It begins like so many things do: with the smallest details. Hints and whispers seep in through the cracks. At first it's nothing more than slender threads tentatively interwoven throughout the complex tapestry of the Investigators' lives and caseloads. But then it escalates. Gradually becomes something more. Something sinister. It seems technological, or mathematical, or understandable. But it isn't. It's nothing anyone will ever understand.
Radio Silence is a scenario for three to six investigators. It is intended to take place as an interlude or series of interludes within a longer term story or campaign. Buildup is key. Start quietly and gradually turn up the volume until a deafening cacophony drives them insane. The investigators will become tainted by a slow dissolution of the technological reality around them. This breakdown in the mechanisms of social convenience works backwards in time to compel them. The literary themes explored in this scenario are fear of technology and fear of the loss of technology. These fears develop and grow into a terrifying confrontation with loss of control. This helplessness is what comes with the inability to connect in an online world ever more reliant upon social networking and online communications. There is also a somewhat lesser subtext of social control and confronting how the Investigators have exploited others and been exploited themselves. It was written in a style intended to convey a schizophrenic view of the world, becoming increasingly insane and disjointed as the volume gets turned up for the horrific climax.
EVENT ZERO: Frequency Propagation[]
This is the not the source. It's just a light touch; the barest contact. The initial moment where something from outside brushes against something natural. It could be an artifact tainted with Tillinghast Radiation. It could be a bizarre construction of jumbled parts and electronics found in a Green Box; the tickertape output constantly spitting out seemingly random numbers. It could be an academic paper on the unsolvable and debunked Turrandy Equations, or the Laqueus Set. It could be exposure to an experimental and highly classified synthetic nootropic like White-35, a dangerous drug that produces mathematical hallucinations. There are many avenues of entry for this pinprick of otherness. This injection inoculates a harmful vaccine against sanity. Once the contagion begins, it does not retreat into obscurity. Uninfected investigators may not even notice the moment when the taint enters their soul.
Before the scenario can begin, the Keeper must decide upon the vector for the eerie events to follow. This should be a small thing, a catalyst that sparks a dangerous self-propagating reaction. Think of it as an initial infection leading to a catastrophic outbreak. If at all possible, the Zero Event should be derived from an investigator's backstory or the Cell's operational history. Pick something that seems innocuous and innocent enough at first, but with the potential to develop into something significant and serious. This would be an ideal scenario for survivors of Artifact Zero; if not for the well known fact that Artifact Zero never has any survivors.
EVENT ONE: Signal Interference[]
Noise. Static. Disconnected communications. These are the first symptoms inflicted by the source. Cellphone calls keep getting cut off, and you can hear a faint clicking or beeping in the background. Sometimes there is a faint murmur, like a voice or voices. Digital televisions glitch and pixelate. Analog televisions fill up with more and more static. Is there a voice whispering behind the static? Computers crash. Wireless network connections cannot be maintained. Eventually even hardwired connections begin to fail. IT or Tech Support would be baffled by these problems, and worse than useless, much more so than their normal uselessness. Eventually the signal manifests as a dreadful ululation, a nightmare piping from beyond the veil. These bizarre happenstances should occur during another scenario, perhaps as the investigators are wrapping it up or preparing for the final confrontation.
Professional scientific and parapsychological examination of these phenomena produce no reproducible results. The frequencies, voltages, surges and dampenings occur at random and may damage equipment. Current is sometimes generated in nearby circuits, while other circuits are dampened as electrical resistance increases in a bizarre field effect. Misguided attempts to channel or drain the effect into the local power grid, batteries, or other technology is left up the individual keepers to resolve.
The final stage is an ever-increasing series of power fluctuations and electronic failures. Devices that use energy burn out when the investigators are in prolonged contact with them. Investigators suffering from paranoia might start hallucinating additional symptoms indistinguishable from the reality. Folie à deux could spread among a group that's particularly psychologically damaged. Attempts to have the syndrome diagnosed or analyzed fail and may subject the Investigators to a quarantine by A-Cell, particularly if their condition begins to affect the Secure Server system. Sanity losses for these minor events should be 0/1 per event, but should not exceed more than four points total.
