#AtoZChallenge2022: R is for Radio Conspiracies

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: R is for Radio Conspiracies

There is something about many modern conspiracy theories and their connection with radios.  I think it is because, like the Internet, conspiracy theories were often shared in less than reputable papers and tabloids but also via ham radios and various pirate radio stations.

So today I thought I'd look into a couple of these.

The War of the Worlds

The first is the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds. It seems that people missed the repeated remarks on this being the fictional broadcast.  But as Orson Welles was broadcasting wide-spread panic sat in by people believing that the US was really being attacked by Martians.  Why am I including this here?  It shows that people were taken in rather convincingly by what they heard on the state-of-the-art technology of the time.  So really, can we be surprised that people are taken in by stuff they see on the Internet?

Numbers Stations

These are weird.  I mentioned them back in October and I have looked into them a little more since then.  These are short-wave radio broadcasts believed to be coded messages to intelligence officers in the field.  If you can find them they are actually a little creepy to listen to.  While some, a minority, have been found out this leaves a majority who have not been discovered. Where uncertainty leaves a gap it is usually filled with a conspiracy theory. 

Some of the best I have heard/read is that these codes are for programming people that hear them.  Someone hears these numbers and they are pre-programmed to do some activities that they will not remember later.  Others claim they are alien broadcasts, either to or from aliens.

I can't recall if "The X-Files" ever covered Numbers Stations, but the recent History series "Project Blue Book" (not to be confused with the older, similar series on NBC "Project U.F.O.") featured them.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Taking a page from Banshee Chapter, the characters can discover a new Numbers Station; or be given a story by their editor in a Weirdly World News.  The station is not communicating with anyone human but the extra-dimensional aliens.  What are they doing? What do they want?  Maybe these numbers are not a coded message, but rather the frequencies are for opening up a portal to let in even more aliens.

Story or not, these aliens should probably be stopped. 

Oh. Looking for what I have said about another R word, Roswell? I have a whole entry in the latest NIGHT SHIFT book Night Companion: A Sourcebook for Night Shift: VSW.

Given all this talk about Radio, I thought this was a good choice. 

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: Q is for Queen is a Lizard

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: Q is for Queen is a Lizard

One of the strangest conspiracy theories I have ever encountered was that the Queen of England, and presumably the entire Royal Family, are in fact shape-shifting lizard people.

I first heard about this during the 1986 Illinois gubernatorial election.  There is a lot to it, but briefly A couple of candidates, called "LaRouchies" by my dad, had run on the National Democratic ticket and won some major primary wins.  Because the people were confusing them with the Illinois Democratic Party (the one that would later back future President Barrack Obama). Anyway, it caused a lot of confusion, not that it mattered, Thompson won for like the 300th time.   But it did introduce me to National Democratic founder Lydon LaRouche.    

LaRouche was, as we used to say, bat-shit crazy.  Among his other ideas (including fascism, antisemitism, and racism) he believed that the Queen of England was not just a lizard person, she was in charge of an international drug ring along with the USSR. She also had put a hit out on him.  LaRouche was a constant bogeyman in Illinois politics until his death.  I remember one time they were on the campus at UIC (the University of Illinois at Chicago) and I asked them as I walked by on my way home from work if they still thought the Queen was after them.  They got mad but I didn't stick around to talk to them. 

I later found out that this whole Queen is a shape-shift lizard person comes from professional crazy person David Icke.  Icke really is the architect of this whole Lizard person/Reptiloid/Reptilians idea so maybe I do owe him some slack. After all, I have gotten a few hits this month from his ideas. Just a quick glance I have grabbed ideas related to this for A (Ancient Aliens), E (Extraterrestrials on Earth), I (Illuminati), N (New World Order), and  O (Outer Space).

Icke might not be picking on the Queen in particular, he seems to think that anyone in power is actually a lizard person. It should be noted he is also a Holocaust denier. 

There are others that share these ideas, but they seem to stem from Icke.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Again going with the obvious choice here, but finding out local government officials are shapeshifting aliens.  The trick for Game Masters is how deep does this conspiracy go?  Is it all of them or just a fringe group of weirdoes?  Given the history I have, I am likely to go with the whack-a-doodle fringe group is really the lizard people.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

Want to learn more about  NIGHT SHIFT and our plans for the game?  Check out this post from my co-creator Jason Vey on Powered by O.G.R.E.S.: A Multiverse of Systems.

#AtoZChallenge2022: P is for Paul is Dead

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: P is for Paul is Dead

Ok. This one is VERY different from my other conspiracy theories posted here this month, but maybe one of the most important ones to me.  Why?  Because this is the conspiracy theory that introduced me to all the others.

Back in the 80s my dad (or maybe it was my mom, both were voracious readers) had a book about conspiracy theories and urban legends.  One grabbed my attention because my older brother Mike had gotten me into the Beatle recently and I was tuned in to anything Beatles.

The rumor was that Paul McCartney was dead and the clues had been scattered across all their albums if you knew what to look for.   And the list was a tantalizing one.

The rumor began in 1967 that Paul, singer, songwriter, and bass player for the Beatles was killed in a car crash.  The rumor was denied later, but it caught on and fans began to look for clues.  Here are some of the things they found.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

• On Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, the album cover had a hand over Paul's head, which many people claimed (with no evidence) was an ancient sign of someone about to die.  
• Paul's uniform had a patch on the shoulder with the initials "O.P.D." on it which fans took as "Officially Pronounced Dead."  It was, according to McCartney from the "Ontario Police Department." This can be seen on the cover and the gatefold.
• The lyrics page of Sgt. Pepper's had all of the band, except for Paul, facing the camera.  
• The lyrics page also had George Harrison pointing to a lyric from "She's Leaving Home."  The line says "Wednesday at 5 o'clock."   This was not just when Paul died, but also to signify George Harrison's disappointment that Paul was replaced.
• The flowers on the cover represented a left-handed bass or a P, both for Paul. 

