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LEGAL NOTICE:
“Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. Illustrations by Dennis Detwiller are reproduced by permission. The contents of this review are © Stuart Anderson excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.”
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“Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor but without glory. Delta Green agents fight to save humanity from unnatural horrors—often at a shattering personal cost. In Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, the players are those agents. They fight to save human lives and sanity from threats beyond space and time. Delta Green’s percentile-based rules are compatible with 20 years’ worth of Delta Green scenarios and sourcebooks.“
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Until fairly recently the weird, insane & wonderful world of Delta Green had only barely crossed my roleplaying gaze – a long infatuation beginning with with D&D, then moving on to the likes of RuneQuest, The One Ring and Call of Cthulhu had occupied my focus in recent times. I was obviously aware of this game, from its origins as a setting in the Call of Cthulhu mythos before becoming established as part of the Arc Dream Publishing stable in the 1990’s. But it wasn’t until the last year or so when Delta Green well an truly wrapped it’s sinister and shadowy arms around me and invited me into it’s demented world.
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It was initially thanks to the amazing Glass Cannon Network and their ‘Get in the Trunk’ series. Get in the Trunk is an anthology series playing through various Delta Green scenarios by Arc Dream Publishing, such as Last Things Last, The Last Equation, A Victim of the Art and Ex Oblivione. In 2022, Season 4 began the first long-form Delta Green campaign — Impossible Landscapes. The incredible Impossible landscapes s4 in particular lit the RPG touch-paper in me – and so here we are.
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So what is Delta Green?
Essentially, Delta Green is narrative storytelling that brings Cthulhu mythos into a more contemporary setting. While Cthulhu is beautifully and perfectly set in the Lovecraftian era of the 1920’s and the 1930’s, Delta Green is in the main from the 1990’s onwards and has a distinct shadowy Government and corporation conspiracy vibe. I like to think that if ingredients of Cthulhu, The X-Files, True Detective (S1, obvs….not the sub-standard seasons) and The Twilight Zone were thrown together into a blender then Delta Green would be the result.
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Yes, it’s also true that the Delta Green universe and its accompanying storylines can be at time bleak and pessimistic in terms of it’s depiction of cover-ups and state wide conspiracy’s. This can also mean that characters – both PC & NPC can often at best go bat-shit crazy and at worse experience agonizing deaths – but damn, it’s a lot of fun getting there!
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So you can imagine my delight when the fine folks at Arc Dream Publishing agreed to send me the DELTA GREEN SLIPCASE containing the Agent’s Handbook and the Handler’s Guide in exchange for an honest and objective review. After that I’m planning to run this game with my RPG group in the spring.
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So what’s in the Delta Green Slipcase?
The Delta Green Slipcase includes two full-color rulebooks:
The Ennie Award-winning AGENT’S HANDBOOK features rules for creating agents and playing the game.
It includes:
Rules for creating agents, with dozens of professions from throughout the U.S. government and the civilian world.
Rules for tense, fluid investigations; players who use their agents’ skills in clever ways have the best chance to succeed—and survive.
Nerve-wracking rules for combat, where random disasters can undo the most careful planning and the human psyche is as vulnerable as the body.
Mind-melting Sanity rules, which see agents gradually and inevitably deteriorate from too much exposure to trauma—and sometimes snap in an instant from overwhelming terror.
Rules for “home” scenes where players can see what their agents are fighting for.
Intuitive rules for equipment and assets, which let you determine on the fly whether something is available without having to plan it out ahead of time.
Dossiers of the federal agencies most likely to be featured in Delta Green games, focusing on the details players want to know when they play their agents.
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The HANDLER’S GUIDE is written for the game moderator who presents the mysteries and horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos.
It includes:
A history of the world of Delta Green from prehuman history to the present day, with campaign tips and scenario seeds on every page.
Horrifying rituals, unnatural entities, and reality-shattering Great Old Ones.
Rules for creating new threats to shock and terrify your agents.
The secretive Delta Green organization in deep and disturbing detail—and the other ruthless conspiracy that claims it is the real Delta Green.
Guidelines for creating original scenarios and campaigns using the resources in this book.
“Operation FULMINATE: The Sentinels of Twilight,” a sample scenario, ready to play.
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Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game is supported by 20 years of scenarios and sourcebooks, with more to come.