EVENT TWO: Electronic Voice Phenomena[]
Parapsychologists have recorded electronically generated noises resembling speech for decades. These sounds are not normally the result of intentional rendering, but are supposedly somehow inserted into existing signals by discarnate entities or other paranormal sources. As is often the case with paranormal phenomena, natural explanations abound; hoaxes, apophenia, auditory pareidolia, and random equipment artifacts have all been proposed to explain away EVP. At this point in the scenario, the investigators will experience a genuine EVP contact with someone they know to be deceased.
Choosing the ghost for this haunting is left to the Keeper's discretion. Ideally this spirit will be someone the investigators will not ignore, discount or find threatening: not an old enemy. But neither should they fully trust this mysterious voice from the afterlife. A former case officer or friendly contact with their own agenda would be perfect. If a deceased investigator is chosen, be sure to have the former player roleplay out the contact and pass this player paranoia inducing placebo notes to worry and aggravate the other investigators. The perfect character would tie into the exploitation theme. He should have either used the Investigators in the past, or have been used by them. If the character has committed suicide, consider opening the scenario with the characters dealing with the aftermath of this person killing themselves.
The EVP contact should seem like there is a concerted effort to push the signal through some sort of barrier. As the “pushing” increases, the entity could become fatigued and the signal weaker. Or, with repeated effort, the contact can become stronger as the “barrier” stretches thin, like a flexible membrane. This is dangerous. Unfriendly entities can be attracted to the entry point (the investigators) and potentially harm their EVP contact on the “other side”. Perilous weirdness orbits the source like desert vultures around a dying victim or ravenous planets around a tenebrous star. The EVP contact should therefore be motivated to keep messages succinct and to the point, or risk interruption.
The Investigator's problems with technology will fade away for a few hours before any EVP event, and this subsidence will continue for 1d3 days afterward, giving them a brief respite from the difficulties. The first few EVP contacts will be from car radios, or an alarm clock radio going off suddenly late at night. Additional contacts might be had first thing in the morning from the alarm clock radio. There will be curious ululating noises in the background. A successful Idea roll (with computerized comparisons to existing sound databases and such) will reveal that the background sounds are astronomical noises. Comparison with SETI databases will reveal matches to unique signature alerts that some fringe researchers believe to originate from exoplanets.
The ghost will warn them of “The Frequency”, which could be an entity, organization, or actual signal that the Investigators should beware of. Contact will be sporadic and intermittent. It might even stretch across several scenarios, coming at odd or dramatically appropriate times. More questions can be asked by clever investigators. Perhaps they hold a séance with recording instruments present (Occult skill), or use a complex array of parapsychology equipment to elicit EVP (Parapsychology skill). Experienced Keepers will know to encourage the Investigators to come up with the idea and roleplay it out. Each successful skill roll will allow them to ask one question.
Eventually, the EVP contact will introduce the Investigators to a second entity. This second “ghost” is Kenneth McGivens, station manager of KBAL AM723. He is supernaturally broadcasting under alien mind control and will tell the Investigators that the Pnakotic Manuscripts are located in the Nowhere Green Box (described later). Preferably this will occur just before or just after an important mission. The Manuscripts are supposed to contain a ritual which will resolve their technological breakdown syndrome. This Green Box could be located somewhere a hundred miles from civilization in the middle of southern Idaho, or it could be located conveniently along the way to or from a Delta Green mission. Kenneth will claim that he is under the influence of “The Frequency” and they must stop “The Frequency” or come to “The Frequency” and generally degenerates into increasingly insane rants the longer the Investigators communicate with him.
Asking A-Cell about the Nowhere Green Box is a surefire way to get A-Cell very nervous about you. While these EVP encounters are going on; a different manifestation will begin. This communication will transmit less clearly and more intimately, because it originates from a violent and dangerous alien intelligence.
Sanity Loss for experiencing EVP is 0/1 per message received. After three such instances, no further Sanity rolls are required.