The Beatles, aka The White Album (1968)

• Ringo's song "Don't Pass Me By" features the lyrics, "You were in a car crash, And you lost your hair."  
• John Lennon's song "I'm So Tired" has some mumbling in the recording that when played backward says "Paul is a dead man. Miss him. Miss him. Miss him."
• If you play the end of "Revolution 9" backward (the "Number 9. Number 9" bit) you can hear John saying "Turn me on Deadman."   Producer Alan Parsons confirms that this is true, but only because John liked the sound of it. 
• The song "Glass Onion" has the line "the Walrus was Paul."   People decide that the walrus was the "Viking animal of death" or whatever that means.  

Abbey Road (1969)

One of the most famous covers of Beatles' albums is also full of clues.

• Each Beatle is crossing the road in step with the other, except for Paul.
• Paul is barefoot (as a corpse, so it is claimed) and smoking his "last cigarette."
• Each Beatle represents a different person in a funeral.  John is the priest in all white, Ringo the undertaker, Paul the corpse, and George in work clothes the srave digger.
• There is a Volkwagon (also known as a "Beetle") in the background with the license plate "28IF." Paul would have been 28 IF he had lived. Though in truth he was only 27 at the time.

And there are more, some going back to the Beatles catalog to find more clues.  Some even going back to "Revolver", released in 1966 BEFORE Paul "died."

The idea, which I clearly knew was false, fascinated me that people could be so caught up in it.  I would later see the same sort of behavior when the Satanic Panic happened.

Of course, this happened all by word of mouth and rumor and shoddy reporting and less than critical DJs on FM and college radios.  Certainly, something like this would never happen in the days of the Internet and fact-checking websites? 

WRONG.

Avril Está Morta / Avril is Dead

The newest version of this rumor is that Canadian singer Avril Lavigne died in 2003.  She was replaced by someone named Melissa Vandella (oh I have to use that name sometime) and was used to support their perception that Avril's style, both musically and personally, had changed from 2003 on.

What must they think of Lady Gaga then?

Both of these though bring up an interesting point in contrast.

Avril is Dead is a rumor or urban legend.  Paul is Dead is a conspiracy theory.

What is the difference?  Well, the key here is twofold.  Both seem to have grown from fans reactions to their artists and rumor getting out of hand.  While that seems to be the beginning and the end for Avril's supposed death, there is some evidence that Paul is Dead was embraced by at least John Lennon, and clues were seeded.  These are largely in the backward masking of songs from The White Album.  

Intentional involvement to hide the truth (or a lie) is the key element here.

For NIGHT SHIFT

This is the harder bit.  Despite my enjoyment of this particular bit of Beatles trivia, I have not found a good way to use it in a game except for the obvious.  Doppelgängers.  Someone famous has been replaced by a doppelgänger, or maybe a shape-shifted Reptoid, and the characters are the only ones who have noticed.  OR better yet.  Someone else has noticed and collected all this data but is then later killed.  It is up to the characters to discover the truth. Is the person a doppelgänger? Victim of a false rumor? Or did they cook the whole idea up to sell more whatever, albums, books, hits on YouTube.

Up to the characters to find out.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF). 

#AtoZChallenge2022: O is for Outer Space

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: O is for Outer Space

This is a catch-all for various things I wanted to talk about but didn't have enough on their own.

They do all have at least one thing in common.  A serious distrust of NASA.

Moon Landings Faked

This is a big one really. There are some people out there who think the moon landings were faked.  We have a word for these people.

Idiots.

But it does give me a chance to use one of my favorite movie jokes.  

"NASA went to Stanely Kubrick to convince him to film their fake moon landing, but Kubrick was such a perfectionist he demanded the film it on location."

It is the same distrust of NASA that gives us the Flat Earthers. 

The Planet Nibriu 

Nibriu has tried to kill us not just once, but twice. There has been some version of this for decades.

Face on Mars / Pyramids on Mars

Back in 1979 the Viking I mission to Mars took orbital photos of what appeared to be a face on the planet Mars.  Later the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Global Surveyor in 1998 and 2001 took better pictures and showed that the "Face" was a trick of the light and pareidolia.  Humans are programmed to recognize faces.  Great when you are a newborn baby looking to get fed, bad when trying to separate signal from noise.  

Mars in general has fascinated us since we started looking up to the skies and noticed this one reddish-looking point of light was a bit different than the others.   I suppose it is hard to let go of some ideas after they have been ingrained for so long, even with the best data out there.

Of course, all the data in the solar system won't change the minds of those that feel that NASA is lying to them. 

Area 51

I talked a bit about this in "Night Companion: A Sourcebook for Night Shift: VSW" in my "Weirdly World News."  Area 51 is neat and all, but it is likely nothing there save for advanced aircraft. Advanced, sure, but not alien.   Besides, I have my own ideas for Area 51.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Nothing in particular that I have not mentioned already.  Save I want to do some more sci-fi style games with NIGHT SHIFT.  Come back in two week when May starts off Sci-Fi month here at the Other Side!

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: N is for New World Order

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: N is for New World Order

The New World Order is a conspiracy theory that gets rolled out once every few years. We are about due for it to come back up.

The idea behind it is that some great disaster, usually a false flag one, will cause all the countries in the world to cede control to some World Government, usually the UN, so there is a one-world government.

