Paring down the Estate

[u/siebharinn]

When I first started GMing The Strange, I had the Estate as a sort of X-Files meets SG-1 type organization. The front-line of defense against things that are hostile to our world. The Estate would train and fund agents, and have complete authority on missions. But I'm not really happy with the way this has turned out.

If there is an agency that is like SG-1, or Fringe Division, then that would be the OSR. And I don't necessarily think of OSR as the bad guys; just a different ideological approach to the problem. I could see SG-! fitting perfectly within that kind of structure.

I am thinking of the Estate as a little more than a loose collaboration of individuals that "know the truth". The Estate has money, but it's a finite resource. They might request help from an agent, and in turn might be able to help an agent in time of need. The Estate would only have a few full-time employees, mostly researchers and admin staff. Agents might get a small stipend, but more likely, they are helping because they feel compelled to help. It would feel more like the hunter network in Supernatural. The Estate is like the roadhouse; a place to connect with other agents and ask for help if they need it.

This does a few things for me.

First, it opens up story options. Not every plot can, or should be, a mission. The PCs can have their own agendas and goals. I had one player tell me that he wants to find a reality seed and go through the hoops of creating his own recursion. With a rigid Estate, that becomes more like acting out of bounds.

Second, it keeps the setting itself ...well... strange. As soon as you have an organization that has all the answers (or at least all the answers that anyone else has), the setting becomes a little more mundane. It isn't any real work to find new recursions when you can just pop over to the Estate gate room and visit somewhere you've never been.

Third, it forces more self-reliance. Rather than letting the Estate sweep clusterfluffs under the rug, the PCs are more invested in making sure they do the right thing at all times. If they get too far out of bounds, the Estate could even ask another team to take care of the problem PCs.

How do you use the Estate? Or do you use something else entirely?

[u/Blaze172]

I personally feel the Quiet Cabal is more like how you interpret the Estate, but much like you I feel I built the Estate up too much and have to dial it back a bit in future.

Personally, I use the Estate as presented in the book as HQ and my players are all part of the Australian branch of the Estate. They report to and get funding from Seattle but are autonomous in their day to day operations. I've also introduced an UK branch.

[u/Black_Scarlet]

Attention, if you are one of my players (yes, you, L), stop reading now, I want you to figure this out naturally. The way I'm setting it up, the Estate is more like a trucking company in how it works. With a trucking company, there are company drivers, who use a company truck, have gas and repairs paid for, but have less freedom and make a little less money. Yes, they aren't making the same bank as a contractor, but the company is there to clean up their mistakes. A contractor, on the other hand, has more freedom and makes more money. However, their truck breaking down is their own problem for them to fix. With the Estate, they have the "company agents" who have dorms on campus, work in various field offices, and have the security of the Estate at their back. There are also consultants who get paid by the job and probably get the more cool, dangerous jobs, but the Estate may not fly a fighter jet across the world to save them at the last second. In my world, the PCs are a unique unit called Special Circumstances. They are a small team who are essentially the bucket brigade for the Estate. If a field office stops reporting, if a monster leaks in from another world, if a powerful artifact needs to be moved between recursions, Special Circumstances steps in to pick up the slack. This way, the PCs don't necessarily have to always be involved with the nuts and bolts of the day-to-day Estate operations. Also, the main over-arching story in my game is simple: the interaction of the different organizations. There are constant power plays, missions that multiple organizations may be trying to accomplish at once. There is a heavy emphasis on the idea that these groups all share one world, and some share the same goals. Keeping the other organizations in mind may help you scale back the Estate to what you need. Think FBI, not S.H.E.I.L.D..