EVENT THREE: Harmonic Oscillation[]
If this scenario is not being run as part of a larger story, an encounter or two with Denizens of S'glhuo (see Malleus Monstrorum p 77) would be appropriate. This encounter should be disguised at first as the onset of tinnitus (a recurring ringing in the ears). This ringing will become louder and painful over the course of several days. Prepare a series of vignettes from the investigators' daily lives, each instance worse than the last. Perhaps they are having a conversation with their spouse, co-worker or boss. Perhaps they are checking a series of Delta Green dead drops. Perhaps they are at a bar after work having a relaxing drink. The “tinnitus” will halve Listen skill during these instances. It's possible that this encounter and it's buildup can be interlaced with the EVP experiences described previously.
Eventually, the ringing will evolve and increase into a shrill ululation. A mad piping that emits from the interior of the investigator's skull. A halved Idea roll will reveal that this noise is very reminiscent of astronomical radio noise from the planets and other celestial bodies. This horrid piping will eventually be accompanied by a manifestation.
Perhaps it will appear on static-laden video monitors near the investigator a few times before it actually attacks. Particularly creepy might be the creature's sudden appearance during an internet video conference. Perhaps such a conference is called by an expert that the Investigators need to consult, or as a demonstration of their signal interference problem. Imagine the reaction of your agents if a supernatural creature slowly moves into view behind the person they are videoconferencing with before slowly moving off camera. If the person is warned, they will look around and not see anything, particularly if they are not subject to the signal interference problem. It's likely that they will accuse the warning Investigator of crying wolf.
The eventual attack will be reminiscent of a pop-up “screamer” video or animated gif from the internet that lures the viewer into a false sense of security before jolting them with the sudden appearance of a frightening horror. Each participant of the video conference who are subject to the signal interference problem will be attacked. The thing or things will move on screen from the margins, extremely close, and plunge out to grab at the viewer. Those who are not subject to “the problem” will not be able to perceive the creature at all, although these oblivious witnesses may later develop the signal interference problem at the Keeper's discretion.
This apparition will take the form of a creature with white scales, long talons, huge unblinking bluish eyes and needle-like fangs, resembling eyewitness descriptions of the Chupacabra. Feel free to encourage a misidentification or even have the creature be a mutated Grey EBE if this fits your campaign. The creature will have the statistics of a Denizen from S'glhuo. It will desire telepathic contact with humans, particularly the investigators. When it comes forth from the video monitor, it will still be riddled with static, as if subject to some inchoate interference that prevents it from fully manifesting in our reality.
If investigators are fluent in any foreign languages it will attempt telepathic contact in these languages, as if a non-native language was somehow easier to access within the human mind. It will convey incomprehensible alien messages such as:
“YOU MUST MAKE FURTHER CONTACT. ESTABLISH THE FREQUENCY.”
“THE FREQUENCIES ARE WRONG.”
“20MG BENZEDRINE ADMINISTERED SUBCUTANEOUSLY. CONTINUE FLUOROSCOPIC EXAMINATION.”
“FIVE SIDED PNAKOTUS HOLDS THE KEY. DISMEMBERMENT IS THE KEYHOLE.”
“THE FREQUENCY SEEKS COMMUNION.”
“A LINEAR SYSTEM CANNOT PRODUCE INTERMODULATION. IF THE INPUT OF A LINEAR TIME-INVARIANT SYSTEM IS A SIGNAL OF A SINGLE FREQUENCY, THEN THE OUTPUT IS A SIGNAL OF THE SAME FREQUENCY; ONLY THE AMPLITUDE AND PHASE CAN DIFFER FROM THE INPUT SIGNAL. HOWEVER, NON-LINEAR SYSTEMS GENERATE HARMONICS.”
Each of these messages will be exceedingly “loud”, subtracting 1d6% from Listen skill and granting an equal amount to the Clairaudience and/or Telepathy skill. These attacks will make the ears and/or eyes bleed. The attacks will continue until the manifestation is ended. If Listen skill is reduced to 0%, each attack will begin to do 1d3 damage to hit points if a POW vs POW resistance roll is failed.