The term seems to come from early 20th Century political figures Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill.  It was much later popularized again by the first President George Bush.   

There are SO MANY conspiracy theories about the New World Order. More than I could even pretend to cover here.  But here are a few.

The first big one centers around the "End Times" of the New Testament.  Some readings of Revelation led people to people that the time of the Anti-Christ would coincide with the rise of a One World government.  This one got a lot of press back in the time when the European Union was founded (1993).  I remember having a conversation with a woman I worked with at a head injury clinic.  Like me she was a Qualified Mental Health Professional so not a dumb person by any measure, in fact very bright and very good at her job. Yet she told me she was not making any plans for the future.  She took the formation of the EU as a sign of the Beast returning. She even pointed out to me that the number of countries was the same as the number of horns of the great beast.  I don't think she was right, but she was convinced.  She even told me she expected the world to be over by 1999.  I kinda wish I had kept in contact with her.

There is a New Age philosophy that takes the NWO into a positive light with the arrival of the Age of Aquarius.  This will be a new age of peace and love.  I have used these ideas before with my witches and Sisters of the Aquarian Order.

There are plenty more involving the Illuminati and the Masons (of course).

David Icke, in particular Icke fashion, claims this is the time when we will be invaded by aliens.

And there are more, but you get the idea.

There are so many problems with any sort of New World Order.  I am not saying that we won't get to a One World Government, but it won't be any time soon.

Capt. Burnham and Earth's President in the 32nd Century

Honestly, look at Brexit.  Not even Europe can hold itself together even when there are solid financial reasons to do so.  

Plus there is no single body of government that can even make the claim of being able to gather everyone together even through force.  

New World Order conspiracy theorists have a remarkable faith in humanity that I simply do not share. 

For NIGHT SHIFT

If anything the world of NIGHT SHIFT is even more chaotic than our real world.  Getting humans together is hard enough.  Add a bunch of supernatural creatures on one side and now a bunch of extraterrestrials on the other side, the notion of a New World Order is laughable.  Unless...

There is fear of a New Word Order, and the ones that are feared are normal humans.  This works well with my Ordinary World setting. Here the supernatural creatures are worried that humans will discover all about them and wipe them out.  As we know, scared groups tend to panic, and panicked groups tend to lash out violently.  

The situation would play out with various groups of supernatural creatures working together that normally hate each other joining forces to fight what they consider the bigger threat, united humanity. 

Like the Doctor Who episode, The Pandorica Opens, they gather together based on a faulty premise. The Doctor wasn't destroying the universe and the humans are not gathering together to destroy all the supernatural. Well...no more than usual. And certainly not a coordinated effort. 

So no New World Order here. 

--

Of course, this song was the first thing I thought about. 

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: M is for Masons

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: M is for Masons

This was almost the F post with "Freemasons" but "Flat Earth" won out. But I have a second chance now.

The Masons, or Freemasons, are not so much at the root of many conspiracy theories these days.  I can recall a time when they were still considered to be a super-secretive society with clandestine methods and nefarious plans.

These days not so much.

Mind you I don't think the Masons really changed all that much save for being more open with their membership and practices.  

Sure they are still basically a club. And they give their own members preferences where they can within the bounds (as far as I can tell) of the law and good taste.  Which is nothing more than I would expect.  You can pretty much look up everything about them on the Internet.

After seeing the Shriners in many parades it is hard to see them as a world-dominating threat. They went from a secret organization full of hidden motives to something akin to the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes in my lifetime.

But Masons of the old days are a different story (maybe).

Because so many of the leaders of the world, especially the English speaking world of the 18th to 20th Centuries. Several Presidents, Ambassadors, and even the Royals were Masons.  We do know that Washington D.C. (supposedly) was laid out in terms of Masonic designs and the All-Seeing Eye appearing on the back of the $1 bill.  

The Masons were often the whispered source of many conspiracy theories.  One of the persistent ones is that the Knights Templar would change into the Freemasons when they got to Scotland.  Or that there was some intermediate stage where the Templars became the Rosicrucians who became the Masons.  It's fun, but not a shred of evidence to support it really.  Others state they are connected to or in fact they are the Illuminati.   

There is also the claim that the Mason's "Great Architect of the Universe", which they claim is the same as God, is actually something else.  This could be Baphomet of the Templar fame or something else like Baal. 

For NIGHT SHIFT

In the world of NIGHT SHIFT, the Masons are NOT the center of any conspiracies.  But they DO know about all of them. There is usually a price for this knowledge if the characters are not Masons or some related order.  Usually, this price is to obtain some item the Masons want.  So to get the information you need to be prepared for some "National Treasure" style shenanigans. 

Which of course could be its own kind of fun. 

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: L is for Lost Cosmonauts

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: L is for Lost Cosmonauts

L was going to be for Lunar, but while I was researching this one came up and I just really could not say no.

The notion of lost cosmonauts has been around since the dawn of the manned space missions.  I recall people (ok, kids) talking about this in the 1980s when the distrust of the U.S.S.R. was at a high.

The idea is simple.  The Soviet Union sent men into space even before Yuri Gagarin's (the first man into Space) historic flight.  Cutting corners the Soviets sent men into space and presuablly could not get them back down.  Somewhere up there their life-less, well preserved bodies still float in orbit.

The first of these came up after 1959 when the US and the USSR were deep into the "Space Race."  Even such illuminaries as Robert A. Heinlein wrote about shenanigans with the Soviet space program in his article "Pravda means 'Truth'."  The is in fact so much about it that I am not entirely sure I can rule it out.  It's not inconceivable that the Soviets would lie about these sorts of things, and certainly not beyond the realm of belief that they would cut corners.  As the following meme demonstrates.

