Phantom Doctrine Conspiracy Boards for Roleplaying Games

Generating Conspiracy Boards

Original Document

 

The Phantom Doctrine Investigation Board.

String Theory

The conspiracy board shows the connections between a number of nodes (locations, groups, people, etc.). Its purpose is to allow a connection to be made between two nodes, revealing a mystery, such as the true masterminds behind something (or at least the next level up in the pyramid) or something to be investigated.

Typically, a conspiracy board will allow players to connect a codename to the real, plain name that codename reveals. For example, the players may know that WINTERMUTE provided money for a mercenary operation, and seek to discover WINTERMUTE’s true identity. Tracing red string on the corkboard will allow the players to discover that WINTERMUTE is a codename for the shipping company Osgood & Sons Ltd.

The conspiracy board is inspired by the Investigation Board in Phantom Doctrine (CreativeForge Games/Good Shepherd Entertainment, 2018). As intelligence documents are collected by the player on missions, through debriefing informants, and by decrypting enemy communications,they are added to the Investigation Board corkboard as a document pinned in place by pushpin. Each document contains one or more significant phrases or codewords. Connections in string can be made between documents with matching codewords. When two specific documents are connected, only one of which is known to the player to actually be significant, the secret is revealed.

This document describes a method for creating such a conspiracy board that the players can fill in in their investigations.

The Conspiracy Board

A conspiracy board comprises a series of ‘Pushpins’ (important documents, photos, etc.) connected by matching pairs of Codewords. The players are invited to make connections between matching Codewords in red string.

One of the Pushpins is an Objective, representing the mystery the players wish to uncover. Another Pushpin is the Solution. The players do not know in advance which Pushpin is the Solution. The Solution is only revealed to be the Solution when a path of red string can be traced between the Solution and the Objective.

Making A Conspiracy Board

To make a conspiracy board, choose the number of Pushpins you want on the board. It is convenient to choose a number of Pushpins equal to the number of faces on a die.

The process the follows a series of steps:

1. Create N Pushpins and an ordered list of the integers from 1 to N. Each Pushpin is assigned a number from 1 to N.
2. Roll (N-2) dN in order.
3. Connect the first Pushpin in the list that does not have a corresponding die with the Pushpin indicated by the first dice. Then remove the dice and the number from the list.
4. Repeat step 3 until all the dice have been removed.
5. Connect the remaining two Pushpins in the list.
6. Assign every connection a word or phrase (the Codeword). Write the Codewords on both Pushpins a connection connects.
7. Choose one Pushpin with only one Codeword to be the Objective. Choose one Pushpin with only one Codeword to be the Solution.
8. Give the players the Objective Pushpin and its Codeword. Let the players discover the other Pushpins (with their Codewords) at random during their investigations.

Eventually, the players will be able to establish a connection between the Objective and Solution Pushpins, by making connections between the Codewords. It is not necessary for all the nodes to be discovered, but some must be.

Worked Example

We will create the following series of connections between 8 Pushpins:

Step 1

Create N Pushpins and an ordered list of the integers from 1 to N. 

With 8 Pushpins, eight nodes are created, and the list reads 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

Step 2

Roll (N-2) dN in order.

With 8 nodes, roll 6d8: 1-7-5-7-7-1

Step 3

Connect the first Pushpin in the list that does not have a corresponding die with the Pushpin indicated by the first dice. Then remove the dice and the number from the list. 

1 has been rolled, so the lowest number in the list is 2. The first dice is 1. Therefore, a connection is made between 1 and 2. The number 2 is removed from the list, which now reads 1-3-4-5-6-7-8. The first die showing ‘1’ is removed, leaving 7-5-7-7-1.

Step 4

Repeat step 3 until all the dice have been removed.

Step 3, Second Time

A 1 still remains among the dice, so the lowest number in the list is 3. The first dice is 7. Therefore, a connection is made between 3 and 7. The number 3 is removed from the list, which now reads 1-4-5-6-7-8. The first die showing ‘7’ is removed, leaving 5-7-7-1.

