Hello everyone! Carter here. I'm writing this to share progress on my mini campaign and the ideas I've had so far. The WIP title of the campaign is "Beyond Personality", but this may change.
If you are one of my playtesters, stop reading here. There's major spoilers.
Broad Concepts
I'm planning on having a three-scenario campaign focused on Nodens (and his avatars), the Dreamlands, and a Program experiment called Project SILVER BULLET. On a broad overview, the CIA began messing with remote viewing alongside MK Ultra as part of the Gateway Project. While testing remote viewing, they found some participants in the experiment were able to access a completely new realm of fantastical surrealism - the Dreamlands. One of these participants went into a coma, returning to consciousness weeks later somehow holding a shining crystal dodecahedron that reflected other worlds when a light was shined on it. After this was recorded and the information of the "Hyperprism" passed to higher desks, the Program intervened and confiscated the research. A Program higher-up, Major Jhung, was put in charge of Project SILVER BULLET, an attempt to use the Hyperprism to create Agents capable of maintaining lucidity in the Dreamlands and acting on behalf of Delta Green there. This was accomplished by harnessing the magic of Hyperprism to create control chips, which were inserted into the brain stem of SILVER BULLET agents. A set of controls, the HEADLOCK Protocol, was designed to force the participant into a medical coma and project their consciousness into the Dreamlands. Despite promising developments, the SILVER BULLET project was shut down and the participants released back to normal Program duty.
Nodens
My interpretation of Nodens is slightly different from the traditional. In this campaign, Nodens has one goal: to destroy followers of Nyarlathotep. To make that happen, a major recruitment effort has been occuring across the entirety of human history. The abyss which Nodens rules over is a deep part of the Dreamlands representing the collective human unconscious, where he creates stories and archetypes that compel us to fight "evil" and do "good". Humans tend to follow and adore stories of heroes and villains due to something deep in our subconscious: the work of Nodens. Because of the emphasis on human subconscious, I want to tie Nodens to psychology concepts like collective unconscious, personality archetypes, and stories. The campaign will loosely be based on the hero's journey and will organically encourage the Agents to follow it as another nod to Noden's subconscious influence. Once a human has surrendered their ego and life to Nodens, they will be made into one of his Archetypes: a set of 8 roles given to his followers, each with a set of abilities to aid them.
1: Operation ARCH ANGEL
In the first scenario, the Agents are all Program, but different cells. They are off active duty when they each feel a psychic itch. Something deep in their mind is calling them somewhere. By following their subconscious, the Agents travel to Saint Louis, Missouri and meet each other beneath the Arch. There they meet a figure that acts as their Case Officer - an older agent that was called by the same psychic itch. His code name is Gabriel, and calls the investigation is as Operation ARCH ANGEL.
What Gabriel and the other Agents do not know yet is that they were the SILVER BULLET participants, all drawn to the same place by the re-emergence of the Hyperprism. The latent HEADLOCK controls in their brains serve as a compass towards the Hyperprism, which is being used by a group of Nodens followers called the Silver Arms Outreach. This homeless shelter was slowly converted into Archetypes through genuine care. They petitioned Nodens again and again for the well-being of the homeless they cared for, and drew themselves closer to him with every request granted. These Archetypes, workers and homeless alike, went on to hunt and kill the followers of the Dark One in Saint Louis. After gaining the attention of Nodens, he appeared as Hypnos, the Prince of Dreams, and gave them the location of the Hyperprism, which they acquired to continue their work. After the Agents arrive, they will track the Hyperprism to the Silver Arms Outreach center, learning of the influence of Nodens, having run ins with Hypnos, experiencing the Dreamlands at night, and researching SILVER BULLET through the Hyperprism.
There may be a scenario 1.5 concerning the Nyarlathotep cultists in the area, but that's less of a priority in my mind.
2: HEADLOCK Protocol
This is where I need to work on ideation. This scenario is set in the Dreamlands. After the Agents realize they were the original SILVER BULLET experiments, HEADLOCK Protocol is engaged and they find themselves unable to wake up from the Dreamlands in the ruins of a laboratory. Their journey will take them through more of the Delta Green side, remembering more and more of SILVER BULLET until they come face to face with Major Jhung, now an Archetype living inside the Dreamlands.
3: Beyond Personality
I do not know exactly how the campaign will conclude yet. I want them to come face to face with Nodens and the Abyss, and offer them the opportunity to become Archetypes.
Progress
I feel really strong about my ideas for scenario 1 and pretty lackluster on 2 and 3. Because the Agents are so involved with SILVER BULLET, scenario 2 will be there to give them closure and end that story. I don't have ideas for 3. I also want to avoid repeating the Impossible Landscapes ending because it was a huge inspiration and an amazing campaign. I'm hoping to have scenario 1 written and 2 & 3 conceptualized soon. Also if anyone has feedback about the ideas so far I'd love to hear it!
Happy writing everyone!
-Carter Krummel