potions, and diet aids, plusclassifieds, personals, etc. The extra effortwill show, and attention to detail will helpflesh out your role-playing world.

One last note: if you are writing arti-cles for submission to a role-playingmagazine, such as Demonground, be sureto include a “hook”or adventure idea forthe story. While conspiracy can be foundeverywhere, you may have ideas that oth-ers hadn’t thought of, or the truth may bemore cleverly concealed than you suspect.Remember: GMs are always looking foran unusual path to take their playersdown, so the more clever and originalyour ideas are, the more your work willbe appreciated.

“You'll probably be forgiven if“You'll probably be forgiven ifyou soil yourself the first timeyou soil yourself the first timeyou come face to face with somyou come face to face with somee--thing from another dimension. Ifthing from another dimension. Ifyou make a habit of it, we'll findyou make a habit of it, we'll finda more useful job for you. Baita more useful job for you. Baitcomes to mind.”comes to mind.”

- Zena Marley,(Early 21st-century mercenary philosopher)


RRRRhhhhyyyytttthhhhmmmm aaaannnndddd RRRRoooolllleeee----ppppllllaaaayyyyiiiinnnnggggMusic in Music in RPGsRPGsBy Marcus Bone

Role-playing is more than a hobbyfor me; it’s almost an addiction. I con-stantly find myself writing or readingrole-playing games and supplements. Theinvention of the Internet has just madethis worse, and now I can be found at allhours, searching the Net in the hope offinding some article to satisfy my hungerfor adventure.

But what has this got to do with DarkConspiracy? Well, as part of my journeysI have discovered many articles on how tomake one’s role-playing experience moreenjoyable - the use of props, allowing theplayers to run some of the NPCs and set-ting the scene by writing backgrounds andhistories. These are all quite good foradding that special something to your ses-sion. But I would like to contribute an-other suggestion, one that is not quite sointrusive, and is easy as being part of yourlife.

That idea is to add music to yourRole-playing sessions.

Now that my role-playing career isfirmly focused on Dark Conspiracy, Ihave found that today’s music lends itselfquite nicely to this modern horror genre.Many CDs that I have been brought aredone so purely on the basis that they ‘feel’right, and would enhance my mood whenI am writing. (Right at this moment I amlistening to the Jurassic Park Sound track– excellent mood music)

This comes from some simple obser-vations. The basic premise is that, frommy experience anyway, most role-playingtakes place in someone’s (usually theGMs) lounge, or barring that, in a specialhobby room and one thing that is commonin these rooms this is the stereo. Thesedays, it usually includes a CD player. Thenext thought is that most people like mu-sic, from Classical and Opera, to Rap andTechno (Dance music). We can see thelove for music in people’s day to day life;we have music in our shopping malls andour work places. In our free time, we

spend hours listening and dancing to mu-sic, and we can see how important it is tohuman existence by observing the powerthe music companies possess. In myopinion then, music in leisure extends it-self to music in role-playing.

Setting the MoodSetting the MoodDuring my time as both a player and

a referee, I have seen and heard musicthat has just grabbed my attention as be-ing the right sort to introduce to a role-playing game.To me these have usually 2 requirements:• First, they need to be long. Nothing is

more frustrating than having tochange a CD or the sides of a tape inthe middle of a tense session.

• Second, that they reflect the type ofadventure or situation that the playersare in. That they portray the atmos-phere you most require.

Although both of these sound rathersimple, in reality they are much harder tocome by. More than once I have foundmyself suddenly being surrounded by abeating Techno bass song, when I wastrying to produce a moment of sadness ordespair, or having some soft rock come onwhen the party was in the middle of atense fight scene.

AtmosphereAtmosphereI have a number of CDs that I use for

certain games, and most of them aresound tracks in some shape or form. Thisis quite logical when you think about it,most sound tracks are designed to cap-ture the mood of certain moments, andwhy shouldn’t I capitalize on the millionsmovie directors spend on these atmos-phere generators.

I will mention a couple of my par-ticular favorites for different settings asexamples. As I mentioned above the Ju-rassic Park soundtrack is one of these,combining fast and slow place music in

one album, it naturally progresses fromthe quiet introduction to a hectic conclu-sion. One of the best things about it isthat an orchestra played all the music,and therefore doesn’t have on set feel toit.

Another CD I used is The Fifth Ele-ment, another soundtrack. This one how-ever has a much more futuristic sound(like the movie) but lacks the ups anddowns in tempo and feel that JurassicPark had.

Yet another common CD I used is asound track from a computer game –MechWarrior. This music, used as back-ground on the various missions theplayer undertakes during a game, addsmuch in the way of atmosphere to agame. Combining a regular tempo andthat feeling that something is just aroundthe corner. (Something that is a necessityin both RPGs and Action Computergames). I find that this soundtrack ismuch more suited to a game, which isgoing to include a lot of combat.

I must mention a couple of otherpieces of music, although none of themwould ever really suit the DC world. Thesound track for Games Workshop com-puter game – Shadow of the Horned Rat,is one such piece, combining action witha real Gothic feel this sort of music is amust in any grim fantasy game. On theother hand, when I played Call ofCthulhu regularly, a couple of Gershwinalbums combined with a collection oflater Jazz really hit the spot when por-traying the 1930’s.

Scene musicScene musicAnother way music may be combined

with your role-playing session is adding itto specific scenes. For example if theplayer are to meet a contact at a Countryand Western Bar, playing some GarthBrooks quietly in the background will addan air of authentically to the encounter.Another example would be to play some


popular music e.g. Hootie and the Blow-Fish, or Madonna, as the characters travelby car from one place to another. Evenbetter would be to have a real newsbroadcast play and then add in that pieceof information you have for the playersduring it.

I have more than once used music ina combat. The hard rock tunes of manyeighties and nineties bands are great foradding the special feeling to an actionscene. One specific song I have used is“After the Flesh” from My Life With TheThrill Kill Cult, heard on ‘The Crow’soundtrack. (If you want to know it wasthe song playing in the nightclub whenThe Crow a.k.a. Brandon Lee, attackedhis killers in the big bad guy’s board-room.) It really has a fast paced actionfeel.

InspirationInspirationI have to say that I am a real fan of

music, my CD collection has a bit of allmost everything – Gershwin, The Prod-igy, Steve Vai and Icehouse, to name buta few. Music has always inspired me, es-pecially some of the classical music that Iheard when I was younger.

Today when I am studying, readingor writing, music is a constant. If nothingelse, at least it relieves the boredom when

I have an all night studying session. Onething that still happens is that music, re-gardless of what type, fills me with ideasfor adventures.

This has happened quite a lot, and formost part they give me an image of ascene that would be good in a role-playing game.

One of most enjoyable adventures Iever ran was based on the premise pre-sented in T. Rex’s song ‘Dandy in theUnderworld’. I simply I followed the ad-ventures that happened to the hero in thesong and then translated them into astructured adventure my players couldfollow. In the end, the adventure was asconfusing for the players as it was for thehero in the song. Everything eventuallycame to a head and it all became clear.

WarningWarningThere are two things that I will say in

the way of warning when it comes to us-ing music in your role-playing session.

• It’s only an enhancement - LikeBeer or munchies, music is only anenhancement. Don’t spend too muchtime on it, and especially don’t allowit to get in the way of the game. Thelast thing you want is the players get-ting bored as you search for that tape,

which you ‘know is here’. Anothervalid point is the volume – quiet issometimes best.

• Not that again! The other importantthing to remember is – Not everyonelikes your choice of music. We are allindividuals and as part of that we allhave different tastes in music. Onething that I can assure you of is thathaving to listen to music you don’tlike can really turn you off what youare doing. (Hey I listen to the 24-hoursports radio station, but I don’t expectmy flatmates to listen to it with me.)Part of this involves changing themusic around -listening to the samemusic session after session soon getson everyone’s nerves.

Closing CommentsClosing CommentsI have been role-playing for some 10

years now and have only had music in ahandful of my games. Like many otherenhancements it has its place in the wholeatmosphere in the phenomenon that isrole-playing. So if you have the time orthe inclination to use it I fully recommendyou use music in you games.

Page Page 1212 DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 AdventuresAdventures

DDDDaaaarrrrkkkk EEEEmmmmbbbbrrrraaaacccceeeeBy Michael Marchi

Like creatures out of a horror movie, they come. Strangely familiar, yet disturbinglydifferent. How do you fight the Darkness when it wears your face?

ForewordForewordJillian screamed as the thing leapt

out of the shadows and slammed into her.She could smell the fetid breath that es-caped from between the rows of teeth thatlined its mouth. Its hands gripped herarms, pinning them to her side. She triedin vain to step away from the attack, to letthe creature’s momentum carry it pasther, but it stayed with her, all the way tothe ground. The back of her head bouncedon the hardwood floor sending a kaleido-scope of colors and lights flashing behindher eyes. She felt the onset of uncon-sciousness and struggled to fight againstthe soft enveloping pull of sleep. Shecould feel the thing straddling her stom-ach, pinning her arms to the ground ather side. Jillian focused all of her energyinto delivering a kick to her attacker’sgroin. The muscles in her leg tensed up.Hot moist breath caressed the side of herneck. She felt something wet slide acrossher throat, then felt the teeth compress to-gether on her skin. A flash of heatsplashed across her shoulder and soakedher shirt. She raised her knee, deliveringthe blow with all the force she couldmuster. The creature shrieked in agony,and released its grip on her neck. She feltit roll off onto the floor on her left. Shereached up to her throat and felt the jag-ged edges of the wound it had inflicted.Blood flowed from the tattered skin,soaking into her black cotton tank. Lightsstill swam across her vision, only now thesiren song of sleep had added a chorus ofblood-loss.

Referee’s InformReferee’s InformaationtionA hundred years ago, a meteor

crashed to earth, striking a small island in

the Pacific Northwest. The island, knowntoday as Sangomanka Mortaro, is one ofseveral hundred that make up the SanJuan archipelago in Puget Sound, Wash-ington.

The meteor in question is no ordinaryrock from space. It's ultra-dense structurenot only punched a hole through the crustof Sangomanka Mortaro, but right onthrough the space-time continuum as well.There is a tear in the fabric of reality, inwhich the rock is lodged. Right now, therock is acting like a cork in a passagewayto another dimension. There is an alienpresence on the other side of that cork thatcan send its thoughts and influencethrough the portal and affect minds on theisland.

The meteor itself possesses one otherability. Theradiation emittedby the rock,somehow allowsthe brain pathwaysof a dead creatureto continue func-tioning. Thus,nothing ever reallydies on San-gomanka Mortaro.

FrederickBrimley, an ec-centric nomenk-latura owns theisland and livesthere in his vastmansion. Apartfrom the house,which is located atthe apex of the is-island, there isalso a privatebeach, garden

areas, a boathouse and dock, an in-groundswimming pool, and various outbuildingsscattered around the island. Frederick’sboat, is the only vehicle on the island.Electricity and telephone are provided tothe island via undersea cable, whichoriginates on San Juan island, the largestin the archipelago.

Brimley no longer leaves his islandhome, preferring instead to extend invita-tions to visitors who share common inter-ests with him. There is no regular ferryservice to the island. If the small size ofSangomanka Mortaro wasn’t enough todissuade them, the fact that the larger fer-ries can’t enter the island’s small covecertainly is. But there are a few boats andcaptains willing to brave the narrow inletto Sangomanka.

AdventuresAdventures DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 1313

November 4, 2013

Dear Sir,Your name has come my way via a mutual friend of ours within the Ta-

lamasca. Forgive me for not contacting you in person, but I am geographi-cally isolated in the Pacific Northwest. I would ask your assistance in ob-serving an interesting phenomenon I have discovered on my island home. Ido not wish to go into great detail in this letter, but suffice to say I believe thata group of individuals possessing certain “mental abilities” may be able todiscern what the source of the phenomena may be.

I would like to invite yourself and several of your fellows for a weekendretreat on my island of Sangomanka Mortaro, located in the San Juan archi-pelago north of Seattle, Washington on Puget Sound. There are a number offerryboats that service the small islands in the archipelago. I suggest youseek passage on one of these.

I hope you will consider accepting my offer. There will be another fullmoon on Saturday, November 16. I have noticed that a full moon tends tomake observation of the effect easier.

I look forward to your visit.

Frederick Brimley

The InvitationThe InvitationThe players are invited to visit San-

gomanka Mortaro, a privately owned is-land located in the San Juan archipelagoon Puget Sound, Washington. The islandis one of hundreds of small rural islandsin the area, that can be reached only byboat, seaplane or helicopter. FrederickBrimley, the eccentric millionaire hascontacted the group in hopes of securingtheir help observing a strange phenome-non. The text of the invitation appears atthe left.

If anyone asks, a chart of the moonphases for the month of November, 2013is on the previous page.

The group arrives in Seattle on Fri-day, November 15th in the early afternoon.Note: The actual date that the party goesto the island is unimportant. The fullmoon is a red herring. Therefore, makethe following event happen regardless ofwhen the party arrives: By the time theyreach the San Juan archipelago, it is ap-proaching 6pm, and the winter sky has al-ready darkened into night. As it turns out,there is no regular ferry service to Brim-ley's Island, and very few booking agentswill even consider the trip. It seems thedock on Sangomanka Mortaro is shelteredby a relatively shallow cove, and most ofthe larger ferryboats cannot land there.After some checking, they will discoverthat all seaplane and helicopter flights inthe area have been suspended for the nexttwelve hours due to a national weatherservice advisory. A severe storm warningis in effect due to an unnaturally strongstorm due to hit the area within the nextfew hours. Thus, they can either rent aboat or hire one of the smaller ferries. Ev-ergreen Clipper, captained by Ira Shul-mann is one such vessel. Shulmann al-ready has some pressing business acrossthe Sound (Seattle's mayor had taken ahelicopter with his wife to attend an operaperformance. The sudden turn in theweather has grounded them. Schulmanhas been hired to deliver the mayor's lim-ousine). Ira is willing to divert to Brim-ley’s island for an appropriate fee (about$25 per person). This is extremely rea-sonable, compared to the rental fee on theprivate boat is $350.00 per day, for asmall, open-topped runabout, which looks


like it would be very uncomfortable in therain.ArrivalArrival

Even as Evergreen Clipper proceedsout into the dark waters of Puget Sound, avery impressive wall of clouds is rollingin from the southwest. The storm hits witha fury, stirring the seas into a tempest.Wave after wave washes across the deck.Any PC who hasn't had training in amaritime career needs to make a difficultsave vs. CON to avoid getting seasick onthe voyage out to Brimley's island.

