Welcome, everyone, to The Laundry Files actual play. I'm Dakota Reynolds, your Keeper for today's mission. We're exploring a classified scientific endeavor that officially doesn't exist—the CERN Gravitational Observatory, callsign "Charybdis." Our setting is the year 2024, deep in the vacuum of space, three million kilometers from Earth, in orbit around the binary black hole system designated GW-2023-7749. The Laundry has detected anomalous mathematical patterns in the radiation signatures. What was supposed to be humanity's greatest scientific achievement has become something far more sinister. Two weeks ago, the primary research vessel went silent. You've been dispatched as field agents to investigate and, if possible, recover the research data before the cosmic horror consuming that station consumes everything it touches. Your characters are uniquely qualified—you operate at the intersection of knowledge and the occult.
Welcome to tonight's Delta Green operation. The year is 2081, and humanity has finally managed to recover the Event Horizon, a legendary deep space research vessel that disappeared during its maiden voyage in 2047. For 34 years, the vessel was considered lost, until a routine asteroid mining operation in the Kuiper Belt discovered it drifting silently, its systems offline but hull largely intact. The Event Horizon was supposed to be mankind's first step into interstellar travel, featuring an experimental gravity drive designed to create an artificial black hole, folding space and allowing instantaneous travel between points in the universe. When it vanished during its maiden voyage, most assumed some catastrophic engineering failure. Now that it's been found, Delta Green has taken interest - particularly in the disturbing distress signal that was finally deciphered. In the garbled message, the ship's captain, Dr. William Weir, can be heard saying, "Liberate me... ex inferis." Save me... from hell. Your team of forensic specialists has been assembled to investigate the recovered vessel before it's brought back to Earth. You'll be boarding from the USSC Goliath, a military research vessel currently holding the Event Horizon in orbit around Neptune.
Welcome investigators to our Call of Cthulhu adventure set in the year 2047. Tonight, we'll be exploring the infamous Event Horizon spacecraft, which disappeared during its maiden voyage in 2040 before mysteriously reappearing in Neptune's orbit seven years later with no trace of its crew. Your characters have been sent as part of a specialized salvage and investigation team to determine what happened to the vessel and its experimental gravity drive.
Welcome to our Trail of Cthulhu game set in the year 2137. Humanity has established colonies on the Moon and Mars, and exploration of the outer solar system is well underway. Europa, Jupiter's icy moon, has become the location of mankind's most secure detention facility - the ESV Tartarus, a maximum-security prison ship housing the worst criminals from Earth. Our investigators are a team of antiquarian booksellers who have been hired by the Interplanetary Corrections Authority to appraise a collection of rare books discovered in a smuggling operation to the ship.
Welcome to tonight's Delta Green operation. The year is 2039, and humanity has expanded its reach into the solar system. Tonight, we find ourselves aboard the Terminus Alpha, a prison transport vessel bound for Europa. The ship carries 200 of Earth's most dangerous criminals destined for the Hades Detention Facility being constructed beneath Europa's ice. Our agents have been dispatched following reports of... unusual incidents.
Welcome, investigators, to our tale of cosmic horror. The year is 2137, and humanity has expanded its reach into the far corners of our galaxy. Our story begins on Proxima Centauri b, a once-thriving human colony that has been condemned due to its unstable orbit. You see, Proxima Centauri b has been caught in the gravitational pull of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way. Scientists calculate that the planet has roughly seven Earth days before it crosses the event horizon. All colonists were evacuated months ago... or so everyone thought. Your team of specialists has been hastily assembled and sent to retrieve valuable research data from the Hawthorne Research Station, but upon arrival, you've discovered disturbing signs that not everyone left the doomed world. The radiation levels are rising, and the very fabric of reality seems to be stretching thin as gravitational forces warp space-time around you.
Welcome everyone to tonight's session of Call of Cthulhu. It's 1955, and the First Indochina War has recently ended with the Geneva Accords partitioning Vietnam. The French colonial presence is withdrawing, leaving behind decades of occupation and cultural disruption. Our investigators are part of an international academic expedition, ostensibly studying the aftermath of colonialism and collecting artifacts before they're lost to time. The North Vietnamese government has granted limited access to certain historical sites, but they're watching you closely.
Welcome to tonight's session of Call of Cthulhu. The year is 1925, and our story takes us to Northern China, where strange reports have emerged from the ancient Yungang Grottoes. Local workers have gone missing, and unusual botanical specimens have been discovered growing within the sacred Buddhist caves. Miskatonic University has dispatched a team of specialists to investigate.
Welcome agents, to tonight's operation. The year is 2019, and Delta Green has detected unusual activity in Haiti's northern coastal region. Three archaeological teams have gone missing in the past month while investigating pre-colonial artifacts. Their last communications mentioned "voices from the deep" and "walking shadows." The Department of Interior and Homeland Security have formed a joint task force under the guise of a cultural heritage preservation mission. Your flight lands in Cap-Haïtien in one hour.