 

Step 3, Third Time

A 1 still remains among the dice, so the lowest number in the list is 4. The first dice is 5. Therefore, a connection is made between 4 and 5. The number 4 is removed from the list, which now reads 1-5-6-7-8. The die showing ‘5’ is removed, leaving 7-7-1.

 

Step 3, Fourth Time

A 1 still remains among the dice, so the lowest number in the list is 5. The first dice is 7. Therefore, a connection is made between 5 and 7. The number 5 is removed form the list, which now reads 1-6-7-8. The first die showing ‘7’ is removed, leaving 7-1.

Step 3, Fifth Time

A 1 still remains among the dice, so the lowest valid number in the list is 6. The first die is 7. Therefore, a connection is made between 6 and 7. The number 6 is removed from the list, which now reads 1-7-8. The dice showing ‘7’ is removed, leaving 1.

 

Step 3, Sixth Time

A 1 still remains among the dice, so the lowest valid number in the list is 7. The remaining die is 1. Therefore, a connection is made between 1 and 7. The number 7 is removed from the list, which now reads 1-8. The die showing ‘1’ is removed, leaving none.

Step 5

Connect the remaining two Pushpins in the list. 

The remaining numbers are 1-8. Therefore, a connection between 1 and 8 is made.

Step 6

Assign every connection a word or phrase (the Codeword). Write the Codewords on both Pushpins a connection connects. 

The word ALPHA connects 1 and 2. The word BRAVO connects 1 and 8. The word CHARLIE connections 1 and 7. The word DELTA connects 3 and 7. The word ECHO connects 6 and 7. The word FOXTROT connects 5 and 7. The word GOLF connects 4 and 5. 

The Pushpins now have the following words assigned:

1: ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE
2: ALPHA
3: DELTA
4: GOLF
5: FOXTROT, GOLF
6: ECHO
7: CHARLIE, DELTA, ECHO, FOXTROT
8: BRAVO

Step 7

Choose one Pushpin with only one Codeword to be the Objective. 

Node 3 is the codename, WINTERMUTE, of a mysterious entity that gave money to a mercenary operation.   

Choose one Pushpin with only one Codeword to be the Solution. 

Node 2 is Osgood & Sons Ltd., a shipping company.

Step 8

Give the players the Objective Pushpin and its Codeword. Let the players discover the other Pushpins (with their words/phrases) at random during their investigations.

The players start with WINTERMUTE (DELTA). Over time, they may uncover nodes 7 (CHARLIE, DELTA, ECHO, FOXTROT), 1 (ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE), and Osgood & Sons Ltd. (ALPHA). With this, they have proven that WINTERMUTE really is Osgood & Sons Ltd.

The players don’t need to discover nodes 4, 5, 6, or 8. These can all be potential suspects or red herrings: the Red Sea Trading Co., a software billionaire, the Yakuza ‘Aka Nishin-gumi’, a Saudi prince, etc.

They must discover nodes 1, 2, and 7. These could be financial records and WINTERMUTE’s shell companies.

Advanced Techniques

Multiple Objective/Solution Pairs On One Board

Phantom Doctrine allows multiple objective/solution pairs to exist in one web of connections.

By default, the method creates at least 1 pair. To create M pairs, set the die size to 2M lower than the number of Pushpins N, then roll (N-2)d(N-2M) dice. For example, with N=20, four pairs can be guaranteed by rolling 18d12. For N=24, rolling 22d20 guarantees at least two pairs.

These pairs will always comprise the numbers that cannot be rolled. For example, 21, 22, 23, and 24 cannot be rolled on a d20. Therefore, 22d20 will always create potential Objectives and Solutions in Pushpins 21-24.

Additional Notes

• For N Pushpins this method will generate between 2 and N-1 Pushpins with only one connection (“leafs”).
• Numbers that are rolled will always have at least two connections.
• Numbers that aren’t rolled will always have only one connection (be leafs).
• This method will never generate ‘loops’. It creates, formally, trees
• This method uses randomly generated Prüfer sequences.
• Example and graphs taken from: Labeled Tree from Prüfer Sequence - ProofWiki