Shulmann manages to pilot the ferrybetween the jagged rocks into the semi-sheltered cove where the dock for the is-land is. If any of the players offer to help,Shulmann will order them to stand by themooring ropes to help bring EvergreenClipper into dock. During landing, roll1D6, the boat will hit the dock hardenough to knock everyone off their feeton a 5 or 6 (requiring a Difficult save vs.Agility to avoid falling). A roll of 3 or 4requires an Average task to avoid falling.Note that any PC's who fall while at-tempting to help land the boat will have agood chance to fall overboard during thisprocess. Rescuing the PC from thepounding surf should prove to be quite achore. If they fail, and the player drowns,it isn't the end of the line for them (as youwill see).

Although the cove is sheltered,Shulmann is anxious to get EvergreenClipper back to sea. She is far saferbraving the swells in open water than hereamong the rocks. As soon as the partydisembarks, the ferry will leave. Ira willnot endanger his ship by staying tied tothe dock for more than ten minutes. If anycharacters refuse to leave the boat withinthat time, he will cast off the lines andleave the island withthem aboard.

From the dock, theparty can just make outthe silhouette of the man-sion situated high abovethem on the apex of theisland A steep, windingpath appears to climb theincline from the docks upto the house. There is aboathouse at the base ofthat path, next to the

dock. This is where Frederick's boat,Ageless Dream, a 30 foot Cris Craft cabincruiser is located. Neither the electricboat-lift mounted on the ceiling, nor thelights will operate, as the power is out.Normally, the boat is pulled into the boat-house onto a platform, which is hoistedout of the water by the motors mounted inthe rafters overhead. At the moment, theplatform is lowered all the way down, andAgeless Dream dangles from her moor-ings three feet under water. The cabincruiser has had a large hole chopped inthe hull, and sunk beneath the dark waterwhere she is being bashed against therocks by the undercurrent.

Lying on the floor of the boathouse,is the body of a man. He has an axe-wound to the back of the head. The pud-dle of blood in which he lies face down isstill fresh. Checking the body for identifi-cation will produce a wallet identifyinghim as Rupert Cox, 32 years old. Thewallet contains $60 in cash, a credit cardand a photograph of Rupert and an attrac-tive blonde woman. An axe lies a few feetfrom Rupert's outstretched hand. Anyonewith medical skill can determine that theaxe is responsible for the death of bothRupert Cox and Ageless Dream.

Entering the HouseEntering the HouseViewed from the courtyard outside,

the house is fairly dark. The only lightseems to be coming from dim, flickeringlights in the windows (candles) that seemto be glowing in every visible room. Thewind is really picking up, and the storm isabout to break. The characters knock onthe door, and Frederick Brimley himselfanswers it. He is an older, somewhatheavyset man with a thick mustache andlambchop sideburns. The facial hair

serves as counterpoint to the bald expanseatop his head. Frederick is holding a brasscandelabra with three lit candles. Hestands facing them silently, paying noheed to the ominous storm clouds gather-ing overhead, which threaten to burstopen and soak his visitors.

Someone from the party must intro-duce them as a group and mention theletter before Frederick will stand asideand let the pass. Even as they enter, hisdemeanor doesn’t change much. Heseems vaguely confused and preoccupied.His speech is slurred, and he keeps mut-tering about the lights having gone out.

If anyone mentions the body in theboathouse, he will speculate that it isprobably Rupert, and that he’d warnedRupert not to leave the house at night. Ifthey brought the body with them, he willrefuse to let them bring it into the house.“The house is no place for him now”, hewill say.If they press him for information, a possi-ble interchange could go like this:

Players: “What happened to him?”Brimley: “He's dead … Everybody's dead… Or worse.”Players: “Worse?”

Frederick will only go to the windowand stare out into the night. The wind isreally blowing outside and the windowpanes rattle in their frames as he looksout. The rain begins to fall. He is lookingout the west side family-room windowtoward a different path. Then he turnsaway and gets out more candles and startslighting them. He is moving very slug-gishly, as if he is in shock. If anyone wereto examine him, they would be in for areal surprise…

Frederick Frederick Brimley’sBrimley’sSurpriseSurprise

Frederick Brimley, inspite of his winning per-personality and obviousmobility, is dead. He hasno pulse. His heart isn'tbeating. His body is go-going through themotions of breathing, butonly because it needs theair to talk. If questioned


about it, he will appear quite ignorant ofthe concept. If pressed, he will revealwakening one night shortly after mailingtheir letter with sharp pains in his chest. Adoctor doing an in-depth examinationwould be able to verify the diagnosis, buthis descriptions sound as though he suf-fered a major coronary - a fatal one.

Searching the HouseSearching the HouseThe floorplan for the house is as follows.There are three floors, plus a basement.

The Main FloorThe main floor contains the FamilyRoom, a Game Room, the Library, DiningRoom, Living Room, Kitchen, BreakfastNook and a Half Bath.

The Second FloorThe second floor has five bedrooms. Fre-derick's room is the Master Suite on thislevel. This area also has an overlook overthe family room, and stairs leading up tothe third floor. Kylie Harrison was inBedroom #4 and Edgar Shapiro was inBedroom #3.

The Third FloorFour more bedrooms are located on thislevel. Jillian Taylor and Rupert Cox weresharing the Master Suite on this floor.

The BasementThe majority of the basement is a largeopen area. There is a small enclosure builtaround the twin furnaces and water heat-ers. The area to the south of the furnaceenclosure looks like a wood-paneled wall.It leads to a crawlspace/storage area underthe game room. The wine cellar is quitewell stocked.

Island InhabitantsIsland InhabitantsFrederick Brimley - The owner of San-gomanka Mortaro and everything on it.Brimley is deceased, but gets aroundreally well (for a dead guy).

Rupert Cox - The body of Rupert Coxlies in the boathouse at the time the play-ers arrive. Within an hour of their arrival,Rupert's body will rise and begin walkingup the winding path, past the house, and

down the back path toward the beach. Ofcourse by this time, the storm will beraging, so the characters will only be ableto tell that someone is walking passed thehouse in the rain. (See the section onZombies below)

Kylie Harrison - has been 'turned' by the

evil force on the island. She is hidingdown in the pool house. She will probablystay there until somebody discovers herpresence. If she is discovered by someonewho has also been turned, she will suggestthey band together to attack the house andget a quick meal. She is VERY hungry.(See the section on Vampires, below)


Edgar Shapiro - has also been 'turned'.Edgar is hiding up on the third floor of thehouse when the party arrives. While thegroup begins questioning Frederick, Ed-gar will stalk into Jillian's room and attackher as she sleeps. (See the section onVampires, below)

Jillian Taylor - At the time of theplayer's arrival, she is asleep in the roomshe shares with Rupert Cox on the thirdfloor. When Edgar tries to sneak into herroom, she awakens. Her screams will eas-ily carry down to the first floor. Thisevent should be triggered as soon as youare ready to have the adventure begin inearnest.

Searching the GroundsSearching the GroundsSangomanka Mortaro contains very

little usable land. The majority of the sur-face of the island is jagged rock, charac-terized by sharp inclines and even sharperedges. A few areas have been cultivatedfor living space. They are:

The Boat LandingThe boathouse is located here, as well

as the dock. Frederick's cabin cruiser,Ageless Dream is usually moored insidethe boathouse. The channel that leads tothe dock is narrow, and not nearly deepenough to keep a larger ferry off the bot-tom. Hence, only small boats such as Ev-ergreen Clipper or Ageless Dream caneven land here.

The HouseBrimley Manor is located at the cen-

ter on the apex of the island. It is an im-pressive 3-story structure constructed ofgray brick with a slate roof.

The PoolA relatively level section on the west

side of the island was leveled out evenfurther. It now has a swimming pool, apoolhouse with showers, changing roomsand a sauna, and a screened-in gazebo.The pool is heated and well maintained.The entire yard is covered in a thick car-pet of closely cropped, wide-blade grass.Kylie Harrison is hiding in the poolhouse. The hunger pains have over-

whelmed her. She will attack anyone whoenters on sight (unless they have alreadybeen turned). She knows that Edgar Sha-piro has been turned as well.

The BeachThe beach lines the north to northeast

shore of the island. It is covered in a

course grey sand with a great deal ofsmall sea-shell material and a good por-tion of volcanic rock. Although theweather in the summers will reach a tem-perature suitable for swimming, the wa-ters of Puget Sound are not so inviting.Anyone who wishes to swim, uses thepool. The beach narrows as it approaches


the east point of Sangomanka Mortaro.There will be a lot of things washed up onthe beach. A few fish, washed high up onshore continue to flop on the ground, eventhough they appear to have been up therea long time.

The PointAt the end of the beach, where it

passes around a small outcropping of rockis a large cavern. The path to the cavern isonly passable at low tide (which will oc-cur approximately 14 hours after the char-acters arrive) The cave extends to the coreof the island beneath the house, and is theresting place for a large green meteor.

VampiresVampiresThere are vampires on Sangomanka

Mortaro. Actually, there is an alien pres-ence, convincing people that they andtheir fellows have been transformed intovampires. The alien has empathic abilitiesso great, that it is able to project a virtu-ally impenetrable illusion of vampirismupon not only the victim, but those aroundhim as well!

An attack by one of the "vampires"which does sufficient damage to reach aserious head wound level will result indeath - at least that's how it appears. Asthe vampire manages to pierce the vic-tim's neck, and blood loss begins, thealien (who is located in the cavern off ThePoint (behind the Meteor)) begins an em-pathic assault upon the victim. As soon asthe character reaches a serious woundlevel in the head, he/she needs to startmaking difficult saves vs. Constitution. Ifthey fail to make their save, they will dropinto a death-like coma. A roll should bemade every 15 minutes vs. FormidableConstitution to awaken. If the initial Contest was successful, however, then thefollowing effects occur immediately, oth-erwise they occur upon awakening.

Upon awakening, the victim haschanged. His/Her skin is pale, with veinsstanding out. The whites of their eyes arecompletely bloodshot, the iris's foggedover and a milky yellow (like the color ofpuss). Their teeth are long and razorsharp. They awaken in pain, their stomachfeeling like it's been tied in knots. Almostas if they are suffering from intense hun-

ger pains. Also, there will be an odd me-tallic taste in their mouths.

The newly awakened vampire's onlythought will be to stop the pain. The onlything he/she can think of to stop it, is tofeed - on blood. They will try to attack theparty members, seeking out the weakest,most vulnerable or most convenient one.The vampire may resist the urge to feed.Doing so starts out as an Easy Willpowertask, gaining one level of difficulty eachsubsequent hour. If the player actuallyfeeds, reset the save at Easy. Anyone whofails the willpower check will immedi-ately attack the nearest (or weakest ormost vulnerable), trying to feed. Andspreading the affliction at the same time.

After the second hour of the game,any player with Empathy can make a saveto see through the vampiric image. Thistest is an Impossible task vs. Willpower.Once the player sees through the image,he or she will never see that particularvampire in anything but human formagain, even though the other party mem-bers who haven't made the save will con-tinue to see a disfigured hideous creature.Hopefully, by this point in the game, theplayer who makes the saving throw thefirst time, will assume the vampire hasnow begun projecting a human form,rather than not projecting an inhumanone!

Should the other players manage tokill one of the vampires, it will revert tohuman form almost immediately. Thisshould unnerve the players, but may notbe totally unexpected, considering Holly-wood's penchant for using this effect inhorror movies. When the players arrive on the island,Kylie Harrison and Edgar Shapiro areboth vampires. Edgar is about to attackJillian. If the players react to Jillian'sscreams, they will arrive just as she be-gins to "turn". If a PC is bitten by a vam-pire, play up the pain that they are experi-encing. Remember that despite the pain,they must be given a chance to make asaving throw to stay in control. Even ifthe player makes his/her save, it remainsto be seen whether the others will believethat they are in control of themselves.

ZombiesZombiesOn Sangomanka Mortaro, death is

not the end, but the beginning of a newlife – after death. You can't keep a goodcharacter down. Especially when there isa meteor buried in the island that reani-mates dead bodies. When a character dies,hitpoints to the head are replaced by In-telligence points. There is no longer aneed to roll against passing out. If bodyparts get chopped or blown off, oh well. AZombie only has as many hitpoints in thehead as Intelligence points. Each head hitreduces both Intelligence and Head hitssimultaneously. Once the Zombie's Intel-ligence reaches Zero, it is no longer incontrol of itself.

MeteorMeteorThe meteor possesses the ability to

reanimate dead tissue. Somehow, the ra-diation the meteor puts out causes thenerve impulses of the brain to continuefunctioning. And not just human brains.No creature, great or small on San-gomanka Mortaro ever really dies. Thiscould be used to great effect as fishwashed up on the beach continue to thrashabout, even after they start to decompose.Or a bird, blown into the side of the man-sion by the high winds, continues to floparound the yard, despite having a brokenneck.

That same radiation, while beneficialto the dead, is devastating on the living. Aliving being (human or otherwise) willsuffer 1d6 of damage to the head andchest when approaching within 10 feet ofthe meteor, and continue to collect an-other 1d6 each combat phase thereafter.The damage doubles to 2d6 within 5 feetof the meteor.

The meteor can be destroyed. Blow-ing up the rock will cause the breach inwhich it is lodged to snap shut as if itnever existed. But the overall effect thatanimates the dead will be greatly dimin-ished…perhaps even negated (GM's dis-cretion).

AlienAlienThere is an alien presence on the is-

land. The alien sits on the other side of arip in the fabric of reality. It is not able tocome through to our side due to a large


meteor blocking its path, but it is able tosend mental images through. The creaturefeeds off fear, and has learned of vam-pires via one of Frederick Brimley's earlyvisitors: a player of an odd live-actionrole playing game. The creature createsthe illusion of the vampiric metamorpho-sis to instill horror in both the victim andthe victim's companions. The more terrorit can generate along the way, the happierit will be. But the ultimate goal is thesame.

The alien needs bodies – dead ones.Somehow, the meteor possesses a strangeradiation, which can result in the reani-mation of dead tissue. These reanimatedcorpses are particularly vulnerable to thesuggestions of the alien mind… especiallyif the person was empathic before theydied! The alien needs empathic deadbodies it can control to try to dislodge themeteor so it can come through to ourworld. It is using the vampire illusion toget people on the island to kill each otheroff.

The alien has one weakness, how-ever. Once a human makes a successfulsave vs. the illusion it cannot be reinstatedagainst that person. The roll must be madefor each and every vampire in the area,and may be made once per hour. Fortu-nately for the alien, the humans misinter-pret this return of human guise in thevampire. They believe the vampire is at-tempting to take human form to lull hisvictims into a false sense of security.

Alien StatisticsSTR: 8CON: 12AGL: 6INT: 10EDU: 5CHR: 6EMP: 23Move: 2/8/12/24Skill/Dam: 10/1D6Hits: 40/80# Appear: 1The players better hope they don't let thisthing through into our world. By utilizingthe same ability it used to project the im-age of the vampire onto the group, itcould disguise itself as anyone or anything, and probably maintain the imagefor quite some time. It could also projectthe image of a dead alien onto one of thenumerous dead bodies that are bound tobe around when the adventure ends.

