The Men in Black

[Cybermancer]

Many BtS campaigns involve men dressed in black operating from the shadows. They are especially common in alien lore. How do you deal with these covert operatives in your game?

I've adapted a Heroes Unlimited Agency that I use into the role.

Here's the write up:

The United Nations Security Bureau (UNSB)

Aliens exist.

Most governments have known this to be true since the late forties. By the early fifties, most of these governments had, through various means, discovered that other governments also knew. So it was that these nations convened secretly under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the issue and possible threat.

What these nations knew were that aliens existed, their technology was superior to anything found on earth and these aliens were visiting the planet with increasing frequency. They also generally agreed that if this were to become general knowledge, it could create mass panic across the planet. This could threaten the stability (read: status quo) of the worlds governments. And of course, there was the fearsome possibility of an invasion from a race that was much more advanced technologically.

As these nations talked in secret about aliens, other subjects and threats were brought up. While some aliens seemed to use spacecraft to visit earth, there were other beings whose presence could not be so easily explained away. These entities were certainly alien but it was proposed, not necessarily extraterrestrial. Things that had plagued mankind since perhaps the dawn of time. Things that some would call ghosts, faeries and monsters.

In the cold war environment of the time, no nation wanted to risk ceding any portion of its sovereignty to any other. There was a great deal of distrust between nations, even those supposedly on the same ‘side’. Still, the threat these aliens posed was too great to ignore. Indeed, the differences of all nations would seem petty indeed in the face of the threat of global invasion.

The United Nations Security Bureau (UNSB) was created to address these issues. It would be administered at a global level by the UN. It’s existence would only be known only to the permanent UN Security Council (in the nineties, this was opened up to all members of the UN Security council but only on the condition that each nation treated it as a state secret). It would be through the auspices of this UN agency that the various nations would share, on a voluntary basis, what information they possessed on aliens and other entities. While this information often included observed technological capabilities, actual technologies captured were are never shared.

Agents for the UNSB are drawn from federal agencies of participating nations. These agents are full members of their parent organizations and must obey the rules, laws and procedures that apply to these agencies. They also act as liaison agents between that agency and the UNSB although only the top members of the agency will be aware of the UNSB’s existence.

In the USA, UNSB agents are usually FBI agents. These agents are responsible for reviewing DR1313’s and investigating them to determine if they are of interest to the UNSB. These agents are often required to work with agents from other organizations in the course of their investigations. Usually, these other agents and organizations have no knowledge of the UNSB or of the greater importance of the case they are currently working on. UNSB agents work hard to maintain that status quo as well as the ignorance of the public at large.

Where as vehicles involved in most UN nations are painted white with large black UN letters clearly visible, agents of the UNSB are usually in vehicles painted all black. They have no common uniform but often where stylish black suits and sunglasses. There is no public acknowledgement of the existence of the UNSB from the UN or from any participating nations.

Agency features to follow later today.

[Jorel]

Awesome.

[Cybermancer]

Awesome.

Glad you like it.

The following is the agency features built using the rules found in Boxed Nightmares.

Step One: Agency Size: #6. International Psi-Espionage Agency (350 points)
Step Two: Agency Features
A. Outfits: #4. Specialty Clothing
B. Equipment: #5. Special Equipment
C. Weapons: #5. The Arsenal
D. Vehicles: #4. Personal Vehicles and expense account
E. Communications: #5. Satellite Network
F. Offices and Distribution: #5. International
G. Military Power: #5. Private Army
H. Sponsorship: #6. International Spy Organization
I. Special Budget: #4. Large Loans
J. Administrative Control and the Law: #2. Loose Laws
K. Internal Security: #4 Iron Clad
L. Agency Credentials: #2. Unknown
M. Agency Salary: #6. Outrageous Salary
N. Research and Information Gathering: #4. Excellent Connections
O. Library: #2. Small
Total Points Spent: 347

I'll do an explanation of the points spent and how that might effect players as agents tomorrow or on the weekend.

[Lord_Dalgard]

Chello!

Very nice work. But now I have an urge to watch the X-Files episode with Alex Trebek and Jesse Ventura playing MIBs.

[Shawn Merrow]

Looks nice so far.

[Lord Z]

I made a MiB costume for Halloween one year before the movie came out. No one got the joke -- no one.

The only time I remember using MiBs in a game was during my one and only Nightbane camapign. In NB, it is established in canon that these guys are Nightlord minions, mostly Dopplegangers and hollow men.

[Lord Z]

I do recall listening to an interview on Yog Radio with a Call of C'thulhu writer. I don't recall which guy, but the writer was talking about one of his home games in which he went back to the oldest MiB reports and made new monsters based on those descriptions. Basically the MiBs were aliens who were becoming more human all the time, looking plastic with wires in their necks at first but more humanlike with each encounter. Eventually, the MiBs would copy and replace a specific human, and then believe themselves to be that human. In the game, the investigators tracked down an MiB abduction victim to an attic. Freeing the victim, they discovered that he was one of their own. The GM explained to the confused player that he had been playing the role of an MiB for the last hour.

'But I really am human. I have my character sheet right here. I am human.'
'You believe yourself to be the original, but that is because your adaptation is complete. I switched characters on you. You are the rouge MiB.'