History TabletopGame / ConspiracyX

* BrownNote: When the Greys have contact with the psychic "static" that humans create it [[DrivenToMadness drives them mad.]] To be fair to humanity the Atlanteans gave humans psychic powers as a weapon against the Greys.
* DyingRace: The static that humanity generates is slowly killing the Grey as a species, even across interstellar distances. This is the motive for their plot against Earth.

* HalfHumanHybrid: They are making Grey/human hybrids termed metahumans since they don't produce static with the added bonus of being easy to mind-control with the Greys' psychic powers. Though since humanity was created as a hybrid of Atlantean DNA, Grey DNA and a native earth monkey the percentages of their ancestry are somewhat complicated.

* OrganicTechnology: Greys use coral shaped by their PsychicPowers both to enhance said powers but also to build things like their spaceships. Most of their machines and devices are simply the grown coral wrapped in a metal cover to protect it. They even shaped their own bodies to better suit them. It's to the point that they don't even ''understand'' non-organic technology.

* AlienInvasion: A Saurian invasion of Earth is inevitable, as most of the Saurian race is only now beginning to escape the time warp that ensnared them 65 million years ago. The Gna-Tall Saurians (the ones who allied with the NDD) escaped the warp first, but are painfully aware that it is only a matter of time until their (much stronger) archrivals also emerge from the warp. When this happens, an apocalyptic war will erupt on Earth -- and the Gna-Tall are desperately manipulating the NDD to build humanity into a force that will give them an edge in that war.

* TheSpock: While the Saurians do have emotions they are not very strong making it hard for Saurians to pretend to be human (they prefer their human forms to be bulky DumbMuscle types so people don't expect much emotion from them). A faction called the Dreamspeakers has gained a higher range of emotion through their dreams but since they clashed with Saurian society they were persecuted.

* RoswellThatEndsWell: The {{Roswell Incident}} was the reason for the Watch splitting into Aegis and the Black Book. Ironically, the scientists who wanted to make peaceful contact with TheGreys would go on to form Aegis (which opposes all aliens), while the soldiers who shot the Reticulan ship down went on to create the Black Book (who collaborate with aliens).
* SecretWar: Obviously.

* ShoutOut: In The Extraterrestrials Sourcebook one of the illustrations is a [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123NightmareAt20000Feet scared guy looking out of an air plane window at a Grey ripping stuff out of the plane wing.]]

* ConspiracyKitchenSink: The TropeCodifier for [[TabletopGames tabletop gaming]].

* VillainProtagonist: If and when players don't want to play as Aegis operatives, the very first alternative offered, in ''The Hand Unseen'' sourcebook, is the NDD. To be fair, the first page of the book presents the NDD's view that their [[AmbiguouslyEvil purported villainy]] is "[[AboveGoodAndEvil a comforting myth]]" told to Aegis agents.

* GreyGoo: The Nameless Priests, Adlan’ns spiritual leaders, decided that the population had grown too soft and deliberately made nanotech that deconstructed any organic matter and that over-ran the planet forcing the Atlanteans off their planet and into the universe.

* TelepathicSpacemen: {{Averted}}, they specifically do not have any psychic powers which led to the animosity between them and the Greys.

* {{Ultraterrestrials}}: And they are generally unhappy that humans have taken over while they were gone.
* {{Whatevermancy}}: The Dreamspeaker have learnt to manipulate Seepage with their limited emotions calling it dream magic or hypnomancy.

* {{Orichalcum}}: The discovery of this metal allowed humanities' ancestors to successfully rebel against Atlanteans since it gave them something to fight back against the Atlanteans nanotech. It boosts the Seepage level for rituals just by having on the caster or you can snack on some to give to boost a ritual's power (good thing magic metals don't give heavy metal poisonings).

* Deliberate ParanoiaFuel: Gamemasters (called "Chroniclers") are specifically encouraged to develop session and campaign settings that blend in as much [[SecretHistory historical]] and [[RippedFromTheHeadlines contemporary realism]] as possible.
* PsychicPowers: Humans have lesser psychic powers (compared to the Greys) due to Atlanteans putting some Grey DNA into humanity's genome in the distant past. Interestingly, neither the Atlanteans nor Saurians have any psychic powers of their own, making psionics one of the (few) advantages humanity has over either species.
* RoswellThatEndsWell: The {{Roswell Incident}} was the reason for the Watch spliting into Aegis and the Black Book. The scientists who later formed Aegis wanted to make peaceful contact with the aliens, but the soldiers who formed the Black Book shot the ship down. After the event Black Book accused Aegis of responsibility in order to sign a treaty with TheGreys.

* DespairEventHorizon: While the setting isn't an outright CosmicHorrorStory, the struggle against the various aliens has broken more than one Aegis operative -- a fact that Aegis Prime is well aware of and implementing policies to combat.

** On top of the above, the Saurians have at their disposal transformed Saurian-to-human operatives who are actually ''called'' "Men In Black" in-setting. They have all of a Saurian's combat training and ruthlessness, as well as their race's powerful technology.

* TheMenInBlack are Saurians that have had their bodies transformed in a human's to the point that the only way to tell them apart from humans would be an invasive scan such as a CAT scan.

* PsychicPowers: While Grey psychic effects are not much more ''powerful'' than what human psychics can do, their psychic power regenerates with a speed that human psychics can only dream.

* TelepathicSpacemen: Greys are the only aliens (at least involved with Earth) that have supernatural powers.

