Advice on Group

[Spoon!!]

Hey guys,

I'm currently running a group through A Time To Harvest. The players have voiced an interest in continuing on after the Campaign has finished and I'm considering a few options of keeping them together. One of those ways is having them employed as BOI (Bureau of Investigations, the precursor to the FBI) as agents recruited to investigate the 'X-Files'. Does anyone know of some scenario's I could run/adapt to fit into this or idea suggestions.

As a first time keeper, I'd appreciate all the help I can get!

[Darius West]

Hi Spoon,

 When you look at the history of the BOI, it may not be quite what you are looking for.  They were involved in federal juristiction crimes such as trafficing women across state lines for prostitution (The Mann Act), and hunting what were deemed the USA's domestic political enemies such as anarchists and communists.  The BOI answered directly to the Department of Justice and specifically the Attorney General of the USA.  With the advent of prohibition in 1920 and the totally inadequate response of the Treasury to a crime that essentially fell within its specific jurisdiction, the BOI was given a measure of responsibility in major breaches of the Volstead Act. https://www.fbi.gov/history/brief-history

While it could be argued that if the USA was infiltrated by extraterrestrial aliens, that such would fall within the purview of the BOI prior to 1932, it is also likely that the scale of the threat and the sensitivity of the information would see a separate organization formed by memorandum, or the duties would be passed to an organization like the ONI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Naval_Intelligence  .  Another possibility is that it would be passed to the Black Chamber  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Chamber, given the propensity for mythos tomes to need decoding, and the high mental competence and occult familiarity of that organization.  The Black Chamber members IRL used to decode occult documents for practice, but notably failed to crack the Voynich Manuscript.  It is not impossible that the Black Chamber could be given a covert investigations role against the mythos in the period before the Raid on Innsmouth in 1927 and the subsequent formation of Delta Green https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Green  (if you want to use that source material).

If an organization had the role of hunting the mythos, then any scenario could feasibly be used.  If it were the BOI, then it would be harder to justify, unless the cultists had been performing crimes across state and county boundaries and local law enforcement wanted help.  Another possibility is to use a private investigations company like the Pinkertons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_(detective_agency).  They might feasibly be called in on any sort of case. I have used Blackmarsh Security from the Call of Cthulhu card game on occasion.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Darius West

[Spoon!!]

Thanks for the advice! Will definitely look into all of this when I have a chance and see if I can come up with something for the players.

[mvincent]

On 8/13/2016 at 11:54 AM, Darius West said:

Another possibility is to use a private investigations company 

Blackwood Detective Agency?

[Darius West]

Yes, exactly mvincent, when I mentioned Blackmarsh Security I meant Blackwood Detective Agency.  Thanks for the correction.