The SummoningThe SummoningDead bodies are just what the alien

needs. For some reason, no living creaturemay pass through the rip that the meteorhas created. But the reanimated corpsescan! Once a day, at low tide, the aliensummons the zombies to come to the cav-erns via the entrance on the eastern beach.The compulsion to come is impossible toresist. Even Brimley will drop everythingand start walking in a dazed stupor downtoward the beach.

Dislodging the meteor will take acombined strength attribute of 50 pointsto dislodge the rock using levers. If it canfind a character with Dimension Walkskill, it will be even happier. An empath,actively working to enlarge the opening

will greatly aid in the removal of the me-teor, while at the same time helping keepthe portal open for the alien to passthrough.

Once dislodged, the meteor could rolleither way - either into the breach, or outinto the cave. This is one of those caseswhere the portal staying open longercould be considered a bad thing. Thequicker it snaps shut, the less likely thealien will come through.

End of the GameEnd of the GameShould there be insufficient physical

strength to move the meteor, it could stillbe removed through the us of DimensionWalk skill to widen the rift. Any level ofsuccess will be sufficient to dislodge therock. Use the stage of success to deter-mine how long the widening lasts. If oneof your players doesn't possess this skill,then you can have either Rupert or Jillianpossess the skill as a latent ability.

Remember, no matter what, the play-ers need to dislodge the meteor! Leavingthe meteor in place and fleeing the islandwon't solve the problem. Sooner or laterthe alien will get that rock out. The trickis how to do it without letting the alienthrough, or being killed by the radiationpouring off the rock.

If the meteor is destroyed or pushedthrough to the other side of the breach, allof the zombies on the island will revert totheir natural state – death. That's right.Even the Player Characters. If they werelegitimately killed, they will be dead.

If the meteor winds up on this side ofthe portal, the undead will continue towalk on Sangomanka Mortaro.

“Centuries ago, someone managed to seal off“Centuries ago, someone managed to seal offall the dimensional gateways. This begs the queall the dimensional gateways. This begs the quess--tion: “Where the hell are those bastards now?”tion: “Where the hell are those bastards now?”



AAAAccccaaaaddddeeeemmmmiiiicccc CCCCuuuurrrriiiioooossssiiiittttiiiieeeessssBy Rob Beck

IntroductionIntroduction

Dateline: November 6, 2016

Berkeley, CA: Professor Arthur Kinyon,of the Archaeological Research Facilityat the University of California at Ber-keley, announced today a find that, in hiswords, “is of major significance to theunderstanding of the mystic beliefs whichunderlie Western civilization.”

Professor Kinyon, during a recentexcavation on the plains at Avebury inEngland, uncovered what he believes tobe the sacred stone known as Ananci-thidus. “The inscriptions at the site pointto it being several hundred years old, butmy research indicates the stone itself ismuch older. The name was applied to thestone sometime around 1st or 2nd Cen-tury A.D., when it appeared in Naples.Scattered legends note a stone of similardescriptions dating back to a story told ofa 'demon rock' that brought forth hideouscreations that terrorized the peoples ofMesopotamia during the supposed reignof Sargon I.”

The so-called “demon rock”,Anancithidus, is a rather large, baseball-sized piece of obsidian, inlaid withplatinum markings similar to the cu-neiform writing style of ancient Sumeria.A spokesman for the University, JefferyMarshall, said “We are proud of Profes-sor Kinyon and his accomplishments. Hisdiscovery of this stone is another featherin his and our ARF's collective cap.”

In other news, strange electricalstorms continue to plague the Los Angelesarea...

PlotPlotWhat Professor Kinyon doesn't know

is that more than a few people are inter-ested in his find, and not just for academicreasons. The Professor's find is of tre-mendous value monetarily. Already, agroup of professional thieves are planning

to steal the stone from the University'sArchaeology department, where it isguarded by a small security detachment (3men; 1 Vet, 2 Exp) from a private securityfirm brought in to augment campus secu-rity, at least until the press dies down.Their weapons should be for the most partnon-lethal (small caliber pistols). Afterall, this is a university, not a fortress.

The thieves are but four in numberand are experienced at stealing high-valueobjects of artistic or collectable interest.They are merely a diversionary side plot.They will attempt to steal the stone at atime best left to the GM, but it should bestrategically timed to cause maximumconfusion.

The real worry is a Ravager, Alastor,who has been ordered by his Dark Lordmaster (your choice) to retrieve the stoneand destroy the professor and his re-search. The day before the University an-nounced the find to the media, the Rav-ager arrived amidst a huge thunderstorm.His arrival and other interdimensionalanomalies caused by the stone have con-tributed to the storm's lingering and tur-bulence.

He is biding his time in locating thestone, the professor, and his research, sothat he might complete his missionquickly and depart. He will take a weekstalking his quarry and when he is sure ofhis prey's habits and location, he willstrike. Alastor will take the form of a vis-iting professor and assume his identity.He will keep contact with others to aminimum on the chance that his coverwill be blown.

He will use his cover to get into theArchaeology Dept. and determine thestone's location. The major drawback tothis will be that, as a Ravager, he mustfeed daily. Ravager feedings are not ele-gant black-tie affairs and he will try tofind out of the way places where he canfeed on the homeless or impoverished.

This will cause a rash of stories in thelocal papers about bizarre murders in thelawless areas around Berkeley, which it-

self is a sort of fortified mini-Dreamland,and a panic by the denizens of the slums.They will be full of rumors and stories ofseeing a strange demon lurking in the al-leys “twice as tall as a man” that killstheir friends and acquaintances. It will beequally obvious that no organized effort isbeing made to find this killer, as it is onlyaffecting those who are beneath the con-cern of the police and corporate entities inthis part of California.

A contingency plan by the Dark Lordinvolved could have a couple of human-oid ET's (for those who use them in theircampaign) or Dark Elves standing by as asecond assault team on the off chance thatthe Ravager is unable to complete hismission (read: dead).

Luckily for the doctor, he is a bit of alatent empath. He has a fairly strongForeboding skill (4) and has been havinghorrible dreams and feelings of dread.Kinyon is worried that someone is goingto do him or his find harm and this feel-ingmay save his life.

The HookThe HookThis is a fairly easy one to get the

characters involved with. If any of yourplayers are paraphysicist or scientisttypes, the Professor may be a contact oftheirs. He will know of the character'sfascination with strange and unusualthings and may elect to bring him in onthe research. If so, he'll confide in hisfriend, eventually, that he is very worriedsomething might happen to him.

He claims to have had “bad feelings”like this throughout his life and that hisinstinct has never let him down. The char-acter might offer to help protect him andhis find if he/she thinks to offer, or theymay just be asked by the good professordirectly. “You have friends who are intothis sort of thing, right? Well, I need help,and I don't know who else would believeme.”

Kinyon's paranoia will see conspira-cies where there aren't necessarily, but


he'll pick out stories and information hesees or reads about in the media thatmight support his fears, if he thinks it willconvince the characters he's in danger.

If there are any empathic individualsin the group, they might be on the lookout for anyone showing an unusual inter-est in the artifact or the professor. TheRavager will have to get close enoughthat an alert group might get curious as tothis “visiting professor's” intentions. Ifthey snoop too closely, though, he willback off to a safe distance, or may strikeprematurely, if he thinks someone is on tohim.

Another possible playerhook could be a lawenforcement contact of aplayer, in this case the leaderof the security team assignedto protect Anancithidus. Hewill bring the characters in atthe request of Kinyon, whohas been pestering him forpersonal security andbombarding him with storiesof his “bad feelings”. Theintro could go something like“Hey, sorry to bother you,but this wacked-outprofessor who works at thesite I'm assigned to right nowhas been on my case to gethim some people who canprotect him from creepy-crawlies or some crap likethat. I know my boss'll thinkI'm crazy if I ask for ad-ditional men under thosepretenses. I remember the last time wetalked you had talked about how you andthose guys you're in with now are into thiskinda stuff, so...”

They would be there to investigatethe stone and/or to protect the professorfrom his real or imagined fears.

If neither of these angles is viable,there’s always the chance they’ll find in-terest in a news story (like the one in theIntroduction) while searching for leads onMinion activity. Have the killings showup in the media reports the characters re-view, and make sure they get wind of thearchaelogical findals. If they're bright,they'll put two and two together andmaybe try to track down the cause of the

killings. Alastor is good at what he does(well, he's a Ravager), but he's not per-fect, and small clues might lead to hisidentification if someone were actuallyhunting him. Witnesses near the variouscrime scenes might have seen him in hisdisguised form or seen the car he’s usingto get around. A little money or boozespread around could get little ideas likethe type of car and license plate.

It’s all a matter of someone giving adamn. The players would have to be care-ful, though, as Alastor will catch oneventually to anyone tracking him. Hunt-ers as experienced as he can get a sense of

when they themselves are being hunted.That could lead to early confrontation, asAlastor will let nothing stand in the wayof his mission.

Side PlotSide PlotThe stone, Anancithidus, is an an-

cient dimension walk device that wasused originally as a gateway activator tobring Dark Minions to Earth. The power-ful sorcerer who possessed the stone waseventually killed and the Minions hebrought through slain, but it was a horri-ble struggle, enough so that it was a re-membered event that has become a leg-end.

It has been recovered and used manytimes since it’s initial creation by variousindividuals for both good and evil and hasa strong empathic signature to it. Em-pathic sensitives who get very close to thestone will feel uneasiness and those whoactually hold it will get impressions of thestrong power that has been associatedwith this device.

In fact, so much the stone is such anenergy magnet that it causes electricalanomalies in the vicinity of electrical gen-eration systems (such as power plants).

Anancithidus is a large piece of ob-sidian deeply inlaid with platinum, acting

as a dampening agent.Depending on how the GM'scampaign universe isstructured, it could be usedas a generic dimension walkdevice, as described on pages222-224 of the 2nd Edition

Referee’s Guide. Anotherpossiblity is that it could beused as a gateway activator,which under the properconditions (STRONGelectrical fields, solstice,planetary conjunctions, etc.)activates a gateway its near.The Proto-dimensionssection of the Referee’sGuide talks of thedampening metal in theactivator and the gatewayanchor needing to be thesame, but that's a point forthe individual GM.

Alternatively, it mightopen a singular gate, perhaps in Mesopo-tamia. My choice would be a gate atBaalbek in Lebanon, but then that's thestuff of another adventure...

ResolutionResolutionThe best time and place for a con-

frontation will be at the University, per-haps during the evening. Alastor will waituntil he has everything together (target,notes, and stone) in the ArchaeologyDept. and a relatively quiet time (like lateevening) to strike.

As it happens, the professor doeswork long hours and with his new find isleaving very late during the week thatAlastor is stalking him. Alastor will make


quick work of any security and then try toeliminate the players. He will cut powerto the facility by destroying the circuitbox and then stalk any targets that standbetween him and his objective.

If the characters hole up with the pro-fessor and wait him out, he’ll project theform of one of the security team and try togain close access to them then he will re-veal his full self and go into a rage, at-tempting to slay everyone around him. Onthe off chance the characters retreat, hewill take what he came for and attempt tofinish off Kinyon. Nothing short of hisdeath will stop him from this.

Of course, the characters, if he andthey survive, will have a new enemy.Killing them will become a pet project forhim when he has the time. If the charac-ters stand and fight and are on the losingend of things, have the thieves show upnow and distract the Ravager’s attention.This should give them a little breathingroom.

The characters will either livethrough this night or they will not. Howmany others survive with them is solelybased on how well they perform. Theyshould definitely feel as though they’ve

survived a major menace, because theyhave. Remember that Ravagers are aboutas big and nasty as Minions can get.Taking out one of these critters shouldnever be easy.

For keeping quiet about what wenton, the University might well offer finan-cial compensation to the players. IfKinyon survives, they will of course havehis lasting gratitude and a new solid con-tact. Anancithidus, itself, is another mat-ter. Knowing that someone wants it badenough to send a Ravager after it shouldset a warning light off somewhere, andthis artifact will have to be disposed of,either by the players or the University.

After the destruction that's likely tooccur during a Ravager attack, the Uni-versity can easily be made to part with theartifact, on the condition that it is properlydealt with and disposed of. This could beanother whole adventure in its own right.The remainder of the resolution and whatto do next are up to the GM.

NotesNotesI'm cutting it there as that's quite a bit

already. As I was writing the end, I startedlooking in to doing a sequel that would

entail taking the stone to it’s place of ori-gin and disposing of it.

Finding a reason to go to all thattrouble is what will take some time,though. It could even lead to a little di-mension hopping. Right now, it’s just afancy idea or two. The Ravager is hard toreplace as the main heavy, but if you wantto provide it with cohorts, I’ve left thatdoor open.

There is plenty of room for develop-ment as to the characters involved, likethe security team and the thieves, de-pending on how long you expect them tolast in your individual campaigns.

Time and place are easy to changeout also. UC Berkeley was just a randompick because they have a strong anthro-pology department. I was toying with theUniversity of Edinburgh in Scotland, butthat would be a bit out of the way formost people’s campaigns. Since the stoneis recovered from a site near Avebury,though, it could more easily be substi-tuted. Enjoy.

“The best cure for an empath who“The best cure for an empath whohas succumbed to dark influence is anhas succumbed to dark influence is aninjection. Preferably lead, deliveredinjection. Preferably lead, deliveredat high velocity from a safe diat high velocity from a safe diss--tance.”tance.”


Page Page 2222 DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 DarkTekDarkTek

AAAAnnnnddddrrrrooooddddaaaammmmuuuussssBy Rob Beck

This is an artifact that could fit into aDark Conspiracy adventure as a subplot,as part of a Minion or Minion Hunter’spossessions, or could be the centerpiecefor an entire adventure, depending on howimportant it may be in an individual’scampaign.

BackgroundBackgroundAndrodamus is an artifact whose

creation is lost to antiquity. It could havebeen a Darkling device that was given byto a Charon as a gift or weapon to accom-plish some task and then lost or passedon.

According to ancient belief, this wasa stone resembling a diamond, said to befound in the sands of the Red Sea. Itsname denotes the virtue belonging to it,namely, to restrain anger, mitigate lunacy,and lesson the gravity of the body.

Game InformationGame InformationLet’s assume this stone doesn’t really

have these particular powers, (ProjectEmotion; Change Environment (Special-gravity) or Sorcerous Flight; ProjectThought) but that these powers were pos-sessed by the user and merely associatedwith the stone through time and distortionof the facts. The stone could, however, actas a focus for sorcererous empaths, add-ing a power level or even doubling thepower level of their empathic task.

