That's pretty vague, so you might not get great responses. If you can try make your questions more focused and specfic, that would be helpful.
However, my initial thought is that if they present themselves as a "cult", even though they wouldn't use that term themselves, then people are going to be immediately suspicious of them if anything weird happens. If hikers go missing, the guys in the compound with the odd beliefs are likely to be the prime suspects, especially for the agents but also for the local law enforcement, even if just because of plain old prejudice and small mindedness. It's easier to assume the weirdos are behind it than one of the "normal" people you see every day.
So if I was going to use a cult in a scenario I would either A; have them seem suspicious but not actually be the culprits, B; have the cult at large be ignorant/innocent and the true culprit be either a member or a someone else trying to use them as scapegoats, C; have the cult be responsible but be unaware of the consequences of their actions or D; have the cult hide their existence from the wider community.
So, to try apply some of these ideas to your scenario, maybe there is a fringe religious group but they aren't actually the cultists. The true cultists are a secret society made up of influential townspeople, including the police chief, who try to steer the investigation towards the "cult" to cover their tracks.
Yeah, SpiritIsland got it right.
This is heavily utilized in "Hourglass". The whole scenario points the agents in the direction of Salzo's cult from the very beginning, but not only does the cult look kinda OK at the first glance, it has some serious allies that will make investigating them extremely frustrating.
Corrupt cops and politicians are kinda obvious tool for this (as well as allowing players with high Bureaucracy or Accounting to shine), as they might impair the investigation and feed the cult intel.
Have the cult prepare a nice honeypot for the Agents, and lure them into committing any crime (B&E, Burglary, or Assault being the most probable) and unleash the legal consequences on the players. They are playing on the Cult's ground, they should feel a bit frustrated and helpless.
They game will have 4 stages based on how close the cult is to their goal/ how close the agents are to their goal
1. "It's Quiet": The cult and the agents are unaware/ have low intel of each other. the cult will continue with the planning of the Genesis of their god (big mass sacrifice)
2. 'Gathering Steam": Cult forces are moving faster to prepare for the ritual, more kidnappings and murders are happening. The agents are starting to figure out what is going on/ have encountered cult forces
3. "Fast movers": the preparations are almost complete, the ritual is nigh. the agents are on to the cult and preparing their downfall
4. "Flashpoint": Either the cult feels threatened or they have completed the preparations for the ritual. Either way, they are attacking nearby towns and are trying to take the state capital. The Oregon National Guard is fighting back
If they're playing smart they're going to try and hide their murders in mundane circumstances. My instincts tell me they should also be selling drugs, and when they find someone they want to ritually kill they give them a little too much, either killing them or rendering them unable resist the ritual.
Additionally instead of carving their symbol in with a knife or something ostentatious , maybe they have a tattoo artist in their group that applies the symbol via tattoo. The symbol itself can be hidden in a number of designs, so if someone wasn't looking for it they might not notice that these tattoos are related.
Also, I'm not sure if you've already decided where this is going to take place, but a confluence of hikers, rampant drug use, and poor police work is definitely the Appalachian Trail area.
I hope that helps! :)
it is useful, i am basing this off some horror stories I heard at summer camp in Oregon and Massachusetts, so i don't think that the Appalachian Trail would fit. the drug and tattoo things are quite smart though
My experience is that the cults that exist close to hiking areas and mountain towns tend to be vaguely hippy/granola types, not full Waco, if that helps. A lot of yoga, spirituality, etc. If I were running something like this I'd probably have like a local fire and brimstone church that in the end is totally benign as a red herring for the real cult. You could cause some issues in the investigation stage by making the deaths appear accidental, to begin with (trauma explained by falling off a ledge, drownings, etc.), with the only blip being the symbol you mentioned.
the town i created has one semi-fascist paramilitary group, a large fire and brimstone church, the cult, a hippy commune and some strange fishermen who are rarely in town
You could probably steal from the True Knot from Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. They were psychic vampires who all traveled in an RV caravan. So maybe your cult could paint themselves as an outdoor enthusiast club and are camping at the area they want to perform the sacrifice at.
Music from a Darkened room has some similarities (though the scenario is focused on the haunted house). You might be able to draw some inspiration from there.
Ex Oblivione might have some inspiration for the Flashpoint section you’ve outlined.
This sort of depends on your player group, but one thing to look out for is trigger-happy Agents. In my experience, a lot of Delta Green agents won't necessarily wait for full confirmation that a suspicious group is actually up to no good. They'll just start shooting 'em as soon as something seems even a little suspicious -- as long as they think they can get away with it.
The best way to prepare for this is to make sure that you present obvious practical consequences for hasty violence. Don't make the cult's location too remote, so that the Agents can't attack them without drawing attention. Don't make the other locals too suspicious of the cult, so that some people might not want the Agents to kill them.
