The weirdness gets played straighter today as we segue into Eden Studios’ 1997 game Conspiracy X. As the name would imply it’s essentially a tabletop version of The X Files. The PCs are members of a secret organization called Aegis that fights to protect humanity against Greys, Reptoids, Atlanteans, Nazi occultists, US government collaborators with the aforementioned, & your more workaday threats as mutants, werewolves, vampires, cryptids & who knows what else. Gotta say, a lot of the bloom has gone off this particular worldbuilding conceit ever since the Q cult shone a spotlight on how much of elliptony is just anti-Semitism with some new wallpaper. But let’s presume good will on our author’s part, since I’ve got no reason to believe otherwise, & forge ahead.

Stage one of chargen is to develop a concept. Members of an Aegis team fall into one of six broad categories that describe their approach, function, & outlook: inquisitor, leader, scientist, driven, explorer & brute. If you were to consider Mulder he would be an inquisitor with a side order of driven: he knows The Truth Is Out There & he’s going to find it no matter what, but he’s also haunted by his sister’s abduction. Scully is straight up scientist, although in her case she’s going to apply her knowledge to demonstrate that Mulder’s wacky theories are hokum. All at once I recall the old movie Fire In The Sky, about a North Carolina logger who claimed to have been held captive by aliens & subjected to experiments for five days. Let’s mash him & Mulder together. Our PC is Todd Fournier, a logger from Aroostook County, Maine (so his last name is pronounced foor-NEAR). He & his brother Paul were seized by unknown entities while they were working a lot deep in the Unorganized Territory. Before they could be taken aboard the craft (or was it into a structure?), Todd managed to escape. (Or was he released? Even he’s not sure.) His brother was never seen again. Tormented by guilt & ostracized by a suspicious community, Todd threw himself into investigating the incident & through doggedness & wit uncovered several lines of inquiry that Aegis was already looking into. Todd’s a person it’s better to have inside the tent pissing out, so Aegis brought him on board.

Characters begin with 100 Character Points (CP) to use to adjust their attributes. There are seven attributes, all of which initially have a score of 3. To raise an attribute to 4 costs 20 CP, to 5 costs 50. Likewise, lowering an attribute to 2 adds 20 CP to your pool, to 1 adds 50.

Strength 3
Size 3
Agility 3
Reflexes 3
Intelligence 3
Willpower 4
Perception 3

80 CP remaining

PCs also have a Good Luck/Bad Luck rating. In dire circumstances you can call for a luck roll on 2d6. If the total is under your Good Luck, fortune smiles on you, but if it’s over your Bad Luck you’re hooped. Everyone begins with a 2/12; to raise your Good Luck costs 10 CP/point, to lower your Bad Luck (making it more likely you’ll roll over it & thus catch a bad break) nets you 10 CP/point. Todd must have a bit of an edge or he would have disappeared to wherever his brother went.

Good Luck 3 / Bad Luck 12

70 CP remaining

Influence measures how much pull a PC has in various walks of life – the military, the scientific community, the underworld, &c. Everyone begins with 1 point & can buy more, but Todd is a classic Joe Lunchbucket so we don’t. His Influence remains at 1.

All Conspiracy X characters also have a Credential, the organization from which they were recruited into Aegis. Our concept starts to fall down a bit here since these are all government agencies or top secret projects. The closest thing in the menu of choice is Air Force pilot, so let’s say Todd’s a part timer in the Maine Air National Guard.

Next step is to buy skills & “trainings”, an occurrence of that hideous form that I didn’t know had even been contemplated back in the 90s. (Seriously, I thought “liaise” was as bad as it had got at that point.) Anyway. Skills are used in tests, trainings aren’t. A training simply indicates that the character possesses certain knowledge or abilities; having that training may enable you to, for example, make an attribute check to use it for a certain purpose. Anyone can purchase any skill or training, but they come cheaper if they’re on the list for your profession. Level 1 is a novice, 3 a professional, 5 a grandmaster. Professional skills can be bought up to level 3 at chargen

Everyone gets Brawling 1, Drive 1 & Swim 1 for free

Athletics 1, Computer Use 1, Engineering 1, Gunnery 1, Pilot 2, Repair/Build 2, Small Arms: Pistol 1
48 CP remaining

Awareness
45 CP remaining

Now come the oddly named Psych Profile & Medical History. These are menus of advantages or disadvantages (well, all disadvantage in the case of Psych Profile) that cost or provide additional CP. Extra points always come in handy, so let’s pick the psych profile trait that fits the concept of someone who’s undergone the trauma of what may have been an alien abduction. That’ll help pay for a medical history advantage.

Flashbacks
55 CP remaining

Physical Training (their exercise regimen keeps the PC especially strong & fit)
40 CP remaining

PCs can also buy Talents & Abilities. Most of these are psychic powers, but a few are more in the supernatural or “in touch with primordial nature” line. One looks pretty good for a man who spends a lot of time working in the trackless forest.

Time & Direction Sense (like a human homing pigeon, you always have a rough idea where you are, know which way you’re going or have gone, & how much time has passed)
30 CP remaining

Finally, there’s a list of background & resource items to buy from. This is mostly mundane personal history stuff apart from Guardian Angel/Haunted, which involve literal angels & ghosts. Todd is still in touch with one of the reporters who covered his brother’s disappearance as part of a larger investigation into strange goings-on in the Maine woods (none of which would have attracted much attention if one of the incidents hadn’t happened in Baxter State Park).

Media Contact
20 CP remaining

We’ve got all the background parts that fit the character concept, so let’s get some out-of-network skills. Increasing an attribute would eat up 20 of the 22 & Todd’s Physical Training gives a nice boost to his strength & endurance anyway. Non-professional skills cost the same amount, but they’re capped at 2 at chargen.

Boating 2, First Aid 2, Language (French) 1, Small Arms: Rifle 1, Tracking 1, UFOlogy 1

That’s that. With the skills fleshed out our new Aegis agent is ready to get into the field.

Name: Todd Fournier
Profession: Logger/Air National Guard pilot
Credential: US Military

Strength: 3
Size: 3
Agility: 3
Reflexes: 3
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 4
Perception: 3
Good Luck/Bad Luck: 3/12
Influence: 1 Military

Skills:
Athletics 1, Boating 2, Brawling 1, Computer Use 1, Drive 1, Engineering 1, First Aid 2, Gunnery 1, Language (French) 1, Pilot 2, Repair/Build 2, Small Arms: Pistol 1, Small Arms: Rifle 1, Swim 1, Tracking 1, UFOlogy 1

Trainings:
Awareness

Traits:
Flashbacks
Physical Training
Time & Direction Sense
Media Contact