Looking at three different levels of occult modern play in The Invisible College: Local, Agents, and Global Conspiracy.
#ttrpg #OSR #dnd #Cthulhu

I would also recommend looking at the GURPS third edition book Cabal. It draws on the same sources and its setup is very similar if less heroic. I'd actually consider Invisible College a better system for it than GURPS.

Personal favourite is the original Beyond the Supernatural from Palladium.

But from the Drakar och Demoner thread I am now curious what Chill is like after seeing the articles for Chok(Shock) which is most likely based on Chill. Mush as Drakkar is based on RuneQuest.

Some years back I ran Silent legions
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/145769/Silent-Legions
Which is a light Occult RPG.
Was good fun, but I had to put a bit of work into the background to make it work for me.
The Random tables etc for Saine Nomine are amazing for fleshing out your world.

Not that it matters that much, but the art on the front cover is laughably bad.. lol

Quote from: Omega on October 23, 2022, 06:58:58 AM
Personal favourite is the original Beyond the Supernatural from Palladium.

But from the Drakar och Demoner thread I am now curious what Chill is like after seeing the articles for Chok(Shock) which is most likely based on Chill. Mush as Drakkar is based on RuneQuest.

Oh, I remember Chill from back in the 1980s. I liked it.

Palladium Beyond the Supernatural fits this.  It's like X-Files or Harry Potter, but people get killed a lot. 

Quote from: weirdguy564 on October 27, 2022, 08:17:41 PM
Palladium Beyond the Supernatural fits this.  It's like X-Files or Harry Potter, but people get killed a lot.

Very underrated horror game.

Nothing authentic about its magic or monsters though, for that you need the Invisible College.

Palladium Nightspawn is probably a bit too out of the closet.  The population at large knows there was a supernatural event when the sun and stars all went away for 24 hours.

And to hell with Todd McFarlain.  It's called Nightspawn.

Chaosium's "Nephilim" (the English translation of a french game) is probably my favorite "occult game that's about the occult and isn't Mage or Unknown Armies".  Tried to do some stuff to make it stand out mechanically from Mage/Witchcraft/Unknown Armies/Kult/Noctum/etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Quote from: Habitual Gamer on November 02, 2022, 12:07:54 PM
Chaosium's "Nephilim" (the English translation of a french game) is probably my favorite "occult game that's about the occult and isn't Mage or Unknown Armies".  Tried to do some stuff to make it stand out mechanically from Mage/Witchcraft/Unknown Armies/Kult/Noctum/etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Well, you should take a look at The Invisible College.

The big inherent weak spot of the Invisible College is the contrast between, the high minded ideals of the College and the evil but equally grand visions of their adversaries, compared to what you can actually do with your magical powers.

Imagine you are a small-minded con-artist making up fake magic spells, for a get rich quick scheme aimed at suckering in equally small-minded rubes. That is the sort of magic you see in The Invisible College RPG. If real it is the sort of magic that can turn you from a nobody into the richest man in an insignificant backwater town. It is not George Soros vs. Victor Orban in a magic struggle over who will get control of the Visegrad countries. The basic ideas spouted by the organizations in the game suggest modern day comic book batman. The in game magic rules are more 1960's tv batman.

This is not Pundit's fault. It is an inherent flaw in the original source material.

Quote from: Habitual Gamer on November 02, 2022, 12:07:54 PM
Chaosium's "Nephilim" (the English translation of a french game) is probably my favorite "occult game that's about the occult and isn't Mage or Unknown Armies".  Tried to do some stuff to make it stand out mechanically from Mage/Witchcraft/Unknown Armies/Kult/Noctum/etc. etc. ad nauseum.

I'm currently reading Sigil & Shadow, another game in the same vein. It looks neat.

Quote from: igor on November 03, 2022, 02:37:10 PM
The big inherent weak spot of the Invisible College is the contrast between, the high minded ideals of the College and the evil but equally grand visions of their adversaries, compared to what you can actually do with your magical powers.

Imagine you are a small-minded con-artist making up fake magic spells, for a get rich quick scheme aimed at suckering in equally small-minded rubes. That is the sort of magic you see in The Invisible College RPG. If real it is the sort of magic that can turn you from a nobody into the richest man in an insignificant backwater town. It is not George Soros vs. Victor Orban in a magic struggle over who will get control of the Visegrad countries. The basic ideas spouted by the organizations in the game suggest modern day comic book batman. The in game magic rules are more 1960's tv batman.

This is not Pundit's fault. It is an inherent flaw in the original source material.

There's two things you're missing there: first, what you're actually capable of doing, especially as a group or an order, with higher-level magicians, first of all.
Second, the use of magic is only part of what the conspiracies do; they have all kinds of special agents, with a wide variety of  mundane skills, and the bigger and older conspiracies have enormous resources and influence. It's not a game where you're ONLY supposed to use magic to get things done.

And the comparison isn't really superheroes, even though a high-level magician could look a bit like a superhero of sorts. This is much more a game of espionage and secret agents, not caped crusaders.  I mean, that's WHY I dedicate an entire section to national intelligence agencies and their own occult divisions.

Quote from: igor on November 03, 2022, 02:37:10 PM
The big inherent weak spot of the Invisible College is the contrast between, the high minded ideals of the College and the evil but equally grand visions of their adversaries, compared to what you can actually do with your magical powers.

Imagine you are a small-minded con-artist making up fake magic spells, for a get rich quick scheme aimed at suckering in equally small-minded rubes. That is the sort of magic you see in The Invisible College RPG. If real it is the sort of magic that can turn you from a nobody into the richest man in an insignificant backwater town. It is not George Soros vs. Victor Orban in a magic struggle over who will get control of the Visegrad countries. The basic ideas spouted by the organizations in the game suggest modern day comic book batman. The in game magic rules are more 1960's tv batman.

This is not Pundit's fault. It is an inherent flaw in the original source material.

Hypothetically speaking; the wheels of progress turn slowly, when one is playing the long game.  It's not a game of heads or tails.  It's more like a long chess match.

Why in the world would someone who could actually change things in a meaningful way today, share that knowledge, with anyone other than their most trusted apprentice?  The secrets to that art, would be well protected.