Delta Green Review

[Celebrim]

Yet another glowing review. Am I the only one in the world that found Delta Green to be a trite, predictable, lame, and utterly uncompelling setting containing absolutely no suprises?

You have a world that basically conforms on the surface to the UFO myth, and if you scratch the surface, it basically conforms to the UFO myth. Why was this considered such a good idea? The villians are predictable. The heroes are predictable. Anyone tin foil hat wearing true believer with a copy of 'UFOology for Dummies' know pretty much the whole setting.

 

[Professor Phobos]

Yet another glowing review. Am I the only one in the world that found Delta Green to be a trite, predictable, lame, and utterly uncompelling setting containing absolutely no suprises?

Yes.

You have a world that basically conforms on the surface to the UFO myth, and if you scratch the surface, it basically conforms to the UFO myth. Why was this considered such a good idea?

The real trick was blending the Cthulhu Mythos so convincingly, so seamlessly with UFO myths. It's a worked example of putting the Big C into anything, much like various efforts to put mythos overtones over real historical events. If you're not into the Cthulhu Mythos enough to see how cleverly it was overlayed, you may not care. The point of the game wasn't Conspiracy theory- it was Lovecraft-themed conspiracy theory. It's so like conventional UFO myth because it's not supposed to sound like something no one hadn't heard before- in the mid to late 90s everyone knew the basics of the Roswell story. It wasn't supposed to take conspiracy theory anywhere new. It was supposed to take something familiar to people, something quite game-able, and twist it with Modern Cosmicism. And it did. And did so gloriously. The familiarity is an advantage. CoC has always thrived on verisimilitude, a sense of realism in everything but the Mythos. This is crucial to the atmosphere. Delta Green is Fox Mulder as a depressed, suicidable alcoholic who put a bullet in Skully's head after her pregnancy turned weird. It's Mulder working for the Cigarette-Smoking Man after he showed him "The Truth" and Mulder agreed it had to be kept a secret.

Then, of course, there's the vibe. Not everyone perceives it, but the DGML has spent years trying to explain it. I can't explain it to you. You either feel it, or you don't. But the DG vibe is something precious to me. I can't understand not liking DG for the reasons you stated as much as I can't understand not liking DG because it "Gives to much power to the players, ruining the horror feel." Neither makes any sense, nor washes with my own experiences. Delta Green was about "personal apocalypse", and that either appeals or it doesn't, I guess.

"Personal Apocalypse" is a hard theme to explain. It's self-destruction, paranoia, and desperation. It's addiction, ignorance and annihilation. It's all sorts of things.

Plus, of course, it's an extremely well put together, comprehensive setting that has plot hooks screaming out of every paragraph. There is a reason it is so well loved, so awarded, so critically acclaimed- it is the finest RPG sourcebook ever made. It took Call of Cthulhu in a whole new direction. It is my gold standard for a sourcebook.

 

[Alzrius]

I hate to ask again, but: do we know when it's officially coming out and through which channels we'll be able to (pre-)order it?

I'd kind of like to know this also.

 

[ssampier]

I saw a pre-order at FRP games. But I don't know how often they update their page, so I didn't risk it.

This looks interesting. My first and only exposure to DG was that Polyhedron adventure years ago.

 

[Odhanan]

Not unexpected, but it's too bad it uses D20 CoC chargen... one of the weakest and most overestimated iterations of d20 AFAIAC.

Interesting you should say that, Psion, because I actually think the total opposite: I think it's one of the most subtle and overlooked iterations of d20.

It's not "in your face" with obvious changes to the core concepts of d20, but it follows two simple design concepts: 1/ don't reinvent the wheel every time you design a game, and 2/ Less is more. All the magic of CoC d20 is in the details and the treatment of particular rules, not in the way of introducing new mechanics to the game.

 

[paradox42]

Interesting you should say that, Psion, because I actually think the total opposite: I think it's one of the most subtle and overlooked iterations of d20.

It's not "in your face" with obvious changes to the core concepts of d20, but it follows two simple design concepts: 1/ don't reinvent the wheel every time you design a game, and 2/ Less is more. All the magic of CoC d20 is in the details and the treatment of particular rules, not in the way of introducing new mechanics to the game.

I'll add my (possibly minor) weight to this side. I found the use of the massive damage rules (reduced from 50 hit point triggering to 10) combined with using standard D&D damage reduction rules (but not giving PCs any easy way to get their hands on the enchanted weapons to overcome said DR) to be touches of brilliance. And lifting the Sanity rules, whole cloth, from BRP into d20- despite the incongruities between the systems- was also a stroke of genius, because when you use it in a proper d20 game you know the mechanic doesn't fit- just like the mental state it's trying to emulate. The subtle details are perfect, and just what a good CoC game needs to work.

Admittedly, it takes a sound Keeper to use the rules properly to create a good game, but few if any RPGs can claim differently, no?

 

[Professor Phobos]

The annoying thing about D20 CoC was that most everything was fine, except...

1. Attack and Defense Options. What are these things even supposed to represent? What are they for? What purpose do they serve?

2. The feats. God, the feats. Why couldn't they be investigative or horror themed? It seemed like half of them were "Shot on the Run, Shot on the Bus, Shot While Eating An Ice Cream Cone..."

 

[mmadsen]

The annoying thing about D20 CoC was that most everything was fine, except...

1. Attack and Defense Options. What are these things even supposed to represent? What are they for? What purpose do they serve?

2. The feats. God, the feats. Why couldn't they be investigative or horror themed? It seemed like half of them were "Shot on the Run, Shot on the Bus, Shot While Eating An Ice Cream Cone..."

Well said. (They missed the opportunity to turn the three saves and BAB into skills, which would have worked nicely, since non-combat skills are often quite important to investigation.)

 

[Kaladhan]

Isn't this book supposed to be using dual stats?

 

[Kesh]

Isn't this book supposed to be using dual stats?

Yeah, the new edition is dual-stat d20/BRP.