Deaf investigators will, however, still be able to clairaudiently hear frequencies of a supernatural nature such as those found throughout this scenario. Over time, Listen skill will heal at the same rate as hit points, including bonuses for medical treatment (there is no reason to tell investigators this unless someone with the appropriate medical skill tells them about it). The creature can only be banished by magical attacks or exposure to a noise source of at least 100 decibels (such as a motorcycle or jackhammer), which will do 1d6 damage to the Denizen. When it reaches 0HP it is dispelled back to S'glhuo. Gunshots are loud enough to visibly affect the creature, forcing it to flicker in and out of reality and causing it pain. A Luck or Idea roll may be necessary for solution-challenged investigators. Sanity loss for this encounter is 1/1d6. There is no sanity award for defeating this creature due to the neurological shock of developing Clairaudience and Telepathy.
Those familiar with the ninth volume of the Revelations of Gla'aki might be able to deduce that the vibratory affliction plaguing the investigators can serve as a channel to the Gulf of S'glhuo, and may have something to do with the Outer God Tru'Nembra. A successful Cthulhu Mythos roll will indicate that protections against this sort of manifestation may be found in the Pnakotic Manuscript.
Inexperienced investigators are likely to report this string of incidents to A-Cell. A-Cell are likely to tell them to investigate further, providing vague promises of support. Secretly, A-Cell will become concerned that the Cell may be compromised and could decide to place them under a tentative quarantine and surveillance. Whatever else A-Cell does depends on how the Keeper wishes to portray A-Cell.
After the attack, the signal interference phenomenon will subside for a time, but begin building up again. It would seem likely that another manifestation will result if no resolution can be found. Hopefully, investigators will be better prepared for such a dire circumstance.
EVENT FOUR: Amplitude Modulation[]
This happens during a time of isolation; maybe while taking a long drive through the middle of nowhere to dump a body (or worse). Ideally it will occur during a tense time before or after a mission in response to the last EVP received by the Investigators. If someone is killed during the Harmonic Oscillation manifestation, then A-Cell may order the cell to dispose of their body at the Nowhere Green Box. If this option is used, perhaps the Keeper could work with a player to create two characters that, in succession, might increase the horror. It might also happen that the last EVP occurs as they are driving near the location of the Nowhere Green Box. Once the Investigators begin to get KBAL AM723 on their car radio, there will be no further EVP contact.
There is a long stretch of lonely road. No traffic. The radio reception suffers from the usual signal interference problems. All except for one startlingly absolutely crystal clear channel. It's faint at first, the broadcast is underpowered. Drive closer, and KBAL AM723 gets louder. It's a religious station featuring fire and brimstone recordings about the apocalypse. “Repent or see your soul consumed.” Passionate sermons. Harbingers of Eschaton. The mission may go on against this backdrop. Dire tasks are performed. By now the Investigators should be aware of their proximity to the Nowhere Green Box and how it might help them with their technological difficulties. The remote Green Box securing the manuscript is buried way out in between all the miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Flyover country.
The Nowhere Green Box is, in fact, an entire series of buried and interconnected 40ft. shipping containers. One dirt road leads to this makeshift facility and is blocked off by EPA signs warning of dangerous chemical contamination due to heavy metal runoff, arsenic, mercury and sulfur. The contamination exists, and has gotten worse over time, but was deliberately exaggerated by a Delta Green friendly to secure the property for purchase by A-Cell. The front company that owns it (Sovereign Carriage Service Corporation) is heavily invested in the funeral services industry and was created when Delta Green investigated all the ghoulish graveyard scandals of the late nineties and early 2000's. Sovereign Carriage today manufactures discount burial caskets made affordable through monthly payments for big box stores such as Wal-Mart.