At first I thought a fixed power levelincrease might be in order, but it would bemore interesting of a stone or device ifit’s power level fluctuated. Say, it in-creases the power level of an empathicsorcerer one level in a normal environ-ment, but it doubles the power level ondemonground or in an empathicallycharged area. (This option because I know

not everyone uses demonground in theircampaigns)

The idea that it is DarkTek wouldallow another little “complication” forempaths who use it. My suggestion isControl:1 and Detection:100.

This denotes that the Darklings whocreated it expected that its owner not havethat much autonomy regarding its use.The 100m detection range would act as abeacon if the owner tried to use the stonetoo near Darklings, thus tipping them offto his/her location. Alternatively, it couldlet them know to clear out, should theynot want to be associated or identifiedwith the owner, thus adding themselves toits mystique and destroying some of its“mystery”.

Control value is obvious. Never hurtsto have your opponents little weaker thanthey normally would be, in case theirgoals and yours don’t agree.

CCCCoooonnnnttttaaaacccctttt IIIInnnnffffoooorrrrmmmmaaaattttiiiioooonnnnPersonal Web SitesPersonal Web Sites

Carolina Triad Sanctuaryhttp://users.vnet.net/seawolf/dc/dc.htm

Dark Conspiracy Page of Ari Julkuhttp://www.megabaud.fi/~julku/

Ian's Dark Conspiracy Game Pagehttp://vminc.com/dc/

Incursionshttp://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/7515/yp2.html

James' Dark Conspiracy Pagehttp://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~jld/dark.htm

Mike Marchi's Dark Conspiracyhttp://www.42north.org/~mjm/rpg/dc/

Panzer's Dark Conspiracy Pagehttp://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/myst/564/pdc.html

Paul's Dark Conspiracy Pagehttp://www.ludat.lth.se/~dat93pre/DarkConspiracy.html

Ripper Jack's RPG Charactershttp://www.netspace.net.au/~riprjak/characters.html

Ryan's Dark Conspiracy Pageshttp://members.aol.com/ltlolme108/darkc.htm

Speedbump920's Dark Conspiracy Pagehttp://members.tripod.com/~speedbump920/sbdc.html

Steven Ward's Dark Conspiracy Pagehttp://www.brunel.ac.uk/~ccussmw/rpg/dc/dc.htm

Tad Kelson's Dark Conspiracy RPG Itemshttp://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7614/d_c.htm

The Gatewayhttp://www.pcisys.net/~arkangel/dark.htm

The Interdimensional Demon Hunting Clubhttp://www.chem.swin.edu.au/~mitch/darkconspiracy.html

The Pitts-Hio Barbed Barhttp://www.geocities.com/Area51/8734/

http://users.vnet.net/seawolf/dc/dc.htm

http://www.megabaud.fi/~julku/

http://vminc.com/dc/

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/7515/yp2.html

http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~jld/dark.htm

http://www.42north.org/~mjm/rpg/dc/

http://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/myst/564/pdc.html

http://www.ludat.lth.se/~dat93pre/DarkConspiracy.html

http://www.netspace.net.au/~riprjak/characters.html

http://members.aol.com/ltlolme108/darkc.htm

http://members.tripod.com/~speedbump920/sbdc.html

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~ccussmw/rpg/dc/dc.htm

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7614/d_c.htm

http://www.pcisys.net/~arkangel/dark.htm

http://www.chem.swin.edu.au/~mitch/darkconspiracy.html

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8734/

MilieuMilieu DEDEMONGROUND Issue 2MONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 2323

MMMMiiiinnnnddddsssseeeettttLife as a BallotmanLife as a Ballotman

By Geoff Skellams

This is the first in a series of articles aiming to give Dark Conspiracy players and referees a better idea of what it is like to live in theDC universe. Each article will look at a different social class within the universe and will try to uncover the basic “mindset”.

You just don’t go out after dark. It’sas simple as that. Once it gets past 9pm,you lock the door to the apartment andyou don’t leave until the sun comes up.

Oh, the corporations would have youbelieve that these places are the securestfacilities on Earth. It’s all part of thepackage that they entice you with to signup. Perhaps they are secure – from peopleon the outside. It’s the human refuse onthe inside that’s the problem.

I’ve been here for three years now.I’ll probably be here until I die as well.I’ve been out of the workforce too longnow. No one will take me on, at least noone in his right mind.

It all started nearly four years ago. Iused to have a good job, one that I en-joyed. It wasn’t perfect, but at least myfamily had place to live and there was de-cent food on the table. Times were tough,and we found it hard to make ends meet,but we had more than most people.

My boss called it a product of theGreater Depression. “Times are a wholelot tougher than they used to be, and themarketplace is drying up,” he said. “Ourcompany has been purchased by a largerinterstate corporation, so we will be reor-ganizing the work force here to fall intolines with the new company policy. Un-fortunately, this does mean that some ofyou will not be able to find a position inthe new organisation and for that I amtruly sorry.”

Two days later, I found an envelopeon my desk. It was the piece of paper Ihad been dreading - my termination no-tice.

Life went downhill from there. I triedto get a new job, but being on the wrongside of 40 didn’t weigh in my favour. Itdidn’t stop the bills from coming. Thegovernment didn’t seem able to help ei-ther. Slowly but surely, we had to sell off

all our possessions, just to keep up thepayments up on the house.

I should have seen it coming, but forsome stupid reason I didn’t. My wife de-cided that she wasn’t going to sit by as wesold off everything we had. She took mostof our stuff and the kids and took off toLA to live with her parents again. The di-vorce papers from her lawyer arrived amonth later.

The bank repossessed the house notlong after that. Left me with nothing. Icontemplated suicide for a while. Guess Ididn’t have the guts. I came as close toclimbing over the railing on the bridge,but I just couldn’t take that last step.

I lived on the streets for a while, butit was more than I could take. Gangs cutme up pretty bad and took the last fewthings I held dear in the world. I got sickand nearly died in a dumpster.

I guess that was when I decided tosign my vote away. The recruiting girlcame around to the homeless shelter I wasat. I wanted to say no, but she was so per-suasive and it certainly beat the hell out ofthe situation I was in.

I hadn’t liked the idea before. Peopleneed their own vote, so they can tell thegovernment what they think. But whenyou have nothing in the world and yourvoice really doesn’t count, then the offerof a roof over your head, a warm bed andthree meals a day sounds like a muchbetter deal that the crap you have now.

They promise you the world, thesebastards. The brochures make it look likea real holiday apartment building. It’s allnew and shiny and clean. I’m surprisedthey’re allowed to get away with lies likethat. Perhaps the buildings did look likethat, once upon a time. They sure as helldon’t look like that now.

So, I signed my vote over to theNayoda Group. That means they get to

vote on my behalf in the federal and stateelections. Not that it helped them any.They lost the last election in this districtanyway.

There is a mountain of legal paper-work to fill in when you sign your voteaway. Some people have called it “sign-ing their life away”. That’s probably abetter name for it. You’re basically sellingyour life to the corporation. They’ll takecare of you, but you have to play by theirrules from then on.

The contract isn’t easy to understandeither. I tried to read all of it, but by thefifth page, my head was aching. So I justskimmed the rest and signed on the dottedline on page 37. The woman on the otherside of the desk was really nice. Shesummarized the rest and told me all of theimportant points. She sure as hell didn’ttell me about some of the bad stuff.

So that was how I became a ballot-man. The Nayoda Group loaded me and awhole pile of other new signees onto abus and drove us to our new home. It wasa great 50 story concrete box with lots ofsmall, dirty windows. It did look vaguelylike the picture in the brochure, but youneeded a damn good imagination.

At least I have my own room. I sharea two-bedroom unit with another guy,Fred. He was in pretty much the sameboat as me, so we got on OK. When wehad to find someone to live with, wekinda decided to throw our lot in together.It was probably the best thing we couldhave done. Over the past three years,we’ve managed to keep each other rela-tively sane and stopped each other fromdoing some really dumb things.

The unit is nothing flash. It’s just aliving room with a couple of bedrooms.There’s some threadbare carpet on thefloor, but it’s so old we’re not even surewhat color it was when it was put in. The

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company furnishes each unit the same.There’s a crappy black and white TV builtinto the wall in the living room and thereare a couple of lounge chairs as well.Along one wall, there’s a small bookshelfunit, also build in. The paint’s faded andpeeling and there are a few spots wherewe’ve got rising damp. We’ve called thebuilding management people, but theyhaven’t done anything about it yet.

The lounge room also has a smallsink unit in one corner. You could drinkthe water but it tastes like crap. Too muchchlorine. Fred and I keep a bucket underours that we use as a toilet during thenight. It’s safer than going down the hall.

Each bedroom is pretty much thesame. They’ve got a single bed and asmall built in wardrobe. There’s not muchroom for anything else. I’ve got most ofthe spare space in my room filled with oldnewspapers. I’ve got pretty well the lastthree years worth of newspapers stackedup. I guess that tenuous link to the outsideworld is one of the few things that keepsme going.

Each floor has a communal bathroomat the end of the hall. Ours is better thanmost, or so I believe. We’ve at least gotone cubicle with a door, even if it doesn’tlock. At mealtime the other day, I met anew guy who has been assigned a roomon the 27th floor. He told me that most cu-bicles up there don’t even have a toiletanymore. They’ve all been smashed. Yougotta use the hole in the floor and pour abucket of water down after it. If you canfind the bucket, that is.

Everyone in the building goes to themess for meals. They stagger meal timesbased on which floor you live on. Fivefloors eat at the same time each day. Ifyou miss the meal at your allotted time,you go hungry. Everyone has a bar codestitched to the breast pocket of the clothesthe company gives you to live in. Whenyou go for meals, you have to passthrough a gate. I guess the computer mustscan your bar code and open the gate foryou if it’s your mealtime. I’ve nevermissed a meal yet. I might be dumb, butI’m not stupid.

The food they serve up is bloody aw-ful. There’s nothing fresh at all. It’s allprocessed… something. When I firstcame here, I used to wonder what the hell

I was eating. These days I’m just gratefulthat it’s edible, using the term loosely.

The food is served up by volunteers.They’re the bastards who suck up to thecompany and try to get some extra favors.I’ve heard rumors that they have biggerapartments in the more secure upper lev-els of the building, and that their apart-ments even have their own bathrooms.I’ve thought about volunteering a fewtimes, but it’s not worth it. The rest of usgive them that much stick about suckingup to the company that their lives are justas miserable as the rest of us.

Apart from meal times, there’s no so-cializing with large groups of people.Sure, small groups on floors get togetherand provide some small amount of sup-port for one another, but there’s not awhole lot of that. People here just don’thave anything to talk about. It’s just toodepressing.

Some of the groups have formed toprotect against the gangs that roam thecorridors. That’s what I meant when I saidyou don’t go out after dark. It’s mostlyteenagers that cause all the problems.They have nothing better to do with theirtime, so they terrorize people. They tendto smash things up and cover the wallswith graffiti.

The corporation pretends the problemdoesn’t exist. They have security goonsthat come round from time to time, butthat usually only happens after someonehas been killed or injured. “Protectingtheir assets” they call it. They need tokeep us alive so that they can have ourvote when the elections come round.

Around here, the corporation doesn’tinterfere too much in the lives of the peo-ple. They have some laws they expect tobe followed and they clamp down prettyhard on people who break some of them.Especially murder. That one causes raidsby the elite security forces. Killing a bal-lotman can theoretically mean the differ-ence between a win and a loss in an elec-tion, so they really don’t like it whensomeone dies. They come and take the of-fender away pretty damn quickly. Wedon’t know where they are taken. Therumors I’ve heard suggest that the pun-ishment for killing a ballotman make lifeimprisonment in San Quentin look like aSunday picnic.

The gangs seem to know how farthey can go so the goons don’t interferewith their operations. Extortion, bashing,rapes and a couple of other “fun” thingsseem to be fairly run of the mill, espe-cially for the ones who arm themselves.There’s supposed to be a law against aballotman owning a weapon of any de-scription. It doesn’t seem to worry mostof them though. Just about all of themhave knives or some other sort of stabbingweapon. Somebody told me that someeven have guns. I’ve heard a few distantshots in the building sometimes, usuallylate at night. I guess they might be thecorporate security forces, but I don’t thinkso.

Some of the gangs run drug smug-gling rackets as well. For a lot of peoplewho live here, life is just too hard withoutsome sort of chemically induced release.The corp pays us all an allowance of corpscrip that we can use to purchase thingslike newspapers, alcohol or tobacco.Some people prefer to spend it on harderstuff. It’s supposed to be illegal too, but itdoesn’t stop some people. There are thosethat will sell everything they have, in-cluding themselves, to get the next hit.

If people don’t want to do drugs, thenthere are all sorts of gambling racketsaround the complex as well. Some are justsimple poker games played for cigarettes.I’ve heard there are also clandestine casi-nos around, if you have the right contacts.

I guess it’s hardest for the kids. Thecorporation does run something resem-bling school, but it’s pretty inadequateand won’t help them get a job. Some ofthe kids who have been born in this com-plex can’t even read or write. I guess thecorporation seems to think that the kidswill just grow up and sign their votesaway like their parents.

Some parents have started their ownschools to teach kids the basics, like theydid at the end of the Nineteenth Century.Those kids are the ones who manage toget out of the complexes. I haven’t heardof any of them making it to college, butsome of them to manage to get a job.

Those that don’t make it out are theones who end up in the gangs. There’s nota lot more they can do really. Victimizingsomeone else probably makes them feelstronger and more worthwhile. Fred and I

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have been lucky. We don’t tend to makeourselves too noticeable and we giveenough of our scrip away to keep the localgang happy, so they don’t bother us.

It’s funny, but a lot of people find re-ligion in the blocks. There’s nothingmuch else to do besides watching the ca-ble TV, and even that can get too muchsometimes. Not all of the religion isChristian either. Just about any sort of re-ligious belief you can think of has follow-ers somewhere in the complex and thereare probably those you’ve never heard ofas well. I read a report in a paper thatthere was some weird cult in a complexon the East Coast last year. They weresupposed to have sacrificed babies orsomething. Apparently, their corporationbusted them and they found life after thatto be decidedly more unpleasant.

In some ways, I’m actually glad thatpeople have found religion around here. Ithelps them keep their hope alive, even ifit is only dimly. Some of the better groups

actually go out of their way to help others.Extra food and blankets, or medical help,that sort of thing. You’d think that the de-spair around them would crush their spir-its, but some people seem to thrive on theatmosphere.

As hard as it may sound, there areworse places that this one to live. Before Isigned on, I had a cousin, Dan, whosigned up in Florida. I got a letter fromhim one time and he was telling me abouthis complex. People there seemed to livein a state of something just short of pureterror. No one spoke to anyone else. Eventhinking wrong seemed to get people intotrouble.

Dan had heard rumors that peoplehad been taken away for thinking wrongthoughts about the corporation. Everynow and again, some uniformed troopscame to someone’s unit in the middle ofthe night and took them away, never to beseen again. All sorts of stories wentaround about the “Thought Police” as the

troops were called. Dan said that he hadeven seen the Thought Police drag a littleold lady out of her unit around 1am andbeat her senseless before taking her away.All this because she had mentioned tosomeone in the mess that she thought thecorporation didn’t care enough for them.