Cute. But no where near the truth.  Pencils are flammable. Pencils, modern ones anyway, are made of graphite. Which as you are writing turns to a fine dust, which while weightless can get into electrical circuits and cause damage.  None of these things you want in a small, oxygen rich, inclosed environment.   People buy into this meme because the accept a level of, well incompetence from the forme Soviet Union. 

Are there dead Cosmonauts still in orbit out there?  Who knows.  This is the first one I really can't outright dismiss.

Links

• The Haunting Mystery Of The USSR’s Lost Cosmonauts
• The Enduring Myth of Phantom Cosmonauts
• Ivan Ivanovich and the Persistent Lost Cosmonaut Conspiracy
• Robert A. Heinlein, http://www.firearmsrights.com/rah1961.htm
• Oberth Believes Astronauts Lost

For NIGHT SHIFT

The problem with dead Cosmonauts is not whether or not they are out there.  It's what happens when they come back to Earth.  I have lost track of how many "horror from space" movies I have seen. Lots. Too many really.  So here is situation.  A space craft in orbit from the 1960s has been spotted by some amateur astonomers (nod to me sitting out in the cold with my telescope trying to find Skylab) and it is slowly falling to Earth.  The Soviets want it to burn up in the atmosphere, but the Americans want to salvage it for it's secrets (let's say this is the 1980s).  Guess who has the right idea? Clue, it isn't Uncle Sam. 

The craft lands and yeah, the Zombie Apocylpse starts.  What do your characters do?

This is essentially the premise behind Völlig Losgelöst, a proposed 80s-themed horror game I wanted to do.  I dropped it largely because Dark Places & Demogorgons did what I wanted VL to do and did it quite well.  That's fine, much like my Zombie Cosmonauts, Völlig Losgelöst is coming back from the dead with a new-ish direction.  

This is German, not Russian, but still has a lost astronaut and is full of 80's pathos.

Ich komme bald.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: K is for Knights Templar

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: K is for Knights Templar

Back when I was working with Eden Studios and working on games like Buffy, WitchCraft, and Conspiracy X we used to joke about how every conspiracy theory could be traced back to the Knights Templar.  Well...only half-joking.   

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or the Knights Templar, were a Knightly Order dedicated to protecting pilgrims headed to the Holy Land.  They built fortifications for protection and housed money and soon became rich.  Very rich. Like stupid rich. So rich that the King Philip IV of France and  Pope Clement accused them of heresy, witchcraft, and idolatry (worshiping a Baphomet figure).  They were famously arrested on Friday the 13th, 1307.  They were tortured and burned at the stake. 

Though many believe that not all the Knights were captured and some fled to places like Scotland and the Americas; Novia Scotia ("New Scotland") in particular. From here they took their still considerable wealth and ... well there are lot of things they supposedly did.

There is a rumor that when they went to the Holy Land they found treasures there including the cup of Christ (the Holy Grail), the treasures of King Solomon, and even the lost Ark of the Covenant.  Their present-day followers have those items still.

They have been associated with the Freemasons, the Order of Malta (in some theories), and even the Miꞌkmaq, one of the indigenous tribes of Northeast Canada.  So many I feel if their influence was removed the History Channel would lose about ⅓ of all their total programming.

Again, as others I have talked about here they are featured rather prominently in Foucault's Pendulum and The Da Vinci Code.

What is it about the Templars that fascinate everyone?  You don't see the same level of conspiracy around the Knights Hospitaller really.  Or any of the other medieval knightly orders.  I think it was because they were hunted down and killed that makes their story fascinating.  

Though the real tale here is about a group gaining some power and influence only to be struck down by the status-quo power structures of the day, the Monarchy and the Church.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Fortunately for me my co-author on NIGHT SHIFT already did something for the game that would work.

Monster Hunters of the Church: New Orders for Your Night Shift: VSW Game

He uses the Order of the Dragon and the Divine Order of the Sisters of Orleans.  The same process can be used for the Knights Templar.  The modern-day Knights Templar would be more of the occult investigator types, but the ones that can pick up a sword as well as a pen.  In NIGHT SHIFT they would either be sages or veterans. 

For my use I'd still have them around, but NOT be involved with any of the things they are popularly believed to have been.  I'd even throw out a line like "and we have never even been to Oak Island!" 

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: J is for JFK

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: J is for JFK

Can't talk about conspiracy theories and not talk about JFK.

Though I am not talking about the 35th President, but rather the 1991 Oliver Stone movie.  Anyone that has even a passing interest in conspiracy theories needs to check this movie out.  It is a master class on conspiracies, but not in the way Oliver Stone wanted it to be.

The premise of the movie (and the conspiracy theories) was that Kennedy was killed by multiple gunmen. 

Kevin Costner gives a fantastic performance as Jim Garrison the District Attorney obsessed with finding multiple killers.  The film and most of the conspiracy theories fail on two main points.   1. A great man like Kennedy could not have been killed by a nobody like Lee Harvey Oswald.  2. The importance of "back and to the left."  Kennedy was shot from behind but his head snapped "back and to the left" this was taken as "proof" of a shooter in front, say from the Grassy Knoll.  

The problems with these ideas are pretty simple to point out.  1. Great men are killed by nobodies all the time, flying in the face of the Great Man Theory.  2. Ballistics testing, even from people like Penn & Teller, shows that shots with this type of rifle (an Italian Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle) do exactly this. Even an untrained marksman like Teller (who does have experience with stage guns) can fire off as many shots as Oswald did.