The road leads into a canyon and terminates at a sealed off mineshaft surrounded by heavy machinery, some of which functions. In the mine are many cremated remains sealed in copper containers and 55 gallon drums. Entry to the buried containers is in a mineshack office a little ways off. It is concealed under some rusty desks and the first container under the ground resembles a storm shelter. A fully functional intercom system links the operational areas. Three containers are linked to this “storm shelter”. One container resembles a surgical chamber of horrors with bone saws, power tools, chainsaws, ripsaws, an embalming table, containers of formaldehyde and so forth. It is possible to hook an electrical generator to the copper embalming table, which has some very sturdy steel shackles attached to it. Past this “terror morgue” is a fully functional crematoria furnace with full ventilation that opens into the mine area. Many copper cylindrical containers and 55 gallon drums are stored in a container adjoining the crematorium. The purpose of the Nowhere Green Box should now be clear. It exists to dispose of bodies; particularly those with suspected or confirmed supernatural properties. Clairaudient Investigators will be able to hear screams and other sounds relating to the past use of the “Terror Morgue”. These psychically audible noises will cost 1/1d3 SAN.
The third container connected to the storm shelter is relatively isolated down a long tunnel and contains a series of large gunsafes, within the furthest safe against the far wall are the Pnakotic Manuscripts. This tome is the most significant of the mythos artifacts here, but it is not the only one. Stored with the manuscripts are three broken amulets held within an ornate black stained teak box of apparent antiquity. These items are non-functional Pnakotic Pentagrams. If they are repaired, they will render the bearer invisible to Hounds of Tindalos, and they will double the bearer's POW for the purpose of resisting magical mind control. The ritual to enchant/repair them is contained in the Pnakotic Manuscript and costs 1 POW and 2 SAN. The ritual will cause the loss of 1d6 hours of missing time. There are also many weapons, explosives and whatever other clandestine occult bric-a-brac the Keeper wishes to be found in the Nowhere Green Box.
This Green Box is an ideal location for another horrific encounter, similar to the previous one. This time, the Denizen will use it's claws to physically terrorize the Investigators instead of seeking communion. There are many old computer monitors, walkie-talkies, and of course the intercom system for the creature to manifest from. It will come after dark. KBAL AM723 religious broadcasts may play over the intercom and cannot be stopped short of destroying the speakers. Keepers should play up the “disposable corpses” and exploitation theme here, perhaps with reminders of how often A-Cell has had the investigators murder and cover up murders. The creature may remind the Investigators “THEY ARE USING YOU.”
The creature will not outright kill any investigators at first, although it has no such compunctions about stalking them and occasionally wounding them. The sounds the creature makes can be heard everywhere by Clairaudient Investigators. Those with Telepathy are in for an even more exciting treat as they can sense the thing's hunger and predatory lust as it stalks them through the area. The encounter ends when the creature kills an Investigator (thus forcing the others to dispose of his body). Corpses that were suffering from the Signal Interference problem will twitch when dead from a residual electrostatic charge in their nervous system. Investigators may also be able to dispel the creature with an extremely loud noise or the use of sorcery.
Encountering the Denizen costs 1/1d6 SAN.
EVENT FIVE: Phase Differences[]
After the events at the Nowhere Green Box, and possibly having received other clues (Kenneth McGivens could be talked into giving his name during their EVP contact for example), the Investigators may be driven to explore KBAL AM723. They are clearly in close proximity to the station, and Clairaudient investigators will be able to zero in on the station's broadcast. Insane investigators can easily become obsessed with tracking down KBAL AM723. They may construct jury-rigged electronic devices to help them home in on the signal. In any event, as they leave the Nowhere Green Box, the Investigators will hear Kenneth McGivens on the air. He will be begging for help, growing increasingly panicked over the air as he calls for assistance with a “medical emergency.”
Weird things begin to happen as people approach the KBAL main antenna. At night, odd lights approach those subjected to Event Zero. These lights behave like Will-o-the-Wisps. They will retreat and flicker out if approached. [0/1 SAN] Perhaps odd entities or movements can be seen in the brush. During the day, a humanoid figure might be spotted far off, hiding behind scrub brush. Perhaps someone has even constructed a creepy looking scarecrow visible from the road; despite the complete absence of crops. Perhaps the investigators come across an abandoned vehicle. The doors are open, the lights are on, no people can be found anywhere. A smell of ozone permeates the air. This would be an ideal time for something to be heard in the underbrush alongside the road. They won't get a good look at it or be able to catch it, but it will appear odd, shuddering and shivering in and out of phase. As before, use Clairaudience and Telepathy to provide a deeper connection to the horror.
