Hey Handlers, I made a video talking about the scenario Presence by Shane Ivey, including tips and tricks for making it the best it can be. Overall I enjoyed this scenario and I think it’s perfect if you are looking for a scenario with long term home scene consequences for your weekly campaign.
Thanks as always!
Question: Is this something that would be useful for delta green?
Long story short: I always thought it would be cool if I give my players the ability to send emails, use in universe wikis, and potentially even IM with various NPC's they've met within their adventure.
I don't know much beyond watching two reviews of Delta Green, but it seems like this game sets up a best case scenario for this sort've system. It would allow my campaign, which is intended to take place every 2 weeks, to maintain levels of intrigue and allow me to set up bread crumb trails that they can find on their own, as well as give them access to classified documents as they're made available from Delta Green.
So my big question, is this something that would actually be useful for Delta Green?
The application of it would allow the DM to have access to a database system that let's them enter data into clear fields and have it populate the browser with the data they've added. Characters, places, news articles, names of fake websites etc.
I don't want to put a bunch of work into populating a fake wiki with articles about dust particles and windmills, but I can't afford the books for a couple days and will have to wait until they're shipped to actually get a feel for it.
its up: https://rpos.bitdeathlabs.com
TL:DR - I made a trifold scenario for my mystery horror game. The module is heavily inspired by Delta Green so I thought I would share it with this community. It is a cross between Se7en and The Mothman Prophecies.
Download Free at: StrangeTimesRPG.com
(Scroll down to Trifold Modules)
Hello!
I am an indie dev creating a mystery horror game and have been hard at work making modules for it. My most recent module, Moth, was heavily inspired by Delta Green so I thought this community would enjoy playing it. The PDF is free on my website, link above.
This module can absolutely be ran with Delta Green. All you would need to do is change the Mind and Body Saves to Sanity and Damage respectively.
Set-Up:
Shortly after the forming of the Burau of Investigation in 1908, proof of the existence of the paranormal was documented. To avoid mass panic, the evidence would be kept secret, and a subsect of the Burau was created to maintain the conspiracy: CARBON. The characters are employees of this agency and have just received their first field mission: to investigate a gruesome murder in a small town with possible ritualistic intent.
The characters will quickly learn that there have been sightings in the woods at night by the locals. A large humanoid figure with glowing red eyes. However, the connection between it and the seemingly human performed murder is unknown.
Spoilers:
>!The Mothman is an eldritch entity obsessed with death. He only appears to those who will either die soon or will witness someone die. The closer he appears, the closer the person is to death. This entity became the source of obsession for a man named Ethan White after he witnessed the Mothman first hand. Now Ethan seeks to not only see Mothman again, but to win its approval. To do this, Ethan has attracted the Mothman to a small town with ritualistic killings and is about to start his master plan to murder the entire town in one night. !<
I hope you enjoy it! I know I had a ton of fun running this one.
If you are interested, there are several more trifolds available for free on the site, though most are less fit for Delta Green as they are meant for my game, Strange Times, which is also free on the website. I will put a little blurb below on what it is and why it might be of interest to you.
What Is Strange Times?
Strange Times is mystery horror RPG focused on delivering fluid gameplay with minimal friction between the system and the story. It uses a custom d100 engine that emphasizes player agency and power without diminishing the horror and threats that surround them.
Character Health is a Resource: Characters have 3 saves which function as health pools, but they are allowed to spend from these pools to turn failures into successes. For example, if someone was lying to a police officer about the alien they have in the trunk and failed the empathy roll by 8, they could lose 8 from their Spirit Save to succeed instead.
Progressive Consequences: As players saves get lower, the worse their possible injuries become. This means that health is more than just a separation from death, but an active measurement of how much danger the player is in.
Easy to Hack: The systems are extremely flexible so that creating things is fun and effortless. There is minimal resistance from you having an idea to adding it to the game. This also makes converting modules and settings from other RPGs more easily achievable.
How are other GMs here running SAM checks?
