Investigations 

While the Institute states their goals as conducting verifiable research into the paranormal, this goes far beyond the psychics they employ. Often investigators are called to research ancient lore, supernatural claims, or fringe science that has been laughed out of the scientific community. These situations are often dangerous and without gathering information first, the team may quickly find themselves overwhelmed and in mortal danger. (In fairness, they may end up in mortal danger anyway, but at least they can be better prepared.) 

When running a PSI campaign, the GM should decide how deep the rabbit hole goes. Working from the idea that there can be a grain of truth in every legend, the world quickly becomes a far stranger place. There are generally two ways to handle this, slowly wading into the madness or CANNONBALL! 

In a campaign that slowly builds the world, GMs can start by focusing on things the group has already generally accepted as true. A child with unprecedented pyrokinetic abilities is something PSI investigators would be able to easily accept. A lot of ghost stories can also fall into this category. To ramp the strange up, the GM might later introduce a magician or book of spells that can be used by someone with no psychic ability. The Troll Market or Oddities Branch are both great locations for either of these stories. GMs may decide if Dunker really is a troll, or if Dr. Drought is some kind of immortal. One or both of these things may be true and segway to intro a larger adventure contending with supernatural creatures. 

(If you ask us though, not only is Dunker the troll of legend, but the brains behind the market. Dr. Drought is a wizard who curates the library as a means to recover books stolen from her during the inquisition. How she has lived so long, we’ll leave that up to you.) 

For Campaigns that opt to dive right in, don’t be afraid to unleash reality breaking horrors right out of the gate. A series of murder victems, all ecsanginated, not only is there a vampire, but that vampire is actually a psychic foothold for an entity from beyond time and space that is feeding on the souls of their vassal’s victims. With each kill, it grows stronger, and will soon be able to breach our reality. (Don’t worry, Vlad Tepes and Erzsébet Báthory are vampires too, but one damned themself, and the other unlocked the secret of immortality. We’re big tent vampire inclusion.) Slow burn campaigns can get here, and should, they just build things up a bit more first. 

In either style of campaign, knowledge should be an investigator’s best weapon. 

Threats Beyond Comprehension 

Investigators may face any number of threats. More human, or humanoid threats may be created as characters, adding 5 or 10 AP to a starting character can make an imposing supernatural threat, while a Classic Powered character might represent powerful beings such as vampires or werewolves. However, when it’s time to get weird, the Disaster rules allow GMs to create dynamic threats that can interact with everyone present, and allows the players to come up with creative solutions. Localized threats, like a portal to an outer realm where hoards of alien insects are flooding into our reality, might have a small scale, but high ferocity. Investigators may be able to score bonus successes if they know how the portal operators or the biology of the creatures. Both giving them different advantages when dealing with the threat. 

Unknown Threats 

At the start of a new story, the GM may or may not want to decide what kind of threat or event the investigators will be facing. In a traditional game the GM will provide a lead for investigators, a rumor or story that the Institute has determined is credible enough to send out a field team. The GM will need to determine what dangers the investigators will face when confronting the source and should try to decide on at least two or three means to resolve any dangers that don’t necessarily involve a direct conflict. 

For a lot of supernatural horrors that go beyond “individual x” the Disaster rules allow GMs to run a dynamic threat. Identifying lore ahead of time allows the investigators to go in better prepared, giving them an advantage on any rolls utilizing this knowledge or items acquired to address the threat. 

That may seem strange, but one way to handle the supernatural component to the story is to provide an initial lead, something that has triggered the Institute’s attention. What this leads to can be discovered organically through play, allowing players’s actions and rolls uncover various truths about a threat. This is like a traditional investigation, except that on a successful roll, the GM asks the player what is true based on the rumors, or decides on their own for a failed roll, feeding the investigator a bad lead. 

When it comes time to face the source of whatever the team has been investigating, the GM can put the clues together creating a disaster as above, with strengths and weaknesses established by the emergent gameplay. 

There is nothing wrong with mixing and matching these styles of story creation. 

Information Gathering 

Because so much of what the investigators will face will be outside the scope of what a normal person can contend with, understanding what they are facing can be critical. Information gathering is more than just a research roll though. It’s going places, interacting with people who have some tidbit of information, it is pouring over musty tombs. 

Instead of asking for a roll, ask how the investigator is going about their task. Adding a spotlight to actions emphasizes the importance, and time it takes. Allow any rolls to grow out of this narrative. 

The Medusa Token, a sample investigation: Reports have reached the Institute of people going missing and statues of their bodies being found. Preliminary investigations indicate that all of the missing people work for the Museum of Natural History. With this information, the investigators are free to start digging into the mystery. This might include going to the museum, their houses, locating the statues, or researching their connections beyond place of employment. Each of these may require one or more rolls, but by giving the investigators time to explore these scenes this enriches the world and story.