Roll to Save
Roll to Save is a monthly(ish!)podcast dedicated to RPGs from yester-year. Episodes will cover the history of old roleplaying games, their backgrounds and their systems, as well as round table discussions where we prattle on about our fondest memories. We also do a variety of actual play episodes and occasionally interview authors.
Roll to Save
Dark Conspiracy Roundtable
The dark minions may have tried to sabotage our first episode, but we're back with a deep dive into the fascinating world of Dark Conspiracy, GDW's dystopian monster-hunting RPG from 1991.
Dark Conspiracy occupies a unique place in roleplaying history – a game that bridges old-school wargaming crunch with forward-thinking character development systems. We explore how this game, with its eerily prescient setting of corporate overreach and societal collapse, created some of the most detailed and mismatched parties in gaming. Where else could you play a heavily-armed scooby gang featuring a Navy SEAL, a paramedic, and a homeless guy with sunglasses?
The game's mechanical complexity is both its blessing and curse. We marvel at the obsessive detail – magazine tracking sheets for individual bullets, eight pages of space travel rules in a monster-hunting game, and vehicle stats for everything from military hardware to Winnebagos. Yet beneath this crunch lies innovative systems for character development, NPC generation, and adventure design that were ahead of their time.
We also connect Dark Conspiracy to GDW's broader legacy, from Traveller to Twilight 2000, examining how these games influenced an entire generation of players. Our discussion ranges from character optimization (cyborg escapees with strength 18, anyone?) to the evolution of game design, from pure simulation to narrative focus.
Whether you're a longtime fan of GDW games or simply curious about this fascinating chapter in RPG history, join us for this exploration of a game that tried to have rules for everything – including how many tons of cargo your spacecraft could deliver to the moon.
What was your experience with Dark Conspiracy or other GDW games? Did you track every bullet, or handwave the crunch in favor of the story? Let us know at roll.to.save.pod@gmail.com or find us on Instagram!
Contact us at:
EMAIL: roll.to.save.pod@gmail.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/rolltosavepod
WEBSITE: https://rolltosave.blog
HOSTS: Iain Wilson, Steve McGarrity, Jason Downey
BACKGROUND MUSIC: David Renada (Find him at: davidrendamusic@gmail.com or on his web page).
TITLE, BREAK & CLOSEOUT MUSIC: Xylo-Ziko (Find them on their web page).