I keep running into this issue where failing a Sanity check destroys the tension. First you see if you fail, then you see how much SAN damage you take and then you decide if you want to pass it to your bonds (which requires some light math and another roll).
Mechanically I like it, failing the check should be a big deal and should involve some consequences but all those steps suck the horror out of the scene.
Does anyone have any tips for making it faster/ more dramatic?
My apologies in advance as I have searched the subreddit multiple times, but I feel I need more specific advice.
I need a one-shot scenario to run for my table, as we will be down a player and need something to finish in a single session while the player is gone. We typically play for around three hours, but I could probably push it to four hours if necessary. I just need help because there's a ton of shotgun scenarios out there if I'm going to look at those, and I have been but it's a lot. Not sure how many official scenarios are actually one-shot-able.
A lot of the recommendations I've seen are typically Music from a Darkened Room (I don't think this is doable in even four hours), Lover in the Ice (same thing), something from Control Group (the one I'm most familiar with is Sick Again and that's definitely at least two sessions imo), or Last Things Last (I've played and ran this thing so many times, if I have to do it again I will go insane). I've also ran Puppet Shows & Shadow Plays before and that took two sessions. PX Poker Night does not appeal to me, and neither does 'The Button' shotgun.
I'm considering shotgun scenario 'Burner', but not sure if it will really hit right with my group. 'Metamorphosis' might be good but I kind of want to save it in case I get to properly run a Delta Green campaign for this group. Can anyone think of any other interesting, short scenarios or published operations and can provide a brief sentence about what it's about so I can take a look?
One of the players was in my group when I ran The Night Floors, and one of the players had played LTL with me when I was a player before. The other two have not played Delta Green but we play CoC together.
The playlist is over 3 hours long. Best enjoyed sequentially. Contains audio and visual OC. I recommend following and also adding it as a new playlist to your library.
So this was made by my friendo
my players Scarlettsweetheart and bizarroguy
i run a game on twitch and we gonna do the nightfloors tonight.
Our unfortunate Agents: Mark Bekhan, Enoch Ladrón ( my character), and Nikolas Maduro.
All art is made by me :)
Reading through this adventure, and this song got stuck in my head. It came out in 1993... probably hit the radio waves in the US around '95. Recontextualize the lyrics!
Also... the video... the ankh, the yellow rose, the black-and-white scenes...
"I got a new life
You would hardly recognize me I'm so glad
How could a person like me care for you
Why do I bother
When you're not the one for me
Oooo, is enough, enough
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign
Life is demanding without understanding
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign
No one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong
But where do you belong
Under the pale moon
For so many years I've wondered who you are
How can a person like you bring me joy
Under the pale moon
Where I see a lot of stars
Is enough, enough
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign
Life is demanding without understanding
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign
No one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong
But where do you belong
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I saw the sign and it opened up my mind
And I am happy now living without you
I've left you, ooohhh
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign
No one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong
I saw the sign - I saw the sign - I saw the sign
I saw the sign - I saw the sign
I saw the sign - I saw the sign - I saw the sign
And it opened up my eyes I saw the sign"
Just a hypothetical discussion.
If Delta Green ever got a second edition, what would you add or change?
More guidance for Home Scenes: practical in-game use and alternative approaches (like flashbacks) would be really cool.
I’d also really appreciate more support for the Handler side of things, both in running the game at the table and in the prep work. I have tons of saved notes from The Alexandrian, blogs, and posts here on Reddit that I’d really like to see reflected in an official manual.
I love how stable the game has remained over the years, with a constructive community and a lot of play practices evolving naturally on their own. At the same time, having started recentyly, I’d enjoy having more practical tools in the books, similar to what Mothership or the Liminal Horror Deluxe edition provide.
Oh, and random tables. Both for the handler and players. But that’s just a minor nitpick of mine.
What about you?
I am currently running God's Teeth for my group. We are very fresh into it and last session was The Long Years and the beginning of Red Thoughts.
