A Relic With No Rust
The Control RPG is just the tool you need to accomplish this feat and play out your desire to control the world as an evil genius. Control is an oldie but a goodie (1997). The game covers roleplaying in a modern world where conspiracies range from Government Cover-Ups to Ancient Masters. The conspiracy and paradigm can change if a character can wrest control from the Controller, who also functions as the ref.
Unfortunately, I did not catch this one upon its release but am glad to have come across it nonetheless. I believe I was searching through Amazon.com for something when I came across its listing.
The game in question is a small, thin 8.5" by 5.6" pamphlet-style book of only fifty-six pages. The reason I think this remains as a diamond in the rough is that upon its release it lacked the kind of marketing that other companies like Wizards of the Coast have the budget for.
There are no pictures or photographs, but it still does a good job of stimulating the imagination. It does this through several unique features. I write this in the hope of changing its little-known status and spreading this deadly little meme out into the world.
If you've ever wanted to challenge the GM, then this is the game for you; in fact, that is the major premise of the game. One person is chosen to play the mastermind in charge of the world, the Controller. The Controller also functions as the referee. Other players create characters such as a hitman, an occultist, a diplomat or a non-person (a person who has lost his identity, per the 1995 movie The Net).
The Controller's aim is to maintain his conspiracy and his control of the world while carrying out various agendas. Players may take the roles of characters in a world-spanning conspiracy and enjoy the game as most RPGs are played. Here's the catch: an open-ended option allows for the characters to challenge the Controller's conspiracy and power and thus his position as GM.
If a player can infiltrate the Controller's machinations and stop his present agenda, the player can become the Controller and also the GM. A neat little idea. I would say this works best if all parties have some familiarity and experience with several RPGs. This is not to say it would not work with novice players, but in that instance the organizing GM should have a firm grasp of the principles at play.
20 Points To World Domination
To challenge the Controller, the players must accumulate no less than twenty Control Points. Control Points are awarded to players for how well they achieve their objectives. Like experience points, Control Points can be used to increase the character's skills. They can also be used as modifiers: a bonus to a die roll or a penalty to an enemy's die roll. A player may issue a challenge to the Controller in what is known as the Final Confrontation.
The player must have the prerequisite twenty Control Points in order to do this. This provides a major challenge as the player may not use the control points to raise his abilities while he is building up his points. When the player is ready he issues the formal challenge to the Controller.
The Controller is then tasked to create an agenda which involves a plan or scheme. Once the challenge is issued, the Controller can then spend some time preparing a specific agenda for the challenge in between gaming sessions.
The objective of the challenger, and the other characters, is to stop the agenda. As Control is a free-form game the agenda can be anything the Controller can dream up; let imagination be your guide or if you need inspiration, books and movies, as always, can provide this.
If the challenger stops the Controller, the challenger then becomes the new Controller, and the vicious cycle of fun and mayhem continues. The challenger also gets the twenty points he put up for bid back. If the challenger fails, he gets no points for the adventure and life continues under the dark conspiracy of the Controller.
Mold The World With Your New Demonic Gauntlet/Claw/Fist/Tentacle/Cybernetic Meathook
If the challenger wins, it is recommended that the troupe take a week off in order for the new Controller to create a conspiracy. The new Controller is permitted to continue using the same character or he can exercise the option to start from scratch with a new campaign and a new character. With the newly acquired victory the new Controller can conjure up a different paradigm and different levels of weirdness by way of changing something called "Toggles." No not tribbles–although they could be part of a conspiracy–we are talking Toggles here. More on this later.
Character Templates
Control is simple to play and simple to set up; starting play can be done with a minimum of preparation. An experienced GM could probably come up with an adventure on the fly, and this is advocated by the designer, Lee Garvin, as well as this writer. The process starts with the character concept and character creation. Character templates highlighted are Apha Geek, Conspiracy Nut, CEO, Corrupt Cop, Crusading Reporter, Diplomat, Hitman, Non-Person, Occultist, Private Investigator, Scientist, and Spy, but there's no reason the players can't create others, as long as all are in agreement. Examples of other possible templates that would work: Android, Mercenary Soldier, Cybernetic Lab Experiment, Super Soldier, Escaped Prisoner, Immortal (of the Highlander (1986)type), Werewolf, Shapeshifter, Vampire, Mage, Outlaw, Getaway Driver/Illegal Street Racer, Escaped Clone, AI Downloaded Into A Body, or Eccentric Inventor.