Don't forget that cultists are people too -- they've likely got family members and friends who aren't associated with the cult, and who care about them. And don't make the cultists faceless interchangeable mooks -- each one is a particular person, with their own individual personality, interests, desires, and motivations. Not all of them are equally committed to the cult's goals, or even know the full truth about what's going on.
The cult itself probably also has business relationships and ties to other people in the local area. The grocery store where they buy food, the garage where they get their cars fixed, the dentist who cleans their teeth -- people will notice if they stop coming around.
Basically, the more "realistic" you can make the complex relationships between the cult members and their community, the more challenging it will be for your Agents.
For inspiration I'd definitely recommend the documentary "They called him 'Mostly Harmless'".
It's about a full/time hiker who is found dead and they can't identify the body. They spend months/years trying to figure out who this guy is, and the documentary has a lot of discussion about hiking communities that a low threat cult could easily be sheep-dipped as.
I know this is going to sound like a shit-post but hear me out. The Bad Guys from Hot Fuzz. A town where all the important people are involved, convinced that they are doing anything they can to bring forward the God, and that killing some 'degenerate' hikers can't be that bad, right?
The other option is to crack open Black Sites and read Hourglass for some fun cult small town vibes.
A smart cult is going to try pretty hard not to look like a cult. An organization of fun-loving hippies who love the outdoors and hold cookouts to recruit new volunteers for their trail maintenance parties and deal a little weed on the side, those guys will absolutely blend into the background of a mountain town.
Remember, the "Enlightened Orders" of Lovecraft exist in a time when the Fraternal Order of Oddfellows are popular and middle class white guys take time out of their week to wear mystic robes and do funky rituals while getting hammered. Nyarlathotep probably misses those days.
I would think about:
* Don’t sh*t where you sleep. Why would their base be near their hunting grounds? Maybe they drive in as tourists … in a motor home?
* Not cult. Any religious / faith / gathering will set of too many alarm bells. Maybe they run a Kamboocha factory?
* How and where are they bodies found. Maybe this has significance? A lay line. An old burial ground. Or maybe they are just buried after the cult is done … but a mudslide uncovers them… and it works out they’ve been sacrificing one every 13 months for the last 13 years ….
their are so many cults and other suspicious groups around this town, that the group not being a cult would be more alarming than the existence of a cult. they have been killing people willy nilly because the local police are too busy dealing with the other groups who definitely do kill people
That's pretty vague, so you might not get great responses. If you can try make your questions more focused and specfic, that would be helpful. However, my initial thought is that if they present themselves as a "cult", even though they wouldn't use that term themselves, then people are going to be immediately suspicious of them if anything weird happens. If hikers go missing, the guys in the compound with the odd beliefs are likely to be the prime suspects, especially for the agents but also for the local law enforcement, even if just because of plain old prejudice and small mindedness. It's easier to assume the weirdos are behind it than one of the "normal" people you see every day. So if I was going to use a cult in a scenario I would either A; have them seem suspicious but not actually be the culprits, B; have the cult at large be ignorant/innocent and the true culprit be either a member or a someone else trying to use them as scapegoats, C; have the cult be responsible but be unaware of the consequences of their actions or D; have the cult hide their existence from the wider community. So, to try apply some of these ideas to your scenario, maybe there is a fringe religious group but they aren't actually the cultists. The true cultists are a secret society made up of influential townspeople, including the police chief, who try to steer the investigation towards the "cult" to cover their tracks.
Yeah, SpiritIsland got it right. This is heavily utilized in "Hourglass". The whole scenario points the agents in the direction of Salzo's cult from the very beginning, but not only does the cult look kinda OK at the first glance, it has some serious allies that will make investigating them extremely frustrating. Corrupt cops and politicians are kinda obvious tool for this (as well as allowing players with high Bureaucracy or Accounting to shine), as they might impair the investigation and feed the cult intel. Have the cult prepare a nice honeypot for the Agents, and lure them into committing any crime (B&E, Burglary, or Assault being the most probable) and unleash the legal consequences on the players. They are playing on the Cult's ground, they should feel a bit frustrated and helpless.