He had even had thoughts himself.He wrote that he had found somethingthat looked like a weird legless cock-roach, hidden inside a vent in his bed-room. I never heard from him after thatletter. I guess the Thought Police cameand got him as well. I don’t even know ifhe’s still alive.

You might think that my life is not allthat great. But at least I’m alive, I getregular food and I’ve got someplace tolive. I’ve lived on the street and it’s a lotworse that this. There are those that woulddisagree with me. I’m not all that happywith my life, but I am content with whereI am. I guess that’s all you can hope for.

GGGGaaaammmmeeee IIIInnnnffffoooorrrrmmmmaaaattttiiiioooonnnn

Mental StabilityMental StabilityWhen portraying the proles to

the players, it is important to emphasizethe squalid living conditions these peopleput up with. Most of them have signedtheir lives over to a corporation because itis the only way they can get food andshelter. The majority is so accustomed tothis tedious lifestyle that they would havea hard time making a change for the bet-ter.

On a psychological level, the proleshave very little, if any, self esteem left.They have “fallen victim” to the Depres-sion and think they have no other option.They have no vision of the future and nohope left for something better.

Mental illness is rife in the prolecommunities. Depression is by far thegreatest illness but just about any sort ofpsychological disorder is present to somedegree. It is possible to have one of theresidents think of themselves as an alien,or a high priest of a strange cult. Schizo-phrenia and other personality disordersare often in evidence as peoples’ subcon-

scious minds try in vain to regain somesemblance of self-esteem.

The corporation does not really careabout the resident’s mental problems. Solong as the poles stay alive, the corpora-tion retains that person’s vote and that’sall that really matters to the accountants.They make some token efforts to enrichthe lives of the residents, but just to ap-pease the social services of the Govern-ment.

Because of the incredibly fragile na-ture of the residents’ psyches, a largecriminal element preys on those weakerthan themselves. Drugs are rife, as peoplelook for any way to escape from the mo-notony of their everyday life. Prostitution,gambling, theft, rape, extortion and awhole range of other crimes are alsoprevalent. Some corporations attempt toeliminate these influences and make theircomplexes safer for the residents, butthese are definitely in the minority.

It is also possible that the levels ofdepression people suffer are enough toraise latent neuropaths to active status. Asa result, all manner of paranormal phe-

nomena can occur somewhere in thecomplexes.

Playing a Playing a ProleProleIf your character spent one or more

terms as a Prole, then your charactershould bear some emotional scars fromthe experience. Ballotmen have very littleworth living for and their lives are filledwith apathy and despair.

Your character should have, at thevery least, some sort of self-esteem prob-lem. They signed their lives over to thecorporation and went through at least fouryears of mind numbing boredom. Life inthe complexes can be hard sometimes, sothe character should at least suffer fromsome form of apathy or self-doubt.

Fear is a part of every day life in thecomplexes. The character might comeaway with a fear of strange noises in thenight, or perhaps even something as ex-treme as a fear of open spaces if theynever left the complex.

On the other hand, if the characterwas a part of one of the gangs that prowl

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the complexes, they may well have a sa-distic streak and will use fear as a meansof getting people to do something. Thesepeople would have little respect for thevalue of a human life and would react ac-cordingly.

If your character is an empath, thenthe time spent as a prole could well havebrought about the awakening of the char-acter’s empathic powers. It is possiblethat the corporation could have discov-ered their powers and “recruited” thecharacter, either willingly or be force, as apsychic test subject.

One thing that needs to be remem-bered about Prole characters is that theywould never sign on “for the hell of it”.Just about all of them would have a rea-son for becoming a ballotman. Spendsome time thinking about why the char-acter signed their vote over to a corpora-tion. It is a really good plot hook for youand your Referee to base some of thecampaign around.

Using Using Proles in a GameProles in a GameAs a referee, there is a whole range of

ways to introduce proles into your game.A small set of examples is given here.

• The players hear about the “leglesscockroaches” that are hiddenthroughout the complex. These areDarktek devices that are used by theDark Minions to eavesdrop of theconversations and sometimes eventhe thoughts of the residents. If the

residents appear to be speaking oreven thinking against the corporation,they would get a visit from the“Thought Police” who would come totake them away to unknown location.

• Several residents of a complex havestarted disappearing. The corporationemploys the characters to go under-cover into the complex as new resi-dents to help find out what is goingon. It is possible that they are beingmurdered and eaten for food becausethere is not enough nourishment inthe slop the corporation provides. Orsomething far more sinister may alsobe happening.

• A Demonground area has appeared inthe bowels of one complex. Severalempaths have been subverted to theDark Lords and have formed cultsworshipping evil beings from anotherdimension. The ceremonies of wor-ship could open portals to proto-dimensions that allow Dark Minionsto pass through. The constant open-ing and closing of these portals hasweakened the fabric of reality and allsorts of problems have arisen.

• New minion hunters might be re-cruited from the residents. Theywould not be able to provide any sortof material aid for the players (a per-son loses all assets when they sign onas a prole, Player’s Handbook, page71), but they will be able to providemore muscle for the group if need be.

• The players investigate some of thestrange paranormal phenomena thatseem to be happening in one of thecomplexes. It may be due a latentempath suffering enough emotionalshock to awaken their powers. Theplayers might be acting on behalf ofthe corporation, or they might betrying to find the empath before thecorporation can take the empath awayfor psychic testing.

• Someone living in the complex mightwell be a witness in an investigationthe player characters are involvedwith. The investigation might involvethe reason the person signed on as aprole in the first place, or it mightwell be examining an incident thathas happened since the person movedinto the complex.

SummarySummaryThe whole concept of ballotmen is

one that is mentioned briefly in the DarkConspiracy rules, but is never examinedin much depth. In this article, I have triedto portray what life might be like for atypical ballotman, to help provide someextra color for a campaign.

Whether your character has been aprole in a former career or you want tosend the player characters into a Prolecomplex, you should have a much betteridea about what it is you are getting in-volved in.

“The Dark Ones gained their freedom, and su“The Dark Ones gained their freedom, and sudd--denly there were more empathically active humans.denly there were more empathically active humans.Sensing the threat, the Dark Ones hunt us.Sensing the threat, the Dark Ones hunt us.

“Most problems in nature are ultimately self-“Most problems in nature are ultimately self-correcting. The question is, which of us is the problem,correcting. The question is, which of us is the problem,and which is the correand which is the correcction.”tion.”


Dark RacesDark Races DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 2727

TTTTeeeelllleeeettttuuuubbbbbbbbyyyy LLLLaaaannnnddddaka Dark aka Dark TubbiesTubbiesby Chris Carpenter

BackgroundBackgroundOn a date marked on no Earthly cal-

endar, the evil Lord Xorex called forth fora new soldier, one that could move quietlybeneath the soil, bursting upwards withinthe fortresses and strongholds of his ene-mies, taking them completely by surprise.Nosnum, a creative bioengineer createdswift, reptilian troglodytes, individuallyable to kill a large Earth steer. At first, itwas deemed a success, but Xorex foundthe creatures unreliable,and unresponsive todisciplinary stimuli, andtherefore too dangerous touse in an organized cam-paign of terror or conquest.Disappointed, but hopeful,Nosnum found a smallproto-dimension to househis “pets” which, (whilevile in appearance,)matched the environmentneeded to sustain them.Naming it “Rannos,” andpopulating it with mediumsized herbivores (as a foodsupply,) it proved a perfectbiosphere, as long as itremained undisturbed.

In the midst of thisproject, a small band ofrenegade Humanoid ETshave made a breakthrough:a device that would allowthem to return “home” bymeans of a small scout ship equipped withan experimental dimensional device.Starting from a secret base in Argentina,the alien craft powered up, focused it’sbeam into a clearing, opened a portal, andslipped through amidst a cloud of debrisand dimensional flotsam, the gate closinga full minute later. No one would see thethree confused troglodytes in the clearing,nor would they ever, as they scamperedinto the thick South American under-brush...

The craft, emerging from the intersti-ces, appeared low over a depression sur-rounded by gentle hills. Fearing a miscal-culation by the on-board computers, theETs decided to land and assess the situa-tion. It was clear they had not reachedtheir destination, but the dimensionseemed safe enough, and their coursewould have to be replotted. Systemchecks were performed and cleared, butany exterior damage would have to wait

until “morning” to provide adequatelighting. Come the dawn, it was discov-ered that a crucial antennae array hadbeen crushed by the awkward landing.Hoping to complete repairs by nightfall,the men worked quickly and efficiently.Having only an hour’s worth of work leftto perform, artificial lighting was set up,and repairs continued, but not for long.

Two of the crew of seven were taken,one grabbed from outside the light, theother from below, being pulled screaming

straight down into the soil, the loose earthcovering his arms. The other ETs scram-bled for the safety of the craft, and sealedthe door. Panic coursed through the re-maining five, and weapons were distrib-uted.

The next morning, a new discovery,one even more horrible: their bodies hadstarted to change. Once slim and graceful,they had rapidly put on weight, the fingersof their hands fusing together to form

grotesque mittens.Dimensional assimilationwas destroying theirbodies, and worse, theycould feel their sanity slip-ping. In a last ditch effortto repair the craft, the crewmanaged as best theycould with their newforms, but alas, even theirequipment had started tochange, laser torchesbecoming bubble-guns,and simple hand toolsbecoming as soft as babytoys. Hallucinations andhappy delirium soonfollowed, even thesimplest tasks wereabandoned for childlikediversions. Only one, astrong empath, was able toresist the mental changeslong enough to roughlymodify certain ship

functions, namely the food processors andscrub-bot, to accommodate their new life-style...

This, is Rannos, the land of theTeletubbies.

Game InformationGame InformationRannos is a splinterland, with a dis-

continuity of 1. Its assimilation effectvalue is 10 (special and explained below).

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To all appearances, it is a beautiful,pastoral setting, with green hills of trim,even grass, clear blue skies flecked withwhite puffy clouds, and thick patches ofwildflowers. There is a central clearing,with one building, a grass-covered domewith one main door and four windowspointing in compass directions (if, in fact,a compass worked here.) Conifer treesgrow in sporadic clumps, most markedlyin a large ring around the central clearingwhere the dome rests.

On a tall hill about 100 meters NW ofthe dome is a large windmill that resem-bles a child’s pinwheel, its speed varyingthroughout the day. Rannos has a 24 hourday, 14 light, 10 dark, with no variance onsunset/sunrise times. The weather is al-ways pleasant and warm, with a cool,steady breeze from the SE. Exploration inany direction from the dome will eventu-

ally reveal the limits of the land area, athree kilometer radius circle surroundedby a relativistic barrier. The land wouldappear to go on forever in such a pattern,but the barrier prevents further movement.One special exception is detailed below.

Rannos has three inhabitants not in-cluding some beneficial worms, microor-ganisms and small birds: the Teletubbies,a race of childlike, androdgynous crea-tures in various chromatic hues; commonbrown rabbits (which are very tame;) anda third species which hunts nocturnallyand is rarely seen.

The Teletubbies are completelyharmless; they don’t seem to understandanything outside the realm of their world,and have a very limited, babyish lan-guage. They will repeat anything you sayto them in a gibbery mish-mash of mis-pronunciation, but can clearly understand

concepts such as “No!” and “Go Play.”They will not be able to tell charactersanything about their living quarters, (ex-cept, perhaps identifying something as“mine.”) or how they came to be here.They each have names, and can say eachothers names, but basically they have themental capacity of a 2 year old.

Trying to take something from themis fruitless, and will cause them much dis-pleasure, perhaps to the point of tantrum.They have no combat skills, and mightnot even flee if attacked due to ignorance.Each is easily identified by color, an un-usual (and unique) growth on their heads,and a strange patch of off-white fur ontheir “tummies,”faces, and ears. Occa-sionally, they will seem to speak to noone in particular, or react to unseen cuesto run, roll, etc. They make a morningpilgrimage to the windmill every day, re-vering it as perhaps a god-like entity,rolling around on the ground before it, asmetal sparks fly from the (apparently)poorly maintained equiptment.

The rabbits are large and not veryskittish of people. They will hop out ofthe way of an oncoming TT, but will tol-erate gentle affection. They are about 10pounds, have a health of 4/8, and makegood eating, if the party is so inclined.

The party should discover the thirdspecies by accident. If they are leery ofsharing the TTs quarters, or wander toofar from the dome near sunset, then theywill have to sleep outside, locked out untildawn. They are then fair game for thetroglodytes. The troglodytes dig huge un-derground burrows, packing soil intosolid, resinous chunks building up thestrength of the burrow without the tell-talepiles of dirt outside its entrance. It’s realadvantage is its ability to “swim” throughthe soil, stopping periodically to listen forvibrations of possible prey. They are sen-sitive to the light and will only hunt atnight. They are small-pack hunters; anattack would consist of only 2 or 3 trogsat best, unless found in the nest. A typicalattack will come from the side and under-neath, pulling their victims under the soilwith great force, often smothering them.If they are unable to drag their catch downwhole, they will simply tear off a leg. Atopside attack is more risky, but the trogsare immensely strong with wicked claws


and teeth, able to tear a head or limb off aman.

Generally, only one attack will comea night, unless the characters keep movingaround, drawing the attention of otherpacks. TTs caught outside (due only tocharacter intervention, they will neverstay out voluntarily) will whine and makea lot of noise, and are subject to the sameattacks. Rabbits tend to be the first con-sumed (to heighten tension,) unless thecharacters are stomping around like a rudeupstairs neighbor.

When coming to Rannos, it is best forthe party to arrive just before dawn. TheTTs (Teletubbies) will be asleep, but willrise with the morning sun through a hatchat the top of the dome. Seeing the party,they will rush forward to see the new“things,” and may even offer “hugs” if theparty is receptive. Otherwise, the TTs willleave the party alone to their own devices.Every night before sunset, however, theTTs return to the dome, and the doors andupper hatch seal automatically. The TTssequester themselves in an upstairs bunkarea, and sleep soundly until the nextdawn. The TTs will stop periodicallyduring the day to eat “Tubby Toast” or“Tubby Custard”, a process they revel in,perhaps because of their ability to “do itthemselves.”

Special AssimilationSpecial AssimilationRannos has a special assimilation

formula: no changes for the first 24 hourperiod for people or equipment, then usethe formula on pg 20 of the Proto-dimensions sourcebook. Instead of dam-age, however, the chars will find them-selves turning into Teletubbies. As youtake “damage,” however, instead of realdamage, the chars can use the total per-centage of chest damage from the Seriouscolumn to determine how “Tubby” theyare becoming.

