 Goto [ Index ] |
Welcome to the Machine.
Curriculum of Conspiracy is a campaign setting based around Spring Crescent Middle School. What the blurb found at the link above suggested to me was something akin to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: a school where you're an outsider and the administration is remorselessly indifferent to you and your problems. Instead, the first pages of the book tell you that the entire existence of Spring Crescent Middle School is to function as a roach-motel for children with monsters, designed to break or kill the children, and enslave or kill their friends.
Huh. Downer.
The vibe at the start of the book would pitch a Buffy the Vampire Slayer analog where every single teacher is seriously out to get you, the entire student body is a willing component in a conspiracy to make you miserable and drive you mad, and any friend you think you have is actually faking.
This was the part that wasn't what I expected. However, obviously this is not the book's fault, and it isn't necessarily even a problem.
It's certainly on the darker side of the Monsters spectrum that the core book discusses, but that's not an issue. One thing I will say is that although Curriculum of Conspiracy does open many doorways to how the PCs can proceed and eventually triumph... not much of the information is at the front of the book. As I was first reading it, I have to admit that I didn't see how throwing my players into Spring Crescent Middle School could be much fun for them.
However, Curriculum of Conspiracy did grow on me. My main critique is that the information suggesting that All Is Not Doomed could have been spread out more evenly through the book, so as to make the initial introductions to the setting bleak but with roads to redemption, rather than just bleak.
The Best Days Of Your Life.
The book opens with a history of Spring Crescent Middle School, and a nasty and interesting tale it is, involving the events which lead up to someone creating a school essentially as an experimental facility for chewing on kids who have monsters.
All has not always been rosy for the Conspiracy that runs the place, and those events leave scars visible in the present day. (And there's a riff on Carrie which I can't help but approve of.) There's also the Gidim - the hideous results of a ritual that blends monsters with hapless people. I hadn't expected the Gidim, and they're interestingly nasty - along with being a good example of how flexible the basic Monsters cosmology is.
Then we move onto "Machinations of the Conspiracy," which details how the Conspiracy is likely to respond in different circumstances. Simple but comprehensive paragraphs tailored to different options provide nice seeds for campaign sessions - although again it's a bit bleak because it's all what the Conspiracy will do without discussion how the PCs can screw things up.
Later on in the book there's a note that the Conspiracy should identify the kids with monsters as a high-point in the campaign - an "Uh oh!" moment leading to the climactic conclusion, because the badguys now know who you are.
Most of the "Machinations of the Conspiracy" section feel like they'd be after the kids are identified, although the "Initial Plot" part does detail what the Conspiracy might do to drive kids with monsters into the open.
Then we get into the Cabals of the Conspiracy, and the nasty pieces of work who make it up. The good part is that they're detailed, flawed and human. They have Relationships amongst themselves and with people uninvolved in the Conspiracy, and that paints a picture of an interesting social dynamic. As an additional bonus, this is where the cracks in the Conspiracy start to show, as some of them have significantly conflicting goals.
Another interesting element is that some of the Conspiracy possess spells which function like a Monster Stat should they ever have to fight a Monster. Some of them have a full set - making them capable of holding their own in a monster brawl. Should, you know, that ever happen...
"Allies and Mentors" is where things really began to turn around for me. This is where the White Hats to the Conspiracy's badguys come out of the woodwork. The section discusses who they are, what motivates them, and how they might assist the PCs. One of them is a survivor from the Carrie incident earlier in the Conspiracy's history, and several of them - in what I thought was an awesome shift - are current members of the Conspiracy who can be convinced to turncoat and become positive members of society.
"Using Spring Crescent Middle School" is a section that has some brilliant elements, along with a few points which feel odd to me. This is where the book pitches several entirely different styles of campaigns that can be run using Curriculum of Conspiracy, ranging from mystery, action, horror or even comedy. It details the different genres, themes and the appropriate Mentor for each kind of campaign, all of which is excellent. I particularly liked the focus on the different genres and how it could all be made to work - along with the different things the PCs could do to change the status quo.
"GM Tips" is also good, and written up as school rules. Again however, I might have changed the order of things. The first three or so paragraphs are all about how dangerous the Conspiracy is... but then we get into equally succinct discussions of the Conspiracy's flaws and weakpoints, and then tips for running games using the setting. Personally I'd have gone straight for the throat regarding the weaknesses and such (since they've been stressed less so far) and then come in for a reminder that they've still got Big Teeth.
We then have Class Schedules for the school, and detailed maps.
"A Lesson Learned" is a sample campaign using the setting, and involves a magical tome that really wants to be a real boy - or real monster, in this case. It's good, imaginative, and does illustrate that the Conspiracy doesn't have a complete stranglehold on the school and everything in it. My main critique is that it feels in places that the campaign is presuming choices on behalf of the players - or at least that there is less discussion of what will happen if the PCs decide the textbook is Evil in scene one.
In Conclusion...
Curriculum of Conspiracy is well written. There's one typo that I found that tells you to refer to Page 88 of Monsters and Other Childish Things. It doesn't suggest a version of Monsters when there are two: Edition 1 doesn't have a page 88, and the Truely Monstrous Edition has the information it's discussing on Page 44, rather than 88. Beyond that, there's one paragraph at the end of "A Lesson Learned" which I needed to reread a few times. Interestingly, there is no index either at the start or end of the book - at least there isn't in the PDF version.
It is a quality product, and produces a campaign setting that can indeed be used for many different kinds of campaign. I do believe that the focus on the Conspiracy and the danger it represents is a little unbalanced, and makes the whole situation seem hopeless.
Once you get past that into the details of how everyone in the setting fits together, then the seeds of how the protagonists might be able to actually protag becomes more obvious.
- The Unshaven.
Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.
