Alright, my next V:tR game will be a conspiracy game. I've never really run a conbspiracy. I need those of you who have run conspiracy games (or read some good advice on running them)to give me some advice and ideas!

Here's the setup:

It's a pulp style game set in Las Vegas during the 1950's.

The players are a Conspiracy themselves, the Invictus Inner Circle.
Thought they are known as members of the Invictus in high standing, no one knows they are part of a secret cabal of advisors and ne'er do wells at the left hand of the city's Prince.

Well the 1950's see the rise of Industrial Military complex as a whole, the birth of the Interstate Highway system in America, The Korean War, the rise of assorted Communist and Anti-Communist supported states. Add in the real birth of television and radio, a bunch of returning GI's getting out of colleges and universities after the GI Bill put them through school. Also we see the rise of the FBI, Organized Crime.

Sounds to me like all the ingredients needed to make a game.

Yeah, I've got the ingredients...

I just need a couple recipes

Well give us more. What kind of cake are you looking to bake?

Are the PC's a heroic group? Anti-heroes? Do they have a goal? What is it? How does that goal conflict with other groups in the area?

International Communism makes a great Red Herring.

Which hunt disguised as a 'witch hunt'?

As its a pulp game I would go the Alias route for a conspiracy game. Much like the action for a pulp game the conspiracies should come fast and furious. Every other session, have whatever the players know turn out to be a lie and the network they thought they were fighting is at best a cell and at worst a front for another organisation. Don't worry keeping track of the conspiracies or even if it makes sense, just have a few key NPC's who constantly swap sides and show new allegiances. As its a vampire game its not hard to imagine that NPC's would have multiple allegiances over their lifetime.

Also don't make the conspiracies hard to uncover - its a pulp game after all. Cryptic clues lead quickly to adventures for hidden chambers, books, aged servants and exiled conspirators who happily spill the beans.

If you do want it to be 'serious', then I would go the other way. Like any GM secret conspiracies can be really hard for players to figure out and its probably better to have one or two conspiracies that never really change.

Quote from: Serious PaulWell give us more. What kind of cake are you looking to bake?

Are the PC's a heroic group? Anti-heroes? Do they have a goal? What is it? How does that goal conflict with other groups in the area?

The PC group are aconspiracy unto themselves. They conspire to keep the Invictus in power. The enemies they would be dealing with are the conspiracies to take the Invictus out of power.

@Jibba Jabba: I totally have a communism witch hunt! Except the players are the "Witch-Hunters". That's a great jump off point...and as NiallS said, build from there.

I think I'll need U.S. Goverment Agents as Antagonists eventually.

If you can get ahold of it, I would STRONGLY urge you to get a copy of Gurps:Illuminati. Its undoubtedly the best sourcebook ever written on how to run a conspiracy-based campaign.

RPGPundit

Quote from: KrakaJakThe enemies they would be dealing with are the conspiracies to take the Invictus out of power.

Knowingly or unknowingly. This could be pretty-not always knowing if people are doing what they're doing because it's what they'd have done, or because they want to put the choke hold on the Invictus.

Depending on whether they're self starters or not you could use a lot of fun systems to get them involved in missions/games. From simple headlines, to personal ads that contain coded messages.

I'm hoping to do the Pyramid angle, where the groups that are obviously against the Invictus are at the bottom of the pyramid. I think I've determined that he top of the pyramid are an allegiance of spirit-claimed mortals, including the Spirit of Las Vegas itself.
 The Vampires are out of their sphere of influence, so they are either going to try to control them or destroy them.