Example: Susan has 66 points in herchest: serious column. After 24 hours, and30 minutes, she takes ten points of “dam-age,” but instead of pain, she discoversher skin has changed to a snazzy greenshade, and she’s put on a little weightaround the belly. 15 minutes later, and 5more points of “damage” her fingers startto grow together, making tools difficult touse, and penalizing agility based skills

one level. At 35 points (53%) her fingersgrow completely together, and she hascompletely outgrown her clothes. She willbe covered in a short thick fur the samecolor as her body (green, for example)and speech will become difficult. By 50points (75%) she will look completelylike a Teletubby, including light patch onbelly. Coherent thought starts to becomedifficult, and all intelligence and educa-tion skill become one level more difficult,plus one more level of agility (for a totalof two.) At 66 points, she will lose allconcept of self, and all previous knowl-edge, save for what the other TTs“know.” Only returning her to Earth willreverse the process, and if the char hasgone total conversion (all points in herchest: serious column,) the char will loseone point from either int or edu (gm’schoice) plus a possible psychosis, notablyhallucinations.

Chart of changes and penaltiesChart of changes and penaltiesby peby perrcentage.centage.

• 24% or less - change in color (any,random,) considerable weight gain,fingers beginning to fuse together.

• 25% - 49% - all AGL skills one levelmore difficult (easy becomes aver-age,) growth of body fur, slight bumpon head, most form fitting clothesimpossible to wear.

• 50% - 75% - complete change toTeletubby form by 75%, INT andEDU skills one level more difficult,AGL skills now two levels more dif-ficult (easy becomes difficult.) Smalltools and instruments almost impos-sible to use, weapons very difficult(mostly because of trigger guard.)

• 76% - 100% - growth of unique an-tennae, shape up to gm. Existingshapes include loop, twist, invertedtriangle, and straight. At 100%, totalconversion takes place, and char. iscontrolled by GM, using average TTstats for health, strength, etc.

Equiptment is not immune to the as-similation. After the same 24 hour period,all materials brought in will become assafe and benign as possible. Complicatedmachines will become little more thanlight up toys, buzzing and beeping at the

touch of a large colorful buttons. Simpletools, such as a wrench, become a soft,lightweight plastic, unsuitable for anywork. Weapons will turn into fruit, um-brellas, walking sticks, and flutes, what-ever suits the GM’s fancy, as long as theyare rendered inert. Darktek “critters”(such as the Esperlink) scamper away,free of their bonds, to live (and probablydie) in the woods around them. All itemsreturn to “normal” upon returning toEarth, or an Earth-like dimension, with noloss of quality. Even items found on Ran-nos can be brought back, but most will bemundane, a work tunic, a spanner wrench,etc. Only a few of the items found willbecome “treasure:”

A High-Cycle Laser from pg 45 ofthe DarkTek Sourcebook

A Chameleon Suit from pg 93 of theDarkTek Sourcebook

An item of the GM’s choice, buttypically one of alien invention.

Some areas of interest:Some areas of interest:The WindmillThe Windmill

This is the final resting place of thefifth Teletubby. At the bottom is a door,which is locked with an average com-plexity mechanical lock. Inside is a smallroom, with complicated equipment liningthe walls, apparently unaffected by the as-similation. In a chair at the center of theroom, is the fifth TT, long dead. Hisphysical body was somewhere betweenTT and alien, but he is in advanced de-composure, so the reason for his deathmay not be readily apparent. Long writtenjournals can be found on a small, laptopcomputer, but time has not been kind tothe equipment, and breakdown is immi-nent. If the journal can be read (it’s oldand in “alien”) it reads as so:

After the assimilation of his com-rades, Tonod (the fifth alien) kept his ownassimilation at bay through his high em-pathic skills. Able to modify the foodreplicator and a scrubbot, he basically be-came the “parent” of the TTs, makingsure they returned to the ship each nightfor safety. Fearing his own eventual as-similation, he struggled to save himself.He found that the experimental deviceused to open the gateway to this dimen-sion had remained unaffected, as well asthe systems surrounding it. Salvaging

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pieces from the ship, he managed to builda wind generator and housed the deviceinside, eventually bringing other equip-ment to it, which reversed their assimila-tion. Despite his efforts, the chamberwould not reverse the effects of his ownpersonal transformation, not that of hisshipmates. Hoping for eventual rescue, heworked till his last days maximizing theefficiency of the windmill, and trying tosend rescue signals across the dimensions,to no apparent success. Computer auto-mating the remaining functions of the shipand the windmill, he eventually perished,sick and afraid, unwilling to let assimila-tion take him completely.

Items brought into this room willeventually return to normal, but not livingcreatures, who will continue to change.The complexity of the systems, and thedelicate jury-rigging of the equipmentwill prevent most characters from evenattempting to tinker or repair anythingrecognizable. The first failure will makethe power flicker on and off (temporar-ily;) further failures will render the roominert, causing the equipment to shut downpermanently a critical failure will cause afire.

The oceanThe oceanPeriodically, and inexplicably, the SE

corner of Rannos floods, three circa-1800's steam ships will sail in, navigate

along the coastline, and leave, the waterthen drying up without a trace. It is theo-rized that this is a neighboring dimensionoverlapping onto Rannos, but this hasnever been explored. It is possible thatthis is the only “natural” way to leaveRannos, and further adventures could bebased on this journey.

New RacesNew Races

TroglodytesTroglodytesSTR 13CON 11AGL 10INT 2EDU 1CHA 1EMP 3INIT 4MOVE 15/30/60/20*Skill/Dam 5/3d6+3Hits 25/50**#Appear 1-3, 2d6 in lair*Movement through typical soil, doublefor sand, halve for rocky or frozen** Trogs have one point of armor on allhit locations

Physical descriptionThe Trogs are tall, thin reptilian

creatures, with 6 legs, a long tapered

head, and a long tapered tail. Their eyespinch tightly shut for tunneling, and theyhave no other openings on their head,save for their mouth, which is reminiscentof a beartrap. The two front legs can beused as hands, and all limbs are tippedwith hard, sharp claws. The rear legs al-low the trog to “stand” but full locomo-tion requires all six legs on the ground.The Trogs, a biological construct, aregenderless, but longlived. Eighteen werecreated in the original “batch,” three ofwhich inadvertantly escaped onto Earth,giving rise to the Chupacabra legends.The trogs movement through the earth is awonder to behold, somewhat akin toswimming, its powerful legs sliding upalong the smooth torso, and then gainingpurchase in the soil, forcing the headthrough like a plough. Above ground, it’smovement is more ungainly, (a rapid lopesimilar to a weasel or ferret,) but it’sspeed compensates for it’s strange undu-lations.

The trogs are immune to the assimi-lation effect of Rannos.

Combat TacticsThe trogs hunt topside nocturnally,

swimming beneath potential prey slowly,bursting up through the soil, and pullingit’s prey down beneath the loose turf.Trogs flee from bright lights, and willonly fight if cornered under those condi-tions, lashing out at the source of light,weather it be a flashlight or a burningtorch. It is completely at home in it’s lair,giving it an initiative of 5. It’s supersensi-tive eyes and hearing allow it to “see” inthe dark, effectively out-matching anyonefoolish enough to wander below without alightsource.

TeletubbiesTeletubbiesSTR 3CON 4AGL 2INT 2EDU 1CHA 10EMP 1INIT 2MOVE 2/6/12/20Skill/Dam 0/1Hits 20/40#Appear 4(special)


Physical DescriptionPhysical DescriptionThe teletubbies are a group of as-

similated humanoid aliens found on theProtodimension of Rannos. They are an-drogynous, chromatic creatures akin togiant stuffed animals. They stand lessthan 2 meters tall, are portly in appear-ance but only weigh 65 kg, and are uniquein color and single antennae, which growsfrom their heads. They have all the abili-ties and social skills of playful 2 year-olds, and live accordingly, waking up,eating, playing, going to bed, etc.

Characters assimilated to teletubbyform suffer penalties as noted above, andshould have their characters controlled bythe GM.

Combat AbilitiesNone. The teletubbies have the com-

bat abilities of your average 2 year old.They will run, cry, swing ineffectively,etc. Their soft bodies simply prevent themfrom fighting effectively, even if so in-clined. Confusion, coupled with low ini-tiative, might prevent the TTs from evenfleeing danger, unable to comprehend itsimmediacy.

Story IdeasStory Ideas1. Survive and Leave - Rannos comes

with its own inherrant dangers, justsurviving 24 hours here might be all aplayer can stand. Of course, if they

players don’t have any way to leaveafter 24 hours...

2. Rescue the Teletubbies - comingback and grabbing the four originalTTs could become important, esp iftheir true nature is discovered. Com-ing back for fallen comrades is agreat story hook, and tends to bemore timely. Salvaging the “ship” orthe device in the windmill may haveits advantages, too.

3. The Ocean - what are those boats,and where do they go?

4. Rannos, Prison Dimension - whatabout leaving criminals here, ones“beyond” help. Would assimilationpacify their baser urges?

“We say that the Dark One are unknowable,“We say that the Dark One are unknowable,unfathomable, indecipherable. We say that theirunfathomable, indecipherable. We say that theirmotives are too twisted, too otherworldly, formotives are too twisted, too otherworldly, forhumans to understand. I have never felt so,humans to understand. I have never felt so,though I do sometimes think that about hthough I do sometimes think that about huu--mans.mans.

“For generations we have killed our brot“For generations we have killed our brothh--ers, robbed our neighbors, abandoned our chiers, robbed our neighbors, abandoned our chill--dren, polluted our world. Now the Dark Onesdren, polluted our world. Now the Dark Onesencourage us to do so even more, as they benencourage us to do so even more, as they benee--fit from the suffering that results.fit from the suffering that results.

“What’s “What’s ourour excuse?” excuse?”- Zena Marley,

(Early 21st-century mercenary philosopher)

Page Page 3232 DDEMONGROUND Issue 2EMONGROUND Issue 2 EquipmentEquipment

AAAAlllliiiieeeennnnssss iiiinnnn tttthhhheeee FFFFoooorrrreeeessssttttDarktek in the Great OutdoorsDarktek in the Great Outdoors

By Marcus Bone

As we all know technology is agrowth industry. What is the smallest,fastest and best today quickly becomessecond best as quickly as tomorrow.In the Dark Conspiracytm world we donot only get to predict the advances man-kind will take in the next twenty years,but also have another factor to take intoaccount… the presence of ETs. Thesealien beings have access to the highestlevels of technology, and possess skillsand knowledge that man can only dreamof.

As we have seen in the Darktek sec-tions of the Dark Conspiracy rule books,there has been amble opportunity for theETs and man to combine their skills andresources to product artifacts and machin-ery, which has been, up to now, out ofmans grasp. Many of these devices areaimed at harming earth and its population,while others have been created solely forthe greater good.

Slowly but surely the technologicalgains discovered in these multi-milliondollar Labs begin to filter down to thecommon populous, now in forms whichare aimed at making life for the averageman more convenient. In our modernworld we see this, technology createdoriginally for government or military pur-poses finding its way into our day to daylife. One example is Electronic Mail orE-mail, starting life as a piece of militarytechnology now it is in the hands of usregular Joes, and if I may add becomingmore and more important in the way inwhich our life’s are run.

My point in all this is that in the DarkConspiracy world we will also see exam-ples of these technological gains in nor-mal everyday items. Gained that they maynot be cheap or nor may they be thatcommon, but that they would be known toexist and have proven advantages forthose that can afford them. One such areathat I believe would gain much from aunion of advanced technologies would be

the world of outdoor apparel, which todayis leaps and bounds more advanced than itwas barely ten years ago. The advantagesthe ET knowledge could bring to OutdoorEquipment could be quite substantial,making clothing better resistant to theelements, creating lighter and strongertents and rafts, and adding much to thechances of Outdoor survival.Below are some of the items that may becreated by a combined Xenalogical en-deavor. They might form part of a Darkplot, or they could used solely to make thecharacters lives easier. This list ofEquipment neither comprehensive norcomplete but rather just a guide on howthe World of Dark Conspiracy can hold amyriad of different surprises.

Sectra-Light Sleeping BagSectra-Light Sleeping Bag Extremely light sleeping bag created bythe masters of Outdoor Pursuits “Sectra”.This little beauty weighs under half a Kg,while fitting into a bag not much greaterthan your hand. On top of all that it isguaranteed to temperatures up to –20 de-grees Celsius, and is non-flammable. Thekey to the size and weight is the new vac-uum action pump which is smaller than abottle-top, when activated this little whizremoves all the air from the bag, andkeeps it out, ensuring you a nice smallpackage.Weight – 0.5kgPrice - $250 (C/V)

Heat TorchHeat TorchThe latest in technology is now availableto you, the public consumer. First manu-factured for the military this wonder oflighting now comes cheaply to you home.Ever reached for a torch only to find its

batteries dead, or having the bulbs breakwhen it is accidentally dropped. Now withthe Heat Torch you can replace all con-ventional portable light sources.How does this piece of wondrous Tech-nology work you ask?Well… with the use of the fabulous heatconverter simply holding the speciallymade handle the heat produced by youhand alone is turned into light. As long asyou hand produces any warmth, and is incontact with the torch handle light willcontinue to be emitted from this techno-logical breakthrough. Its special lensmeans the end to everyday light bulbs,unbreakable, even unscratchable it willlast for twenty years minimum, and that’sguaranteed.The Heat Torch comes in many differentsizes and shapes, from pocketsize throughto the large all purposes utility.Weight – 0.2kg through to 5kgPrice - $50 - $250 (C/V)

Sectra Sectra Ultrasafe Survival DomeUltrasafe Survival DomeGone are the days of living life in theOutdoors in the cold and wet, as “Sectra”has now released the newest of their high-

EquipmentEquipment DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 3333

tech tents. In fact it is more than just atent, it is a survival dome built to with-stand the rigors of any conditions. Testedon the unforgiving slopes of Mount Ever-est, the Ultrasafe is a proven winner,keeping its occupancies alive for ten dayswith no outside help.The ‘Sectra Ultrasafe’ offers you the lat-est, a fully sealed environment with itsown Carbon Dioxide filter, good for 500hours, a heat generated light source,which is an advance on the Heat Torch,and a unusually well padded skin whichcan resist up to million pounds pressureper square inch. If you don’t believe us,just ask Mountain Climber Jean-ClaudeTurane who survived 6 days buried underan avalanche, to be rescued a safe andsound, if only a little hungry. The ‘Ultra-safe’ comes in either the one or two-manversion, and can be fitted with optionalextras including the ‘Vermillion’ Space-heater, and ‘Maxwell’ Liquid Recycler.Weight – 9.2kg (One man), 12.5kg (Twoman). Plus 10kg for the optional extras.Price - $1250 (One man), $1750 (Twoman). Plus $1500 for the optional extras.(S/C)

‘Maxwell’ Cling Boots & Gloves‘Maxwell’ Cling Boots & GlovesGone are the days were ones hands are thebest way to climb any surface. With‘Maxwell’ Cling accessories you can as-cend even the most difficult slopes with aminimal of effort.

