HTTP 403: Forbidden

Umbrella conspiracy theories make for poor roleplaying stories. Discuss.

I think that `secret masters’ type conspiracies where powerful conspirators plot to conceal great hidden truths from the public are a poor thematic choice for a roleplaying game. Infact, I think that they are crap.  They are a crappy rationale for railroading a story along a particular path wherein all mysteries and secrets lie beneath the same banner. Crap.

But wait! What about all those awesome games of the 90s that made such awesome thematic use of conspiracy as character rationale? Delta Green, WODv1, ConspiracyX,  Over the Edge, Unknown Armies and lesser known gems like  Maji for STOCS lite?  These are all awesome games and are undeniable ancestors to the conspiracy RPGs of today. Many of todays games are infact pale replicas of these games. I love each and every one of them.

So why do I think that Umbrella conspiracy theories make for crappy RPG stories? Let me begin with a definition. An umbrella conspiracy sits at the top of a vertical flow chart of secrets and lies. It is an ultimate cause of all hidden control. Lesser conspiracies may orbit in its shadow but they ultimately, possibly tenuously, are linked to it. It is the body of the octopus who’s tentacles stretch out and touch everyone.

Crap.

To be fair, most of the games that I have listed took a horizontal approach to conspiracy. Several Cabals of similar power vie for the ultimate throne, opposing and supporting each other directly and via proxy forces. If the players are active conspirators, perhaps their action will drive their cabal to the top. 

So why is it crap?

Firstly, it assumes that the global public is a mob. A homogeneous crowd that can be controlled and guided using information access and content as a bottleneck.  It also assumes that the public as a mob folows the majority. In general, this may be correct. But some of the greatest social changes in history have been introduced from a minority input. If the public always followed the majority, Christianity would never have become a world religion. No-one would have paid attention to Martin Luther King. Democracy would never have supplanted monarchy. Significant change is introduced into the group consensus from non-conformists. I am confident that a true umbrella conspiracy could not remain secret. 

But what about disinformation? In the First World information is available to the public on an unprecedented scale historically. We know more about the goings on in places that we will never go or be directly influenced by than any society has in human history. But what about the quality of this information. How do I know that it is true? Most news is editorialised or at least edited. What forces inform the decisions that influence the information that I consume and assume is correct? Who decides what information I have access to and who do they report to? The answers to these questions are excellent grist for RPG stories in the modern age.

At the moment the Australian Government is making a list of websites that will be blacklisted. When implemented I will not be able to access any of these sites. Chances are that if I was privvy to this list, I would not want to access any of these sites. But the fact is that the list is being developed and I will never know what is on it. How do you know that there aren’t websites that cannot be accessed from your country or printed newspapers / magazines that cannot be imported? Do the things that my government denies me limit my world view? Does it conceal the fact that grey aliens run the planet?

No.

The Second reason that umbrella conspiracies are crap is that as a concept they assume that fear is a precursor to silence. The staff in the know at Groom Dry Lake wont tell anyone that there is an Alien mother ship in an underground bunker there because they are afraid of what will be done to them if they go public. People do strange things when they are afraid. Fear as a motivator for conformity has a long and storied history of success. Fear has been used overtly by governments, religions and other organisations as a behavioural modifier ever since the tools have been available for its application. What do we call rogue organisations that use fear to promote their agendas. We call them terrorists. Fear mongers.

What was the United States Governments response to the most overt terror attack of modern times on 9.11? Agression. War. Historically the application of fear as a tool for social control has resulted in opposition and change. The Protestant Church arose as a protest against the Catholic Church. The seeds of democracy grew as a response to the binding social control of the European Monarchies. The fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc? The rise of the women’s rights movement in the 50s following the female freedoms of World War II when the men were away fighting. If Fear is the only tool that can control the public as a whole, it is also the only tool that can inspire great social change.

So my point is that an umbrella conspiracy that has significant control cannot stay secret and will be opposed.

What about mind control, drugs in the water, secret neural satellites and the like. What about magic? If tools like these are available to the powers that be, they could indeed own the world. But how does this make a good story. Who do you tell when the secret powers will just reprogram them to forget? Salmon may swim against the stream but they only do so to die in the headwaters. If the tools of control available to a global conspiracy are so effective they are actually able to enforce their secrecy and retain control, there is no story.

Advertisement