[Casaubon]

ok, just throwing some random ideas here (and in bad english since I don't have much time) but:
as these cults work in the real world, they could start by offering you some help, as in a self-improvement course, maybe.
Something like "you have a problem with drugs, or alcohol, or dealing with people? We can help you". And they actually succeed, offering a small but concrete boost to the carachter, removing (or diminishing the negative effects of) the addiction, or giving a charisma or speechcraft bonus, etc.
The catch may be that the player is required to do something a bit (but not too overtly) twisted in the process. Or maybe the bonus comes with some unpleasant side effect, nothing too drastic again, and they came up with a plausible explanation
suggesting it's actually your fault (when we asked you to meditate on that artifact, you didn't make your mind completely empty; or this increase in insanity is because the deep reason behind your addiction are emerging and we need to work on these too, or we warned you that reading those books is a demanding task wich requires true faith/true open mindness, etc.)
Then they offer the player a solution, but this time it's not a simple one, requiring maybe multiple quest to achieve or to demonstrate his loyality to the cult before they grant him the advanced help he needs, and so on.

About the charity idea, it could be nice if done well. But again, there must be some kind of catch.
maybe they are helping everyone but *insert a category that is stupid to refuse to deal with*; or maybe the methods they use are a bit questionable (for example, they help alcoholics but by brainwashing them, and the player is either required to assist in that process or get to withness it).

Or maybe if it's a cult for the intellectuals, they promise knowledge and knoweledge they deliver, but as we know it can be quite a burden on your sanity, and it is *partial* knoweledge anyway (but you find out only later)

[Azael]

A cult like this isn't your average money making scheme like Scientologists or crazy Kool-Aid mixers like Jim Jones. Hiding behind a charity veil should be beneath them, simply because the people they would want to attract shouldn't be bothered by mundane things like caring for others.

I'm thinking that it should be pretty clear from the start that these guys are up to no good and that only depraved and possible deranged characters should even think of joining up from the start. Obviously, their true motives shouldn't be clear from the get-go, but the lure of power beyond the characters wildest dreams should be there from the start. Like what Vince said, have them start with rather innocuous tasks like retrieving certain texts or artifacts or locating individuals, courier missions that can be accomplished in different ways. Maybe even have them reward you more for choosing grisly methods to further imprint that these guys are up to no good. As the character gets deeper in the organization, have clues about their true intents dropped either in conversations or found in scrolls that characters with the right skill can read, at risk of being discovered (or worse, turn insane). Have suitable rewards, while also require proper sacrifices from the character. Not until the very end should they let you in on the whole (or most of) the real deal, if they should do so at all.

[GhanBuriGhan]

Though a part of it maybe requires a bit more discussion:

So they would test if you are loyally following orders, even if they make little sense.

Why would they expect loyalty in such early stage? Are you unaware that is a cult or do you know it? Why would i (or my PC for that matter) feel loyalty to some guys im just getting to know? Either as some seemingly innocent organization or a secret cult.

Sure cults require loyalty from their members but wouldnt it be a bit naive of them to expect it from every recruit?
I mean - how would they know am i really "loyal" or im just fooling them for my own ends even if i deliver that message to someone.

My thinking was that you do not know that they are a cult, but that they are looking for recruits that are susceptible / amenable to their cult. That you have dabbled in some way in the occult previously might have aroused their interest. So they are looking for a specific personality type that will not cause trouble - I assumed the traits above would be what they are looking for, and they want to find out if you conform with that without giving away what they really are. Much like sects they might look for people that have an affinity to be led, for trusting blindly, and believing what you are told without much questioning.
 

Maybe im just unnecessarily over complicating things now and if thats the case then just forget it.

But, maybe it would work better if my desire to join a cult like that was established previously - by helping a member or intentionally involving myself in some case related to them and acting against their enemies or "accidentally" uncovering something : a piece of manuscript, piece of some minor artifact; then behaving in such a way they would find me appropriate for membership.
Actually all of this can be a plot of minor quest that would set me on this path.