The Cling technology uses a specialmaterial, which molds itself with any sur-

face it comes in contact with allowing anexcellent bond between the boot or gloveand the ground. This bond acts with avacuum action giving the climber a solidand secure surface on which they rely. Torelease the bond between Boot or gloveand the climbing surface is a simple mat-

ter of relaxing themuscles in thatlimb; this quicklybecomes secondnature to an

experiencedclimber and allowsfor rapid ascent.

Please be warned however that theCling accessories do not allow for verticalascent on very smooth surfaces, as theprinciples involved are only an enhance-ment of the human climbing ability. Alsoplease note that rough surfaces such asasphalt can over prolonged periods de-stroy the Cling surface.

In Game terms the use of both ofthese itemsallows anyclimbing roll tobe taken at onedifficulty levellower than thesituationdetermines and the chance to reroll anyfailures. The use of just one allows only areroll.Weight – Neg.Price – $200 (Gloves), $400(Boots) (C/C)

Ignition SticksIgnition SticksThese are the little wonders of the NewWorld. Gone are matches, lighters or anyother fire starters, Ignition Sticks areabout to make all these redundant. Bysimply cracking the outside shell of oneof these sticks you can produce your ownportable fire. Incredibly the flames pro-duced by the Stick can last up to 10 hoursand yet can be extinguished by normal

water. Also the Ignition Stick requires noother fuel, consuming itself, this means nomore risk of starting uncontrollable firesnor is time wasted by collecting wood forthe camp.Amazingly these small sticks, which is nolonger than 20 centimeters in length and 5in diameter, can produce heat and light tothe equivalent to that of a camp fire.WARNING – For Outdoor use only andkeep out of the hand of children.Directions for Use – Stand by the spotthat you wish to create as a campfire, en-suring that you have fully enclosed thisspace with a nonflammable material e.g.rock. Shake the Ignition Stick and thencrack the end against a hard surface. Thestick will now make a low-pitched whine,

immediately place the Stick in the desiredlocation, and step away. Within 5 secondsthe Stick should ignite and will be at peakperformance within thirty (30) seconds.Weight – 0.1kgPrice - $5 each

Page Page 3434 DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 EquipmentEquipment

IIIIssssrrrraaaaeeeelllliiii MMMMiiiilllliiiittttaaaarrrryyyy WWWWeeeeaaaappppoooonnnnssssBy Eyal Faingersh

This is a list of weapons used by Is-raeli military forces. Like everyone in mycountry, I spent time in enlisted service,which gave me experience with severaltypes of small arms (hey! I'm not Rambo.I was only a technician)

All stats are based upon personal ex-perience with the weapons. No classifiedinformation here, sorry.

UZI (UZI (Submachinegun)Submachinegun)A popular SMG all over the world.

There are actually two types of thisweapon:

The first is the large and heavy onewhich is described in the Dark Conspir-acy rulebook. This “regular” Uzi is usedby military rear units, those which willprobably will not engage in combat unlessattacked.

The second is the Mini-Uzi, which,unlike the Uzi, is more suitable for singlehand use, it is the weapon probably seenin all these action movies. The Mini-Uziis good for short range automatic fire andis popular with commando units andcriminal gangs. It is slightly harder toaquire then a regular Uzi.

Ammo: 9mm PWt: 3kgMag: 25 box or 32 boxPrice: $600 (-/S)

-Recoil-Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst RngMini-Uzi 5 2 Nil 1/3 25/32 2 5 25

Galil (Assault Rifle)Galil (Assault Rifle)The Israeli version of the AK series

(Kalachnikov) designed from capturedSyrian, Russian made weapons. Theseweapons can be found in Israel and sev-eral African and South American coun-tries. Most Israeli military units replaced

this weapon with the M16 in the 70's. TheGalil was design to use the M16's stan-dard 5.56mm ammo and not the AK's5.54mm. Its magazines are not available,but can be self made from M16s maga-zine.

Ammo: 5.56mm NWt: 5kgMag: 25 box or 32 boxPrice: $400 (-/R) (only through foreignIsraeli/African/South American foreigncontacts)

-Recoil-Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst Rng

Galil 5 3 1-Nil 5 25/32 3 6 50

Glilon (Assault Rifle)Glilon (Assault Rifle)The heavy and bulky Galil was a

prototype of this improved version. “Gli-lon” is actually a nickname for “shortGalil”. The Glilon replaced the Galil inmost units. In spite of being better thenthe Galil, the M16 is still considered abetter weapon

Ammo 5.56 NWt: 4kgMag: 25 box or 32 bocPrice: $550 (-/R) (only trough foreignIsraeli contacts).

-Recoil-Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst RngGlilon 5 3 1-nil 4 25/32 3 6 45

Mini Mini Glilon (Assault Rifle)Glilon (Assault Rifle)The last version of this weapon from

the late 90's. Still under development, it isused only by high ranked officers as apersonal weapon..

Ammo: 5.56 NWt: 2.5kg

Mag: 25 box or 32 boxPrice: ??? (-/-) (Only trough Israelifoerign contacts).

-Recoil-Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst Rng

Mini Glilon 5 2 1-Nil 2/3 25/32 2 5 25

Negev (Negev (Machinegun)Machinegun)The weapon that has started to re-

place the MAG machine-gun in the IsraeliMilitary. It has the same stats as the MAGbut it is much lighter in weight.

Ammo: 7.62mm NWt: 9kgMag: 100 beltPrice $2500 (-/-) (only trough Israeliforeign contacts. However, it is a newweapon and might become popular withother armies so it's actually for the GM todecide)

-Recoil-Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst RngNegec 10 4 2-3-nil 6 100B 1 7 65Bipod 10 4 2-3-nil 6 100B 1 7 90

M203 for M177 (M203 for M177 (GranadeGranadeLauncher)Launcher)

A grenade launcher with the samestats as for the M203, that can fit to theM16's short version.

Price: $600 (-/-) (Only trough Israelifoerign contacts)

If anyone thinks that his group ofDemon Hunters will ever use a "Mercava"(chariot) tank (which is considered thebest heavy tank in the world), then Imight ask a friend of mine from the ar-mored division about it...

FictionFiction DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 3535

EEEEaaaarrrrllllyyyy OOOOnnnneeee MMMMoooorrrrnnnniiiinnnngggg............By Marcus Bone

Grayson lay still in the wet grass, si-lently observing the house in the distance.

His target was in there somewhere,awaking soon to cause yet more havoc onthe world that Grayson held dear. He low-ered his binoculars and rubbed his fore-head in a vain attempt to keep the rainfrom his eyes. Both his overcoat and hatwhere soaked through, a testament to theamount of time he had waited for the rightmoment to strike.

At last, a light came on in the oldhouse. Grayson’s target was awake.

Feeling more inspired to rid the worldof the menace in the house, Grayson roseto his feet and leapt the small fence thatdivided the roadside from the yard. As heapproached the old structure, he becameaware of the times the house must havefaced. It had obviously been a farm housein its better days, and it reminded Graysonof just how much life had changed sincehe had discovered that mankind wasthreatened by a number of ancient evilsthat lurked at the edge of Earth dimen-sion.

Life had been simple for him, a sol-dier in the war against drugs in one of themetroplexes. He had been good too, askilled negotiator, a crack shot and an in-cisive investigator, but that all hadchanged the day his team had encounteredthat strange creature in an abandonedwarehouse. The thing had attacked themripping them apart in seconds. He hadonly been knocked out himself, and waslucky to alive today. He was thankful thatthe creature obviously leaving him fordead.

But since that time he had beendriven to hunt down and destroy all thatwas threatening his world. And so far, hehad been most effective at it, all his skillsneeded to defeat monsters and creaturesworse than his wildest nightmares.

And now one more would be de-stroyed.

Grayson reached the house; the lighthe had seen now blocked out by the front

of the house. Grayson knew that his targetwas in the kitchen area of the house, situ-ated in the rear.

Pressing his back to side of thehouse, Grayson reached into his jacketand drew his Colt Commandant. Ready-ing himself with two deep steady breaths,Grayson began to inch his way around theside of the house.

He knew he needn't be scared, but hisbody was not listening to his crystal clearmind.

There is only one of them he re-minded himself. That much he knew forsure.

Slowly but surely, he made his wayto the back door of the house, crouchingas he past the windows. His target wasdefinitely in the kitchen. He could hearthe rustle of paper, then the sound of adrawer being opened then closed again.

Closing his eyes for a brief second,Grayson composed himself and then hesurged towards the backdoor. His shoul-der hit it, cracking the frame.

“Oh my God....” came a cry from inthe kitchen.

The door came loose and Graysonforced his way in the room, gun ready. Atthe far end of the room stood a large oaktable, set ready for breakfast.

A startled middle aged man sat at thetable, a newspaper at his feet, dropped inshock. He had obviously not expected theearly morning visit.

Grayson paced the room, keeping hiseyes on the man. This was his target; thisman was part of a greater evil.

The man just sat there agog thatsomeone would interrupt his breakfast,especially an intruder with a gun. Stop-ping some five paces from the table,Grayson glanced towards the other exit tothe kitchen to make sure that no one elsewas going to ambush him.

When he looked back at the manGrayson had changed, his normally browneyes now blazing red.

The seated man almost squealed insurprise, terror freezing him. What wasthis man, what did he want?

Grayson spoke, but with a voice thatno man could have ever used. Rather ahigh pitched sound which seemed to bemade up of a number of many lesser indi-vidual voices.

“Well my good Doctor, you lookwell...” the words repeating immediatelyafterwards, like an echo from some wheredeep inside Grayson’s body.

“Now I guess you are wonderingwhat I want with such a well respectedman like yourself.” Again the words ech-oed, and his eyes glowed even brighter.

The Doctor nodded slowly, stillstunned from the entrance of the stranger.

“Well then ... you thought you wouldescape my view helping those peoplefrom the city, now didn't you? Youthought that they could help you finishthat gateway. Come now, tell me thetruth.”

“I...I...I... didn't tell them anything”blurted the Doctor.

“Don't lie to me, Doctor. I am allseeing… I am a God in your world”

The Grayson figure smiled.“Never mind you shall pay... they

shall pay...” the echo louder now. “Timeto say ‘Goodnight Doctor’!”

“Nooooo....” the Doctor screamed.Grayson pulled the trigger and lead

death rained from the Colt.The Doctor’s body collapsed in the

chair and then slumped forward riddledwith bullets. Grayson shook his head. The targetwas dead. But like all the other times hehad killed since that incident in the Ware-house, he had no recollection of everpulling the trigger.

Never mind. Another minion of evilwas dead.

Tomorrow the papers might be re-porting the murder of a well-respecteddoctor and scientist... but Grayson knewthe truth.

Page Page 3636 DEMONGROUNDDEMONGROUND Issue 2 Issue 2 House RulesHouse Rules

DARK CONSPIRACY WEAPONS DAMAGE CHARTDARK CONSPIRACY WEAPONS DAMAGE CHART

NUMBER OF DAMAGE DICE OF WEAPON-1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 +19**

0* 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 17%1 1 1 2 4 5 7 8 9 11 12 14 15 17 18 19 21 22 14 15 15 23%2 2 1 3 5 7 9 10 12 14 16 18 19 21 23 25 27 29 30 32 34 30%3 2 2 4 5 8 11 13 15 17 19 22 24 26 28 31 33 35 37 39 42 37%4 2 2 5 7 10 13 15 18 20 23 26 28 31 34 36 39 21 44 47 49 43%5 2 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 50%6 3 3 6 10 13 17 20 23 27 30 34 37 40 44 47 51 54 58 61 64 57%7 3 3 7 11 15 19 22 26 30 34 38 41 45 49 53 57 61 64 68 72 63%8 4 4 8 12 16 21 25 29 33 37 42 46 50 54 58 63 67 71 75 80 70%9 4 4 9 13 18 23 27 32 36 41 46 50 55 59 64 69 73 78 82 87 77%

10 4 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 83%11 4 5 10 16 21 27 32 37 43 48 54 59 64 70 75 81 87 92 97 102 90%12 5 5 11 17 23 29 34 40 46 52 58 63 69 75 81 87 92 98 104 440 97%13 5 6 12 18 24 31 37 43 49 55 62 68 74 80 86 93 99 105 111 117 103%14 6 6 13 19 26 33 39 46 52 59 66 72 79 85 92 99 105 112 118 128 110%15 6 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91 98 105 112 119 126 133 117%16 6 7 17 22 29 37 44 51 59 66 74 81 88 96 103 111 118 125 133 140 123%17 6 7 15 23 31 39 46 54 62 70 78 85 93 101 109 117 124 132 140 148 130%18 7 8 16 24 32 41 49 57 65 73 82 90 98 106 114 123 131 139 147 155 137%19 7 8 17 25 34 43 51 60 68 77 86 94 103 111 120 129 137 146 154 163 143%

POINTS

BELOW

SKILL +19 8 8 17 26 35 44 53 62 71 80 89 98 107 116 125 134 143 152 161 170 150%

*At exactly the skill, roll under your Luck skill for a "lucky shot". Your luck is reduced one point temporarily each time this op-tion is used. Optional.

** For damage above 19 use the following formula. (Damage Dice * 6) * Percent in column

QQQQuuuuiiiicccckkkk CCCCoooommmmbbbbaaaatttt SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmmBy Ken McKinney

Ever have one of those games whenthe combat just takes forever? Ever seesomeone with a remarkable SAP skill dotiny amounts of damage on a great roll?

The way I see it if a person has agood skill level they should be able to putthe shots where they would do more dam-age. A person with less skill can still hitthe target, just with not as much damage. It was along this line of thought that Icame up with the table below. It quickenscombat by only rolling one die instead ofthree or more and gives a player withgreater skill the chance to do more dam-age. There is also what I call a "luckyshot" which is when the player rolls ex-

actly the roll to make the shot and thenrolls a successful skill check for luck.Luck is reduced by 1 just for the gameevery time this option is taken.

Examples of chart usage:Examples of chart usage:

Jim has a pistol that does 3 damage andhis Small Arms (Pistol) is 12. He rolls a 7to hit a target in short range with a quickshot. The shot would be resolved like this.

12-7 = 5 (Roll needed - Roll = PointsBelow Skill)Weapon Damage = 3Last digit of roll = 7 = Location: Chest

Points of damage from chart = 9

Jim killed his target but one more istrying to get away. The target is at me-dium range for his pistol and it is a quickshot so his roll needs to be a 6 or less. Hetakes two shots with rolls of 3 and 6.

