Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.
Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.
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What is it?
Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is the quick-start for Conspiracy X 2.0, the most recent edition of the roleplaying game of hidden alien invasion, conspiracies, and secrets. Conspiracy X 2.0 is very much a roleplaying game inspired by and published in the wake of The X-Files and in the nineties, was a very contemporary roleplaying game. Originally published by New Millennium Entertainment in 1996, it was published by Eden Studios, Inc. from 1997, receiving a second edition in 2006.It is a thirty-four page, 15.96 MB full black and white PDF.
How long will it take to play?
Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is designed to be played through in a single session, two at the very most.
What else do you need to play?
The Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit needs a a four-sided, six sided, eight-sided, and ten-sided per player.
Who do you play?
The Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit includes an Aegis Cell of six operatives. They consist of a CDC scientist, the cell leader determined not to lose another agent again; an FBI agent recently recruited to Aegis for asking too many questions and who believes he was abducted as a child; an ICE investigator who really found himself investigating an illegal alien; an MKULRA psychic with limited powers; a US Army technician skilled with computers; and a DEA agent with an empathy for dogs.
The Cell has a base of operations in an abandoned building. It includes barracks, a field hospital, gym, communications suite, and medical, electronics, and computer workstations.
How is a Player Character defined?
An Agent in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit has six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower. Life Points are the amount of physical damage a character can suffer; Endurance his fatigue; and Essence Pool, his spiritual energy. He will have a variety of Qualities and Drawbacks—advantages and disadvantages, a Profession that is his day job, and various skills. These typically range in value between one and five, but can go higher, though two and three represents general competence.
How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Conspiracy X 2.0 uses a ten-sided die to resolve actions, which can be a Test or a Task. For a Task, the player rolls the die and adds a value each for his agent’s appropriate Attribute and Skill. A result of nine or more (this target number can be higher) is a success and higher results can grant better outcomes. For a Test, where there is no skill that applies, the player only adds the value of the Attribute, doubled for a simple Test, but not for a standard Test. Modifiers can be applied to a Test or a Task, ranging from ‘+5’ for easy to ‘-10’ for Near-Impossible.
If a player rolls a natural ten, a bonus six-sided die is rolled and one deducted, the result added to the ten. The player can keep doing this as long as he keeps rolling a six on the bonus die. Similarly, if a natural one is rolled, six-sided die is rolled and the result subtracted from the roll, and this is also open-ended.
An ‘Outcome Table’ in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit gives the possible results of outcomes from nine to twenty-four. There are results given for rolls one and lower.
The rules cover vehicles and chases as both feature very heavily in the included scenario.
How does combat work?
Combat in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is kept simple and starts with initiative being determined by the Chronicler—as the Game Master is known—and then narratively. A Player Character can undertake multiple actions, but the latter comes with penalties. Melee attacks can be parried or dodged, and range for missile or gun attacks modifies both the Task difficulty and the damage multiplier. The rules also allow for lighting, recoil on firing heavy weapons, the use of scopes, and actually being under gunfire. This forces a Willpower Test. If an attack is successful, the result on the ‘Outcome Table’ can add a modifier to increase the damage. Body armour has its own Armour Value, which is rolled for when the wearer is attacked, and the result subtracted from the damage rolled.
A Player Character or NPC reduced to five Life Points or less is badly hurt and suffers penalties to all actions. A Consciousness Test is required if the Life Points are reduced to zero or less, and a Survival Test if they are reduced to minus ten or less.
The rules also cover Endurance loss for exertion and Essence loss for mental stress and exhaustion.
How does ESP work?
All Player Characters in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit are capable of five basic ESP abilities—‘Hunch’, ‘Intuition’, ‘Ken’, ‘Read Aura’, and ‘Second Sight’. They require a Difficult Willpower Test and if successful, an individual ability cannot be used for a week.
This differs from the full Conspiracy X 2.0 rules where the players have the option to draw Zener Cards as in a real Rhine Test to test psychic ability.
One of the Player Characters in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit has the Clairvoyance Psychic power, and unfortunately, it is not clearly explained how this works in the rules given.
What do you play?
The scenario in the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is ‘Convoy’.In the wake of the Roswell Incident of 1947, the secret organisation whose brief during World War 2 has been to monitor Nazi occult activities, split over how it would handle the increasing activities of extraterrestrials on Earth. Both claim to want to protect the USA and the world from both alien and paranormal threats. They just differ in how they wanted to achieve this. Aegis works to monitor alien activities and study their physiology, technology, and psychology, whilst developing the means and methods to combat the aliens as a threat. The National Defence Directorate has made treaties with the aliens that has allowed the abduction of human subjects, genetic experimentation, sabotage, and espionage. In return, the National Defence Directorate has received advanced technology from the aliens. Unfortunately, the rivalry between Aegis and the National Defence Directorate has festered and developed to the point where encounters between the conspiracies are often lethal. ‘Convoy’ is one of these encounters.
In ‘Convoy’, the Player Characters’ Cell is activated to protect and transport a recovered alien spacecraft to the Groom Dry Lake Research Facility. Another Aegis Cell has already recovered the spacecraft from a National Defence Directorate team and the Player Characters are directed to meet the other Aegis Cell survivors. This is a challenging scenario. The National Defence Directorate agent assigned to track them down is ruthless and has access to extensive resources to bring to bear on what quickly turns into a manhunt in which the Player Characters may end being identified as wanted criminals. The scenario can start wherever the players have decided their characters’ Cell is based (or it can start anywhere on the continental USA). Expect state police chases, watchful toll booth operators and seemingly innocuous weighing stations, biker gangs paid to do the dirty, and even abductions by the Greys—depending upon how the players and their characters decide to transport the downed spaceship. The players and their characters have free as how they approach the problem, but they will definitely need guile and some luck as well as brute force to get their truck and its cargo to its destination.
Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit has everything the Game Master and her players will need to play, except for the full rules for use of the Clairvoyance by the Psychic Player Character. The Game Master will either need to access the full rules for Conspiracy X 2.0 or make up the rules on the spot.
Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is easy to prepare, although an example of combat would have helped, as would clearer explanations of the Player Character Psychic’s ability.
Is it worth it?
Yes. Although there are elements missing from the Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit, this is a simple, but tough, action-packed challenge for any group of players and their characters. The bad guys of the National Defence Directorate are desperate to recover their lost alien spaceship and will go to almost length to get it back. The scenario sharply showcases the rivalry between the two agencies in what could be a desperate fight for survival.
The Conspiracy X 2.0 – Introductory Game Kit is published by Eden Studios, Inc. and is available to download here.
