Setting Information for Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green

Majestic 12's Wonderful Toys
Setting Information for Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green
From: Morrigan (aj_hide11@hotmail.com)
Date: Sunday, December 28th , 2003


"A number of psychoactive substances, ranging from outright drugs to chemical agents and even tailored viruses have been yielded to Majestic-12's efforts from a number of sources: derivatives of the MK-ULTRA experiments, "gifts" from the Greys, and even mundane substances used in novel ways. Majestic-12, makes use of these substances when it wishes to engage in social engineering. It has often proved highly useful to Majestic-12 for people, usually in large numbers, to think or feel a certain way. Social engineering via drug therapy is the way they prefer to do this, although other means exist. Some of the more interesting of the substances they use include include:

YAL-44E ("Happy Worker" pills): Popular among those without full knowledge of what YAL-44E does or how it does it. If YAL-44E is taken a short time before a task where being more focused, enthusiastic, and motivated would matter, YAL-44E produces an almost euphoria while the individual is working (and a +15% increased chance of succes to relevant skill rolls), and symptoms akin to drug withdrawal when the subject can no longer perform the task in question (the subject must match its CON against YAL-44E's 17 POT on the resistance table; failing the contest costs the subject 1 point of SAN and a Hit Point). YAL-44E is very popular amongst employers whose work sites include assembly lines or a lot of repetitive activity, and is a key source of funding for Majestic-12 from the auto industry. It is popular in the cafeterias and snack food dispensers of large corporations, with popularity growing on university campuses, where Majestic-12 is actively conducting social engineering to emphasize analytical thinking over synthesis (which helps keep the Secret Masters secret). YAL-44E is addictive, and has detrimental effects on the mind of a person taking it over prolonged periods. Persons who use Happy Worker pills for a long time become focused and super-talented at a single task or group of tasks, and a drooling, docile idiot outside that one beloved function. Both Majestic-12 and those who buy YAL-44E from it see little wrong with this effect.

After a number of doses equal to the subject's CON, and every time the subject has taken this number of doses, the subject must make a resistance table check pitting it's CON against YAL-44E's POT 17. Failure means addiction. If the subject cannot get at least one dose of YAL-44E in a number of days equal to its CON score, the subject enters painful withdrawal: the subject must make a SAN check before performing any activity which requires any effort or concentration (this means any action for which dice must be rolled). Once a subject is addicted to YAL-44E, every time the subject has taken a number of doses equal to its CON score, the subject loses 1d6 SAN, 1 point of INT, or 1 point of EDU, at the Keeper's discretion.

AAG-732 ("Neophobia"): The effects of a single dose of Neophobia last approximately 2 days. During that time, anything novel or new to the subject's experience produces a highly uncomfortable panic reaction, which can range from simple vague unease to outright heart palpitations (a SAN check is required every time the character encounters something new or different; failure costs 1d6 SAN). New types of food seem repulsive, travel unthinkable, and strangers harbingers of doom. The subject's reactions to a whole host of stimuli seem paranoid, as AAG-732 creates feelings of loathing towards change and difference. Any attempt to break out of the drug's programming produces a highly uncomfortable physical reaction, once more similar to drug withdrawal (any action which requires a dice roll can only be attempted if a SAN check has first been passed). When the new and different makes you retch, homogeneity and blandness become comfort.

Homo Tintus: This is a tailored virus that plays havoc with the skin pigmentation centers of the subject's body. There are a whole host of formulations of Homo Tintus, but they all have the effect of altering the skin color of a person of one ethnic group to match the skin color of a member of another. Hair and broad features are unaffected, so additional means are required to make the deception 100% effective, but to cursory examination, and especially if the subject has his or her capacity for reasoning diminished for the duration of the drug's effect (which is about two days), the effect is substantial enough. Homo Tintus causes no damage, and is not addictive, but finding your skin color abruptly changed could cost you 1d3 SAN if you fail your check.

"I Hate You Drops": Actually not a single drug, but a family of failed aphrodisiacs, all the various types of "I Hate You Drops" decrease comfort and increase feelings of fear and isolation. Some are used on large numbers of people at a time, while the most potent "I Hate You Drop", PLT-4, totally eradicates the capacity of the subject for love, and is usually administered to one or two individuals at a time. PLT-4 finds a lot of use in swinging liberal politicians to a more satisfying right instance. Those who have been dosed with PLT-4 become ruthless and uncaring, almost sociopathic (they can never lose SAN as a result of an action they have taken, or from witnessing something bad happen to someone else). PLT-4 does not remove the capacity for loyalty, just for caring and sympathy. It can give someone the mental disorder sociopathy.

Fnord, or the Fear and Loathing Drug: Majestic-12 goes to great lengths to keep as much of the entire world's water supply topped up with Fnord (this makes countries with large reserves of fresh water, like Canada and Finland, strategic enemies because dosing their entire water supply with Fnord would be prohibitively expensive). Anyone dosed with Fnord will find their levels of stress and anxiety growing exponentially (a SAN roll must be made daily, losing 1d6 SAN if failed, just to get on with life). In particular, media buzz words like "infomercial", "information superhighway", "Generation X", and "gridlock" for example, cause shudders of panic and revulsion (at the Keeper's discretion, hearing any such buzz word or encountering some novel item could require a SAN check to prevent the loss of 1d3 points). The subject becomes more isolated, more paranoid, and ultimately, more willing to support, or fail to object to the decrees of authority. Fnord will play a major role in facilitating world conquest Majestic-12 - it is a world conquest facilitator, because it conditions those dosed with it to seek authority figures. Fnord is a chemical triumph over the concept of the individual, with incidental side effects on digestion (Fnord created the antacid industry) and social confidence.

