The Why Files: A Situation Conspiracy
By Guy Hoyle ©2004
A Campaign for Risus, The Anything RPG by S. John Ross © 1993-2000 (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm
GAMEMASTER INFO
Player character guidelines are available here.
This campaign is based upon the article “Situation Conspiracies” in the April 2^nd edition of Pyramid magazine (www.sjgames.com/pyramid/ <http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/>).
This setting is, in essence, a spooky sitcom. The player characters are former members of an “X-Files” type organization where the budget was cut for a variety of reasons (not producing any tangible results or arrests, mainly). They have now been assigned to investigate a suburban neighborhood where some odd things have been reported, mostly by cranky neighbors, stressed-out postmen, and friends-of-friends. Though all of the incidents were eventually resolved with conventional explanations, the sheer number of reports from this one area has made the higher-ups curious. The new Boss has ordered the agents to set up an undercover operation as a family that has just moved into the neighborhood, so the agents will need to have cover identities and occupations.
What makes this setting unique is that all the occupants of this street are based on characters from sitcoms of the 60s and 70s, with a twist:
This is expounded in much more detail in the “Situation Conspiracies” article on the Pyramid magazine website, above. You do have to be a subscriber to Pyramid to access the article.
The characters are under pressure to discover the "truth" behind the weird happenings on Maple Street, but the Boss will not be pleased with reports of vampires, witches, aliens, and sacred architecture; that’s what got the characters into trouble on their previous assignments. As undercover agents, they must find out what’s going on in the houses without blowing their covers; however, they must be capable of functioning (even on a rudimentary, disfunctional level) as a family.
The players may or may not realize that their characters are actually starring in their own sitcom. There are a number of good sites on the internet which give tips for writing sitcoms (such as http://www.sitsvac.org/writguide.html). I haven’t gone so far as to playtest any of this advice, but here goes:
SOME PLOT SEEDS
Outsiders are starting to suspect something
Problems with the Neighbors
Trouble with the Boss
Odd happenings in the neighborhood
PLAYER CHARACTER INFORMATION AND CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES
These are available here. Do not be afraid to reject a concept that overlaps one of the sitcom families; you wouldn't want two versions of Mike Brady or Uncle Fester around. There are a lot of sitcom prototypes to choose from, however; the key is to get a mix of characters that can function as a typical family but also as secret agents, capable of generating both types of plotline. You may want to keep a few sitcoms in mind, where the characters are disguised as normal people but have a kind of secret agenda: