Delta Green

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Summary: Second Fiction Anthology for Award-Winning DELTA GREEN
Review: DELTA GREEN is the modern adaptation of Call of Cthulhu. Drawing on the same body of UFO lore and paranormal activity as the X-Files, DELTA GREEN has tapped into something very deep. And of course, once you have a successful RPG, you might as well start the fiction flowing, right?

Dark Theaters has some fairly lenghty short stories, designed to flesh out the world of DELTA GREEN. Some clues and hints are elaborated on; what exactly happened during the fabled raid on Innsmouth in 1928? What was the final mission of Gen. Fairfield? We find out more about the summoning by the Karotechia that was a dress rehearsal for the end of the world, but the entirety of the episode remains tantalizingly removed.

Dark Theaters, like the rest of DELTA GREEN fiction, is about what it means to be human. Or not human. The monstrosities which are called up and cannot easily be put away serve to highlight our humanity. But in the end, humanity is just short-hand for a fundamental incomprehension of the universe. We are carrying on a rear-guard action against reality, buying our fellow-man time for ... what? To say that humanity loses in the end is to pretend that there are other players, rules agreed upon, some validity to having tried and lost. Life is a game of solitaire, and we're not playing with a full deck. All is meaninglessness, a blowing of the wind.

And yet humanity means staying in the game. Like Lucifer, the real patron saint of lost causes, we know that we will lose and darnit, we are going to keep playing the hand we were dealt. It gives meaning to life, death, and the passing of the seasons, the sacrifices we have made and those we have sacrificed, to play by the rules, even if there aren't any. So let us cheer for the hero and jeer for the villain, and not go gently into that dark night.


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Summary: The EndTimes are here!
Review: Delta Green was originally spoken of years ago, when Pagan Publishing was still in its infancy. I almost gave up on it many times, but when it finally arrived, I could see that the wait was well worth it. Delta Green is one of the most well-crafted products ever to come out in the role-playing genre. It raises the standard and, since its release two years ago, we have indeed seen games and supplements become bigger, better, and more well-thought-out. I think we can attribute this in part to Pagan Publishing, which has shown the gaming public how good things can be.

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Summary: Best CoC Supplement, possibly best RPG book period
Review: I'm writing this review because the rumors that a new edition with stats for d20 play are getting harder and harder to ignore. Even though the book is old and sometimes hard to find, anyone who seeks it will probably not be disappointed.

Delta Green revitalizes the Call of Cthulhu milieu in two ways. First, it plants the setting squarely within our time, developed from a backstory that starts in 1929 and gets downright spooky in 1947. Eldritch horrors still stalk humanity from beyond - only now the entities that menaced the 20's are content to scheme behind the scenes. Unfortunately for the Earth, some humans are content to betray us all for the ephemeral promises dangled before them. These men are not the frothing cultists and brute savages of Lovecraft: they are scientists, priests, and four-star generals. Plus there are new foes and surprises to keep jaded players guessing.

Second, there is finally a good reason for unusual characters to find themselves allied against the dark. Will a cop balk at sharing forensic evidence with a detective, a journalist, and a Marine? Not anymore. All the PCs are members of or friendly to Delta Green, an illegal conspiracy operating within the federal government. Of course, it's not the ONLY illegal conspiracy operating within the federal government. While Delta Green has adopted the sensible tack of trying to blow away every Mythos problem they encounter, its opponents are convinced that some mysteries can be studied, contained, or even harnessed for their own use.

That's just an overview. There is so much to Delta Green that any gaming group interested in conspiracy-style RPGs could find something useful. There are sections on U.S. government agencies, modern firearms, and mind-blowing adventures that are not for the faint of heart.

With Delta Green, CoC players can feel more confident with a nice gun in their hands, and the assurance that a backup team of ex-SEALs in on the way. Their characters will still die or go insane, but at least they should enjoy the ride.

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Summary: Impressive
Review: I've never played anything but 1920's Call of Cthulhu, and have never been to keen on the idea on modern-day CoC. But I must admit, the Delta Green campaign setting is really impressive. After having taken a look at it and purchasing it, I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a change of pace in their CoC game. The best comparison I can think of is this: If CoC 1920's is the movie "Alien," Delta Green is the movie "Aliens." Both are cool, both have the same creatures as the adversaries, but they both have different moods and different types of protagonists. The background info in this book is so realistic, if I were a bit more mentally unbalanced :), I could easily believe every bit of it as gospel truth, not just a game setting.

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Summary: Delta "Green with envy!:
Review: If Lovecraft was alive today this sourcebook would make him green with envy! This takes the Call of Cthulhu game to the contemporary level. There's more than enough plots and characters to juice up a modern (postmodern?) Call of Cthulhu game. I especially like how the creators have made so many versatile options. You can make this supplement as intricate or as simple as you want. I definitely recommend this as a sourcebook to all Call of Cthulhu role playing fans.

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Summary: Best supplement I've seen in years.
Review: If you can find it, buy it. I can't believe they haven't re-printed it. A work of genius.

Rating:
Summary: Best CoC Supplement, possibly best RPG book period
Review: This anthology of Delta Green short stories presents a good introduction to the conspiracy/horror concepts of the DG world. Some stories are better than others, and each tale has it's own merits, but the story by Arinn Dembo stands head and shoulders above the rest. The story, a DG-flavored explanation of the life and times of a rockstar who closely resembles Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, is truly fantastic in my opinion. I'm probably a bigger fan of the story because of the unsolved mystery of Cobain's death, but it's well-written and sucks you in with a mixture of present-time and flashback sequences. I recommend the book as both an introduction to DG, and as a source of fresh new historical fiction authors.

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Summary: Best Call of Cthulhu supplement ever
Review: To call DELTA GREEN a supplement for Call of Cthulhu is to do it a great injustice. Even if you don't play the game, but are a Lovecraft aficionado, you owe it to yourself to pick this up and see what Tynes and company have done. This is not your father's Cthulhu Mythos. This is something much, much nastier.

Gone are the days where monsters lurked in dark places, and could be banished with the right spells. The stars are right - right here, right now, and the Mythos has kept pace with modernity, corrupting openly, though humanity is still too blind to see. Delta Green has been fighting them ever since Innsmouth and 1927, a hidden conspiracy within the government dedicated to seeking out and destroying that which threatens humanity.

Only trouble is, even the government has disavowed Delta Green, in favour of collusion with the enemy. But the menace is so great that Delta Green continues, an illegal conspiracy hidden in the bowels of that which wants too destroy it. Delta Green isn't Mulder or Scully, seeking the truth that nobody else knows. Delta Green *knows* the truth, and is making sure nobody else suffers from knowing that either.

DELTA GREEN takes everything we know about modern day conspiracy theory - Roswell, Area 51, Majestic-12, UFOs, and merges it seamlessly with the battle against the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. The secret history it reveals is frighteningly plausible, and like Lovecraft's fiction, nags at you and makes you doubt its fictional qualities.

As a way of bringing a moribund CoC campaign from the gothic horror of the 1920s to the survivalist horror of the 1990s, it is second to none. Think you could have dealt with those creepy crawlies if you only had an AK-47 instead of a revolver? Think again. The psychological cost of fighting terrors from beyond is not forgotten either, with Delta Green agents wandering shell-shocked from encounter to encounter.

And as I said, as a means of stimulating your imagination to bring Lovecraft up to date, it is also superb. Anyone who thinks Lovecraft's themes are hackneyed and old only needs to read this to see how horrifyingly relevant they still are.

Buy this book, and its companion DELTA GREEN: COUNTDOWN, which describes the UK and Russian counterparts to Delta Green. The truth is here. And it's hungry.