***Read no further if you want zero spoiler risk for the beginning of the campaign. ***
While we are discussing the events of The Long Years
Player 1 (playing an Army Medic): "I want to add a new Bond during the downtime."
Me: "Sure. Who are they?"
Player 1: "I'm going to add another kid. A daughter."
Player 2" "How the hell do you go through something like Cornucopia House and decide to bring ANOTHER child into the world?"
While disposing of evidence.
Me: "Are you all getting rid of all of your guns or just some of your guns?"
Player 1: "Well I mean we didn't even shoot some of these so no reason to get rid of ALL of them, right?"
In the immediate aftermath of Cornucopia House.
>!Player 1: "I say we burn it."!<
>!Me: "It?"!<
>!Player 2: "I agree. All of it."!<
>!Player 3: "What about the kids?"!<
>!Player 4: "Take them outside and leave them by the damn tree."!<
>!Player 5: "What about the other body? The small one."!<
>!Player 4: "Leave it wrapped up with them. It'll be more then enough evidence something truly fucked happened here."!<
>!Me: "Sounds great. So, backlit by multiple burning buildings you leave Cornucopia House with two vehicles full of evidence that needs to be disposed of elsewhere. The children and their pets ringed around a tree like the Whos from Whoville as the last of their friends to ever be a victim of the House's horrors lays nearby in the snow. Good job."!<
The Agents encounter another survivor of the Auction House fire.
Sorry, Honey, I Have To Take This features serious horror-play with comedic OOC, original/unpublished content, original musical scores and compelling narratives.
We're available on all platforms (Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, etc).
Visit our website for the latest episodes: https://sorryhoney.captivate.fm/
We post new episodes every Wednesday @ 6am CST
All our links (Discord, Socials, etc) are available through our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sorryhoney
Please check it out and let us know what you think.
We hope you like it :)
Does this game work with 6 players? I have 5 and I’m expecting players to sometimes rotate in and out between scenarios. Anyone have experience if all 6 show up?
I've finished reading Sutra of Pale Leaves and promised my group I'd run it for them. It seems like a fun campaign to run, but it lacks a certain grit and horror that I love to add to my CoC games.
The way the Pale Prince (King in Yellow) actively pursues its goals like some supervillain feels almost cartoonesque, while the Sutra itself is hardly more than just a mind control book.
To explore how other campaigns tackle the King in Yelow, I recently started reading the Delta Green sourcebooks. I completely fell in love with them. Impossible Landscapes fleshes out the exact reality-bending setting and depth I'm looking for in a King in Yellow campaign and Delta Green's systems are very gritty in a way that beautifully complements that.
I really feel that IL fills the exact gaps where SoPL is lacking, while SoPL slightly fleshes out some concepts that could be super interesting in a KiY setting, like an organization (APL) that intently spreads the KiY and uses it to shape the world. (I haven't read the entirety of IL yet though!)
Eventually I came to the conclusion I would love to run Impossible Landscapes in Delta Green and add some of the SoPL scenarios and the APL as some form of villain, while adding a touch of the IL horror to make it fit together better.
There's some hurdles to overcome, for example the KiY is fundamentally different in IL and SoPL.
I'm posting this here to see if anybody has any ideas for a combined Impossible Landscapes / Sutra of Pale Leaves campaign. But also feel free to convince me not to combine them! My biggest fear would be to create something much worse than the sum of the two campaigns separate, and spoil both for my players.
Hey guys,
I recently started running Delta Green, and my players are already buzzing about it. I have the ambition of running Impossible Landscapes somewhere down the line after we've played a good few other scenarios. But something has me wondering...
I'm a Brit, with no real good grasp or interest in geography. I don't know American history very well. With all the other things to prep in a Delta Green game, does this hamper me, especially when it comes to improving stuff to do with IL?