The players then choose qualities and flaws. Qualities are inherent abilities such as intuition, wit, grit or charm. These will, in turn, affect the choosing of ability scores. A Flaw is simply the opposite of a Quality: if Presence is chosen as a flaw, the character comes off creepy, disturbing, or repulsive. As a cool side-note, the player is asked to explain the flaw: The patch on the eye is from an old war wound from a mercenary operation with a Private Military Company in Sierra Leone. This example would make for a poor Perception rating.
The Seven Deadly Sins
The next step is choosing a Motivator. The Motivators are selected from one of the Seven Deadly Sins: envy, fear, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, and sloth. I'm not sure how a slothful character would take over the world or challenge anyone unless slothful is defined as only being lazy when one is not interested in something. Then again, maybe if his toys were taken away, he might be incited to action.
The next step is to purchase abilities. The ability levels range from Competent Professional with a rating of 1 to Near Deity with the highest possible rating of 8. Abilities are professional skills and training, but also include characteristics such as Dodge, Connections, and Strategy & Tactics.
The last step in character creation is to outfit your character. Although the GM could simply look at the player's laundry list of items, there is another way to handle this. Acquiring hard-to-get items coincides with Abilities and Qualities like Connections, Negotiation and Charm. If the player wants something that is not easily acquired in the real world, such as an Aston Martin armed with machine guns and rockets, then why not roleplay it. The items in question should, of course, coincide with the characters' wealth level and background. Remember, the GM is also the Controller.
Play Begins
Twenty-sided dice are used for any type of resolution. Contested rolls are resolved by subtracting the Point of the resisting character by the Point of the acting character. If the result is positive, then the acting character is successful. The Point is highest number rolled in the dice pool. If this number shows up more than once, then the results are added; this is called "Doubling the Point," even though a number may come up two or more times.
Contested Actions
Dynamic Action involves such things as car chases, combat and seduction. If the character is confronted with any type of perilous circumstance, then he has entered the Dynamic Action Scene. These scenes involve the steps of determining initiative, declaring actions, resolving actions, determining damages, and resisting damage.
The rules handling damages, wounds, and recovery provide for a default realistic world. GMs could provide modifiers for preternatural characters or anything that isn't a normal human with relative ease as the system is simple and straightforward enough. Though the conspiracies range from supernatural monsters to alien beings, no statistics are listed for such entities. With the standard character template provided, the GM can build such creatures without much time or effort. Once again, a GM's experience with the tropes of sci-fi and the fantastic will prove beneficial in keeping the game moving.
Toggling The Paradigms
The paradigms of reality are handled by something called Universal Toggles:
- Shining Realm (like a Superman movie, good is rewarded and evil is punished and penalized)
- Darkness Triumphant (Dystopia where death comes easy and often: Batman's Gotham; crime and corruption are commonplace)
- A Wounded Place (everyone has a dark secret, similar to the tone of the Punisher comics and movies, with vengeance exacted on those who expose)
- Karmic Balance (Karma is literally tallied act for act with good acts helping and bad ones coming back to bite the character's butt)
- Absolutely Normal (the default setting, our world)
Weirdness & Paranoia
Another factor that comes into play is weirdness. This provides atmosphere and fleshes out the setting. It also can provide the basis for the type of agenda a Controller is to carry out. A couple of pages list the different types of weirdness:
- Extra-Terrestrial (aliens have an influence, UFOs, alien abductions)
- Supernatural (magic, vampires, mummies, witches, and cabals)
- Technological (advanced technology from hover-cars to dimensional gates)
- Paranormal (Fortean stuff like psychic phenomena, ghosts, and raining frogs)
Mr. Garvin notes that more are possible--one just need create them.
The GM decides if the weirdness heavily influences the world or if it has no influence at all. There are gradient variations in between. In a heavily influenced world, weirdness is behind every shadow and lurks around every corner. A moderately influenced world involves occasional sightings of the strange. In a world with no influence, anything out of the ordinary isn't even considered.
The optional rules under the Power Struggle section are highly recommended as they provide good points and concepts for the game. The Final Confrontation is included under this section and imparts structure to the game when a challenge is presented. A table determines how much control the Controller actually has over any given facet of the world.
The areas into which a Controller may sink his talons include: Financial Institutions, Military organizations, Law Enforcement, Espionage, Business, Crime, Arcane, Science, Social, and Political. The level of control ranges from Minor to Cosmic, and Control Point costs are listed for each level.
