Currently putting the Flyover playtest/quick start PDF thingy together

Just finished up the first draft of Flyover—the third game in The Blight Trilogy—before I try to plunk it into a barebones PDF that's easier to navigate and read. Here's a few peeks.

Black Box

Named for black box testing models and black box theories rather than the anachronistic nickname for flight recorders, Black Box is a collection of government employees and contractors whose repeated exposure to—and survival of—the supernatural has made them among the few experts in the field of paranormal study. Prior to The Crash they worked in a clandestine capacity, being quietly dispatched to locations where paranormal activity had been reported and acting as standard federal investigators, hazmat containment crews, or whatever relevant type of agent they could operate as inconspicuously while investigating.

Now that the world-at-large has been exposed to the reality of the supernatural in their day-to-day, Black Box primarily works to mitigate the worst effects of The Crash, cataloging, containing, and if necessary eliminating threats that have spread from its epicenter. The American Midwest and the Flyover Incidents therein have been its most steady beat.

Black Box Operatives

Black Box squads can vary in size and composition depending on the specific need, but typically they are dispatched in teams of three to five, with at least one agent from each of the following designations:

Agents: Black Designation aka “Suits”

Traditionally employed and trained government agents that through experience, circumstance, or active pursuit have found themselves with a unique understanding of the supernatural. Agents outside of Black Box claim that the strange phenomena that Black Designated Agents deal with so often has rubbed off on them, literally. Allowing them to survive things that they shouldn’t, but also affecting their behavior and making them magnets for bad omens. These agents tend to regard this as superstition—conveniently disregarding that many superstitions and old wives’ tales have been proven true.

Academy Assets aka “Witches”

Years ago, Black Box was approached by a self-professed mage, offering their services as a contractor for any work involving magic, ranging from research and consultation, onto field work. Eventually, this mage revealed that they had been mentoring other mages, and proposed a Black Box supported training program. Thus, the Axiom Academy was born—a pseudo-military academy of magically inclined young students that are trained, and subsequently funneled into specialized support squads for Black Box operatives. While the Academy has existed for quite some time, until The Crash none of their recruits had worked in the field. For many of the students The Crash marks both the world being awakened to the supernatural, and their first publicly using their gifts.

Agents: Red Designation aka Conduits aka “Lawyers”

Following The Crash, reports of demonic possession, spirit visitation, and other contact from extra-planar beings increased, with some individuals displaying some degree of control over or a reciprocal relationship with them. After several incidents where catastrophes localized around these individuals (one example, a woman in Dubuque, IA was evaporated after summoning what appeared to be a water elemental to extinguish an apartment fire), Black Box tracked down and detained as many of them as possible. Following testing and research, it was determined that the vast majority of these cases were the result of a human entering into a deal with a devil—or some other extra-planar being, knowingly or not—for power at a grave cost. These individuals have been offered the opportunity to work for Black Box, using their abilities in exchange for access to the organization’s resources to find ways to mitigate or circumvent the various pacts they’ve entered into.

Transgressions: Backlash, Reprisal, and Resonance

The occupational hazards of Black Bag employees tend to be uniquely existential, whereas injury and death are most certainly in the cards for many of their other colleagues, the nature of their work and abilities could lead to the universe itself lashing out against them. All three departments of field agents routinely tempt fate by their interaction with the supernatural, committing Transgressions against the universe’s rules to achieve the extraordinary:

Black Designation agents can Bend the universe’s rules for things to subtly go their way, from finding a working payphone in the middle of nowhere, to having a bullet deflect off of a lighter in their coat pocket.
Academy Assets Break those rules, stretching their Spellworking abilities past the point of their own limits. Fireballs become infernos, healing spells bring people back from the brink.
Red Designation agents Beg their respective patrons to act directly on their behalf. A “devil” appears to convince a stubborn witness to reveal what they know, or an otherworldly force causes a threat to disappear.