That would also be an interesting option. In that case I would imagine the cult to take a rather aggressive stance, since they don't want to be discovered - so they might e.g. kidnap the player, question him, and put a choice before him, or he might be contacted under a pretense to do similar testing of him as I described above.

[GhanBuriGhan]

Much like sects they might look for people that have an affinity to be led, for trusting blindly, and believing what you are told without much questioning.

And which of these describes an average player thats going to be interested in playing an IT game? 
If it was about that Cult recruiting random NPCs from the game i wouldnt think it... unbelievable or a bit shallow.

Since its about recruiting us really, it better be something we would enjoy and feel challenged with, methinks.
It better be something really ... dastardly.

I haven't really talked about implementation at all, only about a framework. Of course it should be fun, and of course the player should not be locked into really being that personality type. Which simply means that you must give the player an incentive to want to join / infiltrate that group, and to want to pass the test. There may be hints to the real nature of the organization, or he may be given another reason to join them as a red herring. The advantage then is that the behavior of the cult is reasonable, and it should not be too hard for the player to behave accordingly if he has the goal to succeed. I just like my secret cults of the unspeakable actually trying to remain secret...

[Scott]

I like some of these ideas.  Here is what I'm putting together:
>> Cult has cover as community group.  This is necessary as an excuse for many people to regularly meet without having to hide in the woods.  It also means a woman can be in the cult without arousing her husband's suspicion.
>> Player may be introduced to cultists through group-related, innocuous task.
>> Cultist tells player about their non-threatening, but perhaps strange, philosophy.
>> Player is actively recruited (still without telling him everything, of course) only when the player takes some suspect action, like committing a crime or dabbling in the arcane.  Perhaps the cultist could reveal something the group needs, but which cannot be acquired legally.

[almondblight]

I'd take a look at some cults/secret organizations for influence.  There was one on the Mexican border I was reading about a while back that was running drugs but also engaging in human sacrifice.  They were a cult, but they needed a source of funding (alternatively, you could say they were drug runners that needed a religion).  Another possible source?  Give your money/things to the cult to show your trust in them.

A few other ideas I'm throwing out there:

Some initiation right where they drug you.  You navigate through your visions.  I think the old man of the mountain did this with his recruits?

If there's a power struggle, people are going to try to influence the new guy.

Probably wouldn't use the new guy for anything too trustworthy ("hey, new guy, take this artifact we've been searching for for years, don't run off with it, but take it to this guy across town"), unless the person might not trust others in the cult.

Are you recruited as a thrall or as someone of talent?  If it's because of your talent, they recruited you because they want you to use it, not because they need a mailman (though if it's a small organization, everyone has to pitch in for more of the mundane tasks).  If you are recruited as another thrall, you'll be treated accordingly.  Did they recruit you because they needed someone disposable?

Also, think about the personality of the group.  Several different factions being played off each other by the leader?  Paranoid and psychotic?  Check out the Abu Nidal Organization:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nidal

"As'ad Abu Khalil writes in the Encyclopedia of the Palestinians that the group was based on terror and intimidation, with members not being allowed to leave once recruited, and everyone living under suspicion of being a double agent. The ANO's official newspaper Filastin al-Thawra regularly carried stories announcing the execution of traitors within the movement.  According to The Sunday Times, Abu Nidal even came to believe that his own wife worked for the CIA.

"Each new recruit was given several days to write out his entire life story by hand, including names and addresses of family members, friends, and lovers, then was required to sign a paper saying he agreed to be executed if anything was found to be untrue. Every so often, the recruit would be asked to rewrite the whole thing; any discrepancies were taken as evidence that he was a spy, probably for Israel or Arafat, and he would be asked to write it out again, often after days of being beaten and nights spent forced to sleep standing up."

