The Oversight Code

The Oversight Code
National security is no longer a concern

After reading this month's Game Informer about Obsidian's espionage RPG, Alpha Protocol, I've been inspired to make my own spy RPG. Thats how The Oversight Code was born.

The Oversight Code uses the Myriad system by Ashok Desai, which I am quite fond of. And, quite uniquely for me, I've already finished a majority of the game's mechanics. I think it may be because I've studied the Myriad RPG system so much and started (and did not complete) several projects using the system.

But that's beside the point.

I want The Oversight Code to be very story-driven and have the same thrilling, edge-of-your-seat effect of movies like the Bourne Identity (Conspiracy, Ultimatum, etc.) and games like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.

Because of this, I want to design a main storyline that will be used during the course of the game (Guides can always make their own stories, but this will be the story that is "packaged" with the game). That's what inspired the title.

The Oversight Code is a computer program designed by the Department of Defense that uses nanotechnology and advanced scanning and database referencing to monitor everything and everywhere in the United States, all the time. Its omnipresence is unrivaled and the it is often nicknamed, "the Eyes of God."

The billions of nano-cameras with high-resolution, live feed send their data to Overseers, supercomputers located in the heart of each district, and the Overseers then send that data to the Hivemind at the Pentagon.

This advanced system renders terrorist sleeper cells, database hackers, and their like obsolete. It is the ultimate surveillance program, protecting the United States from underground threats at the cost of privacy of its citizens.

Of course, the Oversight Code is merely in prototype form. It has not been tested or refined, though its major hardwired systems are in place across the country. The other world powers have their eyes set on the Code and traitors to their own country are willing to sell it to them for unbelievable prices.

In this setting of high stakes, two-faced bonds of loyalty, and explosive consequences, the players will assume their characters as members of an elite team of agents from the newly-created National Oversight Security Agency (NOSA). As fully-trained yet inexperienced agents, they will learn whether freedom and personal liberties are worth the cost of national security.