TEXT: Campaign HQ Organizations
  Bureau of Paranormal Investigation
  Type: Government Agency 
  Motivation: Paranormal Defense 
  Funding: Government 
  Resources: Excellent - has access to resources controlled by many other government agencies, including 
  prototype weapons and equiptment. The bureau also has its own research division.
  Locations/Headquarters: The bureau's main office is officially in Washington D.C. - the real 
  headquarters is located in Inverness, Massachusettes. The bureau has support facilities in every state, and 
  safe houses for agents in most major suburban areas, and in some cities abroad.
  Agent Types: 
  ■     Operation Services: The technicians and support personnel. They are responsible for the 
  maintenence and distribution of resources. They maintain the support facilities, repair equipment, 
  and distribute equipment to agents in the field. They are recruited from other government 
  agencies, technical colleges, and occaisionally from small-time criminal operations. Most of these 
  agents are 1st to 3rd level and have 50-80 CPs. They usually carry a communicator watch and a 
  pistol. 
  ■     Development Services: Research scientists in the employ of the bureau, they develop most of the 
  prototypes and production equiptment in use by Field Services. They are recruited using methods 
  similar to those used for Operation Services. These personnel are normally level 3-7, and may 
  have anywhere from 60-150 CPs. They may carry any type of equiptment, and most carry some 
  sort of personal invention. 
  ■     Field Services: These are the standard field operatives. They are a mix of skilled humans, and 
  super-powered beings (generally with mystical origins). Agents may be organized in permanent 
  or temporary teams, or may work alone. They have the job of investigating reports of paranormal 
  activity, collecting information on various phenomena, and sometimes doing battle with it. These 
  agents are recruited from other government agencies, super-human groups (both criminal and 
  legal), mental institutions, and during field investigations. Field Services agents are anywhere up 
  to 12th level, and up to 200 CPs. They can carry any type of equipment, including many 
  experimental prototypes engineered by Development Services, and almost always carry a 
  communicator watch. 
  ■     Administrative Services: This includes any non-technical personnel permanently assigned to a 
  base or support facility. Security personnel are usually former military or Secret Service, are level 
  3-5 and 70-140 CPs. Administrators are usually level 1-5 (many are former Field Services 
  agents), and 50-150 cps. The administrators assign missions to field agents and dispatch 
  Operation Services as necessary to supply agents in the field. Administrative Services personnel 
  always carry a communicator watch, security personnel also carry 1 or more weapon depending 
  on what type of facility they are guarding. 
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  Campaign HQ Organizations
  Leadership: Chief Administrator Margaret Bankcroft - agent of the bureau in the 50's-60's, she was 
  retired from Field Services in 1984 when she was injured on a mission and lost the use of her left leg. 
  She took a position in Administration Services and worked her way up to Chief Administrator in 1993, 
  after the former Chief Administrator retired. The Chief Administrator is responsible for the day to day 
  operations of the bureau and reports on bureau activities to the President and the Secretary of Defense.
  Description:  
  The bureau began life in 1917 as Project Raven, named for the birds off ill omen that Noah first sent 
  from the ark to see if the flood was receeding. The project started in large part as a method study of 
  german paranormal research and development after the United States joined World War 2. One of the 
  first agents was an expert on debunking the occult named Erich Weiss, also known as Harry Houdini. He 
  worked for the bureau in secret and even many of his family members were not aware that the stomach 
  wounds he suffered in 1926 which led to his death, were actually incurred on a mission he undertook for 
  Project Raven. 
  In late 1937 Project Raven became another Bureau of the Department of Defense called the Bureau of 
  Paranormal Investigation. Franklin Roosevelt empowered the bureau to work on projects to counter 
  Hitler's own experiments into the occult. Although the bureau was responsible for many important 
  missions during this time - much of its work remains classified to this day and can not be revealed to the 
  public. 
  The bureau came under attack in the early 1950's by J. Edgar Hoover, but he relented mysteriously after 
  a visit to their headquarters in Washington D.C.. The bureau is known to have experimented with 
  Psychoactive drugs and their effect on psychic powers in the 60's. Shortly afterward, the bureau formed 
  its Psychic Services division. 
  From 1968 to 1976 the bureau's Psychic Services division provided psychic support from remote sites to 
  agents in the field. However, in 1976 the division suffered a major blow and closed down. During the 
  course of a mission the entire Psychic Services force suffered massive psychic feedback resulting in the 
  deaths of half the division and permanent brain damage to another quarter of it. As a result the division 
  was closed and the remaining personnel were absorbed into other divisions. There have been no moves 
  to reopen the division since. 
  The main purpose of the bureau is the investigation of paranormal phenomena and its effect on the 
  security of the United States. In reality they are often also forced to act on the data they retrieve in a 
  timely manner. They research paranormal phenomena, including ways to harness and combat it. And are 
  often the first line of defense against paranormal defense. 
  This organization was loosely inspired by the following: 
  ●     Tritac Systems' Bureau 13 RPG 
  ●     The Bureau 13 series of books based on the above by Nick Polotta 
  ●     Mike Mignola's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense from the Hellboy comic 
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  Campaign HQ Organizations
  ●     Marvel Comics' Weird Happenings Organization 
  ●     The Ghostbusters (can't remember who owns them) 
  Sample Agents: 
  Agent Name
  Division
  Format
  Johnny Rennick Operation 
  Services 
  VVU
  Campaign HQ Organizations 
   
  Villains and Vigilantes copyright 1982 Jeff Dee and Jack Herman 
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Villains & Vigilantes/Extra Material/Villains & Vigilantes Bureau of Paranormal Investigation.pdf