Aquarius

Tone Bonus: Style

Any stylish or extravagant action nets a bonus of +1 to +3.




Realism: Cinematic

2 Wild Points spendable at a time/5 Wild Points to start.

Player Direction

It’s 1969 and the world has changed — not only has man been on the moon, the influences of psychedelic drugs and new age religion has opened mankind to an even stranger new phenomenon: magic. Players are either government agents uncovering strange secrets and fighting the cold war or counter culture members who search for answers in this whole new exiting universe.

Centralization

Within the Aquarius setting, several play styles are possible: Players can form a team of government agents who will be issued orders and will travel around the globe to combat evil commies (or imperialist capitalists, if you are a commie). One can also be part of a group of independents who explore the mysteries of magic within their own chemically altered minds or in forgotten parts of the planet.

Sample Character Goals

A group of agents of the “free” capitalist world, be it CIA, MI5, BND or Mossad, try to battle all infringements on the freedom of their citizens with high tech equipment. Their goals include thwarting criminal masterminds and commies, being sleek on international diplomatic meetings and blowing stuff up. Communist agents of the KGB, Stasi, etc. will have quite a similar lifestyle in the field.

Hippies and similar activists of the New Age seek to better humanity in a peaceful way. They use drugs, vision quests, and trips to far away parts of the world (India, Tibet, the Australian Desert) to search for the answers to the big questions of humanity while they are at the same time often fighting against the authorities in their home country.

Teams with mixed backgrounds often form, having experts from different affiliations which bring their specialties to bear. Even agents from opposed regimes will work together under dire circumstances.

Background

The world is rapidly changing in the late 1960s. The cold war is at its height. Capitalist and communist forces fight proxy wars throughout developing countries, the most famous one being in Vietnam. American soldiers die every day in the steaming jungles of Indochina and young people go to the streets throughout the western world to protest what is happening, often clinging to the same ideas the USA is fighting against, including icons such as Che Guevara or Ho Chi Minh. Other students turn their back on our world and indulge in drugs, sex and rock and roll. The advent of magic changes their vision quests into powerful tools against the system. But the powers that be do not sleep. Governments on both sides of the iron curtain employ parapsychologists to learn the deepest hidden secrets of their enemies within and without their countries. At the same time, countless agents and double agents try to find out about the latest developments in the enemy countries or feed other spies with false information. Other recent developments in America include the first landing on the moon and the civil rights movement of Afro-Americans. In Europe, terrorism by separatists or communists has become an epidemic, with groups like the Red Army Fraction in Western Germany supported by the student movement or the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland supported by large parts of the Catholic population. Developments in the East look dark, as movements for liberation are being crushed under Soviet tank tracks and Israel and Egypt have been engaged in a 6-day war. China is still in the craze of the cultural revolution supported by hundreds of millions. It is a strange world indeed.

Tech Level

The technology is virtually unchanged to that of the late 1960s of our world. The new influence of magic will probably mean a slightly slower development of technology in the future, though.

(BTW; I wanted to include a coded tech trait here, but there seem to be no comparative levels in the book, so I don’t know which level)

Plot Hooks

Search and Rescue: A fellow agent has been lost in the wilderness or kidnapped/ imprisoned by enemy soldiers/ agents/ criminals. He has to be extracted with as little publicity as possible.

The Dark Messiah: A guru has set up a community away from the cities in which he gathers loyal followers for less than honest reasons. His cult has to be infiltrated and, if need arises, destroyed. To complicate matters more he, or some of his followers could have magic powers.

Illegal Drugs: It's cops and robbers all over again, but this time for real. Characters can be deadheads on the run from the police or men of the law on the search for criminals.

The Great Tour: Another fun option for the players is to make them all members of a band on a tour through the States (or even a world tour, what better chance to see all the exiting places of the setting). They have a reason to stick together and nobody will ask if they behave a bit weird…

Other exiting places or events: a nuclear submarine, a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayans, demonstrations (for the world revolution, civil rights etc.) which turn violent, the Vietnamese Jungle, crossing the iron curtain, and much more…

Sample Signatures

Soldier

Soldiers fight for their country or for an ideology. During the 1960s, most countries have the draft, so soldiers can come from any background. They will be trained in the use of weapons as well as basic survival and will often have some technical skills. Soldiers can be guerilla fighters, technical specialists, jet pilots, tank commanders, crewmembers of submarines, or American/ Soviet instructors to the armies of developing countries (e.g. the US Special Forces). Counter terrorist units and SWAT teams will have similar training to soldiers. In groups, soldiers are not only the fighters but will also often act as local guides or scouts.

