Delta Green - what is it?

[Alzrius]

Having only recently received the latest issue of Dungeon/Polyhedron, I noticed the Call of Cthulhu adventure in Polyhedron. Oddly, it was slated at being a d20 Delta Green/Call of Cthulhu adventure, instead of just straight Call of Cthulhu. Apparently I missed something somewhere, because I don't recall any d20 campaign called Delta Green. Can anyone help me out here please?

 

[Chingerspy]

Its the modern/future campaign environment for Cthulhu, I don't think there is a D20 version for it *yet* though. I've never played in it but there is a fair amount of material out there.

http://www.delta-green.com/

 

[Shapermc]

yea what Tony said. Basically it is an X-Fileish setting for the game. The first Delta-Green main source book is out of print. But from what I have heard it is worth it if you can find it. If you have never converted any of the CoC BRP system stuff over to d20 it is pretty easy. Also DG is mainly a campeign setting. There is a video game for the PC comming out, this year I think, based on Delta Green. But it is all at that website, so ...

 

[Henry]

Delta Green is worth it, oh, yes. If you want to run a modern-era game that has a bit of rationale behind it, use Delta Green. It's a fantastic setting, by Pagan publishing, which is licensed to do Call of Cthulhu products for Chaosium, and they are coming out with a d20 reprint of the game, this year I believe.

 

[Voneth]

As a friend was explaining it to me.

Von: "Wait a minute, in CoC, all the players go insane.

Ken: "Yep."

Von: "And now you freely give them automatic weapons that are within arm's reach as they crack up?!?"

Ken: "Yeeeah!!, it is a thing of beauty to run, I tell ya!"

 

[Chingerspy]

PMSL!! @ Voneth

I've never played in the Delta Green setting but I bought Cthulhu D20 and Spycraft more or less at the same time and always wondered about joining the two games together for a D20 Delta Green.

 

[VorpalBunny]

IMO joining Call of Cthulhu and Spycraft is not a good idea if you want to run a Delta Green campaign. If you want to run James Bond vs. Cthulhu go for it (I'd call the serial "Die Today" ), but Spycraft is waaay too over the top for DG.

DG is supposed to be an illegal conspiracy within our own government. Very subtle - the last thing they want to be doing is attracting the kind of attention Spycraft heroes do in their travels.

For a DG game, I'd run a modern CoC game (using the rules in the CoC book ONLY - no d20M or Spycraft), start the investigators off in some kind of government agency (FBI, Army INSCOM, etc.) and take it from there.

Of course, YMMV.

 

[Shapermc]

Delta Green: Countdown is still in print and supposed to be just as good as the origional (better by some reports).

Henry: Do you have any sources that say this? Besides the mention in Dungeon mag I had no idea that they still printed this.

 

[Kenshiro]

Delta Green

Looks like everyone has pretty much described what Delta Green is, so I'll just add that I'm Von's friend who talked the poor folks of the local gaming club into playing in my game.

Also, when I got Spycraft and d20 CoC, I immediatly thought, "Cool! I can do Delta Green in d20 now." VorpalBunny's right: that was a mistake. Spycraft characters are supposed to be bad-asses, and don't fit that well in Delta Green. A friend's 6th level Hacker could've broken into the Majestic 12's mainframe, in real time, just by taking 10. My Pointman/Faceman Navy lawyer could've appropiated enough equipment, resources, gadget points, and troops to turn a Shoggoth into fruit jell-o.

So now that d20 Modern is out, use that instead. It's a little more cinematic and action-driven than normal Call of Cthulu, but then again, Delta Green allowed for a few more shootouts, chases, and firepower. I know I'll probably get slammed for not using straight CoC rules, but considering that the group I'm running with haven't played the original setting and rules, I have to be gentle with them So far, it's been going great. Even with high stats, training, and the d20 Modern talents and abilities, the agents are still having trouble and their SAN is going down the drain...

Delta Green: Countdown is also great. And I also think it's better, but only because it supplements the original. While Delta Green focused more on the US, DG: Countdown goes worldwide. Imagine the British Intelligence agencies subverted by Mythos creatures. The Russians are fighting a holding action against Ghouls, while being destroyed from within...And my favorite part of all: it the Outlook Group and Hastur Mythos...

And here's another DG link: http://www.semper-vigilus.tk/


So watch the skies and be seeing you...

 

[VorpalBunny]

Countdown is extremely cool, but you really need the original DG book to get the most out of it.

As for d20 DG - a while ago I saw a post by John Tynes on the WotC Cthulhu boards that said the next printing of DG will not be "Delta Green d20", but the original material dual statted for BRP/d20. It is (was?) due "sometime" this year.