Right. I thought since most of the people on this message board are American, they are experts on this subject.
I’m in process of creating a role playing game (Dark*Matter in particular for those interested) and I got some nice ideas for adventures. The thing is, I still miss the general paranoid backdrop of the setting, the overlaying conspiracy behind it.
Ideally, I like to incorporate real life events/mysteries as basis for this conspiracy, but nothing overly obvious, the JFK assassination and MK-ULTRA are out of the question. In my game these were just hoaxes to avert the eyes of the public from other, more insideous events.
So far, I want to include the war in former Yugoslavia, the Pope, Greenpeace and the hole in the ozone layer above the south pole, but I have no idea how to combine these. Any suggestions? Oh, and I like to limit the influence of aliens as much as possible. Too cheesy.
A non-alien conspiracy connecting Yugoslavia, John Paul I, Greenpeace, and ozone depletion. Let’s see.
How about a Chinese Communist conspiracy? Back in 1977, in the aftermath of the fall of the Gang of Four, Deng Xiaoping and other out-of-favor Chinese leaders are restored to power. They decide to embark on a long term project to bring down their rival superpowers in order for China to emerge as the most pwerful nation.
There first target is the Soviet Union. Deciding to foment rebellion in the Eastern Europe, they offer covert support to then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland. In 1978, Pope John Paul I dies under mysterious circumstances and Wojtyla succeeds him as John Paul II and begins a long campaign of moral denunciation against the Soviets.
With Reagan and Thatcher leading their nations in anti-Soviet directions, the Chinese cabal decides to leave these powers alone for the time being. Their next target therefore was France. Manipulating extremist elements in the French government and the enviromentalist movement, they create a confrontation which leads to the 1985 sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
By 1991, with the Soviet Union in free fall and France’s international reputation in ruin, the cabal decided to move against the United States and the Western European powers. From their bases in Albania, they provoked the breakdown of the Yougoslavian government, supporting the most radical ethnic elements, and dragging the west into an unending war in the Balkans.
Their Antarctic operation has been running for years but is only now approaching activation. Back in the late '70’s, Chinese scientists realized the connection between ozone depletion and the Greenhouse effect. They purposely released tons of flourocarbons into the atmosphere for decades in order to alter the Antarctic climate and magnify the El Nino/La Nina cycle. Now the results are becoming clear. China, will its deep interior can survive the coming climatic changes. But coastal powers like Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, and the other nations of the Pacific Rim will collapse under the full weight of developing weather crisis.
Steve Jackson Games used to make a (card?) game called Illuminatus, which involved all sorts of secret societies - from the frightening to the ridiculous - working with and against each other for world domination. If you could find a copy of this game it would provide you with a lot of ideas.