Many conspiracy theories fall apart once some real testing is done.

For NIGHT SHIFT

I honestly would recommend watching JFK over such movies as "Angels & Demons" or "Da Vinci Code."  The reason is that there is the underlying assumption that everything portrayed could have happened that way AND you can see how it could have happened that way.   Obviously, the realization of the underlying fallacies pulls the rug from under the whole thing.

Otherwise, it is a great step-by-step process on how to create a conspiracy theory investigation.  Oliver Stone may be obsessed, but he knows how to tell a good tale. Plus Tommy Lee Jones is brilliant in this. If you set your game in the "Paranoid 90s" then this is a must-see.

There is an old joke about time travel and Kennedy's assassination that there were so many time travelers on the Grassy Knoll when Kennedy was killed that there was no room for another gunman.  This got me thinking about a potential time travel story with Kennedy.  The Umbrella Academy did it. Quantum Leap did it. I think there was even a Star Trek episode planned, but never filmed that wanted to do it.   Just not 100% sure I would want to do it.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: I is for Illuminati

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: I is for Illuminati

This one is obvious.  So obvious in fact that I debated on whether or not to do it in favor of some other "I" entry.  But that would be doing a disservice really.

The term "Illuminati" brings up images of secret meetings of the ultra-rich and powerful in dark rooms plotting the power plays of the world.  

The "real" Illuminati was the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded in the 18th Century.  They were a secret society and they did have ideas on how to better the world.  Like many secret societies they started and fizzled out in a matter of time.  Their legacy has largely been in rumor and conspiracy and, let's be honest, outright fiction.

While the intentions of the original Illuminati might have been good, the fictionalized Illuminati really captured people's imaginations.  None more so than writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in their "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" which if I remember right is made up of five books.  That sounds on point, to be honest.  I remember seeing ads for it in Dragon magazine from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club.   And I remember with much annoyance when people in various Usenet groups would discover "Fnord" and try to be all funny and cool.  

The rumors and fiction of the Illuminati grew over the years and were popularized by Shea & Wilson books and other popular books by Dan Brown (remember when everyone was reading him?) seem to be far more interesting than what is more likely the truth.  Not that there is a secret group of people that control the world, nor that there is no one controlling world, but rather there are sever groups out there that fancy themselves as the modern Illuminati and they are all working in their own self-interest and often cross-purposes to each other to really get anything done.

Or to quote the great Alan Moore:

“The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory.

The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control.

The world is rudderless.”

For NIGHT SHIFT

Following the steps of Shea & Wilson, but honestly more into the steps of Umberto Eco I have always wanted to have the character investigate a conspiracy theory to it's ultimate source.  The proverbial head of the beast, only to discover there is no head and the beast has been dead for a while.  I call these "anti-endings" and they are like what you read in "The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath" or even in the TV series "The Prisoner."   It's just sometimes they are interesting (Kadath, "Foucault's Pendulum") others they are frustrating (Prisoner).

Finding the Illuminati in a game should be a never-ending quest. Find a group that seems to be in charge and very powerful only to learn they take their orders from someone else. 

Plus it is convenient and, like Moore says, comforting to think there is one monolithic organization in control. But it is also not great for a game.  Think back to the X-Files.  Had they uncovered the alien conspiracy in Season 3, what would they do next?

The Illuminati really doesn't exist.  But that might be exactly what they want you to think!

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: H is for Hollow Earth

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: H is for Hollow Earth

Actually of all the conspiracy theories I have presented here, the Hollow Earth is one of my favorites.

It is just so crazy and so much fun.

In truth, many of these ideas come from my father-in-law who had a rather impressive collection of books and underground films about this stuff.  I like to pretend he didn't believe them all and like me, he just got a lot of enjoyment out of them.  Well, this is true, but ask me again when we get to Tesla.

So the Hollow Earth.

This one is a topic I have talked about a bit here in the past.  

From the fantastic Ubiquity powered game from Exile Game Studio,

• Hollow Earth Expedition
• Hollow Earth Expedition Supplements
• and even Revelations of Mars

To the Hollow World of Msytara,

• Mystara, The Known World of BECMI
• BECMI: Immortals Set Review
• GAZ13 The Shadow Elves

Tales of Journey to the Center of the Earth and Pellucidar filled my childhood.  So as far as conspiracy theories go, this one was a welcomed one, but one that never left the realms of fiction for me.

Great tales when you are a kid, bad science when you are older.  

It was not until my father-in-law introduced me to this strange book he got about the Hollow Earth by Raymond Bernard.

It ties then UFO literature and research to the Hollow Earth.  A lot of it is crazy pseudo-scientific nonsense, premises stretched thin and beyond credulity, and shoddy correlations that are not even remotely connected.   So it is easy to see why people who are not trained in science are taken in.

Yet, unlike the Flat Earthers (who are as you recall morons) the Hollow Earthers seem almost quaint in a naïve, harmless old uncle in his dotage.  "Of course, the Earth is Hollow, now let's get you back to bed." 

For NIGHT SHIFT

On Monday I mentioned two "alien" species that came from under the Earth.  Could their origin be the Hollow Earth?  It certainly sounds fun to think about, but I think I much prefer an "underdark" sort of Hollow Earth with large pockets of emptiness where these communities of Derro and Ophidians can live and where they do battle with the Reptilians in their underground bases. 