Yours curiously,
MJ
Good afternoon handlers. I come to you today to ask if it is possible to run Jack Frost from the dead drop books without shoe horning my players into playing the pre generated characters. I am still rather new to the whole delta green thing so all help is appreciated
(Here is video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHnrYCqlv9k )
Mathematics is a language that describes reality and the universe. And since the nature of reality is shocking in cosmic horror, the logical conclusion is that studying it can lead to madness. The motif „magic, if it works, is really mathematics and physics, the understanding of which exceeds the human mind” appears in Lovecraft, for example in „Dreams in the Witch House”. This usually works on the principle that the Necromicon and other „books of magic” contain scraps of advanced knowledge obtained from inhuman beings, which superstitious sorcerers then treat as magic. Therefore, it should also work the other way round – a professional scientist should be able to discover dirty and blasphemous secrets through scientific research. Here are some viable candidates for „scholars who looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into them.”
Kurt Gödel (1906-1978) – Austrian-American mathematician, physicist and philosopher. He dealt with, among others, theory of relativity (which in itself negates the image of the world that „common sense” dictates to us), deriving from it equations intended to prove the possibility of time travel. Towards the end of his life he went crazy, among other things. believing someone was trying to poison him. When his wife was hospitalized for a long time and was unable to taste his meals to prove the lack of poison, Gödel starved himself to death.
Georg Cantor (1845-1918) – German mathematician, creator of set theory. Over time, he delved deeper into mysticism and claimed that mathematics could be used to reach conclusions about metaphysics. Some Christian (Cantor himself considered himself a devout Christian) philosophers of his time claimed that Cantor’s mathematical theories were contrary to religious dogmas (it was something about proving the existence of an infinite being, other than God – I am not a mathematician, I don’t really understand what is going on). Cantor was tormented by bouts of depression, sometimes so severe that they led to hospitalization.
Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906) – Austrian physicist, pioneer of the kinetic theory of gases. He theorized the “Boltzmann brain” – a hypothetical self-aware entity that emerges from chaos through random fluctuations. Boltzmann proposed that we and our observed low-entropy world arose from a random fluctuation in a higher-entropy universe. He committed suicide by hanging. „If our current level of organization, having many self-aware entities, is the result of random fluctuation, and it is much less likely to be so than a level of organization that produces only self-aware self-aware entities, then in any universe with the level of organization we see, there should be a huge number of solitary Boltzmann brains floating in unrecognized environments. In an infinite universe, the number of self-aware brains spontaneously, randomly emerging from chaos, along with false memories of life like ours, should far outweigh the number of real brains evolved in the observable universe, arising from unimaginably rare fluctuations”. Did I understand it? Not really, but it sounds quite Lovecraftian – self-aware beings emerging from chaos, our world as a result of random processes taking place in the „higher” universe… it’s easy to spin a cosmic horror out of it. And let's theorize that Boltzmann’s suicide was due to the terrifying conclusions he had reached…
Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1930) – Austrian-Dutch physicist. He researched the theory of relativity (which, as I mentioned, very often leads to „crazy” conclusions about the nature of reality) and laid the foundations for quantum physics (which is even crazier). Towards the end of his life, he fell into severe depression and shot first his son and then himself.
Grigory Perelman (1966) – the only still living member of this group, a Russian mathematician. He had a brilliant career in Russia and the USA. His greatest achievement was presenting evidence for the so-called Poincaré’s hypothesis regarding the shape of the universe. Unexpectedly, in 2005 he left his job and broke off all contacts with the scientific community… And not only that – he stopped leaving his apartment, communicating only by phone or through the door. He consistently rejects all job offers and awards (including the Millennium Award worth one million dollars!).
Each of these gentlemen (except Perelman) lived at the turn of the 20th and 19th centuries. Each of them can be used in the scenario – either as a living and active NPC, as a dead source of knowledge (in the form of unpublished notes containing mythical secrets), or as a background reference („Don’t think about it, Professor X conducted research in this direction… and how did he end up?).
This is just small part of the full, free brochure full of Lovecraftian inspirations from the real life, science, history and culture: https://adeptus7.itch.io/lovecraftian-inspirations-from-real-life-and-beliefs