Authors: Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivey, Greg Stolze
Development/Editing: Dennis Detwiller & Shane Ivey
Published by: ArcDream Publishing.
Page Count: Two Volumes – Agent’s Handbook (194 pages) and Case Officer’s Handbook (370 pages)
Available Formats: PDF, Print (Slipcase)
I’d been on the periphery of Delta Green since shortly after the release of its main sourcebook in the 1990s. It was a supplement for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I remember flipping through it at Pandemonium Books and Games at Harvard Square (it has since relocated). The idea was a conspiracy within the government, dating back to the raid on Innsmouth, dedicated to fighting the Mythos. Of course, other factions in the government had other ideas. While once legal, the conspiracy by the then-current 1990s was now illegal. It was all very X-Files, with various opposing organizations for agents to fight, ranging from occult Nazi survivors to alien Greys. It provided an excuse for characters to adventure together.
At the time, most of my gaming was science fiction with a touch of D&D, so I didn’t get much use out of it. As the 1990s became the 2000s and then the 2010s, the setting became increasingly dated. Then in the fall of 2015 came a Kickstarter for a Delta Green RPG. I made the tough decision to back it deeply, splurging for $300.00 to get everything. In my previous experience, ArcDream had a tendency to be a bit on the late side for Kickstarters but to consistently deliver. (I really wish for more Wild Talents and Godlike). It wound up being a fantastic investment, with every few months seeing me getting a new PDF and occasional physical book. For me, a favorite from the Kickstarter was the Fall of Delta Green Gumshoe game from Pelgrane Press, detailing Delta Green in the 1960s.
So that’s perhaps enough of a history lesson. Let’s talk about the game. The core can be found in two books – The Agent’s Handbook (player’s book) and Case Officer’s Handbook (GM book). They are full-color with a definite espionage feel to them – clippings, reports, etc.
Rules-wise, if you know Call of Cthulhu, especially in editions before the 7th edition, you’re 90% of the way there. I’ve quite easily used adventures for Call of Cthulhu with the Delta Green RPG without skipping a beat, converting on the fly. D100 games tend to be like that.
The Agent’s Handbook has the rules and character generation and a section on modern federal agencies. Like Call of Cthulhu, your character’s skills come from the profession you choose – most professions are centered around government, military, or various professional occupations. You have statistics that tend to range from 3 to 18 and skills that range from 0 to 100. There is no Cthulhu Mythos skill, but there is an Unnatural One. Similarly, there is no Library Use; rather, when researching, you use the most relevant skill to what you are researching. Like Call of Cthulhu, you have sanity points. In both games, your mental strength, represented by the Power ability score, defines your sanity (multiplied by five in Delta Green). There are a few interesting differences:
Perhaps the most noteworthy change is your character will have bonds—things that are important to you, given starting ratings equal to your Charisma ability score. You can sacrifice these relationships to absorb some sanity loss. Also, after every adventure, the downtime gives you a number of options – these often have tradeoffs—reduce a bond to recover sanity, spend time trying to recover bonds, spend time in therapy, etc.
There are a few other items of interest to Call of Cthulhu players. When you roll doubles, you get a critical success or a fumble, depending on if the roll would normally be a success or failure. A roll of 01 is always a critical, and a 100 is always a fumble.
The Agent’s Handbook also discusses problems agents might have like addictions, losing their jobs, etc. It is a game that can get very dark…
The Case Officer’s Handbook gives us a history of Delta Green and related organizations, starting with the 1928 raid on Innsmouth up to the present day (2017, the year it was published). We see how Delta Green and its opposition evolve over the decades. We learn how Delta Green was disbanded in 1970, became a conspiracy in the government, and in the early 2000s overcame its main opposition and became legal again. Of course, in overcoming its opposition, it also absorbs it and changes to the point there’s an internal schism, with an official Delta Green (“the Program” and an illegal one (“The Outlaws”). And your agent might not be aware of which one they are in—or that there are two. At a Delta Green panel, I attended at Necronomicon, it was compared with the final season of Angel, where our heroes “won” and took over the evil organization of Wolfram & Hart—and became changed in so doing. There are sample adventures, guidance on the organization of both modern factions of Delta Green, campaign guidance, and tips for setting games in various eras. There’s also a guide to the unnatural—unnatural technologies, power, and entities.
I’ve kicked off a recent Delta Green game set in the 1950s, and I like it quite a bit. I needed a bit of a change of pace from Call of Cthulhu but still wanted to stay in that overall genre. While there are a lot of little rule differences, they’re not that big. One could, for example, use the current (7th edition) Call of Cthulhu rules to run a great Delta Green game—and the two core books, especially the Case Officer’s Handbook, would work great as source material.
I do think the game stands well on its own, however. I like the addition of bonds, the tweaks to the sanity rules, and various other changes. It’s not to say one is “better” than the other, but I think the new rules are an excellent fit for the slightly different genre of Delta Green vs. Call of Cthulhu.
How is the genre different? It’s something I’ve given a bit of thought to. At its core, Delta Green is about how humanity reacts to the Mythos. You can have an organization with the best of intentions doing absolutely horrible things. One example given at the Delta Green panel I attended was that of agents using ICE to deport legal Asian-Americans who also happened to be unnatural beings that were a threat to the country. The greatest threat is not always the Mythos entity; it is the Mythos entity and the reaction of humans to that threat. And it’s not just the “bad guys” reaction to the threat. It’s your own agents. The ICE example I gave was one done by the players in a game. That’s dark. Similarly, your character might find themself obsessed with overcoming these threats, slowly their sanity, their career, and all that they hold dear. You no longer just have to worry about a character dying or going insane. Your character might lose their spouse, get arrested for misuse of government funds, be fired, or fight their demons with drugs and alcohol. It can get dark.
Who is this game for? Clearly, people who are already fans of Delta Green will get a lot of enjoyment out of it – though it’s been out for a while now, I imagine they already have it. What about everyone else? I think it’s great for someone who enjoys the Call of Cthulhu Mythos and/or the Chaosium RPG but is looking for a bit of a different lens. It is a little bit of a technothriller, a lot of espionage and horror. While it has a lot of monsters, in my opinion, it is a game where humans are the real monsters. I think it’s a game where the group needs to talk about boundaries, especially if one uses the modern-day default setting. The modern American political climate is pretty divisive, and there’s a lot of opportunity for angry words between players.
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