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So what do we think of the books?
To begin with, the slipcase itself is a thing of robust beauty in the form of a nicely embossed black case adorned by the Delta Green insignia, This baby is built to both look good and stand the test of time.
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The books too are incredible, both in terms of detail and design – At a whopping combined totalling more than 530 pages in length I would be a liar if I tried to pretend that I had devoured the whole of both of these tomes………. but I certainly gave it my best shot. I cannot help but say that the writers of both books have set the highest of bars in regard to the content. For a start, the books are beautifully designed – the covers are stunning and the artwork by the likes of Dennis Detwiller throughout is gorgeously powerful, sinister and at times downright insanity inducing. Throughout the book, the artwork not only supports and exemplifies the core rules of the Delta Green game but also looks beautiful as a separate entity on its own with an impressive attention to lore and narrative detail that clearly shows as a labour of love from the game’s writers. The feel for the authentic nature of the mythos is rarely seen to this level of quality.
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The Handler’s guide is the equivalent of a standard GM guide book and at 369 pages has a wealth of detail about the history, lore, game mechanics, plethora of shady organizations and army of creatures that affect the world of Delta Green. The information to aid campaign choices are in abundance and it would be accurate to say that I have already identified some that I shall be using with my group – though alas, I cannot state them here due to the fact that some of those sneaky buggers read the articles on this website.
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The Agent’s Handbook is the equivalent of a standard core rule book is a beautifully crafted collection which includes absolutely everything that ordinary people (the players) and GM’s (the important people in charge, like me) need in order to get things started in terms of exploring the lore and gaining an understanding of the mechanics. The book is richly and lovingly laid out in a fashion that is both informative and entertaining combining the fabulously insidious artwork and written detail.
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What do we think of the Mechanics?
I’ve mentioned previously how much of a Call of Cthulhu (and the whole Lovecraftian mythos) fanboy I am. So while essentially CoC & Delta Green are from the same system, there are a number of important differences. Some of the rules have been simplified, but more importantly some stats that I always felt lent little or nothing to the character creation or playing experience such as education, size and appearance have been removed. I also love the hint of magic in the use of hypergeometry, which allows for the learning and casting of unholy rituals. This element benefits in particular those less proficient in combat, though the downside is that there is often a price to pay for the character.
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If you like a little ‘crunch’ to your game mechanics, then maybe this game may take a while to grow you – after all, Delta Green is similar to Call of Cthulhu in that crunchy tactical combat is not the main focus. Another thing that puts some off Cthulhu is the random nature of group backgrounds that sometimes impact on the narrative direction. In Delta Green the group members are often together due to a common purpose as well as relevant skills and backgrounds.
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One particular addition to the mechanics of Delta Green is that of ‘Bonds’ – this essentially lets you choose a significant other (or others) in your characters life that can be used to take some of the sanity strains that will inevitably come your way – whether they want to or not! And believe me – you will want to use this because the risks and the stakes in this game are big!
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The skill system is quick and satisfyingly straightforward. Decent skill ratings affect the need for actual rolls and, as like any game, it may take a little while the grasp the fundamentals the intuitive nature of the game makes this process relatively quick when compared to games such as Pathfinder.
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I dare anyone to have issues with this game. The two books here are pretty much a flawless example in how to introduce new and past players into a game’s world. The level of thought, work and talent that has gone into this product is as high as any that I’ve recently come into contact with. The rules contained are easy to understand and are not simply a ‘copy and paste’ from the original game that bore this Cthluhu love child – real effort has been taken by Arc Dream Publishing to gather new players under its wing and provide an authentic taste of what the game has to offer.
If the aim was to use the starter set to enthrall, entice and envelope new players to the world of Delta Green, then in my case they have succeeded……
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As way of providing another enticing aside, the fine folks at Arc Dream have also sent me an advance pdf copy of a brand new Delta Green adventure ’From the Dust’. The printed version isn’t available until April but I’m able to share some thoughts in the very new future. ……….
A universe of cosmic terror lurks, just out of sight. Can your agents stand against it?
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You can visit the Arc Dream Publishing website RIGHT HERE
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Just a quick reminder that – Full disclosure: This product was sent to us for an honest and objective review. No promises were made of financial remuneration, free gifts or holidays in the sunny Bahamas…….sadly
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