First shot:6 - 3 = 3Weapon Damage = 3Location: Right LegPoints of damage from chart = 6

House RulesHouse Rules DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 3737

HIT LOCATION DETERMINEDHIT LOCATION DETERMINEDBY LAST DIGIT OF D20 ROLLBY LAST DIGIT OF D20 ROLL

Roll Biped Quadruped1 Left Leg Hindquarter2 Left Leg Hindquarter3 Right Leg Hindquarter4 Right Leg Abdomen5 Abdomen Chest6 Abdomen Chest7 Chest Forequarter8 Left Arm Forequarter9 Right Arm Forequarter0 Head Head

Note: This is reversed from the standard chart togive the head and arms a less chance of being hit.Rolls of 1 on a D20 should be handled as younormally handle them, such as "a 1 is always ahead shot" or similar.

Second shot:6 - 6 = 0

Jim wants to try for a lucky shot. HisLuck skill is a 10 and he rolls an 8,granting him the shot. Treat a lucky shotas an outstanding success. In this situa-tion, the GM decides that the shot hit thetarget at the base of the skull, dropping itlike a sack of flour. Jim takes one more shot at anothertarget. He rolls a 2 on a quick shot. Thistarget is wearing armor in that location ofAV1. Jim's pistol loses 1 die of damage soit is now a 2.

12-2 = 10 (Roll needed - Roll = PointsBelow Skill)Weapon Damage = 2 (3 - 1 for AV)Last digit of roll = 2 = Location: Left LegPoints of damage from chart = 10

Jim's d20 is immediately confiscatedby the Referee.

Beefcake Shadowkiller has a hopped-up 40 Megawatt plasma rifle that does 65dice in damage and he has a SAR skill of26. He rolls a 16 for a quick shot on a tar-get. Because his weapon is above 19damage, he should make a specialchart for it using the percentages in thelast column of the chart.

26 - 16 = 10 Points below skillLocation: AbdomenDamage from chart: (65 * 6) * .83 =323.7 round up to 324

This chart takes a little getting usedto, but it speeds up the combat and addssome interesting flavor to the game.

“How do we fight them?“How do we fight them?“If we wish to battle the Dark Ones, we must recognise the“If we wish to battle the Dark Ones, we must recognise the

nature of our struggle. First, we have to understand thatnature of our struggle. First, we have to understand thatmost people do not even know they exist. Of those that domost people do not even know they exist. Of those that doknow of them, the majority are their servants. That leavesknow of them, the majority are their servants. That leavesonly a scattering of us who actively oppose them.only a scattering of us who actively oppose them.“Like their own Minions, then, we must use secrecy as our“Like their own Minions, then, we must use secrecy as our

greatest weapon. Fortunately, the world has become a chgreatest weapon. Fortunately, the world has become a chaa--otic welter of political states, otic welter of political states, megacorporations, and citmegacorporations, and citii--zens’ groups all struggling for power. Often, we can strikezens’ groups all struggling for power. Often, we can strikeand then retreat in the chaos before the Dark Minions canand then retreat in the chaos before the Dark Minions canrespond.respond.“But there will be no quick or easy victory.”“But there will be no quick or easy victory.”


Page Page 3838 DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 TabloidsTabloids

TTTTaaaabbbbllllooooiiiidddd AAAArrrrttttiiiicccclllleeeessssBy Marcus Bone and Michael Marchi

Man Attacked By Beach Towel!Man Attacked By Beach Towel!Fred Hunter, 39, used to love the

beach. Not any more!Last week Fred was at his favorite

spot on Mt. Sacred Beach, enjoying thesun, surf and the ladies when somethingbeyond belief happened.

“I was just sitting there minding myown business, getting a tan. All of a sud-den like, my towel started to wiggle, andsquirm beneath me. So being the inquisi-tive type I stood up expecting to findsome bug under my towel.”

“But I never got the chance to seewhat it was, cause as soon as I stood upthe towel attacked me. I mean it actuallyleapt up and covered my face. It was try-ing to kill me I tell you! I could feel itwrappin’ around my neck and tightening.

Brad Johnson, 25, was on the beachwhen he saw Mr Hunter in distress.

“Yeah I saw it happen… I wasplayin’ Frisbee with me dog when I sawhim. He was a shaking and a fighting withhis towel … it looked like he was tryingto strangle himself … his hands up aroundhis neck like that.”

“Anyways I when up there to see ifhe was okay, and he started to choke andcough, and I sort a knew something waswrong. So I grabbed the towel and, boy,did it hate that. Shaking and slappen’ inthe wind!

After a brief struggle the two menmanaged to remove the towel and threw itaside.

“Aha, after we got it off,” relates MrJohnson, “it just disappeared. I mean, onesecond it was there, the next it wasn’t. Ifyou ask me it took off. The Bloody thingwas alive.”

As of today, there is no sign of thetowel, and what actually occurred is stillmatter for debate.

Touched by an AngelTouched by an AngelYou may not believe you have a

Guardian Angel, but don't express thatopinion in the presence of any passengersfrom last Monday's Trans Atlantic Air-lines flight 25. You’ll get an argument.

None of the 218 passengers aboardTAA-flight 25 could have guessed upontake-off from Chiwaukee’s O’Hare airportthat they would soon be counted as anairline statistic. Yet, as the London-bound 767-300 reached the halfway point,disaster struck.

“I looked out the window of theplane,” says 58 year-old passenger EvelynDickson of London’s east side, “and thenI saw him, standing on the wing – an an-gel. I couldn't believe my eyes. He worea long robe, had long, white featheredwings, and as I watched him, he seemedto glow with a golden light. It was amiracle.”

Evelyn apparently wasn't the onlypassenger to see the vision. Jason Smithof Devonshire reports a similar sighting,“I was trying to take a nap after the meal-service had finished. Suddenly I had aterrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Icould hear some woman behind me say-ing something about an angel, so I lookedoutside. There was a man on the wing ofthe plane!”

What happened next is unclear, andinvestigators are still trying to piece it to-gether from flight recorder data. From thepassenger’s point of view, those who hadactually paid attention to the oft-ignoredflight attendant demonstration at the be-ginning of the flight were rewarded.There was a huge tearing sound, followedby explosive decompression of the pas-senger cabin.

“Stuff was flying everywhere! Pa-pers, books, drink cups. The oxygenmasks dropped out of the ceiling com-partments and the plane went into a steepdive,” said flight attendant Melanie Ev-ans. “I was sure we were going to crashinto the ocean!”

The plane dropped nearly 30,000 feetin the space of a few minutes as the pilotsstruggled to get the plane down to an al-titude where cabin pressurizationwouldn’t matter. For reasons that haveyet to be determined, the pilots overshotand the jetliner reached a dangerously lowaltitude, dropping completely off radar inthe process.

“People were screaming and cryingall around me. I knew that I had seen theangel for a reason,” Evelyn continued,“Then I saw him, walking past my seat inthe passenger cabin. He glowed with aheavenly power, and I just knew we weregoing to be okay.”

The plane levelled out over theocean, and slowed to compensate for thetattered breach in the hull. Twenty pas-sengers lost their lives in the tragedy, in-cluding five who were apparently be-headed by flying debris. Another ten pas-sengers were ejected from the planethrough the two-meter hole moments intothe crisis. The remaining five appear tohave died of suffocation.

Sara-Lynn Devereaux, the passengerwho was sitting closest to the five be-headed victims declined to comment onthe “miracle” of the angel. Instead she in-sisted that the so-called “angel” was insti-gator of the disaster, rather than saviour.

TAA spokeswoman Angela Bennethas scoffed at the very suggestion that anangel…benevolent or otherwise had any-thing to do with the disaster. “It wasmetal fatigue in an aging plane, nothingmore. The skill of the pilots alone is allthat averted a complete loss of life.”

But Evelyn Dickson remains con-vinced of the angel’s part in saving herlife. “My faith has been strengthened bythis event. I feel as though someone iswatching over me.”

TabloidsTabloids DEMONGROUND Issue 2DEMONGROUND Issue 2 Page Page 3939

Amazing Amazing Teleporting Corpse!Teleporting Corpse!Late last night, fishermen hauled the

body of an unknown man from the Bay inBoston. Although this in itself is not un-usual, sometime afterwards left the bodyof its own volition.

Alex Timons, aged 43, and JefferyMason, aged 19, help recover the floatingbody from the dark waters of Boston Bayshortly after midnight. Yet according tothem, when they had returned port andproceed to retrieve the body from theboat’s cold storage, it had somehow van-ished.

Or had it? Both Timons and Masonswear that the body had been placed in thefish freezer only moments after it hadbeen recovered on deck, and both agreethat the man, aged probably in his late30’s, was most definitely dead. Yet therewere no signs of any body, or any evi-dence to lead to the conclusion that therewas ever a body present in the cold stor-age, and this has police baffled.

“It’s not as if the body would havejust got up and left,” stated investigatingOfficer Norman Wates, “and we knowenough about Mr. Timons and Mr. Masonto say that they would not hoax such a se-rious matter, so this truly has us guessing.It’s like it just teleported off the boat.”

Boy Finds Secret Military StaffBoy Finds Secret Military StaffUnder TreeUnder Tree

When Tony Connors, aged 17, founda six-foot pole, he had no idea that itwould make him the focus of mediaworldwide.

Tony Connors was just a regular kidbefore one fateful day. He recalls findingthe staff on a Saturday, as he returnedhome after his football game.

“It was just laying there in the treesand all, I thought it was just a branch thathad fallen of a tree at first,” he said. “Butit was all smooth like and really it lookedlike nothin’ I’ve seen before.”

And the rest is history, as you mayknow that staff somehow has the ability todisappear on command. All Tony has todo is concentrate on it and it vanished be-fore your eyes, and fantastically it reap-pears, just as easily.

So what is it. Scientist from MCU,are at this moment, examining the staffand preliminary reports state that it ismade simply of normal oak and yetsomehow a young man can make it van-ish. What makes this more amazing is thefact that Tony has tried this vanishingtrick with other commons items withoutsuccess.

So is it the Staff or is it Tony? Anunnamed source believes that this staffmay have some connections to secretmilitary technology. “It went missing afew weeks ago. They want to hush thewhole thing up, but it’s got too muchpublicity now.”

TTTTaaaabbbbllllooooiiiidddd HHHHooooooookkkkssssBy Marcus Bone and Michael Marchi

Man Attacked By Beach Towel!Man Attacked By Beach Towel!This could have many outcomes. Here aretwo possible suggestions:• Kidnapping Aliens: There is a race

of morphing creatures that can takeon any shape that they wish. They areplanning on introducing themselvesto human society, however first theymust do some research on mankind.The best way is to perhaps kidnap ahuman and then studying them.

• Animated Assassin: Hunter hascrossed a Dark One and now he mustdie. Perhaps this Dark One kills allhis enemies with animated objects.How many times have you heard ofpeople dying from innocuous house-hold items, it’s more common thanyou know! Maybe the party is nexton the Dark Ones hit list and is nowabout to be attacked by domesticutensils. Watch how far you put youhand in the letterbox now!

Touched by an AngelTouched by an AngelEyewitness reports are a wonderful

tool for misinformation in any adventurescenario.

Let’s assume for a moment that therereally was something out on the wing ofthat plane. Perhaps the awestruck pas-sengers were mistaken as to the motiva-tions of the visitor. Investigation into thematter would reveal that the leading edgeof the hull breach was in fact a clean slicein the aircraft aluminum hull. The tearingand widening of the hole was caused bypassenger seats in the vicinity of the slicebeing pulled through by the decompres-sion of the cabin.

The five beheaded passengers werelocated in the two seats in front of, behindand next to Sara-Lynn’s window-seat.Each victim was beheaded by a sharp,blade that cauterized the wound as it wasinflicted. Further, each wound was deliv-ered at a different angle, implying five

aimed blows, rather than one swipe for allfive.

The article mentions three passengersby name, one flight attendant, and aspokesperson for TAA. Any of themcould be questioned for clues. One thingthat the article fails to cover, is what hap-pened between the time the plane droppedoff radar, and the time it landed. Thereare hours unaccounted for. Did this “an-gel” come on board mid-flight and attackthe passengers around Ms. Devereaux?Why? Was she the intended target of theattack? How was the attack repelled?

Another possible use for this infor-mation is to have your players be passen-gers on the plane. Remember that no air-line will allow passengers to carry fire-arms, so an attack by a creature wieldinga sword capable of slicing through metalwould be a formidable opponent.

Page Page 4040 DEMONGROUNDDEMONGROUND Issue 2 Issue 2 The Loose EndsThe Loose Ends

TTTThhhheeee LLLLoooooooosssseeee EEEEnnnnddddssss

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Demonground Editor-In-ChiefDemonground Editor-In-ChiefMarcus Bone([email protected])

Demonground Associate EdDemonground Associate Edii--tor/Chief Minster for Proptor/Chief Minster for Propaa--gandagandaMichael Marchi([email protected])

Demonground Associate EdDemonground Associate Edii--tor/Chief Minister for Layouttor/Chief Minister for LayoutGeoff Skellams([email protected])

Article AuthorsRob BeckMarcus BoneChris CarpenterEyal FaingershMs. GeorgieMichael MarchiKen McKinneyPaul ReinerfeltGeoff Skellams

Cover ArtDavid Ho

Interior ArtJames D. CollinsEyal FaingershMichael Marchi

Some Zena Marley quotes are from theDark Conspiracy 1st Edition rulebook.Used with the kind permission of KenWhitman.

New Zena Marley quotes written byGeoff Skellams and Michael Marchi.

SSSSuuuubbbbmmmmiiiissssssssiiiioooonnnnssss

Like all fanzines, we need articles byyou, the fans of Dark Conspiracy, to keepthis magazine alive.

We’re looking for articles solely re-lated to the Dark Conspiracy universe.Any material that would help a new refe-ree or player would be ideal.

Use the departments from this issueas a rough guide to the areas of materialwe are looking for.

In particular, we need more• Dark Races• Equipment/DarkTek• Dark Conspiracy Related Fiction• Tabloid Articles• House Rules• NPCs

If you think you can help, then pleasesend your submission to Marcus Bone([email protected]).

We would prefer all submissions tobe in a format readable by MicrosoftWord 97. Our main preference is a Word97 file.

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Please keep the formatting in yoursubmissions simple. We will be responsi-ble for formatting your submission whenthe magazine is being laid out. Fancyformatting makes our job that muchharder.

We reserve the right to edit yoursubmission and to correct spelling andgrammar if necessary. If you have aproblem with us doing this, please contactus and we will see if we can come tosome sort of arrangement.

We look forward to seeing your sub-missions. Your involvement is important,not only to the success of this fanzine, butalso to the continued survival of DarkConspiracy.

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The copyright for the articles andartwork in this issue of Demonground re-main with the original authors/artists.Used with permission.

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Copyright © 1998 Dark Conspiracy Enterprises. Dark Conspiracy is a trademark of DarkConspiracy Enterprises. All rights reserved

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