Deadhead: Like Fnord, Majestic-12 tries mightily to keep as many people doped up on Deadhead as they can. Deadhead isn't just one drug but two: a powerful tailored enzyme that seeks out and starves the portions of the brain responsible for psychic ability of glucose, keeping all but the most powerful psychics unable to use their higher mind powers. The other part of Deadhead is an alchemical drug that reduces the subject's ability to sense and employ the natural energies which constitute magic. Further, Deadhead programs those dosed with it to doubt the existence of psychic ability and magic, to the point where a Deadhead victim will go to illogical lengths to explain away magic and psychic ability as something perfectly ordinary (Fnord making sure that the subject is almost violently ill until said explanation is formulated).

Every day that a person is dosed up on Deadhead, they regenerate 1 less Magic Point normally, during sleep, until no Magic Points are regenerated at all, and the afflicted individual has 0 Magic Points.
These persons are awake, conscious, and able to function in their daily lives, but they feel run down, perpetually tired, and have no Magic Points to use on spells or psychic talents. When and if a person goes off Deadhead, they will regenerate 1 additional Magic Point normally, during sleep each night, until the character is regenerating Magic Points normally once more. Thus, it takes just as long for the effects of Deadhead to wear off as it did for them to appear in the first place.

FLU-BE: Or Deskeleton: This compound finds calcium deposits within the subject's body and converts them into a sort of super-tough, highly flexible gelatin. After about 2 hours (which is how long it takes for FLU-BE to have complete effect), the subject is essentially boneless - and immobile. This state is non-fatal, if a little hard on the heart and lungs, and a person can persist in this state for ages. Suitably amorphous, someone dosed with FLU-BE can be mailed in standard containers, confined to a drawer or bottle, and thousands of other grotty fates. The effects are permanent. Once a person is dosed with FLU-BE, they must match their CON against FLU-BE's POT 50 on the resistance table (success is highly unlikely). Once FLU-BE has taken full effect, the victim becomes something like "liquid human" with no rigidity at all. The character has an effective STR, DEX, Damage Bonus and Move of 0. Hit points and armor points are unaffected, so a character could conceivably be a very tough organic puddle. A character dosed up with FLU-BE cannot take damage from kinetic energy, but does take damage normally from heat, cold, electricity, and spells. Liquified humans cannot communicate or do anything more than breathe and respire. A human being takes up about 1 cubic foot of volume per SIZ point, and someone liquified with FLU-BE can be packed into any suitable container.

However there is an anti-dote, which takes about 20 minutes to work. The antidote is highly addictive and slightly poisonous - lethally poisonous if taken without FLU-BE in the system. Thus, secondary addictions have appeared, which will continue until an alternative to the antidote is developed. Majestic-12 hasn't bothered.

The antidote also has a POT of 50, which must be tested against each time the antidote is administered to resist addiction. If a person becomes addicted to FLU-BE antidote, they will seek out liqification, so they can be rehardened again. This is better role played than done with game rules. Inevitably a mistake will bemade, resulting in physical trauma (see below).

By the way, administering the antidote to a person in a suitably confined or otherwise "not human shaped" container is NASTY. Bones try to return to their original shape and stiffness. If you're inside a toilet tank, for example, when this happens, SNAP, CRACKLE, POP.

Unless someone receiving FLU-BE antidote is a puddle on the floor or the like, they will encounter the confines of their present container as they reharden. This will never be fatal damage, but the Keeper is free to assign any damage value short of fatality he or she likes to reflect the...discomfort of this experience.

Another amusing way to turn human bodies into something more interesting is the drug Popcorn, extracted from the insulating material of a UFO and injected into unsuspecting test subject "volunteers" for fun on a slow Sunday afternoon. Any living thing injected with Popcorn quickly breaks down into thousands of tiny, hibernating globules very much like Styrofoam packing materials. A second chemical sprayed onto this possibly organic stuff causes them to start popping, messily reforming the original subject, healthy and unharmed, if a little groggy. Unharmed, that is, if all the original popcorn is present when the antidote is administered. This compound is still highly experimental, since Majestic-12's chemists didn't develop it themselves. It is only used for emergencies and occasional sordid amusement.

Popcorn has a POT 50: Failure to resist results in becoming something like Styrofoam packing peanuts. The character is essentially invulnerable to kinetic energy in this state, since impact just makes more, smaller, globules. Heat, cold, and electricity cause damage normally. The subject is not conscious, and can take no actions, having no need to eat or breathe. Provided all the necessary globules are present, the subject can be safely returned to normal with the countra-spray. However, if you do not have all the globules, potentially substantial damage - including fatal damage - can be inflicted. It is the Keeper's discretion how much damage is done, but 1 SIZ point of missing globules should work out to 1d6 HP of damage."