Maybe not full-on Agartha or Pellucidar, but more akin to Jules Verne.  There are Pulp roots to NIGHT SHIFT if one cares to look.  The Hollow Earth also had pulp roots.  It is therefore not inconceivable that a group of adventurers from NIGHT SHIFT could find themselves on their own Journey to the Center of the Earth.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: G is for Global Warming

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: G is for Global Warming

One of the biggest conspiracies out there today is the one that Global Warming is fake or somehow a grift to get more money out of us.

Honestly, I can't even start with these morons. Though they are not as bad as the Flat Earthers.

Human-caused climate change is a fact. We have too much data from too many different sources to argue this.

But yet the Climate Change deniers and conspiracy theorists are always shouting "follow the money!" or ... whatever the hell else they say. Likely blaming George Soros or the Clintons.

You want a conspiracy theory on climate change?  Ok I'll give you one.

Climate change is being caused by Demons.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Or maybe the Reptillians.  Let's look at both since both are active in the various worlds of NIGHT SHIFT.

Demons did it:  The thinking here is that as the world gets hotter resources begin to dry up, water is more scarce, food is more scarce, and horrible things like England exporting wine to France now become a reality, and it all points to evil intent.  

We know that the world's average temperatures have risen by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) since the 1800s.  At this rate, the world will be unsuitable for humans in a few more centuries.  But in a thousand years, it will be perfect for demons for a literal Hell on Earth!

Reptilians did it: Ok, Demons too far-fetched?  What about the Reptilians? They are after all reptiles and like the warmer weather.  Also if they are breeding human-reptile hybrids maybe it is because they can stay on Earth (or our dimension as some authors claim) and need to Terra-form the Earth to something more suited for their own liking.

Crazy?  Yeah, but no crazier than some of the things I have heard passed off as truth.

Now it is entirely possible that these ideas came to me from Doctor Who, in particular the 3rd Doctor era which was heavy on environmental themes.  The serial "The Daemons" even featured a large demonic-looking creature that could generate heat over vast stretches of land.  I am sure that somewhere along the way the Silurians or Sea-Devils even wanted to warm up the Earth a little for their return.

So next time someone comes at you with the idea that climate change is fake, turn back on them and say "oh it's not fake and the reptoids are all behind it!"  

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: F is for Flat Earth

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: F is for Flat Earth

Over the years I have seen and read about some really interesting conspiracies.  The movie JFK starring Kevin Costner really made you think that maybe Lee Harvey Oswald didn't act alone, or maybe that Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna could be alive somewhere, or maybe Roswell was about aliens.   

While thought provoking, all of these are dismissed once the evidence is carefully examined.  Oswald did act alone, DNS proved Anastasia's death, and the government did lie about Roswell, but not about aliens.

But the dumbest conspiracy theory ever has to come from the lead-paint chip-eating crowd behind the Flat Earth Theory.  I even hate to call it a theory since no part of it acts like a true theory.

Essential this brain trust believes the Earth is flat and NASA has been covering up to support the notion of "Globeists."   They are all invariably ultra-religious and start with the claim about God and the "four corners of the Earth" that they take literally.

Let's ignore the poet license people are allowed to take. Or the fact that the Bible was originally written by people that honestly had no idea where the sun went at night AND it was translated, rewritten, re-translated, and so on for centuries.  OR even that Greek mathematician Eratosthenes not only showed that only the earth was round, he also calculated its circumference with an astounding degree of accuracy prior to 200 BC.

They have all decided that not only is the Earth flat, but NASA has been lying to the entire world to...well I am not sure why they think NASA is lying.  Normally in a coverup there are reasons. Money. Power. But the Flat Earthers think NASA is hiding something. 

Let's be 100% honest here.  Flat Earthers are morons.

But what can to give me when it comes to running a NIGHT SHIFT game?

For NIGHT SHIFT

The biggest gripe that Flat Earthers seem to have is that NASA and all the world governments are conspiring together to keep information out of the hands of the ones that seek the truth. 

Let's ignore the fact that such a vast conspiracy would be impossible to pull or let alone maintain, what does NIGHT SHIFT have that the world's governments want to hide?  Easy.  Magic.

The governments of the world, or at least sections of it, know all about magic and their job is to keep that knowledge out of the hands of the unwashed masses.  To that end, they have magical practitioners that help clean up everything and erase memories.  Something akin to an Arcane Men in Black or even like the Cleaners from Charmed (who, interestingly enough wear all white and not all black like the MiB).  In some ways, they are also a bit like the  Technocracy from Mage: The Ascension, but are "pro" magic and "anti" people getting their hands on it.

This group's job is to protect magic, but more importantly, their job is to protect magic from all the "mundanes" and mortals out there.   I am thinking of calling them "The Guardians" or something like that.  They monitor all magic in the world and keep it out of the wrong hands and the wrong minds.

The Guardians either appear as angels, devils, fey creatures or tall humans as the need arises.  In truth they prefer not to be seen at all.

--

Now I should note that one of my favorite games, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea assumes a Flat Earth and it works fine there. In fact a lot of the "reality" of AS&SH is built on a lot of the ideas I have been talking about all this month.

Really there is only one Flat Earth worth talking about and that is the 1984 album by Thomas Dolby.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: E is for Extraterrestrials on Earth

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: E is for Extraterrestrials on Earth

Getting back to some of the aliens I want to talk about some of the aliens found on Earth and how they can be used in the game.

There are some generally accepted aliens in UFOlogy (yeah that is a word I typed). Let's go over them here and then see what we have.

Nordics

These aliens are called this because they, generally speaking, are tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, human-looking aliens.  Seriously I can't help but think about how many of these ideas are so steeped in racism and these are the Poster Boys.  Though, and to be fair, maybe they are more like the Asgardians of the Marvel Universe? Nah, that is giving them too much credit.  

