GM Background

The PCs are the (soon to be unsung) heroes of the small desert mining town of Morenci, AZ. An Alien Grey effort to induce psionic ability in humans via a pathogen works, but usually turns the victims into a zombie soon after. The PCs must figure out what's going on and stop it before becoming zombies themselves. The Illuminati's desire to maintain "the secret" means the PCs will be on their own.

GM Preparation

  1. Realize that your objective is to sow paranoid, nurture terror, and harvest grisly death/insanity.
  2. Read over the adventure.
  3. Choose your disease du-jour. Use GURPS Bio-Tech, pp. 112-117 and GURPS Basic Set, pp. 442-444 to come up with games stats for a Grey-engineered pathogen that unlocks psi ability, but eventually makes a zombie. Currently, this website is set up assuming the disease du-jour is an ebola out break (an horrific go-to disease in general).
  4. Load up your music player with KWRQ Sunny 102 FM adult contemporary appropriate tunes. It's what all the beautiful people of Morenci listen to.
  5. Get a combat map of the Copper Canyon Cafe ready.
  6. Guide the players through their Player Preparation steps. Mention that their Skills are color coded to their Basic Attributes. Call attention to their motivational disagvantage–e.g. Compulsive Thrill Seeking, Fanaticism (Defeat Evil), Sense of Duty (Humanity), etc.–which ensures they act horror-genre appropriate. Have fun with it!
  7. As you guide the players through their Player Preparation steps, explain that this is a Horror adventure. Each player's hope should be that their character's eventual death, mutilation, or decent into madness is heroic, gratuitous, and memorable.
  8. Fill out the GM Control Sheet sheet in the Ebola Spread.numbers spreadsheet. Make a note of which PCs have psi abilities,
    • Danger Sense
    • Empathy
    • Intuition
    • Luck
    as the Grey's MIBs will eventually try to abduct them. If their blood is not on file at Gila Health Resources, then the Grey's might not know they're psis.

Player Preparation

  1. Choose and fill in a pre-generated character sheet. Maybe prepare a 2nd (and 3rd) choice as well. Remember, survival isn't the point; memorable death or insanity is.
  2. Answer the questionnaire on the back of their character sheet.
  3. Hang out in character at the Copper Canyon Cafe listening to KWRQ Sunny 102 FM adult contemporary and discuss recent events while the other players and the GM finish preparations.

Synopsis

The adventure should progress as follows.

  1. Exposure = Freak the PCs Out: Immediatly after the EAS Alert, Dr. Debrah Wagner, MD goes on a murder suicide rampage at the Copper Canyon Cafe. By the end of this scene (infected) blood should everywhere.
  2. Brief Calm = Identify Infected: The Grey's MIBs will scan the population for psis as they come in to Gila Health Resources to give blood and/or have themselves tested. Give the PCs no more than 30m minutes real time for investigations. Figure out which PCs and NPCs are infected and when symptoms will manifest (2-21 days), then advance game time to that point.
  3. Psi/Zombie/MIB Encounters = Let the Horror Begin: Allow the PCs to encounter isolatd epsidoes of psi manifestation, zomblies, and MIBs as time allows–you'll want an hour to deal with the endgame. When the PCs learn enough, or when there is only 1.5h of real time left, the MIBs trigger the communications blackout and begin their endgame.
  4. Abductions = Endgame: Under the cover of an inexplicable communications blackout, the Grey's MIBs will abducts psis and take them to the Morenci Mine for Slave Mentality implants. The PCs may actually put a stop to this.
  5. Black Ops = Endgame: Even if the PCs stop the Greys, The Illuminati will send in a Black Ops team to scrub the town of evidence–witnesses are evidence.

The Powers That Be

The real story through the lens of conspiracy theories (which are all true).


CDC
Dept. of Health and Humans Services (DHHS) agency that actively fights and exaggerates outbreaks.
In Morenci, they are (over)zealously dealing with the outbreak.
They have been infiltrated by the Cabal, who are uninterested in this event.
WHO
UN agency that provide advice and assistance upon request.
In Morence, they are collecting and managing information.
Like the UN, they are generally ineffectual and harmless.
However, the have been infiltrated by The Greys.
Grey/WHO MIBs, are gathering intelligence on Morenci psis.
FEMA
Dept. of Homeland Secturity (DHS) agency that controls populations and squashes local control.
In Morenci, they are handling the internment of the infected.
They have been coopted by the Time Corp, who are uninterested in this event.
National Guard
Joint Dept. of Defense (DoD) and Army/Air Force agency that act as enforcers.
In Morenci, they will maintain the city quarantine.
None are in town; they are maintaining roadblocks on roads leading out of town.
The National Guard may not be compromised, but the DoD and armed forces are, but don't care about outbreak.
MIBs
Multiple agencies use them to observe, intimidate, and protect.
Most, like the Illuminati's, are merely capable human agents.
The WHO MIBs are Mi-go augmented humans and come off as "demonic supernaturals"
Greys
Uncaring (evil) extraterrestrials; a subject race of the Mi-go.
The Greys are doing psi research; human life/suffering means nothing to them.
Black Ops
These well disciplined black ops agents are operatives of The Illuminati.
They scrub Morenci of any trace of zombies, Greys, psis, etc. The secret must be maintained!

Locations

Copper Canyon Cafe
Primary Morenci hang-out.
Raymond, the town know-it-all, can usually be found here.
Gila Health Resources
The conspicuously over-engineered medical facility in Morenci, AZ.
A few Illuminated doctors work here; most employees know nothing of the secret research that goes on.
Morenci High School
The Wildcats have a nice football (Lawson Stadium) and baseball (Francis Waldorf Stadium) stadiums. At least one will be used to quarrantine the intected; the MIBs' communication jamming equipment will also be set up threre.
Morenci Mine
An actual working copper strip mine.
It is nicely isolated from the main town.
The Grey's will convert the office building into a surgical lab.