If the Keeper wishes, these sporadic sightings can lead up to a violent encounter. The scarecrow might have a Denizen of S'glhuo manipulating it from within. The thing in the underbrush could be a reptilian Denizen attracted by the oddities surrounding the investigators. Killing it presents a problem for the investigators. This close to the KBAL signal, the Denizen is vulnerable to physical attacks, but this also means it's material body stays in this dimension when slain, giving off weird vibrations, buzzing and phasing like an AC Transformer leaking electric noise. What do they do with it's body? Storing it's burnt remains near the Green Box seems likely. Will they report this to A-Cell?
A particularly cruel Keeper might present horrifying hallucinations of shivering demons screaming and whistling at the investigators from every passing car, ala Jacob's Ladder. If the investigators do not normally practice restraint, they could precipitate a massacre of innocents by failing to recognize their affliction. It would be easy to manipulate such investigators into seeing everyone they come across on the road as sinister and malign obstacles to be overcome, mistakenly hoping to regain their lost sanity with a rampage of murderous carnage.
When they keep driving, someone will come on the air at KBAL AM723. “We have a medical emergency. Someone please come and help.” Then they will begin to recite a long series of numbers. The call for help will repeat (slightly different) every thirty-seven minutes. Of course no phone calls or other means of communication will work at this time. Strangely, any GPS or internet searches for the KBAL AM723 radio station will work flawlessly. The lowest sanity Investigator will be drawn to the KBAL transmitter and develop an urge to home in on the signal. As Investigators lose sanity, this urge will spread and become overpowering.
EVENT SIX: Unsuppressed Transmission[]
Flashes of Synathesthsia will afflict those who make their way towards the KBAL Radio Station. Rapidfire visions of astronomical bodies and static will be interspersed with rotting images of death. These frequently interrupt the investigators as they struggle to penetrate the mysteries set before them. All of these flashes together will be worth 0/1d3 Sanity.
The radio station is a two story building with a basement. The tubular steel broadcast tower adjoining the building is 150 meters tall. A five year old mid sized sedan and a Highway Patrol car are parked outside. Electrical disturbances proliferate around the station. Items, particularly metallic items, may flicker in and out of reality. The lights go on and off at inconvenient times. The smell of ozone comes and intensifies. It never goes away. Any survivors of this scenario will always smell slightly of electricity. The air has a tangible static quality.
This is closer to the source. A firmer pressure applied to reality. The pushing gets stronger. Voices loudly and clearly chanting in Aklo emanate from overhead speakers throughout the station (as well as any other speakers or devices the Investigators may have brought with them). The investigators will gain 1d6% in the Aklo language and lose that much SAN from their time in the radio station. The station manager is located in the broadcast studio. He is handcuffed to the radiator and has been driven quite insane. Before him, on the floor are two dead Highway Patrol officers. One appears to have turned his shotgun on himself and the other appears to have shot themselves with their service pistol. This scene is worth 1/1d6 SAN.
Kenneth McGivens, the station manager, will speak to the investigators about the entity controlling his mind, referring to it as “The Frequency”. During a rare lucid moment, he handcuffed himself to the radiator and threw the keys out of reach. Influenced by the entity, the station manager will attempt to convince the investigators to release him. If they do so, he will wait until he is alone with an investigator and attack them from behind, then drag their body into the basement, dismember their corpse, and feed the entity. If any Investigators are driven insane during this scenario, they will be compelled to dismember the corpses of the Highway Patrol and bring the body parts to the basement to feed the entity. They may also be compelled to murder anyone who attempts to stop them from feeding the entity.
The entity awaits in the basement. The floor, ceiling and walls of the basement are covered in layers of Aklo glyphs inscribed by a variety of methods. These glyphs mutate, shift and change when not observed. Noticing this (with a successful Spot Hidden or Aklo roll) will cause 1/1d3 SAN. If investigators come down the stairs, two things occur. First, an unearthly piping will fill the basement with a deafening cacophony (1/1d6 SAN and Listen Rolls are x1/4). Second, the entity will attempt to Dominate the last investigator and shove the others down the stairs. Any insane investigators may be found in the tunnel leading to the well, dropping dismembered body parts down to feed the entity.