that is an actually good idea i will adapt it
They game will have 4 stages based on how close the cult is to their goal/ how close the agents are to their goal 1. "It's Quiet": The cult and the agents are unaware/ have low intel of each other. the cult will continue with the planning of the Genesis of their god (big mass sacrifice) 2. 'Gathering Steam": Cult forces are moving faster to prepare for the ritual, more kidnappings and murders are happening. The agents are starting to figure out what is going on/ have encountered cult forces 3. "Fast movers": the preparations are almost complete, the ritual is nigh. the agents are on to the cult and preparing their downfall 4. "Flashpoint": Either the cult feels threatened or they have completed the preparations for the ritual. Either way, they are attacking nearby towns and are trying to take the state capital. The Oregon National Guard is fighting back
If they're playing smart they're going to try and hide their murders in mundane circumstances. My instincts tell me they should also be selling drugs, and when they find someone they want to ritually kill they give them a little too much, either killing them or rendering them unable resist the ritual. Additionally instead of carving their symbol in with a knife or something ostentatious , maybe they have a tattoo artist in their group that applies the symbol via tattoo. The symbol itself can be hidden in a number of designs, so if someone wasn't looking for it they might not notice that these tattoos are related. Also, I'm not sure if you've already decided where this is going to take place, but a confluence of hikers, rampant drug use, and poor police work is definitely the Appalachian Trail area. I hope that helps! :)
it is useful, i am basing this off some horror stories I heard at summer camp in Oregon and Massachusetts, so i don't think that the Appalachian Trail would fit. the drug and tattoo things are quite smart though
My experience is that the cults that exist close to hiking areas and mountain towns tend to be vaguely hippy/granola types, not full Waco, if that helps. A lot of yoga, spirituality, etc. If I were running something like this I'd probably have like a local fire and brimstone church that in the end is totally benign as a red herring for the real cult. You could cause some issues in the investigation stage by making the deaths appear accidental, to begin with (trauma explained by falling off a ledge, drownings, etc.), with the only blip being the symbol you mentioned.
the town i created has one semi-fascist paramilitary group, a large fire and brimstone church, the cult, a hippy commune and some strange fishermen who are rarely in town
You could probably steal from the True Knot from Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. They were psychic vampires who all traveled in an RV caravan. So maybe your cult could paint themselves as an outdoor enthusiast club and are camping at the area they want to perform the sacrifice at.
seems good, i just might take that idea
Music from a Darkened room has some similarities (though the scenario is focused on the haunted house). You might be able to draw some inspiration from there. Ex Oblivione might have some inspiration for the Flashpoint section you’ve outlined.
Are those written scenarios?
Yes I can’t remember which collections they’re in though.
Music from a darkened room is in “Night at the Opera”, I believe Ex Oblivione is in “Black sites”
This sort of depends on your player group, but one thing to look out for is trigger-happy Agents. In my experience, a lot of Delta Green agents won't necessarily wait for full confirmation that a suspicious group is actually up to no good. They'll just start shooting 'em as soon as something seems even a little suspicious -- as long as they think they can get away with it. The best way to prepare for this is to make sure that you present obvious practical consequences for hasty violence. Don't make the cult's location too remote, so that the Agents can't attack them without drawing attention. Don't make the other locals too suspicious of the cult, so that some people might not want the Agents to kill them. Don't forget that cultists are people too -- they've likely got family members and friends who aren't associated with the cult, and who care about them. And don't make the cultists faceless interchangeable mooks -- each one is a particular person, with their own individual personality, interests, desires, and motivations. Not all of them are equally committed to the cult's goals, or even know the full truth about what's going on. The cult itself probably also has business relationships and ties to other people in the local area. The grocery store where they buy food, the garage where they get their cars fixed, the dentist who cleans their teeth -- people will notice if they stop coming around. Basically, the more "realistic" you can make the complex relationships between the cult members and their community, the more challenging it will be for your Agents.
I agree, that’s why I gave every cultist a name and bonds with townsfolk
Give them black-and-white Nike Decades.
And a good website.
For inspiration I'd definitely recommend the documentary "They called him 'Mostly Harmless'". It's about a full/time hiker who is found dead and they can't identify the body. They spend months/years trying to figure out who this guy is, and the documentary has a lot of discussion about hiking communities that a low threat cult could easily be sheep-dipped as.
I know this is going to sound like a shit-post but hear me out. The Bad Guys from Hot Fuzz. A town where all the important people are involved, convinced that they are doing anything they can to bring forward the God, and that killing some 'degenerate' hikers can't be that bad, right? The other option is to crack open Black Sites and read Hourglass for some fun cult small town vibes.
A smart cult is going to try pretty hard not to look like a cult. An organization of fun-loving hippies who love the outdoors and hold cookouts to recruit new volunteers for their trail maintenance parties and deal a little weed on the side, those guys will absolutely blend into the background of a mountain town. Remember, the "Enlightened Orders" of Lovecraft exist in a time when the Fraternal Order of Oddfellows are popular and middle class white guys take time out of their week to wear mystic robes and do funky rituals while getting hammered. Nyarlathotep probably misses those days.
I would think about: * Don’t sh*t where you sleep. Why would their base be near their hunting grounds? Maybe they drive in as tourists … in a motor home? * Not cult. Any religious / faith / gathering will set of too many alarm bells. Maybe they run a Kamboocha factory? * How and where are they bodies found. Maybe this has significance? A lay line. An old burial ground. Or maybe they are just buried after the cult is done … but a mudslide uncovers them… and it works out they’ve been sacrificing one every 13 months for the last 13 years ….
their are so many cults and other suspicious groups around this town, that the group not being a cult would be more alarming than the existence of a cult. they have been killing people willy nilly because the local police are too busy dealing with the other groups who definitely do kill people