I like this line: "Abu Nidal's dangerous combination of an inferiority complex mixed with the belief that he was a man of great destiny."

Anyway, I think you could probably find a lot of interesting things by looking at real life cults/gangs/militias/etc. 

[Scott]

@almondblight:  thought your name was almondbutt at first, but it's almost as cool.

The drugged initiation or rite sounds cool.  A hallucination where your actions were confused would be interesting, like you thought you were shaking someone's hand, when in fact you were stabbing them in the stomach, for example.  Power struggle also has loads of possibilities.

Anyone interested in the Old Man of the Mountain should read Alamut, a fictionalized account of his cult of assassins, from whom the actual word "assassin" is derived.

[Casaubon]

I like the idea of a power struggle inside the cult, and factions trying to recruit the new guy... you could choose between the evil faction and the really evil one.

[Azael]

I like some of these ideas.  Here is what I'm putting together:
>> Cult has cover as community group.  This is necessary as an excuse for many people to regularly meet without having to hide in the woods.  It also means a woman can be in the cult without arousing her husband's suspicion.

Curious, how big and public do you intend this cult to be? Granted, sects like Aum Shinrikyo and Davidians operated to some extent in the open, but I see a cult with an objective like this like a by necessity extremely insular and secretive. Of course, you could have them as an "elite" cult within a larger cult. Basically, the larger organization would actually be mostly harmless, if slightly loony, and completely unaware of the dark deeds done by the inner circle. Otherwise, I'd prefer them to be completely secretive and approach the player, rather than the other way around.

[Hector]

They could always pass as a group of people helping to get people off of drugs.  Cults usually prey on the weak, and a drug addict trying to kick the habit would probably count.  The fact that it's a religious organisation whose prayers often include "Ia Ia Cthulhu Fatagn!" would be entirely besides the point as far as most people would be concerned .

[Azael]

Well, why not just have it as an "openly" occult society such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, just that this cult happens to have an even darker agenda (and it's real to boot). I just don't see the need for charity work or other fronts. There are plenty of secretive societies that exist in the open, Freemasons come to mind for example, that have plenty of disturbing rumors around them. The rumors would just happen to be true in this case.

[Scott]

There is a quest line for the player to investigate a cult, and laying out a few clues in the area is a good idea.

But if he doesn't go that way, why not have him recruited, provided he has shown through his actions that he might be interested?  Cults may prey on the weak as a matter of course, but any successful organization needs a few competent people as well.  Having a volunteer society which provides treatment for addicts is brilliant, since your character may end up addicted.

[Scott]

Keep in mind that some of the cult's enemies may actually be evil.  Because cults are criminal organizations, they're prone to run afoul of regular organized crime.  And then in the real world, a regular church, the police department and federal agencies aren't necessarily "good" either.  At the end of the day, their mission is to benefit themselves first, society second.  That's how I intend to portray things in my game anyway.

[Sodomy]

(ignores previous page and a half)

The way I'd do things depends on the recruit.  If it's someone who is known to be thoroughly criminal/"evil", and they've ASKED to join, I'd have them do something evil that tests their loyalties.  Have them kill an old associate, not for any real reason, but just to demonstrate that their old life means nothing to them and that they're willing to follow your every whim.

For someone of a more benign persuasion, I'd ask them to "deliver a message to a friend of the group".  Of course, they aren't allowed to read what this message is.  Which means that they've got no way of knowing that this message reads "The cult of [insert deity name here] has marked you for death, and I shall be its messenger- initiate [enter PC's name here]".  And that this "friend" is actually someone who has been rooted out as someone working against the cult, and is important to the local society.  Hopefully, the recipient of the message tries to come after the PC, and the end result is that the PC has just murdered a highly important person, pissed off a huge amount of "decent" society, and needs to rely on the cult for protection.

[Hector]

That requires that the person simply take what the message says at face value and that the initiate doesn't read the message.  If either condition isn't met, the target is warned and you've lost the initiate.