DwD Studios

(Verge™)
Just out of sight, those things of night and darkness dwell within the abyss and prismic refractions, haunting our vague perceptions and shrieking in deafening silence to be heard. They vie for our attention, and beg to taste our reality, or to pull us screaming into the realm of ethereal shadow where they tear at our souls and drink our thoughts as we succumb to eternal nightmare and hellish everlasting horrors. The place where psychotic visions announce your insanity and science gives way to fantasy; that place we dare not look, through the door they call...the Verge.
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A branch scrapes upon the window next to your bed in the moonlit darkness. You rub your eyes and look and see the shadow of a motionless shadow figure wearing a broad-brimmed hat cast upon the window in the full moon light. You reach over and turn on the light in startled fear, but when you look back, the shadow is gone, and the moon's light reveals no shadow cast across your bed.

You go out to check to see if you see anyone outside, but there are no signs that anyone had even been at your window. The cold wind blows, signaling an oncoming storm, so you head back in, mostly satisfied that it was just your imagination.

You walk through the house. Its shadowed corners somehow seem darker. You go down the hallway. Shadows upon shadows are cast about. The light coming from your room seems to make the shadows near your door even darker. As you walk back into your room, you catch something out of the side of your eye. A pale face in the shadows, but you know it couldn't have been there, because it's just a wall, so you dismiss it. As you close the door and turn to click it shut, you see the face disappear behind the door. Frightened, you open the door again quickly, but there's nothing there. You shake your head and tell yourself your imagination is getting away from you and close the door again. But as you turn around, you can't seem to shake the feeling that something is out of place. Is someone watching you? Might I be watching you.

You sit on your bed and lay back against the wall. You take a sip of water from the glass on your nightstand and pick up your book from it, yes this book, and begin reading it to help calm yourself. But it doesn't take long for your eyes to grow weary and your muscles to grow weak, unresponsive. The paralysis of sleep overtakes you.

Then you open your eyes and look down at yourself sleeping cozily in your bed. In an odd feeling of curiousness you look around. On the walls play shadow figures walking around in the lamp-light. Shocked, you wake up with your head beneath the covers. You take a breath relieved. Realizing that the light must have been affecting your sleep, you pull off the cover to turn the light off, and there the shadows walk a solemn procession upon the walls around your bed.
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The city at night is a dangerous place. More dangerous than you know. Horrors of all kinds populate this world. Not even those in the country are free from these dark beings. But now you have a chance to fight back or to let yourself be recruited to their dark influence. Powerful organizations conspire to give life and sustenance to these dark forces. Thankfully, there are men and women dedicated to keeping the world safe from the ancient evils and dark gods. Institutions have arisen to battle these forces in secret to keep mankind blissfully unaware of the horrors that could drive every last man, woman and child insane by its knowledge. Will you serve the light and bring an end to the world's darkness, or will you give in to the service of the Faustian horrors that seek to enslave and devour all mankind?
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Rules for d00Lite fringe science and other rules can be found free in the Adjusted Rules.

Campaigns

Choose from any of the following campaign types, create your own or mix and match:

» Creature Feature (A strange creature infests your research complex or terrorizes the city. Your job is to either contain it or destroy it.)
» Cthulhu (Eldritch gods are seeking their way into your dimension through a portal in a foggy moor, creepy old building or some remote part of the world. You can either help them against paranormal investigators or stop them through any clever means at your disposal.)
» Dreamscape (A madman feeds on people's dreams and you must stop him or die trying.)
» Eldritch Device (An ancient device shows up with beautiful ancient markings. But an obsessed adherent of an ancient cult unleashes its power, and now it is your job to track it down and subdue the horrible device.)
» Fey (Fey creatures of all types roam the world, hiding in plain sight. They disguise themselves and hide their powers, seeking to get along with mankind. Whereas the fey once nearly destroyed the world, mankind subjugated the fey in order to save the world, and an uneasy peace has remained ever since. You are tasked with safeguarding that peace by battling against those who would disrupt it.)
» Ghost Hunter (You track down ghosts and seek to resolve their issues so that they will move on to the next world.)
» Infestation (Zombies, bugs of a particular size, aliens, rodents, flesh-eating worms or other grotesque beasts infest a building or whole town, and it is your job to clean them up.)
» Poltergeist (Evil poltergeists seek harm to the living and it is your job to subdue them and send them into the beyond that the living may again have peace.)
» Psionics/Sorcery (People with great powers roam the earth. But power corrupts, and it is your job to weed out the corruption wherever it may be, whether in a school, corporation, political camp or ripping off innocents.)
» Slasher (A slasher is on the loose and it is your job to stop it...permanently. Or die trying.)
» Transhuman (Gentically and mechanically modified people, as well as A.I., has lead to those who seek to make themselves powerful by means of genetics and gadgetry, known as transhumanism. These individuals may seek surgery or even modify themselves. Known in fiction as mutants and cyborgs, the transhumanists are a potential threat to public safety. Your job is to track down and neutralizes humans and machines that have gotten out of hand.)
» Vampire (Vampires are spreading like gangrene throughout the city. You must track them down to their source and kill the head vampire to put an end to the infestation or the world is doomed.)
» Werewolf (Wolves are killing people in the parks and on the streets. Even cops are unprepared for their vicious attacks. You must take your arsenal of silver bullets and eliminate the pack.)
» Wierd Science/Fringe Science (Mad scientists cannot resist making their abominations world-threatening experiments. You might fight against all manner of mutated man and beast to find the mad man responsible and put an end to their experiments, or you might simply have to find a way to shut down their machine after a kaleidoscope of strange experiences.)

Institutions

Rosematter Otherworld Investigations

Cthulhu Investigators. These intrepid researchers and paranormal scientists go seeking out the ancient legends of Cthulhu, the horrid god of the otherworld, a dark plain of ancient magics and unknown technologies where unimaginable horrors reside. It is said that all who look upon Cthulhu go mad from their inability to comprehend the shear horror of what they see. The lore says that Cthulhu and his minions were once members of a beautiful alien race, but through their magic and technology, they became twisted in their search for immortality and now want only to devour the world in order to regain all that was taken from them by a power greater than them.

Crestwood Estates

A mysterious shadow organization with an unrevealed backer. They shape the political landscape from behind closed doors, bringing down substantial political figures with but a word and closing the doors on powerful businesses.

Secret Service's Advanced Sciences Division

Guarding the president is about saving the country, but exploring cases of fringe science is about saving the world. Every day the ASD fights against would-be world destroyers and individuals who mess with forces they cannot begin to understand.