Hippie

Hippies have turned their backs on society and live a new life in a new age. They experiment with sexuality, drugs and radical political ideas or religions, often to the horror of their family. They style of clothing and hair is a protest to the regime, but makes them at the same time clearly recognizable for the powers that be. Hippies often live in communes in large cities or secluded from society far away from any village.

Spy

In contrast to soldiers, a spy works in secret for his government or for a criminal organization. He has to blend into societies which are often opposed to his own world view and show a false face to everyone. To facility this very dangerous job, spies are equipped with sophisticated surveillance devices, secret weapons and other gimmicks. Note: It is highly suggested, that fellow players know that a character is a spy and that the spy does not turn on the rest of the group.

Occultist

The Age of Aquarius has come and it opens new gates to all experiences. Occultists step into these gates using the teachings of Blavatski, Crowley or even Leary. They work with crystals, tarot cards, incense, or even drugs and sexual rituals to bring forth primordial powers previously unheard of. In most countries, their practices are frowned upon by large parts of the society and occultists will practice in secret, using a network of university groups, self help groups, and antique book stores to stay in touch with like minded individuals.

Student

The students of the 1960s are rebelling against the establishment. In Western Europe, many join communist organizations and try to undermine the capitalist system, while in the East, they fight for more freedom against the ever present Soviet tanks. In America, many students join the hippie movement and live a life of free love and drugs. Students will often have specialist in certain sciences, such as Sociology, Physics or Engineering. Many are at the same time political activists.

Parapsychologist

For parapsychologists, magic is a science, to be meticulously studied and applied to specifically defined problems. As their work requires extensive equipment, parapsychologists will most often be employed by government institutions and work in sensitive fields, such as espionage. A couple of parapsychologists go rogue, though. They survive as so called Ghosthunters (people who solve problems connected to paranormal manifestations) or set themselves up as gurus for the weak minded, if their use of drugs and mental techniques has not turned them mentally unstable in the first place...

Extra Starting Traits

Magic Affinity: Psi, Occult, Traditional, Alien

Magic Affinity defines which kind of magic your character is more likely to know. If she or he doesn’t have any magic capabilities, it shows to which forces you are more receptive and also more resistant (if such powers are directed against you).

Occultists get the Occult Trait. This enables them to contact the spirits of the dead, give blessings and inflict hexes (curses), and protect and heal others, all by means of complex rituals. Rituals typically take 15 minutes to an hour, and use simple ingredients — crystals, a ouija board, burning of incense, ritual movements and an appropriate incantation. More powerful occult powers will require more than one participant in the ritual.

Parapsychologists get the Psi Trait. This enables them to enhance their minds, giving them clairvoyance (seeing things from far away), clairsentience (knowing things they, rationally speaking, couldn't know), and clairaudience (hearing things from far away.) [look what a cheap-ass I am, just copy-and-pasted it from Gnosis in Satan Clause!] After many years of training (remember that these powers have just been discovered!), parapsychologists can manipulated other minds via telepathy and engage in psi-war. Psi requires the consumption of specific drugs and arduous mental techniques best performed in seclusion.

Campaign Options

The following Traits can be added to Aquarius to make the setting a bit more wild. Keep in mind that adding everything might spoil the flavor:

Aliens!

When man landed on the moon, he wasn’t alone. And something has come back with Apollo 11. Aliens (little grey men, outerdimensional horrors, mothmen, or all of them, maybe as opposing factions!) can have different agendas on earth, including conquest, breeding experiments, or saving mankind from his own evils. Aliens and their allies can have the Magic Trait Alien, which governs their special abilities (you can use psi as a default).

More Magic

Occultists and Parapsychologists need not be the only people on this planet who wield magic. Many cultures have had magicians, wise men, or shamans for centuries of not millennia. This includes Buddhist monks in Chinese controlled Tibet, Taoist magicians working in secret in China, Animist shamans in the vast African countries, the re-emerged Wicca cult in Great Britain, or medicine men in North America.

Secret Agents to the Rescue

Let’s not beat around the bush: there is one famous British agent in the 1960s who we all know and love. Why not make the group a team of world-saving, womanizing heroes for the secret services of the Western Hemisphere? This requires very little work on the GM’s side. The realism level might be adjusted to Wild to really enable the characters to shine as agents. Remember to keep things light hearted, create larger than life villains and practice your Russian accent!