The Nordics supposedly come from the Pleiades star cluster.  They seem to have a more benign nature that the other aliens. 

Reptilians 

OR Reptoids I have mentioned already this month and they have a much more sinister motive here.  They have infiltrated various levels of government (more on that later this month), but their true purposes are still unknown.  They can shape-shift and appear to be human and are believed to be somewhere from the Alpha Draconis system. 

Greys

These guys are jerks. They visit trailer parks in the middle of the night and abduct people.  Ok that is a bit glib.  These aliens are some of the most seen and are responsible for many of the close encounters. Indeed they were featured in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (one of my favorites), Roswell, Strieber's "Communion," and the various "Alien Autopsy" movies. 

Popularly they are considered to be from Zeta Reticuli.  This is based on a drawing from one of the most famous alien abductees ever, Betty Hill.  

While generally believed to be benign, there is the opinion that they see humans as little better than animals to be experimented on. 

LGMs

The Little Green Men are common in Sci-Fi but have not featured much in conspiracy theories or alien sightings for a while.  They were commonly believed to have been from Mars.  

As their name implies they are shorter than humans, even shorter than greys.  

Insectoids

These aliens are spotted far less frequently than the others.  The Selenites are often depicted as insectoids.  Because of this, I am tempted to give them a temporary base on the moon. It was just set up.

Alien Species Concepts by Deimos-Remus

For NIGHT SHIFT

These five alien species all are active on the Earth of NIGHT SHIFT, in particular Weirdly World News.  Their motivations are pretty simple.  Nordics are observing and helping where they think is best.  Greys and LGMs are abducting humans and trying to figure out what makes them tick.  Insectoids are new to Earth and are rivals with the Reptoids. Their true motivations are still unknown.

That leaves the Reptoids.  They are going to be detailed in more posts here, but basically, they are here to take control of the Earth and its people. There is a lot of speculation on what they want here from human slaves, or they are draining our psychic energy, to needing a new home after their world was destroyed.  

Like the Ophidians I mentioned on Monday, the Reptilians/Reptoids can't use magic. Nordics do use magic, or at least they do something that seems similar to magic.

There are a couple of good game resources that cover all these aliens.  First, there is the DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Cryptid Manual (review) a great resource on all sorts of cryptids and aliens.  And secondly an old favorite of mine, The Unexplained (review) a Fudge-based RPG. 

Both are excellent resources.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: D is for Demon-Haunted World

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: D is for Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

A slight shift today.  I CAN'T talk about Conspiracy Theories and not talk about Carl Sagan's last book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.

I have mentioned before that Sagan and his book Cosmos had a deep and profound effect on my thinking coming out of the "extra hippie shit" coming out of the 70s into the 80s.

This book is now 25 years old but reads like it could have been written just 2 years ago.   So many of the Conspiracy Theories I am going to be talking about here have been so masterfully destroyed by Sagan and his "Baloney detection kit" that I do feel a tinge of professional guilt talking about them here when they should be ignored.  But that is not the point to these posts this month is it?

Listening to the Demon-Haunted World recently (on Audible with Seth MacFarlane and Cary Elwes) I am impressed that so much of what Sagan had to say still is appropriate today and, sadly, how much things had not changed since he wrote it in 1995. 

I really cannot recommend it enough.

For the conspiracy and pseudoscience minded it is worth a read/listen to put some of these ideas into perspective.  It is a bucket of ice-cold water on the idea of magical thought.

For NIGHT SHIFT

So how do I use this for NIGHT SHIFT?  Simple.  In many of the worlds (Night Worlds) of NIGHT SHIFT, it is assumed that magic is NOT real, even if it is.  So maybe unlike our world, the average man takes the point of view of Sagan and his Baloney Detection Kit.  It helps explain the world a little bit better. 

It is also great to help create obnoxious arguments when your characters are to convince someone that magic is real.

If there is a pet conspiracy theory you are expecting to see here and don't it is likely for 2 reasons. First, and most likely, it is because I did not find a good game application for it. The other reason, and it is not a small one, is because this book so convinced me they can't happen that I am not even considering it anymore.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: C is for Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: C is for Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis

(and a Special Monstrous Monday!)

The Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis is the "hypothesis" (really just an idea, it's not a good hypothesis in the scientific sense) put forward by Mac Tonnies and based on, among other things, the writings of Richard Shaver.  

The idea is that all the so-called "extraterrestrials" on Earth are all really natives.  Not cryptids per se, but whole other species. They have existed, in theory since the dawn of time.

Exploring the Shaver aspect, we have the "Deros" or his "detrimental robots" as a possible Cryptoterrestrial species. If we use the D&D versions, the Derro, then we have more to work with.   I think I would also like to take another page from Shaver's book magazine and have the language the Derro use be Mantong. 

Another species that fits this idea for me is the Ophidians.  This is a species that I have used in the past and really enjoy them.   

What separates cryptoterrestrials from extraterrestrials are their origins. While both can seem "alien" to humans, cryptoterrestrials are Earthlings.  They evolved from the same processes that gave us trees, lobsters, and humans.  Generally speaking, the same things that affect us, will affect them. They need to eat, breathe, and even sleep. They can be affected by poisons, just different ones, and bullets still hurt them. 

For NIGHT SHIFT

Since today is also a Monstrous Monday I think I should have some monster stats here.