These transgressions always carry a degree of risk, and when these agents push their luck, these transgressions lead to Backlash. The universe’s rubber band snapping back to put those who defy its rules in their proper place. Whatever force that allows agents to bend, break, or beg off the natural order of things exacts a measure of balance out of their physical, mental, or spiritual health. This “balance”, more than any other danger of the job, is the downfall of many Black Box agents during their careers. The more Backlash that an agent experiences, the more likely that their next Transgression will lead to a Reprisal.

Reprisal is the larger bill that comes due for a member of Black Box after one too many Transgressions, the point of potentially no return. Agents press their luck one too many times, Witches disturb the natural order enough that nature decides its had enough of their shit, Conduits’ patrons come to collect on whatever arcane bargain they’ve struck. The only defense that agents have against this almost inevitable cycle is Resonance.

Resonance is something like armor or a buffer against the universe that a Black Box member builds up against the forces that would punish them for their Transgressions. The only way to build up this armor is to regularly risk themselves by committing those Transgressions. It’s akin to building up a callus from repeated physical practice, like guitar players, dancers, or martial artists. Through pain comes mastery. Or ruin.

Incident and Fauna Classification

Black Box’s classification rubric serves two purposes: 1) A cataloging system for the various types of supernatural fauna encountered in the field to assist in research and analysis. 2) A shorthand for assessing what kind of resources and personnel are needed for an assignment or deployment. While the adage of “expect the unexpected” has become an unofficial mission statement for Black Box, there is a value in at least giving some measure of intelligence gathering the old college try.

Incident Threat Level

Mission encounters themselves are generally rated by the area of effect following the initial Flyover Incident, otherwise known as Threat Levels. They are named in memory of the agents that fell in the line of duty in the first recorded encounters that would match their level.

Threat Level - Wilson: Small scale spread from the initial Flyover Incident, contained to at most a small area of land like a parking lot, or single building. Only a few civilians have witnessed the threat or phenomenon, and are out of immediate danger. The actual mission could be as relatively simple as observation or low stakes containment.
Threat Level - Thompson: The phenomenon or threat has spread across an area the size of a neighborhood or city block. Civilians are currently within the area of effect and could be in danger, or otherwise need assistance. Agents should prepare to directly engage with supernatural fauna.
Threat Level - Franklin: The phenomenon or threat has affected an entire town or large landmass. Civilians have been injured, trapped, killed, or compromised by the threat, and need immediate assistance or must be neutralized. Agents’ first priority is to neutralize the threat.

Fauna Class

Supernatural entities in any given encounter are classified by either their raw capacity for destruction or their ability to effectively communicate with humans that they encounter. So far, classification exists with a strange distribution, where both the lower and higher end of the scale are occupied by species that are largely not communicative with humans in any meaningful way, the lower end due to inability and the higher end due to indifference.

IMPORTANT: The following classifications only apply to fauna that Black Box has a documented dossier for. Any fauna encountered in the field that has not been observed and cataloged should be approached with extreme caution.

Class 1: Small creatures and entities possessing observable traits of intelligence akin to animals. If necessary, a well-trained squad of agents should be able to subdue or circumvent Class 1 fauna without issue, but should be cautious if they are large in number. Examples: Imps, Wisps, lesser cryptids (ex. Jersey Devil, Dover Demon)
Class 2: Sentient and sapient creatures, capable of communicating with or otherwise interacting with other beings with a level of intelligence and self-awareness on par with (or greater) than the average human. Examples: Vampires, demons, greater cryptids (ex. Mothman, Michigan Dogman, Bigfoot), Blight-infected Humans, phantoms and other apparitions.
Class 3: Immense creatures whose presence in a location is akin to a localized natural disaster, or creatures with biological traits that are inherently hazardous to other living beings in their near vicinity. In some cases, Class 2 fauna may be reclassified as Class 3 if they exert abilities that are hostile and hazardous over a large location for an extended period. Examples: Greater wyrms, fungal spore colonies, Blight Behemoths.

Scampir

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The Blight Trilogy: Flyover - Another Peek