Welcome to tonight's session of The Laundry Files RPG. We find ourselves in 2010, a time when the occult mathematics of CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN have begun to accelerate. Our agents have been dispatched to the Philippines on what should have been a routine retrieval operation. The Capital Region Archives in Manila reported strange patterns appearing in century-old Spanish colonial documents. What began as a simple archival assessment has spiraled into something far more sinister.
Welcome to tonight's Delta Green operation. I'm Sage Bennett, your Keeper for this dark journey. The year is 2019, and you've been assembled as a specialized forensic team for a classified mission to South Sudan. A UN peacekeeping outpost near the Sudd wetlands has gone silent after reporting the discovery of unusual remains. Your cover is as scientific consultants assessing potential archaeological sites and environmental impacts.
Welcome, investigators. Tonight we delve into the mysteries of Micronesia in 1923, where strange happenings have been reported among the ancient ruins. The Miskatonic University has funded your expedition to investigate unusual artifacts recently recovered from the region and reports of bizarre aquatic phenomena. The local populations speak of ancient songs rising from the depths and fishermen gone missing.
Welcome to our Trail of Cthulhu investigation set in 1925 Cameroon. The colonial powers of France and Britain have divided this African nation between them following Germany's defeat in the Great War. Our investigators have journeyed to this distant land in search of a rare manuscript rumored to contain forbidden knowledge of ancient powers.
Welcome everyone to tonight's session of Call of Cthulhu. The year is 1932, and our investigators find themselves in Algeria, North Africa. After World War I and the devastating Spanish Flu, academia resumed its relentless pursuit of knowledge. Our investigators are part of a joint archaeological expedition between Miskatonic University and the British Museum, investigating ancient ruins recently discovered in the Aurès Mountains of eastern Algeria. The expedition is funded by the reclusive industrialist Winston Hargrove, who has taken a peculiar interest in Algerian artifacts dating back to the Carthaginian period.
Welcome to Delta Green, agents. Tonight we find ourselves in modern-day Japan, where a DARPA research station has gone silent after reporting unusual seismic activity off the coast of Aomori Prefecture. Your team has been assembled under the guise of a joint research initiative, but your actual mission is to investigate the facility and determine what happened to the research team. The year is 2023, and tensions with China and North Korea have diverted most military attention elsewhere, leaving your small team to handle what appears to be a localized phenomenon... or so the bureaucrats believe.
Welcome to tonight's operation. The year is 2078, and humanity has established its first research outpost in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Callisto Station Alpha floats 150 kilometers above Jupiter's cloud tops, anchored by experimental gravitational tethers. Two smaller facilities branch off from it: The Ganymede Observatory, which studies Jupiter's Great Red Spot, and the Europa Deep Cloud Probe, which has been sending drones into Jupiter's lower atmosphere. For months, strange signals have been emanating from deep within Jupiter's clouds. DARPA and other agencies have sent your team to investigate disturbing discoveries and the sudden loss of contact with several research teams.
Welcome to tonight's Delta Green operation. The year is 2037, and humanity has finally established its first research base on Uranus. Codenamed "Anaxagoras" after the pre-Socratic philosopher who first proposed a scientific description of the cosmos, this base was established by a joint NASA-private sector initiative. What started as a triumph of human exploration has become a nightmare. Three weeks ago, communications with Anaxagoras Base stopped abruptly. The last transmission included fragmented video showing personnel exhibiting erratic behavior, speaking in tongues, and self-mutilation. A recovery team was sent in and managed to establish temporary communications before they too went silent. Their final report mentioned something called "The Whispering Void" and "entities moving within the methane storms." Delta Green has been called in under deep cover as a special scientific assessment team. You'll be traveling on the UNSC Prometheus, ostensibly as specialists brought in to determine what environmental factors may have caused the psychological break.
Welcome to Delta Green, agents. Tonight, we find ourselves in the year 2043, on Phobos, the innermost and larger of Mars' two moons. Humanity has established its first permanent off-Earth research base here, taking advantage of Phobos' proximity to Mars and its minimal gravity. The base, designated "Outpost Deimos," ironically named after Phobos' sister moon, houses a team of researchers, engineers, and support staff focused on preparing for eventual human settlement on Mars. But something... unusual has been happening. Reports of strange noises, equipment malfunctions, and personnel experiencing vivid hallucinations have made their way back to Earth. Delta Green has infiltrated a team under the guise of a routine scientific evaluation. You three are that team, and you've just arrived at the Outpost after a six-month journey from Earth.
Welcome to our Trail of Cthulhu game set in 1924. The volcanic island of Saint Kitts in the Caribbean beckons with its lush rainforests, ancient sugar plantations, and a dark secret buried deep within its colonial past. Our investigators have arrived on the island following mysterious correspondence from an old colleague who has since vanished. The tropical paradise hides ancient horrors beneath its surface, waiting to be awakened.
Welcome to tonight's Delta Green operation. The year is 2018, and you've been urgently deployed to Guinea, West Africa, following reports of bizarre phenomena affecting USAID workers. Before we begin, let me remind you: this is a need-to-know operation. Contain, conceal, and report back only to your handlers.