Building Your Conspiracy
Chapter four lists the types of conspiracies with a bit of advice on how to set things up:
- Ancient Masters (Secret societies that manipulate world events much like the way your wife or girlfriend organizes outings and parties without your foreknowledge)
- Government Cover-Up (Things the American tax-payer was not meant like the Secret Service's raid on the Steve Jackson Games warehouse)
- Criminal Overlords (The Sopranos on an epic scale)
- Inhuman Secrets ("We want your Earth women for breeding.")
There is a lot of room for expansion and imagination here, but what is listed provides a good foundation and some inspiration to get the players into the proper mindset.
Next, you'll need to decide on a base of operations. The Isolation, Luxury, Access, Security, Garrison, and Facilities are all rated from None to Incredible, with Incredible being the highest. Operatives and two lieutenants are also chosen. Control is set up so that the Controller has several NPCs (Game Master-run characters) at his disposal. A chapter provides details on creating characteristics for Minions, Elites, and his Lieutenants (the Controller gets two). The Lieutenants are created just like characters. This allows for players to have several characters active in the world, and one could switch to the character most appropriate to the adventure at hand.
It wouldn't be too far of a stretch then to have an adventure session focusing on the Elites, Lieutenants or even a Minion. This option gives flexibility and fun to the game.
Lastly, some guidelines are provided for creating an agenda. They are loose but in place to help keep the Controller from running roughshod over the conspirators.
What's Really Cool About The Game
Control is an excellent platform to build on. The game can also give the GM a break from his regular campaign. Although magic and psionics are not covered in the rules, they can easily be incorporated without any imbalance. Any new scores, characters or paradigms are something that all the players should decide on together. As Control resolves everything with a pool of twenty-sided dice, the same is recommended for the ability to do magic or psionics.
GURPS sourcebooks or other game-related books can be used for a Control campaign, as they prove immensely helpful in fleshing out a campaign–if anything, there are too many possibilities to explore. The campaign does not have to be modern. The premise of Control would be great for steampunk with very little to change.
Although a science fiction campaign may prove more challenging, it is feasible to create a cyberpunk world without too much altering. Cyberpunk would require the least amount of work for adaptation since it is relatively close to our tech level. A highly advanced, technological society may prove more work. A GM who runs his game with a fat stack of GURPS books will find they make the perfect compliment to a Control campaign.
This is not a game of charts and technical information for those who enjoy the critical hit tables like those found in Rolemaster. Mr. Garvin set it up so that players can paint with broad strokes and keep the flow of the game moving. This game will probably play best if some or all of the group has had some gaming experience. Any experience in the genre or with other games will help resolve any disputes.
In the closing paragraph Mr. Garvin dissuades readers from any type of prewritten adventure. As you may have deduced, Control is perfect for a pick-up night of improvisation. It also works with an outline or an broad idea. This gives all parties involved leeway to move around in the world. Since the nature of the game involves perpetuating and foiling conspiracies, the characters could wind up anywhere. The rules are open and flexible enough to build on, and I imagine home brewers will enjoy playing with the core idea.
Related movies and television series: The X-Files, Lost, The Omen (1976), The Net (1995), Repo Man (1984), any Bond film, and the Austin Powers films.
Also of note: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy, Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, V for Vendetta and The Watchmen by Alan Moore, The Invisibles by Grant Morrison.
The following books can be a welcome addition to Control and also help to "beef up" the world. With these games you can mix and match characters, concepts, ideas, or whatever else works and makes it fun: The Esoterrorists, Top Secret, Feng Shui: Action Movie Role Playing, GURPS Illuminati, GURPS Espionage, GURPS Black-Ops, Kult, Nephilim, Unknown Armies, In Nomine, Dark Conspiracy, Delta Green, Bureau 13, Over The Edge, Beyond the Supernatural, Nightlife, Whispering Vault, the Everlasting RPG, and anything from White Wolf's World of Darkness. Just about any GURPS sourcebook is applicable depending on the type and flavor of weirdness in your game.
The Illuminati is in no way related to, behind, responsible for, connected with, allied to, affiliated with, concomitant with, or of the persuasion of said author. Nano-bombs do not get injected into the base of people's skulls, nor do such things as sorcery or superscience exist. There are no such things as Men In Black, black masses, time travel, ghosts, specters, spirits, sprites or big foot. At least not today anyway...
Fnord!
