Dark Matter d20 Campaign Setting

[Spyder]

The world you live in is a lie. An illusion. But what, exactly, lies beneath the veil?

The Dark Matter Campaign Setting takes place in the modern world, set at most two or three years in the future. Its mood is something of a mix between the X-Files, Men In Black, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It takes place in a world very much like our own. Actually, exactly our own, with a few key differences. The world of Dark Matter is a world of occult conspiracies, alien life forms, and much, much else.

[Spyder]

To the public, the Hoffmann Institute for the Advancement of Humanity is an independent "think tank" organization devoted to developing alternative, non-polluting energy sources. But beneath that veneer lies something far more remarkable.
The Hoffmann Institute is a private organization dedicated to investigating paranormal phenomena. In layman's terms, the Hoffmann Institute investigates and tracks down everything from bizarre alien life to the ghosts and vampires from children's nightmares.
The Hoffmann Institute was initially funded and named in 1917 by a former German diplomat by the name of Tomas Hoffmann, working alongside Doctor Itohiro Nakami, a former assistant of Nicolai Tesla. After Hoffmann's death, Doctor Nakami, actually a Grey named Nakami in a human disguise, used the mandate of investigating new energy sources to conceal a hidden agenda, saving humanity from a threat called the "Dark Tide", the steadily rising levels of dark matter in the galaxy. The effects of this increase are numerous, as dark matter "feeds" certain psychic and arcane entities, and those entities could very well pose more threat to humanity than anything ever known before.
The Institute aggressively recruits anyone who shows signs of supernatural abilities and shows interest in learning to control them. It also attracts "normal" people adept in investigating and handling paranormal threats.
The Hoffmann Institute's agents don't routinely engage in violent actions, but its mandate of collecting and studying alien and arcane artifacts sometimes puts them in conflict with other groups with similar agendas.
The Hoffmann Institute normally operates covertly, though certain members of various government agencies are aware of the Institute's activities. Agents of the Hoffmann Institute often claim to work for one of these agencies, making it look like their affiliation with the Hoffmann Institute is their cover story.
Players in the Dark Matter Setting are part of the Hoffmann Institute's Department-7, a section of the Institute's Intelligence Division.

[Spyder]

Department-7 Agent Loadout

The agents of Department-7 receive the following equipment as their standard gear.

An untraceable 9mm sidearm, typically a Beretta 92F (shown below) with a holster and two boxes of ammunition.



A cell phone from the Hoffmann Institute's private Cellnet.



A Hoffmann Institute Identification Card



And finally, a Chevrolet Suburban.