Delta Green Review

[EditorBFG]

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

Which, if you ask Chaosium, means it won't sell.

 

[The Lost Muse]

If 1 in every 20 people who has posted on a thread excited about the new edition of Delta Green actually buys a copy, I'm pretty sure they won't have any trouble selling through their print run.

 

[Celebrim]

Yes.

Really? Cool.

The real trick was blending the Cthulhu Mythos so convincingly, so seamlessly with UFO myths.

Is that really a trick though? I've discovered over the years that the Mythos can be overlayed (underlayed?) on just about anything wierd.

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.

Good. Because it didn't. That's pretty much the heart of my problem with it. Well, that's one of my problems with it, the other is...

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...

I can't understand liking it for that 'vibe', either, so we are even. The anti-heroic vibe you describe is probably the most trite convention in modern literature. Angst is completely worn out on me. Delta Green wasn't even avant garde in this matter, for what little that would be worth. It came out right when everyone else was doing it. Maybe there isn't enough teenager in me anymore to care much about 'personal apocalypse', self-destruction, paranioa, and desperation. Maybe its just I think its a tired show, a well-picked over meal - and a meager one to begin with.

 

[EditorBFG]

If 1 in every 20 people who has posted on a thread excited about the new edition of Delta Green actually buys a copy, I'm pretty sure they won't have any trouble selling through their print run.

Oh, I wasn't agreeing with Chaosium's view that dual-statting decreases sales-- quite the opposite. I think Delta Green will sell through its print run, which is why there is so much talk about who should be able to get their hands on a copy.

Chaosium chose a couple of their more lackluster product ideas to attach d20 stats to, found that those titles didn't sell well, then congratulated themselves on how superior BRP was. Like I said, all part of their vow of poverty.

Some companies hate competition. Chaosium hates profit.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There really ought to be a book called UFOlogy for Dummies.

 

[Professor Phobos]

Is that really a trick though? I've discovered over the years that the Mythos can be overlayed (underlayed?) on just about anything wierd.

Few things do it so well, with so much attention to detail and so many plot hooks.

The anti-heroic vibe you describe is probably the most trite convention in modern literature.

Anti-heroic? Nay, sir, nay. If anything, Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu are some of the most heroic settings on the market. It's regular people willingly destroying themselves for the safety of mankind. Delta Green didn't do anything that the mythos didn't already have- except for the modern update (swapping out the Mythos as an external threat to a tool of humanity's internal self-destruction was big). Classic Call of Cthulhu is a group of people risking life and sanity against impossible odds for marginal victories.

Angst is completely worn out on me.

Angst is important to good storytelling. Stereotypical "Black Clothing and Eyeshadow" angst is annoying, but virtually all stories have at least some angst to them.

Maybe there isn't enough teenager in me anymore to care much about 'personal apocalypse', self-destruction, paranioa, and desperation.

If you're going to outright dismiss the game (and implicitly, all those who enjoy it) as "teenager", then I think we're done.

Because I don't want to talk about Strawman Green. EDIT: I mean, it doesn't have to be to your taste or anything, but it is well-regarded for good reasons, not juvenile ones, and I resent implication otherwise.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

There really ought to be a book called UFOlogy for Dummies.

These days, Wikipedia will suffice for this as well. Sure, the Wikipedia is talking out of its collective ass at times, but so do actual UFOlogists - so your players won't notice any difference...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I can't understand liking it for that 'vibe', either, so we are even. The anti-heroic vibe you describe is probably the most trite convention in modern literature. Angst is completely worn out on me. Delta Green wasn't even avant garde in this matter, for what little that would be worth. It came out right when everyone else was doing it. Maybe there isn't enough teenager in me anymore to care much about 'personal apocalypse', self-destruction, paranioa, and desperation.

The Angst here is totally different from, say Vampire. "Oh woe is me, I am a Creature of the Night which has the strength of ten men, can leap buildings in a single bound, and always gets the chicks!"

In Delta Green, it's more like: "I had a decent job, a wife, and two kids. Although it could have been even better, life was fairly good.

Then I joined Delta Green. Since then, the things I have seen have taken their toll on me. I have seen good people die in ways that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies - and sometimes I think the dead are the lucky ones. I've begun turning to the bottle to feel some relief from what I've learned - to forget for just a few hours. My superior is getting suspicious about those reports I have filed. My wife is filing for divorce, and my kids have a look of fear in their eyes when they look at me. I wish I could get out of this - that things were just as they have been.

But I can't. There's simply too much at stake here. Someone needs to fight these things, and there is no one else but us. Still, I always remember to leave at least bullet in my pistol for me..."