Derro
No. Appearing: 8-80 (8d10)
AC: 4
Move: 20 ft.
Hit Dice: 3
Special: Pack tactics, Can fight in complete darkness, vulnerable to sunlight, madness.
XP Value: 60

Derros are a race of subterranean human-like creatures.  Their skin is a dull gray, their hair is typically a few shades lighter, and their eyes are a uniform white.  They speak an unknown, guttural language, but a few (1 in 10) can speak any surface language that is common nearby.  

Common Derro Abilities

• Pack tactics. Derro are ambush attackers and will set traps and snares to incapacitate interlopers into their realms.  The derro will kill any they suspect is a threat, usually the largest, and keep the rest as slaves. 
• Fight in Complete Darkness/Vulnerable to Sunlight.  Derro fight in complete darkness as if it were dim light. They take no penalty in attacks.  In any light greater than torchlight/flashlight they take a penalty of -1 (-5%).  In anything brighter, the penalty is -3 (-15%).  In full sunlight they cannot attack at all.
• Madness. A full 25% of all derro suffer from a form of racial madness.  This usually manifests as a form of delusional behavior where they feel they are the superior species of the planet.  Their layers are fill with giant machines they refer to as "The Death Ray", "The Sun Destroyer", or "The Gravity Enhancer" that are designed to end the world, but never work.  Derro spend decades building these, or more to the point forcing slaves to do it, only to have them end in their own destruction.

Derro are cruel and delight in torture for torture's sake. 

Ophidian
No. Appearing: 4-24 (4d6)
AC: 6
Move: 30 ft.
Hit Dice: 1 to 4
Special: Cold-blooded, enhanced senses (sight, smell), poison, magicly impaired.
XP Value: Varies

Ophidians are snake-like humanoids that have existed on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs.  They remember the great age of reptiles.  They hate humans, and really all mammals, and seek to destroy them so they can reclaim the Earth as their own.  If they hate anything more than humans it is the Extraterrestrial Reptoids. They feel the reptoids caused the great blast 65 million years ago that destroyed the dinosaurs (they didn't but the ophidians are not convinced) and they fight them for control of the Earth.

Common Ophidian Abilities

• Cold-blooded. Ophidians live in deep rain forests, inhospitable deserts, and even underground near magma pockets or anywhere that is warm.  They prefer temperatures that are 75 °F / 24 °C or warmer with places of variable temperatures.
• Enhanced Senses. Ophidians have superior senses of sight and smell.  Their sight extends into the infrared spectrum.  They are only surprised on a roll of 1-2 on a d10. 
• Poison. The bite of some ophidians (1 in 6) can paralyze or (2 in 6) painful death (take 4d8 points of damage).  A Constitution-based saving throw can reduce this to 2d8 hp of damage. 
  
• Magicly Impaired. Whether due to their reptilian brains or the fact they evolved from different progenitors than humans ophidians are incapable of magic.  They can, and many do, have psychic powers, but never magic.

Ophidians and Derro hate each other, often encountering each other and fighting great underground battles below the feet of unknowing humans.   It is possible that the only keeping these species from taking over is their hatred for everything and everyone that is not themselves.

--

Both Derros and Ophidians have a nice long history in my games.

I have to admit they did grow out of a lot of fringe theories and weird fiction from the 80s.  But I will admit that the Snake People were really sold to me from the Duran Duran video "Union of the Snake."

It was the 80s, I took my ideas from where they came.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

#AtoZChallenge2022: B is for Bermuda Triangle

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: B is for Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle might not be one of the big conspiracy theories, but it is an important one for me. 

The Bermuda Triangle was a gateway drug for me for all sorts of quasi-normal, pseudo-scientific ideas.  I think it was a set of "documentaries" I saw in the late 1970s.  The one that comes to mind most often to me is 1978's Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle.  I remember watching it at the Times theater in my old hometown.

The movie was presented as a documentary and to my 8-9-year-old mind that meant that it had to have had some scientific rigor to it.    The movie was a collection of "true stories" like the loss of the Navy's Flight 19 and other tales.  Many that still get repeated today.  It also included a lot of conjecture as to why this area had so many disappearances.  My favorite was one about a malfunctioning energy collection crystal from Atlantis that would zap ships and airplanes and either destroy them or send them to alternate dimensions.  Like many documentaries of this time it tries to make connections to Egypt and even to the Maya and Aztec cultures. 

Statistically speaking, the waters of the Bermuda Triangle are no more or less dangerous than any others given the number of ships.  In a 2013 survey of the most dangerous shipping areas, it doesn't even rank in the top 10.

I have been through the Bermuda Triangle twice now.  Once while flying home from Jamaica (our flight was not allowed to fly over Cuba) and once on a cruise ship.

For NIGHT SHIFT

I am going with the crystal idea for NIGHT SHIFT.  The Triangle was the site of some ancient alien base that later had to be abandoned. There is indeed a giant crystal that charges "Vril" (more on that on V day) from sunlight.  Periodically it releases its built-up energy in a blast that discorporates whatever is in its path. Does it destroy the object or, as some scholars believe, does it transport it to somewhere else?

Some even believe that these crystals are pyramid-shaped and have the same dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza. 

The remains of the Bimini Road are also part of this base, but so far no one has figured out how they are connected. 

The biggest problems here are 1.) discovering the crystal and it's nature and 2.) getting down the crystal and turning it off. 

I would say that there are smaller crystals that are connected to it.  This can give the PCs some clues.  Especially if the crystals glow and pulsate in time with the larger one.  Someone would need to correlate the brightest flashes with disappearances.   

Given that reports of missing ships seem to have dropped off (that darn GPS!) and the height of the reports peaked in interest in the 70s I am thinking of setting this in my Spirit of 76 campaign. Another chance for me to use some ideas from "The Fantastic Journey."

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).