The entity resides at the bottom of the well (where all the water for the station comes from). Parts of it may be glimpsed. Tentacles. Squamous flesh. A lipless maw gaping open to reveal a eye surrounded by steely fangs. Otherworldly lights might be seen coming from the well. Investigators can be compelled to throw themselves down the well. The entity costs 1/1d10 to encounter.
The entity will communicate with the investigators, possibly using a mind controlled proxy. It will say things like “THE FREQUENCY MUST FEED.” “TUNE YOUR MINDS TO THE FREQUENCY.” “OBEY THE SIGNAL.” and other similar homilies. Those targeted for mind control will find themselves with a instinctual understanding of the thing's insane communications but this insight will be lost and fade away like a forgotten dream if they are ever freed of it's influence.
Despite all it's rage, the entity is not the source.
AFTERMATH: RADIO SILENCE[]
Survivors of this scenario will be freed from Signal Interference problems and any Tillinghast Radiation issues. Keepers must determine whether or not to allow Investigators to keep their Clairaudience and Telepathy skills. It might be a good idea to discuss your reasons for this with the players and see whether or not they are comfortable with roleplaying the repercussions of their newly minted psychic powers. Defeating the Entity is worth an award of 10 SAN. Lingering insanities might be a phobia of radios and electronic devices, or hysterical deafness.
Investigation of the radio station's ownership will reveal that the property was originally a farm. It was purchased by New World Industries in 1919 from a cousin who inherited it when his relatives were massacred, the murders are unsolved and still in the cold case files. In 1996 the radio station was purchased by a subsidiary of Whole Earth Enterprises and converted to it's present Christian fundamentalist format.
Statistics[]
The Denizen of S'glhuo - Servant of the Signal[]
STR | 12 | CON | 12 | SIZ | 12 | INT | 14 |
POW | 16 | DEX | 16 | APP | 11 | EDU | 14 |
SAN | 0 | HP | 12 |
Move 8, Damage Bonus 0
Armor: none, cannot be harmed by physical weapons, only by magical weapons and spells. Can be dispelled by extremely loud noises.
Attacks: Signal Assault (POW vs POW) -1d6% Listen, + same to Clairaudience/Telepathy. If Listen is reduced to 0% this attack will do 1d6 damage. Two Claws 40%, 1d6 damage.
Sanity Loss: 1/1d6
The Station Manager - Kenneth McGivens[]
STR | 7 | CON | 16 | SIZ | 8 | INT | 14 |
POW | 12 | DEX | 13 | APP | ? | EDU | ? |
SAN | 0 | HP | 12 |
Move 8, Damage Bonus 0
Attacks: Blunt Instrument 30% 1d8 damage
Fist 25% 1d3
Grapple 40% 1d3 or Special
Skills: Electronics 40%, Electrical Repair 50%, Radio Station
Operations 55%, Rant Insanely 70%, Aklo 15%
THE KBAL AM723 FREQUENCY ENTITY - Servitor of the Outer Gods - IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND[]
STR | 14 | CON | 20 | SIZ | 30 | INT | 17 |
POW | 24 | DEX | 16 | APP | ? | EDU | ? |
SAN | ? | HP | 25 |
Move 7, Damage Bonus +1d6
Armor: none, cannot be harmed by physical weapons, only by magical
weapons and spells.
Regeneration: 3hp per round.
Attacks 45% 2d6 Tentacles per turn. 2D6 damage per tentacle.
Spells: Call/Dismiss AZATHOTH, Cloud Memory, Contact Servitor of the
Outer Gods, Dominate, Enchant Pipes, Enthrall Victim, Implant Fear,
Mental Suggestion, Mesmerize, Summon/Bind Servitor of the Outer Gods.
This creature's pipes resonate with static electricity and reek of ozone. They are antennae that broadcast madness.
Sanity Loss: 1/1d10
Credits[]
Radio Silence was written by Kenneth Scroggins for the 2014 shotgun scenario contest.
Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are © Kenneth Scroggins, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.
Radio Silence is not available here under CC-BY-SA.