* TheMenInBlack: In all initial game modules, player characters -- and their Black Book rivals -- are pretty much [=MIBs=] as most people picture them: mysterious badasses with government connections who investigate alien phenomena ''and'' keep it hidden from the public. And yes, they often wear nice suits, especially if Aegis actually ''did'' recruit them from a government agency.

* PsychicPowers: Humans have lesser psychic powers (compared to the Greys) due to Atlanteans putting some Grey DNA into humanity's genome in the distant past. Neither the Atlanteans nor Saurians have any psychic powers of their own, making psionics one of the (few) advantages humanity has over either species.

* TheMenInBlack: In all initial game modules, The players themselves (by default) pretty much play human [=MIBs=]. Especially if they choose a job that comes with [[BadassInANiceSuit nice suit]], for example the Secret Service.
** Agents of the Black Book, even more than Aegis, generally have this as their dress code, complete with the SinisterShades.
** See also the Saurians.

* PsychicPowers: Humans have lesser pyschic powers (compared to the Greys) due to Atlanteans puting some Grey DNA into humanity's genome in the distant past.

* DespairEventHorizon: While the setting isn't an outright CosmicHorrorStory, the struggle against the various aliens has broken more than one Aegis operative.

* CrapsackWorld: [[Series/TheXFiles Fox Mulder]] only had to deal with one race of alien invaders, while Aegis has to contend with three. As though that weren't enough, Aegis also has to deal with the terrifying products of Earth's own supernatural Seepage ''and'' a rival conspiracy who are actively selling humanity out to all the aliens. With all the mind games, paranormal horrors, and the apocalyptic level of the threats facing Earth, Aegis agents all too often end up at the DespairEventHorizon.

* CrapsackWorld: [[Series/TheXFiles Fox Mulder]] only had to deal with one race of alien invaders, while Aegis has to contend with three.

* CrapsackWorld: [[TheXFiles Fox Mulder]] only had to deal with one race of alien invaders, while Aegis has to contend with three.

* Deliberate ParanoiaFuel: Gamemasters (called "Chroniclers") are specifically encouraged to develop session and campaign settings that blend in as much [[RealityRetcon historical]] and [[RippedFromTheHeadlines contemporary realism]] as possible.

* PsychicPowers

* TelepathicSpacemen

Often called by fans "''Series/TheXFiles'' as a [[TabletopGames tabletop game]]", first published by Eden Games for the {{Unisystem}} and later adapted for TabletopGame/{{GURPs}}, ''Conspiracy X'' is a world based around the concept of some or all of the conspiracy theorists being onto something, though what that something ultimately is, customizable to both the times and the participants.

* SoYouWantTo/WriteAConspiracyTheory: The supplemental ''[[GratuitousLatin Sub Rosa]]'' sourcebook outlines game mechanics for creating new conspiracy/secret society factions by participating players or gamemasters, a resource that puts potentially any time period or location in play, rather than just late 20th and early 21st century Earth.

* SoYouWantTo/WriteAConspiracyTheory: The supplemental ''[[GratuitousLatin Sub Rosa]]'' sourcebook outlines the methods for the creation of new conspiracy/secret society factions by participating players or gamemasters, a resource that puts any time period in play, rather than just the early 21st century, ranging from the deep past (a scenario based on the assassination of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, for instance) to future centuries potentially long after the dissolution of both Aegis and the Black Book.

* SovietSuperscience: Project Rasputin was established under UsefulNotes/JosefStalin to research psychic phenomena and the occult, a subject of purportedly extensive RealLife Soviet investigation in the [[TheFifties 1950s]]. They managed to create psychic power enhancers and a psychic KillSat. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Aegis co-opted much of Project Rasputin's resources for themselves. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, although many who refused join were [[DesignatedHero executed by Aegis]], others who were able to escape went underground to eventually form an even more clandestine organization, [[TakeAThirdOption Directorate X]], that intends nothing less than the complete elimination of coercive alien influence on the human race, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo by any mean necessary]].]]

Often called by fans "''Series/TheXFiles'' as a [[TabletopGames tabletop game]]", first published by Eden Games for the {{Unisystem}} and later adapted for {{GURPs}}, ''Conspiracy X'' is a world based around the concept of some or all of the conspiracy theorists being onto something, though what that something ultimately is, customizable to both the times and the participants.

* SovietSuperscience: Project Rasputin was established under {{Stalin}} to research psychic phenomena and the occult, a subject of purportedly extensive RealLife Soviet investigation in the [[TheFifties 1950s]]. They managed to create psychic power enhancers and a psychic KillSat. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Aegis co-opted much of Project Rasputin's resources for themselves. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, although many who refused join were [[DesignatedHero executed by Aegis]], others who were able to escape went underground to eventually form an even more clandestine organization, [[TakeAThirdOption Directorate X]], that intends nothing less than the complete elimination of coercive alien influence on the human race, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo by any mean necessary]].]]

* SoYouWantTo/WriteAConspiracyTheory: The supplemental ''[[GratuitousLatin Sub Rosa]]'' sourcebook outlines the methods for the creation of new conspiracy/secret society factions by participating players or gamemasters, a resource that puts any time period in play, rather than just the early 21st century, ranging from the deep past (a scenario based on the assassination of AbrahamLincoln, for instance) to future centuries potentially long after the dissolution of both Aegis and the Black Book.